I am really impressed as I make my first read-through of this adventure. The adventure reads like a fairytale that requires initiative rolls with a nice balance of the whimsical and the dangerous.

What I Liked

My favorite part is that combat is not required to complete the campaign. The situations that are set up have outlets that allow smart players to avoid fighting. Not that I’m against combat in D&D, it is one of my favorite parts of the game. This might be a turn-off for some groups, but I think they will be the minority. There are still plenty of solutions that can be found in combat, but it is not the only way. I think we have a vision of players being bloodthirsty, but although combat is a focus of D&D, it is not the only part of it. Some of my favorite game sessions did not see a single initiative roll such as dinner with Strahd (Curse of Strahd) and the investigation in the Styes (The Ghosts of Saltmarsh).

The art found throughout the book is excellent and evocative of the fairytale theme. The maps look great with the Palace of Heart’s Desire being my personal favorite of the adventure.

Stat blocks pop up throughout the book, which reduces the amount of flipping back and forth to the appendix like most of the adventure books. I like this while I run an adventure, but I see the advantage of placing all the monsters in the back of the book for later reference in other campaigns or game sessions.

I love a good random encounter table for building story elements or setting the tone of the adventure. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight has very good random encounter tables to work with. Each section of the adventure has a unique table that can be used by the DM.

The path the party takes through the Feywild has a fluidity to it, so the campaign can run a unique course. There is an item that can be found that is placed randomly a la Curse of Strahd. The way players decide their course of action has ramifications later in the adventure. A Story Tracker is provided to help with keeping track of the changes that happen throughout.

There are two new races introduced the harengon and fairy. Harengon is my new favorite race. It will take me a while to stop making new characters that are not the rabbitfolk. My only problem is that I like the name of rabbitfolk from the Unearthed Arcana more than harengon, but that is only a superficial complaint. I like the update to the Rabbit Hop ability being tied to the character’s proficiency bonus. The race lends itself to rogue and ranger, but I think any character class can be enhanced by the harengon’s natural abilities (possibly even a wizard harengon could be fun).

 I really like the two new backgrounds. Both the Witchlight Hand and Fey Lost provide plenty of opportunities to create interesting backstories. The Fey Lost has a more useful feature than the Witchlight Hand, but either is a solid choice for this campaign. I will recommend to my players to choose one of the two.

 My Concerns

Until I have a session zero, I’m a little unsure about the two story hooks provided. The Lost Things story hook is the one I’m most intrigued by but does not seem to provide a compelling reason to kick off the adventure. It also requires that all the characters have suffered the same fate. The wildly different ages that player characters can be will throw a wrench into that proverbial blender. The list of things lost is a little underwhelming and I might spend time to come up with no options. The Warlock’s Quest story hook is more straightforward and that is what makes it feel less interesting. If one of the player characters had the same reason as the warlock to want to find answers, then I could see using an altered version of this hook.

The other problem with the two hooks is that everybody wants to be a Witchlight Hand. Not that I’m complaining, because I think if I had the opportunity to play this adventure I’d want to be a carny, too. How often do you get the chance to have such a unique background? I believe the hook will solidify once session zero has been done and I could possibly create an all-new hook or an amalgam of the two existing ones.

I have been fluctuating with how much information I want to give to the players. I ultimately let them know that the adventure starts at the carnival but they will eventually land them in the Feywild. There is a certain fun in playing a fish out of water character, but it is good to let the players know where they will spend most of the game time. This adventure is going to be better with players invested in the fairytale-influenced storyline than to spring it on them unexpectedly.

The new race of fairy I find problematic. First off, the name invokes tiny winged folk that feels out of place as player characters. How damaging would the sword strike from such a tiny creature be? The fairy are not actually that tiny, their size category is small which makes them halfling size. I think a new name would help. I do not have a problem with their flight ability, but I think it should be more limited. I have found that flying characters can get themselves in more trouble by being cut off from the rest of the party and on the losing side of the action economy at low levels. The harengon’s ability to Rabbit Hop is limited by their proficiency bonus and if the fairy’s ability to fly were limited in the same way it might save a player character’s life. The fairy’s innate magic ability is good and scales nicely. A few tweaks to this race and it would be really good.

A DM that is not good at running NPCs will find this adventure next to impossible. On each page, there seems to be a new eccentric NPC. There is enough description, and many times a picture, to help DMs create the NPC. Also, everything lives on just the other side of the absurd. If you want a gritty ultra-serious game, then this adventure is not for you.

Going Forward

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight feels like it is niche, but it actually is not. It allows the focus of the game to be centered on exploration and role-playing and not on combat. It also has a somewhat silly feel to the adventure, which can make for a really fun time around the table. I look forward to spending time in the Feywild.