I’ve been running a Phandalin-based game with my players for a while now and I’d been scratching my head about how to include The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The players loved Gnomengarde so much that they:
A: Wanted to reinstate the Phandelver Pact (as owning Axeholm kind of vaguely made a player the new Castellan)
B: Completely forgot the entire plotline about rescuing Gundren Rockseeker because they were having too much fun with other things.
So, in my game, the Cragmaw goblins know where the [THING THAT THAT PLOTLINE LEADS TO] is, and Gnomengarde’s residents (probably) know how to use it, so they’ve formed an alliance. The only problem for the players as signatories to the renewed Phandelver Pact is that they massacred a lot of goblins while saving Sildar Hallwinter and again when they realised that there were goblin scouts keeping an eye on them. I couldn’t think of a punishment that wouldn’t ruin the game or that rang true for the madness of Gnomengarde…
And so, when they admitted the mass murder of goblins, two gnomes presented them with their trial… in the form of tickets for the Witchlight carnival! It’s meant that the players know explicitly that their actions will shape the world around them (which it does anyway, but not to Feywild levels) and that how they conduct themselves has a direct connection with how they’ll be treated upon their return. It’s meant that the PCs are feeling penitent for what they did before they really understood that goblins aren’t just cannon fodder, and that they’re also really looking forward to the trial and punishment rollercoaster.
I just thought I’d share that in case anyone else is wondering how to include it in their game! It’s certainly having more of an impact than a fine or a stretch in prison!
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I’ve been running a Phandalin-based game with my players for a while now and I’d been scratching my head about how to include The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. The players loved Gnomengarde so much that they:
A: Wanted to reinstate the Phandelver Pact (as owning Axeholm kind of vaguely made a player the new Castellan)
B: Completely forgot the entire plotline about rescuing Gundren Rockseeker because they were having too much fun with other things.
So, in my game, the Cragmaw goblins know where the [THING THAT THAT PLOTLINE LEADS TO] is, and Gnomengarde’s residents (probably) know how to use it, so they’ve formed an alliance. The only problem for the players as signatories to the renewed Phandelver Pact is that they massacred a lot of goblins while saving Sildar Hallwinter and again when they realised that there were goblin scouts keeping an eye on them. I couldn’t think of a punishment that wouldn’t ruin the game or that rang true for the madness of Gnomengarde…
And so, when they admitted the mass murder of goblins, two gnomes presented them with their trial… in the form of tickets for the Witchlight carnival! It’s meant that the players know explicitly that their actions will shape the world around them (which it does anyway, but not to Feywild levels) and that how they conduct themselves has a direct connection with how they’ll be treated upon their return. It’s meant that the PCs are feeling penitent for what they did before they really understood that goblins aren’t just cannon fodder, and that they’re also really looking forward to the trial and punishment rollercoaster.
I just thought I’d share that in case anyone else is wondering how to include it in their game! It’s certainly having more of an impact than a fine or a stretch in prison!