I'm working on a Feywild Horror one-shot/adventure. My DM gave me permission to shoot some ideas to incorporate it into his ongoing setting (crossovers baby!). I'm looking for some creative juices on how this Feywild could operate. I love the classic Faerun feywild feel (the little source material that there is at least), and I know that Shadowfell exists, but I haven't looked into it too much just yet. BUT I really want to ramp up the horror side of it for this adventure, the whimsical can still be present of course. If anyone has read Pact by Wildbow, I really love the way that Fae are presented there and that will probably be inspiring some antagonists for me.
What am I asking for? What do you think are cool Feywild ideas for populations, local politics, biomes, regions? What do you think are some cool plot hooks/threads that could be in the Feywild, especially if its horror? What do you think are cool world events that can set chains of events off (eg. Wild magic explosion disturbs a neighboring region of violent Fey-creatures)? What are your favorite stories, settings, source materials, etc. that could give me some inspiration? What did you eat for breakfast?
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"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. [. . .] I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. [. . .] [R]ational people know that things act of themselves or not at all."
I like Feywild horror stuff being a bit Halloween-y, where it's scary, sure, but a little bit cheesy as well.
Alternatively you could lean into stuff like will-o-wisps, changelings, things meant to deceive you and lure you into danger.
The Feywild is built on its strange rules, and lot of the fun of playing it comes from trying to decipher those rules. Make your players inadvertently awaken powerful beasts, or offend creatures of the night.
May I interest you in the Feydark? It's the Underdark version of the Feywild. There isn't much lore online about it, sadly, but you can draw inspiration from the Underdark. I'd expect fomorians and myconids to inhabit it, but really anything fey can get an Underdark twist.
I have often considered the Feywild as a sort of mirror dimension, where everything that exists does so based on the opinion and impression it gives in that region of the real world. Thus, things are inconsistent - a lake may be an ocean from one side, and a pond from the other, depending on how the people on each side view it. Same with a mountain being huge from one side and small from another.
Your mention of the Shadowfell makes me think - what if the feywild is subdivided into the Seelie and Unseelie. The Seelie rely on Wonder and Merriment, and a bit of mischief, to populate their world. The forests are beautiful and ancient, the mountains rugged and beautiful, the lakes sparkling and clear.
But then there's the Unseelie, where the fear manifests. The forests are dark and twisted, the mountains are harsh and unforgiving, the lakes cold and fathomless. This is where the Unseelie reside, and they hunt people here - they infiltrate the Feywild, and they provoke fear. The turning point is when their victims run - they run in the woods, and the woods suddenly becomes scary, dark, branches snatching at them. They flee on a mountain, and the snow is suddenly deep, the wind biting. They flee whilst swimming, and the waters are suddenly cold, depthless, and something feels like it watches from below.
This would allow a horror equivalent of the Feywild to exist, with the Unseelie fey residing there. It may even be where dreaming souls go for nightmares.
So far as plothooks are concerned, there could be a recent spate of unseelie activity driving local superstitions that the fey are all evil, which makes them all more scared, which makes the Feydark (looting that term) more powerful whilst the Seelie court wanes. The party can address the problems head-on, or reinstate wonder to weaken the Unseelie, and so forth. I'd also link it to the phases of the moon, because that makes sense to me!
Flute Fly - plays music as they fly Moose-ketow- Moose like animal that sucks blood. Antlers and all. Inst-ant: Very fast ant. These can swarm easily and become deadly unless food is used as placation. Vel-crow - Once they make a hit, neither the crow or PC can include the DEX or shield modifiers
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I'm working on a Feywild Horror one-shot/adventure. My DM gave me permission to shoot some ideas to incorporate it into his ongoing setting (crossovers baby!). I'm looking for some creative juices on how this Feywild could operate. I love the classic Faerun feywild feel (the little source material that there is at least), and I know that Shadowfell exists, but I haven't looked into it too much just yet. BUT I really want to ramp up the horror side of it for this adventure, the whimsical can still be present of course. If anyone has read Pact by Wildbow, I really love the way that Fae are presented there and that will probably be inspiring some antagonists for me.
What am I asking for? What do you think are cool Feywild ideas for populations, local politics, biomes, regions? What do you think are some cool plot hooks/threads that could be in the Feywild, especially if its horror? What do you think are cool world events that can set chains of events off (eg. Wild magic explosion disturbs a neighboring region of violent Fey-creatures)? What are your favorite stories, settings, source materials, etc. that could give me some inspiration? What did you eat for breakfast?
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. [. . .] I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. [. . .] [R]ational people know that things act of themselves or not at all."
-Gene Wolfe, Shadow of the Torturer
I like Feywild horror stuff being a bit Halloween-y, where it's scary, sure, but a little bit cheesy as well.
Alternatively you could lean into stuff like will-o-wisps, changelings, things meant to deceive you and lure you into danger.
The Feywild is built on its strange rules, and lot of the fun of playing it comes from trying to decipher those rules. Make your players inadvertently awaken powerful beasts, or offend creatures of the night.
I had English muffins with peanut butter.
May I interest you in the Feydark? It's the Underdark version of the Feywild. There isn't much lore online about it, sadly, but you can draw inspiration from the Underdark. I'd expect fomorians and myconids to inhabit it, but really anything fey can get an Underdark twist.
I have often considered the Feywild as a sort of mirror dimension, where everything that exists does so based on the opinion and impression it gives in that region of the real world. Thus, things are inconsistent - a lake may be an ocean from one side, and a pond from the other, depending on how the people on each side view it. Same with a mountain being huge from one side and small from another.
Your mention of the Shadowfell makes me think - what if the feywild is subdivided into the Seelie and Unseelie. The Seelie rely on Wonder and Merriment, and a bit of mischief, to populate their world. The forests are beautiful and ancient, the mountains rugged and beautiful, the lakes sparkling and clear.
But then there's the Unseelie, where the fear manifests. The forests are dark and twisted, the mountains are harsh and unforgiving, the lakes cold and fathomless. This is where the Unseelie reside, and they hunt people here - they infiltrate the Feywild, and they provoke fear. The turning point is when their victims run - they run in the woods, and the woods suddenly becomes scary, dark, branches snatching at them. They flee on a mountain, and the snow is suddenly deep, the wind biting. They flee whilst swimming, and the waters are suddenly cold, depthless, and something feels like it watches from below.
This would allow a horror equivalent of the Feywild to exist, with the Unseelie fey residing there. It may even be where dreaming souls go for nightmares.
So far as plothooks are concerned, there could be a recent spate of unseelie activity driving local superstitions that the fey are all evil, which makes them all more scared, which makes the Feydark (looting that term) more powerful whilst the Seelie court wanes. The party can address the problems head-on, or reinstate wonder to weaken the Unseelie, and so forth. I'd also link it to the phases of the moon, because that makes sense to me!
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How about some Fey animals?
Flute Fly - plays music as they fly
Moose-ketow- Moose like animal that sucks blood. Antlers and all.
Inst-ant: Very fast ant. These can swarm easily and become deadly unless food is used as placation.
Vel-crow - Once they make a hit, neither the crow or PC can include the DEX or shield modifiers