Review: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is D&D for Theater Kids

Dungeons & Dragons is historically descended from war games, but that’s not where its fan base exists today. The franchise’s new center of gravity is in the performance space, and its best ambassadors are a new generation of professional animators. Companies like Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, Dimension 20, and others have breathed new life into the franchise by modeling a different, more character-driven way of playing.

The wild beyond the witches’ light, the latest campaign book from Wizards of the Coast, leans into this new reality like never before. It is an adventure made for the child of the theater that we all carry inside. The designers went further, creating a campaign that requires no combat to complete. Instead, it demands careful and constant collaboration between players and the Dungeon Master (DM). The end result is a dense 256-page book that helps expand the capabilities of each DM, while empowering the players at the table. It is one of the best products released for the fifth edition of D&D.

[Warning: Our review contains spoilers for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.]

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight begins with an almost necessary “zero session”, which combines the generation of characters with the description of the first rhythms of the story itself. While common in many modern tabletop RPGs, and recommended for D&D as well, it is more fully accepted here than in previous campaigns. The prescriptive nature of this first session represents Wizards’ newfound confidence in their expanding player base. People don’t come to D&D just to kill some goblins. Even new players show up expecting to experience a character arc on the move, and getting the job done early on helps make that aspect pay off in the long run.

From there, the campaign begins in earnest at the Witchlight Carnival, a kind of role-playing estuary that contains all the best parts of D&D except the violence. Players can explore the magical fairgrounds at will, competing with snails or floating in the air inside magical bubbles. But Carnival has several compelling mysteries to unravel, and breaking noses or spilling blood will only make that job more difficult. The key to victory is creating a group of allies who can help you land a dramatic finishing blow. There’s even a built-in timer, displayed right there on the luxurious drop-down map, that helps keep the action moving.

It’s a wonderful premise, and perhaps the best D&D tutorial Wizards has published so far, better even than the praised one. Dragons and Dungeons Basic Kit.

From there, the adventure progresses through three different kingdoms of Feywild, named Hither, Thither, and Yon. Each one is more exotic and strange than the last. Players will fly through the air in a rain balloon, befriend a sensitive oil can, find their own dreams trapped inside a crystal cavern, and fight shoulder to shoulder with a rambunctious dandelion. Despite all its strange twists and turns, the story remains focused on the needs of the player characters. Only once those needs have been met are they finally unleashed to rescue the central non-player character (NPC), a powerful archfey named Zybilna.

What impressed me the most is the number of large swings The wild beyond the witches’ light takes, including fixed piece events that are completely opposite to pitched battles. My favorite is a theatrical production that players can choose to perform in front of a live in-game audience. While one group randomly draws their lines from a hat, another group explores the area behind the scenes. The structure of that encounter actually encourages players to split the group, a long dangerous taboo in board games, and admirably supports the DM in helping to manage the action.

Best of all are the threads that begin subtly in those first few sessions, little mysteries that just won’t bear fruit for dozens of hours. Groups that can meet more regularly, who can play the campaign in just a few months or less, will enjoy it to the fullest.

Despite the abundant opportunities to be pacifist scouts, dangers are still scattered everywhere. The wild beyond the witches’ light. This is not a children’s book, and danger lurks around every corner, including the rather abrupt incapacitation of the character and even death. Be sure to prepare your group, especially younger or inexperienced players, for that eventuality.

Usually, The wild beyond the witches’ light is an advanced class of RPG storytelling, made even more powerful thanks to a few pages of additional notes for novice DMs right from the start. Experienced DMs can find value here as well, as the elements of the book can be easily divided up and collected for their own home campaigns. If you are looking for an excuse to form a new role-play group, or a second or a third, this campaign is the perfect place to start.

The wild beyond the witches’ light will launch on September 21 for $ 49.95 in its local game store, onlineand for digital platforms D&D beyond and Roll 20.

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