Wild Beyond the Witchlight Session Zero Prep

[@chiiiiaaa]

I have read this book cover to cover, and only while watching this did I realize that the carnival itself is a figure eight... 👀

[@mattbriddell9246]

That map has so many great easter eggs hidden in it.

[@aaronwyrd]

I know this video is a little old but thanks for making it. I'm about to run and this has been super helpful. I'm going to use both hooks and have the warlock hand them tickets to get in, which will trigger there memories of sneaking in as kids. Also dreadful incursions is a great addition. I wanted add little random encounters that doesn't really effect story and this will be perfect. I'm going to take it a step further and once this adventure is complete they'll end up stuck in Ravenloft (next campaign) because of a rip between worlds.

[@HoobtheNoob]

As someone that has been dming for a little while this was incredibly helpful - you cut all the fluff that i spend too much time focusing on and only pay attention to what is important thank you!!!

[@razorboy251]

I recently ran both my session zero and session 1 of Wild Beyond the Witchlight, it was a very good start. Here are my observations from the get go: - We made sure that some characters already knew each other before entering the carnival; - We made sure that each character had a strong reason to go to the carnival and investigate it (either because of what they've lost during a previous visit or because Zybilna is their patron); - I made sure to set expectations for the players, that it will be whimsical, that the emphasis will be on roleplaying and clever solutions to situations rather than brute strength, and that their characters will not be back to their mortal realm during the entirety of the campaign; - The first session I focused on letting them experience the carnival but also get clues that something's not right with it. I made sure to conclude the first session with them meeting a couple of important NPCs (the kenku warlock and the bugbear carnival hand) that would give the characters the vital clues they need to figure out the next step; - One thing that was difficult to do was to keep the party together once they were in the carnival, or to get them to reassemble towards the end of the session; - Another thing I should've prepared beforehand was a few quick riddles and a couple of silly poems (just a couple of rhyming lines) that I could've used for two of the NPCs the player characters had encountered, and to expand the list of the other visitors to the carnival.

[@nicka3697]

I used Sir Talivar who they meet very early in Hither to specifically tell them the rules of conduct. Then they can see how that plays out with Jingle Jangle and they're good to go.

[@KelticPhoenix]

Ok, so kind of pedantic comment (i love the content and am excited to follow WBtW)… It would be “non-consensual INTRA-party violence.” Intra- as a prefix means within and inter- means between. So intra-party violence is between members of the same party and inter-party would be against another party.

[@SlyFlourish]

Good call

[@KelticPhoenix]

Also, I’d add “Something Wicked This Way Comes” as campaign inspiration.

[@mattbriddell9246]

Absolutely, especially since the authors of the book listed it as an inspiration. I'd also include Peter Pan, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland and even stuff like Undertale to emphasize the non-violent approach players can take to get through the campaign and shows like Centaurworld and Looney Tunes to emphasize the potential for sheer wackiness the Feywild can have.

[@kurtpearson2793]

Yes! I’m on deck for our groups next campaign WBTW! Perfect timing. My take is to have the players defining attributes stolen eight years ago, and reward them with their return if they save the hag in the boss palace.

[@lucketmi1]

I loved the idea about combining Domains of Dread with the Domain of Delight, i had a look in the book, and The Carnival feels so much like a ''DLC'' or expansion of this Adventure!! Its Amazing.

[@celticdenefew]

I'm running WBW for 2 different AL groups and each one has a flying fairy. There are some things that it feels like it could be awkward - like the Shanty Tower, but still worked out fine. In one game the 8 STR 3ft tall fairy tried carrying the 2.5 ft tall cage so I had him roll ATH. He fell loudly and splashed waking the snakes and triggering an encounter. In the other game the fairy flew up, spoke to Talavar, then came back and spoke to the others and they devised a plan. The highest PP char saw the snakes and eventually they triggered the encounter. Different triggers, different endings, "same" encounter.

[@meacha2712]

The Night Circus book.. incredible prose for inspiration!

[@O4C209]

Suggestion for your 16 years fitting with 8 and 3. Have the carnival be in the Feywild then 8 years later in the Shadowfell. Then back to the Feywild 8 years after. It also brings in 3 by being 3 planes.

[@thomasbruinsma]

You mean Feywild -> Material Plane -> Shadowfell? Doesn't going to the shadowfell mess with Mr Witch & Light's lore too?

[@dmeep]

@@thomasbruinsma they have to meet up they can still miss each other

[@dmeep]

well the carnival stays a few days on each plane but visit so many planes that it takes 8 years to make a round trip back to your plane whatever it might be

[@LordZoth6292]

I immediately didn't like him messing with the 8 years. The numeration of 3 and 8 are clearly stated how it's a part of the cycle.

[@guira9030]

OMG I'M so happy that you launched this lazydm, I DM dragonheist based on your videos.

[@rolmovil]

TE AMO MIKE SHEA! Saludos desde México! :3

[@FimbusPainting]

I'm closing in on the end of my Saltmarsh campaign, and Witchlight is on my list of potential next campaigns, great timing! :)

[@iamkeeblerstudios]

This was super helpful. I’m a newer DM and this is going to be my first “big” campaign I run. Seeing how you prep for session 0 and 1 was really great to see for someone like me who’s newer to all this. I’ve got so many ideas to run with now!

[@SlyFlourish]

Good luck! You’ll be great!

[@clintonbrown9246]

I just got to chapter 2, this was the first game I ran! The big complaint was actually the lack of combat, I threw a random "out of order" attraction in the carnival, which was a zombie house. It was well recieved!

[@hollypaints_nails]

How did it go? I’m running my first campaign soon and the last time I played was probably over 10 years so I’m super nervous. My parents played DnD for many years when I was a baby and I remember being able to start playing with them when I was older. Luckily, my parents are excited to play again and my Dad is looking forward to not being the DM for a change as he’s never been a player before! Starting out on the best foot by following the lazy DM!

[@iamkeeblerstudios]

@@hollypaints_nails still coordinating with my group and wrapping up our starter practice adventure, but I hope to start it in April! Good luck on your first adventure!

[@felipekopel5118]

Awesome. I'm looking forward to your next videos.

[@grimbrent3476]

I have to steal the Dread Incursions. The ability to add in truly dreadful enemies allows for combat when needed as well as an overarching threat to Prismeer (and maybe the rest of the Feywild?) that should really help engage with Prismeer beyond getting back lost items. Note I think you should decide if they are saving the whole of the Feywild or Prismeer which is a section of the Feywild. Could wrap nicely into Witch and Light as they are creatures of the Shadowfell and this may be threatening to destroy their carnival or bring about their reintroduction to the Shadowfell Carnival (which they want to avoid at all costs). Heck Witch and Light's Carnival might be part of the problem that is drawing the two realms together and Tasha had an agreement to help them right up until the moment she was taken out.

[@AdrianGell]

WBtW is first campaign I've taken on the DM role for, and I also struggled with what I should reveal upfront regarding potential to complete without combat, and so far have kept silent on it. But when the party completed chapter 1 without rolling initiative, one of my players made the observation out loud. And I think that was so much better, and even less misleading, than anything I could have told them. Mind, they also ended up in a scenario or two where they knew they were at the brink (ie stuck in the staff area hiding from Burley). Not far enough into the campaign yet to know if they've really got the mindset I'm hoping they've formed (ie, take threats seriously, but also recognize they don't need to seek a fight to progress the plot)

[@AdrianGell]

Also, TY Sly for the suggestion of letting them know how to gain a level. I hadn't considered, but with the group I have now especially, I think that's going to be a good call.

[@BeInspiredwithDominic]

I love those dreadful incursions! It's an awesome idea and sounds like a great tool for foreshadowing. I can imagine a number of reasons for those to occur beyond planes colliding. Thanks for sharing, Mike!

[@CB-cl7ru]

Awh, I think I missed the end when you mentioned you wouldn't be doing prep sessions every week for this. Totally get it, but this looked like one of the more fun and interesting WOTC adventures to come out for a long time, I was looking forward to seeing how it progressed every week. Looking forward to your chapter recaps, though.

[@el_tejon383]

So excited to watch these videos and prep my campaign alongside! We all realize that as you get more and more popular you're going to have less and less time, and I'm so happy that you are prepping a 5e module in addition to the blades in the dark!

[@micklangan7544]

I overlapped the ' Carnival' from Van Richtens guide with the Witch light Carnival to give it a light dark feel and used the time counter in WBTWL. Every hour there was a 'Blip'

[@qwertyfinger]

thank you so much for doing this

[@monsaemon]

Just came by to like the video! I wish I could watch it, but I’m actually gonna be a player in this campaign first! Can’t wait to come back and check it out on a few months after playing!

[@SlyFlourish]

Please do!

[@CB-cl7ru]

I enjoyed checking out your Blades prep stuff but I’m so happy to see this! Something very comforting about your D&D prep sessions :)

[@solarisdevorak]

Yay!!!! So glad you're doing this one!!!

[@clintonbrown9246]

I love the domain of dread Idea, this is the first campaign i'm running, so I wanted to combine descent into avernus or strahd with this to add comabt, but your domain of dread is perfect.

[@brochg]

I just signed up as a Paton, thanks to this incredibly good video! I'm a lifelong player, and Witchlight is going to be my maiden voyage into dm'ing.

[@SlyFlourish]

Thank you!

[@kartorus]

The carnival is a great session. I’ve run it three or four times now spend some time there for sure.

[@ChadHensley]

This is going to be super helpful! I start WBtW on Saturday evening!

[@kevinncr5079]

Thanks Mike! Been really looking forward to this!!

[@practicepositiveprogress5396]

I love that you talk about railroading in the beginning cuz I think there is a huge difference between railroading and Buy In. I think in any given prewritten adventure, it's fair and reasonable to get buy in from your players. Like "hey, we are running this game. Let's build characters that fit in this world, and also you as a player should accept that this is the ultimate direction of the story. Buy in can look like railroading, especially if players didn't actually buy in, but they are different.

[@samsampier7147]

Great video. Love the inclusion of Van Richten Guide to Ravenloft. Little disappointed that witchlight is not a weekly prep series.

[@SlyFlourish]

I’ll have some good videos for it, no doubt.

[@pasqualecirone9755]

I love the idea to combine Witchlight with Van Richten's guide. I just saw the explicit connection with 'The Carnival' in VRG involving Isolde and Nepenthe. My thinking is that the Dread Incursions should (at least when I run it) directly tie specifically to this Domain of Dread. Isolde/Nepenthe want out of their prison!

[@SlyFlourish]

Cool!

[@mateofantasma]

Just in to say -please watch Spirited Away, it's a wonderful wonderful movie

[@damnghen7509]

This sounds 10x more fun than the entirety of RotFM. Wow. What a great idea with the domains of dread. That's a flash of genius right there. You're the Adventure Artificer.

[@SlyFlourish]

My first session was more fun than any in Rime of the Frostmaiden.

[@Otaconsps]

arrgh! Stopped the video at 16:05 due to spoilers as I'm liking going to be a player in Witchlight game after I (finally) finish DotMM. /sigh I wanted to keep watching LOL

[@SlyFlourish]

sorry! Spoilers…

[@jwbucklin]

This is fantastic! Thank you for creating such a great resource.

[@jadex105]

@23:51 "be best." Subscribed

[@Warm_Fireplace]

45:21 for what I read of the module, there is combat, but you can solve it in creative ways. Some NPCs (as written) just attack your players, but the module offers options, so if your party tries to find a pacifist solution they can.

[@lordzaboem]

It does not specifically say "This is your pacifist option" but there are definitely non-combat options in the story for every encounter. The option is usually a Persuasion roll, a Deceit roll, or a roleplayed negotiation. There are no automated golems that attack the party when it enters a specific dungeon room or any other non-avoidable combats like that. My big complaint of the book (which is otherwise great) is that because its so dedicated to non-combat options, a Bard in the School of Eloquence could easily solo the entire campaign.

[@nicka3697]

Witchlight hand is ok as long as it's just one character. Give them a night off and assign them to look after the group for some reason and all is good. They would know about all the rides but that's not a problem. They might warn the players off the mystery mine but that's probably wise anyway the exhaustion you can pick up there can kill and getting remove curse to get rid of it is hard. One of my players got three levels of exhaustion after the first night's rest. It was the right player so it's funny but now I need to find magical places he can sleep without having to roll every night or introduce a way to cure him before it's too late. Nothing that can't be solved.

[@mattbriddell9246]

I'm honestly iffy on letting characters pick that background as I feel it would awkward to have one player with that much up-front knowledge about the carnival early on in the campaign (even though that benefit more or less becomes meaningless after the players transition to the Feywild). If I was to incorporate it into my game, it would be in the context of having the whole party be carnival hands who are tasked with escorting a VIP guest through the carnival, only for said guest to get kidnapped by one of the hags' minions and they then have to go to the Feywild to retrieve them.

[@scottlurker991]

I'm actually disallowing feywild races for this campaign because I think it runs contrary to the idea of going from a Prime world into a strange, new place. If we lose a PC and they need a replacement, then I would encourage it, but I don't want a party of feywild natives.

[@GigglingKat]

Witchlight hand bg character I’m building somehow was outside the carnival eight years ago when the carnival was last there. I have odd gaps in their memory which was the dm hand wave for me not knowing everything from the start. Apparently some people I recognize won’t remember me and vice versa.

[@stephensayers4998]

Gutted I cannot watch this series. One of my players is running this for us in a few weeks. I don't want to spoil anything. Very rarely get to be a player. I will now see myself out. I'll come back when we have finished playing through.

[@dirtroadsandwoodstoves]

Should have made it every 18 years to keep with the sacred numbers theme. I like using some of the books as a basis for a homebrew campaign, but at least make your changes logical. In the feywild, time means something. It would have been so easy to use 18, or better yet, 33.

[@mattbriddell9246]

So glad I found this video! I'm getting ready to start running this campaign myself and this has been very helpful. Question about telling players in advance what they have to do to level up- are you concerned that your players would simply focus on that objective and skip over all the other content in the adventure instead of gravitating towards the areas and encounters you'd want them to experience?

[@SlyFlourish]

I don’t know.

[@ruthwalker6365]

Apologies if I missed this in the video, but it seems like you used some different Lost Items for your players than the table in the book. Did you come up with a new table to roll on or did your players come up with their own lost items? Really like the idea of losing memories or connections as opposed to things like fashion sense or height.

[@SlyFlourish]

They came up with their own

[@butwhy6040]

One thing i have noticed. Similar to descent into avernus, without a headsup the characters randomly jump head first into a different plane without any signs leading up to it. With the lost things plot hook, it doesnt inform the characters about the thing being in the feywild untill right before they Will enter.

[@lordzaboem]

Did your players forget to ask Mister Witch and Mister Light what was on the other side of the portal? It's not as if the these carnival owners enjoy getting exploited by the Hourglass Coven and like seeing their customers victimized. We know that they don't like it because the witch hands are instructed to escort all trespassers to the ticket booth to by a ticket. Heck, Witch might pay the characters to remove the hags from the Prismeer management so he can get back to dealing with his original business investor.

[@joshuawilliams8230]

Hey Mike! Been watching your videos for several months now. Love your books, website and videos. Would you happen to still have the version of Scipio's story tracker that was at the end of this video? I don't see it in the current notion links.

[@SlyFlourish]

Here it is! I'll add it back. tidal-niece-3d7.notion.site/Witchlight-Story-Tracker-62ca3c5f57104ce3b2926f8b62409870

[@joshuawilliams8230]

@@SlyFlourish You are absolutely amazing! Thank you

[@joshuawilliams8230]

@@SlyFlourish I wanted to come back once more and say how tickled I am that despite all the followers you have and the amount of D&D material you produce you took the time to respond to and help me. I just finished reading the Witchlight adventure cover to cover and I am gearing up to DM the session zero of my second ever campaign. The first time I ever played D&D was Lost Mines of Phandelver last year (where as a new player I decided to jump in the deep end and DM).

[@nicka3697]

I don't think flying is a big deal here unless everyone can do it. Yon can pretty well stop flying between wind and lightning. In thither being above the trees you actually can't see much except the canopy. Hither it helps the individual but doesn't solve many of the group problems. The slanty tower becomes trivial but you are kind of supposed to fly there, it's why you can get pixie dust in the carnival.

[@SlyFlourish]

Great point

[@reneedetwiler6918]

Great video! You mentioned that somewhere there is a pre-game adventure where the players can go through their first experience with the carnival as children? Is there a link for this somewhere? I'd love to run a pre-game adventure for my players so their childhood experience with the carnival is fresh in their minds.

[@SlyFlourish]

Here it is and it's free! media.wizards.com/2021/dnd/downloads/WBW-PR_Lost_Things_Prelude_Adventure.pdf

[@reneedetwiler6918]

@@SlyFlourish Oh, thank you so much!!!

[@dcyphermanplays8233]

I really like your dreadful incursions. I personally like some combat idk

[@NekoMimiMisa]

I think another idea for changing how many years it takes before it comes back is you could do 11, aka 8+3, so the 8 and 3 would still work, but it is significantly more realistic to say like when you were 11 you snuck into the carnival, now at 22 it is back again, instead of when you were 14 you snuck into the carnival, now at 22 it is back again lol. But I agree that 8 years is too little, because it isn't very likely that they snuck in as a child, but are now an adult. The window for that is 10-12 for child, and 18-20 for adult.

[@Arsenico13]

Hi Mike, At the beginning you mentioned you're also going to run "Numenera". Are you going to shoot "Lazy GM prep" about that too? Same as you're doin' for blades in the dark... Thank you so much

[@SlyFlourish]

Yep!

[@Arsenico13]

@@SlyFlourish awesome! Thank you :)

[@dam-a-dab5922]

Railroading in the beginning is something i always do and idk if that is bad

[@SlyFlourish]

Nah!

[@asraiSOA]

Any reason to not just run both hooks? Initiate w/ Lost Things, then have the PC's meet the Warlock OTW to the carnival and he can ask them for help with his situation? UPDATE... never-mind, you address that after I asked.

[@tylamcgilverson3923]

I WISH WE HAD THIS FOR MY MOST RECENT CAMPAIGNAN. Don't get me wrong, we had a zero session. But nothing like this. I got kicked because my emotionally traumatized and untrusting warlockranger ( she was a bounty hunter for the ferryman) kept a journal with conversation notes. Because as a plot point, she was gonna burn the journal. Yep she was gonna burn the journal. We didn't talk I just got kicked

[@IrrelevantArt]

15:28 What about changing it to "it comes every 38 years"? =P

[@irogers40]

Do you have a one page pdf available for wild beyond the witchlight

[@thomazeblen]

Imagine the lines for my curse of strahd campaing, ppl eat childrem dude, thing is crazy there

[@BarboCat]

Did he say the dreadful incursion generator was available on his Patreon? I couldn’t find it

[@SlyFlourish]

Check uncovered secrets volume 2

[@BarboCat]

Thank you so much!

[@SuperSorcerer]

ב"ה Flying races are really powerfull, especially in an adventure that happen mostly in the wild and less in dungeons like this one. I wouldn't allow a fairy as a race, it is more broken than peace domain cleric.

[@SavantApostle]

What's so bad about silvery barbs? Tashas mind whip is worse?

[@lordzaboem]

It's a lot to go over here, but there have been videos and Reddit posts specifically about how Silvery Barbs is an out-of-proportion powerful spell. It gets even better as it scales to higher levels. It functions more like a 3rd or 4th level spell than a 1st. Now if you don't care about balance that much (I don't), then there is nothing wrong with Silvery Barbs.

[@TheCaithedral]

The link to your notes isn’t working. Is there a new one?

[@NashIdAu]

So you call it one of the top 2 hard cover adventures. What is the other one?

[@CJWproductions]

Your favorite one, duh ;)

[@SlyFlourish]

Curse of Strahd

[@NashIdAu]

@@SlyFlourish you should do a ranking video.

[@folklore.fibres]

I have a player who immediately had his heart set on Twilight Domain Cleric as soon as he knew I wanted to run this campaign. Can anyone shoot me a link for Sly Flourish's past rants on Twilight Domain? I'd hate to shut down my player without knowing specifically why I'm doing it.

[@SlyFlourish]

Consider limiting the temporary hps to just once for everyone instead of every turn.

[@PeterCleghorn]

Can anyone tell me where to find the session zero precursor adventure where the players play as children? Mike mentions it about 59:00

[@SlyFlourish]

I’m trying to find it but it’s hard to find.

[@PeterCleghorn]

@@SlyFlourish Thanks Mike, yeah I was trying to find it but came up empty-handed. (Love the channel/podcast/Patreon, Keep up the great work)

[@chrisd5169]

It’s called “Lost Things” on Dmsguild

[@PeterCleghorn]

@@chrisd5169 thanks

[@christianstraubhaar339]

Alright, I agree with most things Mike says, but dissing Willow is crossing a line... (not really 😉)

[@SlyFlourish]

Those goddamn brownies man.

[@christianstraubhaar339]

@@SlyFlourish Fair enough. I just accept them as standard 80s family movie shenanigans.

[@cruisewhiteman1608]

I use the exhaustion feature to tackle flying creatures and I find it tends to work it's better than the 3rd level Fly spell but when a player reaches there movement limit of 50/60ft they take a level of exhaustion and to get rid of it they must land for a minute if they don't land exhaustion they take another level of exhaustion at the next movement limit reached

[@Ted_Bell]

So if they fly for 6 minutes they're dead? hmm.

[@lordzaboem]

I like the concept of the Dreadful Incursions. I really do -- but the campaign is just the wrong place for it. The DM already has a lot of plates to keep spinning in this campaign: the Lost Things, the location of the unicorn horn, the bonuses that characters gain in the Carnival and help them later, ways in which the environments change with the moods of different characters, and all of the stuff that goes into any normal D&D session. Adding an additional layer of story with multiple encounters really seems like a step in the wrong direction to me. Even worse, it's fixing a problem, the lack of combat, which Sly himself says is not likely going to be a problem. Can we instead get the Dreadful Incursions as the base of its own campaign?

[@SlyFlourish]

It worked great in my campaign

[@Ted_Bell]

Lol wrong

[@rottentomatoplays]

Why not make it 24 years to stick with the 8 and 3 idea?

[@lordzaboem]

...make what 24 years?

[@rottentomatoplays]

@@lordzaboem if I recall, he mentioned making the players experience the carnival 16 years later, instead of 8, whereas if you wanted to stick with the theme of 8 and 3 peppered through the game, make it 24 years since they last experienced the carnival... But I don't exactly remember what I heard him mention 2 months ago.

[@Aliktren]

You have never seen spirited away!

[@IrrelevantArt]

38:24 Shrek? =P

[@TheAmbex]

Having to pause so the strict veteran doesn't go off on the newbie... a veteran should know better and just adjust.

[@chrisd5169]

Why not just allowed every official character creation book?