This is a recap of a session from my “Goldcrest” 5th Edition D&D Campaign. The artwork for the main image is from Andreas Rocha.

Entering the Feywild

Session Date: January 7th, 2018

Session Recap:

The players, following the trail of Ogres back to where they came from, became lost. They had crossed over into the Feywild and were not yet aware of it as they encountered Pixies. The pixies played with them a bit – a few pranks here and there – measuring their response.

Not long later, Gnomes appeared, surrounding them. They asked the party to follow them for questioning after which they could be on their way. These talks went fine as the Gnomes seemed to simply want to know what the party was doing in the area. They then invited the group to join them for a celebration dinner (for a successful hunt they had earlier).

At the dinner, they feasted upon Purple Razorleaf Salad, Colossus Corn, Red-Rimmed Snail Stew and Sparkling Pixie Cider. They also met a Halfling explorer staying with the Gnomes named Talius Featherbender. The Gnomes told the party that they would be leaving for a hunt in the morning and that they were welcome to join, but otherwise one of their group could escort them to another band of Gnomes who happened to be closer to the “Fortress”, if they wanted to go there instead.

Also during this dinner, it became clear some of the Gnomes seemed to recognize Alistaire from somewhere. Talius helped translate a conversation with them – they were not sure why his was familiar to them, they just said they felt they had seen him somewhere.

During the night the blue “Grason” crystal Alistaire was carrying began to glow, drawing the attention of Pixies who woke him up while they investigated it. It turns out, as the Olsten (leader of this band of Gnomes) informed them, the idea of gems ‘housing’ the life essense of other beings is not a new concept to the Gnomes. In fact, Gnomes were said to have been born from gems, the first of which spawned their gods when brought to the surface. Those Gods were then said to have breathed life into many more gems creating the race of Gnomes.

The group decided to join the hunt that day and in the end helped the Gnomes take down an “Awakened Tree”. From there, they escorted the group to the other Gnome tribe near the “Fortress”. Talius had accompanied the group, and decided to stick with them when they decided to stay with this new tribe.

These Gnomes seemed more interested in metal work than the previous group – tinkerers perhaps – and they filled the players in on some aspects of the “Fortress” – that it moved between the Feywild and their world at various intervals. They had only discovered it a few months ago and had not yet explored it. They said they would bring the players there and even work with them to explore it, as long as they agreed not to be reckless. They agreed, and that was where the session ended.

NEXT STEPS: The players are likely going to be exploring the Fortress from here in the Feywild!

Notes About the Session

I felt like I was telling too much of a story during this session. The players were sitting back and listening a lot – I didn’t give a lot of opportunities for interaction (at least, not as many as I like), but overall it seemed to go over well.

My goal during this session was to really demonstrate how different the Feywild was. I didn’t want it to be just any other forest. I wanted it to feel alien. As such, I used some weather events as created here by someone on Reddit.

I also created some items that could counter some of these weather effects. For these I wrote them down on cards – just a name and a small drawing, and I intentionally left fewer of each of them than there were players. For example, I had 3 “Ornate Shell Sets”, 3 “Frog Intestine Masks”, and 2 “Razorleaf Hoods”. The Gnomes told them, “This is all we can spare – carry them with you and if they become needed we will let you know.

I then selected 8 of those weather events and did random rolls from time to time. As they came up, it would become clear which items should be used and some interesting decisions had to be made about who would use them. That worked out pretty well/was a lot of fun 😉

Let’s Chat!

Hit me up on Twitter (@theweem) to chat about this campaign, or anything really!

Next Session: The Fortress