The paintings in the garden comment just gave me the idea of a castle in the Feywild where all the paintings and the tapestries are decorating the surrounding forest of the castle, and once they go inside it's raining indoors, the local Archfey is having a bad week and the servants have emptied the castle of everything that might be damaged by the literal rainstorm that surrounds them.
I don’t know if anyone knows it, but the tales of Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel have a pretty cool fae Villain called the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair. If people would like to mix some horror with fae, I’d say check him out
The line between a fairy tale and folk horror is a fine one, and certainly the Fey are important elements of many horror stories. Within the Feywild perhaps the motif of malevolent trees could be powerful. One important work in this genre is Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows". Many years ago I adapted elements of his "The Man Who the Trees Loved" to a Feywild setting (actually it was in 1E, so the official Feywild didn't exist yet). Blackwood's "Ancient Sorceries" is a story that has a theme that will resonate with Feywild fans (and crosses partially into the psychic investigator sub-genre); it leaves open the question of whether the main setting lies entirely within our world.
I appreciate how your videos can help a DM bring life to a Feywild that's truer to it's folkloric roots, rather than coming off like a fairy-inspired theme park. 👍🙂
I love Van Richten’s Guide. I’m DMing a Ravenloft campaign right now, and it’s tons of fun playing with themes of fear, depression, and anxiety. I’m currently doing the domain Dementlieu, which has the Grand Masquerade as one of its main parts, which makes it very much like a dark version of some fey wild things. I’m also looking forward to having them see the Carnival.
I think even besides Midsommar there's some GREAT examples of Feywild horror in Media. Even a lot of fairy tales are scary for that reason. Alice in Wonderland is in many ways a body horror - a girl lost in a world that doesn't make sense. Her body is grown and shrunk, the very flowers come to life, even games are living entities that see nothing wrong with everything going on. Folk Horror is pretty much many fairytales with warnings put into them. Little Red Riding Hood where a wolf tries to convince someone off the safe pathway. Or even the story of Persephone - don't do this or you'll become trapped. Gothic Horror? There's Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, and all the related tales of a marriage that seems good but truly there is a monster just behind the pretty veil (or a prince behind the monstrous veil) Other good horror recommendations: Annihilation (body horror of rapidfire evolution and DNA mixing with plants and animals), The Ritual (folk horror where friends go to Sweeden and get captured by the Mother of the forest), the VVitch (folk horrror of a family banished from a community and haunted by the Witch of the woods), The Village (Folk horror where leaving the village is forbidden because of monsters in the woods but a blind girl must venture out to find help). Gothic Horror is harder to name a specific film for but I think Labrynth with David Bowie is a good example (There's plenty of incredible Gothic Horror though I'm blanking on any that are easy feywid inspiration but always recommend Haunting of Bly Manor and Bram Stoker's Dracula 1992)
I like to look at nature to get some terrefying fey inspiration for example the shrike. The shrike or butcher bird impales the things it hunts on plant spikes or barbed wire to eat later. Ofcourse these birds are tiny but what if a large fey did the same...
Really like this. Im currently running a campaign surrounding a magical school with a strong horror aspect to the plot, and this gives me lots of ideas for it. Thanks!
My main baddie for my current game is something im calling an "Invasive". They are typically dressed in suits and dresses of the early 20th century, but their skin is hidden behind a swarming mass of some invasive species. For example, the first one my players met (and almost died to) was dressed in a grey three piece suit and had lantern flies swarming all over its skin and underneath the clothes.
I absolutely love the Fey Wild, and its capacity for horror. The fairy queen from Berserk is a perfect example of absolutely dreadful horror, painted over to look like a fairytale. Love it!
I just found your channel. Wish I found you before I started my Feywild DnD campaign, your videos are great inspiration. I hope I can include some of the inspiration in my (regency-like) Feywild court campaign. Love the idea of horror aspects in a Feywild game
I picked up something awhile ago, probably when it first released in 2022 called What Crooked Roots with 15 Folk Horror encounters by Cassi Mothwin. In my last session (only session 2), I ran one of the encounters in it for the players between the In Media Res campaign start Session 1 and the next thing that first session was leading to as just a bit of expanding the world and wanting to make sure I have Feywild elements happening at points, even though it's not this campaign's focus. The encounter was called Queen Beekeepers, and though it wasn't explicitly Feywild, it was definitely a lovely encounter. It centers around the PCs coming across a cottage with a bunch of bee hives next to it, and two beekeepers needing help lighting a funeral pyre for a quiet funeral. They are clad entirely in beekeeper outfits, unable to see their face, and at one point, one of the supportive PCs took one of their hands during the funeral and realized there was no hand inside the glove, just air (in-text they are queen bees and these are enchanted beekeeper suits that have given them the ability to talk, have long memories, and a rudimentary understanding of basic human practices -- the PC, bless her heart, played along with it and didn't give up the disguise during this event). Inside the pyre, is a child made of honeycomb, once animated and living, who came across a curious and hungry bear. The PCs helped them and the beekeepers were gracious hosts who allowed them to stay the night and gifted some special fey honey the color of mercury that looks like the rainbow in an oil puddle when the light hits it (a thing I found for Witchlight last campaign, but never used). In-text, if the PCs are hostile or unhelpful, they send them on the way with a jar of crystallized honey and risk botulism, soo.. yikes. It was a fun flavorful encounter though, and I've like just reading each one in it, definitely recommend folks look into that text. The encounters are generally low level, and range in difficulty in terms of deadliness for the PCs, so there's plenty of different options.
Love springs are a source of horror and shame (except for Bards, maybe). Your beautiful Eladrin Druid has stopped by an idyllic pool for a refreshing drink. Immediately after swallowing, you lock eyes with a: 1) Giant Forest Spider 2) Catoblepas 3) Unseelie Fomorian 4) A lost human known only as "That Guy" The magic of the spring includes "accommodation" guaranteeing the deed is fruitful. Now, the Eladrin Druid is responsible for birthing and rearing a half-monstrosity that isn't welcome at any other Eladrin child's birthday party. Oh, and all the other Druids have nicknamed your Eladrin Druid "Bardy pants."
Gonna run Witchlight and while it looks a lot of fun I’m annoyed that the archfey in distress is none other than Tasha herself rebranded as Zybilna. Don’t get me wrong, Tasha is great…as a villain or antagonist. But since she has so many connections, wanted or unwanted to demons and devils, this new domain of hers (which I’m rewriting that she essentially stole) is curiously populated w more fiends than one should expect. So rot and ruin, grotesque decay are all part of it. I also think that when perception checks roll under a certain number, they don’t just miss the moment, they miss it for a horrifying vision of something gone wrong instead
FULL AGREE. The dark is super convenient in the construction of horror, by creating the restriction of information and restriction of action (The two factor i say are fundamental in horror), it EASILY allows one to feel scared going in to any situation. Not seeing what you don't know, brings about a vulnerability that can be taken ahold of. But the fey works in mysterious ways, most of which cannot be explained! Even if you saw every bit of what it does under the sun. Thus in a new way, we have means of which of CREATING that "dark" effect.
The bright light element should in theory give the players confidence, since they WON'T be bumping into the walls in panic, but horror can be so much more frightening when players seem to have the advantages and could do everything right, yet they still can't predict everything.
The paintings in the garden comment just gave me the idea of a castle in the Feywild where all the paintings and the tapestries are decorating the surrounding forest of the castle, and once they go inside it's raining indoors, the local Archfey is having a bad week and the servants have emptied the castle of everything that might be damaged by the literal rainstorm that surrounds them.
I don’t know if anyone knows it, but the tales of Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel have a pretty cool fae Villain called the Gentleman with Thistledown Hair. If people would like to mix some horror with fae, I’d say check him out
The line between a fairy tale and folk horror is a fine one, and certainly the Fey are important elements of many horror stories. Within the Feywild perhaps the motif of malevolent trees could be powerful. One important work in this genre is Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows". Many years ago I adapted elements of his "The Man Who the Trees Loved" to a Feywild setting (actually it was in 1E, so the official Feywild didn't exist yet). Blackwood's "Ancient Sorceries" is a story that has a theme that will resonate with Feywild fans (and crosses partially into the psychic investigator sub-genre); it leaves open the question of whether the main setting lies entirely within our world.
I appreciate how your videos can help a DM bring life to a Feywild that's truer to it's folkloric roots, rather than coming off like a fairy-inspired theme park. 👍🙂
I love Van Richten’s Guide. I’m DMing a Ravenloft campaign right now, and it’s tons of fun playing with themes of fear, depression, and anxiety. I’m currently doing the domain Dementlieu, which has the Grand Masquerade as one of its main parts, which makes it very much like a dark version of some fey wild things. I’m also looking forward to having them see the Carnival.
I've been loving Van Richten's, too. And a masquerade is so perfect for a dark campaign!
I think even besides Midsommar there's some GREAT examples of Feywild horror in Media. Even a lot of fairy tales are scary for that reason.
Alice in Wonderland is in many ways a body horror - a girl lost in a world that doesn't make sense. Her body is grown and shrunk, the very flowers come to life, even games are living entities that see nothing wrong with everything going on.
Folk Horror is pretty much many fairytales with warnings put into them. Little Red Riding Hood where a wolf tries to convince someone off the safe pathway. Or even the story of Persephone - don't do this or you'll become trapped.
Gothic Horror? There's Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, and all the related tales of a marriage that seems good but truly there is a monster just behind the pretty veil (or a prince behind the monstrous veil)
Other good horror recommendations: Annihilation (body horror of rapidfire evolution and DNA mixing with plants and animals), The Ritual (folk horror where friends go to Sweeden and get captured by the Mother of the forest), the VVitch (folk horrror of a family banished from a community and haunted by the Witch of the woods), The Village (Folk horror where leaving the village is forbidden because of monsters in the woods but a blind girl must venture out to find help). Gothic Horror is harder to name a specific film for but I think Labrynth with David Bowie is a good example (There's plenty of incredible Gothic Horror though I'm blanking on any that are easy feywid inspiration but always recommend Haunting of Bly Manor and Bram Stoker's Dracula 1992)
There is a dark Feywild as well -- Drow and other fairie monsters.
I like to look at nature to get some terrefying fey inspiration for example the shrike. The shrike or butcher bird impales the things it hunts on plant spikes or barbed wire to eat later. Ofcourse these birds are tiny but what if a large fey did the same...
Really like this. Im currently running a campaign surrounding a magical school with a strong horror aspect to the plot, and this gives me lots of ideas for it. Thanks!
My main baddie for my current game is something im calling an "Invasive". They are typically dressed in suits and dresses of the early 20th century, but their skin is hidden behind a swarming mass of some invasive species. For example, the first one my players met (and almost died to) was dressed in a grey three piece suit and had lantern flies swarming all over its skin and underneath the clothes.
I absolutely love the Fey Wild, and its capacity for horror. The fairy queen from Berserk is a perfect example of absolutely dreadful horror, painted over to look like a fairytale. Love it!
I just found your channel. Wish I found you before I started my Feywild DnD campaign, your videos are great inspiration. I hope I can include some of the inspiration in my (regency-like) Feywild court campaign. Love the idea of horror aspects in a Feywild game
You have the best feywild content on RUclips! Love your stuff!
Thank you!
The transformation reminds me of Annihilation
I picked up something awhile ago, probably when it first released in 2022 called What Crooked Roots with 15 Folk Horror encounters by Cassi Mothwin. In my last session (only session 2), I ran one of the encounters in it for the players between the In Media Res campaign start Session 1 and the next thing that first session was leading to as just a bit of expanding the world and wanting to make sure I have Feywild elements happening at points, even though it's not this campaign's focus.
The encounter was called Queen Beekeepers, and though it wasn't explicitly Feywild, it was definitely a lovely encounter. It centers around the PCs coming across a cottage with a bunch of bee hives next to it, and two beekeepers needing help lighting a funeral pyre for a quiet funeral. They are clad entirely in beekeeper outfits, unable to see their face, and at one point, one of the supportive PCs took one of their hands during the funeral and realized there was no hand inside the glove, just air (in-text they are queen bees and these are enchanted beekeeper suits that have given them the ability to talk, have long memories, and a rudimentary understanding of basic human practices -- the PC, bless her heart, played along with it and didn't give up the disguise during this event). Inside the pyre, is a child made of honeycomb, once animated and living, who came across a curious and hungry bear.
The PCs helped them and the beekeepers were gracious hosts who allowed them to stay the night and gifted some special fey honey the color of mercury that looks like the rainbow in an oil puddle when the light hits it (a thing I found for Witchlight last campaign, but never used). In-text, if the PCs are hostile or unhelpful, they send them on the way with a jar of crystallized honey and risk botulism, soo.. yikes.
It was a fun flavorful encounter though, and I've like just reading each one in it, definitely recommend folks look into that text. The encounters are generally low level, and range in difficulty in terms of deadliness for the PCs, so there's plenty of different options.
The fact that your player didn't freak out is so heartwarming. What a beautiful and interesting encounter!
Love springs are a source of horror and shame (except for Bards, maybe). Your beautiful Eladrin Druid has stopped by an idyllic pool for a refreshing drink. Immediately after swallowing, you lock eyes with a:
1) Giant Forest Spider
2) Catoblepas
3) Unseelie Fomorian
4) A lost human known only as "That Guy"
The magic of the spring includes "accommodation" guaranteeing the deed is fruitful. Now, the Eladrin Druid is responsible for birthing and rearing a half-monstrosity that isn't welcome at any other Eladrin child's birthday party. Oh, and all the other Druids have nicknamed your Eladrin Druid "Bardy pants."
❤ so evocative ❤
🧚
Gonna run Witchlight and while it looks a lot of fun I’m annoyed that the archfey in distress is none other than Tasha herself rebranded as Zybilna.
Don’t get me wrong, Tasha is great…as a villain or antagonist. But since she has so many connections, wanted or unwanted to demons and devils, this new domain of hers (which I’m rewriting that she essentially stole) is curiously populated w more fiends than one should expect. So rot and ruin, grotesque decay are all part of it. I also think that when perception checks roll under a certain number, they don’t just miss the moment, they miss it for a horrifying vision of something gone wrong instead
I think leaning into her history by adding rot and ruin is a great idea. She definitely adds a morally gray component to an archfey rescue.
Nice work on the video!
Thank you!
I'm of the opinion you can tell a horror story under the bright light of the sun. Too many horror stories depend on nyctophobia imo.
FULL AGREE.
The dark is super convenient in the construction of horror, by creating the restriction of information and restriction of action (The two factor i say are fundamental in horror), it EASILY allows one to feel scared going in to any situation. Not seeing what you don't know, brings about a vulnerability that can be taken ahold of.
But the fey works in mysterious ways, most of which cannot be explained!
Even if you saw every bit of what it does under the sun. Thus in a new way, we have means of which of CREATING that "dark" effect.
The bright light element should in theory give the players confidence, since they WON'T be bumping into the walls in panic, but horror can be so much more frightening when players seem to have the advantages and could do everything right, yet they still can't predict everything.
Agreed! @@feywildfiend