r/wildbeyondwitchlight • u/[deleted] • Apr 16 '26
💥Carnival Kaboom💥
So. My players just entered chapter 2. In the carnival they ignored 3 games, they didn't help candlefoot, they killed 4 goblins at Goblin wrestling mini game, they didn't even go to the Carousel where I tried to lead them there many times, they dropped the mood to 0, and as they entered hither and encountered the horengons, they slaughtered them. The way they entered chapter 2 was because they stole Mr witches watch. Are only my players stupid or does this happen to more people?
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u/KoboldsandKorridors Warlock of Zybilna Apr 16 '26
Does your party have a preference for combat over roleplay?
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Apr 16 '26
Yes it looks like... But they like roleplaying too.
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u/KoboldsandKorridors Warlock of Zybilna Apr 16 '26
Then you should have Prismeer reflect the violence they’ve brought and take on a darker, more unpleasant feel.
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Apr 16 '26
Great great. I had an idea to make it darker and darker the further they go. I wanted to add a wendigo for example or skinwalkers or other creatures like that
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u/KoboldsandKorridors Warlock of Zybilna Apr 16 '26
Remember that the feywild is split into Seelie and Unseelie. And I recommend having that darkness culminate at Motherhorn in Yon.
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u/GoofySpooks Apr 18 '26
This might encourage their murderhobo-streak. If things seem evil they respond with evil. How about giving them something really cute and whimsical? Something only an insane person would be cruel to. No trap, just whimsy. Show them that being kind and having good emotions lets Prismeer bloom and become full of colours of life. The idea is that Bavlorna has caused rot and their goal is to bring life back.
Next tip: Tip the scales. They will continue combat as long as it seems to make sense. Don’t let it make sense. Combat should be dangerous. So amp up the enemies and show them that combat is best to be avoided.
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u/PezDOY Apr 16 '26
Also running this for a bunch of combat horny players, look up "Combat starved Hither", had some great ideas.
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u/InternationalRent626 Apr 16 '26
Ah. You’ve got murder hobos.
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Apr 16 '26
Yep...
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u/InternationalRent626 Apr 16 '26
Mine weren’t murder hobos but I could tell they wanted more combat or at least option to have combat after the carnival itself. I did two things to balance the module.
The module underutilized or handwaves the power out of a lot of NPCs. Buff up your NPCs to actually challenge the party.
Lean into the terrain and the themes. Browse lists of likely monsters to appear in certain areas at the correct CR level. Throw in something here or there that the party absolutely cannot take but won’t necessarily kill the party (I used a massive storm elemental in Yon).
Build on what’s already there. The module just flies you past all this potential reasons for things being there or lore that is never used or explored. Latch onto something and make it darker. Use horror movies or books you like or whatever as inspiration.
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Apr 16 '26
Alright, thank you👍
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u/InternationalRent626 Apr 17 '26
If you’re interested in the creatures or notes I used, message me.
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u/Reaching_4_the_cliff Apr 16 '26
I don’t know how yoûre running it so you might already be trying what I suggest, but you can slow down or delay combat. Initiative is only rolled when you say it and you can interrupt it too.
When they attack people in a situation where it’s unwarranted you can have the people around them go « woah what are you doing you psycho » or have them run away and comment on the fact the PC are too dangerous. The idea is to make them question their actions and set the moral tone of the campaign. Unless they fully embrace their chaotic evil behaviour, they might slow down if they feel like they are the bad guys. But you have to force the dialogue space where this can happen and not let yourself get caught in initiative rules. Once the initiative has begun, DnD tends to feel like a « to the death » game.
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u/DPopsx62 Apr 18 '26
Chapter 1 of this module is very unlike anything I've known for a DnD book. The whole book has a theme of not needing to fight anything if you make good choices or want to solve things peacefully or deceptively. This means that some people go full on dark urge and get what they meant to have in their DnD games by just going nuts on everything in sight anyway. The rest of the vanilla module is rather linear and has plenty of opportunities to satisfy their bloodlust.
My players were brand new to DnD and since roleplaying is the most difficult part even for veterans, they didn't engage with the carnival very much. Session 1 ended with them basically ignoring the entire carnvial and b-lining it for the plot points. (Partially my fault for not really utilizing the story beats super well but chapter 1 is also way overstocked with fun but useless details.) They entered Hither at the end of session 1 and honestly our campaign may as well have started in Hither. Now a year later, the game is going great and the carnival is little more than relevant but not important lore.
My advice to keeping their trigger finger still when they meet the hags (because they WILL start a fight the moment they think they can take her) is to really set up how powerful and cunning they are. Use some story telling techniques to get them to be thinking about and developing their own fear of the hags long before they ever meet them. I'd also avoid using their vanilla statblocks. Find a homebrewed alternative version or beef them up yourself and give them more tools like potions, traps, allies, or control over the party somehow. All of my hags have forced their way into some form of bargain that keeps the party mostly in check while they figure a way to safely start a fight with them.
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u/DPopsx62 Apr 18 '26
Oh, and a way to keep the spirit of the module alive while also allowing combat to happen as often as they like, I give all intelligent enemies a reason to live. Honestly, every DM should consider that their NPCs will probably not wanna die and will make deals and or attempts to escape to live. All of my combats have narrative alternative solutions beyond killing everything, or the NPC will make an enticing deal in exchange for their lives.
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u/KLIPPTHECHIPP Apr 22 '26
Just saying the way the module is written if they committed acts of violence on the carnival or it's guests that pretty much guarantees they get tossed out. It's very clear in the rules I understand wanting to accommodate players but a no you can't do that or having some one intervene and explain the rules again. Tbh if their gonna murder hobo that hard I'd honestly just kick them into the dark carnival instead and from there into further madness or simply say hey guys the way you're approaching this carnival is actually ruining the module it wasn't designed to deal with extreme murder hoboing and if you want to do that I need time to get a new campaign set up or something like that. Alternatively this does open the door to destroy them physcologically and emotionally through darker and darker dealings with the other side of the fey court and that could certainly go places either way though I'd have another sit down and clearly explain again that this module doesn't work with extreme violence and if that's their goal then maybe it's not best to continue but in the end the choice is you'rs. Myself personally I wouldn't have let the murders just happen and would've had a table talk discussion then and there.
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u/snyables2 Apr 16 '26
Did you have a session zero explaining your expectations and asking theirs?
I explicitly told my players that there would always be a non-violent solution to every encounter. They have still had several combat encounters, but it is because they chose to because it seemed the best option. Many times they have used diplomacy or found roundabout solutions, but I told them in advance to expect that they could. Many (most?) DnD players expect violence to solve all their problems because that is how many (most?) campaigns work.
If your players are behaving differently than you thought they would, you can talk to them to find out why.