Diego Marcheggiani
Before beginning this review of Into the Fey, I would like to thank The DM Lair for sending us a digital copy of their product. This adventure for D&D5e will take us deep into the world of fairies, among colourful elves and arcane horrors. The most frequently asked question will be “where did my coins go?” because yes, fairies steal, and not just a little.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy, you can find it for 46 dollars on The DM Lair website.
In order to use this manual effectively, it is recommended that you have access to the player, master and monster manuals. As an alternative to the player manual, you can refer to the SRD.
Introduction to the Into the Fey Manual
This 221-page manual is structured in 11 double-column chapters, each covering approximately 8 scenes. Excluding the first and last chapters, the manual allows you to freely choose which adventure the heroes will face. The plots work well even in a different order from the one in which they are presented. Moreover the first few pages explain the tone and provide useful advice for novice game masters.
Contents of the Manual
The manual contains several maps to use at the gaming table, NPCs, monsters and magical items. These materials allow the game master to offer a complete experience to the group. There is also useful information for balancing encounters and tables to add a touch of unpredictability, making this series of adventures unforgettable. In addition, the NPCs come with descriptions and characteristics and are presented in special boxes with images that can be shown to the players.
Review of Into the Fey Aesthetics
From an aesthetic point of view, the manual is full of beautiful images created by Sam Manley, Britt Martin, Beatrice Pelagatti, Scott Purdy, Jason Strutz, and Bryan Syme. Leafing through the pages, you will find various illustrations of items and NPCs, all colourful and inspired. They are excellent ideas for the game master’s descriptions and provide the right context for the scenes being narrated.
Expect some rather hideous monsters too; after all, not all fairies are delightful, graceful creatures. Despite this, it adheres to the aesthetic tradition of D&D5e, both in terms of page layout and maps, making everything familiar and pleasing to the eye while reading.
Review of the Setting of Into the Fey
The entire story takes place in Aeredale, a rather peculiar town. Here, disappearances in the countryside and forests are a frequent occurrence. When a sinister event occurs, the inhabitants talk about it constantly. They are often concerned about strange sightings in the forests or the increasing number of pranks played by mischievous children. Even among the most remote trees, where leaves usually dance in the summer winds and autumn rains, they will instead find an eerie silence that will send shivers down their spines, and not just from the cold. It will be up to the players to unravel the mysteries of this mysterious forest and its evil little fairies.
A question that will naturally arise is “why don’t the guards take care of it?”. The manual provides several answers and ironises over some of them: “if the guards solved the problem, you’d be there doing nothing” or “there are few soldiers available in Aeredale because of an impending large-scale invasion.” In short, there is always a good reason to roll up your sleeves and go on an adventure.
The Town of Aeredale
Aeredale is a lively city of merchants and woodcutters with a population of about five thousand. It is made mainly of humans, although many half-elves and halflings call it home. Dwarves, elves, and other races are rarer. For its civic heraldry and coat of arms, Aeredale uses a golden bridge with fortified towers at both ends on a blue background.
On their armour, soldiers wear blue tabards decorated with these effigies. Three teams of soldiers are on duty 24 hours a day. One patrols the city, while the other two stand guard at the east and west gates, in the towers flanking them.
Although Aeredale is quite concerned about the recent disappearances, it remains a lively town full of opportunities. Players will have to exploit them to uncover clues on how to solve the fairy intrigues.
Insights into the Settings of Into the Fey
Into the Fey thoroughly explores every single detail of the setting, leaving no room for error or doubt for the narrator. After reading the manual carefully, it will be very difficult to be caught unprepared by a question from the most challenging players. This is one of the features I appreciated most about the manual, precisely because a novice narrator can propose these adventures without having to work too hard on it.
Many details of the setting are also illustrated at the beginning of each adventure, so you can prepare for any eventuality in advance.
In addition, all the details related to the items that can be found and their various costs are listed in a handy table.
The 11 Stories…
- An Art Connoisseur: a clan of goblins has decided to steal a unique painting from a wealthy merchant, who is eager to have it back intact.
- Who Hunts the Hunters?: the Pukwudgies have kidnapped hunters to fuel the magical portals that the fae use to travel between the Fae Realm and the Material Plane.
- Trouble with the Pranksters: some pixies regularly play pranks and steal mead from The Cheating Fork tavern, which has now grown tired of putting up with these creatures and wants to find a solution.
- An Evil Lair: the Azarati elves have kidnapped two peasant families to turn them into du’Azarati for their evil purposes.
- The Knights of the Bush: recently, some children have been frightened away from the local berry grove by “walking trees”. The group of soldiers sent to investigate never returned to report.
- The Dancing Meadery: satyrs have taken control of the Dancing Meadery, driving out the dwarf owners and indulging in constant alcoholic orgies.
…To Be Played in Random Order
- A Noble Abduction: goblin explorers have kidnapped two girls and taken them to their leader, a powerful sea witch.
- Jealousy Suits You: the forewoman at the timber yard is receiving threats from the crew of the Blairmore (half of whom are selkies) and asks for your help.
- The Cult of the Underground Queen: cultists of the Underground Queen are kidnapping drunks from the Splashing Boot tavern to turn them into soul creatures.
- The Candy Witch: a hulder woman in a cottage west of Aeredale is handing out candied cherries to the town’s children, slowly corrupting them and turning them into puppets of the fae Vex’Mortem.
- More Fingers for My Jar: the brutal leader of the fae invasion directly attacks the characters, luring them into a trap designed to end their interference.
Conclusions of the Review of Into the Fey
Into the Fey provides an excellent original setting and a decidedly interesting campaign. The whole thing is also enriched with guidelines, well-defined tones and lots of ideas to extend the players’ adventures. This product can be described as excellent in almost every respect, and I won’t deny that I will also take some ideas to use with my own group.
The rules remain those of the original D&D5e, so it should not be difficult to understand the dynamics of combat and various situations.
If you are a fan of the fairy world or are looking for a new adventure or material to include in your main campaign, this is the manual for you.
