Domains of Delight confirmed.

[Jester of the FoS]

The Feywild already had these in 4e, they were just called demesnes. Which is pronounced the same as "domain."
They were areas ruled by a powerful archfey, who could shape land.

Calling them "domains of delight" is just taking the concept that has been around for a decade and giving it an easier to say name. Although "delight" makes them sound a little too happy. It was obviously chosen to maintain the alliteration.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

... demesnes. Which is pronounced the same as "domain."

Learning this was one of the great disappointments of my youth.

[Le Noir Faineant]

...Des Moines, Iowa, definitely a place to avoid, then.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

what is a domain of delight? is is basically a domain of dread reflavored IE the darklords (or whatever the prisoner is called) have commited unspeakable acts worthy of punishment. Or is it like the lightlords who i heard about, true mirrors. or something else completely? i am just confused.

As far as I gather, I think we are just speculating right now.

Ithat domain with the Shadow elves that I forget the name of.

Shadow Elvenland?

Arak? The Keening of times gone by? The present-day Shadow Rift?
Unless there is another domain with shadow fey that I have forgotten.

"The Keening of times gone by?"
Keening was a part of Arak before the Scourge.

[onmyoji]

The Feywild already had these in 4e, they were just called demesnes. Which is pronounced the same as "domain."
They were areas ruled by a powerful archfey, who could shape land.

Didn't realize they were in 4E. I wonder how far the parallelism goes though. Are those archfey now stuck there because they committed terrible acts of...... goodness? Are they trapped to never leave because things are too... good? Still kinda doesn't track for me yet.

— onmyoji

[Resonant Curse]

The fact that they are trying to specifically design adventures for the liveplay/streaming community from here on out is a bit worrisome. Specifically trying to make every scenario to be broken into 2-4 hour chunks means quality of writing will probably lower because everything needs to be able to be reconciled pretty quickly. If you look at the average Adventurer's League or old rpga product, even the ones that followed an arc, the writing is almost always an obvious downgrade from larger products.

[onmyoji]

The fact that they are trying to specifically design adventures for the liveplay/streaming community from here on out is a bit worrisome. Specifically trying to make every scenario to be broken into 2-4 hour chunks means quality of writing will probably lower because everything needs to be able to be reconciled pretty quickly. If you look at the average Adventurer's League or old rpga product, even the ones that followed an arc, the writing is almost always an obvious downgrade from larger products.

Agreed. I looked into the AL companion adventures to Curse of Strahd as part of building my campaign, and getting narrative out of those I think 14 mini-modules was like squeezing blood from a stone.

— onmyoji

[Hell_Born]

The Feywild already had these in 4e, they were just called demesnes. Which is pronounced the same as "domain."
They were areas ruled by a powerful archfey, who could shape land.

Didn't realize they were in 4E. I wonder how far the parallelism goes though. Are those archfey now stuck there because they committed terrible acts of...... goodness? Are they trapped to never leave because things are too... good? Still kinda doesn't track for me yet.

— onmyoji

In 4th edition, fey demesnes were very much NOT like domains of dread. Rather, it was a side-effect of the fey's power interacting with the strong currents of natural magic that permeate the Feywild environment. Basically, if a powerful fey settles in an area, that area's terrain and baser life forms will shift in cosmetic ways that reflect the fundamental nature of that fey lord. For example, if an Archfey of the Winter Court settles in a forest grove, that forest grove will plunge into an eternal winter until they move on. These changes are always purely cosmetic; they're flavor elements, they offer no mechanical benefits to the resident fey "imprinter", who can move on whenever they like.

...Y'know what? Lemme dig up the exact quote...

Fey Demesnes
Within the Feywild are places referred to as fey demesnes, which typically manifest in locations where two or more ley lines meet (see the “Ley Lines” sidebar). A fey demesne attunes itself to the most powerful denizen that dwells within its boundaries (usually but not necessarily a fey creature), altering its environs to reflect the mood or disposition of that creature. For example, a demesne inhabited by a heartless death hag might be rimed with perpetual frost, while a tower inhabited by a mad goblin mage might be overgrown with twitching, grasping vines of some unnatural hue.

Demesnes do not form empathic links with the creatures to which they attune themselves, and such creatures exhibit no direct control over their environs. For example, storm clouds might gather above the palace of an eladrin king whenever he’s moved to anger, and only when his spirits are lifted do the clouds disperse.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

"The Keening of times gone by?"
Keening was a part of Arak before the Scourge.

That is why I referred to Arak as the "Keening of times gone by." I was acknowledging (in a flowery manner) that Keening used to be Arak. The Shadow Rift used to be the underground of Arak.

[onmyoji]

In 4th edition, fey demesnes were very much NOT like domains of dread. Rather, it was a side-effect of the fey's power interacting with the strong currents of natural magic that permeate the Feywild environment. Basically, if a powerful fey settles in an area, that area's terrain and baser life forms will shift in cosmetic ways that reflect the fundamental nature of that fey lord. For example, if an Archfey of the Winter Court settles in a forest grove, that forest grove will plunge into an eternal winter until they move on. These changes are always purely cosmetic; they're flavor elements, they offer no mechanical benefits to the resident fey "imprinter", who can move on whenever they like.

...Y'know what? Lemme dig up the exact quote...

Fey Demesnes
Within the Feywild are places referred to as fey demesnes, which typically manifest in locations where two or more ley lines meet (see the “Ley Lines” sidebar). A fey demesne attunes itself to the most powerful denizen that dwells within its boundaries (usually but not necessarily a fey creature), altering its environs to reflect the mood or disposition of that creature. For example, a demesne inhabited by a heartless death hag might be rimed with perpetual frost, while a tower inhabited by a mad goblin mage might be overgrown with twitching, grasping vines of some unnatural hue.

Demesnes do not form empathic links with the creatures to which they attune themselves, and such creatures exhibit no direct control over their environs. For example, storm clouds might gather above the palace of an eladrin king whenever he’s moved to anger, and only when his spirits are lifted do the clouds disperse.

That makes a lot more sense. So we're still arguably looking at creative bankruptcy on WotC's part, or otherwise the need to just milk the Ravenloft IP for all it's worth. Can't say I'm surprised at all.

— onmyoji

[alhoon]

I don't find domains of delight to be expression of any kind of "creative bankruptcy". To be fair, in fairytales we often see such things.

[Zilfer]

I'm not convinced it has anything to do with ravenloft either, save for maybe the connection of the carnival on it once belonging to the new Isolde.

[alhoon]

I would like to see the product connected to Ravenloft to be fair. I often try to run adventures in the glimmer-dark or how the underdark of the feywild is called. Half the adventures I run on underdark are full of glowing crystals and mushrooms and fey already. Throwing an archfey boss there and saying they happen on another plane would work better for me.

We also kinda need a product for those infernal and abyssal fiendish realms. I kinda use the Power rituals and reality wrinkle rules from Ravenloft for such realms, without the "curse" thing. I.e. for flavor an a couple extra powers.

And let's be honest here: I don't recall any product in the past several years that gives a decent approach on those Astral realms with the bodies of dead gods and whatever in the Astral plane. I would like that too.

For the Far Realm and aberrations? I have Bluetspur, VRGttM for cosmic horror and Lovecraft's novels. And a sick imagination.
Once the "Domains of Madness" is released, I am moving Bluetspur out of Ravenloft and into the Far Realm.

[onmyoji]

I don't find domains of delight to be expression of any kind of "creative bankruptcy". To be fair, in fairytales we often see such things.

It's too close of a tie-in for me. They can tie it into Ravenloft just fine, but part of the joy of tying things into Ravenloft is the subtlety. I'd much rather see some unobvious subtle connection between this new "domain of delight" and Barovia without the creators putting the cart before the horse. The phrase "domains of delight" suggest there are more, and it's not unlikely that each one has a corresponding domain of dread.

Which might've come off better had that been some realization obtained from actually completing this new adventure. Not something WotC just put out there so people who loved Curse of Strahd and the Van Richten's Guide will know to jump all over this one too.

Storytelling is an art. World design is an art. And I'm rapidly losing faith in the "men behind the curtain" to do this effectively. Of course, that's just my opinion; no one else need share it. But even if the domains of dread and the domains of delight are connected...... what purpose does that serve to accomplish? How does that further anyone's enjoyment of either realm? It remains to be seen of course, but that bad taste it left it my mouth won't go away either.

— onmyoji

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

the glimmer-dark or how the underdark of the feywild is called.

As I recall, the 4e Manual of the Planes gives the Feywild Underdark as the Feydark (and the Shadowfell Underdark as the Shadowdark).
That being said, Glimmerdark sounds really cool. It really fits the concept of a crystal cave.