History TabletopGame / TheWildBeyondTheWitchlight

* GrannyClassic: Subverted. Skabatha Nightshade likes to ''present'' herself this way, but in reality, she's cruel and cold hearted.

* CulturalRebel: Mr. Witch and Mr. Light are shadar-kai. The race as a whole is a species of TrueNeutral elves who serve the Raven Queen, the LawfulNeutral god of death, fate, and winter. Shadar-kai also have ties to the Shadowfell, which is essentially an afterlife waiting room where the souls of the dead are judged. Every member of the race as a whole tends to have a mournful and joyless disposition. Mr. Witch and Mr. Light, by contrast, are ChaoticGood carnival owners who want their guests to have a good time when they show up. [[SheepInSheepsClothing Digging beneath the surface also shows they really are as nice and joyful as this outward appearance]]; although they do have a few skeletons in the closet, the two carnival owners are nothing like typical shadar-kai.[[invoked]]

* CulturalRebel: Mr. Witch and Mr. Light are shadar-kai. The race as a whole is a species of TrueNeutral elves who serve the Raven Queen, the LawfulNetural god of death, fate, and winter. Shadar-kai also have ties to the Shadowfell, which is essentially an afterlife waiting room where the souls of the dead are judged. Every member of the race as a whole tends to have a mournful and joyless disposition. Mr. Witch and Mr. Light, by contrast, are ChaoticGood carnival owners who want their guests to have a good time when they show up. [[SheepInSheepsClothing Digging beneath the surface also shows they really are as nice and joyful as this outward appearance]]; although they do have a few skeletons in the closet, the two carnival owners are nothing like typical shadar-kai.[[invoked]]

* DecadentCourt: Downfall is full of scheming bullywugs vying to be king, with the position being very quick to change given that KlingonPromotion is in effect. The current king, King Gullop XIX, hasn't been in his position very long when the adventurers arrive. And given that [[spoiler:he had Bavlorna's Big Book of Bad Blood stolena way from her just a few hours ago]], he probably won't be in his position very long unless he can scheme his way out.

* CircusEpisode: ''The Wild Beyond the Witchlight'' serves as this among the 5th Edition adventure modules, although it's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] since much of the adventure is focused on exploring the realm of Prismeer after stumbling upon the secret portal within the Witchlight Carnival.

* DealWithTheDevil: The hags are willing to bargain with parties when they're in the mood, and while they offer no impossible tasks and are true to their word, [[ExactWords they will certainly use those words to screw you over]] if given the opportunity. This one of the ways to recover a Lost Thing from a hag.

* DecadentCourt: Downfall is full of scheming bullywugs vying to be king, with the position being very quick to change given that KlingonPromotion is in effect.

* SheepInSheepsClothing: Mr. Witch and Mr. Light are both presented as part of TheFairFolk, or at least very closely associated with them. The players can accuse them of IntangibleTheft from their childhood, but the carnival runners will tell the players truthfully that they had nothing to do with it. The two of them really do want their guests to have a good time at the carnival, and that's all. The only time they're actively malevolent is if you try to sneak into their carnival without a ticket, or try to attack them. They even can help direct you to Prismeer. [[spoiler:And even the intangible thefts as punishments aren't their fault, since Witch and Light's hands are tied by the Hourglass Coven. Witch and Light can admit they're not the carnival's original owners, and have agreed to let the Hourglass Coven steal from anyone who sneaks into the carnival without a ticket. Witch and Light have tried to neutralize this situation by diligently checking all visitors for tickets, but some unfortunates will inevitably slip through, making them targets for the hags' thieves. That being said, Witch and Light see the adventurers as a way to get around this problem, and hopefully free Zybilna and break the Coven's hold on their carnival.]]

* SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration: It falls into the Natural Integration type, where where the gameplay and the story draw from separate convention pools but there is enough conceptual overlap for [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief the player to just ignore small internal inconsistencies]]. However, there is one exception with the Witchlight Monarch title, which can be earned in Chapter 1. Should a character be crowned the Monarch, they retain the title of Witchlight Monarch forever, and this title bears weight in the realm of Prismeer. Fey creatures in Prismeer will not attack a Witchlight Monarch unless the Monarch attacks first, and fey creatures in Prismeer treat a Witchlight Monarch with great reverence, addressing the character as "Your Majesty" or "Your Highness" throughout the campaign. A player who becomes a Monarch can thus use this to their advantage in gameplay terms, which would bump this into a Deliberate Integration of the two sides of the campaign.

* TimeStandsStill: [[spoiler:Most of the Palace of Heart's Desire is under this effect, with people still in the midst of their daily duties or mid combat. One guy, Strongheart, was frozen in the midst of falling to his death]].
* TooAwesomeToUse: Whomever gets crowned as the Witchlight Monarch gets three uses of magic butterfly wings that give them a flying speed for one hour, as well as advantage on all Charisma-based checks in Prismeer while the wings are out. However, the Monarch only gets three uses of these wings total, with no way to recharge it. As such, expect whichever PlayerCharacter gets the title to pull out their wings very sparingly.

** Bavlorna is [[spoiler:allergic to running widdershins, and doing so prevents her from casting spells until the end of her turn]].
** Skabatha [[spoiler:forgets the first creature she sees on waking up, and can't see it until the end of her next rest]]. She has taken measures to counter this, however, by [[spoiler:keeping jar of moths in her room that can act as a harmless first creature to forget]].
** Endelyn [[spoiler:can only be killed when in the presence of a solar eclipse, symbolic or otherwise]].

** Candlefoot, a human, is in love with Palasha, the mermaid. Cnadlefoot was in the middle of proposing to Palasha when a kenku stole his voice, so they're separated when the story begins.

* BizarroElements: This module introduces Custard as a damage type.

* InterspeciesRomance: Alidor, the talking dandelion, is smitten with Pollinella, a honeybee.

* IntangibleTheft: Some of the things the {{Player Character}}s may have lost when they were young at the carnival are metaphysical. These include artistic ability, the ability to smile, or even a memory. Part of the motivation for returning to the carnival is getting the thing they lost back.

* MilesGloriosus: Agdon Longscarf. He talks big and has a whole crew of brigands literally singing his praises but if you [[spoiler:grab his scarf]] he'll surrender almost immediately, and start pathetically sobbing and begging for his life.

* PacifistRun: This adventure is able to be completed without ever needing to get into a fight. Instead, you can talk your way out of a conflict, make deals, or solve problems with [[OutsideTheBoxTactic somewhat out-there tactics]]. It's the first ever ''D&D'' officially-licensed module in which you can go through the entire adventure as-written without ever getting into combat.

* SacredHospitality: One of the three core rules of Prismeer is "When a friend, an enemy, or a stranger enters your home, you are expected to be gracious and accommodating to them until such time as they prove, by their words or actions, undeserving of such hospitality". Even the Hourglass Coven is bound to this rule.

** On the map of the carnival, the [[WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983 roller coaster from the 80s cartoon]] can be seen.

* PrettyButterflies: Guests to the Carnival get fake butterfly wings when they get into the carnival that they have to either wear or carry at all times. Also, whoever gets crowned as the Witchlight Monarch gets three uses of magic butterfly wings that give them a flying speed for one hour.

* WouldHurtAChild: Played with. Granny Nightshade has kidnapped multiple different children in Thither, and has no intention of letting them go. She even has one of them, a nine-year-old human girl naked Mishka, chained to a workbench for trying to escape. However, a powerful magic cast by Zybilna prevents children from being hurt in Prismeer. Any child in Prismeer who would take damage as a consequence of another creature's actions vanishes in a burst of multicolored light and is spirited away to a safe corner of Prismeer, unharmed and unreachable. Children sequestered in this fashion can't be located or scried upon using magic. So it's not that Granny Nightshade doesn't want to hurt them, it's that she ''can't'' hurt them, or they'll be teleported out of her reach. That being said, Nightshade keeps the children healthy and young, because she's using them for manual labour, and [[PragmaticVillainy it would be just plain wasteful to have servants who can't do anything]]. Plus, she's still kidnapping them and using them for her own devices away from their guardians and their home worlds, so it's still harming the children, albeit indirectly.

* TheWeirdSisters: The Hourglass Coven.

* WouldHurtAChild: Played with. Granny Nightshade has kidnapped multiple different children in Thither, and has no intention of letting them go. She even has one of them, a nine-year-old human girl naked Mishka, chained to a workbench for trying to escape. That being said, Nightshade keeps the children healthy and young, because she's using them for manual labour, and [[PragmaticVillainy it would be just plain wasteful to have servants who can't do anything]]. Also, the hags are aware of a powerful magic cast by Zybilna which prevents children from being hurt in Prismeer. Any child in Prismeer who would take damage as a consequence of another creature's actions vanishes in a burst of multicolored light and is spirited away to a safe corner of Prismeer, unharmed and unreachable. Children sequestered in this fashion can't be located or scried upon using magic. So it's not that Granny Nightshade doesn't want to hurt them, it's that she ''can't'' hurt them, or they'll be teleported out of her reach.