Domains of Delight

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

So let me get this straight.
Since 4e, Ravenloft is basically a collection of demiplanes in the Shadowfell/Plane of Shadow.
As the Shadowfell and the Feywild are both twisted reflections of the material plane but to opposite directions thus kind of parallel to eachother, the creators wanted for the sake of symmetry to give the Feywild its own set of demiplanes parallel to our Domains of Dread, called 'the Domains of Delight'.
But what are we supposed to do with this information?
Like, what qualifies an archfey to be a domain lord/lady other than being powerful?
How are these domains different from the 'normal' feywild?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not the sort of player or DM that only ever wants doom and gloom, and I'm not ruling out this setting. But if I want to play a campaign centered around magic, mischief and fun with a fairytale vibe, I'd just do normal Feywild - and focusing these Domains of Delight on the darker, creepier side of fey (which I'm 100% familliar with, no worries) kinda defeats the point of it being the opposite of Ravenloft.
Ravenloft isn't the Shadowfell on steroids - it's a self-standing setting with its own icons that happens to be connected to the Shadowfell.
So... How do we turn these Domain of Delight from 'Feywild on steroids' to a self-standing setting with its own icons that happens to be connected to the Feywild?

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Maybe the problem is the difference between bottom-up and top-down worldbuilding.
Ravenloft was built bottom-up: Originally I6 and I10 weren't set anywhere in particular, they were just cool horror adventures - then someone had the idea of extending the lore around them into a full setting, and the ideas of 'darklord', 'domain', and 'the mists' were built around this, slowly developing throughout 2e.
These Domains of Delight were built top-down: First people had the concept of 'there's this hole in DND cosmology, let's fill it with something, then started to think what kind of places and stories can take place there.

[Manofevil]

This may or may not help you with what you’re looking for here:
https://www.fraternityofshadows.com/fo ... php?t=2400

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

So I looked up that thread, but it's not what I want.
I'm not looking for an alignment-flipped AU that has doubles of each and every RL character
I'm looking for what the Domains of Delight were trying to do - a feywild demiplane that is to the feywild what Ravenloft is to the Shadowfell - but more distinct from the feywild itself and with built-in conflict that fits the feywild.

So...
I kinda forgot about this post for 40 days, until tonight I recalled it in the shower.
And what should I say?
The best ideas always come in the shower.
Age-old wisdom.

So I had this concept:
What if the lords of the Domains of Delight are not archfey, but mortals the archfey took a liking to?
Once in a while, a poweful fairy happens to encounter, or see while scrying into the material plane, a mortal they find fascinating.
Maybe it's their incredible compassion, brilliance or beauty; maybe it's a talent or skill they have; or maybe it's just their haircut, the way they walk, the slang they made up and no one else uses, the birthmark on their left elbow or some other hyperspecific detail that was just too special, regardless of its unimportance, to be left unnoticed; Whatever it was, the fey simply felt that this mortal was simply too unique and irreplaceable to be allowed to fade with the passage of time.
In that case, they snatch that mortal from their former life and 'adopt' them as their eternal pet, putting them in a domain tailor-made to make them as happy as possible and allow them to fully fulfill the quality the fey fell in love with.
However, there's a catch: The fey don't want their new pets to run away, do they?
These 'pet mortals' technically can leave their domains, but there's always some chain stopping them from staying outside for too long. Some are immortal only inside the domain and would revert to their real current age within a matter of days from leaving (which, depends on how long they'd been inside, would range from a new and unwelcome backache to crumbling into dust); Some are addicted to a specific magical food; Others had forgotten their real history - or had everyone back home forgetting they existed - meaning they have nowhere to go to.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

What if the lords of the Domains of Delight are not archfey, but mortals the archfey took a liking to?

Making the lords of these fey domains be mortals is certainly a better parallel to the structure of a Domain of Dread, and this twist certainly seems in line with the capricious nature of an archfey.

Conversely, it also implies that the Dark Powers are beings of a similar type to the archfey, but in keeping with the Shadowfell instead of the Feywild. That is an interesting interpretation to explore. Perhaps they too are just picking up mortals they find fascinating, but based on very different criteria.

[doctornecrotic]

I've found them to be useful things for me to cannibalize for Planescape content (a la AD&D 2e). I have little to no use for 4e cosmological stuff onwards outside of resource farming. I've personally made a project that retrofits that sort of content (as well as some 3E stuff that might not fit naturally) into the 2E era Great Wheel one way or another... complete with my own addition to the Rule of Threes with an unaligned/wild fey court in the Deep Ethereal (as I never cared for specifically making shadow and faerie mirrors of the Prime Material. I can accept it for Nentir Vale's own thing, but feels kinda shoehorned besides that.)
I'd just make distinct realms of the Fey be truly powerful places. Of course, I wouldn't do the boring "Save vs. Suck approach" for say the Unseelie Court... as that was a lot of the write up for Planes of Chaos and that write up sucked.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Of course, I wouldn't do the boring "Save vs. Suck approach" for say the Unseelie Court... as that was a lot of the write up for Planes of Chaos and that write up sucked.

What?

[doctornecrotic]

Of course, I wouldn't do the boring "Save vs. Suck approach" for say the Unseelie Court... as that was a lot of the write up for Planes of Chaos and that write up sucked.

What?

Essentially, Queen Mab forces you to make a saving throw or become a mindless thrall if you enter her domain... At least as it was written in the 2E Planes of Chaos Boxed Set. In addition the Unseelie having little useful info in that box, that one bit is basically useless. So yeah, in that instance I will farm newer edition ideas to backport into 2E.