Lorwyn: First Light is a supplemental product for Dungeons & Dragons that brings the plane of Lorwyn into the multiverse of D&D in the form of Faerie Domain in the Feywild. This is a digital-only product (no physical printing) and one of several supplemental products that bring Magic’s planes into D&D’s multiverse. It is, technically, the 13th supplement in the 5th Edition of D&D to do so.
So who is this product for? Primarily it’s for players of D&D, and especially those looking to explore the Feywild through the lens of a unique setting like Lorwyn. In case you’re unfamiliar, Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are the light and dark side of a single realm. The border is constantly shifting and as it moves, the realm and its inhabitants take on the form of their new influence of either Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn, or Isilu, Carrier of Twilight.
Lorwyn has so many of the hallmarks of a Feywild domain including (obviously) faeries and boggarts and elves but also the very interesting kithkin, flamekin, and changelings, just to name a few. Lorwyn: First Light has new rules to give characters a background for either Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, and to adapt all of the aforementioned species from the core rules to fit Lorwyn and Shadowmoor.
As if that wasn’t enough, this supplement has a gazetteer highlighting not one, not two, but nine (yes nine) major locations across both realms plus smaller descriptions of an additional 17 minor locations! If you strung all of the flavor text together from the Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide expansions you’d probably still have less than a fraction of what this gazetteer brings as far as lore goes.
So who else might this product be for? If you’re a Vorthos-profile Magic fan, this book, which costs less than a Magic draft these days, is chock full of lore, history, and fun facts about the various races, cities, and stories behind Lorwyn and Shadowmoor. Wondering what’s going on in Glen Elendra these days? Curious about what Dawnglow Infusion is all about? Can’t get to sleep at night because you keep asking yourself if the Lorwyn elves are still kind of full of themselves? Wonder no more!
And finally, the target audience that may enjoy this supplement the most is going to be a D&D group that also loves Magic lore. Have you always wanted to play a warlock with a fey pact made with Oona, Queen of the Fae? Now that she’s gone, do you side with the new queen, Maralen? Or do you curry favor with Oura, the faerie looking to usurp Oona’s throne? Have you wanted to play a fire genasi like Ashling, Rekindled? Or maybe you just think it would be fun to romp around a boggart warren. If so, this book is definitely for you.
I wasn’t expecting a Lorwyn/Shadowmoor supplement for my Dungeons and Dragons collection but Lorwyn: First Light is a refreshingly well put-together guide to bringing this unique Feywild domain to your table. Whether you want to start a campaign there or have your party thrown into the topsy-turvy night-and-day aesthetic, or perhaps more interesting let a few boggarts loose in Baldur’s Gate’s upper city!
Lorwyn Eclipsed will be out in a few months, and this is a great way to start getting in the right mindset for Magic’s return to the Feywild.
Rich Stein (He/Him) has been playing D&D since the late days of Advanced D&D and enjoys tabletop RPGs of all flavors. He’s currently playing in a Fabula Ultima campaign and planning a Shift campaign for his 8 year old and their friends. He hopes to get a Dungeons and Dragon campaign with some close friends and family kicked off in the new year. He thinks Magic the Gathering would translate very well to an RPG system, but that system unfortunately isn’t Dungeons and Dragons so the world may never see it happen.