Wondrous Worlds Await You In The Radiant Citadel [Review]

By: Mithrandiel

As I've grown older, while my love for D&D has grown, I've found that I have less and less free time. Epic, multi-year campaigns are like a pipe-dream, though I still often cling to hope that one day I'll find one to stretch out and enjoy for months and months on end.

In the meantime, a far more alluring solution is pursuing one-shots: contained stories that can be carried out in 1-2 sessions, while still offering an engrossing narrative, and of course, the chance to smash in some faces in a Fantasy setting.

Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel is centered on a massive ethereal city that surrounds a magical crystal. Through this crystal, adventurers can travel to over a dozen different lands, and the possibilities and troubles they find in these lands is at the core of this sourcebook.

Ajit George, who headed up this project along with F. Wesley Schneider, pointed out at a previous Press event that the Radiant City which surrounds the crystal, is “...not a place of backstabbing and monsters and crime lurking just around the corner – the radiant city was meant to give players a real home.”

If you were a fan of Tales from the Yawning Portal - a now 5 year old D&D companion that offered a smattering of stories that ran the gamut in difficulty and RP/Combat spread - chances are you'll enjoy Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel [simply referred to as Radiant Citadel from here on] as well. Notably, the modules in this collection are much smaller, making it easier to properly execute in a single 3-4 hour session. There are a number of dungeons and stories in the formerly mentioned Yawning Portal sourcebook that would easily bleed into 2 or 3 sessions, depending on how much your party wanted to faff about.

Interestingly, while the plot hooks themselves are small, the richness of the individual worlds, as well as recommendations of where they can be placed in alternative settings, provides a lot of utility for DMs to provide these adventures as fun asides in the event of a missing player, or just to take a beat after a heavy narrative session.

Perhaps most importantly, each one of these 13 worlds and narratives have been brought to life by previously under-represented creators - indeed this is the first project from Wizards of the Coast/D&D that was exclusively made by diverse talent from Black and Brown communities, among others. Their influence is manifested in a number of ways through these adventures, from specific pronunciation and cultural guides for the various worlds your players explore, to thematic elements of the mistrust or injustice certain races or NPCs might experience at the hands of society's "Peacekeepers". This preview from Justice Arman's Shadow of the Sun adventure alludes to some of the complexities within this sourcebook.

Each adventure also features a section on both Life and Legends of the world within - informing players on what their background might be if they hailed from that world, as well as "old wives tales" or creation myths that are unique to these worlds.

You'll find pretty quickly that the stories within Radiant Citadel cover quite a spread: from a 1st level adventure in a lively marketplace to a 14th level adventure that has your party protecting dreams from a corrupting presence in a distant forest plane, there are plenty of opportunities to introduce (and re-introduced) friends to D&D by navigating them through one of the 13 different stories within. The fact that you'll also be able to explore various cultural influences and compelling moral and socioeconomic themes at the same time is just icing on the narrative cake.

Since this book focuses on the various stories, there is no expansion of classes, spells, items or races. This sourcebook knows what it's about, and it's providing some great framework for DM's to build stories from, whether they're taking their table on a one-night adventure, or building it out across many months.

On that front, it does a marvelous job. If you are a DM looking to enhance your library and offer a fresh slate of new adventures for players to explore, Radiant Citadel should be on your list!

Thankfully, you may have a chance to win an alternate cover copy here.

Otherwise, you can purchase it below:

Until next time, keep adventuring!