Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.
Pros
Lots more full colour art.
Lots of maps, even for the same adventure. So basically every important part of the adventure is mapped. I really like it.
A wide level range.
The adventures are more than just dungeon delves, and maps are provided for the other parts. There’s a chase or two, with tables provided. All of this combines to make really quite enjoyable adventures.
Could Go Either Way
Not related to an existing property or area. Though the adventures can be set anywhere with suggestions for alternate locations.
Compared to some other adventures, the framing device doesn’t really apply much. What this results in is that the adventures are easy to run as one-shots, or as side quests. But they don’t combine well into a story based campaign with what’s in the book. A little bit of work is needed to link them together. Without it, it’s more of an episodic TV show as opposed to an overarching season. Both are fine, but you need to know what you’re getting into.
I kind of wish more effort was made to adjust the adventures for lower levels, and also for different sized parties. I’ve run one of the adventures twice, once as written, and once adjusted down for a party of new level 1 players. Clearly I liked the adventure to run it twice, and once to use it as an introduction for new players.
Cons
No PDF*
* Denotes nitpicking.
Introduction
In my opinion, there can never be too many adventures. Whether we run them as written, steal parts, steal maps, steal combat encounters, or are simply inspired by some part of them, it never hurts to have more options. So here we have another. Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is a new such adventure book for this edition of D&D. It follows the previous simplified spell rules, and like many previous adventure books it’s made up of multiple small adventures that are held together by the framing device of The Radiant Citadel, a hub with portals leading to its founding peoples. In general, I quite liked it. There were some adventures that I really enjoyed. So with that, let’s jump into the specifics.
The Adventure
New Player Options
There is not much here. Most of the new options simply deal with role-play options due to being born in the location the adventure takes place, or on the citadel itself. I think some effort to allow players to tie backgrounds to areas is important. In completely home brew campaigns we can easily add characters from the same lands, or even visit them. But when running pre-made content, often the opposite approach is needed. Describing the location and cultures, and watching as players willingly and happily add details about the world into their backstory. So such efforts are appreciated.
New Monsters
There’s a few here. Not an incredibly large amount, but what’s here is interesting. My favourite is the Soul Shaker from an early adventure. Of course it’s undead, but it’s perfect for a low level horror centred game, like for Halloween. So in general, it’s a good addition. Too many new creatures that are the same as we already have is a bad thing in my mind.
That said, they’ve continued their simplified stat cards in this book. Instead of providing spell slots and known spells, they just give 3 times a day or 1 time per day in the stat block. I’ve made my opinions known that I find this inferior, particularly where spellcasters are concerned. This is made worse by having way too low level spells provided for some challenge ratings, leading to an easy counterspell. However, the creatures in this book tend to be more monstrous. For a wizard, such simple rules are a problem. But for a ghost, or some special necrotically infused undead, it works just fine. And in fact, some previous monsters did have abilities they could only use once a day. So in summary, though I dislike the simplification this book manages to mostly avoid my main issues with it.
What You Need to Play
The Monster Manual, Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide are referenced at the start of the adventure. With the SRD, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide, it should be enough to run the adventure. But your players will be more limited. This is pretty standard these days.
The Adventure Itself
As previously mentioned, this book is composed of multiple largely disconnected adventures. They go up in level the further you read, and they are loosely held together by The Radiant Citadel, which lends its name to the title. It’s a sanctuary that links to the homes of the founding peoples through portals. It was once lost, and then rediscovered and resettled. However, some of the original founding groups remain missing. And generally, each portal links to an adventure of a given level. The need to do so, short of being part of a Star Gate like group on the Citadel, isn’t that well defined and would require some fleshing out by the Dungeon Master if run as a campaign. It is particularly sparse even when compared to some recent adventures. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be more episodic. Some people like that setup, and it can be easier to have players miss sessions when there’s self contained chunks. Of course, some can be run as one-shots, mini-campaigns, or side quests. However, be aware going into it that this book is like that. And combining it into a campaign will require a bit of Dungeon Master work to create an overarching narrative and reason to visit each place.
Each adventure takes place in it’s own location. These are separated by portals, and allows for vastly different settings and even cultures to populate each place. As a result, each has its own flavour, and the locations themselves tend to have their own character. That makes each a breath of fresh air. What makes this book particularly good when it comes to maps, is that there are often adventures that occur in multiple places. In addition, these adventures are often more than a single location dungeon delve. There is role-play, mystery, exploration, chase rules being used, and even multiple locations. What this book does particularly well, and I’ll go into more depth below when discussing the art, is that it provides maps for multiple locations that feature in an adventure. Anywhere that combat occurs I think benefits from even a simple map. It allows tactics and locations to be used, and having these considered by professions can be a great help to new players. It’s also often important to keeping an adventure from feeling stale.
My favourite adventure is probably the second one. It fits all of my usual hallmarks. Undead creature bad guy called a Soul Shaker. One of the reasons I like this guy so much, is because it has some abilities that make it perfect for manipulating people and helping in setting up the adventure. Small amount of mystery, kick started by strange behaviour in the opening. It's really well done. The main antagonist is creepy in the way that undead should be. There are side characters, and each one adds to the adventure and builds towards a satisfying ending. They are helpful, and the adventure also can get them out of the scene before the finale. This both helps to build the suspense, but also to make it the job of the party alone. And there is a great bitter sweet feeling throughout. It really feels like a good complete adventure. I ran it for a new group this Halloween, and it was a blast. I do wish there was a lower level variant. I guess I'll do that myself later. But really, I was surprised and really enjoyed it.
The Art and Book Build Quality
The art continues to maintain it’s quality in this book as well. From the cover, to the internals, the style remains consistent and there’s quite a bit of art. This extends to maps as well. What makes this adventure particularly good when it comes to maps, is that there are often adventures that occur in multiple places. For both places, maps are provided. I think in general pre-made adventures should strive to give as many maps as possible, particularly where combat encounters are concerned. Simply having a list of enemies isn’t nearly as interesting as also have interesting tactics for them to use, and this tends to demand a good location. I do wish there were more realistic style landscape art though. Many of the locations, and the Radiant Citadel itself are just begging for it.
Price
Same as always.
What I felt was Missing
The main thing I felt was missing was more effort on the connective tissue to turn these adventures into a campaign. Maybe not the best campaign, but at least something. It also feels like a missed Planescape opportunity. It’s a better known location, and I can’t help but feel that it could serve as the setting for these adventures. Though I’d still appreciate effort to tie them in together into a campaign even in this case.
I also hope they can come up with a standard language to describe quest rewards. Sometimes they mention reward amounts of currency at the end which are bigger, or smaller than what was promised. Did the party get ripped off? Did they add a bonus? Is the bonus on top of the previous amount? It shouldn’t be so hard, and some consistent language would go a long way.
When preparing notes, I often write a few lines that may come up during play. They help describe each character, and also some plot points I may want to tie together during play. And having them ready to consult helps me more naturally bring them up during play, and also not forget them. I wouldn’t mind 3-5 quotes for important characters that can be dropped right in, or used to get a good impression of the character. It’s a little different than traits, bonds, and flaws. But for me, those often serve a similar purpose.
Free Stuff
Nothing to see here.
Summary
So here we are. Another book of adventures. Each one handles a level range, and is connected together through a hub world of sorts. In general, I think the adventures are solid, and they do a good job of providing lots of maps, and lots of opportunity for role-playing. Not much effort is put into combining them into a campaign, so it’s more of an episodic TV show of old. Part of me also wonders if they missed a chance for this to take place in Sigil from the Planescape setting. Though in general, if you need these sorts of adventures I think it’s a good choice. They are varied, they cover a wide level range, and the new casting rules don’t get in the way.
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