D&D gets a dose of Star Trek with Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel

Dungeons & Dragons is a game firmly rooted in Western culture, one invented and traditionally written almost exclusively by white men. Although the franchise tried at times to explore other cultures, most of its efforts to do so have failed. They succumbed to tokenism, orientalism, and also gave in to harmful stereotypes. Wizards of the Coast is now bringing together Black and Brown writers to create a book of adventure stories called “The Adventure Book”. The Radiant Citadel: Journeys. It is an anthology of epic proportions that has the same feel as Star Trek classics.

The same format used in the critically-acclaimed Candlekeep Mysteries, Radiant Citadel contains 13 short adventures for parties levels 1-14. Radiant Citadel is what ties them all together. This mysterious, floating city in the Ethereal plane has an unusual backstory. It’s a cosmopolitan and utopian realm that welcomes refugees, while at the same time deploying heroes known as Shieldbearers to places in crisis to defend those in danger.

It is infused with Gene Roddenberry’s feel. It invites players to venture on episodic adventures to new realms where they’ll get to know different peoples and cultures. You can also use the in-game currency to get around. The Wild Beyond the WitchlightPlayers can sometimes solve their problems by using diplomacy, information gathering and negotiation rather than through combat.

As diverse as the cultures that they are, the tone and stakes for these missions can be as different as their content. The starting adventure, “Salted Legacy,” has players trying to stop a feud between merchants in a Thai-inspired night market, which requires earning renown by participating in a hot pepper-eating contest and a cooking challenge. The second adventure, “Written in Blood,” is a ghost story inspired by the Black experience in the American South. A high-level Chinese-inspired adventure will see the dying agent of an emperor send his players to the tomb of his father, who is obsessed with immortality. Few of the book’s antagonists are truly evil, with most villains driven by guilt, fear, and trauma.

It was especially impressive to see how the adventure stories allow players to have fun with classic adventures in a respectful setting. While creating exciting storylines, these characters are fully formed and developed. Along with the run-of-the-mill tomb raiding, there’s a lovely chase scene through a Middle Eastern-inspired bazaar that does interesting things with the well-worn concept of a magic carpet. Additionally there are adventures set during in-fiction celebrations inspired by Mexico’s Day of the Dead and Carnival. The stories are full of charming, surprising characters such as the friendly skeleton running a bar and the djinn that just wants to see his cousin and catch up.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Having writers from historically marginalized groups also means the adventures avoid the tropes of more traditional D&D adventures. Rather than simply taking a job from the local feudal lord, in “The Fiend of the Hollow Mine” players will work to help a revolutionary bandit locked in battle against a corrupt, demon-worshiping politician. In “Shadow of the Sun,” players must choose between helping a stifling angelic theocracy maintain its rule or aiding a group of secular artists in their fight against isolationism. The game also emphasizes cultural and racial diversity. Radiant Citadel Also, there are queer relationships, many non-binary characters and a prominent NPC wearing a prosthetic arm.

For those who might be intimidated running an adventure that’s a little outside their wheelhouse, know that Wizards has included lots of guidance for would-be Dungeon Masters. Every adventure opens with a pronunciation guide of the relevant places and characters and ends with a brief gazetteer providing hooks for players who want to come from that civilization and additional details about the culture’s food, dress, and values. You will also find advice for describing characters other than their skin color and warnings about offensive accents and costuming. A section is included for each culture on the names of genders, including masculine and feminine options.

Radiant Citadel’s The balance of making it easy to start characters and challenging high-level characters has been achieved by writers. The Radiant Citadel’s magical diamond is the centerpiece of this. It removes the high material costs for healing and restoration spells, while maximising healing. This allows players to recover quickly between sessions, and then get ready for the next adventure. To reward different playing styles, individual adventures were thoughtfully tweaked. The tomb in “Buried Dynasty,” for instance, is warded to prevent teleportation and then filled with fragile artifacts, making explosive spells a particularly bad idea. The effect forces powerful casters into finding other solutions for the issues they are facing.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

D&D is a multiverse, but the civilizations connected to the Radiant Citadel aren’t other planes of existence. These civilizations are actually city-states, or small settlements. While being deployed as Shieldbearers might make players feel like the crew of a Federation starship, these aren’t meant to be isolated or alien worlds but places that could just as easily be slid into an established campaign setting. There are ideas for having PCs come from each civilization as well as suggestions for where on the map they might be if you want to add them to Eberron, the Forgotten Realms, and even Mystara, which hasn’t received much attention since 3rd edition.

The adventures of not all civilizations linked to Radiant Citadel are the same. The book features several lost civilizations that will give DMs room to add their own connected societies to the game — or even loop in established D&D locations. End of the book, we will briefly describe two settings recently found and promising: The war-torn Tayyib Empire (with lots of potential) and Umizu (with plenty of potential), a Japanese-inspired setting that is filled with corrupted samurai as well as a crime syndicate and pickle-loving Tritons.

The Radiant Citadel: Journeys through it This is a great example of the explosive creativity that comes from bringing fresh voices into the game. Wizards of the Coast should continue to support the original creators of this project, and allow them to bring new perspectives and ideas to the future adventures and sourcebooks.

The Radiant Citadel: Journeys The standard edition will arrive on July 19. Sija Hong has created a special cover art for the alternate edition, which is limited to your local gaming store. However, you can purchase the standard edition at most major retailers like Amazon. Digital versions are available for the D&D Beyond toolset, Roll20, and Fantasy Grounds.

The Radiant Citadel: JourneysWizards of the Coast sent a pre-release copy of the book to be reviewed. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions for products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.