The latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, focuses on quests set in new locations based on real-life cultures. All of the adventures are self-contained and can be completed within the space of a few sessions, with the Radiant Citadel being a location on the Ethereal Plane connecting all of the adventures together. Additionally, it is possible to turn Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel into a campaign using the Radiant Citadel itself as the focus.
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel contains thirteen adventures, with the first covering levels 1-2, and the rest focusing on levels 3-14. The book also has a chapter on the Radiant Citadel itself, fleshing out its citizens and the different facilities players can use. Each of the lands visited in the adventures also has a gazetteer outlining the region, allowing them to be expanded for use in further campaigns. The DM can use the milestone rule to grant everyone a level after each adventure (or two for the first), to ensure the group is suitably prepared for the challenges ahead.
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel isn't the first adventure anthology released for D&D 5e, but it is one that is best designed for stitching different adventures together. While it isn't necessary to use the Radiant Citadel in any of the adventures presented in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, utilizing the location is the key to creating a large-scale campaign out of the shorter challenges presented in the book. For example, the Radiant Citadel can be used as the main hub for a campaign consisting of loosely connected one-shots.
Tying Characters Into The Radiant Citadel & Using It As A Hub
The Radiant Citadel has strong connections to the fifteen lands that appear in the adventures of the book, so it is easy for players to create characters from any one of those lands and have them arrive at the Radiant Citadel, or for them to have been born there. This is because of Concord Jewels, the massive structures surrounding the Radiant Citadel that allow travel between different worlds. The fact that the Radiant Citadel is connected to many worlds on the Prime Material Plane means characters can come from all of the D&D campaign worlds, allowing for an incredibly diverse group of character types that won't feel out of place. A D&D group playing through Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel can easily incorporate characters from the standard D&D fantasy settings, like Faerun (the Forgotten Realms), Krynn (Dragonlance), Oerth (Greyhawk), or Eberron. The residents of Wildspace from Spelljammer can also find their way to the Radiant Citadel, as can the characters from the Magic: The Gathering settings that have been adapted into D&D, including Ravnica, Theros, and Strixhaven from Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.
The Radiant Citadel is also home to at least a dozen archmages, as well as twenty mages, any of whom could possess the means to open portals to other worlds. The Radiant Citadel welcomes everyone, especially those who don't cause trouble, so an adventurer can potentially come from anywhere. A D&D player who has an unusual character concept or wants to create a character from a fictional setting outside of D&D (such as Eorzea, Middle-earth, Hyrule, or Westeros) may find that Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is the perfect fit for introducing new or homebrewed content.
Using Sholeh As A Group Patron To Keep Players On Track
After building a party, a framework is needed to go on the adventures in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. With a wide variety of settings used in the book, a guiding hand can be helpful in ensuring players know where to go and which areas to explore. It's here the D&D group patron rules can come in handy, as a person of authority can assign missions and help guide campaign progression. Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel has the perfect candidate for the position, as Sholeh can act as the ideal group patron. Sholeh holds a high rank in the Radiant Citadel, being the oldest serving member of the Speakers of the Ancients, and has a vested interest in keeping the peace in the lands connected to the Radiant Citadel. She also spends a lot of time with the citizens of the Radiant Citadel, making it easy to tie her into the short-term backstory of each party member.
The Radiant Citadel has many defenders, but they are needed at their post. Sholeh might wish to use the party members to act as her eyes and ears in the realms connected to the Radiant Citadel, dispatching them as needed if trouble begins. They can also act in an unofficial capacity in the affairs of other regions, without making it seem as if the Radiant Citadel is interfering in local politics. Sholeh is also seeking the lost twelve civilizations once connected to the Radiant Citadel, which can be an adventure hook for any content the DM wishes to use that isn't part of Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.
The Party Can Be Dropped Into Any Dungeons & Dragons Adventures
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is a lot easier to run as a campaign than Candlekeep Mysteries, as its central location and capacity to travel great distances means the Radiant Citadel can act as an easy staging point for adventures. Sholeh, or a representative of one of the fifteen lands, can show up on the party's doorstep and set up the events of the next plot point. The fact that each of the Dungeons & Dragons adventures are self-contained makes it easier for the DM to prepare for each session, and it allows for many different kinds of challenges in the same campaign.
The Radiant Citadel can also be connected to standalone adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, as all it takes is a portal to Faerun or Oerth to set things up. Additionally, the DM can cut pieces out of different existing campaigns, such as The Witchlight Carnival from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the Argynvostholt mansion from Curse of Strahd, or the Nine Shrines from Tomb of Annihilation, for a wide variety of fast-paced and exciting challenges. Because of this, D&D: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel could be the perfect framework for a tapestry of diverse and exciting adventures.