Thread by @ajitgeorgeSB

I'd like to share some thoughts I had on storytelling in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel and how it might differ a little from other books. This thread should also give some insights into the process of how we made the book.

#RadiantCitadel #DesiDnD

On one side, we have great adventure paths that take you through an entire storyline to a final culmination and Big Bad. There are a lot of great ones and a favorite of mine for 5E is Curse of Strahd. These usually have a tight throughline—they’re like a movie or novel.

On the flip side are adventure anthologies that may share some thematic elements, but aren’t really linked or connected. They may even have been developed at totally different times, like the adventures in Tales of the Yawning Portal. They're a tv series like the Twilight Zone.

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel occupies an interesting middle-ground that I think of as something closer to a life path (I know this term is used in gaming in different ways). While adventure paths are great, they don’t resemble how we usually go through life.

There is never that much consistency, at least not for me, that would fit in an adventure path. Where I lived, the people in my life, what I want, what I cherish, etc have all changed so much from age 5 to 15 to 25, and so on. Our paths are messy, and sometimes incoherent.

We may have some key touchstones—a home or place, family or some lifelong friends, and some other key elements of our background—but much of the rest changes as we move through our lives and grow into ourselves. I think that’s part of the story of the Radiant Citadel.

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel had a long pipeline for the writers. We onboarded them in September ’20 and the last drafts came in July ’21. I wanted this time for several reasons, but in part, it was to ensure we were building something larger than our individual pieces.

There were two rounds of pitches; @FWesSchneider @the_strix & I reviewed each of them with many things in mind, including levels, themes, etc, but even things like geography/terrain. We wanted each adventure to build off of each other, hitting different notes and key points.

Additionally, at every stage, the writers got to see each other’s work on a shared platform: they saw each other’s pitches, locations, adventures, monsters, Pinterest boards for art that inspired them, etc. There were coworking video sessions and plenty of conversations.

We also had a dedicated peer-review period, where the writers were not only reading each other’s work but commenting and advising each other. All of this provided an opportunity to pull elements from one another, and riff off of each other.

Some of this is subtle, very subtle, in the final product. But some of this is very obvious and overt, including in the Radiant Citadel itself. And I believe what you end up with is a book that gives players a real life path that takes them from Level 1 and ends at Level 15.

There is no one story-ending Big Bad to fight (though the last one in the book IS epic). There is no one story being told. You will change over time, radically, in different ways. And embark on new paths. And I think all of that mimics our own lives, and how we go through them.

Yet, you will have your touchstones: The Radiant Citadel is very deeply and organically tied to each place and adventure and vice versa. You’ll have your family (your party) and your home (the Citadel), and more! And the themes of the book will resonate throughout.

As an aside, the “more” refers to the Dawn Incarnates who could be wise elders or mentors to your “family”, as well as other factions, NPCs, etc that can play different roles in the life of your character.

I'll talk about them more down the road.

I hope this helps give people an understanding of how one can approach Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. Yes, absolutely, it’s modular and each piece can be taken individually and separately for your homebrew world or established D&D world campaigns.

But you can also play it straight from beginning to end & you’ll get a very fulfilling arc for your characters as their lives take twists & turns, discover new places & learn new things about themselves.

Whichever way you play the book, I hope you’ll find it deeply fulfilling.

@friede, you might be interested in this thread.