Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is the subsequent anthology of adventures for Dungeons & Dragons. The venture was conceived of by designer Ajit George and co-led with Wizards of the Coast’s F. Wesley Schneider. It will be the initial guide penned totally by folks of coloration in the nearly 50-year heritage of D&D. As this kind of, it will consist of a extremely different acquire on the traditional very first-stage adventure.
If you’ve at any time played via an introductory adventure from a Dungeons & Dragons starter set, you know how uncomfortable that knowledge can be. Sure, there is generally a couple of environmentally friendly gamers at the table, but that is not definitely what I’m chatting about. To me, the stakes at amount one particular always feels a little bit greater than they in any other case ought to be. The outstanding Dungeons & Dragons Necessities Kit, for instance, would make you far more or much less responsible for guarding an full location from a marauding dragon. Which is a hefty carry, even for a bunch of closely armed rookies. But what if that 1st taste of D&D was a bit far more centered on … let us connect with them delicate competencies?
Designer Surena Marie bought her start out with Wizards of the Coastline as a member of The Rivals of Waterdeep, an genuine engage in program that kicked off in 2018. She has considering that moved on to become the marketing and communications supervisor for Crucial Function. Marie is an illustrator as perfectly as a performer, with a history in Chicago’s improv theater scene. Which is partly why co-lead designers George and Schneider tapped her for Radiant Citadel’s degree-just one expertise, an journey titled Salted Legacy.
Salted Legacy is the story of two rival people who make their living in a vibrant night time market, just one loaded with numerous unique in-fiction races like kobolds and dragonborn. Gamers will practically maintain the fate of these two people in their fingers. But really do not anticipate this journey to perform out like it usually does in mainstream D&D, which typically leverages a multiverse born out of Eurocentric tropes and deep Tolkien and Tolkien-inspired lore.
“My mom is from Thailand, and which is exactly where mainly this experience is motivated from,” Marie mentioned throughout a presentation for the push. “With being initial-generation, there is this strange duality that you have to navigate in which you want to stay the big American aspiration you want to live the daily life that your moms and dads experienced come from a various nation to give you. But at the exact same time, there’s a big portion of us as currently being very first-generation that concerns about getting rid of our lifestyle, or we aren’t even granted total obtain to it since of the pressure to be extra Americanized.”
Marie states her journey takes advantage of those two thoughts as a fulcrum, though at the exact same time environment the story in opposition to more substantial thematic strategy of “the press and pull amongst market and custom.”
“I believe it was vital to also concentrate on much more personal experience,” Marie explained. “It’s not about preserving the world always. The stakes are not as large as some other amazing, outstanding adventures in the [book], but I consider that all people can empathize and fully grasp what it is like to care about your household, or [identify with] the thought of a rival spouse and children, [where] they are section of this vibrant community. […] To me, it’s just additional individual.”
The journey is encouraged in component by reality television, specifically the cooking demonstrate Chopped. It will, in accordance to Marie, also be the excellent starting up issue for other real perform troupes to begin their journey into performative tabletop job-engage in.
“One of my most important targets when I was producing this was not only for it to be accessible to new gamers,” Marie said, “but also with streamers and content creators in brain. […] I wished these themes and the feeling of chaotic marvel and preposterous issues to be reflected in the tale.”
Journeys through the Radiant Citadel will get there in shops and on line starting off June 21 and will cost $49.99. It will also be out there in digital formats, such as on Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and as a result of the D&D Past toolset.