After I recently reviewed his Dungeon Babies supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, Jason Bradley Thompson got back in touch with a copy of an upcoming supplement that he contributed to. Unlike Dungeon Babies, Encounters in the Radiant Citadel is not a solo effort, instead being a compilation of encounters designed by a bunch of different writers.
The project was led by Lyla Mcbeath Fujiwara. I’ve nabbed the credits to give a full account of everyone involved:
A PDF review copy of this book was provided by the author. No further payment was provided or promised and the views represented below are entirely my own. I also never promised to write any review. Any link to purchase this book will be an affiliate link through which I will earn a small commission.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
Intended as a supplement to help players run a Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel campaign, this PDF includes 10 one-session encounters to slot into a larger campaign:
- The Trial of Suree Sangsorn (level 2)
- Fraud Wars (level 3)
- Rosá-Tinted Glasses (level 4)
- Curse and Contagion (Level 5)
- Has Anyone Seen Sparkle? (level 5)
- The Radiant River (level 5)
- Out of the Gloom (level 7)
- Belles Will Ring (level 8)
- Indifferent Justice (level 10)
- Wyvern Are Legion (level 13)
At first glance, a couple of the encounters immediately jumped out at me. The Trial of Suree Sangsorn (by John Cardoso) and Fraud Wars (by Léon Othenin-Girard) caught my attention as both promised to give some really great opportunities for roleplay, focusing as they do on a trial and on a disagreement between trading companies, respectively. This is the sort of thing I really like. Being the first two encounters in the book, this made for a promising start! Let’s use these initial two encounters to examine the layout and usability of the book.
Each of these two low-level adventures takes up a single page and follows an identical format. Each begins with a short introduction before moving on to a little bit of background information and some character hooks. The remainder (and bulk) of the page is then taken up with the main points of the encounter (The Trial and Investigations, respectively) and a conclusion.
The background sections are quite short, though the word ‘concise’ would also be appropriate. The Trial of Suree Sangsorn’s background section lays out some basic details on the titular mage and their apprentices. It also lays out the situation that led to the trial. The character hooks section is, again, quite short, but suggests a couple of different ways into the adventure for players, either via roleplaying a general interest as one of Suree’s customers or in search of a reward for assisting the defendant.
The meat of this encounter writeup features instructions on the structure of the trial, some objectives for the players, one small piece of scripted text, some actions and tests that are required to meet certain objectives, and a magic item to find in Suree’s shop. I really like the item because not only is it a piece of evidence for the trial, but it’s also a cool magic item that the party could keep afterward. The conclusion section lays out what happens if the party is successful, or if they are not. I like that, as this is intended as an encounter within a larger campaign, I think you could end up with a very differently positioned ally for the rest of the campaign depending on your group’s performance in this encounter.
The second encounter, Fraud Wars, follows an identical structure. Again, the two plot hooks give quite different ways into the encounter. I like the sections on each of the two companies and their respective products, which can again acts as both plot devices, and items that could be kept by the party and used in the future. This encounter feels a little less structured than the first, giving a bit more room for some corporate intrigue. Again, what I really like is how the conclusion sets the party up with different allies and relationships with these corporate entities, depending on how they resolve the issues between them.
The rest of the adventures are largely similar in structure, with a few embellishments here and there. Rosá-Tinted Glasses, for example, gives a statblock for a new enemy (Contaminated Skeleton). Out of the Gloom, Indifferent Justice, and Wyvern Are Legion also contain some new statblocks. Rosá-Tinted Glasses also contains a simple map that can be used with an online virtual tabletop such as Roll20. Here’s a small snip of the map to give an idea of the visual style:
There are similar maps for Has Anyone Seen Sparkle and Belles Will Ring. There’s one other adventure that uses a map, but it’s a very different one. This different map is for The Radiant River, Jason Bradley Thompson’s encounter. Given Thompson’s established ability in both art and writing (the talented git!), this map is not like the others, being a drawn piece of art, rather than one put together in a mapping application. Both have their place, of course, but this supplement is a little sparse in artwork, so this piece is an absolute treat. Here’s a small snippet for flavour:
Beautiful.
The art in this book is all really nice, actually. There’s just not that much of it. The highlights are definitely Thompson’s map, along with a piece depicting a Vine Blight, and an image of the Radiant Citadel itself. Oh, and the cover. The cover is cool.
There’s not a bad scenario in the book. Having read through them, there are none that I wouldn’t want to play, but there are definite highlights. The first two, I have already mentioned, more for their theming and lack of a combat focus (big plusses for me) rather than the actual content. With several distinct outcomes and being probably the most optimised encounter for use on a virtual tabletop platform, Has Anyone Seen Sparkle (by Lyla McBeath Fujiwara) could see some really good play in online campaigns. It feels like one of the more structured encounters, which will definitely appeal to some people who like to pick up a module and get right into a game.
The Radiant River (by Jason Bradley Thompson) is another highlight because of the map-based exploration. The conclusion section is a wee bit sparse, but the descriptions of each of the 10 map locations, plus a random River Encounters table makes for plenty of opportunities for exploration-based play. With extra rules for the river sections and cave tunnels, there’s a lot packed into a couple of plages, much like we previously saw in the One-Shot Wonders book.
The final Encounter, Wyvern Are Legion (by Aaron Gable) also seems fun. The stakes are set really high in the setup, requiring the players to stop a ritual that would awaken the Sapphire Wyvern. I like the slight complexity (not usually my thing!) introduced in the ritual. The provided diagrams really help to illustrate how the encounter works, too. This is one of the crunchier encounters in the book, and it works. I really like it. I could also see myself using the Sapphire Wyvern statblock in another game. I reckon it’ll be a cool addition to a game I have going at my after-school group.
To use the book as-is, you’ll also need access to some Wizards of the Coast materials. Specifically, there are items and enemies that reference information found in the following books:
- Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
- Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (duh!)
- Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
I didn’t realise how far behind I was with D&D books… I’d been keeping up for a long time, but it must have been around the time that Fizban’s was released that my hobby budget started to get redirected more towards miniatures again.
All in all, this is an interesting supplement. It’s short, but that’s largely because it is concise, and manages to fit a lot into a small space. It’s not a standalone campaign, though I suppose you could string encounters together and make adjustments for levels and whatnot as you do. Some of the encounters give advice on making level-based adjustments, actually. That’s a nice touch. There’s not a huge amount of art, but it’s not bad for the size of the book. The fact that they include a zip file with maps and whatnot is also a big plus.
The price is set at around $5 on the DM’s Guild, and that seems fair. The book won’t be as much use for people who insist on designing all of their encounters for themselves and like to pick up books for items, creatures, and the like, as the content is quite specific. There aren’t a lot of statblocks and items that are going to be all that transferrable. That said, does there need to be? I’d recommend the book to anyone looking to expand on existing campaign plans, particularly in and around The Radiant Citadel. The character hooks give interesting routes into the adventures that will help you drop these encounters as side jobs, fillers, or the like in your campaign.
You can click here to visit the DM’s Guild page for Encounters in the Radiant Citadel.
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