So, as the release date draws near, is anybody going to buy Journey through the Radiant Citadel? I think I will, but not to play the adventures. My party (I'm the DM) is looking for a Silver Sword of Gith. Their journey will take them through the Radiant Citadel and most possibly it will not remain standing after they went through. How many of you are going to ransack the Radiant Citadel as well?

Anyway, I've written a small prelude to my party's journey to the Radiant Citadel. It features Hildebrand, a then-young warrior who will hire the party, as an older warlord, to activate the portal leading him and his horde to the Radiant Citadel.

What leads would you use to get your party to the Radiant Citadel? Anyway, part one of the story (I'm not a good writer, mind, and not an Anglophone to boot):

He stood before the portal. Emaciated. Buckling under the weight of his greatsword, slung across his back. A threat to no one, except himself. The journey had taken a heavy toll but he was here. As the last survivor of his tribe, maybe? It did not matter to him. He got out. The fire giants would not claim his soul that day. But what is more important was that the place of legend did exist. Hildebrand, as he was named, was exposed to the elements. Long strands of chestnut-brown hair, hanging from his alabaster white scalp were swinging in the wind. The pieces of his armour chafed and were crying to be taken off. Where he came from, it was always freezing cold. The portal shimmered and gave off a warmth that was very welcome in this barren land. Hildebrand sighed and stepped through the portal. If the legends were true, this would lead him to a safe haven to rest his weary bones, maybe quaff some mugs of ale, get a room and a bath, ply his trades with the local enforcers, or, failing that, the crime guild. He burned all bridges, or rather, the giants did when they attacked his tribe, so his reputation did not matter anymore. He was welcomed by an explosion of colours, of odours, of tastes. Folk from all walks of life were walking around the market plaza. There were cooking contests, people talked at length to one another, about the legends of their culture, the whole place had a vivid ambience to it. What did differ, though, compared to all the other cities he visited, and as a former sell-sword, he saw his share, was the fact there were no beggars, no suspicious people walking around, looking for easy pockets to pick. If indeed he was to join the city guard or whatever they had here in the way of maintaining order, he had to have a good idea about the criminal element, too. Near a market stall there was a woman with pinkish blue hair, stroking something that was the mixture of what he knew as a unicorn and a rabbit. She seemed friendly enough, so Hildebrand approached her.
'Excuse me, ma'am',' he said, 'I was wondering if...'
He never had the opportunity to finish his sentence, as the woman shrieked at him.
'It's sir.'
'Pardon me?'
'It is sir. You addressed me as ma'am.'
'But you are, I-I mean...'
'I am what?'
'I took you for a woman, ma'am – I mean sir. I just want to know if...'
'Officer!' the woman yelled.
'But...'
'Officer Shieldbearer, this man has committed a micro-aggression towards me. He misgendered me in front of all those people.'
The Shieldbearer laid their hand upon Hildebrand's shoulder.
'All right, sir or madam, I'm going to have to ask you to come with...'
Hildebrand turned around instinctively and drew his sword. The eyes of the Shieldbearer went white.
'You-you are white!'
'I am an Albino Tribesman, yes, that is correct, madam.'
'It's sir.'
'What?'
'This is the second micro-aggression you have committed in the Radiant Citadel. Plus you're white. I have no choice but to expel you. There is no place for white people here.'
'But I've wandered countless miles just to get here, the Fire Giants, they...'
'Nobody is interested in your stories, white man,' the Shieldbearer said, 'now, I'm forbidden to use violence but I will...'
'Forbidden to use violence,' Hildebrand asked, 'but how do you keep the peace then?'
'We ask real nicely.'

They came to the magic portal Hildebrand stepped through but a quarter of an hour earlier.
'Sir, you are expelled from the Radiant Citadel.'
'On the grounds of what?' Hildebrand asked.
'You have misgendered two persons and you are white. Step through the portal, please, sir.'
As Hildebrand stepped through the portal, he found himself back in the barren wasteland he hails from. The portal collapsed in on itself.

I have absolutely no plans to purchase anything from WotC in the future. Nothing they produce supports the gaming style that I personally enjoy.

But I do sincerely hope your group enjoys their adventures using it!

I am not purchasing anymore WotC adventures or player facing expansions of 5E.  The materials are not D&D anymore.  Fortunately, there are several third-parties that have not lost the plot.

Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on May 30, 2022, 01:34:33 PM
So, as the release date draws near, is anybody going to buy Journey through the Radiant Citadel? I think I will, but not to play the adventures.

The first reason not to buy is that it is not a real setting book. Just a series of adventures you will have to filter through to find setting material. Not a great bang for your buck.

The second is that the premise of the citadel is that of this big planar crossroads safe space utopian nonsense that lacks credulity even for a D&D setting.

It's a crap product. IMHO; The past few series of D&D releases are all part of one big D&D lifestyle brand shit test.

One That a lot of D&D fanboys are failing. But not as many as WOTC would hope...

Not even were I still playing 5E and WotC hadn't gone off the deep end, would I even consider purchasing it.  The quality of their products has been in a death spiral for some time.  Granted, if they hadn't gone off the deep end, the quality might not have spiraled down so fast, but it's an academic question for me at this point. 

Quote from: Jaeger on May 31, 2022, 12:10:46 AM

Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on May 30, 2022, 01:34:33 PM
So, as the release date draws near, is anybody going to buy Journey through the Radiant Citadel? I think I will, but not to play the adventures.

The first reason not to buy is that it is not a real setting book. Just a series of adventures you will have to filter through to find setting material. Not a great bang for your buck.

The second is that the premise of the citadel is that of this big planar crossroads safe space utopian nonsense that lacks credulity even for a D&D setting.

It's a crap product. IMHO; The past few series of D&D releases are all part of one big D&D lifestyle brand shit test.

One That a lot of D&D fanboys are failing. But not as many as WOTC would hope...

1: Odds are it will be the same as the Candlekeep book. A bit of setting, but mostly an anthology of modules.

2: Actually as we pointed out in the other thread on this. It has been done before for D&D. And it can be a viable premise. But this is WOTC we are talking about so you can lay good odds that its not going to live up to that. In fact, odds are its not even going to be as "safe place" as they claim. About every other 5e books been like that. They say one thing, the product is something else somehow.

3: Except it isnt. This whole "they is making it a lifestyle brand" has been 90% made up so far.

4: Theres nothing to fail because there is no "lifestyle" and WOTC wouldnt even know what to do with one if they were. Remember. Failure is the only option with WOTC.

x: So my bet is that this is just another outrage marketing gag combined with false product baiting under the guise of "diversity".

'We're remaking Planescape, but scrubbing all the icky nonwoke concepts out of it and making it a bland fruitopia!'.

LOL no. Hard pass.

Quote from: Omega on May 31, 2022, 09:09:23 AM
3: Except it isnt. This whole "they is making it a lifestyle brand" has been 90% made up so far.

4: Theres nothing to fail because there is no "lifestyle" and WOTC wouldnt even know what to do with one if they were. Remember. Failure is the only option with WOTC.

Failure is a "lifestyle" and WOTC can consistently deliver failure.

Quote from: Wisithir on May 31, 2022, 07:49:50 PM

Quote from: Omega on May 31, 2022, 09:09:23 AM
3: Except it isnt. This whole "they is making it a lifestyle brand" has been 90% made up so far.

4: Theres nothing to fail because there is no "lifestyle" and WOTC wouldnt even know what to do with one if they were. Remember. Failure is the only option with WOTC.

Failure is a "lifestyle" and WOTC can consistently deliver failure.

For WOTC staff and execs. So very very true.

I stopped buying WotC products with 4E and I am not sorry that I did.

I got off D&D when 4E came out, went back with 5E, but stopped again after Tasha's came out. I like the system itself well enough, but they have been clearly showing that their new product is going to be overly PC/safe space crap. A few years ago I'd have been interested in seeing what they might do with Greyhawk or Dark Sun, but now I'm glad they're not even going to try. Or, at least I pray feverently they never try.

With 4E it was the system that drove me away. That was something they could recover from with a new system. Now it's their PC culture, and there's no recovery from that.

Nope. Honestly I wasn't even sure what you were talking about, feels like this post may even be a stealth ad

Quote from: jeff37923 on June 02, 2022, 09:01:51 PM
I stopped buying WotC products with 4E and I am not sorry that I did.

I gotta be honest, after the last few 5E 'supplements', 4E is looking downright good.

Quote from: Ghostmaker on June 03, 2022, 07:56:19 AM

Quote from: jeff37923 on June 02, 2022, 09:01:51 PM
I stopped buying WotC products with 4E and I am not sorry that I did.

I gotta be honest, after the last few 5E 'supplements', 4E is looking downright good.

Well, 4E was good as a miniatures skirmish game, but it sucked donkey balls as a role-playing game and that is not what I was looking for.

Quote from: jeff37923 on June 03, 2022, 09:06:38 AM

Quote from: Ghostmaker on June 03, 2022, 07:56:19 AM

Quote from: jeff37923 on June 02, 2022, 09:01:51 PM
I stopped buying WotC products with 4E and I am not sorry that I did.

I gotta be honest, after the last few 5E 'supplements', 4E is looking downright good.

Well, 4E was good as a miniatures skirmish game, but it sucked donkey balls as a role-playing game and that is not what I was looking for.

Can't argue that one. I still think if they'd marketed it as such, it would've gone over better.