Quote from: Omega on March 23, 2022, 10:44:56 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 23, 2022, 08:27:08 PM
Can someone point me to the link where WotC says there are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets" or something of the sort?

It will be strange if that is the case. Combat used to be one of the three pillars of 5e, and this is not the first module I hear is "combat light" (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight being the other).

Not that I've read any of these modules, but CoS, ToA and a=Avernus are decent enough - with lots of combat - despite the abysmal organization (and the blatant railroad of the latter, and weak beginnings of all campaigns).

Sounds like the city itself is a safe haven and any fighting is to be done outside the dimension.
Its similar I guess to how Rodenberry's Pax organization was peaceful. But everywhere around them tended to be very not.
Of so it suggests the place is screening entrants or has some system for dealing with troublemakers.

QuoteJourneys Through the Radiant Citadel features 13 adventures, all written by people of colour. Here's a quick peek at three of them, as details start to emerge across the internet!

    Salted Legacy (1st level, Surena Marie). Rival merchant families are at war in the Night Market. Various challenges such as a timed cooking challenge.
    Written in Blood (3rd level, Erin Roberts). Based on the black experience in the Southern US, features a haunted farm and commoners who becoming violent; the adventurers need to figure out why without harming them.
    Shadow of the Sun (11th level, Justice Arman). Persian-themed, factions in a city ruled by a celestial being are in conflict.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 01:26:39 PM

Quote from: Omega on March 23, 2022, 10:44:56 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 23, 2022, 08:27:08 PM
Can someone point me to the link where WotC says there are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets" or something of the sort?

It will be strange if that is the case. Combat used to be one of the three pillars of 5e, and this is not the first module I hear is "combat light" (The Wild Beyond the Witchlight being the other).

Not that I've read any of these modules, but CoS, ToA and a=Avernus are decent enough - with lots of combat - despite the abysmal organization (and the blatant railroad of the latter, and weak beginnings of all campaigns).

Sounds like the city itself is a safe haven and any fighting is to be done outside the dimension.
Its similar I guess to how Rodenberry's Pax organization was peaceful. But everywhere around them tended to be very not.
Of so it suggests the place is screening entrants or has some system for dealing with troublemakers.

QuoteJourneys Through the Radiant Citadel features 13 adventures, all written by people of colour. Here's a quick peek at three of them, as details start to emerge across the internet!

    Salted Legacy (1st level, Surena Marie). Rival merchant families are at war in the Night Market. Various challenges such as a timed cooking challenge.
    Written in Blood (3rd level, Erin Roberts). Based on the black experience in the Southern US, features a haunted farm and commoners who becoming violent; the adventurers need to figure out why without harming them.
    Shadow of the Sun (11th level, Justice Arman). Persian-themed, factions in a city ruled by a celestial being are in conflict.

Yeah, cooking challenges DO sound silly... But "Im wondering if they actually said there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets".

Because, I eman, there are a dozen new monsters, and I can't see how you can have factions without intrigues...

QuoteThe titular Radiant Citadel acts as a hub between adventures where adventurers can find respite. According to George, the Radiant Citadel is "a city of stories and sanctuary – a crossroad city that welcomes all in need". George adds that the Radiant Citadel was designed to be distinct from the D&D cities you may be used to. "It's not a place of backstabbing and monsters and crime lurking just around the corner – the radiant city was meant to give players a real home."

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 01:26:39 PM

Quote from: Omega on March 23, 2022, 10:44:56 PM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 23, 2022, 08:27:08 PM

Sounds like the city itself is a safe haven and any fighting is to be done outside the dimension.
Its similar I guess to how Rodenberry's Pax organization was peaceful. But everywhere around them tended to be very not.
Of so it suggests the place is screening entrants or has some system for dealing with troublemakers.

QuoteJourneys Through the Radiant Citadel features 13 adventures, all written by people of colour. Here's a quick peek at three of them, as details start to emerge across the internet!

    Salted Legacy (1st level, Surena Marie). Rival merchant families are at war in the Night Market. Various challenges such as a timed cooking challenge.
    Written in Blood (3rd level, Erin Roberts). Based on the black experience in the Southern US, features a haunted farm and commoners who becoming violent; the adventurers need to figure out why without harming them.
    Shadow of the Sun (11th level, Justice Arman). Persian-themed, factions in a city ruled by a celestial being are in conflict.

Yeah, cooking challenges DO sound silly... But "Im wondering if they actually said there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets".

Because, I eman, there are a dozen new monsters, and I can't see how you can have factions without intrigues...

QuoteSalted Legacy is the story of two rival families who make their living in a vibrant night market, one filled with many different in-fiction races like kobolds and dragonborn. Players will literally hold the fate of these two families in their hands. But don't expect this adventure to play out like it usually does in mainstream D&D, which traditionally leverages a multiverse born out of Eurocentric tropes and deep Tolkien and Tolkien-inspired lore.

"My mom is from Thailand, and that's where largely this adventure is inspired from," Marie said during a presentation for the press. "With being first-generation, there is this strange duality that you have to navigate where you want to live the big American dream; you want to live the life that your parents had come from a different country to give you. But at the same time, there's a large part of us as being first-generation that worries about losing our culture, or we aren't even granted full access to it because of the pressure to be more Americanized."

Quote from: oggsmash on March 23, 2022, 07:53:45 PM

Quote from: FingerRod on March 23, 2022, 07:48:16 PM
I must be super naive. I assumed when he originally said it, he meant you could use magic to provide basic needs. So food, water and warmth via magic.

And then whatever the hell this has been for the last page and a half happened.

   He said to make a utopia possible.  Honestly I think it would take a good bit more than that to make a utopia possible, without a complete rewiring of human nature.   I guess if you put enough magic on it you could...but utopia starts to get a little fuzzy.  I mean, didnt Lucifer rebel in heaven even though he lived in a utopia?  I begin to think utopia will have to be defined by its creator and inhabitants, and might require not having too many of them, because one person's heaven could be another's hell.

Quote from: Omega on March 23, 2022, 08:23:46 PM
Well I'm sure WOTC will send SUCKER!, er, Thank You! notes to everyone here who has so graciously given them free advertising.

Quote from: jhkim on March 23, 2022, 09:00:44 PM

Quote from: oggsmash on March 23, 2022, 08:46:34 PM
  50 bucks is a big ask for what amounts to a big old tavern to rest in.

According to the description, the book isn't primarily a setting book about the Radiant Citadel. It's a collection of 13 short adventures. Here's the official description:

QuoteJourneys through the Radiant Citadel is a collection of thirteen short, stand-alone D&D adventures featuring challenges for character levels 1–14. Each adventure has ties to the Radiant Citadel, a magical city with connections to lands rich with excitement and danger, and each can be run by itself or as part of an ongoing campaign. Explore this rich and varied collection of adventures in magical lands.

• Thirteen new stand-alone adventures spanning levels 1 to 14, each with its own set of maps
• Introduces the Radiant Citadel, a new location on the Ethereal Plane that connects adventurers to richly detailed and distinct corners of the D&D multiverse
• Each adventure can be set in any existing D&D campaign setting or on worlds of your own design
• Introduces eleven new D&D monsters
• There's a story for every adventuring party, from whimsical and light to dark and foreboding and everything in between

It hasn't come out yet, but I suspect it will be similar to the Candlekeep Mysteries book that I do have. That book has about 10 pages about the setting of Candlekeep itself, but almost all the rest of the 224 pages is split among the 17 short adventures. Only one of those adventures is set within Candlekeep itself. The rest all have an initial hook within Candlekeep but then the main action takes place elsewhere.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 09:59:28 PM
I'm sorry to insist (and this is the last time, I promise) but where does WotC say  there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets"? Could someone provide me a link?

Quote from: RPGPundit on March 24, 2022, 08:29:37 PM

Quote from: oggsmash on March 23, 2022, 07:53:45 PM

Quote from: FingerRod on March 23, 2022, 07:48:16 PM
I must be super naive. I assumed when he originally said it, he meant you could use magic to provide basic needs. So food, water and warmth via magic.

And then whatever the hell this has been for the last page and a half happened.

   He said to make a utopia possible.  Honestly I think it would take a good bit more than that to make a utopia possible, without a complete rewiring of human nature.   I guess if you put enough magic on it you could...but utopia starts to get a little fuzzy.  I mean, didnt Lucifer rebel in heaven even though he lived in a utopia?  I begin to think utopia will have to be defined by its creator and inhabitants, and might require not having too many of them, because one person's heaven could be another's hell.

The only Utopia possible is a Utopia of One. Because what one person will define as Utopia would not be anything like what someone else would.
Someone earlier on the thread wrote about a homesteading couple living an idyllic existence in nature. For them, that might be as close to Utopia as they can get in the world; for me it would be a nightmare.
For me, the life I live right now is just about as close to Utopia as it can credibly be. But I think for 96% of people it wouldn't be even close to that.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 09:59:28 PM
I'm sorry to insist (and this is the last time, I promise) but where does WotC say  there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets"? Could someone provide me a link?

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 09:59:28 PM
I'm sorry to insist (and this is the last time, I promise) but where does WotC say  there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets"? Could someone provide me a link?

Quote from:  Design co-lead, Ajit George
Unlike other cities from the modern D&D lore — places like Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep — the Radiant Citadel isn't overrun by crime lords, demons, or mind flayers. Instead, it's a place where people can live together in peace.

"The Radiant Citadel is not a place of backstabbing, and lurking monsters, and crime just around the corner," George said. "The Radiant Citadel was meant to give players a real hope, a respite, a place to regroup and rebuild after facing the worst and most tragic challenges [...] where they could launch incredible stories and adventures [across the multiverse]."

Of course, that doesn't mean that there isn't enough lore in the book to create more traditional, urban adventures that take place inside the Citadel. However, that's not where the narrative momentum of the anthology is focused. Expect adventures that take place in locations never before seen in D&D — and guidance on how and where they could fit in with previously established locations and lore.

Quote from: Aglondir on March 25, 2022, 12:39:17 AM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 24, 2022, 09:59:28 PM
I'm sorry to insist (and this is the last time, I promise) but where does WotC say  there  are "no intrigues, no lurking monsters, no gritty crime-ridden streets"? Could someone provide me a link?

Eric:

Quote from:  Design co-lead, Ajit George
Unlike other cities from the modern D&D lore — places like Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep — the Radiant Citadel isn't overrun by crime lords, demons, or mind flayers. Instead, it's a place where people can live together in peace.

"The Radiant Citadel is not a place of backstabbing, and lurking monsters, and crime just around the corner," George said. "The Radiant Citadel was meant to give players a real hope, a respite, a place to regroup and rebuild after facing the worst and most tragic challenges [...] where they could launch incredible stories and adventures [across the multiverse]."

Of course, that doesn't mean that there isn't enough lore in the book to create more traditional, urban adventures that take place inside the Citadel. However, that's not where the narrative momentum of the anthology is focused. Expect adventures that take place in locations never before seen in D&D — and guidance on how and where they could fit in with previously established locations and lore.

https://www.polygon.com/22989321/dnd-journeys-through-the-radiant-citadel-release-date-price

Quote from: RPGPundit on March 24, 2022, 08:29:37 PM
......
The only Utopia possible is a Utopia of One. Because what one person will define as Utopia would not be anything like what someone else would.
Someone earlier on the thread wrote about a homesteading couple living an idyllic existence in nature. For them, that might be as close to Utopia as they can get in the world; for me it would be a nightmare.
For me, the life I live right now is just about as close to Utopia as it can credibly be. But I think for 96% of people it wouldn't be even close to that.