Note: the things in spoiler tags aren't really spoilers, I just put them in to be safe.
With the new adventure anthology book (Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel) announced, I've been wondering, about how long will each adventure be?
Candlekeep Mysteries had 17 adventures then this book, and it still ended on the small side (224 pages). This book only has 13 adventures (four less than CM) and each one (from what I've been reading) seems more RP focused. With a mystery adventure about
two fighting noble families (lvl. 1),
and one about
the PC's picking sides between an angel and some rebels (11th level).
So will the adventures have to be a lot longer to fill the pages? Or will they be about 10 pages like CM? What to you guys think (I'm not really sure)?!
Sources: I got most of my knowledge from Wargamers article about the book.
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Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
It's meant to be about being able to travel through the multiverse, right? I imagine the slack will be taken up by the lore associated with that. One of the adventures is a double length one (13 adventures over 14 levels), whereas Candlekeep has two adventures cover one level, making the Radiant Citadel adventures on average longer. I imagine that's how they will fill out the pages.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Nobody knows yet, but where Candlekeep Mysteries had only a few pages background on Candlekeep, this volume is expected to have an entire Gazeteer dedicated to the Radiant Citadel and "two other locations". It's possible this is what takes up the extra volume of the text.
That said, Candlekeep Mysteries' adventures were a touch anemic, especially with regard to adventure hooks and location information. It also completely ignored how to integrate its chapters into a cohesive campaign, pretending that basically nobody would do this. There is definitely room for the adventures to be lengthened with more of this included.
That said, Candlekeep Mysteries' adventures were a touch anemic, especially with regard to adventure hooks and location information. It also completely ignored how to integrate its chapters into a cohesive campaign, pretending that basically nobody would do this. There is definitely room for the adventures to be lengthened with more of this included.
Umm, huh? The adventure hooks and location information were all Candlekeep specific. If you wanted to lift the scenarios out and plop them into your own campaign or world, of course you're going to have to do that work yourself. As for the "cohesive campaign" part, they literally were not designed to be a campaign
I'm really not sure what you were expecting them to include
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That said, Candlekeep Mysteries' adventures were a touch anemic, especially with regard to adventure hooks and location information. It also completely ignored how to integrate its chapters into a cohesive campaign, pretending that basically nobody would do this. There is definitely room for the adventures to be lengthened with more of this included.
Umm, huh? The adventure hooks and location information were all Candlekeep specific. If you wanted to lift the scenarios out and plop them into your own campaign or world, of course you're going to have to do that work yourself. As for the "cohesive campaign" part, they literally were not designed to be a campaign
I'm really not sure what you were expecting them to include
- The "adventure hooks" vary in quality from book to book. There is a lot of variance in how much a party should care about the mystery, or even whether there is actually a mystery.
- The Candlekeep location information is fine, but most of the books only start in Candlekeep. There is very little about the locations you travel to - e.g., Tashalar, which didn't previously exist in this edition yet has hardly any description (as it only exists to railroad you into a dungeon).
- You can say they're not designed to be a campaign, but they literally run you from levels 1-17 and expecting me to pay $50 for a book to pick out one chapter to run as a one-shot is a bit silly as an assumption.
I'm not "expecting them to include" anything - the point of this topic was "How long might the chapters in the new book be?" given there are fewer of them, and my answer is "Using Candlekeep as a guide, there is definitely room to make the individual chapters longer".
You can say they're not designed to be a campaign, but they literally run you from levels 1-17
They literally do not. Each adventure is intended for a party of a specific level, but nothing in the book saying each adventure is designed to advance the party to the next level. They don't "run you" anywhere -- they're one shots, linked by theme and location
There is no reason to think JTRC will contain some kind of campaign structure when it's being explicitly described as "an anthology of stand-alone adventures" -- just as CM was
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
- You can say they're not designed to be a campaign, but they literally run you from levels 1-17 and expecting me to pay $50 for a book to pick out one chapter to run as a one-shot is a bit silly as an assumption.
That's a false dichotomy, though. I think the setup is primarily as a source of cannibalised parts. You're playing a campaign and have a sudden gap to fill, or you're having a mental block, or even just being lazy? You have a quest for that level ready to go. You just invent a reason to take the party to Candlekeep (or modify the quest to sit in party's local area) and your problem is solved. You might repeat that later on, or in another campaign. You might just do the one quest or several in a row.
You're not supposed to buy an entire book for a single quest. You're supposed to use the different quests in different campaigns, or in multiple places in your campaign. Or, as a series of oneshots, or as a campaign in and of itself (with bit of work for the narrative). It's designed to be modular so you can use it as you need without being bound by an overall narrative.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
- You can say they're not designed to be a campaign, but they literally run you from levels 1-17 and expecting me to pay $50 for a book to pick out one chapter to run as a one-shot is a bit silly as an assumption.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . REALLY?
Using that logic it is absloutely clear proof that the stories in Tales of the Yawning Portal were designed by their creators to be a cohesive campaign specifically so that the Artifacts Wave Whelm and Blackrazor in White Mountain would be Player hands to be useful against the issues in Dead in Thay and the Tomb of Horrors .
...because they are presented in the book in an ascending order of difficulty.
Note: the things in spoiler tags aren't really spoilers, I just put them in to be safe.
With the new adventure anthology book (Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel) announced, I've been wondering, about how long will each adventure be?
Candlekeep Mysteries had 17 adventures then this book, and it still ended on the small side (224 pages). This book only has 13 adventures (four less than CM) and each one (from what I've been reading) seems more RP focused. With a mystery adventure about
two fighting noble families (lvl. 1),
and one about
the PC's picking sides between an angel and some rebels (11th level).
So will the adventures have to be a lot longer to fill the pages? Or will they be about 10 pages like CM? What to you guys think (I'm not really sure)?!
Sources: I got most of my knowledge from Wargamers article about the book.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.It's meant to be about being able to travel through the multiverse, right? I imagine the slack will be taken up by the lore associated with that. One of the adventures is a double length one (13 adventures over 14 levels), whereas Candlekeep has two adventures cover one level, making the Radiant Citadel adventures on average longer. I imagine that's how they will fill out the pages.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
How many more pages do you think they'll have per an adventure?
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Nobody knows yet, but where Candlekeep Mysteries had only a few pages background on Candlekeep, this volume is expected to have an entire Gazeteer dedicated to the Radiant Citadel and "two other locations". It's possible this is what takes up the extra volume of the text.
That said, Candlekeep Mysteries' adventures were a touch anemic, especially with regard to adventure hooks and location information. It also completely ignored how to integrate its chapters into a cohesive campaign, pretending that basically nobody would do this. There is definitely room for the adventures to be lengthened with more of this included.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Umm, huh? The adventure hooks and location information were all Candlekeep specific. If you wanted to lift the scenarios out and plop them into your own campaign or world, of course you're going to have to do that work yourself. As for the "cohesive campaign" part, they literally were not designed to be a campaign
I'm really not sure what you were expecting them to include
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Let's see 13 random adventures in a quest hub with sheildbearers, hard pass. Good luck with this one guys.
- The "adventure hooks" vary in quality from book to book. There is a lot of variance in how much a party should care about the mystery, or even whether there is actually a mystery.
- The Candlekeep location information is fine, but most of the books only start in Candlekeep. There is very little about the locations you travel to - e.g., Tashalar, which didn't previously exist in this edition yet has hardly any description (as it only exists to railroad you into a dungeon).
- You can say they're not designed to be a campaign, but they literally run you from levels 1-17 and expecting me to pay $50 for a book to pick out one chapter to run as a one-shot is a bit silly as an assumption.
I'm not "expecting them to include" anything - the point of this topic was "How long might the chapters in the new book be?" given there are fewer of them, and my answer is "Using Candlekeep as a guide, there is definitely room to make the individual chapters longer".
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
They literally do not. Each adventure is intended for a party of a specific level, but nothing in the book saying each adventure is designed to advance the party to the next level. They don't "run you" anywhere -- they're one shots, linked by theme and location
There is no reason to think JTRC will contain some kind of campaign structure when it's being explicitly described as "an anthology of stand-alone adventures" -- just as CM was
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That's a false dichotomy, though. I think the setup is primarily as a source of cannibalised parts. You're playing a campaign and have a sudden gap to fill, or you're having a mental block, or even just being lazy? You have a quest for that level ready to go. You just invent a reason to take the party to Candlekeep (or modify the quest to sit in party's local area) and your problem is solved. You might repeat that later on, or in another campaign. You might just do the one quest or several in a row.
You're not supposed to buy an entire book for a single quest. You're supposed to use the different quests in different campaigns, or in multiple places in your campaign. Or, as a series of oneshots, or as a campaign in and of itself (with bit of work for the narrative). It's designed to be modular so you can use it as you need without being bound by an overall narrative.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.