D&D General Combining Radiant Citadel and Candlekeep Mysteries

[Evaniel]

Hi, all.

I'm starting a campaign soon that combines JTtRC with CM. The basic concept is that a Concord Jewel appeared near Candlekeep roughly a year or so ago, and in the ensuing time, they've begun an exchange program of sorts with the Citadel. The PCs would be Keepers, adventurers assigned to Candlekeep's outpost in the Citadel who are tasked with establishing relations with each of the founding realms and gathering lore.

This is basically a conceit for me to run both campaigns concurrently. I have two broad categories of questions for folks:

1) While I'll probably keep some of the more lore-specific Candlekeep mysteries (such as Lore of Lurue) on Faerun, I'd like to set most of them in the assorted worlds of the Radiant Citadel. With some cosmetic/name changes, where would you set each Candlekeep Mystery? What issues do you see springing from such a change? What cool and unintended opportunities might spring from such a change?

2) Part of my desire to smash these two campaigns together is to draw it out and let the players spend time with these characters. We have a big group, though: 6 PCs. I worry about leveling and treasure. Should I go with Milestones and simply adjust the difficulty by adding more monsters to the combat encounters or should I just provide XP (and perhaps the occasional encounter-sized award for completing some of the more RP-oriented adventures)? Also, they'll likely have near twice the expected amount of treasure at a given level due to doing both campaigns: do you think a flat 10% tax whenever returning to the Citadel (they do tax the wealthy) would help ameliorate this at all? I think my players would be okay with it if I explain a bit of the rationale ahead of the game (again, they'd still come out ahead). That said, I'd interested in alterative takes/solutions.

Thanks!

 

[Gradine]

I love this idea and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I'll have to give this a greater deal of thought as I've run Candlekeep but not Radiant Citadel yet (I haven't even gotten around to reading it yet) so I might have some thoughts to add later. I will say that I will almost always advocate for Milestone leveling rather than XP but that's not always in everyone's interest (numbers go up can be fun!), so what you can also do is assign quest XP for completing tasks to help them keep up if necessary.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

assign quest XP for completing tasks to help them keep up if necessary.

This is covered in the rules. You just stick a challenge rating on each objective, and award XP accordingly. By default, award CR equal to the character level (each).

One thing you notice about the Candlekeep Mysteries when you come to run them is just how much Forgotten Realms is written into them. Of the More portable, The Book of the Raven ties to Ravenloft, which is suggested as an alternative location for Written in Blood; Xanthoria could be dropped in anywhere.

 

[Evaniel]

This is covered in the rules. You just stick a challenge rating on each objective, and award XP accordingly. By default, award CR equal to the character level (each).

That's kinda what I'm leaning toward at the moment. Either that or just milestone level them when they complete two level-appropriate adventures (though with 6 PCs, I'll probably have to add a schlub or two to each combat encounter).

One thing you notice about the Candlekeep Mysteries when you come to run them is just how much Forgotten Realms is written into them. Of the More portable, The Book of the Raven ties to Ravenloft, which is suggested as an alternative location for Written in Blood; Xanthoria could be dropped in anywhere.

This is true. I could see changing the names in Written in Blood to fit San Citzlan from the Radiant Citadel, however. I could also see setting some of the more desert-themed CM adventures in Akharin Sangar, too. Some of those, however, would involve much more adjustment.