D&D 5E Radiant Citadel is a new kind of Adventure Path.

[Hussar]

They've done these kinds of things in the past. The main set of nine modules for 4E all had a throughline and connective tissue, although no one would claim them to be one long storyline. They were nine separate adventures, but all had bits and bobs that premised the idea of an Orcus big bad, leading to eventually taking him on.

And I want to say Paizo did things similarly for 3E back when they were publishing Dragon Magazine and came up with their original ideas for "adventure paths". Things like the town of Cauldron and the modules that all centered around that... they were all individual stories but did "connect" together in minor ways.

I mean heck... you could also say the original Slave Lords and Giants series' of adventures for AD&D were the same kind of thing-- separate adventures that were meant to link into a longer campaign.

If you can accomplish a linking storyline between disparate adventures to give an idea of campaign flow, I think many DMs appreciate it. If it is there to use if you want but can easily ignored if you don't... it just makes a product (or series of products) have more tools in the box to be used.

Not sure I agree with this.

There was nothing tying the Slave Lords to the Giants series. They're in completely different locations for one - as in REALLY far apart. Deal with completely different issues and about the only reason that people do link them is because of the levels - A4 ends at about the right character level to start G1. But, as written, these are completely separate adventures with nothing tying them together.

Cauldron is a straight up AP. Every adventure leads you directly to the next one. You generally were never expected to mix the AP at all - Shackled City and Age of Worms don't really connect at all and there certainly isn't any idea that you are supposed to mix and match them. They had the odd side trek adventure for the AP's, but, the adventures in the AP were very much directly linked and not linked to anything outside the AP.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Not sure I agree with this.

There was nothing tying the Slave Lords to the Giants series. They're in completely different locations for one - as in REALLY far apart. Deal with completely different issues and about the only reason that people do link them is because of the levels - A4 ends at about the right character level to start G1. But, as written, these are completely separate adventures with nothing tying them together.

I apparently misspoke... I meant that both the Slave Lords and the Giants series' were their own module series that were individual adventures but connected together to form bigger stories... not that Slave Lords and Giants were connected together as a single story. My bad.

 

[Parmandur]

I apparently misspoke... I meant that both the Slave Lords and the Giants series' were their own module series that were individual adventures but connected together to form bigger stories... not that Slave Lords and Giants were connected together as a single story. My bad.

Well, you got it from TSR: in the 80's, it seems that they suggested starting with T1-4, followed by A1-4, and finishing with the Queen of the Spiders, the GDQ supermodule...

Pretty bizarre "Adventure Path," honestly.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Well, you got it from TSR: in the 80's, it seems that they suggested starting with T1-4, followed by A1-4, and finishing with the Queen of the Spiders, the GDQ supermodule...

Pretty bizarre "Adventure Path," honestly.

That's true... the GDQ-- Giants trilogy, Decent trilogy and Q1-- actually make my point better than the A series or G series on their own. I had forgotten about that.

 

[Jer]

They've done these kinds of things in the past. The main set of nine modules for 4E all had a throughline and connective tissue, although no one would claim them to be one long storyline. They were nine separate adventures, but all had bits and bobs that premised the idea of an Orcus big bad, leading to eventually taking him on.

And I want to say Paizo did things similarly for 3E back when they were publishing Dragon Magazine and came up with their original ideas for "adventure paths". Things like the town of Cauldron and the modules that all centered around that... they were all individual stories but did "connect" together in minor ways.

(Wizards also did this with their first Adventure Path for 3e which kicked off with Sunless Citadel - not every adventure connected directly, but there was a throughline through them that eventually led to Ashardalon at the end.)

I think the difference that Ajit is talking about here is on the design end. Instead of having each person go off on their own and design a separate adventure based on an outline of a story path that the adventures were supposed to link into, they all worked collaboratively in a more "writers room" format on them where everyone could see what everyone was working on. That could (and Ajit apparently thinks it does) lead to a different feel for these adventures than either a traditional AP or an adventure collection where folks work independently on their pieces.

 

[Shardstone]

(Wizards also did this with their first Adventure Path for 3e which kicked off with Sunless Citadel - not every adventure connected directly, but there was a throughline through them that eventually led to Ashardalon at the end.)

I think the difference that Ajit is talking about here is on the design end. Instead of having each person go off on their own and design a separate adventure based on an outline of a story path that the adventures were supposed to link into, they all worked collaboratively in a more "writers room" format on them where everyone could see what everyone was working on. That could (and Ajit apparently thinks it does) lead to a different feel for these adventures than either a traditional AP or an adventure collection where folks work independently on their pieces.

Kind of blows my mind they didn't do this before. A lot of their books have problems easily solved by just having the freelancers work together.

 

[Hussar]

Kind of blows my mind they didn't do this before. A lot of their books have problems easily solved by just having the freelancers work together.

Well there are a few reasons here.

For the AP style adventures, it was typically just one freelancing company. That company was possibly using freelancers too. I don’t know but I think they were done in house.

The adventure collection modules were using modules that had been published years or even decades apart. So none of the adventures were designed to be used together.

Now it’s a shame that Candlekeep didn’t use this process, but I think it’s the first anthology module of new adventures for 5e. Still learning stuff in other words.

Looks like the process is being refined.

Otoh it also makes the process a LOT more expensive to do that level of back and forth.

 

[Shiroiken]

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel occupies an interesting middle-ground

Isn't this basically the same as Ghosts of Saltmarsh? You have a central location with a series of adventures jumping off from it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Isn't this basically the same as Ghosts of Saltmarsh? You have a central location with a series of adventures jumping off from it.

Not really. GoS is a collection of old adventures, which where not written with connections to each other (apart from the Saltmarsh trilogy itself).

 

[aco175]

The idea that the book is more connected across the adventures makes me a bit more interested. I like my campaigns more grounded and medieval(ish), so I hope I can take most of the adventures and place it in some other backdrop.