D&D’s ‘Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel’ Nominated For Nebula Award
The 2022 Nebula Award nominations are in, and D&D’s Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is the only tabletop RPG on the list!
Earlier this week, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the finalists for the 2022 Nebula Awards. Last year, you might recall, Thirsty Sword Lesbians became the first tabletop RPG to win a Nebula Award, securing a well-deserved “Best Game Writing” win. Now, it seems, another couple of tabletop RPGs are in contention with some serious heavy hitters, to follow in Thirsty Sword Lesbians’ magical girl footsteps.
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Wizards of the Coast’s PoC-led adventure anthology, is the only tabletop RPG in contention this year, though it is by far from the only ttrpg-inspired title in the running. Our review of it is linked above.
If you’re unfamiliar, Radiant Citadel brings a wide, some might even say diverse, set of perspectives to your typical D&D world. The end result is some of the most creative settings that WotC has ever played around with. Though as with the Keys from the Golden Vault, the book wants for more room to explore its myriad concepts. It’s a wonderful introduction to worlds that will fit into any campaign.
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel Picks Up Nebula Award Nomination Alongside Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West
This year’s crop of contenders for “Game Writing” are some of the best games to have come along in a while. Here’s a look at the full list, per SFWA:
- Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, George R.R. Martin (FromSoftware, Bandai Namco)
- Horizon Forbidden West, Ben McCaw, Anna Kitain (Guerilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit George, F. Wesley Schneider, Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Basheer Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Stephanie Yoon, Terry H. Romero (Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Ed.)
- Pentiment, Kate Dollarhyde, Zoe Franznick, Märten Rattasepp, Josh Sawyer (Obsidian Entertainment, Xbox Game Studios)
- Stray, Steven Lerner, Vivien Mermet-Guyenet, Colas Koola (BlueTwelve Studio, Annapurna Interactive)
- Vampire: The Masquerade: “Sins of the Sires,” Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games, Paradox Interactive)
Radiant Citadel joins massively popular games like Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, as well as the amazing indie roleplaying of Pentiment. Which, if you haven’t played it, you should give it a go. You’ll realize just how much you care about illuminated manuscripts. But WotC’s adventure anthology isn’t the only RPG-influenced title on the list. We also see Vampire: the Masquerade – Sins of the Sires, the Vampire visual novel that came out a year ago this month.
Of course, none of them pack in as many grandmas per page as Radiant Citadel does. With the sole exception of Elden Ring, which manages to have several. They just want to know how your fingers are doing, and if you’ve managed to stop being Maidenless.
At the end of the day, this is another big win for TTRPGs, as the medium continues to grow in popularity, challenging even video games for acclaim. We’ll see who ultimately wins come May.
Until then, happy adventuring!
