Citadel of Mind

Citadel of Mind is a level 10 D&D 5.5e epic designed as Pride Month fundraiser for Crystal Sword Games.

A dangerous organisation called Benevolent Order is trying to reshape the world in their image, subjugating whole galaxies into their own idea of peace. Flowers of Steel, the rebel organisation, is trying to tamper with their plans in eternal war for cosmic freedom.

The module plays with idea of high octane "everything at stakes" game feel, while keeping it in tier 2 to have enough time for robust roleplay within a 4-hour oneshot. I focused story on infiltrating a secret base and destroying a super weapon: it creates space for high tensity sequences, but also is scaleable with fantasy players tackle at level 10.

To make the game feel related to Pride Month and its history, I have focused story on idea of freedom, and the strength that comes from difference. As a main Big Bad, I have picked a Beholder: they are already interested in making the world pretty unified place, so it would make sense from them to try take over the universe. Besides, it gave me option to make a very exciting big reveal about the way the super weapon works: the Citadel amplifies Beholder dreams, and upscales them, stripping whole planets of their individuality at once.

As Beholder's CR is much higher than level 10, I have made it possible to weaken them mechanically by recruiting captives and allies throughout the Citadel. With the right approach, the players can weaponise Citadel's defence systems against what they were supposed to protect, engaging exploration and social elements of D&D into the final battle.