Despite all the realms and battlefields one can find in Dungeon and Dragons, there’s nothing quite like a city to roleplay in. From the familiar streets of Baldur’s Gate to the twisted snarl of Planescape’s Sigil, there’s so much flavor in urban hell. That vibe is exactly what the creators of Into the Cess & Citadel had in mind when crafting their award-winning setting. The supplementary RPG book is an awesome resource for fleshing out any city on the tabletop with some horrifying lore and creatures.
And you can experience the city for yourself with the book’s second printing campaign.
For the uninitiated, Into The Cess & Citadel isn’t actually a DnD-specific book. Instead, it is a system-neutral setting that can work for any of the best tabletop RPGs. That said, the brilliance of the book’s nameless “city” is how easy it is to write into any existing setting. The Glistening Spires containing the golden gods certainly wouldn’t seem out of place in Planescape. Meanwhile, the seedy underbelly and all its horrors could easily be any number of hive worlds in Warhammer 40k’s galaxy.
It’s impressive how much lore one can pack into a city that technically isn’t even its own thing. Into the Cess & Citadel assumes you will fill the gaps yourself, as befits the setting of your preferred game. All the mechanical guts like stats and rules are vague to ensure easy modification. A personal favorite of my time with the book is all the silly little creatures.
Specifically, this thing.
Absolutely horrifying, top marks. This Kickstarter campaign also grants access to the book’s predecessor, Into the Wyrd and Wild. That book leaves the city in favor of the weird wilderness, also with its own nameless forest of tree-dwelling terrors.
The Into the Cess & Citadel Kickstarter Campaign ends on December 6, 2025.
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