D&D 5E The Next D&D Book is JOURNEYS THROUGH THE RADIANT CITADEL

We peered, poked, squinted, flipped, and enhanced the teaser image that WotC put out last week, and it turns out we got it right -- the next book is, indeed, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.

Wraparound cover art by Evyn Fong​

Through the mists of the Ethereal Plane shines the Radiant Citadel. Travelers from across the multiverse flock to this mysterious bastion to share their traditions, stories, and calls for heroes. A crossroads of wonders and adventures, the Radiant Citadel is the first step on the path to legend. Where will your journeys take you?

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is a collection of thirteen short, stand-alone D&D adventures featuring challenges for character levels 1–14. Each adventure has ties to the Radiant Citadel, a magical city with connections to lands rich with excitement and danger, and each can be run by itself or as part of an ongoing campaign. Explore this rich and varied collection of adventures in magical lands.

• Thirteen new stand-alone adventures spanning levels 1 to 14, each with its own set of maps
• Introduces the Radiant Citadel, a new location on the Ethereal Plane that connects adventurers to richly detailed and distinct corners of the D&D multiverse
• Each adventure can be set in any existing D&D campaign setting or on worlds of your own design
• Introduces eleven new D&D monsters
• There’s a story for every adventuring party, from whimsical and light to dark and foreboding and everything in between

Slated for June 21st (update - I just got a press release which says it's June 21st "in North American stores"; I'm not sure what that means for the rest of us!), it's a 224-page adventure anthology featuring a floating city called the Radiant Citadel. The book is written entirely by people of colour, including Ajit George, who was the first person of Indian heritage to write Indian-inspired material for D&D (in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft). Around 50 POC writers were involved in total in various ways.

The Radiant Citadel is on the ethereal plane and is carved from the giant fossil of an unknown monster. A massive gemstone called the Royal Diamond sits at the core, surrounded by a bunch of smaller Concord Jewels, which are gateways to the Citadel's founding civilizations. DMs can link any world to the citadel by placing a Concord Jewel there.

The Citadel, unlike many D&D locations, is more of a sanctuary than a place of danger. The book's alternate cover features a Dawn Incarnate, a creature which is the embodiment of stories and cultures.

D&D 5E - Here's Radiant Citadel's press release

Dropped in my inbox a short while ago, if you want the official announcement. It's the same info as in the news article on the front page. Dungeons & Dragons Invites You to Explore the Radiant Citadel Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is a new collection of short adventures set in wondrous...

www.enworld.org

The adventures are as follows:

• Salted Legacy
• Written In Blood
• The Fiend of Hollow Mine
• Wages of Vice
• Sins of Our Elders
• Gold for Fools and Princes
• Trail of Destruction
• In the Mists of Manivarsha
• Between Tangled Roots
• Shadow of the Sun
• The Nightsea’s Succor
• Buried Dynasty
• Orchids of the Invisible Mountain

UPDATE -- the press release contains a list of some of the contributors: "Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Ajit A. George, 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, Terry H. Romero, Stephanie Yoon, and many more."

Regular cover by Even Fong

Alternate Cover by Sija Hong​

 

[Retreater]

Huh? What makes you think these are 'random submissions from new writers'? Or that it has no editorial oversight? What a truly odd thing to say.

Based on the design articles I read about the process behind Candlekeep and reading the fallout with their freelancers then.
"Give us a short adventure, based around this theme, that connects to nothing in the campaign setting."
It's a far cry from Curse of Strahd, which came from a unified thematic, artistic vision. This just screams "we're publishing a bunch of random stuff."

 

[Retreater]

Thus, 7.67$ per adventure. So 13 adventures for 50$ (3.85 per adventure) is a pretty sweet deal.

The Paizo adventures aren't like 3 pages either.

 

[OblivionDrive]

So Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is directed by Ajit George and Wes Schneider.

And do you remember these tweets from @WinningerR on Jun 14th 2021 ?



Knowing that @AriLevitch leaved WotC on Dec 15th 2021, maybe Ajit George took his place and this book in one of the 2 classics announced in new print formats (meaning just adventures to discover the world)

Huh - I somehow totally missed that Ari had left Wizards and the D&D team. Totally under my radar.

That said, I’m sure Ari still helped steer this one. These books have a longer lead time than most folks realize. This was probably his last project before leaving. He’s just not around now to do press interviews for it.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

it will likely get a mention if we ever get Planescape.

Oh, definitely.

And heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Sigil gets a mention, or possibly even a small cameo, in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.

 

[Morrus]

Based on the design articles I read about the process behind Candlekeep and reading the fallout with their freelancers then.
"Give us a short adventure, based around this theme, that connects to nothing in the campaign setting."

Where is that quote from? I don't recall seeing it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I felt Chris Perkins was getting a bit predictable. Maybe he did too.

 

[Vaalingrade]

So fun, colorful Sigil without the Wheel or LoP?

Let's do this.

 

[OblivionDrive]

The Paizo adventures aren't like 3 pages either.

Even considering there’s a mini-gazetteer for each world’s setting, plus layout for the Citadel itself and new monsters and such, I highly doubt the adventures are going to be 3 pages each.

I get this is hyperbole and such but why are you so salty about this book? I’m a huge Planescape fan as well but I’m also excited to see what’s gonna be in this one. New things are what keep the game interesting! It’s nice to see things branch out from the same calcified path the game has stuck to for ages and ages. Heck, even Sigil was once a brand new thing that I remember people back in the day complaining about because they preferred their old 1e Outer Planes that were nigh-unusable if you weren’t a high level character.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I suppose it's a good thing that Radiant Citadel is a new place. And I suppose the twitter comment about the adventures being "inspired by the writers' connections to real-world cultures and folklore" is a selling point for a large group of potential customers and in line with current WotC products.

For me as a grumpy old man I of course interpret the Radiant Citadel as a whimsy-comfy place where you can step into a jewel and go to anywhere. No need for adventurous spelljamming, no need for a complex Sigil. Just jump into a jewel and there you are.

Now, I don't have need for bought adventures and I don't want a place like the Radiant Citadel in my campaigns. But the book will probably make lots of gamers happy and I don't have to buy it, so all is fine.

What I am worried about though is that this book may well make Spelljammer and Planescape redundant, and I'm no longer as convinced that we get those old settings later on - there's no need for them. Dragonlance and Dark Sun suddenly makes much more sense, which is kind of sad imho.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

There's a list of adventures in the OP.

The new piece of info is that the one of tge adventures invovles a city that is apparently ruled by Angels.