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​

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Every time I see a new release from WotC, I just see D&D getting smaller in my rear view mirror.

 

[Steampunkette]

Couple things to note:

1) The book is $30 according to D&D Beyond.
2) Candlekeep was 224 pages, this one is likely a similar length

With 13 adventures and 11 new monsters and precisely 0 Spells, Feats, Subclasses, or Races mentioned, it's pretty safe to say the adventures are going to be the vast bulk of what the book contains, aside from "Richly Detailed" information about where the adventures are set.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they can only fit 2 monsters per page and round it up to 6 pages out of 224. Let's give them three pages for table of contents, splash, a "Written By" page, and an "About" or "Using this Book" 2-page spread. 5 more pages.

That gives us 213 pages for the actual adventures.

With 13 adventures that's 16.4 pages per adventure. Let's go ahead and round it out and say that 5 of the adventures have 17 pages and the other 8 have 16.

That's PLENTY of space for adventures. Especially if you give over 1/2 a page to 1 page for Encounter Tables and a full page for a 'Region Map' to let players wander around during the adventure and stumble upon the scripted story events as they go. Give over another full page to the description of the area/plane/whatever and you've got 13.5-14.5 pages of adventure text and that's still plenty of space to tell a great story to get you from one level to the next.

Turns out a city full of weirdos with various factions sectioning off the city and run by a goddess named The Lady of Pain, isn't fluffy enough for modern D&D.

Could be!

Or it could be just another location in the overall Planescape setting, sort of like how Candlekeep doesn't replace Waterdeep just because they put out an adventure anthology centered on it.

 

[Zarithar]

Looks good to me - I am all for small adventures that I can serve as one shots or as a "break" from my actual campaign. I've been running a lot of smaller adventures lately, and this fits the vibe of my group I think especially since it (still) doesn't look like we will all be meeting physically anytime soon. Two years of Roll20, we've all king of become used to it now. Also - we've got plenty of Western European flavored adventures out there to choose from (hundreds on DMsguild and other places) - so I'm all for something different and unique. This doesn't make Sigil redundant either in my opinion. The Planescape is huge (limitless) after all, so it's certainly possible to have multiple interplanar cities/hubs. Pre-ordered!

 

[The Last Rogue]

So waaaaait ... Spelljammer unconfirmed?

 

[OblivionDrive]

Turns out a city full of weirdos with various factions sectioning off the city and run by a goddess named The Lady of Pain, isn't fluffy enough for modern D&D.

Hey now! The Lady isn’t a deity. That kind of talk will get you sent to the Mazes!

 

[TwoSix]

I'm not sure about Spelljammer, even less so with the unveiling of this book.

I've seen enough info that looks reputable to feel pretty good about Spelljammer.

 

[Remathilis]

Couple things to note:

1) The book is $30 according to D&D Beyond.
2) Candlekeep was 224 pages, this one is likely a similar length

With 13 adventures and 11 new monsters and precisely 0 Spells, Feats, Subclasses, or Races mentioned, it's pretty safe to say the adventures are going to be the vast bulk of what the book contains, aside from "Richly Detailed" information about where the adventures are set.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they can only fit 2 monsters per page and round it up to 6 pages out of 224. Let's give them three pages for table of contents, splash, a "Written By" page, and an "About" or "Using this Book" 2-page spread. 5 more pages.

That gives us 213 pages for the actual adventures.

With 13 adventures that's 16.4 pages per adventure. Let's go ahead and round it out and say that 5 of the adventures have 17 pages and the other 8 have 16.

That's PLENTY of space for adventures. Especially if you give over 1/2 a page to 1 page for Encounter Tables and a full page for a 'Region Map' to let players wander around during the adventure and stumble upon the scripted story events as they go. Give over another full page to the description of the area/plane/whatever and you've got 13.5-14.5 pages of adventure text and that's still plenty of space to tell a great story to get you from one level to the next.

Could be!

Or it could be just another location in the overall Planescape setting, sort of like how Candlekeep doesn't replace Waterdeep just because they put out an adventure anthology centered on it.

FYI: all D&D books are $30 on D&D Beyond. The dead tree version will be $50 like the rest.

 

[Morrus]

2) Candlekeep was 224 pages, this one is likely a similar length

Yep, it's 224 pages.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Turns out a city full of weirdos with various factions sectioning off the city and run by a goddess named The Lady of Pain, isn't fluffy enough for modern D&D.

I feel like maybe fewer people today will find Mary Sue Perfected to be a compelling leader.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

What makes you think that the writers selected are not talented?

I don't have information to say they are talented or the opposite. Let me read the book and I can tell you my opinion. But the problem is that reading it without buying it is illegal, so I have to judge by what I read around the book. For now I see a cover that FOR ME it is childish and doesn't inspire me and the proclaim that it is written by POC. So a negative impression from the first element and a totally neutral information from the second element.