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​

 

[LordEntrails]

I'm glad they have created new lore with a new location.

What I need to come to terms with is having planar travel readily available to commoners and 1st level PCs. Intentional planar travel has always been a level 10+ thing in my mind.

 

[Remathilis]

The weird one though is how will it connect to Ravenloft which is a demiplane in the Shadowfell, not a material plane world at all.

Maybe it won't (I haven't read up on the 13 adventures yet). It's not like Ravenloft was very accessible to Sigil either.

 

[Parmandur]

Average page count of 12 pages per adventure for 13 adventures leaves about 68 pages for Gazeteers, monsters, and sidebars with suggestions on connecting this to other settings.

Yeah, sounds about right. A little less, possibly.

 

[whimsychris123]

I love both those covers. I may have to buy this book twice. And an adventure anthology book will be great for my off-the-rails Strixhaven campaign. Do I want Spelljammer, Dragonlance and Planescape? Sure. Does this product sound amazing? Absolutely!

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Does anyone thing these two civilizations detailed in this book are samples of to 2 new settings coming in 2023?

Btw for now I'm calling this setting Radiant Citadel for now, because it does appear to be its own abit connected setting.

 

[Parmandur]

I would love, LOVE a Spelljammer book.

But we don't need one. They've given us mechanics for a Speljamming helm, plus neogi and giff. What else do we really need for Spelljammer?

I prefer them not touching it at all any more to them mishmashing it with Planescape or the Astral Plane or wherever.

I mean, we know a Spelljammer book is coming next.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes, that is realistic. These will be small civilizations at roughly 10 to 25 pages apiece however.

Lightly detailed, for DM expansion (or DMsGuild expansion by the writers).

 

[Weiley31]

Look, if you want weird/grim, you got Dungeon Crawl Classics. If you want everything else ALONGSIDE your weird/grim, you got Dungeons and Dragons as well.


But only ONE of those two will let you play as a Bard Llama/Alpaca.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Oh my God! Radiant Citadel could become a franchise of family-friendly theme restaurants in the real life!

I wonder about a "D&D" videogame but not a dungeon-crawler, but more a farm+life simulation.

The fandom can agree about WotC should do, and then this only can try to please the majority.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

All the complaints are exactly why WotC ignores all of us. Because there is no consistency with anything anyone says here. It's the exact same caterwauling that they have heard over the last 7 years.

- Some people want these books written by "established" writers. While other people just want the properties opened up on DMs Guild-- so that all kinds of material can be written for them by what would be a whole heap of non-established writers.

- Some people want classic material updated and produced for 5E. While other people can't stand any of the modernization of the classical material when it DOES get updated for 5E.

- Some people are sick and tired of retreaded material and want WotC to finally produce something new and original not based upon any previous established IP. While other people can't stand that something new has been made that is taking a slot or pushing back an established IP that they want to see made for some reason... despite the fact they probably wouldn't like what got made for that IP when it came out anyway.

- Some people are desperate for WotC to stop putting everything they make into the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms and to go somewhere different. While other people think that putting this weird location in the Deep Ethereal not connected to anything done previously is a waste.

- Some people hate the idea of WotC having produced nothing but long campaign adventures that take characters from 1-15. While others see a compilation of small adventures-- adventures that in fact aren't even re-prints from adventures written previously and instead are completely new-- aren't useful to their needs and make them want to "walk away" from D&D.

This is all some of the most comical and ridiculous commentary that we see here on EN World over and over and over and over. And yet it never changes, LOL. And for all the times we see people here post "Well, I guess it's time I walk away from D&D because they aren't producing what I want anymore"... they sure do keep showing up post after post every time a new book gets announced. I don't even know why they even bother making these woe-is-me-my-time-with-D&D-is-almost-over posts, seeing as how WotC hasn't been listening to us for years so the posts are all falling on deaf ears anyway. Heh heh...

This is a Forum where people express their ideas. There are different ideas.There are opposite ideas. There is not inconsistency in that. It is not respectful categorize it as ridiculous. Why are you LOLLING about that? Must we all say "OHHH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NEW MANUAL" in chorus, so you are finally happy?