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​

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

First time we got an entire book of our own in almost 50 years.

Seriously.

One book, dude.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yep, plus it's interesting that Planescape is a setting where the geography is literally shaped by alignment, yet the setting products actually de-emphasize alignment by showing how morality is really a lot more complicated and open to multiple interpretations than that.

And on the practical side they didn't want to completely throw out Gygax's "Outer Planes = Alignments" model that was firm D&D canon but they didn't want anything that simplistic as the guiding theme of the setting. So, on the one hand, alignment is a defining feature of the setting while also showing how alignment is not a satisfactory defining feature of a setting on it's own.

I think that was the point. It was saying that even when you can literally go to places labelled "good" and "evil" there is a lot more to morality than that.

 

[pukunui]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

How do you know that isn't the case? Have you read it already?

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

First time we got an entire book of our own in almost 50 years.

Seriously.

One book, dude.

The skin color of the author of a book really isn't a selling point for me - and I'd be willing to wager - most consumers of D&D products, (most of whom will never know anyway).

BUT it is WotC's prerogative to conduct their business however they like, and there's no reason for anyone to get upset about it. (I don't think ANYONE is metaphysically "entitled" to any sort of representation, and that knife cuts both ways).

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

To do what?

How can we even make such a claim? Book isn't even out yet. We literally don't know whats in it.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

Um, they did?

The Next D&D Adventure Book is a Vibrant, Personal Multicultural Anthology

Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is a planar portal fantasy with thirteen adventures written entirely by people of color.

gizmodo.com

Of the three adventures previewed, one is Thai-inspired, one is American South-inspired, and one is Persian-inspired. That sounds like a pretty substantial mix...

 

[ersatzphil]

I put it in a footnote earlier, but it occurred to me that two hardbacks, a DL setting book and The War of the Lance campaign, packaged together in a fancy cardboard sleeve, would be a "new format". Especially since it looks like they are aiming for Christmas with that one.

I had the same thought; I think you're probably spot on.

 

[Vaalingrade]

What if we promise to not have out own book again for another 50 years?

 

[DarkCrisis]

"This restaurant doesn't have sweet tea on the menu? Well, bless their hearts..."

I've heard in certain states that asking for ICED tea is a sin