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​

 

[Erdric Dragin]

Not Planescape/Sigil...of course. Figures.

WotC really hates the Legacy D&D gamers (pre-4e) and it shows.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Not Planescape/Sigil...of course. Figures.

WotC really hates the Legacy D&D gamers (pre-4e) and it shows.

That's definitely one way to interpret it!

 

[Scribe]

That sounds like a pretty substantial mix...

It is, but I think your sidestepping his point a bit, not that its going to end in a good place regardless.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

Candlekeep came out March of last year. Whether or not a 15 month gap fits the definition of "just had one" I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.

yeah. It matters. Been waiting several years for a damn Psionics book but WotC clearly wants to give their gimmicky marketing celebrities like Mercer yet another book instead.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not Planescape/Sigil...of course. Figures.

WotC really hates the Legacy D&D gamers (pre-4e) and it shows.

If only they did a Ravenloft, FR, Eberron or Dragonlance book!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

yeah. It matters. Been waiting several years for a damn Psionics book but WotC clearly wants to give their gimmicky marketing celebrities like Mercer yet another book instead.

It's pretty obvious WotC aren't doing psionics until the community agrees on what sort of psionics they want. Which will be never (or beyond).

You want psionics, grab one of the excellent 3PP rules.

 

[Remathilis]

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).

That said, it's not like D&D (be under TSR, Paizo, or Wizards) really ever shied away from non-white settings or adventures, they just were written as exotic locales to be explored by mostly white authors for mostly white audiences. I'd love to see some mythos from other cultures, as seen through the eyes of those cultures, put into D&D. A samurai character option created by Japanese writers. Genies explored through Arabian authors. Voodoo tackled by a practitioner. Egyptian pyramids written with Egyptologists in consult. I wouldn't even mind some Celtic or Norse folklorists taking a look at druids or frost giants in the context of game. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate, but it wouldn't hurt to have more voices contributing the saucepot.

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

That said, it's not like D&D (be under TSR, Paizo, or Wizards) really ever shied away from non-white settings or adventures, they just were written as exotic locales to be explored by mostly white authors for mostly white audiences. I'd love to see some mythos from other cultures, as seen through the eyes of those cultures, put into D&D. A samurai character option created by Japanese writers. Genies explored through Arabian authors. Voodoo tackled by a practitioner. Egyptian pyramids written with Egyptologists in consult. I wouldn't even mind some Celtic or Norse folklorists taking a look at druids or frost giants in the context of game. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate, but it wouldn't hurt to have more voices contributing the saucepot.

That line of reasoning will quickly become dangerous if you apply it to medieval European fantasy.

I am, vehemently, against the idea that creatives can or should be told what they can or can't do/write about/etc. For the record. If people want to make offensive things, by all means let them, and the 'market place of ideas' can sort out the rest.

 

[Micah Sweet]

To be fair, that’s what got me into the theaters to see Mad Max: Fury Road. I remember thinking “was anyone asking for a Mad Max reboot/sequel?” But when I saw socially regressive types filling their diapers over it, my interest was piqued and it ended up being amazing when I did go to see it.

Not always a sure fire bet, but it works more often than I’d care to admit.

That implicitly states that people who don't like something are socially regressive types filling their diapers. I like to look at the reasons people like or don't like something before I make judgements about them.

 

[Lidgar]

Maybe the "never before seen format" will be a paper booklet with punch-out's to assemble your own Spelljammer ships. Something like this:

One can dream!