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​

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

Can you clarify at all what your comments have to do with Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel?

My replies are always replies to the person they are replying to, not replies to the over all topic or original post.

So the answer to your question is that they don't have anything to do with [the book] because I was responding to a specific person about a specific point they had made.

Can you clarify why your comments are so accusatory and policing?

 

[Maxperson]

How can a FRPG product by "too cultural"?

I mean, even if we accept the (contentious) idea that urban industrial societies don't have cultures in the way that "pre-modern" ones do, FRPGs are set in imaginary pre-modern societies!

Those(or at least some) specific cultures don't exist in my campaign and they're not going to spontaneously appear so that I can run an adventure. And I don't do much in the way of plane hopping, so my purchase of the product will depend on how strongly they represent their various cultures.

 

[Mournblade94]

Going up when we did, fantasy wasn't taken seriously. That has changed, thanks to the likes of Terry Pratchett, who dealt with serious issues with his fantasy and humour.

Also, when we where growing up West was getting richer, the Cold War was ending, and climate change was easy to ignore.

The world has changed. Personally, I prefer to change with it.

One set of these is not like the other though. Fantasy is changed but its not necessarily better. We have better production value.

Climate change is actually important. ITs just odd to equate it with Fantasy aesthteics.

 

[Mournblade94]

I don't need evil is sexy, but I absolutely want Alignment, Gods, Great Wheel, to be the focus.

I still use alignment mechanics in my 5e game. If I don't want to use alignment I play a game other than D&D. But in the D&D Worlds I use, alignment is tangible.

 

[Mort]

Yep this was my primary reaction. I 100% agree. Plus this has departed from the medieval tropes and is cutting much closer to the modern tropes, see Iron Chef inspired first adventure.

WHen I want to explore concepts like these I'll use other systems. For D&D I know exactly what I want.

I'm the exact opposite- always looking for ideas, themes, tropes outside of the standard faux-European ones usually present.

Even if I don't use the adventures directly, hoping to get some great ideas etc.

 

[jayoungr]

I’ve seen so many people grouse about how D&D doesn’t do anything but encourage solutions through combat and that the other pillars of gameplay are underrepresented in a mechanics sense. The second we start seeing moves to address that more, OTHER folks get mad that there’s less than 100% “killing people solves every problem” in a new book. It’s just weird to me honestly.

Protip: On the whole, this forum hates every new book as soon as it is announced. I can't remember the last time a book announcement thread wasn't flooded with negativity and griping. (Then when the book actually comes out, a new thread is made that's generally positive! Never bothered to check whether any of the same people participated in both.)

 

[DarkCrisis]

Have they mentioned slavery since the 2018 run up to soft reboot? Honestly don't know.

See this it the thing.

The further you go back the more Wotc seems "open" to things. But a lot has changed in the past 2 years.

They mentioned Sigil in the PHB and DMG, books from 8 years ago.... whoopty doo.

 

[Jer]

Protip: On the whole, this forum hates every new book as soon as it is announced. I can't remember the last time a book announcement thread wasn't flooded with negativity and griping. (Then when the book actually comes out, a new thread is made that's generally positive! Never bothered to check whether any of the same people participated in both.)

This is absolutely true - I think folks get hyped up about speculating about the next release and then are disappointed when it is never the thing they speculate about. (Also many of us are grumpy olds who are doing the gaming equivalent of complaining about how the music that the kids listen to these days is just a bunch of noise and nothing can match up to the ideal of music which just happens to conicide to when we were 13-20 - getting old is rough sometimes).

Also the new thread is usually positive because it's full of people who actually bought the book. And Wizards books tend to actually be pretty good on average.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

They mentioned Sigil in the PHB and DMG, books from 8 years ago.... whoopty doo.

For what it's worth, Sigil is also explicitly mentioned as recently as Tasha's (at least), to the point where there's an art piece in the section on Group Patrons depicting Rhys, ex-Factol of the Transcendent Order, training students at Sigil's Great Gymnasium.

They haven't done much with Sigil, but it clearly hasn't been forgotten or discarded.

 

[Mort]

See this it the thing.

The further you go back the more Wotc seems "open" to things. But a lot has changed in the past 2 years.

They mentioned Sigil in the PHB and DMG, books from 8 years ago.... whoopty doo.

Are you honestly trying to claim that this collection is WoTC not being "open" to things?

That a supplement exploring diverse cultures, backgrounds and different themes etc. Is not a company open to ideas? Dark or otherwise? That's just an odd take.

Further, I like Planescape and Sigil, but I already have TONS of content on it, more than enough for many campaigns. And WoTC had made the content available for purchase so anyone who wants it, can too.