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​

 

[whimsychris123]

Not every book is going to be to everyone’s liking. Does it need to be?

Those saying that the current aesthetic is all light and fluffy haven’t been paying attention and they’re basing it on one adventure: Witchlight.

Some people want more lighthearted fare like Witchlight (although the adventure has its dark aspects and could easily be tweaked to be an incredibly dark adventure).

For those who want dark, there’s Ravenloft. As I read through Call of the Netherdeep, I’m seeing that it’s an incredibly dark adventure.

Books like Candlekeep and Strixhaven are more middle ground. I think there’s something for everyone in Candlekeep. And Strixhaven tried something almost entirely new for D&D (to mixed results, in my opinion, but I still appreciate the attempt).

As far as the new book, according to their marketing, it supposedly has its share of light and dark as well: “There’s a story for every adventuring party, from whimsical and light to dark and foreboding and everything in between.” I’ll take them at their word until evidence (ie the actual book) proves otherwise.

I appreciate that WotC is exploring new ideas about what makes something D&D. People once complained that Dragonlance, Planescape, Spelljammer, and even Ravenloft were not true to D&D’s roots, and some people still feel that way.

BTW, if you want more of the old-style D&D, I highly recommend Kobold Press. Their adventures and Midgard setting are stellar (and dark)!

 

[Mort]

Lighter tone? Ok. I’m down for some of that.

Agree with just about everything your saying, but I'm REALLY not getting where the "lighter tone" info comes from.

It may not be grimdark (hooray!) but most of the adventurers are based on some pretty dark stuff - like an authors experience growing up as a POC in the deep south - somehow doubt that's going to be all sunshine and rainbows!

 

[Jer]

Agree with just about everything your saying, but I'm REALLY not getting where the "lighter tone" info comes from.

It may not be grimdark (hooray!) but most of the adventurers are based on some pretty dark stuff - like an authors experience growing up as a POC in the deep south - somehow doubt that's going to be all sunshine and rainbows!

People judging the book by its cover and not understanding what genres like "hopepunk" actually are.

Also they seem to be missing the point that the Radiant Citadel is supposed to be, as we'd have said in 4e, a "Point of Light" on the map - it's an area where there aren't conflicts going on incessantly so the PCs can take a breather between adventures.

(Also despite how it is mocked there are a lot of folks my age who actually like "grimdark" and want that. Which is fine I guess - not my cup of tea - but having nuance in their darkness isn't necessarily what they want.)

 

[Vaalingrade]

It may not be grimdark (hooray!) but most of the adventurers are based on some pretty dark stuff - like an authors experience growing up as a POC in the deep south - somehow doubt that's going to be all sunshine and rainbows!

On the one hand, it's still probably lighter relative to the infinite sadness some people seem to be demanding.

On the other, because there's a cute animal on the cover and colors besides brown and grey, it's obviously [insert reference I'm sure people will agree with me they don't like']

 

[OblivionDrive]

On this we can agree. The alternate cover art does seem pretty similar to the overall art styles of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount and Netherdeep. I know that one of the people that wrote and adventure for this book had previously worked for Critical Role (I can't remember their name), so that could be a link between them.

You’re thinking of Surena Marie here. Not previously worked for though. Still does. She used to be their social media manager but recently got promoted to I think marketing manager? Something like that.

 

[Shardstone]

I'm thinking that both probably dipped into the same well of inspiration. It's not like any of these concepts are new from the MCU.

This is so incredibly obvious that I don't know how anyone could have came to a different conclusion haha

 

[Micah Sweet]

For me it’s more about looking at the points being made and realizing that nearly everything that’s being held up as a negative is a positive to me

New planar adventure that has nothing connected to Planescape? Fantastic. I hate Planescape and refused to buy anything from that setting. Finally a planar book that I might actually like.

New themes that aren’t the same old tired stuff? Great!

Original adventures that aren’t reprints? Fantastic.

Lighter tone? Ok. I’m down for some of that.

On and on. Like I said, pretty much every thing that folks are bitching about seems like a feature to me.

Plus it has the added bonus of pissing certain people off and that’s just an added bonus.

Reasonable argument with a side of schadenfreude.

 

[Azzy]

On the other, because there's a cute animal on the cover and colors besides brown and grey, it's obviously [insert reference I'm sure people will agree with me they don't like']

Which, historically speaking (aside from the 70s), is not something that you'd really see in most human cultures (quite the contrary—the moar garish and colorful, the better).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agree with just about everything your saying, but I'm REALLY not getting where the "lighter tone" info comes from.

It may not be grimdark (hooray!) but most of the adventurers are based on some pretty dark stuff - like an authors experience growing up as a POC in the deep south - somehow doubt that's going to be all sunshine and rainbows!

I don't know if the book in general has a lighter tone, but the cover art certainly presented that way.

 

[Scribe]

As an eternal fan of grimdark, I'm curious at the multiple mentions of it.

Nothing D&D in recent memory, is remotely grimdark. Why is that term seemingly living rent free in people's minds?

As to the contrasting with 'hopepunk'...sure. I'd say it's more a contrast with cyberpunk in that case, but when was the last cyberpunk D&D work?