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​

 

[Umbran]

New things can also be bad. Fortunately humans have evolved the capacity to assess and make judgements on things before we experience them.

Yeah, but there's a big question about how often those judgements are correct.

Now, you're essentially talking about risk management. So, maybe the thing isn't great, or not to your liking. You are out some money, and some time reading it.

If your money and time budgets are honestly so bound up that the costs associated with one product you don't like is a real issue... well, then you actually have some major life challenges we aren't in a position to address. I'm honestly sorry that you can't afford that risk.

Otherwise, honestly, there's not a whole lot of need to make that judgement ahead of time. Certainly there no need to judge before folks in the community have actually gotten hands on the product to give it a solid review and playtest.

 

[Scribe]

Wizards can't sell Black Lotus anymore, it's on the reserved list.

Black Lotus | Alpha | Card Kingdom

Alpha: Black Lotus. This is the most expensive and iconic Magic card in existence. It is currently banned in Commander, Legacy, and restricted in Vintage.

www.cardkingdom.com

I still want one.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

And unless new religions are added in the book, they will all worship the Gods of the Forgotten Realms in Adventurer's League, just like the Domains of Delight.

Wut?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I still want one.

Controversial opinion, I like Nyx Lotus better then Black Lotus, and Nyx Lotus isn't on the reserve list. Nyx Lotus has gorgeous art and can produce way, way more mana, yes Black Lotus gives an super easy mana bump, but then it's sacrificed, and if someone counterspelks you, it was all for nothing, but with Nyx Lotus it produces mana equal to you devotion to a colour which can cause you to ramp up hard and quick even in a mono red or white deck, you can keep using it turn after turn, with Black Lotus you have 1 shot to make it count.

 

[Scribe]

Controversial opinion, I like Nyx Lotus better then Black Lotus, and Nyx Lotus isn't on the reserve list. Nyx Lotus has gorgeous art and can produce way, way more mana, yes Black Lotus gives an super easy mana bump, but then it's sacrificed, and if someone counterspelks you, it was all for nothing, but with Nyx Lotus it produces mana equal to you devotion to a colour which can cause you to ramp up hard and quick even in a mono red or white deck, you can keep using it turn after turn, with Black Lotus you have 1 shot to make it count.

I mean...I dont want it to play it. Its $150K if you find a mint one for a reason, and it has little to do with its mechanical crunch.

 

[Cadence]

Controversial opinion, I like Nyx Lotus better then Black Lotus, and Nyx Lotus isn't on the reserve list. Nyx Lotus has gorgeous art and can produce way, way more mana, yes Black Lotus gives an super easy mana bump, but then it's sacrificed, and if someone counterspelks you, it was all for nothing, but with Nyx Lotus it produces mana equal to you devotion to a colour which can cause you to ramp up hard and quick even in a mono red or white deck, you can keep using it turn after turn, with Black Lotus you have 1 shot to make it count.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Wut?

In the main AL campaign you can only worship FR deities (which is a much, much broader category now admittedly), and Witchlight (and it's DMSGUILD Domains of Delight AL adventures offshoots) are legal in the main AL campaign.

This is likely to be how Radiant Citadel is handled, which means all clerics playing with RC for AL will need to pick FR Gods.

Of course one difference is AL might choose a particular FR civilization to be one of the 12 lost ones, giving the setting a proper FR connection.

 

[whimsychris123]

I would argue that portraying any and all criticism of this book as some sort of racially motivated bias is equally stunning.

Earlier in the thread people were saying that WotC was choosing skin color over talent. Since they hadn’t seen the book, it’s a strange thing to say. Luckily, the moderators have squashed that line of comments.

 

[LizardWizard]

For those who want to look at the art, Sage Advice has compiled it all here; Sneaky peek at the incredible ART of 'Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel' !

My favorite piece is this below. I assume this is China-inspired, but whatever it is really intrigues me about these new worlds!

View attachment 154006

Building a wall in the air is kinda cool-looking but so laughably impractical no amount of "rule of kewl" and "style over substance" is going to justify that.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

In the main AL campaign you can only worship FR deities (which is a much, much broader category now admittedly), and Witchlight (and it's DMSGUILD Domains of Delight AL adventures offshoots) are legal in the main AL campaign.

This is likely to be how Radiant Citadel is handled, which means all clerics playing with RC for AL will need to pick FR Gods.

Of course one difference is AL might choose a particular FR civilization to be one of the 12 lost ones, giving the setting a proper FR connection.

Yeah I'm pretty sure Adventurer's League isn't exactly representative of official canon, it's just a vehicle for organized play. Never played AL myself, but I'd be pretty surprised if AL DMs really care if you change the name of the god for your PC if it's functionally the same.