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​

 

[BookTenTiger]

Excellent. Why do you need a wall then when you can you easily "fly" around it?

Why do you need a causeway then when you can you easily "fly" around it?

We will find out once the adventure is released!

 

[LizardWizard]

Maybe not everyone can fly. I agree that as a wall, it’s highly impractical. If it’s a causeway or bridge to something, then it could make some limited sense.

Even as a causeway, it is also laughably impractical, because it winds and bends with no good reason. If it has a practical use of leading somewhere, why the hell isn't it straight?

Oh, I know why. Because the Great Wall of China in the real world winds and bends a lot. Except it was built in hills and mountains with constantly changing slopes and altitudes, and had to be like this for a good logical reason.

Here, it winds and bends only because the creators had to signal LOOK, CHINA! somehow, and the best they could come up is to take a visual symbol of China that a second-grader could recognise, and pasted it onto the Ethereal Plane with no consideration as to how it would work in a world with little physical matter and essentially no objective gravity.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Even as a causeway, it is also laughably impractical, because it winds and bends with no good reason. If it has a practical use of leading somewhere, why the hell isn't it straight?

Oh, I know why. Because the Great Wall of China in the real world winds and bends a lot. Except it was built in hills and mountains with constantly changing slopes and altitudes, and had to be like this for a good logical reason.

Here, it winds and bends only because the creators had to signal LOOK, CHINA! somehow, and the best they could come up is to take a visual symbol of China that a second-grader could recognise, and pasted it onto the Ethereal Plane with no consideration as to how it would work in a world with little physical matter and essentially no objective gravity.

Do you scrutinize every preview this closely?

Personally I try to assume the art directors, writers, artists, and editors know what they're doing, and that if I don't understand a piece of art it'll get revealed when I read the adventure.

But that's just quirky little me!

 

[LizardWizard]

Going to hazard a guess that there might be some gasp magic involved there...

I take your "it's magic!" and counter it with "suspension of disbelief".

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Even as a causeway, it is also laughably impractical, because it winds and bends with no good reason. If it has a practical use of leading somewhere, why the hell isn't it straight?

Oh, I know why. Because the Great Wall of China in the real world winds and bends a lot. Except it was built in hills and mountains with constantly changing slopes and altitudes, and had to be like this for a good logical reason.

Here, it winds and bends only because the creators had to signal LOOK, CHINA! somehow, and the best they could come up is to take a visual symbol of China that a second-grader could recognise, and pasted it onto the Ethereal Plane with no consideration as to how it would work in a world with little physical matter and essentially no objective gravity.

I take your "it's magic!" and counter it with "suspension of disbelief".

Or, perhaps it's not on the Ethereal Plane (meaning travelers wouldn't necessarily be able to fly around at will) and is primarily meant to serve as a bridge or walkway.

My mind went to Snake Way from Dragonball, rather than the Great Wall of China.

 

[Arilyn]

Even as a causeway, it is also laughably impractical, because it winds and bends with no good reason. If it has a practical use of leading somewhere, why the hell isn't it straight?

Oh, I know why. Because the Great Wall of China in the real world winds and bends a lot. Except it was built in hills and mountains with constantly changing slopes and altitudes, and had to be like this for a good logical reason.

Here, it winds and bends only because the creators had to signal LOOK, CHINA! somehow, and the best they could come up is to take a visual symbol of China that a second-grader could recognise, and pasted it onto the Ethereal Plane with no consideration as to how it would work in a world with little physical matter and essentially no objective gravity.

We have no evidence that this is true. This conclusion seems unnecessarily hostile toward a picture that we have almost zero lore to connect it to.

 

[Undrave]

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.

I think it's like a bridge

 

[LizardWizard]

Do you scrutinize every preview this closely?

Personally I try to assume the art directors, writers, artists, and editors know what they're doing, and that if I don't understand a piece of art it'll get revealed when I read the adventure.

But that's just quirky little me!

I know that the spirit of True Fandom nowadays is "always trust a billion-dollar corp to make no mistakes, consume product, get excited for new product", but I reserve the right to reasonable criticism, thank you.

 

[Dire Bare]

I know that the spirit of True Fandom nowadays is "always trust a billion-dollar corp to make no mistakes, consume product, get excited for new product", but I reserve the right to reasonable criticism, thank you.

Nice! When you have some reasonable criticism, let us know!

 

[whimsychris123]

Even as a causeway, it is also laughably impractical, because it winds and bends with no good reason. If it has a practical use of leading somewhere, why the hell isn't it straight?

With that line of thought, I’d argue most dungeons in D&D are highly impractical. At any rate, until we know the reasons behind the image (maybe the wall WAS on the ground and some magical force changed it), I’ll hold my judgement and appreciate the artistry.