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]

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.

Oh come on now.

You are making huge, judgmental assumptions based on an art preview without any context other than "one of these adventures is based on Chinese culture."

 

[LizardWizard]

Oh come on now.

You are making huge, judgmental assumptions based on an art preview without any context other than "one of these adventures is based on Chinese culture."

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

If it looks like a picture of the Great Wall of China, has battlements like the Great Wall of China, and curves like the Great Wall of China, then it is probably a pastiche of the Great Wall of China.

 

[FrozenNorth]

This comes across like you're implying that they're gay, and that this makes them not "the common man".

Actually, I think the implication is that if you have a gardener, you are not a member of the “common folk”: you are at the very least a member of the upper middle class.

…At least, that’s how I explained it to my gardener.

 

[Parmandur]

Theres a Pacific setting?

Filipino is often categorized as Pacific Islander, partially because Luzon and the whole archipelago are islands in the Pacific, and because of cultural reasons (all Polynesians are from the Philippines originally, for instance).

 

[Malmuria]

I prefer OSR games, where characters die at 0 HP and there isn't this silly, colorfull aesth...

 

[Parmandur]

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.

I don't play AL, either, but actuI understand that AL DMs have to be stickers about that sort of detail: there are strict Alignment and patron deity guidelines, and they are enforced.

 

[Parmandur]

To put my philosophy hat back on for a moment, the idea of a multiverse goes back to the ancient greeks. From Plutarch's Moralia:

See, not under copyright. Stolen by 20th century Marvel comics.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I don't play AL, either, but actuI understand that AL DMs have to be stickers about that sort of detail: there are strict Alignment and patron deity guidelines, and they are enforced.

Well, there's another reason for me to never touch AL!

 

[Jer]

See, not under copyright. Stolen by 20th century Marvel comics.

Comic Book Guy voice I think you'll find sir that DC comics had a multiverse before Marvel did, making DC comics the original thieves here.

 

[Mort]

I don't play AL, either, but actuI understand that AL DMs have to be stickers about that sort of detail: there are strict Alignment and patron deity guidelines, and they are enforced.

I've only done AL at conventions, but it's never once even come up - not even when I had a cleric.