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​

 

[overgeeked]

I wish we had gotten the Psychic Sorcerer and the Psi Die. But too many people were resistant to that cool idea.

Design by committee is about the worst choice they’ve ever made.

 

[Retreater]

Design by committee is about the worst choice they’ve ever made.

Most games are designed by committee, teams of writers, thousands of play-testers, etc. The problem, for me, is that the mechanics are bland, the adventures are sloppily constructed, and the overall tone is of adorable stuff for kids.

 

[dave2008]

The problem, for me, is that the mechanics are bland,

Are you talking about psionics? That was the topic you of discussion you quoted. If so, are you talking about Tasha's psionic subclasses? If not, what mechanics are you referring too?

the adventures are sloppily constructed,

Well that applies to every published adventure I have ever seen. Any suggestions for one that is not sloppy in your opinion? I've never had any luck with published adventures myself. TSR, Paizio, WotC, Chaosium all produce terrible adventures IMO.

EDIT: Terrible is to strong a word really, but I am failing at this time to think of a better one.

and the overall tone is of adorable stuff for kids.

Well to be fair D&D has always been marketed for kids. I picked up the game as a kid because of the adorable dragons, demons, devils, etc. But I also had pet lizards and an alligator (and a cat too!), so maybe I'm not the norm

I do wonder why you think "adorable" means it is for kids. I feel that "adorable" is more geared to a broader audience. Just not your audience evidently.

EDIT: For example: Otters. I find otters f---ing adorable and my wife loves sea otters like mad (I'm more of a river otter person). I wouldn't mind seeing an otter in an adventure and I am definitely not a kid. However, we also find great white sharks amazing and beautiful too.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well that applies to every published adventure I have ever seen. Any suggestions for one that is not sloppy in your opinion? I've never had any luck with published adventures myself. TSR, Paizio, WotC, Chaosium all produce terrible adventures IMO.

Yeah honestly the only good adventure is one you write yourself, IMO. No one else is going to write an adventure in your style, so you're going to either edit the adventure as you run it, or follow a map that doesn't fit what you want to do.

Well to be fair D&D has always been marketed for kids. I picked up the game as a kid because of the adorable dragons, demons, devils, etc. But I also had pet lizards and an alligator (and a cat too!), so maybe I'm not the norm

I do wonder why you think "adorable" means it is for kids. I feel like that "adorable" is more geared to a broader audience. Just not your audience evidently.

EDIT: For example: Otters. I find otters f---ing adorable and my wife loves sea otters like mad (I'm more of a river otter person). I wouldn't mind seeing an otter in an adventure and I am definitely not a kid. However, we also find great white sharks amazing and beautiful too.

Yeah adorable fits a few recent books, but hardly the game overall. Even then, so what? Oh no part of the game has cute things! Disaster!

Design by committee is about the worst choice they’ve ever made.

Nah, it's a great choice that is a big part of why dnd is bigger than it's ever been right now.

Most games are designed by committee, teams of writers, thousands of play-testers, etc. The problem, for me, is that the mechanics are bland, the adventures are sloppily constructed, and the overall tone is of adorable stuff for kids.

While I don't like most published adventures, "sloppily constructed" seems a bit much. And the overall tone of what is for kids? The game? If so, that's ridiculous.
As for the mechanics being bland, I mean, I found almost all of 3/.5e painfully bland, but others loved it. It is what it is,

 

[darjr]

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah adorable fits a few recent books, but hardly the game overall. Even then, so what? Oh no part of the game has cute things! Disaster!

Because every part of the game must be MANly with a capital MAN.

We are MEN and we do MANly things like play pretend magic elves by moving toys on graph paper and drinking sugar water and eating junk food.

 

[Retreater]

Are you talking about psionics? That was the topic you of discussion you quoted. If so, are you talking about Tasha's psionic subclasses? If not, what mechanics are you referring too?

I was referring to 5e in general, but yes, the psionics system I see as particularly bland.
Previous editions had psionics as its own system - a skill-based "casting" (manifesting) system, with different tiers of success dependent on degrees of success. It also allowed a lot of creative interpretation for DMs and players. The current psionic system is a re-skin of existing classes.

Well that applies to every published adventure I have ever seen. Any suggestions for one that is not sloppy in your opinion? I've never had any luck with published adventures myself. TSR, Paizio, WotC, Chaosium all produce terrible adventures IMO.

Yeah. There are many that are thematically unified. Just from 5e D&D alone I'd put up Curse of Strahd, Phandelver, and Tomb of Annihilation as good examples of adventure design. I'd say that Princes of the Apocalypse is also solid. There are others (Rime of the Frost Maiden being a glaring example) where the teams didn't seem to be in communication at all when designing their individual chapters.

I do wonder why you think "adorable" means it is for kids. I feel that "adorable" is more geared to a broader audience. Just not your audience evidently.

There's a certain degree of cuddliness - and it's not just in the art. There's things like putting the survival and desperation of Frost Maiden in the background so it doesn't really affect the campaign. Then there's the recent Netherdeep that basically presents a DM party that is going to take care of the adventure for the party so they don't even have to go on the quest (which is considered a selling point of the adventure).

Nah, it's a great choice that is a big part of why dnd is bigger than it's ever been right now.

The scope of D&D would've been the same - maybe even bigger. The committee design probably hampers more than it helps. The marketing of lunchboxes, beach towels, etc., were indicative of capitalizing on a fad in the waning days of TSR. I think that's what we're seeing now - trying to milk it for all it's worth while they still can instead of producing content of lasting value. It's the same thing with Star Wars and Marvel.

While I don't like most published adventures, "sloppily constructed" seems a bit much. And the overall tone of what is for kids? The game? If so, that's ridiculous.

I can point out the sloppy construction of its adventures. If you've ever worked as a professional writer or editor, you can sense when things have been put together without forethought and inspiration.

We are MEN and we do MANly things like play pretend magic elves by moving toys on graph paper and drinking sugar water and eating junk food.

Ah, the old, tired "we're only playing pretend with elves" excuse.
Let's say you have a hobby where you create art - say you're an amateur songwriter and like to perform acoustic sets at the neighborhood dive bar. You're not up there with Lennon/McCartney, but you do value expression and creating an atmosphere for your small group. Then someone says "blah, music is just Nickelback singing about getting chicks."
RPGs are a storytelling medium and can provide hours/years of expression and good times. If it's just moving toys to you, then I feel sorry for your experience.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Because every part of the game must be MANly with a capital MAN.

We are MEN and we do MANly things like play pretend magic elves by moving toys on graph paper and drinking sugar water and eating junk food.

Hoo-ah!!

^^ And chicks totally dig guys who do this stuff. You know it's true.

 

[overgeeked]

Ah, the old, tired "we're only playing pretend with elves" excuse.

Let's say you have a hobby where you create art - say you're an amateur songwriter and like to perform acoustic sets at the neighborhood dive bar. You're not up there with Lennon/McCartney, but you do value expression and creating an atmosphere for your small group. Then someone says "blah, music is just Nickelback singing about getting chicks."

RPGs are a storytelling medium and can provide hours/years of expression and good times. If it's just moving toys to you, then I feel sorry for your experience.

The flip side of that is that literally all the rules get in the way of D&D, a game, being some out-of-this-world "storytelling experience". The only way to beat a story out of a game of D&D is to change the rules and limit player agency...i.e. prevent it from being a game.

 

[dave2008]

I was referring to 5e in general, but yes, the psionics system I see as particularly bland.
Previous editions had psionics as its own system - a skill-based "casting" (manifesting) system, with different tiers of success dependent on degrees of success. It also allowed a lot of creative interpretation for DMs and players. The current psionic system is a re-skin of existing classes.

Ok, thank you for the clarification. I personally hate psionics and I have since 1e. I want it to die a painful death. However, I respect that people do like it and I don't mind if they have it. There are lots of options available for 3PP psionics and 5e. Not something I think WotC has to handle, but I know some people do.

However, I don't think 5e itself is bland. What I like about 5e is that it is simple and uncluttered and gives room for 3PP and homebrew to explore the fiddly bits. I'm guessing those are the bits you are feel are missing and make it "bland?" But, I'm a person that likes a hamburger to be bun and meat only and would be fine playing a Champion!

Yeah. There are many that are thematically unified. Just from 5e D&D alone I'd put up Curse of Strahd, Phandelver, and Tomb of Annihilation as good examples of adventure design. I'd say that Princes of the Apocalypse is also solid. There are others (Rime of the Frost Maiden being a glaring example) where the teams didn't seem to be in communication at all when designing their individual chapters.

OK, then what were you talking about? You responded to a post about psionics. What was I to understand from your comment about "sloppy adventures?"

Also, to clarify I own all those, and don't find them well designed for me to use at the table. But everyone is different.

There's a certain degree of cuddliness - and it's not just in the art. There's things like putting the survival and desperation of Frost Maiden in the background so it doesn't really affect the campaign. Then there's the recent Netherdeep that basically presents a DM party that is going to take care of the adventure for the party so they don't even have to go on the quest (which is considered a selling point of the adventure).

Are you saying all adventures, or some adventures, or some parts of many adventures? I mean there as been some pretty dark things in recent adventures too. Are you mad that they are not always catering to your wants and needs, or fearful that the trend in adventures is possibly away from what you want? IIRC, you made similar comments about adventures that haven't even been released yet.

To be honest, I can't really understand as I have never needed published adventures. I don't give a rat's butt what WotC makes adventure wise, it has little impact on me. I just hope they sell so that they can keep making D&D! Interestingly I almost never purchased adventures before 5e. However, the early 5e habit of putting additional interesting content in adventures moved me to purchase the early ones. Less so now.