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​

 

[JEB]

Hence WotC's insistence that a mention of Kara-Tur in The Book of Inner Alchemy (Candlekeep Mysteries) was changed to " the lands to the east of Faerûn".

Apparently it was the designer (Daniel Kwan) who asked them to genericize mentions of Kara-Tur in his adventure (but the Shou ethnicity is still referenced).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I would point out that Volo's is discontinued. The current lore for Tabaxi makes no mention Maztica.

Sure. But Volo's being discontinued had nothing to do with Maztica being mentioned in it and everything to do with updating monster and race stats from both Volo's and Mordenkainen's into a single "setting neutral" book.

I was going to respond to the second part of the post, but it looks like @JEB has that covered.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Apparently it was the designer (Daniel Kwan) who asked them to genericize mentions of Kara-Tur in his adventure (but the Shou ethnicity is still referenced).

I heard that the other way round. But you may be correct.

 

[JEB]

I heard that the other way round. But you may be correct.

The article I linked is an interview with Kwan where he specifically talks about this.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure. But Volo's being discontinued had nothing to do with Maztica being mentioned in it and everything to do with updating monster and race stats from both Volo's and Mordenkainen's into a single "setting neutral" book.

No, but the change reflects a deliberate change in policy from WotC between the publication of Volo's and the publication of MotM.

In the current version of FR Maztica, Kara Tur, etc don't exist, and never have existed.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

No, but the change reflects a deliberate change in policy from WotC between the publication of Volo's and the publication of MotM.

Agreed. I was just pointing out that your "Maztica is fictional" was unhelpful to the discussion, whether or not it's "officially mentioned in a non-discontinued 5e book" or it being mentioned is a good idea. I agree that Maztica not being mentioned was a good thing.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Agreed. I was just pointing out that your "Maztica is fictional" was unhelpful to the discussion, whether or not it's "officially mentioned in a non-discontinued 5e book" or it being mentioned is a good idea. I agree that Maztica not being mentioned was a good thing.

No, I would say it's very relevant. Because it's fictional, you can change something, forget it, or delete it without having to justify or explain the change.

 

[Demetrios1453]

No, but the change reflects a deliberate change in policy from WotC between the publication of Volo's and the publication of MotM.

In the current version of FR Maztica, Kara Tur, etc don't exist, and never have existed.

That's a bit of a leap. They may not have been mentioned (or at best obliquely referred to), but they haven't been outright stated to not exist, nor ever existed. They may very well say this at some point, but they haven't done so so far. If this is the case, we need a direct citation, and, no, claiming that they haven't been mentioned isn't good enough. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's a bit of a leap. They may not have been mentioned (or at best obliquely referred to), but they haven't been outright stated to not exist, nor ever existed. They may very well say this at some point, but they haven't done so so far. If this is the case, we need a direct citation, and, no, claiming that they haven't been mentioned isn't good enough. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

As a I pointed out, they can't make a statement to that effect, because to do so would be to draw attention to them, which is the very thing WotC want to avoid. But you can make an inference by the absence of a mention in places where you might expect a mention to exist. The dog did nothing in the night time.

 

[pukunui]

I would point out that Volo's is discontinued. The current lore for Tabaxi makes no mention Maztica.

Maztica is also mentioned in the SCAG and Tomb of Annihilation, both of which are still in print.