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​

 

[Vaalingrade]

Hoo-ah!!

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

I make it a point to tell a one hour story about my tiefling warlord and mention my carpal tunnel from rolling too many dice on every first date. Works every time.

 

[Vaalingrade]

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.

We are literally playing make believe, playing with toys and then some of use are complaining that something, somewhere that they don't even have to interact with is cute. If you can't see the irony there... I feel sorry for your experience.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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.

The experience of everyone I know who plays tells me you’re very wrong about this.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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

Which is why the game has more cute artwork. To make it more appealing to the 50+% of the potential market who are not men.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Which is why the game has more cute artwork. To make it more appealing to the 50+% of the potential market who are not men.

Not all men are so insecure as to be scared of cute things and not all women like cute things.

That was the point of the joke.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Not all men are so insecure as to be scared of cute things and not all women like cute things.

That was the point of the joke.

I think dragons are cute and I want to pet their snoots!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not all men are so insecure as to be scared of cute things

No, but some are clearly terrified of them, hence the objections.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No, but some are clearly terrified of them, hence the objections.

Then they can go back to playing super-swole hairy Short Kings with anger issues and stop trying to ruin it for everyone else.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Which is why the game has more cute artwork. To make it more appealing to the 50+% of the potential market who are not men.

This is very silly. Some men (or boys) like cute artwork (I like puppies, I'm a man), and some women don't. No idea why we have to talk about "cute art" as if it's a gender consideration.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This is very silly. Some men (or boys) like cute artwork (I like puppies, I'm a man), and some women don't. No idea why we have to talk about "cute art" as if it's a gender consideration.

I'm an educationalist. A lot of male children are conditioned to react negatively to "cuteness". It's very apparent from comments on internet forums.