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​

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I can probably adapt most of the adventures in some way to my campaign, but honestly I couldn't stop laughing reading the section of the Radiant Citadel itself and thinking about how it would play when the rubber meets the road when you throw a bunch of PCs into the mix (if presented 'as is'). I've run for a number of different folks over the years, variety of age groups & backgrounds, but I can't imagine not one of them not eventually making the Radiant Citadel itself the main focus antagonist of the entire campaign.

And it's not the unrealistic ultimately mind control enforced (dys)utopia thing going on (though that factor in Citadel society would certainly become another thing that will garner PC ire). It's the taxes (and the expectation they'd pay them or face public recrimination....). I have never taxed a group of PCs ever in my time DMing without my Players trying their utmost to try to avoid them (and resenting the npc trying to impose them). And there's always at least a few PCs that are going to have run-ins with the 'law'....what they set up in the Citadel ultimately will get their attention pretty quickly.

What they present has me wondering how much experience the person who wrote that section actually has when it comes to running the game. That bit of the setting is boring and doesn't have easy hooks for a DM to use for PCs to easily get involved & interested in (and care about) the place they're supposed to based out of. It's just some place they keep their stuff while any real conflict (i.e. adventure) happens elsewhere. I'm not saying the place has to be a filthy cesspool of crime & villainy, but jeez....PCs could find more excitement in a nice safe theme park and frankly it comes across a bit creepy overall with the other elements hardwired in. Might be fun to torture my players with the setting running it straight as is.

My feelings were the same. Most of the adventures were chock full of flavour and being ported into my home brew in places where they fit, but the Radiant Citadel itself is utter nonsense.

 

[Azenis]

My feelings were the same. Most of the adventures were chock full of flavour and being ported into my home brew in places where they fit, but the Radiant Citadel itself is utter nonsense.

Thinking about it, I think what I found the most amusing about the Citadel is that it's like future LA from Demolition Man (only a bit more creepy & extreme) and the moment the PCs arrive they'd automatically become some of the worst (or most criminal people) in it . A good setting background/backdrop should bring something to the table, pretty much a character in itself (again it doesn't have to be Gotham but...)...this one verges on self-parody (like the Federation during Rodenberry's tenure of TNG...very boring people).

It might fit for an extreme alignment plane, but a crossroad nexus in the Ethereal? I'm actually considering it (completely untweaked) just to watch my players try to figure out what is wrong with the Citadel.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

this one verges on self-parody (like the Federation during Rodenberry's tenure of TNG...very boring people).

I mean, you're not wrong that they clearly are on the same page as Star Trek, so much so that I'm pretty sure the Shield Bearers are openly inspired by the away teams.

But hating the Federation's politics is an idiosyncratic take.

In any case, if it's an issue, I would recommend you just treat all the adventures as taking place in the same world (explicitly true or at least heavily implied to be true in several cases as-is) and skip Deep Space Ethereal if it's going to interfere with your enjoyment of the campaign or derail it into being something very different.

(This is also why I get into arguments here about how all art is political, whether or not there's intent behind it. Sigil is also a very political planar nexus, independent of the individual factions. It's rule by immortal strongman who allows free speech and behavior until the moment it interferes with how she wants things to go in her city. There's not even a pretense of democracy or the ability for those who live in Sigil to change how it's ruled. That's an oppressive government in our world, more laissez-faire than a city-state in the UAE but less free than Singapore. Some people from our world might want to live in Sigil, but I suspect many wouldn't after a relatively short period.)

 

[Azenis]

I mean, you're not wrong that they clearly are on the same page as Star Trek, so much so that I'm pretty sure the Shield Bearers are openly inspired by the away teams.

But hating the Federation's politics is an idiosyncratic take.

Oh it has nothing to do with politics and more with the early season's boring to nearly unrelatable characterizations of some aspects of Fed society. Rodenberry didn't allow for interpersonal conflict or drama on the Enterprise (it was always external)...it's one of the primary reasons those seasons were generally awful/boring (and had it been anything other than Star Trek it would have been canceled). SF Debris brings it up occasionally and offhand I'm remembering a review he did of the 3rd season ep 'The Bonding'. He really highlights just how alien/inhuman Gene's vision of what his utopian people are with a plot centered around a boy losing his mother in an away mission...he's not allowed to grieve in essence.

A utopia is literally a 'no place' but it's also no place to tell stories as the characters inhabiting it don't feel 'real' with realistic motivations or drives (or antagonists). Played as is I guess the analogy would be for a PC that they stepped into an 'Uncanny Valley'...a creepy vibe once they notice it. I'm pretty sure mine would constantly be on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop or looking behind the curtain (probably both) while they suspect a heavy dollop of mind control at work. They likely would become the local 'Edgar Friendlies' which I think is worth a laugh and why I'm tempted to run the Citadel itself as written .

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Oh it has nothing to do with politics and more with the early season's boring to nearly unrelatable characterizations of some aspects of Fed society. Rodenberry didn't allow for interpersonal conflict or drama on the Enterprise (it was always external)...it's one of the primary reasons those seasons were generally awful/boring (and had it been anything other than Star Trek it would have been canceled). SF Debris brings it up occasionally and offhand I'm remembering a review he did of the 3rd season ep 'The Bonding'. He really highlights just how alien/inhuman Gene's vision of what his utopian people are with a plot centered around a boy losing his mother in an away mission...he's not allowed to be grieve in essence.

A utopia is literally a 'no place' but it's also no place to tell stories as the characters inhabiting it don't feel 'real' with realistic motivations or drives (or antagonists). Played as is I guess the analogy would be for a PC that they stepped into an 'Uncanny Valley'...a creepy vibe once they notice it. I'm pretty sure mine would constantly be on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop or looking behind the curtain (probably both) while they suspect a heavy dollop of mind control at work. They likely would become the local 'Edgar Friendlies' which I think is worth a laugh and why I'm tempted to run the Citadel itself as written .

So, you don't like the Radiant Citadel because the first couple of seasons of Star Trek TNG where bad?

I find that - most illogical.

 

[Azenis]

So, you don't like the Radiant Citadel because the first couple of seasons of Star Trek TNG where bad?

I find that - most illogical.

I'm starting to think you're just being obtuse at this point. No, I find Radiant Citadel laughable because what they establish as a society doesn't feel remotely realistic or living (even less so than Plato's construct society in the Republic). It's a trade nexus (and utterly dependent on trade btw) that is built from multiple cultures, not some insular & isolated community (or cult). Yet somehow not only do they collect taxes from travelers or traders on essentially on a voluntary basis (again they attract from everywhere) or face 'disapproval' ( ), crime is very low with virtually no theft. Pretty sure I even read that most of the population are immigrants so there's no overall cultural morality that ingrains a strong anti-criminal attitude...and that's before getting into various traders (or troublemaking adventurers visiting) who for some reason just decide to voluntarily pay taxes when there is no real consequence for ignoring them.

That's without getting into all the other weird little tidbits, but it boils down to people not acting like people. I made the comparison to TNG because their early seasons had the same problem... and caused a lot of issues in the writing room (or with a DM who runs Citadel as written) because all conflict or drama had to be external to the ship. As a result (again if run as written) there are a ton of stories that you just can't run in the Citadel (murder mysteries, crime bosses, demonic infiltration etc) and frankly if you're writing a main hub setting for someone else to run it....wow. I think it might be fun to run for my group in a Demolition Man sort of way though.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I find Radiant Citadel laughable because what they establish as a society doesn't feel remotely realistic

And the ones where people shoot lightning out of their fingers at flying fire breathing lizards do?

You might want to look up "fantasy" in the dictionary.

 

[Azenis]

And the ones where people shoot lightning out of their fingers at flying fire breathing lizards do?

You might want to look up "fantasy" in the dictionary.

Oh, so you're saying that the only way the Citadel works is because of magic mind control? Maybe it isn't a utopia then. But it'd be more interesting than what is presented at least.

My point is there are tons of lost opportunities for adventure seeds for a commercial product and the overall gist is it's so bad it breaks SoD. When players sit down for a game of D&D they aren't there so they can bask in the wonders of the author's idea of a utopian society...they are there to tell adventure stories and have a laugh. The Citadel itself is an 'adventure desert' () given how everything is perfect and bad actors voluntarily don't go there for some reason (or mend their ways) so it just becomes a place for PCs to 'keep their stuff', maybe do a 'radish festival' side story and little else.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Oh, so you're saying that the only way the Citadel works is because of magic mind control?

No, I'm saying that no D&D society makes the slightest bit of sense if you try applying sociology to it, in the same way as magic makes no sense if you try and apply physics to it.

You choose to believe in it because it's fun, not because it makes sense.

If you can't check your Plato at the door, you are playing the wrong game.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I'm starting to think you're just being obtuse at this point. No, I find Radiant Citadel laughable because what they establish as a society doesn't feel remotely realistic or living (even less so than Plato's construct society in the Republic). It's a trade nexus (and utterly dependent on trade btw) that is built from multiple cultures, not some insular & isolated community (or cult). Yet somehow not only do they collect taxes from travelers or traders on essentially on a voluntary basis (again they attract from everywhere) or face 'disapproval' ( ), crime is very low with virtually no theft. Pretty sure I even read that most of the population are immigrants so there's no overall cultural morality that ingrains a strong anti-criminal attitude...and that's before getting into various traders (or troublemaking adventurers visiting) who for some reason just decide to voluntarily pay taxes when there is no real consequence for ignoring them.

That's without getting into all the other weird little tidbits, but it boils down to people not acting like people. I made the comparison to TNG because their early seasons had the same problem... and caused a lot of issues in the writing room (or with a DM who runs Citadel as written) because all conflict or drama had to be external to the ship. As a result (again if run as written) there are a ton of stories that you just can't run in the Citadel (murder mysteries, crime bosses, demonic infiltration etc) and frankly if you're writing a main hub setting for someone else to run it....wow. I think it might be fun to run for my group in a Demolition Man sort of way though.

Then treat that like an opportunity rather than a problem. Why is this so? Consider "The Ones that Walk away from Omelas" by U.K. Le Guin the text is here.