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​

 

[Quickleaf]

It’s Wonderful!

Ajit's enthusiasm and love for D&D really shows through! The way he & Wes describe the Radiant Citadel, its satellite interplanar conduits connecting cultures, and the "ancestral realm" inside the crystal is very cool stuff.

Lost travelers, "flotsam" settlements, demiplanes of myth – at least the way they're talking about it is hitting several of themes right out of the AD&D A Guide to the Ethereal Plane. I also really appreciate Ajit calling it "solar punk" with aspirational utopian themes, and could see touches of Wakanda in the artwork – speaking personally, that's a very welcome genre that I haven't seen in D&D before.

Definitely feels very different from Sigil! This isn't a place where "angels and devils have a drink in the same conspiracy-ridden tavern", but rather a place where you might "meet your ancestral hero in the annual festival of the dead, and have to decide for yourself whether they were right or wrong."

Adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries seemed to vary greatly in terms of their quality, so I'm a bit cautious about these anthologies from writers I'm less familiar with. But I'm excited to see how it comes together.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not sure about Spelljammer, even less so with the unveiling of this book.

Yeah, I was fairly sure about SJ, but I'm now less so.

The confirmed leaker on Reddit who provided details about this book said that Spelljammer and Dragonlance are coming this year.

 

[OblivionDrive]

I like very much the non combat option way of writing adventures. But the illustrations make me think that the non combat is identified with "furry tiny pets". Can we find a more equilibrated position?

Man, you stick one cute creature on the cover and everyone assumes the whole book is Pokémon or something.

 

[JThursby]

Press release: "There’s a story for every adventuring party, from whimsical and light to dark and foreboding and everything in between"

Grumpy Old Men: "It's all fluffy! It's California! Childish! Give us Sigil, you cowards! Fluffy!"

We got a similar promise from Candlekeep, which did get dark at times but not in ways that are particularly satisfying or engaging.

Spoiler: Spoilers for Candlekeep Mysteries

The most egregious example was the way to beat the final antagonist of the final adventure, which was to convince or intimidate an innocent pixie to commit suicide. She is otherwise immortal, the only option is to get her to kill herself or your party can't kill the lich in a way that matters. I was frankly flabbergasted that this survived into the final edit. There's no group playing in existence that would want to do that or derive any satisfaction from it. It's also tonally inconsistent with a book that has a comedy rocket ship quest and other tongue in cheek nonsense. It's completely sophomoric since it has no relevance to any theme or established tone of the adventure or book; a cheap dose of bleakness with no greater context or purpose.

So like many other criticisms towards 5e's approach to lore and world building, I'm of the opinion that it's ultimately due to the deliberately shallow storytelling. If there was faith that the lighter and friendlier tone of the published material would come with mechanical substance or greater story justifications there would be less complaining about it. But there isn't, because there's no precedent for it in this edition. If you're not someone that likes the new aesthetic of D&D then there is nothing for you there, because the product is mostly aesthetic.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Would it help if there was some sort fo ranger telling the scamper to go for the eyes? Would it be grown up and manly then?

 

[kenmarable]

As a HUGE Planescape and worldspanning adventure fan, I am extremely excited about this!

As much as I really hope for some of the classic settings to return, I have been really hoping to see more new stuff and this is perfect for me. One thing I find really interesting about it is that it differs from Planescape and Spelljammer in not being an open-ended "travel anywhere!" sort of location. Instead it is one that is tied to a specific set of places (apparently almost half of which are up to individual DMs?). The more I think about that, the more flavor I realize that adds.

I still love the vast possibilities of Planescape (and this sounds like it links Prime Material worlds together, not Outer Planes, so it actually has very little overlap with Sigil at all), but if there is going to be a second city for traveling between worlds, I love the idea of one that is more focused and thematic (plus I'm a sucker for hopepunk). The only tiny thing I don't like about this is my current campaign won't end before this comes out.

P.S. I also have to say that claiming the Lady of Pain is a Mary Sue created to keep the PCs in line is, honestly, ridiculous. Beyond how she doesn't fit the definition of Mary Sue, it also vastly misinterprets her role in Planescape. It is very clearly stated that her role is to keep powerful planar creatures within Sigil in line and to keep far too powerful entities like the gods out. She is not a bad DM insert to stop PCs, she's the background factor that made it possible for low level PCs to have adventures in the planes. Prior to Planescape, the planes were specifically for high level adventures only. She enabled more adventures, not limit them. Saying she is there to limit the PCs is the complete opposite of her designed role in the setting.

 

[Retreater]

I'm aware of that controversy (which, ironically, was about the opposite of a lack of editorial oversight, which is what you claimed). That quote you used doesn't appear anywhere.

I don't know what's bugged you here, but you're just making stuff up. It's not fair to the writers.

The editorial oversight was that this should've been caught before it became a controversy, with clear guidelines, page count, etc. Give the writers an outline they're expected to follow, don't just let them write whatever they want and hope you can stick it in a book.
As far as the writers go, I certainly wish them the best. Anthologies are just such a mixed bag. If I'm spending this kind of money, I want to know that I'm going to get some consistent quality, theme, tone, etc., not just a grab bag of adventure shorts when I probably won't use 3/4ths of the adventures.
And I'm sorry for coming across like such a curmudgeon. I'm feeling disappointed in their offerings as of late.
Like this could've been a sourcebook for Planescape, with a full-on campaign to high levels with planar travel, epic showdowns. Instead, we're getting a grab-bag of unconnected adventure shorts by freelancers.
If people aren't disappointed in this announcement, I guess you're lucky.

 

[Weiley31]

Hey now! The Lady isn’t a deity. That kind of talk will get you sent to the Mazes!

The Minotaur in the party:

 

[Nebulous]

If Sigil is to "hardcore" you can bet Dark Sun is way past the mark.

At most you will get a new setting called Light Valley that kind of has the same feel as DS but is much happier and colorful. A world run by benevolent immortal mage-kings.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

As for the optimistic tone, I think at least a certain portion of Gen Z and Millenial creatives have just suffered from doom & gloom burn out. Science fiction in particular has been mostly bleak and depressing for as long as I can remember (I'm thirty-three), but you can look back at the early days of sci-fi and see a lot of hope for the future and humanity. Cynicism in media came about as a reaction to optimism but also resulted in a dearth of aspirational works, possibly even contributing to a lack of hope for the real world and humanity. It's not surprising that more optimistic and aspirational works would be created as a reaction to a prevailing trend of cynicism.