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​

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Just a small note: fascism is specifically a far right nationalist autocracy or oligarchy that focuses on “us vs them” social politics, favoritist capitalism (ie handing entire industries to the people whose money you get the juiciest portion of), and supremecist theory wrt to some combination of ethnicity, gender, and ability/disability.

Waterdeep is definitely not that. It is an oligarchy, just not a fascist one.

Well, we're disallowed from arguing with this, but I would say, whatever name exactly you want to call it, Waterdeep is, according to FR lore, a deeply corrupt city ruled by a backslapping and backstabbing cabal of dodgy individuals which has a brutal and oppressive government, and some pretty bizarre and unexpected laws, which had extreme punishments attached to them and are unlikely to impress most players (or PCs!) as forms of "justice".

So it's always pretty bizarre to see most writing which mentions it treat it as some kind of cool cosmopolitan place where awesome dudes hang out and honest trade gets done, without ever mentioning the government or laws, or worse, acting like because the people in charge of Waterdeep as "badasses", they're "cool" too, rather than maximum yikes, which is what they actually are.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I’m here for the thought provoking take on Waterdeep. I’ve never bothered to interrogate what is happening there like this.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So it's always pretty bizarre to see most writing which mentions it treat it as some kind of cool cosmopolitan place where awesome dudes hang out and honest trade gets done, without ever mentioning the government or laws, or worse, acting like because the people in charge of Waterdeep as "badasses", they're "cool" too, rather than maximum yikes, which is what they actually are.

Yeah, Waterdeep is yet another D&D version of Lankhmar with the serial numbers filed off.

For those who've not read Fritz Leiber (and you should, through at least the third or four Fafhd & the Grey Mouser book), that is not an endorsement of how well-run a city is or how nice it is to live there.

Other Lankhmars, to greater or lesser degrees: The various Judges Guild City-States, the Free City of Greyhawk, Ptolus, Ankh-Morpork, Sharn ... Some of them are arguably nice places to visit, but you definitely wouldn't want to live there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also, is there a major city on the Sword Coast that isn't terrible? Obviously, Baldur's Gate is awful. How's Neverwinter, aside from all the MMO players getting underfoot?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah, Waterdeep is yet another D&D version of Lankhmar with the serial numbers filed off.

For those who've not read Fritz Leiber (and you should, through at least the third or four Fafhd & the Grey Mouser book), that is not an endorsement of how well-run a city is or how nice it is to live there.

Other Lankhmars, to greater or lesser degrees: The various Judges Guild City-States, the Free City of Greyhawk, Ptolus, Ankh-Morpork, Sharn ... Some of them are arguably nice places to visit, but you definitely wouldn't want to live there.

Yes and I never got that until I really looked at it! Because it's talked about so much more positively than Lankhmar, and it's not "broke down" like most Lankhmars!

Also, is there a major city on the Sword Coast that isn't terrible? Obviously, Baldur's Gate is awful. How's Neverwinter, aside from all the MMO players getting underfoot?

Good question! Neverwinter I don't remember anything shocking about it apart from Ed Greenwood making really unnecessarily and repeatedly clear that the people ruling it are (like many FR people according to Ed) massive swingers and have sex parties all the damn time. But someone else may remember more. I think it's also implied that like, if you piss off the ruler or her BF you'll get straight-murdered despite them supposedly being Good-aligned too. So that last bit ain't great.

I’m here for the thought provoking take on Waterdeep. I’ve never bothered to interrogate what is happening there like this.

Just as like a little sampler of weird-as-hell Waterdeep, if a vendor at the market gets arrested, by law, some of the arresting guards stay and try to run his stall, to and I quote "the best of their ability" (oh god!) and are "not responsible for any losses" (oh no!), which I think is probably a LOT worse, from the vendor's perspective, than just shutting down the stall. Also the guards are the kind of guards who absolutely routinely carry "black bag"-type blinder-hoods for prisoners, like you'd normally only see when someone is being dragged to a "black site" by special forces. They even have special harnesses to attach to the hoods (wait are we getting back into Ed's kinks territory?) so they can pull people around.

On the flip side, if they murder you, and later decide you were innocent, they will resurrect you, at the city's cost. However, I don't think it's unfair to say this presents a huge financial incentive to the City of Waterdeep to NOT find you innocent.

There's so much more.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Also, is there a major city on the Sword Coast that isn't terrible? Obviously, Baldur's Gate is awful. How's Neverwinter, aside from all the MMO players getting underfoot?

Neverwinter is, if possible, even more corrupt than Waterdeep. The guy trying to run the show (he occasionally does for periods of time) became the Open Lord of Waterdeep at some point, but AFAIK he's back to trying to be Neverwinter's super-douchy Grand Poobah.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well, we're disallowed from arguing with this, but I would say, whatever name exactly you want to call it, Waterdeep is, according to FR lore, a deeply corrupt city ruled by a backslapping and backstabbing cabal of dodgy individuals which has a brutal and oppressive government, and some pretty bizarre and unexpected laws, which had extreme punishments attached to them and are unlikely to impress most players (or PCs!) as forms of "justice".

Given that canonically they gave masked lord status to Omin Dran, a notorious charlatan with a violent streak who should never be trusted with anything, and that their ruling body is anonymous nobles and 1 named and known ruler who answers to them, who is currently an immortal demigod...yeah, it's not great.

So it's always pretty bizarre to see most writing which mentions it treat it as some kind of cool cosmopolitan place where awesome dudes hang out and honest trade gets done, without ever mentioning the government or laws, or worse, acting like because the people in charge of Waterdeep as "badasses", they're "cool" too, rather than maximum yikes, which is what they actually are.

I've seen people say that it takes a cynical literalism to turn Waterdeep into a bad place to live, but like...from the top down it's just plain rotten. That's part of what makes it fun to play in, to be from, to be in love with like people are in love with New York or London. Corrupt and mysterious government? Hell yeah. Dangerous police force with too much authority that the populace tends to give too much benefit of the doubt to? Awesome!

Just don't think too hard about what it'd be like to actually live there. d

I’m here for the thought provoking take on Waterdeep. I’ve never bothered to interrogate what is happening there like this.

I have a thread about this we could necro, or I"ll link it for reference and start a new thread!

Also, is there a major city on the Sword Coast that isn't terrible? Obviously, Baldur's Gate is awful. How's Neverwinter, aside from all the MMO players getting underfoot?

Neverwinter isn't as bad as Waterdeep, IMO, but it's bad.

I have a PC who grew up in Waterdeep as an immigrant refugee, and is a revolutionary bent. Her POV on the governments of the Sword Coast is that they might as well not exist, they need to be burned down and the ash and rubble cleared away to build something new, too damn many of them are very dangerous on a personal level, so the revolution is going to need individually powerful people to counter them.

Neverwinter is, if possible, even more corrupt than Waterdeep. The guy trying to run the show (he occasionally does for periods of time) became the Open Lord of Waterdeep at some point, but AFAIK he's back to trying to be Neverwinter's super-douchy Grand Poobah.

In the MMO at least, he engages in clandestine behavior to try to ensure that the heirs to the actual legit throne of Neverwinter are never found, IIRC. He also stole tens of thousands of gold dragon coins from Waterdeep when running it, granted noble status to crime lords, legitimized known criminals because they had done him a solid at some point or he owed them money, etc. So, no matter what the era, Neverwinter doesn't have great rulership.

Below is a thread I started a while back about this topic. Later I'll try to start a new thread if no one else has, and move this discussion there.

D&D General - Any Realms-Heads Know About The Politics of The Sword Coast?

Specifically what I'm curious about is the places and power structures in and around Waterdeep that a young orphan and former street kid might have some serious desire to burn down in a revolutionary manner. Everyone in the group has a fairly deep bias against laissez-faire capitalism, are...

www.enworld.org

 

[RealAlHazred]

In the MMO at least, he engages in clandestine behavior to try to ensure that the heirs to the actual legit throne of Neverwinter are never found, IIRC. He also stole tens of thousands of gold dragon coins from Waterdeep when running it, granted noble status to crime lords, legitimized known criminals because they had done him a solid at some point or he owed them money, etc. So, no matter what the era, Neverwinter doesn't have great rulership.

Everything I know about the Forgotten Realms, I know because it was in one of the Adventurers League modules -- I've never read any of the books, and the only Forgotten Realms stuff I have read, is Ed Greenwood's original articles in Dragon magazine.

It's clear from Dragon Heist how corrupt Waterdeep is, but they have a whole book to go into it, and since it was "part of the adventure," that much I read. Neverwinter I know from a couple of 4E scenarios, Lost Crown of Neverwinter and Storm Over Neverwinter. They were railroady as heck, but that fit in with the corrupt nature of leadership -- you never really had a choice to do "the right thing" (whatever you thought that might be), Neverember manipulated you into doing what he wanted.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Back on Waterdeep, I dug out City of Splendors, and I'm looking through the STAGGERINGLY DETAILED* multi-page breakdown of the legal system and criminal offenses (potentially against four different categories with wildly varying sentencing), and I'm not seeing anything at all which suggests that you automatically get punished for killing a citizen under all circumstances. It's funny because I thought I'd read that too - maybe it's in a 3E book or something - but in City of Splendors, that's not right.

It absolutely does allow you to get away with killing someone in self-defense, BUT and here's the big BUT, it's entirely with the discretion of the magister (judge) who you're brought before. If they want to, they can dismiss the charge, charge you with a lesser offence, and most pertinently to this whole discussion, can "set any lesser sentence they consider fitting (or none at all)" and it says they do the latter if the crime was "justified", which would presumably normally include reasonable self-defence, so @Hussar in fact Waterdeep is not, as we had thought, a city where you always get punished for murder. At least it wasn't as of City of Splendors back in 1994.

The legal system is clearly horrific, because there are no juries (which are very old concept, I note - in the UK they're recorded well since the 1100s but were considered "ancient" at that time), no lawyers allowed (they have the concept - they're banned, intentionally), no bail, little in the way of due procedure, little evidence that the magisters do anything but maybe ask a few questions and then make a quick decision, and it's basically 100% on which magister and what mood they're in. You can only appeal if you can convince a citizen of Waterdeep to ask for the appeal, and they suggest paying one off is the best way to achieve this! Then you go in front of the Lords of Waterdeep, which I gotta feel is usually going to be a bad idea, and they can do whatever the hell they like to your sentence. The Lords can also intervene at any point to just set whether you're guilty or not and the punishment they like. Don't piss off the corrupt oligarchs, I guess!

* = 7 pages on the system, 2 further pages of law enforcement NPCs - they don't make 'em like that anymore!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Neverwinter I don't remember anything shocking about it apart from Ed Greenwood making really unnecessarily and repeatedly clear that the people ruling it are (like many FR people according to Ed) massive swingers and have sex parties all the damn time.

The D&D movie folks did the porn parody people a big favor by setting it in the Forgotten Realms, the horniest of all official settings.