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​

 

[Plaguescarred]

A completely new hub (non FR) with multiple unique adventure locations to explore sounds quite fun and refreshing to me!

As much as i like Planescape & Sigil, i prefer it remains untouched rather than modify it to fit some new design. Standalone was better i think

 

[Weiley31]

2e Sigil has vastly more information and development to it, so if that's your standard the answer is clear.

I figured that. I just didn't know if 4E's Sigil offered anything more/interesting aside from "Player Character Base Hub."

 

[Yaarel]

So waaaaait ... Spelljammer unconfirmed?

Spelljammer ... firmed?

 

[Vaalingrade]

I figured that. I just didn't know if 4E's Sigil offered anything more/interesting aside from "Player Character Base Hub."

4e pushed Union more as the player hub as Sigil wasn't really essential with the World Axis.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Also: along the same lines of using older edition material for 5E: which is better?

2E Sigil or 4E Sigil?

I mean, they're ultimately still the same Sigil, just at two different time periods.

2e Sigil is pre-Faction War, 4e is post-Faction War. There's more written from the 2e era, but it's still the same city.

 

[OblivionDrive]

I would love, LOVE a Spelljammer book.

But we don't need one. They've given us mechanics for a Speljamming helm, plus neogi and giff. What else do we really need for Spelljammer?

Ship deck plans, monsters, rules for Wildspace physics and combat, updated setting lore, pc races and backgrounds…

Should… should I go on? I can’t tell if you were being sarcastic there or not. I would much rather have a full release treatment of the setting updated rather than making do with the few tiny scraps we’ve gotten so far.

 

[Weiley31]

I'll admit though: I'm honestly mixed about the Alt Cover version of the book as I'm trying to figure out "where" the Dawn Incarnate actually begins at.

But since I've been collecting every Alt Cover version of the books since Tyranny of Dragons 2019, I'll probably grab it regardless.

 

[Jer]

I figured that. I just didn't know if 4E's Sigil offered anything more/interesting aside from "Player Character Base Hub."

4e's Sigil is about 24 pages in the DMG 2 plus a short adventure for 11th level characters. It's a perfectly good starting point if you want to take the idea of Sigil and run a game there and make it your own.

If you're more into the depth of the setting, the 2e version of any setting will always have more depth. So it kind of depends on what you want from the setting. If you already own the 2e material I wouldn't go out of my way to get the DMG2 just to get the Sigil stuff, but I will say that I turn to the DMG2 Sigil writeup as a quick referesher occassionally when I don't want to get the boxed sets out.

 

[DarkCrisis]

A completely new hub (non FR) with multiple unique adventure locations to explore sounds quite fun and refreshing to me!

As much as i like Planescape & Sigil, i prefer it remains untouched rather than modify it to fit some new design. Standalone was better i think

This is where i'm at. I'd prefer they just make new stuff instead of watering down or massively changing old settings.

 

[OblivionDrive]

Petition for new campaign setting.

I just got done raising an abandoned three week old kitten who is now a seven month old teen-in-cat-years. My scars are still healing. I’m good for now, thanks.