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]

not really a hope punk kinda guy as there would be no place for me there but I do not get the doom and gloom about everything let us judge it when we can read it?

For all we know, that cute little scamper accidentally killed and ate his entire family, turned to drugs in his sorrow and is now stealing from human traffickers in order to pay off his dealers. Also he sleeps with strangers just to feel something in his infinite numbness. He doesn't love them. He can't even love himself.

There could be infinite needless darkness in this book for all we know.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm pretty sure that the bat-creature is just a homunculus, drawn a bit cute.

This looks good to me. Always nice to see new stuff. A slightly more lighthearted planar nexus doesn't replace Sigil, it just allows for Sigil to remain the darker, more complex, larger, higher-level adventure planar hub that it is.

And it doesn't replace Spelljammer, because D&D swashbucklers in spaaaaace is still it's own thing.

 

[Yaarel]

Sigil is in the DMG. Isn’t it?

Sigil in the DMG, Mordenkeinens detailing planar conflicts. I dont quite understand what Planescape fans are looking for.

 

[OblivionDrive]

Suddenly the little guy makes total sense. That’s very much something Surena would have come up with

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'm pretty sure that the bat-creature is just a homunculus, drawn a bit cute.

Pardon me, but I've established that they are to be called 'scampers'. Please comply to my random flight of fancy.

 

[darjr]

Credits page! And list of Twitter accounts!

 

[Doctor Futurity]

In regards this not being Planescape,
I understand the disappointment as someone who would like new Planescape materials. it does make me feel as if we are not getting any, as this "covers those bases" possibly.

However.
really what do I need new Planescape material to cover? In terms of fluff, we are in the digital age. I can get ALL the old books. So setting description material only matters if I am looking for changes. Just verbatim recreating the setting with no real updates or changes to the fluff would be really pointless. See 5e Ravenloft. I like the changes. Some agree. Some disagree.

So that leaves mechanics. Mechanically, what is special about Planescape? Planar travel? Already sufficently covered or if more were needed, would they be more than a handful of pages? The real mechanics needed? Factions brought up to date using the Patron system. Give me that. Thats all I really need from new material to run Planescape in 5e.

A new book updating Sigil and Planescape to 5E would be awesome, but I have to admit a lot of stuff on DMsGuild does that really well right now (but still, after the new Ravenloft, its hard not to want a new Planescape!)

Still, I am much more excited for new settings and new concepts these days, stuff which strides forth to ground untrodden, and this new anthology sounds exactly like the sort of book I'd like to see, exploring a new conceptual space within D&D that hasn't really been addressed before.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sigil in the DMG, Mordenkeinens detailing planar conflicts. I dont quite understand what Planescape fans are looking for.

Planescape was always misnamed, it was always about exploring philosophy, not the planes. And being a heavily tattooed edgelord.

 

[Zaukrie]

These anthologies are much needed for my games, as I do not have the time to invest as DM in 250+ page giant campaigns, and the short form scenario is much easier for me to integrate into my own setting.

Agreed. Plus they are easy to mix and match......

 

[Ath-kethin]

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.

If you have the 2nd edition stuff, I'm sure the deck plans work just as well now. And isn't updated setting info exactly what people are complaining about?

Wildspace rules night be something, but for my part I don't see the need for more PC races or backgrounds. And I may be in the minority, but I'm dead serious when I say I'd rather see them leave the rest of it alone than diffuse it into irrelevancy or see it changed beyond recognition.