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​

 

[Jer]

Between this, Candlekeep, and the Matt Mercer book, does WotC even write anything anymore - or just farming out everything to freelancers?

5e adventures have been largely written by freelancers since the roll out. Part of the reorganization of the D&D group was reducing the size of the D&D group down to a skeleton crew and then hiring folks to write from outside. All of the early APs were freelancers with oversight from Wizards D&D group. I'm not as sure about the later ones but it's a model they've been using for 5e already.

 

[Morrus]

The thing about these adventure compilations is that they can accept random submissions from new writers (with largely unproven track records), who will work for hire (i.e. cheap), do very little editorial oversight, and crank out a book that fills a release date placeholder.
I have absolutely no problem with giving new talent a chance, but this is just - something that should be some web articles or Dungeon magazines - not a premium $50 hardcover release.
Between this, Candlekeep, and the Matt Mercer book, does WotC even write anything anymore - or just farming out everything to freelancers?

Huh? What makes you think these are 'random submissions from new writers'? Or that it has no editorial oversight? What a truly odd thing to say.

 

[Maxperson]

This may be the first book where I didn't like the alternate cover art better.

 

[Steampunkette]

So... this is Planescape for 5e?

 

[Remathilis]

I don't know what was the price points back in the floppy soft cover adventure days. How much would 13 adventures have cost back then if they had been sold individually as softcovers?

Paizo sells a three adventure anthology for 2e for $22.99.
.https://paizo.com/products/btq026k1?Pathfinder-Adventure-Troubles-in-Otari

 

[Blueace]

So Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is directed by Ajit George and Wes Schneider.

And do you remember these tweets from @WinningerR on Jun 14th 2021 ?

As I've mentioned on a couple of occasions, there are two more products that revive "classic" settings in production right now.

The manuscript for the first, overseen by @ChrisPerkinsDnD, is nearly complete. Work on the second, led by @FWesSchneider with an assist from @AriLevitch, is just ramping up in earnest. Both are targeting 2022 and formats you've never seen before.

Each of these products is pursuing a different format you've never seen before. And neither is "digital only;" these are new print formats.

Knowing that @AriLevitch leaved WotC on Dec 15th 2021, maybe Ajit George took his place and this book in one of the 2 classics announced in new print formats (meaning just adventures to discover the world)

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

So... this is Planescape for 5e?

It's a planar adventure anthology centered around a new planar hub city in the Deep Ethereal.

Not Planescape proper, but definitely Planescape adjacent.

 

[OblivionDrive]

Huh? What makes you think these are 'random submissions from new writers'? Or that it has no editorial oversight? What a truly odd thing to say.

Especially considering one of the biggest controversies around their last adventure anthology was one writer claiming that editorial gutted and butchered his original submission to the point he disavowed it.

But sure, “no editorial oversight”

Also many of these writers have a track record of published work and even those that don’t? Who cares? This is how some folks get their break, even if it comes from leveraging their fame in other spaces but it’s somehow a bad thing that we’re getting to hear new voices?

I don’t get it. I just don’t understand that mindset at all.

 

[Undrave]

Paizo sells a three adventure anthology for 2e for $22.99.
.https://paizo.com/products/btq026k1?Pathfinder-Adventure-Troubles-in-Otari

Thus, 7.67$ per adventure. So 13 adventures for 50$ (3.85 per adventure) is a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It's a planar adventure anthology centered around a new planar hub city in the Deep Ethereal.

Not Planescape proper, but definitely Planescape adjacent.

it will likely get a mention if we ever get Planescape.