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​

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

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

It is quite paradoxical but given the results you are right for me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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

Even if we don't credit the leak, I'm pretty sure Hadozee and Plazmoid aren't for anything other than Spelljammer!

This release does make me think it's far more likely to be a pure phlogiston filled Spelljammer, and not a Planescape crossover.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Fair enough. It fits my definition of "just had one", especially as i don't care for anthologies generally. There are many other things this book could have been about (including stuff many here speculated upon) that i would have preferred.

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.

 

[Professor Murder]

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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There is a movement in writing circles right now called Noblebright, but major publishers are still chasing the GoT dragon and won't buy them. So you see them more in self publishing.

That's a bandwagon I could jump on!

 

[Scribe]

Upon further reflection, this is what I've asked for.

"Make new stuff, leave the old stuff alone."

The 'modern player' can keep it.

 

[Mind of tempest]

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?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

More "cute and fluffy D&D?"
I dislike the aesthetic of D&D these days - displacer beast kittens, flying lemurs, etc. It makes it look childish. Couple that with "talking through problems with the bad guys" from recent campaigns, and I'm not interested at all.
It could've been Planescape.

Well, D&D is supposed to appeal to a broad spectrum of ages and peoples. It's okay for it to have a book that isn't explicitly grimdark.

 

[DEFCON 1]

This is a Forum where people express their ideas. There are different ideas.There are opposite ideas. There is not inconsistency in that. It is not respectful categorize it as ridiculous. Why are you LOLLING about that? Must we all say "OHHH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NEW MANUAL" in chorus, so you are finally happy?

Heh heh... it's because it's the same complaints over and over again and they are all opposite to one another. If everyone wants to complain about it... hey, they're are more than welcome to and no one is stopping them, they are free to rant and rave all they want. But that doesn't mean the rest of us have to pat you all on the back with a sympathetic "I know, I know, there, there" because you aren't getting something that you pretty much already knew in the back of your mind you weren't going to get anyway.

You all are free to complain about WotC's content, just like I'm free to complain about your all complaining. I think the only real difference being that I find the whole situation more funny than aggravating.

 

[darjr]