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​

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It does, and it doesn't. A good chunk of the book is about how to run horror, but it definitely isn't ALL GLOOM ALL THE TIME like @doctorbadwolf says. There's literally a piece called "Cultivating Hope."

Cultivating Hope
In Ravenloft, the Dark Powers control reality, the Mists foil escape attempts, and terrifying Darklords can appear at any moment. What hope do heroes have against such overwhelming evils?

The nature of Ravenloft provides powerful tools to craft tales of terror. Shifting reality, inescapable danger, and foes with shocking powers are useful for creating horror adventures (a topic further discussed in chapter 4). As a balancing factor, use these tools judiciously and occasionally, in the characters' favor. The Dark Powers delight in tormenting villains as much as they do innocents, the Mists equally confound both predators and prey, and Darklords frequently exhibit hubris or other exploitable flaws. Use Ravenloft's nature to sow dread but also to inspire hope. Relentless despair gradually beats characters down and takes the fun out of adventures. Punctuate your horror tales with moments of relief, comedy, and fortuitous coincidences. These moments of hope help characters push through the dark to the thrill of dawn.

 

[TheSword]

Even if this is a lighter setting, and if we've had other lighter adventures, I just can't wrap my head around what people's issue is.

Why is everyone so offended that we get a series of lighter, more fun, more palatable adventures? Why is it wrong for 5E to want to sell the books a portion of its demographic wants? Why do so many people on this forum complain specifically about the fact that D&D is a game for everyone and not just for them?

The book hasn't come out. I'm not very excited for it, but it sounds good. It sounds like it was a made with PASSION. The people who worked on it sound excited to share their cultures with the world, and for EVERYONE to interact with it however they choose through the book.

I mean for god's sake, they even say that the 12 Cultures all have problems! Sometimes they war with each other! Sometimes, those worlds face problems! You deal with them, come back to the Radiant Citadel, and chill for a bit then go to the next one. And it isn't like a hub is some insane new "soft and cuddly" idea. All the Dark Souls games have a hub, and those games are BLEAK, SCARY, AND LETHAL. Having a hub is just another way to have some much needed rest between adventures, explore some characterizaiton, and be human for a while. It gets rid of the problem where everything feels like a 3 month adventure because weeks or months can be spent AT the hub, which is a complaint everyone has had so far!!

Like, what do you people want??? Just accept that you don't have to buy WotC books ALL THE TIME. You DON'T HAVE TO BUY WOTC BOOK. Most of you are 30+, have been playing multiple editions, and have so much material tht you could run games for the REST of your lives without problem. Its some of you are SO ADDICTED to buying whatever WotC puts out, that when they release a product you don't like, you have a complete meltdown and start doom-saying how WotC is going to naughty word because they care about their WHOLE audience and not just you.

Does htis mean every first party book has been good? No. And normally I'm all about complaining about WotC and their books. But the complaints in this thread have just been so ironically childish and utterly entitled that I am flabbergasted. 51 pages of people looking at press releases and a few videos and coming to the conclusion that this is one of the worst things for the hobby yet.

Let me flip that around. Why is it acceptable and normal to say you want something different that hasn’t been done before, but if you say you preferred the way things are you’re seen as a conservative (little c) reactionary who can’t stand change?

I have no objection to new things. I just like them interspersed with familiar things.

As always, as in life, change generally isn’t a problem, it’s the scale or speed of change that discombobulates people.

 

[TheSword]

I was firmly of the opinion that D&D was going to turn Faerun into D&D's Golarion: a single unified setting that encompasses ALL the major D&D references, be it module, sourcebook, or rules expansion. The fact that for those first years, the modules either were in Faerun or started there (CoS) and the first three sourcebooks all were linked to it (SCAG, Volo, Xanathar). I fully expected that further expansion would move beyond the Sword Coast to the Heartlands, Calimshan, Multhorand, and eventually to Kara Tur and Zakhara. You'd see a classic module like the Raihasa trilogy redone, and attempts to rehabilitate the areas built on caricatures. Beyond a planar adventure with ties to Sigil and a Realmspace Spelljammer jaunt, classic settings were going to be footnotes. The best option for a second supported campaign was Eberron via DMs Guild. Everything else would be Forgotten Realms, the mega setting, unified and explorable through AL.

How wrong I was.

It was a nice hope. I think Paizo had such a strong vision for the world. It’s how they were able to churn out so many products. Even years after the original world was laid out in the first campaign book.

D&D lacks that vision I feel. Which is why their product release schedule feels like being yanked around on a bungee cord.

I think there is also the fact that it’s easier to tell your own stories than work within the limits of other people’s. So people are moving away from the FR. Even the little detailed areas. It makes me sad.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

The fact that there are a few people in the entire setting who are actually real doesn't change the general point.

And with this nonsense, we are done.

It totally does challenge your absolutist argument (I strongly disagree that nothing in 5E Ravenloft can matter), but no worries man you do you.

 

[Faolyn]

From the perspective of an in-person conversation, I don't see much of a difference. That person must have known that was an opinion. If I were the fan in that situation, I would have tried to convince them otherwise; failing that, I would have let it go. What does their opinion have to do with my enjoyment?

Is that your opinion?

But seriously, no. If you state something as a fact--"this thing is bad"--don't be surprised if people take you at your word and think that you're saying a fact.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Is that your opinion?

But seriously, no. If you state something as a fact--"this thing is bad"--don't be surprised if people take you at your word and think that you're saying a fact.

It is my opinion. I always assume anyone talking to me about the quality of something is giving their opinion. How else would you take it?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Is that your opinion?

But seriously, no. If you state something as a fact--"this thing is bad"--don't be surprised if people take you at your word and think that you're saying a fact.

Of course, its a lot easier to do in person than online.

 

[billd91]

Let me flip that around. Why is it acceptable and normal to say you want something different that hasn’t been done before, but if you say you preferred the way things are you’re seen as a conservative (little c) reactionary who can’t stand change?

Why? Because by saying you prefer more of the same or the way things were, you're making that statement from a position of privilege - the privilege of having your desires already met, of having already been catered to. I might agree it's nice to have focus rotate around a bit - legacy product, new idea product, legacy product, new idea product, etc. but by chiming in on just the description of a new idea product, without even getting a chance to look through it, you come across as excessively reactionary.
There may be a place for being skeptical about new directions, particularly if it affects the foundation of the game or significant behavior within the rules, or even complaining once you've had a chance to review them and found them wanting. But that seems particularly out of place with an entirely optional adventure supplement, particularly one sight unseen (other than a little bit of promo art).

 

[TheSword]

Regarding Grimdark, I think those settings are more about the context. Than the stories that take place there.

If we look at Dan Abnett (most popular author) of the W40k world (the original Grimdark setting) his stories are full of heroism, and triumph against evil. The context is oppression, endless war, the dystopian mass of humanity toiling under an uncaring dictatorship but the protagonists are almost always heroic… and usually successful. Even if they have to give a little of themselves to do so.

Grimdark doesn’t have to mean hopeless, lacking in heroism or sympathy.

 

[TheSword]

Why? Because by saying you prefer more of the same or the way things were, you're making that statement from a position of privilege - the privilege of having your desires already met, of having already been catered to. I might agree it's nice to have focus rotate around a bit - legacy product, new idea product, legacy product, new idea product, etc. but by chiming in on just the description of a new idea product, without even getting a chance to look through it, you come across as excessively reactionary.
There may be a place for being skeptical about new directions, particularly if it affects the foundation of the game or significant behavior within the rules, or even complaining once you've had a chance to review them and found them wanting. But that seems particularly out of place with an entirely optional adventure supplement, particularly one sight unseen (other than a little bit of promo art).

So let’s be clear, I wasn’t commenting on quality, writing, creativity etc. All of which would be subjective.

I was talking about the structure of the book and an anthology by its nature. Particularly as a follow on from Candlekeep only one year previous. If we look at that book as an example.

• These are small individual adventures (fact)
• They don’t reference the NPCs from other adventures in the anthology (fact)
• They don’t build in locations from the other adventures (fact)
• They don’t have a progression of wider story line (fact)

Now my disliking this structure is subjective and entirely my own opinion. I made that really clear and explained that I understood why they were making them.

I don’t really see the problem with pointing out the flaws in this kind of product. There are enough people pointing out how wonderful it is. Surely it can stand up to a little counterpoint.