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​

 

[Malmuria]

LOL yeah. So I dont think anyone needs be concerned about grimdark here.

ccuuuutteee <3<3

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Its a fight scene. D&D has how much of its rules/text devoted to combat? 80%?

Grimdark means something, thats all, and this isnt it.

Agree. What we see is a cute and brave woman that as a last resort have to fight with the bad snake people to save the caravan, after she over and over tried to talk them out of their criminal lifestyle with rational arguments, and instead join her and the friendly folks at the Radiant Citadel.

Edit: Sorry. Since I seem to be extra grumpy I won't post anymore in this thread.

 

[Scribe]

ccuuuutteee <3<3

View attachment 154012

They will recover quite fine.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

This one is favourite, of Day of the Dead with actual undead ancestors.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Its a fight scene. D&D has how much of its rules/text devoted to combat? 80%?

Grimdark means something, thats all, and this isnt it.

This isn't a grimdark module! It was never going to be, and isn't being advertised as one. I honestly don't understand why you are focusing so much on what this isn't instead of what it is: an anthology of adventures with different tones inspired by different cultures.

I am absolutely sure there's something in it for you to be excited about.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think it's not unfair to suggest that WotC has steered into some things while steering away from others, over the course of the past few years. Consciously or not.


I think the person who said "bittersweet" had it right. It's just that some people focus more on the bitter, and others on the sweet part.

Sure, but even allowing for that clarification, it doesn't make the story not uplifting. It's literally a story wherein hope is held up and vindicated as a noble virtue worth fighting for.

I think the guys in charge of D&D think that a lot of younger players either prefer cozy D&D or are triggered by seriously dark and scary themes. I don't think is true but than I don't have their market research.

This is a wild assertion, IMO. I think it requires only a cursory glance over the last half dozen or so releases.

Darksun is a nightmare in this current political environment. You'd absolutely have to advance the time line to free all the slaves, and play in the post slavery Dark Sun. We all know how well 4e Forgotten Realms was received by fans for the time jump.

I will happily bet you $20 that DS will be published with slavery intact.

As Gandalf says, not all tears are an evil. I wouldn't say the conclusion of LotR is light and breezy, but it's uplifting in the sense that providence works through to its completion, with the kingdom restored, the Shire (as a sort of microcosm of the wider world) restored and more wonderful than ever, and evil suppressed. The wrongdoing and wickedness that Melkor began with his corruption of Feanor comes to an end, with Galadriel reconciled with the Valar, Sauron overthrown, the lines of Elros and Elrond being reunited, and the Elves returning from their exile.

Fundamentally it affirms the place and the power of hope in providence. (In that sense it's radically theistic. If you read it through, say, a REH or even mainstream D&D lens then it will come across quite differently.)

Exactly. I don't think it even has to be read as being about providence, though. The power of hope, and of love, are what bring victory in the end, and allow them to rebuild their homes to be better and more prosperous than they've ever been before in the end, and for the elves to go home.

Well, I've never had that kind of relationship with my gardner, but you do you.

This comes across like you're implying that they're gay, and that this makes them not "the common man".

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I don't know if folks have pinned each adventure to their author (and likely cultural inspiration) yet, so I'm going to try and piece it together!

Salted Legacy - Surena Marie (Thailand)
Written in Blood - Erin Roberts (US Black South)
The Fiend of Hollow Mine - Mario Ortegon (Northern Mexico)
The Wages of Vice - TK Johnson (Louisiana, Caribbean)
Sins of Our Elders - Stephanie Yoon
Gold for Fools and Princes - Dominique Dickey
Trail of Destruction - Alastor Guzman (Mesoamerica)
In the Mists of Manivarsha - Mimi Mondal (Bengal, Gangaridai, Sundarbans, Ratargul, Assam, Purulia, Bagan, Myanmar)
Between Tangled Roots - Pam Punzalan (Luzan, Philippines)
Shadow of the Sun - Justice Ramin Arman (Iran)
The Nightsea's Succor - Fox Harrell (African American)
Buried Dynasty - Felice Kuan (China)
Orchids of the Invisible Mountain - Terry Hope Romero (Venezuela)
The Radiant Citadel itself - Ajit George
Beyond the Radiant Citadel (gazetteer) - Basheer Ghouse (India, Mughal Empire and Thughluq Dynasty)
Beyond the Radiant Citadel (gazetteer) - Jane Miyuki

Before you ask, I used only the culture/nations names used by the authors themselves in their own tweets. I used their words, so please don't @ me!

These adventures also seem to be in order (roughly) by level. Shadow of the Sun is 11 level, for example.

 

[Mournblade94]

No one likes whiners.

BUt their not Celebrating the actual whining. They are ANTICIPATING their elation that people will not like a thing. So they are taking joy in the fact that a particular move by a company is going to upset a particular set of fans. Not the whining itself. Its very petty and weird.

 

[Cadence]

That is an extremely weird read of the ending of Lord of The Rings.

Frodo literally goes home and lives fairly happily for a few years, at which point, much like Bilbo, he leaves again for one last adventure, to a place where he can hopefully heal from his wounds in a land of eternal peace and wonder.

The Shire is not only healed after it's scouring, but the heroes live prosperously, and the entirety of the west prospers for at least the length of Aragorn's long reign and that of his son. The Shire "grows up", and actually becomes properly part of the world around them.

None of this is framed as tragic, even the ending of the age of Elves in Middle Earth is just the end of their time in Middle Earth.

If someone thinks LotR is tragic, it feels like they should be told about the house of Húrin (and everything it touched). Or Númenor. LotR might be as happy an ending as Tolkien can do. (Luckily he included Appendix A (v) and we get more Arwen... ).

 

[Parmandur]

That is an extremely weird read of the ending of Lord of The Rings.

Frodo literally goes home and lives fairly happily for a few years, at which point, much like Bilbo, he leaves again for one last adventure, to a place where he can hopefully heal from his wounds in a land of eternal peace and wonder.

The Shire is not only healed after it's scouring, but the heroes live prosperously, and the entirety of the west prospers for at least the length of Aragorn's long reign and that of his son. The Shire "grows up", and actually becomes properly part of the world around them.

None of this is framed as tragic, even the ending of the age of Elves in Middle Earth is just the end of their time in Middle Earth.

I agree that the story ends in a high. I would say that Tolkien achieves a precision realism, psychologically: his work is neither optimistic nor pessimion balance, but keeps it real.