Continuing its hard lean into the multiverse, D&D has announced another sourcebook primed to be adapted into existing official and homebrewed campaigns (or run as its own long-form adventure) that introduces (at least) three new settings. Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel features 14 short(ish) adventures, roughly one per character level (up to Lv 14), all set in different areas of these new realms or within the titular city. The Citadel itself is said to exist solely on the Ethereal Plane, the ‘world between worlds’ in D&D canon, which sits “forever one step from reality,” according to D&D’s Senior Designer Wes Schneider. Carved out of a single bone from a massive long-dead creature, the Citadel has been designed to be a less “traditional” D&D city than those like Baldur’s Gate or Waterdeep.Standard cover for Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. Cover art by Evyn Fong.”The Radiant Citadel is ‘The City of Stories and Sanctuary,'” explains Ajit George, the co-Lead Designer on Journeys. “It’s a crossroad city, one that welcomes all in need and of good intent … When I conceived of it and built it, I wanted to be distinctly different from other D&D cities. And so the Radiant Citadel is not a place of backstabbing and lurking monsters and crime, just around the corner. Instead, the Radiant Citadel was meant to give players a real home. A respite. A place to regroup and rebuild after facing the worst, most tragic challenges. Especially in today’s [real-world] day and age, I really wanted to give them a place of hope. A place that would feel good to come back to.”Alternate cover art for JTtRC by Sija HongThat spirit of sanctuary and camaraderie is one that the D&D team has been targeting for its players and the worlds they explore for several years now. Whether looking at the new character options in books like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything or rule tweaks like the removal of alignment from most creatures in the upcoming Monsters of the Multiverse, it’s clear that the team is working to make the gaming table a space that welcomes people of all identities to play whoever they want. “It was really exciting to get a chance to reach back to my family’s own past and legacy.“Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, in addition to providing new settings, characters, and adventure prompts, seeks to extend that inclusivity to its new realms, which take inspiration from cultures throughout history and across the globe. Concept art for the adventure Salted Legacy (Surena Marie) by artist Vicki Pangestu”It is something that we have not seen in D&D before,” George says. “A first of its kind … a D&D book entirely written by Black and Brown writers, writing to their own histories, their backgrounds, their cultures.” He’s quick to clarify, though, that players shouldn’t expect formal history lessons from JTtRC. “These are inspired, but they’re not a one-for-one analogy or analog to real-world cultures,” he says. “They’re just taking inspiration, elements, stories that are part of their families, part of their lived experiences.”Some of these inspirations result in elements of the Radiant Citadel itself, while others weave entirely new regions. “[The realm of Godsbreath] is really my just personal love letter, my homage, to the Black experience in the southern United States,” explains writer Erin Roberts, author of the 3rd-level adventure ‘Written in Blood’. “There’s a lot there, and I just wanted to give sort of a little hint of it, but it was really exciting to me to get a chance to reach back to my family’s own past and legacy in Mississippi and Florida and Georgia.”Concept art for the adventures Written in Blood (Erin Roberts) by artist Jabari Weathers and Shadow of the Sun (Justice Arman) by artist Claudio Pozas.The adventure certainly takes a darker tone than some others in the anthology, with a community under siege from an unknown supernatural threat, but Roberts says it isn’t meant to be all doom and gloom. “It’s really, really nice to see sort of a renaissance in Black Southern Gothic horror,” she says. “But one of the exciting things is that [in modern media like Lovecraft Country] a lot of those are very centered in the real history of this country, and this is a little bit off to the side. So it has a lot of the essence of the community and the joy, but without some of the oppression that you see in some of those works … It’s still got that southern vibe of good homes and good food and good community, and some creepiness in the corner.””I really couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”“Journeys through the Radiant Citadel feautres gazetteers and guides for all the new regions, as well as new characters, monsters, NPCs, and more. Adventure themes vary – Written in Blood is a bit on the horror/mystery side, while others focus on more comedic themes or tense political intrigue. The credits for the book are a bevy of other noteworthy creators, too, including Felice Tzehuei Kuan (Life is Strange), Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Justice Ramin Arman (Beadle & Grimm’s), Surena Marie (part of the Critical Role team), sci-fi/fantasy author Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón (Hunter: The Reckoning TRPG), Stephanie Yoon, and plenty more. “I really couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” George says. “I love this book deeply, and I think it’s a piece of magic.”Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel will be avvailable on June 21, 2022, with a special variant cover available at your friendly neighborhood game store. For more D&D on IGN, check out everything we know about the “next version” of Dungeons & Dragons, or our exclusive look at this year’s (literally) biggest new D&D mini.
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