Baldurs Gate Descent Into Avernus Tabletop Game Module Review
all images are taken by me, or, under the fair use - free promotion material from wizards of the coast due to this blog being a review for BGDIA as described in here. and here
Greetings everyone!
Today I will talk to you about an adventure module written for dungeons and dragons, a tabletop role-playing game: Baldurs Gate Descent Into Avernus. I bought this game from a store I visited recently. I had the opportunity to read and finish it today and I wanted to write a review the same day.
First of all, this game review will be a little different from other computer-playstation game reviews. Because as you can guess, I don't have graphics to show you, instead I have artwork. I won't be able to evaluate the performance because it's completely up to your imagination. It's also possible that the game will be perfect, it's also possible that it will be terrible. It all depends on your communication and understanding with the other players at the table. I didn't run this game, I just had the opportunity to read and review it. While reviewing it, I got help from discord groups and reddit channels, I asked my dungeon master friends who have played the game, and as a result, this article came out.
With all that out of the way, here's how I'm going to review it today, for those of you who are new to tabletop gaming;
- What is Baldurs Gate Descent Into Avernus?
- What Do You Need to Know to Become a Player?
- Spoilers After This
- Preparation Process for Dungeon Masters
- Final Points to Consider
fair use for this image Remote D&D Tips and Tricks - Free Material.
What is Baldurs Gate Descent Into Avernus?
Most of us know Baldurs Gate 3 by now.
BGDIA (Baldurs Gate Descent Into Avernus) is a story set in the same universe. Levels are between 1 and 12. This time our players have to go to hell to fight devilish and demonic creatures. There are a lot of missions to do and some really fun creatures will be waiting for them. At the same time, there will be very powerful creatures that they should not fight. They will have to deal with politics, blackmail, conspiracy theories and deals. So it's not possible to solve everything with swords and magic. They will have to make decisions to move forward in the dust and ashes of hell.
Will the characters they create remain good at the end of the game? Or will they change and become evil?
I think BGDIA is more suitable for experienced players who are bored in the material plane world. It is not a module for a first play experience.
- Material Plane is where the story starts, and the story ends on Avernus, the first layer of 9 Hells.
- It is a module with politics, power and influence games.
- Players need to be experienced to be successful in battles. Because the creatures are very powerful.
- This is not a ''Pick up and play''. Dungeon Masters have to do a lot of work. I will mention this last.
fair use for this image
Remote D&D Tips and Tricks - Free Material.
What Do I Need to Know to Become a Player?
You have learned how to play DND. The first thing you should do is not read beyond the next title. Don't eat spoilers. Not to consume resources related to this module or Baldurs Gate on the internet. Don't worry, you can still play Baldurs Gate 3 videogame. There's nothing wrong with that.
Your characters should have a good motivation. So you shouldn't create a bad person. You should enjoy the intellectual and ethical conflicts you will encounter in the game.
If your group is only made up of warriors, in this module you will run around and be used as mercenaries. But if you have characters who can understand people and impress them with their charisma, then you can learn about the politics of the nine hells.
To create a character you just need to know the basics. You should know the first 5 levels by heart. You can level up quickly. After that, tough battles will be waiting for you.
Don't succumb to your ego to run away from hard battles.
You should memorize your spells and character traits well. If I were you, I would practice with my friends even when there is no dungeon master, so that I will be more experienced when I have to fight with powerful creatures (be sure that you will have to fight with creatures more powerful than your level many times).
You have the potential to find everything you are looking for in this game. Magical items, items, enemies or friends of epic power, mercenaries you can manage, the possibility of playing multiple characters, deciding the fate of NPCs...
When you create your character, I recommend you to work with the dungeon master, try to connect it to the story. If your motivation is good, you will enjoy the game more. Try to connect to the people of the city your DM given to you (because he will probably change the name of the city like everyone else does)
Now...
Players do not read the rest.
fair use for this image Remote D&D Tips and Tricks - Free Material.
Preparation Process for Dungeon Masters
Oh my God, this game is a disaster. You're not given enough description, you're not given enough NPC motivations... You need MonsterManual to run the monsters... (that one is common with other modules as well actually)
The actions they take or the directions the game gives us are not enough... You're given a great plot, but the execution in the first 5 levels is just awful.
Why should my players care about the city of Baldurs Gate? It has almost nothing to do with Hell. The city itself sucks, yes, but the other city that has something to do with hell, the manager who escaped from Elturel, is here. That's all it is.
That's all it is, and the module wants us to spend 5 levels here.
That's too far-fetched. Your players will start in front of the city and the module tells you: "If they don't accept the mission, the guards will kill them", what does that mean? What kind of nonsense is that? They didn't give the players enough motivation!!! And then they threaten them.
It's awful. We need to do so much work! This is not pickup&play!
The first 5 levels of the game are very poorly written. Do you know how much the politics in the city of Baldurs Gate affect the part of the game that takes place in hell? ZERO.
ZERO.
Dungeon masters who skip this part COMPLETELY, start their players directly at level 5 and send them to hell with Elturel are much happier.
For new dungeon masters this can be a challenging thing, yes. But I will give you a couple of links at the end of this blog, one of them is alexandrian remix and the other is reddit link. I won't put the BGDIA Discord link, you can find it on reddit because it's being updated.
this is just infernal script. No need source for alphabet :D
What do you need* to do? (...and I will do for my youtube game)
- If you are going to play the first 5 levels in the material world, you need an external source. This source can be your own creativity or a site like alexandrian remix. It can also be third party resources that you buy from a place like Dungeonmastersguild.
- NPCs have bad motivation. They are incomplete. Some of them are not even compatible with the Lore. It is not possible to understand them as a player. Even if you understand them, some motivations are ridiculous. NPCs with unrealistic motivations are in the majority and it is up to you to fix them. It is not very difficult but it requires effort.
- You have to put yourself in the shoes of the NPC you are playing, because the module doesn't give you any clues on how to play. Most of the time you have to bring this NPC to life according to its history.
- You have to write a description. Fortunately, reddit comes to the rescue here. There are a lot of resources. We had some great friends who created different resources for almost every chapter in the module.
- When the players descend into hell, it may take 1 session for everything to escape the surprise. Watch out for Lulu. She's not supposed to spoil the whole thing. I was SHOCKED by this. She told me the end of the game in a flash when I was only level 5. Why are you telling me what to do when we're only at level 13?
- Be careful when using the Dream Machine (you will understand when you read it), don't use it to tell your players what to do. Use it to show what was happening.
- Make sure they understand that there is not only one way to get rid of Avernus and save Elturel. For that you have to multiply the clues. You need to increase NPC gossip.
fair use for this image Remote D&D Tips and Tricks - Free Material.
Last Points to Note / The Potential of the Game is Excellent
I'm gonna play this game. Yes. Because it has great potential. But there's one more thing I want to say in my last words. There are a lot of things to watch out for in this game.
- Some of the demonic creatures can be really traumatizing. Be careful when using them.
- Always talk to your players about what kind of creatures they will see before they start the game. If they don't want to see disgusting things, they may not want to play.
- You should be careful not to put things in the game that players are afraid of in real life. Delete and eliminate them. For example, if there is a player who is afraid of spiders, don't have spiders coming out of the wounds of your creatures.
- Body horror is a possible in this game. Be sure to talk about it. Personally, I wouldn't want my character's arm to turn into an octopus arm because of a simple mistake. Some players may find this very enjoyable.
There is also a situation like this, there are a lot of deals in the game. So this conversation we call diobolical deals can be a long waste of time. Try once how to play it. You will find a lot of deal examples on Reddit. You can translate them into your language and use them. At some tables they even write that these deals are only 2 sentences, for example: "I will give you a magic item if you give me your soul". It can be as simple as that. Try it once at your table and see which one you like the most.
To summarize, dear dungeon masters and interested friends, BGDIA is a very nice module, but it has many shortcomings.
It is up to your creativity to fill these gaps. Many of our friends who are creative like us have created sites, write posts on reddit and help each other on discord channels. Luckily, the game has been out for years and there is a lot of content.
Thank you for reading this. If you're wondering what it will be like when I play this game, let me invite you to my youtube channel.
Because next summer I will be playing my own version at:
https://www.youtube.com/@MythicalMerchant
The other links I mentioned:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DescentintoAvernus/
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/44214/roleplaying-games/remixing-avernus
https://www.dmsguild.com/ (search avernus)
Finally, it is 7/10 for me because of potential and work required is too much from dungeonmasters.
I hope you enjoyed reading!
See you soon!
Yay! 🤗
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