Murder in Baldur's Gate (spoilers!)

For DMs only:

The module starts with a murder. What I am seeing here is that players will expect to unravel a murder mystery. Only one problem: the module isn't about that. At all.

As far as I can see, the adventure simply assumes PCs will want to interact with the three factions and their leaders. As written the adventures assumes PCs will be content with day to day events, starting a crisis there, putting out a fire here. What if the adventurers does not settle for this?

Any initial promises to find out what's really going on are never followed up on - nowhere in the module do you get any support for when the PCs start asking the real questions: what is the history of these Bhaalspawn? What do the three leaders really know about the events that lead to the titular murder in Baldur's Gate? I expect them to want to follow up on leads, visit historians and temple archives, etc. They will want to talk to the main NPCs, not about Today's Sabotage, but about the significance of the Bhaalspawn, and then, how the cycle of murders can be stopped?

The module isn't adressing the elephant in the room at all. Namely, the likely fact some players will catch onto the fact that they're being played, and that they will want to do something about it.

Specifically, what actions can the PCs be expected to take in a more direct attempt to stop Bhaal? (I am not saying this needs to succeed. I am saying I would like more adventure material that let players work the case.)

The titular murder is really just the spark that ignites a whole slew of political maneuvering. I believe it was supposed to have been seen as an act of revenge by that particular bhaalspawn against the one who had killed all the others, and then the matter was settled. Nobody expected that Bhaal would actually still be alive and trying to make a power play by manipulating the faction leaders (at least that's how I ran it). Those three aren't out to become the next Bhaalspawn, they're just unwittingly driven in that direction through the increasingly desperate actions they take.

Basically Bhaal doesn't care who becomes his chosen. If the players elect not to interfere with the ongoing events there's really not much of an adventure. I can see some groups not responding well to the plot. My group's loyalties were initially split. Two sided with the Flaming Fist, two with the church of Gond, and two tried to contact the rebels. As events proceeded and the faction leaders started to take questionable actions their loyalties were severely tested. Everyone was ready to finally side with the church, and then a particularly foul event occurred (at the gates, not at parlaiment). From that point on the party tried to get the Flaming Fist and the rebels to ally (and ultimately succeeded at the end of the adventure). They were able to prevent the really bad thing from happening with the return of another PC who had been thought dead.

So I guess that's my advice: The faction leaders see the assassination as a simple act of revenge, and are not interested in investigating it further. Especially since, with the resulting power vacuum, each sees an opportunity to expand their own power base and influence. None suspect that Bhaal is secretly influencing them.

This was the first of the "new format" of D&D encounters adventures. In the Encounters format you are expected to just go along with the story as presented.

You cannot stop Bhaal. This is the first adventure in the Sundering, Ao is rewriting the tablets of fate, and gods that were thought dead are not. With the murder of the duke (or his attacker), only one Bhaalspawn is left, and it ushers in the return of Bhaal. At that point, Bhaal reaches out and corrupts the 3 major NPCs so that they eventually murder a lot of people. The end result is that Bhaal is credited for the murder, and he gets his portfolio back. If the players go deeper, there is plenty to point out the problems with each of the 3 major NPCs (especially the smokepowder plot). The party can turn to Coran as someone who can help them uncover the various plots and ultimately try to foil the plots. Ultimately, someone will score highest on the Bhaal Murder Meter, and become the Slayer in the finale.

A couple of suggestions.

• Use the creatures from the Monster Manual and the encounter building guidelines from the Basic DMG. This will mean that you have to make up a couple of creatures (notably the Slayer which should be a CR1 creature, the 4 major NPCs as CR 3, and a few others like the slayer template for the finale which should add 1 to the CR) This will be more work, but the combat sections should be more balanced. In general, each chapter will be 1 day with a long rest at night, so the party should have plenty of high yield abilities.
• If the players realize they are being played by everyone, use Coran to help them identify plots and try to stop them. They will not be able to stop all of them, and this is important. The whole point is that someone succeeds at being Bhaal's chosen. If the PCs are helping someone, that person will most likely succeed and become the Chosen. If the players realize that they are being played and actually kill the big 3, then whichever PC has been the most murderous or who has the biggest kill count becomes the chosen.

This is more a political thriller instead of a dungeon crawl. A lot of public play DMs were not ready for the open ended nature of this adventure and the preparation it required. The political thriller also might not be everyone's cup of tea. If your players want a more standard adventure and you have access to it, Legacy of the crystal shard has a similar open ended feel with multiple plot lines but is a bit more straightforward.

If you have any other specific questions, let me know.

CapnZapp said:

For DMs only:

The module starts with a murder. What I am seeing here is that players will expect to unravel a murder mystery. Only one problem: the module isn't about that. At all.

As far as I can see, the adventure simply assumes PCs will want to interact with the three factions and their leaders. As written the adventures assumes PCs will be content with day to day events, starting a crisis there, putting out a fire here. What if the adventurers does not settle for this?

Any initial promises to find out what's really going on are never followed up on - nowhere in the module do you get any support for when the PCs start asking the real questions: what is the history of these Bhaalspawn? What do the three leaders really know about the events that lead to the titular murder in Baldur's Gate? I expect them to want to follow up on leads, visit historians and temple archives, etc. They will want to talk to the main NPCs, not about Today's Sabotage, but about the significance of the Bhaalspawn, and then, how the cycle of murders can be stopped?

The module isn't adressing the elephant in the room at all. Namely, the likely fact some players will catch onto the fact that they're being played, and that they will want to do something about it.

Specifically, what actions can the PCs be expected to take in a more direct attempt to stop Bhaal? (I am not saying this needs to succeed. I am saying I would like more adventure material that let players work the case.)

Click to expand...

Your analysis is spot-on, and this is why the adventure failed every time I tried to run it.

My advice: don't bother. Run a good adventure instead.

GX.Sigma said:

Your analysis is spot-on, and this is why the adventure failed every time I tried to run it.

My advice: don't bother. Run a good adventure instead.

Click to expand...

Echoed.

That said, the opening - the actual murder, the fight in the marketplace with random events, all that? Fantastic one shot and great introduction to 5E.

The rest of the larger mod is awful, for a variety of reasons including pacing and lack of investment. My group started off excited to dig in, solve the bhaalspawn thing, and largely discovered a bunch of whiny jerks and a frankly uninteresting series of overly easy missions and childish plots. If you use any of it, I'd suggest making up a big chunk in the middle and just using the last few days where things come to a head.

Oh, and the part where the PCs supporting someone actually helps that person to be lost? Meh to that too.

Keep in mind that your experience as a DM reading the adventure is completely different from that of a player. There's nothing that really ties the initial murder to any of the following events until the very end, so there's no reason for the players to think that the building crises are related to Bhaal. If they want to follow up on the history of the Bhaalspawn after the initial event, let them; they can find some old history that has no apparent relevance to current events beyond that one attack.

GX.Sigma said:

Your analysis is spot-on, and this is why the adventure failed every time I tried to run it.

My advice: don't bother. Run a good adventure instead.

Click to expand...

keterys said:

Echoed.

That said, the opening - the actual murder, the fight in the marketplace with random events, all that? Fantastic one shot and great introduction to 5E.

The rest of the larger mod is awful, for a variety of reasons including pacing and lack of investment. My group started off excited to dig in, solve the bhaalspawn thing, and largely discovered a bunch of whiny jerks and a frankly uninteresting series of overly easy missions and childish plots. If you use any of it, I'd suggest making up a big chunk in the middle and just using the last few days where things come to a head.

Oh, and the part where the PCs supporting someone actually helps that person to be lost? Meh to that too.

Click to expand...

Didn't expect you guys to react so harshly to this adventure. I really enjoyed reading it, and was planning to tie it into my Sword Coast campaign. I certainly thought it was sounded a lot more engaging than HotDQ did: railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, dungeon crawl, railroad.

EDIT: Added one more railroad, because that stupid flying castle ends up in the Spine of the World no matter what.

doctorhook said:

Didn't expect you guys to react so harshly to this adventure. I really enjoyed reading it, and was planning to tie it into my Sword Coast campaign. I certainly thought it was sounded a lot more engaging than HotDQ did: railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, dungeon crawl, railroad.

EDIT: Added one more railroad, because that stupid flying castle ends up in the Spine of the World no matter what.

Click to expand...

I honestly had a lot of fun with Murder in Baldur's Gate, and I got to both play it and later run it as a DM. The smokepowder plot, the kidnapping and rescue, the sense that if you got on the wrong side of someone, they sent people after you, the horror of watching a scene of carnage unfold that you cannot do anything (or very little) about and the clinging on as things started turning hopeless were all nice elements for me and my table. It was interesting to have a premade campaign where things moved forward whether you succeeded or not. Whereas so many adventures require you to succeed at each and every step, this one allowed failure and had it shape events.

The only scenario I wish had come forth would have been the party aligning with Coran and working to sabotage the plans of the big 3.

My 2cp.

doctorhook said:

Didn't expect you guys to react so harshly to this adventure. I really enjoyed reading it, and was planning to tie it into my Sword Coast campaign. I certainly thought it was sounded a lot more engaging than HotDQ did: railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, railroad, railroad, dungeon crawl, dungeon crawl, railroad.

Click to expand...

HotDQ is bad in pretty much every way. MiBG is good in a lot of ways, but bad in the only way that really matters (the players wanting to play again after the first session).

Thanks everyone. More perspective really helps.

occam said:

There's nothing that really ties the initial murder to any of the following events until the very end, so there's no reason for the players to think that the building crises are related to Bhaal.

Click to expand...

But this is exactly the problem!

Let me illustrate this way:

The hook isn't Warhammerian: "let's work for some powerful people for a change; authority and gold is a new feeling, but it feels good!"

It is D&Dian: "a most noble hero has been slain, lets uncover the foul beasts that have planned this so we can best them in manly combat!"

Meaning that I sense a complete mismatch between the hook, the intro on one hand (heroic D&D), and actual events of the adventure on the other (Warhammerian themes of being predestined pawns).

--


I still feel the adventure is great, and that it can work.

But I imagine players will treat the crisis as a sideshow, at least initially, wanting to focus on finding out more about the bhaalspawn. And so I believe one of two things need to happen, taking this basic fact into consideration one way or another:

Either A) we come up with better support for the "bhaalspawn mystery", starting with the elephant in the room:

- What do the Big Three say when the adventurers confront them about the point of all this day-to-day business? And ask where their support for uncovering clues about the murder went? (I genuinely want answers where these power players lie about it, plant evidence and otherwise try to get the adventurers drive to work for them) Things like: "Go kill this person, he was implicated" stuff that simultaneously is plausible and allows the party to expose their employer's real motives.

Or B) we come up with better support for an actual investigation. Ideally one that ties into existing material, of course. (I guess even a complete separate line of clues will eventually mesh with the PCs "other duties" if only because of their "straight to hell" qualities...)

To me, the adventure reads as a fantastic Warhammery plot. Except that intro, which makes promises the rest isn't even interested in keeping.

If you/we/us can't come up with either A or B, perhaps your suggestion is to port the adventure structure over to the Old World, and simply graft the intro onto some more traditional D&D "investigation" (namely, one where a few bashed heads and a divination spell is enough to point directly to the BBEGs lair... ;-)