Except, it's pretty obvious that the vast majority of people were not playing the game in 2020. A minority played the Early Access, yes, but even then, that was only less than a third of the game. You couldn't glean all of the plot points of BG3 from that, and without those, the ways in which the book fully ties in with the video game are not clear. For instance, at some point you learn that the Dead Three are behind most of what's happening in the game. The Dead Three also played a role in DiA, but their role was secondary to Duke Vanthampur and his infernal plots. I'm at the start of Act 3, and I still don't know if the beginning portion of DiA and the big plot in BG3 are related or not. Without clear plot threads creating a synergistic story between the two games, it's not a good tie-in. And we didn't have access to BG3's full story until two weeks ago.
So for all intents and purposes, BG3 came out this year. A small minority played the Early Access, but the buzz they generated is negligible compared to the new crowds that are playing the game now. The smart synergistic strategy would be releasing DiA now, not three years ago when a (at the time) dubious Early Access programme was launched.
I think that it was good for Descent into Avernus to be released first, and had time allowed for groups to complete the adventure in preparation for the next regional story in the timeline (which was BG3). If it weren't for the pandemic, BG3 might have been out a year earlier to be hotter on the heels of DiA, but I'm giving them a pass on that.
Now they could have invested a lot more into
other offerings alongside BG3, like supplemental products (the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer in DDB is not super crunchy, but is appreciated), or going further to translate the NPCs from the game into DDB stat blocks for TTRPG use. But the pandemic and logisitics behind designing and delviering physical toys and collectibles for a digital game that took a while to release would be a hard moving target to plan for. Money needs to be spent to make them, and how long would that product have to sit before a tie-in release?
But now that I've played BG3? It's going to be long-lived game for me. I want minis of the BG3 heroes and villains. There can be an entire minis expansion that would sell like hotcakes. I may be basic, but I would shell out cash for a good-quality statue of Karlach. Who doesn't want something cool that represents their favorite BG3 NPCs? But before the full release, I couldn't say I was going to want all that.
But after the BG3 release I'm super excited about FR again. Seeing how Faerun is portrayed with animation and voice acting is verrry powerful for capturing both dark and light aspects of the Forgotten Realms. I want to see more stories. I want to see animated stories voice-acted by new favorite voice actors. I am so looking forward to Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, and future adventures. I also want a new FRCS. For now, I could settle for more Gazetteers on DDB for a while, kinda like they used to in the old magazines (Dragon, Polyhedron, and Living Greyhawk Gazeteer)
But back to the discussion of how the previous adventures tie into BG3, now that BG3 is out and proud, I'm curious how many people now want to play Descent into Avernus as a prequel? Or even go back to Murder in Baldur's Gate or Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, or Scourge of the Sword Coast again?
Am I alone in this reinvigoration?
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