D&D 5E Enhancing "Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus"

[Anthony Winter]

Well... We finished the adventure two nights ago after playign weekly from October last year. It was an epic final session following a number of epic sessions and the intensity and PC power level crept. Here is the snapshot I took when our ranger astride a silver dragon was circling the battle between a Balrog anz Zariel. The ranger took out the Balrog but in so doing the subsequent explosion hti the rest of the Party, Zariel and Lulu for 81 damage. I will post a link to the podcast and youtube shortly.

podcast: <iframe title="37 End Game - Descent into Avernus - The final chapter" height="122" width="100%" style="border: none;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src=""></iframe>

 

[Anthony Winter]

I've seen a couple of queries lately regarding chapter 3 lately and while there has been a bit of responses her from DMs I have recently compelted the hard cover and recorded my take including how you can turn the railroad into a sandbox very easily and the path we chose.

youtube link

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[jayoungr]

Bumping this thread because it looks like I'm going to be running this adventure for real, as soon as I can get it read and prepped. I'd love to hear your tips and ideas, especially (but not only) if you've read or played through the adventure in the past.

One thing my players have indicated that they would really like is some potential character hooks into the story, like those built into the first few adventures published by WotC. When we played Tyranny of Dragons, for example, one of the players took the "disgraced gold dragon" hook and had a blast with it. Descent into Avernus doesn't seem to include these as a feature, so can anyone suggest any possibilites? Or do you know of any fan-created hooks somewhere?

 

[Reynard]

Bumping this thread because it looks like I'm going to be running this adventure for real, as soon as I can get it read and prepped. I'd love to hear your tips and ideas, especially (but not only) if you've read or played through the adventure in the past.

One thing my players have indicated that they would really like is some potential character hooks into the story, like those built into the first few adventures published by WotC. When we played Tyranny of Dragons, for example, one of the players took the "disgraced gold dragon" hook and had a blast with it. Descent into Avernus doesn't seem to include these as a feature, so can anyone suggest any possibilites? Or do you know of any fan-created hooks somewhere?

The hook as written is garbage. Figure out another way to get the PCs invested. Or just have them do their early levels in Elturel before it gets drawn in.

Once in Avenrus: embrace the gonzo nature of a level of Hell. I had random encounters with Doom Troopers in power armor and weilding beam rifles. Anything goes.

 

[Retros_x]

Bumping this thread because it looks like I'm going to be running this adventure for real, as soon as I can get it read and prepped. I'd love to hear your tips and ideas, especially (but not only) if you've read or played through the adventure in the past.

One thing my players have indicated that they would really like is some potential character hooks into the story, like those built into the first few adventures published by WotC. When we played Tyranny of Dragons, for example, one of the players took the "disgraced gold dragon" hook and had a blast with it. Descent into Avernus doesn't seem to include these as a feature, so can anyone suggest any possibilites? Or do you know of any fan-created hooks somewhere?

I was only a player in this campaign, but our DM used the Alexandrian Remix and was quite happy with it. I don't know the details why exactly he liked it, but it seem to solve a lot of the structural issues: Remixing Avernus

 

[jayoungr]

The hook as written is garbage. Figure out another way to get the PCs invested.

I respect your opinion, but my players specifically asked for it.

 

[Reynard]

I respect your opinion, but my players specifically asked for it.

They asked for the hook in the adventure specifically?

 

[jgsugden]

OK, so as soon as they get to hell, have this Nautiloid scoop them up and imprison them. Then, this Illithid will give them a tadpole, but not just any tadpole ...

 

[jayoungr]

They asked for the hook in the adventure specifically?

Yes, they did. They really enjoyed the hook from Tyranny of Dragons and wanted to do something similar with this adventure.

To be clear, I'm not talking about whatever the book uses to draw the PCs into the adventure as a group. I'm talking about the hooks for individual characters, like the "disgraced former gold dragon" character hook in ToD or the "searching for missing villagers" hook in Princes of the Apocalypse. WotC put these into their first few adventures, but they seem to have abandoned the practice after a certain point.

 

[Reynard]

Yes, they did. They really enjoyed the hook from Tyranny of Dragons and wanted to do something similar with this adventure.

To be clear, I'm not talking about whatever the book uses to draw the PCs into the adventure as a group. I'm talking about the hooks for individual characters, like the "disgraced former gold dragon" character hook in ToD or the "searching for missing villagers" hook in Princes of the Apocalypse. WotC put these into their first few adventures, but they seem to have abandoned the practice after a certain point.

I see. I was talking specifically about the "party hook" -- aka "You are pressed into service by the Flaming Fist." It's terrible and just begs for PCs to resist it. My advice would be to see what sorts of characters the players develop, and build a custom initial hook for them.