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

[FitzTheRuke]

I had the party, right at the beginning, travelling to Elturel (rather than Baldur's Gate) and watched from a bluff (their riverboat was stuck on rocks from a Dead Three Attack, so they started to hoof it) as the Companion went odd-colored and then imploded and the city disappeared from existence. (This was a session cliffhanger).

Then I ran a wonderful session that was a skill-challenge of rescuing small craft on the river that were being pulled toward waterfalls, and then rescuing people from the left-behind outskirts that were crumbling along the edges, and capped it with a fight with some goat-devils (I can't remember what they're called ATM) that bounded up out of the pit. Everyone had a great time, and they were super motivated to return to Baldur's Gate and go looking for Kreeg.

 

[Reynard]

I had the party, right at the beginning, travelling to Elturel (rather than Baldur's Gate) and watched from a bluff (their riverboat was stuck on rocks from a Dead Three Attack, so they started to hoof it) as the Companion went odd-colored and then imploded and the city disappeared from existence. (This was a session cliffhanger).

Then I ran a wonderful session that was a skill-challenge of rescuing small craft on the river that were being pulled toward waterfalls, and then rescuing people from the left-behind outskirts that were crumbling along the edges, and capped it with a fight with some goat-devils (I can't remember what they're called ATM) that bounded up out of the pit. Everyone had a great time, and they were super motivated to return to Baldur's Gate and go looking for Kreeg.

Excellent. Giving the party a real motivation and really investing them in the fate of Elturel is super important, IMO. It still bugs me that the authors though just bullying the PCs into investigating the cultists should be sufficient.

 

[Talltomwright]

Excellent. Giving the party a real motivation and really investing them in the fate of Elturel is super important, IMO. It still bugs me that the authors though just bullying the PCs into investigating the cultists should be sufficient.

I did something similar. In my session 0 the players created their characters, which were definitely more rough and tumble Baldurians than holy Elturgardians, and, conveniently for me, they were all searching for loved ones who had gone missing (and who I had decided had fled to Elturel just in the time to be sucked to Avernus.)

Session 1 started with loosely RPed their guilty secret; accidentally killing an innocent man in the midst or interrogating a lead on their disappearances (an agent for the Duke, but they don't know that yet) who says, 'You're too late. It's happening right now.'

Then I said we were going to run a pre-credit sequence and I gave them all LG characters (which they would never normally play) who go on a little devil hunt (made by mashing bits of The Fall of Elturel and Escape From Elturgard), accompanied by their squire, Little Reya 'Sunshine' Mantlemorn. On their way back to Elturgard they see the city being dragged into Avernus and are killed by the emerging devils, apart from Reya, who they told to flee with some innocent farmers.

Then we cut back to their actual PCs in Baldur's Gate. They are short on healing magic as a party so I made Reya a healer sidekick and introduced her early by placing her in the Elfsong tavern, where she stepped in to heal those who dropped in the opening fight. The players were really excited to see her and quickly adopted her in to the party. So now they as players are more invested in the fate of Elturel (and in Reya) and there will be a bigger payoff when I drop in later that their loved ones where in Elturel at the time of it's disappearance.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Excellent. Giving the party a real motivation and really investing them in the fate of Elturel is super important, IMO. It still bugs me that the authors though just bullying the PCs into investigating the cultists should be sufficient.

Thanks. Yeah, I thought so too. I had them on their way to meet specific friends in Elturel (one was an established character who is cousin to one of the PCs and had sent a note about uncovering some conspiracy and needing help). So they have specific people to rescue, too. That means that some of the later hooks can be given out by those characters when they find them either in Elturel or having ranged out into Avernus.

 

[jayoungr]

I ran a wonderful session that was a skill-challenge of rescuing small craft on the river that were being pulled toward waterfalls, and then rescuing people from the left-behind outskirts that were crumbling along the edges, and capped it with a fight with some goat-devils (I can't remember what they're called ATM) that bounded up out of the pit.

This sounds great! Would you by chance still have the details for this (skills, DCs, etc.? I'd love to incorporate it when I run this adventure.

 

[JValeur]

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J. A. Valeur
Eventyr Games – Mailing List – Facebook – Twitter

 

[Raunalyn]

I am definitely going to skip out on Lulu. I am going to use the shield as their guide. The group just found the shield at the end of last session after a VERY harrowing encounter with a barbed devil who summoned a second barbed devil...the group was able to defeat them, but not without considerable cost to resources. The group has encountered Thavius Kreeg...the Paladin is suspicious of him due to the strange shadow, but is also trying to persuade the former follower of Torm to repent from his evil ways. The shield is trying to bond with the Paladin and is being extremely helpful, letting the group know that the Vanthampurs were trying to use the shield along with some strange box so that they could pull Baldur's Gate into hell. Neither Kreeg nor the shield are exactly sure what this box is or what it does, only that it is tied to the 9 hells. When the party finds the box, I intend to show them a picture of one of the puzzle boxes from Hellraiser

When they find the box, they will probably go to Candlekeep to figure out what it does. I am going to give them a tenday to adventure in the city while the sage figures it out.

 

[Anthony Winter]

LOL! I suppose for a group of country fans, you could make it opera or something else that's commonly disliked. (Disclaimer: I like opera.)

Thanks for the podcast links, btw. They'll be super-useful if/when I get to running this.

true - I imagine a group of boomers - the DM could fill the jukebox with Rap.

 

[Eltab]

the DM could fill the jukebox with Rap.

For young whippersnapper players who have not yet reached a certain age, the sappy 1950s songs about "Why Must I Be A Teenager In Love?" would seem to be hellish and of utterly unfamiliar musical style.
And they would be just the kind of songs that used to be in a jukebox.

 

[Anthony Winter]

Hi, We ran through another Tier 2 adventurers league one shot game (ruined prospects) with 4 APL level 8 PCs.
If you want to listen in for ideas of what it may play out like check out the link below:

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