D&D 5E Heroes of Baldur's Gate is a D&D Adventure From Bioware's Baldur's Gate Designer

James Ohlen and Jesse Sky of Bioware fame have released the 160-page PDF and hardcover Heroes of Baldur's Gate over on DMs Guild.

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It's an adventure which takes PCs from levels 1-6, and also includes stats for fourteen characters from the video games, including Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen, Edwin, Viconia, and more. Also included are eight new monsters, four new backgrounds, and lots of maps of Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast.

"The city of Baldur’s Gate is the pride of West Faerûn—a mercantile stronghold ruled by the famous Grand Dukes. One year ago, a powerful merchant leader named Sarevok nearly catapulted the city into war with the neighboring nation of Amn. This crisis was averted, and the remnants of the organization were scattered throughout the Sword Coast.

Now, the city is threatened from within by agents of the nefarious Zhentarim, who seek to fill the power vacuum left behind in the wake of these events. Meanwhile, the Shadow Druids plot to destroy the city by performing terrible rituals, deep within the Cloakwood. Who will rise to oppose them?"

There's even a trailer!

[video=youtube;F581HTuZX-M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F581HTuZX-M[/video]​

 

[MockingBird]

Maybe he's asking for recommendations on AD&D modules that could be converted/run after running Heroes...?

Yeah this is what I was asking. Since it takes place in the Time of Troubles. I'm not real familiar with the old FR modules so any insight or recommendations would be awesome.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Maybe he's asking for recommendations on AD&D modules that could be converted/run after running Heroes...?

I'm sure that was exactly being asked, but I didn't know of any. Baldur's Gate was 2nd edition but it didn't have any direct connection to any 2nd edition PnP modules that I know of*. The Time of Troubles was largely described in novels, and BG was set after that. If there was ever a "Time of Troubles" module published it would take place prior to Baldur's Gate. There is a Baldur's Gate novel, but it is awful, play the game instead.

By the time BG2 was published 3rd edition was the official PnP ruleset, hence the addition of barbarians and sorcerers.


* Addendum: Bioware just paid for the licence, there was no co-ordination with WotC the way things are done now.

 

[lkj]

I'm sure that was exactly being asked, but I didn't know of any. Baldur's Gate was 2nd edition but it didn't have any direct connection to any 2nd edition PnP modules that I know of*. The Time of Troubles was largely described in novels, and BG was set after that. If there was ever a "Time of Troubles" module published it would take place prior to Baldur's Gate. There is a Baldur's Gate novel, but it is awful, play the game instead.

By the time BG2 was published 3rd edition was the official PnP ruleset, hence the addition of barbarians and sorcerers.


* Addendum: Bioware just paid for the licence, there was no co-ordination with WotC the way things are done now.

Just as a note-- There were a series of three modules published for the Time of Troubles, called Shadowdale, Tantras and Waterdeep. I own them. Somewhere. God knows where.

AD

 

[ddaley]

Just as a note-- There were a series of three modules published for the Time of Troubles, called Shadowdale, Tantras and Waterdeep. I own them. Somewhere. God knows where.

AD

Well, all 3 of those (FRE1-FRE3) are available on dmsguild... but only as PDF.

 

[Ibrandul]

Yeah this is what I was asking. Since it takes place in the Time of Troubles. I'm not real familiar with the old FR modules so any insight or recommendations would be awesome.

Heroes of Baldur's Gate takes place a decade after the Time of Troubles, not during it. You're not the first to make this mistake, though. This book, set almost 125 years in the "past" from the current Forgotten Realms year, was trumpeted as "a new supplement from around the time of the Time of Troubles."

In a sense, the Time of Troubles is the ur-event for the whole Baldur's Gate series; that's when (30-year-old spoiler warning) Bhaal died.

Time of Troubles: summer 1358 DR. Heroes of Badur's Gate: 1368-1369 DR.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Baldur's Gate stems from the Aftermath of the Time of Troubles.

So the adventures set during the Time of Troubles must take place before Heroes of Baldur's Gate.

 

[Burnside]

Okay. So having read most of the adventure, I'd have to amend my review to emphasize a fairly important point.

I don't think the designers are really familiar with 5E. And by that I mean, if it didn't exist in 2E, it pretty much doesn't exist in this adventure. Four chapters in, zero skill checks of any kind except lock picking. No perception, no persuasion, no investigation, no stealth, nothing but lock picking. No advantage or disadvantage. No warlocks, no tieflings, no dragonborn, no characters with any race/class combinations that didn't exist in 2E. No monsters that didn't exist in 2E. I realize that for some this is just fine - but it's something that should definitely be known in advance.

It's like someone wrote a 2E adventure and then kinda sorta did the absolute bare minimum humanly possible to almost make it 5E. But if you're a DM planning to deliver what 5E players are generally used to from a published adventure, burden is on you to do so. You're given fights, talking, and picking locks. Everything else in terms of game mechanics is on you to add. Not an impossible job, but a job you'd generally expect a pre-written adventure to do more of for you.

 

[Prakriti]

Okay. So having read most of the adventure, I'd have to amend my review to emphasize a fairly important point. (...) No warlocks, no tieflings, no dragonborn, no characters with any race/class combinations that didn't exist in 2E.

Some of those things didn't exist in Faerun in 1368 DR. Dragonborn, for example, arrived during the Spellplague a hundred years later. It would be silly to add one in without a good explanation for how it got there and why it isn't being dissected in Waterdeep by a curious mage.

 

[Burnside]

Some of those things didn't exist in Faerun in 1368 DR. Dragonborn, for example, arrived during the Spellplague a hundred years later. It would be silly to add one in without a good explanation for how it got there and why it isn't being dissected in Waterdeep by a curious mage.

Yeah, TBH it's less of a "no dragonborn issue" and more of a "not a single investigation or perception check written into this adventure" issue, for me anyway.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Thanks for that, have you mentioned that on drivethru? It will interesting to see if the designers come back!