GX.Sigma
Adventurer
I was at my friendly local game store today, and I mentioned that I was really looking forward to my pre-order of Murder in Baldur's Gate. My buddy working there, as part of trying to convince me to run it for Encounters, showed me the store copy of the adventure. I sneaked a peek, mostly looking for details I can use in my regular game to lead up to the module.
What I found isn't really spoilers, but it is DM material, so I'll put it in sblock tags just to be sure.
[sblock]The events of the Baldur's Gate computer game are taken as canon (I didn't see a reference to BG2, but I didn't look very hard), with the main character being a human fighter named Abdel Adrian. After scourging the Sword Coast, Adrian retired to Candlekeep. He is now over 100 years old, and looks a lot like the iconic wizard from Pathfinder. Thanks to his divine blood, he still has the vigor of youth (though he has apparently forgotten everything he knew about fighting, since he's a level 2 NPC). He is now a duke of Baldur's Gate, and somewhat of a rock star -- the opening scene actually has someone in the crowd shout out, "We love you, Adrian!" to which he responds, "I love you too, Baldur's Gate." Pretty cheesy stuff.
The adventure begins with a public assassination attempt on Adrian's life. He is very likely to die if the PCs don't intervene.
The Bhaalspawn monster is described as bloated and blood-soaked. I found this relevant, since I wanted to stick one into my regular game in the run-up to the module.
The 60-page Campaign Guide looks like a great DM resource. It has information on the city's backstory, important NPCs and factions, etc. It also has descriptions of pretty much every part of town, with lots of illustrations and maps.
The 30-page adventure has absolutely no crunch--all the monster stats are online, and I suppose DMs will just have to improvise check DCs.
The adventure seems to be a blend of sandbox and plot-driven style. The booklet is divided into stages, with events in each one. I didn't get a great look at how it is meant to be played.
The DM screen is really cool--the player-facing side is a keyed map of the city (it's actually the screen Rodney was using in the Lich-Queen live game). I didn't get a good look at the DM side, since I was so excited by how cool the player side is, but I think it breaks down the stages of the NPCs' plans.
One thing that disappointed me is that it doesn't come in a box. The cool cover art we've seen is just an 11"x17" piece of magazine-like paper that wraps around the booklets. Not a dealbreaker, but it would have been nice to have it in a format that doesn't need Scotch Tape every time I want to put it back on the shelf.
The characters on the cover are important NPCs who try to manipulate the PCs. Even the green lantern guy is a duke or something.[/sblock]
What I found isn't really spoilers, but it is DM material, so I'll put it in sblock tags just to be sure.
[sblock]The events of the Baldur's Gate computer game are taken as canon (I didn't see a reference to BG2, but I didn't look very hard), with the main character being a human fighter named Abdel Adrian. After scourging the Sword Coast, Adrian retired to Candlekeep. He is now over 100 years old, and looks a lot like the iconic wizard from Pathfinder. Thanks to his divine blood, he still has the vigor of youth (though he has apparently forgotten everything he knew about fighting, since he's a level 2 NPC). He is now a duke of Baldur's Gate, and somewhat of a rock star -- the opening scene actually has someone in the crowd shout out, "We love you, Adrian!" to which he responds, "I love you too, Baldur's Gate." Pretty cheesy stuff.
The adventure begins with a public assassination attempt on Adrian's life. He is very likely to die if the PCs don't intervene.
The Bhaalspawn monster is described as bloated and blood-soaked. I found this relevant, since I wanted to stick one into my regular game in the run-up to the module.
The 60-page Campaign Guide looks like a great DM resource. It has information on the city's backstory, important NPCs and factions, etc. It also has descriptions of pretty much every part of town, with lots of illustrations and maps.
The 30-page adventure has absolutely no crunch--all the monster stats are online, and I suppose DMs will just have to improvise check DCs.
The adventure seems to be a blend of sandbox and plot-driven style. The booklet is divided into stages, with events in each one. I didn't get a great look at how it is meant to be played.
The DM screen is really cool--the player-facing side is a keyed map of the city (it's actually the screen Rodney was using in the Lich-Queen live game). I didn't get a good look at the DM side, since I was so excited by how cool the player side is, but I think it breaks down the stages of the NPCs' plans.
One thing that disappointed me is that it doesn't come in a box. The cool cover art we've seen is just an 11"x17" piece of magazine-like paper that wraps around the booklets. Not a dealbreaker, but it would have been nice to have it in a format that doesn't need Scotch Tape every time I want to put it back on the shelf.
The characters on the cover are important NPCs who try to manipulate the PCs. Even the green lantern guy is a duke or something.[/sblock]
