@@darkagesvampire6926 - No, I am not the mad mage, just a cartographer for this book. The cartographer for the most recent Undermountain book is Tim Hartin of Paratime Design.
A person who does things out of duty (follows meaning given from the outside) is unhappy. A responsible person (motivated from the inside and follows their own heart) takes care of him/herself and takes care of their own happiness.
The book looks amazing. Can't wait to run it. One of the PCs in the end of my previous campaign made a deal with the devil and went to Avernus to participate in the Blood war. I think she'll make an awesome comeback as an NPC. Thanks for the video, Nate!
Lutes & Dice same for my last game! One of the PCs made a deal with Zariel herself for a specific boon which turned the tide of battle against an ancient blue dragon named Iymrith (from Storm King’s Thunder).
Thanks for the great review! Love your objective and honest perspective: you didn’t shy away from indicating you were slightly turned off from the hell-theme. Informative and helpful review for people who might be concerned if the material is overly dark and showing there is some option for redemption and light.
AYYY I'm currently running this for my good friends and we're all pretty new. NEW DM SUGGESTIONS: I did some research and found that most vets say it's one of the more difficult adventures in the lower levels. It is quite difficult at level 2. We just got our of the Dungeon of the Dead 3, and I made some adjustments to make it more fair/rewarding. 1.With Flennis, don't use fireball unless you want to push players into Devil contracts early on to create that kind of mood. 2. If they talk to the hungry rat, give it a really derpy cute voice when it asks for snacks. 3. The aura of murder should be switched on if your players want hard mode. My PC's tank was one shot by the Reaper of Bhaal because of this ability. 4. Outside of the dungeon, after the party is battered and probably out of spell slots, surprise cultists are supposed to come and steal treasure from the party. This felt pretty cruel to me. I made the cultists appear inside the dungeon to steal from the party in Vaaz's chamber, so they had some options for social/hiding/running away. Storytime: While the cultists searched the various chambers, the party booked it with some treasure, and they used the flammable gas chamber to wreck the cultists in one swoop. Having the option for a badass explosion ending seemed really appealing. So they got to go back and get the treasure at their leisure later that night. I know every party is different, but if you're not skilled vets, having different options in the dungeon that they just triumphed over -Home Alone style- might be pretty fun instead of just taking the rewards away.
I'm probably going to run this. I've DMed since 1st edition but never dabbled in the Blood War, so this should be interesting. Although I think I will have the PCs sucked into Hell somehow instead of finding a way to GET there...
Honestly, I’m finally getting hyped. Between your review and the “Roll 20 Presents” session 0 stream, it’s looking like a fun game to run. Very outside the box. “Shared dark secret”, tons of custom backgrounds, infernal war machines all look very cool. Plus... come on... I SERVE THE FLAMING FIST. Who doesn’t want to go back to Baldur’s Gate and Candlekeep?
I'm still prepping to run this campaign. It will be with an all new group just formed. It will be my first time running a large prewritten campaign. I've only run short adventures that were pre made, and the longer campaigns I ran were something I made up. It's easy to run larger campaigns you make up as players tend to guide where the adventure goes. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this for a campaign that is already made. Getting players from point A to B then C within the campaigns story. If anyone has any videos that help newer DMs with this that doesn't feel railroaded would be very appreciative
My first thoughts were the same as when Bart Simpson was being told about Hell in sunday school: "COOOLLLL!" and "so is hell like a hot bath-you get used to it after a while?"
"I sure as HELL cant talk about HELL when our sunday school teacher taught us about HELL can I? Hell hell hell hell - ." "Bart, you're not in sunday school anymore! Dont swear!"
Fair warning. The first dungeon (Crypt of the Dead Three) in this adventure is a killer. Second level characters don't do that well when faced with a necromancer that can cast fireball. ( And she's only one of the baddies down there that can TPK you...) 😀
@@WASD20 When that fireball wiped the party (necromancer was first in initiative and led with it) our DM was "Nope. Everybody re-roll." A lower damage total and a few more successful saving throws the second time around, let us off that hook. 😁
Great review. Like others have commented the hell theme not so appealing for me but always enjoy the detailed creativity in the history of baldars Gate. The rules around the vehicles also very cool. Thanks again for another great review
Oh this is the new adventure. Not gonna lie when I saw this pop on Amazon I thought it was one of the Baldur's Gate comicbooks so I completely ignored it. If anyone is looking for extra adventures on the planes "A Paladin in Hell", "Fires of Dis", "In the Abyss", "Tales from the Infinite Staircase" or "Hellbound: The Blood War". They are Adventures for ADnD so you'll probably have to change some stats and most of them (except A Paladin in Hell) assume you are operating from Sigil (a kind of hub city of the multiverse) but you can just add a portal to hell or whatever plane is necessary to your city and boom you can access other worlds (and keep your world nice and safe should the andventure go majorly sideways ;) ). Also the Planescape adventures have some amazing maps that rival Jareds when it comes to evoking a feeling for the places you go. And for those who have to look out for their money all of the above mentioned adventures combined are cheaper than Descent into Avernus alone and you can get them in PDF format too wich makes it even cheaper (and let's face it for a lot of people who can only play online more useful since you can copy most of it directly into Roll20, Fantasygrounds or whatever VTT you might use wich reduces the amount of shuffling you have to do outside the VTT).
I’m usually not drawn to inter-planar adventures, but I did a lot of research on this book to produce a video for my own channel, and I’M HOOKED! Looks great for a party of evil or evil-ish PCs. Thanks for the thorough review, Nate!
I’ve never DMed for DND and the PCs have never played before. I like the idea of making difficult choices that have consequences and affect the ending. I know you said it takes players from level 1 to 15 (or something like that). Would you say this is adventure is good for first time players?
I think it would be great. You don't get as many of the "classic fantasy tropes" that I often like to introduce to new players, but that can also be viewed as a good thing. In terms of playability, I'd say it would be a fine one for a new DM to run, and new players to play. Make sure you use those custom backgrounds and dark secrets in the Gazetteer section when you are creating characters!
That was actually my intent. Play a couple one hour games or one-shots and then play this. I was asking generally for like a first grand adventure. But on that note, are there any one hour adventures you would recommend?
@@cjcwalker1 the D&D Essentials Kit is a good product. It's divided into a bunch of short adventures. Each adventure location description is only 3-6 pages long. You could pick and choose the ones you want to use... and string them together with your own story. Or... It comes with a map. You can let players look at the map and decide, "We want to go here." This allows you to run it like a sandbox. Each location based adventure could be played as a one-shot or an episodic campaign from level 1 -5
Looking forward to running this after Strahd ends for my party. I feel like you'd need a specific kind of player make-up for this though, and I think my current party would be half and half with enjoying this.
@@richardm.4227 I'd probably be playing with three members of my CoS campaign. These guys I've played in three campaigns with. The others may not be about all the carnage
Nice video coverage of a product with no real appeal to me. There is a reason people hatefully say , "Go to hell." They are not wishing you a good time. Not for me. But this is a good video!
Nice contradiction at the end - the section in the back of the book that contains artwork that didn't make it into the book ... which is now in the book.
Always loathed the whole Blood War concept but I have my own Apocalyptic campaign which features an Infernal invasion and party trip into the Infernus so I'm always looking for setting ideas.
I suspect the reason ppl don't like the simple black & white maps is that you can't just put it in your projected/TV tabletop (or VTT), plonk down a few minis (or icons) and use it in your game.
i think the way they did this book is good. i like the extra pictures and the 2 full art pages of pictures. i wish they made more books like this even tho this is a older 5e book
I initially, like you, wasn't necessarily keen on this adventure but this review has helped change my mind. I like the info regarding the city of Baldur's Gate and that the module is not a sandbox (structured modules are better) Thanks for the review!
Hey, I'm new to DnD and was wondering about characters in a world like this. I didn't watch the video in full as to avoid spoilers so please time stamp the video for me if my question is answered in the video :). In an adventure like this, are the players expected to make new characters specifically for this adventure? Do adventure books such as this one come with certain races and classes that are designed to fit into this world? Thanks for any help :).
I more often call a demon a devil. Or was it otherway round? Heck, I don't remember :-D What is even the difference? My character (Laineth) has a devil as nearly best friend (or so she thinks). Or was it a demon? :-D
@@abenteurersuchengelegenhei2002Devils are from the 9-Hells, they want to corrupt and rule, Demons are from the Abyss, they want to corrupt and destroy. This is basically the basis for the Blood War, demons want to destroy everything and leave just a mess of a multiverse behind, Devils want to rule it and can't rule what isn't there.
I'm pretty new to this concept myself, but here's my take . . . Demons - chaos and destruction. Unthinking rage. Devils - orderly, patient, conniving. Both very evil, but quite different
Thanks for the spoiler warning. I've noticed a lot of module reviews don't really give one. I'm in a group that is just finishing saltmarsh and some of us are gonna be running this one starting in about a week and a half. Can't wait. I'm playing a tabaxi shadow monk bounty hunter named chase (I like putting some kind of pun in most of my character names if I can, like a fire genasi named Cole).
For sure! It actually is part of what kept me away from the game growing up. Not my own belief in the panic, but my fear of what others around me would think.
When i heard of it the first time i thought how is it possible to be sooooo stupid? I mean we live in the 21thentury and there are still people (way too many of them) who think the world was createt in 6 days and is only 6000 years old! That is just dump
@@mordenkainen5674 Fair point. BUT it were fundamentalists who thought chess, card games and then D&D is evil. Just a few days ago i read about a catholic priest in the US, who banned Harry Potter books from his private School because he thinks the spells in the books are real. Not one atheist would EVER think so. If we would live in the dark ages, i would understand that, but not today.
Unlike most, I'm glad to hear its not a sandbox. I want the adventure to be freeform for the PCs, but I can allow for that as the DM once I understand the structure of the adventure as written. What my ADHD ass cannot do as a DM is understand these adventures that seem like they were written by folks who were themselves deprived of much needed Ritalin.
So I'm actually looking to use this module, upscale what I think may be best, as the closing adventure for a current ongoing campaign that started with the homebrew Heroes of Baldur's Gate. Hopefilly all works out well in the end
The Satanic Panic actually get me more interested in D&D!!! I suppose coming from a very religious family just makes occult and forbidden things more alluring.
I’d say anything that teenagers told they shouldn’t do becomes more alluring. But realistically speaking, it was just a lot of press for the game. Any publicity proved to be good publicity.
I was reading up on the history of D&D, watched a vid on the panic. I found it quite interesting that my friends mother purchased D&D books for her kids back in the early 80’s; whereas, they were quite religious. Or, maybe she was quite progressing, anything that gets the kids reading at a college level. Or, maybe she liked that the game originated in Wisconsin. Either way, I must thank her for that some time soon, because that was pretty cool.
Sounds like a great setting for Acrobat Paladin named the Batman. Or maybe for a group of urban rangers. Cleaning up Baldur's Gate and its nether influencers should be fun....may even room for procedural investigations by a foreign crime solving group with a mission.
New dm here, as in never played dnd in my life, with a party of players who have never played in their life, we are going to go through lost mine of phandelver, but I'm looking to see what adventure to do next. Is this an easier one for new dms? Or would you recommend a different adventure? I would appreciate any and all help
Thanks Nate! I've been ambivalent about all the published 5E adventures so far, but this looks brilliant. Really good review with loads of info. I shall likely purchase it forthwith :-)
@@old_geeky_Michael I was pretty neutral on 5e published adventures too... but they really are getting better as of late. Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation and Waterdeep Dragon Heist are really great. Tales of the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmash and the New Essentials Kit are super useful with tons of plug and play components. You can use those components to build or enhance any campaign.
@@WASD20 I was under the impression that this serves as a prologue for the game? Maybe i was misinformed. I hope so cause that means i can play it lol.
@@WASD20 thanks for the quick response! I have a character concept that I think would be fun for this adventure, and was just wondering if there was anything I could swap out.
👋. This review definitely picked my curiosity. I’m definitely going to buy it. Having never really DM’d out of fear of not knowing what to do with so many possibilities and dice rolls ( I really need to practice more) I ‘d probably look for someone to play with who has experience as a DM. I really want to read it. Would that spoil my game? Also do you stream any of your D&D sessions?
Avernus is pretty linear. I think it would be good for a new DM. Just be up front with your players. Say, "I'm new at this and I'm inviting you to play this adventure. So, by showing up you're agreeing to play a rather linear story in the beginning. There are plenty of options at the end... but in the beginning I'm trusting and expecting you to play along." Meta-gaming can be a good thing if Meta-game drives everyone to work together towards the adventure. Example: instead of a player saying to themselves "Its clear the DM wants this to happen therefore I'm going to assume that's a trap. So, I'll say my character wouldn't do that... I'm going here instead." The player can say to themselves, "The DM wants us to go there, so I trust it's important for the story. Therefore I'll explain how my character finds motivation to go there."
Ok, so I might buy it just for the first chapter. Hell and gigantic apocalyptic evils is a bit overdone in fantasy in my opinion, now actual city state politics with details concerning trade, factions and intrigue? Now we are talking.
20 years ago at my "First" game shop that started with AD&D2e then moved into 3.0e. We had/ the Shop had the "Planescape" campaign box set, setting. Our home brew house rules for the after life of the Lower Planes was this, Low Planes were Garbage Dumps of the Outer Realms. Le/ Ne fiends are just cleaning up rotten fruit that drops into their realms, and treat corrupt/ dam souls as compost. CE fiends are Junkyard Dogs that went Rabit. Baator devils are the front line defense against the Abyss, they are looking for soldiers and equipment dealers to aid them in the Blood War. " Fiends can only feed and empower themselves through evil souls. They prefer spell casters. They look at non adventure as small children and non magic users as teenagers, that they just have to deal with from time to time. " This is adult business out of the way. Good characters/ souls that are not clerics/ paladins are just stray cats that are not worth dealing with.
Would an evil character make sense in this campaign? I have a player that wants to play an evil PC in this campaign and I'm not sure how feasible that is.
I’m really not a big fan of evil PCs. They can work, but it has to be done with great care. I’m not sure of this campaign is particularly suited to the sort of play over other campaign books from WotC.
@@WASD20 Thanks for the reply! I wasn't really a fan of the idea of an Evil PC (from the start) either, I was kind of hoping for some validation that it wouldn't work. Although I'm finishing Curse of Strahd this weekend, and 1 of the PCs has slowly been turned Evil which has been fun to watch.
@@WASD20 what do you meant my chaotic evil goolock creating a city full of warlocks by burning it and pinning it on the local Lord is disruptive. Man that was an eventful oneshot.
@@toddross8460 Right. I think it can be done well, but it's risky. Personally I usually just say no, but I think it can be a good conversation. I find that less mature players who want to play evil want to do it because they don't want their character to be bound by morality. They want to be able to be impulsive and selfish, and to me that's just unacceptable. More mature players on the other hand might be able to play a more realistic version of evil. Someone who feels like they are actually in the right, and is subtle and not "chaotic stupid", and is able to go along with the party in a way that works, perhaps keeping a secret motive that only the DM knows.
The early tutorial adventure part is hot garbage; if it weren't for the 4rd party "a tape of 2 cities" supplement, I would have given up on this book. The latter half though, was very well done
Look at how the makers of the book pronounce it. :) th-cam.com/video/Q-yBdYnphH8/w-d-xo.html I can't read your pronunciation, but I got my cues from how Wizards of the Coast staff says it and the pronunciation guide in the book.
@@WASD20I was in no way being serious. That you can't read my pronunciation was the joke. I do pronounced it differently, using it's native pronunciation, because I think it sounds better. forvo.com/word/avernus/
Thanks for the shoutout and appreciation for my mapwork. :)
I have my doubts that you are the mad mage who made the undermountains xd
Learn to draw, your maps suck and they detract from the value of the book.
@@darkagesvampire6926 - No, I am not the mad mage, just a cartographer for this book. The cartographer for the most recent Undermountain book is Tim Hartin of Paratime Design.
Nice Work... Avernus map took me back to older Planescape maps and Art in mind, that style i like. :-)
Yes, I do, and my maps look a lot better. I got pretty good at it while redoing this dunce's work in Dragon Heist.
Huh... "Everyone's unhappy" "Everything's awful" "Paradise Lost"... damn, Avernus is ametaphor for being a responsible adult.
All these devils are just trying to get a better corporate job. Adult-ing can be so hard.
🤣
Sounds like working retail lol
A person who does things out of duty (follows meaning given from the outside) is unhappy. A responsible person (motivated from the inside and follows their own heart) takes care of him/herself and takes care of their own happiness.
Hey you should totally rank the 5e adventures. I would be super interested in seeing your opinion on which adventures are the best
I would love to see **HIS** opinions on all the adventures but Taking20 did a pretty excellent video on his ranking of all the adventures.
Do keep in mind that he hasn't run most of them. I think the only one he has or is running is Icewind Dale.
The book looks amazing. Can't wait to run it. One of the PCs in the end of my previous campaign made a deal with the devil and went to Avernus to participate in the Blood war. I think she'll make an awesome comeback as an NPC.
Thanks for the video, Nate!
Lutes & Dice same for my last game! One of the PCs made a deal with Zariel herself for a specific boon which turned the tide of battle against an ancient blue dragon named Iymrith (from Storm King’s Thunder).
Sold! Not my soul...just the book. 😈
Thanks for the great review! Love your objective and honest perspective: you didn’t shy away from indicating you were slightly turned off from the hell-theme. Informative and helpful review for people who might be concerned if the material is overly dark and showing there is some option for redemption and light.
AYYY I'm currently running this for my good friends and we're all pretty new.
NEW DM SUGGESTIONS:
I did some research and found that most vets say it's one of the more difficult adventures in the lower levels. It is quite difficult at level 2. We just got our of the Dungeon of the Dead 3, and I made some adjustments to make it more fair/rewarding.
1.With Flennis, don't use fireball unless you want to push players into Devil contracts early on to create that kind of mood.
2. If they talk to the hungry rat, give it a really derpy cute voice when it asks for snacks.
3. The aura of murder should be switched on if your players want hard mode. My PC's tank was one shot by the Reaper of Bhaal because of this ability.
4. Outside of the dungeon, after the party is battered and probably out of spell slots, surprise cultists are supposed to come and steal treasure from the party. This felt pretty cruel to me. I made the cultists appear inside the dungeon to steal from the party in Vaaz's chamber, so they had some options for social/hiding/running away.
Storytime: While the cultists searched the various chambers, the party booked it with some treasure, and they used the flammable gas chamber to wreck the cultists in one swoop. Having the option for a badass explosion ending seemed really appealing. So they got to go back and get the treasure at their leisure later that night.
I know every party is different, but if you're not skilled vets, having different options in the dungeon that they just triumphed over -Home Alone style- might be pretty fun instead of just taking the rewards away.
I'm probably going to run this. I've DMed since 1st edition but never dabbled in the Blood War, so this should be interesting. Although I think I will have the PCs sucked into Hell somehow instead of finding a way to GET there...
Honestly, I’m finally getting hyped. Between your review and the “Roll 20 Presents” session 0 stream, it’s looking like a fun game to run. Very outside the box. “Shared dark secret”, tons of custom backgrounds, infernal war machines all look very cool. Plus... come on... I SERVE THE FLAMING FIST. Who doesn’t want to go back to Baldur’s Gate and Candlekeep?
I'm still prepping to run this campaign. It will be with an all new group just formed. It will be my first time running a large prewritten campaign. I've only run short adventures that were pre made, and the longer campaigns I ran were something I made up.
It's easy to run larger campaigns you make up as players tend to guide where the adventure goes. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this for a campaign that is already made. Getting players from point A to B then C within the campaigns story.
If anyone has any videos that help newer DMs with this that doesn't feel railroaded would be very appreciative
My first thoughts were the same as when Bart Simpson was being told about Hell in sunday school: "COOOLLLL!"
and "so is hell like a hot bath-you get used to it after a while?"
"I sure as HELL cant talk about HELL when our sunday school teacher taught us about HELL can I? Hell hell hell hell - ."
"Bart, you're not in sunday school anymore! Dont swear!"
This video put DiA on the top of my list of adventures to buy, over Dungeon of the Mad Mage and Out of the Abyss.
Fair warning. The first dungeon (Crypt of the Dead Three) in this adventure is a killer. Second level characters don't do that well when faced with a necromancer that can cast fireball. ( And she's only one of the baddies down there that can TPK you...) 😀
We did find it challenging, but only one character died down there, I think. :)
@@WASD20 When that fireball wiped the party (necromancer was first in initiative and led with it) our DM was "Nope. Everybody re-roll." A lower damage total and a few more successful saving throws the second time around, let us off that hook. 😁
I've been so excited for this book. Thanks for the review!
This man needs to get to one million
Great review. Like others have commented the hell theme not so appealing for me but always enjoy the detailed creativity in the history of baldars Gate. The rules around the vehicles also very cool. Thanks again for another great review
Thanks for watching!
Oh this is the new adventure. Not gonna lie when I saw this pop on Amazon I thought it was one of the Baldur's Gate comicbooks so I completely ignored it.
If anyone is looking for extra adventures on the planes "A Paladin in Hell", "Fires of Dis", "In the Abyss", "Tales from the Infinite Staircase" or "Hellbound: The Blood War".
They are Adventures for ADnD so you'll probably have to change some stats and most of them (except A Paladin in Hell) assume you are operating from Sigil (a kind of hub city of the multiverse) but you can just add a portal to hell or whatever plane is necessary to your city and boom you can access other worlds (and keep your world nice and safe should the andventure go majorly sideways ;) ).
Also the Planescape adventures have some amazing maps that rival Jareds when it comes to evoking a feeling for the places you go.
And for those who have to look out for their money all of the above mentioned adventures combined are cheaper than Descent into Avernus alone and you can get them in PDF format too wich makes it even cheaper (and let's face it for a lot of people who can only play online more useful since you can copy most of it directly into Roll20, Fantasygrounds or whatever VTT you might use wich reduces the amount of shuffling you have to do outside the VTT).
I saw Lulu and fell instantly in love! Haha! This looks great, I can't wait to get this and the Miscellany that goes with it. Great video man!
Lulu seems pretty great. :)
I’m usually not drawn to inter-planar adventures, but I did a lot of research on this book to produce a video for my own channel, and I’M HOOKED! Looks great for a party of evil or evil-ish PCs. Thanks for the thorough review, Nate!
I’ve never DMed for DND and the PCs have never played before. I like the idea of making difficult choices that have consequences and affect the ending. I know you said it takes players from level 1 to 15 (or something like that). Would you say this is adventure is good for first time players?
I think it would be great. You don't get as many of the "classic fantasy tropes" that I often like to introduce to new players, but that can also be viewed as a good thing. In terms of playability, I'd say it would be a fine one for a new DM to run, and new players to play. Make sure you use those custom backgrounds and dark secrets in the Gazetteer section when you are creating characters!
Yes. But actually no. Try some low level one hour tales to get a hang of the game rules first.
That was actually my intent. Play a couple one hour games or one-shots and then play this. I was asking generally for like a first grand adventure. But on that note, are there any one hour adventures you would recommend?
@@cjcwalker1 the D&D Essentials Kit is a good product. It's divided into a bunch of short adventures. Each adventure location description is only 3-6 pages long. You could pick and choose the ones you want to use... and string them together with your own story. Or...
It comes with a map. You can let players look at the map and decide, "We want to go here." This allows you to run it like a sandbox.
Each location based adventure could be played as a one-shot or an episodic campaign from level 1 -5
Looking forward to running this after Strahd ends for my party. I feel like you'd need a specific kind of player make-up for this though, and I think my current party would be half and half with enjoying this.
New party or same one that completed CoS? My group is nearing end. Debating going into this, or staying new campaign for it.
@@richardm.4227 I'd probably be playing with three members of my CoS campaign. These guys I've played in three campaigns with. The others may not be about all the carnage
Nice video coverage of a product with no real appeal to me. There is a reason people hatefully say , "Go to hell." They are not wishing you a good time. Not for me. But this is a good video!
Oh dang, my current campaign is in bauldur’s gate. I’ll have to consider transferring into this
Flaming fist.. “I am the lawwww”
Nice contradiction at the end - the section in the back of the book that contains artwork that didn't make it into the book ... which is now in the book.
Yes, I chuckled at that too
Always loathed the whole Blood War concept but I have my own Apocalyptic campaign which features an Infernal invasion and party trip into the Infernus so I'm always looking for setting ideas.
My reaction: "YAY, an adventure set in Baldur's Gate!" *reads plot synopsis* "What a wasted opportunity..."
I’m encouraged by the title, thinking that they WILL release another Baldur’s Gate book. similar to what they did with waterdeep.
I suspect the reason ppl don't like the simple black & white maps is that you can't just put it in your projected/TV tabletop (or VTT), plonk down a few minis (or icons) and use it in your game.
That absolutely makes sense.
i think the way they did this book is good. i like the extra pictures and the 2 full art pages of pictures. i wish they made more books like this even tho this is a older 5e book
I initially, like you, wasn't necessarily keen on this adventure but this review has helped change my mind. I like the info regarding the city of Baldur's Gate and that the module is not a sandbox (structured modules are better) Thanks for the review!
Hey, I'm new to DnD and was wondering about characters in a world like this. I didn't watch the video in full as to avoid spoilers so please time stamp the video for me if my question is answered in the video :). In an adventure like this, are the players expected to make new characters specifically for this adventure? Do adventure books such as this one come with certain races and classes that are designed to fit into this world? Thanks for any help :).
Calling a Devil a demon is like calling a Goth an emo; a massive insult and will probably end up with you regretting your words XD
As a goth, I can confirm this
I more often call a demon a devil. Or was it otherway round? Heck, I don't remember :-D What is even the difference? My character (Laineth) has a devil as nearly best friend (or so she thinks). Or was it a demon? :-D
literally who is scared of goths?
@@abenteurersuchengelegenhei2002Devils are from the 9-Hells, they want to corrupt and rule, Demons are from the Abyss, they want to corrupt and destroy. This is basically the basis for the Blood War, demons want to destroy everything and leave just a mess of a multiverse behind, Devils want to rule it and can't rule what isn't there.
I'm pretty new to this concept myself, but here's my take . . .
Demons - chaos and destruction. Unthinking rage.
Devils - orderly, patient, conniving.
Both very evil, but quite different
Let me know if you'd be interested in reviewing Cha'alt.
Thanks for the spoiler warning. I've noticed a lot of module reviews don't really give one. I'm in a group that is just finishing saltmarsh and some of us are gonna be running this one starting in about a week and a half. Can't wait. I'm playing a tabaxi shadow monk bounty hunter named chase (I like putting some kind of pun in most of my character names if I can, like a fire genasi named Cole).
I watched some live play from this book and it looks really awesome. Great review 👍👍
Thanks!
Yes the 80’s devil worshipping scare was quite real the game had a bad stigma
For sure! It actually is part of what kept me away from the game growing up. Not my own belief in the panic, but my fear of what others around me would think.
When i heard of it the first time i thought how is it possible to be sooooo stupid? I mean we live in the 21thentury and there are still people (way too many of them) who think the world was createt in 6 days and is only 6000 years old! That is just dump
My cousin told my mom, in front of me that the game would make me crazy. Pretty sure my family took care of that !!!! Lol
@@mordenkainen5674 So you believe the world was created by a god 6000 years ago?
@@mordenkainen5674 Fair point. BUT it were fundamentalists who thought chess, card games and then D&D is evil. Just a few days ago i read about a catholic priest in the US, who banned Harry Potter books from his private School because he thinks the spells in the books are real. Not one atheist would EVER think so. If we would live in the dark ages, i would understand that, but not today.
Unlike most, I'm glad to hear its not a sandbox. I want the adventure to be freeform for the PCs, but I can allow for that as the DM once I understand the structure of the adventure as written. What my ADHD ass cannot do as a DM is understand these adventures that seem like they were written by folks who were themselves deprived of much needed Ritalin.
Thanks for this, I will buy it based on this review.
So I'm actually looking to use this module, upscale what I think may be best, as the closing adventure for a current ongoing campaign that started with the homebrew Heroes of Baldur's Gate. Hopefilly all works out well in the end
4:24 great disclaimer and reading
Really great review! I'm really looking forward to this adventure. Was the map included or an extra add-on?
Included.
Thank you!!!
Thanks for the review! Stopped at the spoiler warning so i can have it all fresh for my players whenever I can get the book
Fantastic video, thanks for sharing the gift!
Yes to everything. I'm getting this book. This is METAL.
The Satanic Panic actually get me more interested in D&D!!! I suppose coming from a very religious family just makes occult and forbidden things more alluring.
I’d say anything that teenagers told they shouldn’t do becomes more alluring. But realistically speaking, it was just a lot of press for the game. Any publicity proved to be good publicity.
I was reading up on the history of D&D, watched a vid on the panic. I found it quite interesting that my friends mother purchased D&D books for her kids back in the early 80’s; whereas, they were quite religious. Or, maybe she was quite progressing, anything that gets the kids reading at a college level. Or, maybe she liked that the game originated in Wisconsin. Either way, I must thank her for that some time soon, because that was pretty cool.
Should still follow Jesus Christ and his teachings
I serve the Flaming Fist!
DM'ing in an adventure league Epic for the launch of avernus next wednesday, can't wait for this module :D
What abour Arkhan, and his gang? Or they are the help, that Tiamat can provide?
Sorta yes. The players need to go through Arkhan in order to enlist help from Tiamat.
About to start running looks awesome. I feel like the beginning is very difficult and everyone's going to die lol tho
Now that I have played session one, I would completely agree. First encounter and we had on character die. Feel free to adjust. I would recommend it.
I wish we would get a Sigil, city of doors book, I feel that the fact that this book came out makes a sigil adventure very unlikely to happen.
We will get it 27 of October, man
Really looking forward to this! We played a butt load of the old Blood Wars card game back in the college days.
this is going to be my first league game, I have been dm'ing for several weeks but always done homebrew so I'm really looking forward to it
Sounds like a great setting for Acrobat Paladin named the Batman. Or maybe for a group of urban rangers. Cleaning up Baldur's Gate and its nether influencers should be fun....may even room for procedural investigations by a foreign crime solving group with a mission.
Batman is a rogue. Home invasion expert that is a corporate spy against political crime families .
Where did you get the Avernus and Elturel map?
Nevermind :P I didn't watch the whole vid through
New dm here, as in never played dnd in my life, with a party of players who have never played in their life, we are going to go through lost mine of phandelver, but I'm looking to see what adventure to do next. Is this an easier one for new dms? Or would you recommend a different adventure? I would appreciate any and all help
Waterdeep Dragon Heist should be good for new players and dms, but i don't know with descent into avernus.
Thanks for the amazing review!
As soon as I start a new campaign I'll use your link to buy it!
Thanks!
I wanna make my players meet the Doom Slayer/Doom Guy in this adventure
Sunblade is more or less just a crucible
I knew this was going to be good!
Thanks Nate! I've been ambivalent about all the published 5E adventures so far, but this looks brilliant. Really good review with loads of info. I shall likely purchase it forthwith :-)
Also, wait, you have a UK Amazon affiliate link now?!? HUZZAH
Yes. :) Bookmark that thing.
@@WASD20 Done! :-D
@@old_geeky_Michael I was pretty neutral on 5e published adventures too... but they really are getting better as of late. Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation and Waterdeep Dragon Heist are really great. Tales of the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmash and the New Essentials Kit are super useful with tons of plug and play components. You can use those components to build or enhance any campaign.
Would any type of player/ race/ class gain an advantage with this campaign?
Beyond Fitness
I can already see paladins polishing their greatswords and practicing their smite prayers
Paladins, clerics, aasimars, tieflings, and warlock make for good roleplay
How do you make a dungeon using the dungeon tiles reincarnated battle board? Please give some advice much appreciated.👍😀
Black magic craft ...TH-cam channel.
Ok thanks
Heya, I don't use Facebook due to data privacy issues. How can I view your other content?
Does this happen after rise of tiamat?
Yes :)
It is set in the year 1492.
3:37 : "Nobody liked that."
Trying to hold off on playing this module until we have a BG3 release date. Looks so good though and i might just break before then.
Why wait? I don’t think the stories will be connected.
@@WASD20 I was under the impression that this serves as a prologue for the game? Maybe i was misinformed. I hope so cause that means i can play it lol.
@@call_me_pebble Hmm. I think it would be smart to do that, just haven't heard it myself.
@@WASD20 yea, if it is a prologue of sorts and bg3 doesnt come out for another few years I know ill forget a lot of stuff if I were to play it now.
@@WASD20 btw, your videos are great and your map making videos have been a lot of help for my firsr homebrew i have coming up.
So the only PC options are new backgrounds? No new subclasses or races?
No new sub classes or races. Very few of the adventure books have any of those.
@@WASD20 thanks for the quick response! I have a character concept that I think would be fun for this adventure, and was just wondering if there was anything I could swap out.
Nice review.
Thanks for the great review
great guide, thanks
👋. This review definitely picked my curiosity. I’m definitely going to buy it. Having never really DM’d out of fear of not knowing what to do with so many possibilities and dice rolls ( I really need to practice more) I ‘d probably look for someone to play with who has experience as a DM. I really want to read it. Would that spoil my game?
Also do you stream any of your D&D sessions?
Piqued.
Sadly I don’t stream at this time. Perhaps some day.
Avernus is pretty linear. I think it would be good for a new DM. Just be up front with your players. Say, "I'm new at this and I'm inviting you to play this adventure. So, by showing up you're agreeing to play a rather linear story in the beginning. There are plenty of options at the end... but in the beginning I'm trusting and expecting you to play along." Meta-gaming can be a good thing if Meta-game drives everyone to work together towards the adventure. Example: instead of a player saying to themselves "Its clear the DM wants this to happen therefore I'm going to assume that's a trap. So, I'll say my character wouldn't do that... I'm going here instead."
The player can say to themselves, "The DM wants us to go there, so I trust it's important for the story. Therefore I'll explain how my character finds motivation to go there."
Ok, so I might buy it just for the first chapter. Hell and gigantic apocalyptic evils is a bit overdone in fantasy in my opinion, now actual city state politics with details concerning trade, factions and intrigue? Now we are talking.
20 years ago at my "First" game shop that started with AD&D2e then moved into 3.0e. We had/ the Shop had the "Planescape" campaign box set, setting.
Our home brew house rules for the after life of the Lower Planes was this,
Low Planes were Garbage Dumps of the Outer Realms.
Le/ Ne fiends are just cleaning up rotten fruit that drops into their realms, and treat corrupt/ dam souls as compost.
CE fiends are Junkyard Dogs that went Rabit.
Baator devils are the front line defense against the Abyss, they are looking for soldiers and equipment dealers to aid them in the Blood War.
" Fiends can only feed and empower themselves through evil souls. They prefer spell casters. They look at non adventure as small children and non magic users as teenagers, that they just have to deal with from time to time. "
This is adult business out of the way.
Good characters/ souls that are not clerics/ paladins are just stray cats that are not worth dealing with.
Thanks for the spoilers warning
"kick evils butt" eh? Woudst thou perchance be meaning *BUTT-KICKING FOR GOODNESS*
I heard the small rodent squeaking in my mind!
*GO FOR THE EYES BOO*
Pls how to draw mist on a fantasy map.
Tracing paper on top of the map
Were there any D&D Beyond coupon codes?
I don’t think so.
Would an evil character make sense in this campaign? I have a player that wants to play an evil PC in this campaign and I'm not sure how feasible that is.
I’m really not a big fan of evil PCs. They can work, but it has to be done with great care. I’m not sure of this campaign is particularly suited to the sort of play over other campaign books from WotC.
@@WASD20 Thanks for the reply! I wasn't really a fan of the idea of an Evil PC (from the start) either, I was kind of hoping for some validation that it wouldn't work. Although I'm finishing Curse of Strahd this weekend, and 1 of the PCs has slowly been turned Evil which has been fun to watch.
@@WASD20 what do you meant my chaotic evil goolock creating a city full of warlocks by burning it and pinning it on the local Lord is disruptive. Man that was an eventful oneshot.
@@toddross8460 Right. I think it can be done well, but it's risky. Personally I usually just say no, but I think it can be a good conversation. I find that less mature players who want to play evil want to do it because they don't want their character to be bound by morality. They want to be able to be impulsive and selfish, and to me that's just unacceptable. More mature players on the other hand might be able to play a more realistic version of evil. Someone who feels like they are actually in the right, and is subtle and not "chaotic stupid", and is able to go along with the party in a way that works, perhaps keeping a secret motive that only the DM knows.
Nice video!
Can you do a review of the new magic items?
Nope. Sorry.
I d&d dm, I mitt play but I’m forgetful
Anybody spot Arkhan the Cruel mentioned next to Tiamat?
Yep! :) Gotta talk to him if you want to get Tiamat's help.
Yes my favorite compain
wich level is the campaign?
1-13!
i cant find the adventure characters sheets
It doesn't come with character sheets. Not quite sure what you mean.
I want it to be made into the adventure system Series
That would be cool!
Damn, I thought this was the RPG game review.
New monsters confirmed 😁
Curse of Strahd review?
The early tutorial adventure part is hot garbage; if it weren't for the 4rd party "a tape of 2 cities" supplement, I would have given up on this book. The latter half though, was very well done
This dude legit looks like Vecna pre-lich lol
It's so weird. This campaign is almost exactly like a campaign I was running for a year that was based in Baldur's Gate and Elturel
Making pacts with a devil in a fantasy tabletop RPG means it is not for everyone....OMG and what about killing virtual enemies ... 😂😂
It sucks as written but if you make the changes you need to, it's worth playing.
Reminds me of Diablo 3
Let them think it's evil. DnD is metal AF, deal with it.
It's Avernus, not Avernus. OMG you're hurting my ears! Like when my players say Vallaki instead of Vallaki.
Look at how the makers of the book pronounce it. :) th-cam.com/video/Q-yBdYnphH8/w-d-xo.html
I can't read your pronunciation, but I got my cues from how Wizards of the Coast staff says it and the pronunciation guide in the book.
@@WASD20I was in no way being serious. That you can't read my pronunciation was the joke. I do pronounced it differently, using it's native pronunciation, because I think it sounds better.
forvo.com/word/avernus/
@@adembroski Ah. You'd be surprised how many serious comments I get like this. I've become quite jaded. :)
Just here to see if the maps are shit again this time..
It’s more like Gotham after scare crow
Nice review but more of a introduction would be nice. "Descent into Avernus is an adventure in X for Y players of levels ? to ?"
jidar it gets covered in the spoiler part but fair call. Level 1-13. 🙂
isn't this a video game as well?
The endgame is kind of vague.