Are you and your party going to be jumping into the pits of hell? Let us know what you're excited about the most! Take a look at Dungeons & Dragons Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus here: amzn.to/2I2BMlI The Leather Lair (for unique leather clothing): www.theleatherlair.com/
Update; It finally came! Hey Guy, I was one of the runner up winners for the treasure yesterday, but I haven't gotten an email yet. I was wondering if you've sent them yet or if maybe I miss typed my Gmail. (BTW, I use a user name on TH-cam)
Oh yeah! Already have it preordered the book and the special dice set with the maps, cant wait to run this! Baldur's gate is my favorite place in faerun besides Neverwinter, wish WotC will make a module located there sometime.
Guy: How does this compare to the Planescape module "Fires of Dis" and the (truncacted) 5e version "Fires of Hell"? After my group of friends (as a one-shot over a fishing trip weekend) struggled through it, I compared the two and they were about the same. The struggle we had was that there's SO much open wandering in the hell-scape wilderness and it was tough to keep the interest up.
Hey, been binge-watching your videos. Just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying them. Your voice makes it seem like a refined college professor giving a lecture on tabletop games
Rowan Atkinson is the DM, Tony Robbins, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Ben Elton are the players. 3 seasons, 6 episodes each for this whole module. Now that's be a show!
Nice video and glad to know you'll be running this. A couple of thoughts. Evil vs. survival is pretty much just the old argument against the alignment of "Evil Stupid". Evil means a character is _ruthless and unprincipled,_ in the service of their own self interest. It doesn't - well, mostly - mean that they will _ignore_ self-interest in order to "be evil". I'd also agree that you need to be cautious about the choices you put in front of your players (ie. fueling a Warmachine with souls). A Paladin given the choice between survival and breaking their Oath may seem like an interesting temptation to present, but it can often fall on its face due to players perceiving a "broken" character as a worse outcome than a dead character. What seemed like a tough choice when a GM thought it up plays at the table like the PC being railroaded into death.
I think it can work so long as you are clear before you throw your players into this saying, this campaign is in hell, alot of this planes features are about corrupting and making your character more evil, be aware of that as you make your character.
@@BetaGunslinger Saying you run Dungeons & Dragons but 'do not ascribe to the general Good vs Evil dichotomy' is like eating Raisin Bran but picking out all the raisins. The entire game is built on these principles and has been since first edition. The planes are defined totally by good, evil, law and chaos. Spells and the nature of magic are affected by good and evil. And that's before we've even discussed clerics and the fundamental nature of the Gods.
Who needs to break the Oath when your God is Death herself. "Because all roads lead to Avernus... Avirnus?... Evongelious?... No, wait... Aasimar of Death. Yes, that is a good one."
Video games and other art forms also help form a frame of reference for the imagination. It may be someone else's interpretation of the lore, but it does help set a foundation. Especially for those who have never played D&D pen and paper.
This is BY FAR the best adventure they've released. Instantly my group was hooked by the crazyness in Baldur's Gate and the grinding misery of it all. We haven't finished yet, but we are absolutely giddy with excitement about it.
This will be my first full blown adventure I run. I've ran some one shots before and I decided its time to try a campaign. Feeling ready to run it with all the advice given by your channel.
As a person who's running a Nine Hells Campaign, this thing like a holy bible to me. It's only slightly late, as we're halfway past Minauros. However, I think the information about Devils and such seems extremely helpful
New vehicle rules? My players can go to hell and fight fiends? Awe yeah! A new campaign to add to the pile of campaigns I’ll run eventually! -Lazer the Kobold
I enjoy your videos very much. What intimidates me about being a game master is being in all the npcs heads well enough to properly respond to the crazy stuff my players say/do
The last published adventure I ran for my group was Curse of Strahd. This seems like a good follow-up, so to speak, in terms of general themes. Hopefully my love for Paradise Lost and Doctor Faustus will come in handy!
@@Licjr Use permanent illusions to give yourself a flaming skull look, get a spiked chain (preferably from a slain Kython) and tame a Nightmare as a steed.
Thanitos, the Aasimar of Death: "As the Harbinger of Death. The Celestials who covets the Afterlife has called upon Avernus as there are many uncounted souls who must be returned to the Dead Realm."
@@Licjr I would go Oversoul theme and use every death, afterlife, and necromancy things in order to become requiem. Not to raise an undead army, per say.
Absolutely love the idea of letting players use a war machine as a base and power it with magical energy rather than souls. After all one of the primary struggles of the players is not to turn to darkness though they are in the first level of hell. Also making the two cities different is great advice. Thank you.
I'm going to finally be playing rather than running a game and this is the campaign! I'm even more excited to play now after this video! (and I kind of wish I could be running it too :) )
As a rough guide for city feel, I'm making Baldur's Gate like Gotham and Elturel like Metropolis. (Specifically the 90s animated series ideas) again, just by general feel, not literally. Imagine Superman (Zariel) turning into the kid from Brightburn. It's not that far of a leap.
Bonus for DMs running this module: early on (when your players are level 2), there is a creature who has a necrotic fireball in their stat block and spawns in next to the party in a small, enclosed space... a fireball by itself can wipe out the party right then and there, but there's also a 25% chance it can collapse the ceiling and walls of the structure everyone is standing in. Consider your players' temperaments and willingness to roll new characters this early in the module before pulling the trigger on that spell.
I would like to put my vote in for a more in depth discussion about descent into Avernus. Maybe not a play by play, but an in depth guide about characters and how the plot runs through the scenes would be awesome. I'm a new viewer and am enjoying your content. Keep up the great work.
You had me at Mad Max xD This is a setting I think Guy's GM style will excel in. It's going to be a really awesome game, I have a feeling! Looking forward to it!
I'm transitioning my party into this as soon as it drops. using it to provide material to get them into the higher levels before throwing the party back into their stories as the battle with the conflicts of their pasts, their mistakes and the Mad old one they freed from his prison between the far realm and the prime material. Been hoarding any information i can get to start readying the setting for events.
After playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my friends, im planning to run this module for them using a few companions from the game as important NPCs. Maybe Wyll, Karlach, Mizora and Raphael!
Another great video, Guy. Glad I stopped in! I don't know much about them yet, but I may treat the war machines like spelljammers where they have magical helms (a magic throne used to control it) that require different energy sources. Some may run on souls, some on the life force of slaves, some may run by draining power from magic items, or an artifurnace that is perpetually powered by an unwanted magical artifact (perhaps one of evil). Some helms will allow spells casters to use their magical energy to power them at the cost of spell slots. Just some ideas.
Great work Guy, thank you. You read my mind with regards to making the war machine a mobile base of operations, that was my first thought when people started saying Mad Max in hell. I felt there should really be a pretty strong sense that the players War Machine should be central some way, either as a mobile base or critical for accessing difficult locales and retrieving critical resources (repentant souls, etc).
This is going to be one of the first adventures that I run for the group I am apart of. It’s gonna get very very interesting with the group I’m gonna be running for
I have always said that a Patron can not offer the PC any power the patron does not have. Sounds like this book puts that as canon. I have also always actually written out the contract for a deal between PC and devil or other being that was granting unusual power in exchange for SOMETHING. (even before the Warlock class existed) I have a very nice set of standard clause and I use size 2 font for some of them when printing the contract. Player has to sign the PC name in red ink. I have sealed some with back wax, red ribbon and scorched the ribbon plus page edges.
(sample section most of it in microscopic print) A Breach of Contract from either party will impose penalties as below. § Upon a Breach of Contract from the Warlock, the Warlock surrenders all rights of living or ownership of souls. § Upon a Severe Breach of Contract by the warlock, the patron has the right to kill the warlock outright and harvest his soul. § Invalidity or unenforceability of one or more provisions of this agreement shall not affect any other provision of this agreement. § Failure to enforce any portion of this contract immediately upon a breach by the warlock does not invalidate the ability of the patron to make claims at a later date. § This agreement is subject to the laws and regulations of _______________ § Signing under duress is not a valid reason to invalidate this contract. This clause is in keeping with standard warlock - patron contract policy of all Fiend, Fey and Celestial powers § Any breach of this contract by the patron will be viewed as an addendum to the contract.. Signed: _________ {Warlock Signature}
@@fhuber7507 "any breach of this contract by the patron will be viewed as an addendum to the contract" That's the big one. Yikes. It's also one that a clever player can exploit. If the patron does it first it becomes an addendum, then the warlock can do it because it's now in the contract. In the extreme the player can manipulate his/her way to almost total freedom if the patron is careless. As a DM I would screw that one up real fast. My players can be real crafty like that.
About to run this campaign and I'm doing a lot of research, this has been the single best video hands down. Subscription well earned. Please teach me how to play npc's better and how to discribe scenery (perception checks)! Also a basic how to for magic players would be awesome, tysm for your hard work means a lot!!!
I would definitely, love to see a play by play guide of the sections on this book, I always have a hard time reading through all the book, when gming! Listening and watching makes it so much easier for me to learn a campaign setting or ideas for one! ((I typically do homebrew campaigns since I dont have to memorize a book lol))
My players have been playing for 10 years, completing 3 campaigns. 2 of them directly involved Orcus or his cults in Faehrun. I think I will rework this campaign to make it their final one, settling with Orcus once and for all...personally in the depths of hell.
18:20 Also, every demon is unique, because they are so chaotic. 2 of them being similar is only a coincedence or the Plan of a Demonprince who formed them after their liking. their categorisation into specific creatures is an artificial construct, created by mortals inside the lore and created for players and DMs to handle demonic encounters more easily. 23:30 Maybe let those mutations and other effects replace each other when you repeat them, instead of stacking them multiple times on top of each other.
Zariel was in the fight against the demons before the devils existed. The angels who fought the demon got corrupted to be more evil, including Zariel and possibly Asmodeus, depending on which dnd myth you believe. Those corrupted angels wanted to punish the evil people and the other angels didn’t like that.
I wouldn't take mad maxy as a bad thing, I would lean into it, allow for some system to create small versions of these machines that are more maneagable and useful for the party members. would be unique and particularly fun the ideas the party could come up with could be wild
Appreciate the video an absolute ton sir! But I am curious, since you have looked through it, if this can be something as like the final chapters that I can upscale to be 13-20 versus it's as written story? For context I actually have my PC's in a adventure in Baldur's Gate and I have a handful of smaller stories to bring them away for a smaller period of time, hint at and set up the stage for Decent into Avernus.
I am in the same pickle with a homebrew campaign in which I'd already had a plan similar to this with Zariel involved with everything we've done for the last 3 years. But my players have already hit level 13.
I am interested in picking up Descent into Avernus but I much prefer PDF over hardcover. However, I only see the hardcover option available and wondering if that is the only option or if WoTC has plans to release the PDF at a later date.
Love your video! Great description and I always love your attention to detail sir! I'd love to be a player at your table. Enjoy bringing your players in your hell! 👍🍻
I am in that boat with you. I was feeling like enough love wasn't shown towards this area of DnD so when Mordenkainens came out I started making a campaign
I feel you, bro. I was making my first homebrew setting and campaign, only to have about 60% of the themes, races, and areas to appear in Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Why does any of the official material conflict with your homebrew setting? The official material is published in the Forgotten Realms. If your setting is homebrew, then it isn't in the Forgotten Realms. There should be no conflict here. You homebrewed your own setting, so use it and ignore the official material. That's the point of homebrew.
I want to work in a Ghostwise Halfling clan warrior that was part of the nightgliders. According to Sword Coast Adventure’s these halflings bond with and ride giant owls as mounts. My Halfling became evil, not because of a choice of his own, but because he was killed through a strength drain from a group of shadow monsters and undead that attacked his tribe. What I am looking for is a good way from D&D lore and some creativity to bridge the gap between him becoming a shadow monster, he was a tribal chief before, and getting thrust into Avernous. Any ideas or suggestions?
I'm currently running an Out of the Abyss campaign...hearing a bit more about this makes me wonder if I could/should connect the two. The demon incursion connection seems like it could be an interesting tie in. I suppose it depends on if the players will be up for diving somewhere deeper than the Underdark...hmmm...I'll definitely be flipping through the pages of this one as I think that over.
Has I looked and prepared for the upcoming sessions I think my players will deal with a few kingpins first I want to hit later on in levels and adjust the encounters. I want gem to finish and return to Bauldors gate to help fix the city. Finish around 15-17th level
Lore-wise, it doesn't make sense for Zariel to try put an end to the Blood War. The forces of good and neutrality are interested in keeping the Blood War going, because if either side ever wins, evil will be united and unstoppable.
Hello Guy ! Thanks for the explanations and the info on your video, they are very helpful ! I have a question to ask : You mentioned that the module takes place in three distinct acts, each one in its own different area. I am currently GM'ing for a group of characters who are about to finish Dragon Heist, and reach 5th level. They are very excited for Descent to Avernus, and were asking me if they could use their current characters and run that module as well. Do you believe it would be possible to get them to begin from the 5th-level content (effectively the second act of the module) or would it remove too much of the experience of the total ? Thank you in advance !
@@svartrbrisingr6141 it was alot of fun, the players really enjoyed it. As a DM it's the type of module for me as alot of it is fairly open ended and i have the habit of improving stuff on the spot so i dont like being limited too much by a module.. The first few chapters are quite structured but once you get into the last couple chapters you're free to just sort of guide the players towards one of the endings you think fits with how they're playing. a lot of fun RP and we literally had about 4-5 sessions where they were just mad-maxing across avernus fighting everything they saw, i told them they could do that as long as they wanted but the story wouldn't progress and they wouldn't get any exp... that ate up a couple months and was alot of fun haha.
@@svartrbrisingr6141 the early chapters are probably fine with a new DM but be careful with some of the encounters, with only 3 players you may need to tone some encounters down a bit. As for later chapters, i'd read through the final chapter before you start running the module, the final chapter uh.. doesn't give you much guidance and you kind of have to fill in a lot of blanks. Which is fine for me as a DM as i mostly wing alot of my stuff, depends if you want structure.
@@billthecanuck I've skimmed through the module as a whole so I know about the lack of guidance in the later parts but I feel confident in my capabilities to improve plus I have remembered my old dnd friends who might be able to raise my player count to 4 maybe even 5
She is supposed to be slightly weakened when you eventually meet her also there are opportunities to make allies that will aid in the fight, and there are options to peacefully end the conflict, but yeah if players try to go toe to toe with no aid they'll probably get beat down
You actually use CR? Just nerf her a little bit if you're worried. I keep encountering many DMs who are afraid to homebrew the smallest little things. For instance I completely cut out the bath house thing because it was boring, and I knew my players would end up scouring the city for "clues" about threads that led nowhere. I added in a different quest to have the players get to hell much more quickly and skip all the (in my opinion) filler stuff that has no consequence on the rest of the adventure other than exposition which is easy to include elsewhere. If you don't like a monster or quest, cut it out or change it Simple.
I'm starting this today, I'm a bit nervous but also excited I spent 6 hours preparing roll20 yesterday. Here's hoping it goes well this campaign feels larger than what I have always run before so it's a bit intimidating.
@@Fate2071 I think the campaign went well, had one problem player who caused me alot of anxiety and after the campaign was over some real life drama but the campaign went well, a few pc's died 4 I believe, 2 of the OG group made it to the end one constantly flirted with evil and argued against being alignment shifted the entire time and the other sold his soul to save the party went full evil and I hated his character until he got his soul back and went on a redemption path and ended up pulling the sword and nailing the good ending and I loved his character for it. All in all it went well my main issues were mostly tied to out of game and sadly our party spilt afterwards due to the problem player and I getting into an argument but I'm sorry the campaign didn't work out for you.
@@darthremy1802 Sorry to hear that your group splitt up because of one problematic player, sadly this happens sometimes. It whould be unfair to blame the book for all of what went wrong with this campaing. I guess mostly I am to blame for not tailoring it to my party properly but it turned out to be a quit unenjoyable ride for all of us and I hat to call it off at some point. Currently I'm rewriting it to better fit my players and make it work better ne next time. We'll see when that will be. At the moment I'm enjoying my first time of of gming for 20 years ... there is no better cure for gm fatigue as fare as I know so there is something positive to take out of this mess this campange turned into.
@@Fate2071 I will say I did rewrite parts of it myself, nothing major, mostly I made hell more a survivor game where, equipment weight, water, food, and exhaustion were a thing, I wanted hell to feel like a place you didn't want to be, I think it gave the party a since of urgency but it did make me balance alot more stuff, my players also knew I was going through life problems so I think they cut me some slack and just went with the flow for the most part, happily I too have now taken a break from DMing and it has definitely helped with my stress lvl to just be a player in someone else's game
I found this module and was thinking it would be great fun to run through with my friends. Problem. It says the module is meant for 4 to 6 players but my group as a whole is 4 people and one has to be the dm. Other problem is that I'll be the dm. And I have no experience dming. Is this module difficult to dm for a first time dm? If so are their any other good ones that are better to start with? Or would this one be good for a first time dm(I have no personnel experience dming but know how to do it somewhat)
12:17 are you implying we can choose to join Zariel? i am currently playing Descent Into Avernus as a Paladin who's Xenophobic towards Devils and Demons with the Plot Twist that she's a Tiefling who at birth was Polymorphed in to an Aasimar. she doesn't believe Erinyers are Devils since something so Angelic can't wish harm on someone. she believes Balors and Pit Fiends are the exact same creature. so if the module allows us to join Zariel i'm all up for it since Zariel is a Legit Celestial granted she is a fallen angel but still a Celestial
So, your war machine idea... you're essentially turning it into a spelljamming helm? Because, there's enough 2e rules for that you could probably adapt them into this campaign.
I'm kind of confused on your take of people/NPCs in Avernus. People who die and go to hell, don't just end up in Avernus wandering around as NPCs to interact with, right? If your soul is evil, you wash up as a Lemure from the river styx with no memory of your previous life. Anybody who is an NPC is avernus is somebody who plane shifted their way in, through some way or another. Does the book talk about anything like this?
You are right, but it is highly unlikely that those people have any intention of being good, nice, or kind whilst in Avernus. It isn't a 'holiday' spot. The book does cover this aspect.
I have been trying to find some way to determine when it is appropriate for my party to face a war machine in terms of challenge. I bought a version of the book on Roll20 and it gives me a challenge rating of [nothing]. Literally just says, “Challenge “ and nothing after. I still wonder if that was somehow a misprint in the Roll20 version, but I doubt it. Can someone point me to a good resource to help me answer that question?
Are you and your party going to be jumping into the pits of hell? Let us know what you're excited about the most!
Take a look at Dungeons & Dragons Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus here: amzn.to/2I2BMlI
The Leather Lair (for unique leather clothing): www.theleatherlair.com/
Update; It finally came!
Hey Guy, I was one of the runner up winners for the treasure yesterday, but I haven't gotten an email yet. I was wondering if you've sent them yet or if maybe I miss typed my Gmail.
(BTW, I use a user name on TH-cam)
Oh yeah! Already have it preordered the book and the special dice set with the maps, cant wait to run this!
Baldur's gate is my favorite place in faerun besides Neverwinter, wish WotC will make a module located there sometime.
I don't understand why so few people apprecciate and view your videos, you have more and nicer content than any other d&d youtuber.
@@alessandromariani3015 I second this!
Guy: How does this compare to the Planescape module "Fires of Dis" and the (truncacted) 5e version "Fires of Hell"? After my group of friends (as a one-shot over a fishing trip weekend) struggled through it, I compared the two and they were about the same.
The struggle we had was that there's SO much open wandering in the hell-scape wilderness and it was tough to keep the interest up.
Hey, been binge-watching your videos. Just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying them. Your voice makes it seem like a refined college professor giving a lecture on tabletop games
Yes he is amazing at that check out his campaigns his GMing is something amazing to behold and the break down at the end is amazing and really helpful
Leather lair sounds like a bondage shop
Shaun holland definitely when the goods are described as “spanky”
I went to make this comment and am glad to see I’m not the only one who thought this
Must be the place where Succubus are...
I’m disappointed it isn’t.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 And incubi
Commitment level : insane
Is he petting a crow?
Did anyone else get a Rowan Atkinson feeling from the Intro?
Welcome to hell. Im the devil...
But you can call me Toby, we like to keep it informal as well as infernal.
Wait, this gives me an idea:
A dungeon comprised entirely of monsters based on Rowan Atkinson characters
@@captainsuperfreak1607 An idea so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a fox.
Rowan Atkinson is the DM, Tony Robbins, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Ben Elton are the players. 3 seasons, 6 episodes each for this whole module. Now that's be a show!
Nice video and glad to know you'll be running this. A couple of thoughts.
Evil vs. survival is pretty much just the old argument against the alignment of "Evil Stupid". Evil means a character is _ruthless and unprincipled,_ in the service of their own self interest. It doesn't - well, mostly - mean that they will _ignore_ self-interest in order to "be evil".
I'd also agree that you need to be cautious about the choices you put in front of your players (ie. fueling a Warmachine with souls). A Paladin given the choice between survival and breaking their Oath may seem like an interesting temptation to present, but it can often fall on its face due to players perceiving a "broken" character as a worse outcome than a dead character. What seemed like a tough choice when a GM thought it up plays at the table like the PC being railroaded into death.
I think it can work so long as you are clear before you throw your players into this saying, this campaign is in hell, alot of this planes features are about corrupting and making your character more evil, be aware of that as you make your character.
There is also the potential of DMs who do not ascribe to the general Good vs Evil dichotomy, seeing it as Obedience vs Freedom.
@@BetaGunslinger Saying you run Dungeons & Dragons but 'do not ascribe to the general Good vs Evil dichotomy' is like eating Raisin Bran but picking out all the raisins. The entire game is built on these principles and has been since first edition. The planes are defined totally by good, evil, law and chaos. Spells and the nature of magic are affected by good and evil. And that's before we've even discussed clerics and the fundamental nature of the Gods.
Picking out all the raisins? Heretic!
Who needs to break the Oath when your God is Death herself.
"Because all roads lead to Avernus... Avirnus?... Evongelious?... No, wait... Aasimar of Death. Yes, that is a good one."
I am already sold on the book but this is extremely helpful input and very useful information for me as a somewhat novice dm
@1:13 be careful when calling leather spanky. That's an entirely different group of people that are in to dungeons.
Gives new meaning to the title "Dungeon Master"
Haha
29:45 Because sometimes you can't "just play D&D" Plus the games are pretty damn cool, at least in my opinion!
Video games and other art forms also help form a frame of reference for the imagination. It may be someone else's interpretation of the lore, but it does help set a foundation. Especially for those who have never played D&D pen and paper.
This is BY FAR the best adventure they've released. Instantly my group was hooked by the crazyness in Baldur's Gate and the grinding misery of it all. We haven't finished yet, but we are absolutely giddy with excitement about it.
update?
This will be my first full blown adventure I run. I've ran some one shots before and I decided its time to try a campaign. Feeling ready to run it with all the advice given by your channel.
As a person who's running a Nine Hells Campaign, this thing like a holy bible to me. It's only slightly late, as we're halfway past Minauros. However, I think the information about Devils and such seems extremely helpful
New vehicle rules? My players can go to hell and fight fiends? Awe yeah! A new campaign to add to the pile of campaigns I’ll run eventually!
-Lazer the Kobold
I enjoy your videos very much. What intimidates me about being a game master is being in all the npcs heads well enough to properly respond to the crazy stuff my players say/do
Where's the cow level?
Thinking of running a cow level now. Thanks!
We need to find Wirt first.
Alkilith created by the demons bring the Bovine in from their layer of the infinite abyss
There is no cow level
The last published adventure I ran for my group was Curse of Strahd. This seems like a good follow-up, so to speak, in terms of general themes. Hopefully my love for Paradise Lost and Doctor Faustus will come in handy!
i so wanna run my fiend pact warlock in this
"cant your patron help us!?"
i dont know, you wanna hop on down 3 hells to phelegethos and ask him?!
I want to do a vengeance paladin fiend warlock multiclass. Basically I want to play as Ghost Rider in this campaign
@@Licjr Use permanent illusions to give yourself a flaming skull look, get a spiked chain (preferably from a slain Kython) and tame a Nightmare as a steed.
Thanitos, the Aasimar of Death: "As the Harbinger of Death. The Celestials who covets the Afterlife has called upon Avernus as there are many uncounted souls who must be returned to the Dead Realm."
@@Licjr
I would go Oversoul theme and use every death, afterlife, and necromancy things in order to become requiem. Not to raise an undead army, per say.
@@VinceValentine
Lich King: "Release the Legion!."
Absolutely love the idea of letting players use a war machine as a base and power it with magical energy rather than souls. After all one of the primary struggles of the players is not to turn to darkness though they are in the first level of hell. Also making the two cities different is great advice. Thank you.
Leather...
Spanking...
Think Guy is trying to tell us something 😂
I have been looking forward to this adventure, can't wait!!🙂🙂 and I love your jacket!
I'm glad to see this book being so highly recommended. Its gonna fit perfectly into my campaign.
I would love to see more content from you on Avernus.
Happy Rolling!
I'm going to finally be playing rather than running a game and this is the campaign! I'm even more excited to play now after this video! (and I kind of wish I could be running it too :) )
As a rough guide for city feel, I'm making Baldur's Gate like Gotham and Elturel like Metropolis. (Specifically the 90s animated series ideas) again, just by general feel, not literally. Imagine Superman (Zariel) turning into the kid from Brightburn. It's not that far of a leap.
Bonus for DMs running this module: early on (when your players are level 2), there is a creature who has a necrotic fireball in their stat block and spawns in next to the party in a small, enclosed space... a fireball by itself can wipe out the party right then and there, but there's also a 25% chance it can collapse the ceiling and walls of the structure everyone is standing in. Consider your players' temperaments and willingness to roll new characters this early in the module before pulling the trigger on that spell.
I would like to put my vote in for a more in depth discussion about descent into Avernus. Maybe not a play by play, but an in depth guide about characters and how the plot runs through the scenes would be awesome. I'm a new viewer and am enjoying your content. Keep up the great work.
I would absolutely love a more in-depth breakdown of the adventures!
You had me at Mad Max xD This is a setting I think Guy's GM style will excel in. It's going to be a really awesome game, I have a feeling! Looking forward to it!
I'm transitioning my party into this as soon as it drops. using it to provide material to get them into the higher levels before throwing the party back into their stories as the battle with the conflicts of their pasts, their mistakes and the Mad old one they freed from his prison between the far realm and the prime material.
Been hoarding any information i can get to start readying the setting for events.
How did that work out? Seeing as the campaign starts at level 1 and ends at 13
After playing Baldur's Gate 3 with my friends, im planning to run this module for them using a few companions from the game as important NPCs. Maybe Wyll, Karlach, Mizora and Raphael!
I just picked this module up for my group. They picked it to play. I'm hyped to run it.
I am sooo excited for this book, this video made me even more excited! Time to annoy my friends some more about how excited I am for this :D
I've enjoyed your take on Ghost of Saltmarsh. I can't wait to see your presentation of this.
I got a group of new players interested in this adventure so I’ll let you know what happens XD
How’d it go
Well?!
they didnt make it back...
Another great video, Guy. Glad I stopped in!
I don't know much about them yet, but I may treat the war machines like spelljammers where they have magical helms (a magic throne used to control it) that require different energy sources. Some may run on souls, some on the life force of slaves, some may run by draining power from magic items, or an artifurnace that is perpetually powered by an unwanted magical artifact (perhaps one of evil). Some helms will allow spells casters to use their magical energy to power them at the cost of spell slots. Just some ideas.
Great work Guy, thank you. You read my mind with regards to making the war machine a mobile base of operations, that was my first thought when people started saying Mad Max in hell. I felt there should really be a pretty strong sense that the players War Machine should be central some way, either as a mobile base or critical for accessing difficult locales and retrieving critical resources (repentant souls, etc).
I loved your intro!! Your videos have been a lot of fun and really helpful! Thank you!
This is going to be one of the first adventures that I run for the group I am apart of. It’s gonna get very very interesting with the group I’m gonna be running for
Nice call back to Rowan Atkinson's sketch with Toby welcoming people to Hell
I have always said that a Patron can not offer the PC any power the patron does not have.
Sounds like this book puts that as canon.
I have also always actually written out the contract for a deal between PC and devil or other being that was granting unusual power in exchange for SOMETHING. (even before the Warlock class existed)
I have a very nice set of standard clause and I use size 2 font for some of them when printing the contract.
Player has to sign the PC name in red ink.
I have sealed some with back wax, red ribbon and scorched the ribbon plus page edges.
I love props and player handouts.
(sample section most of it in microscopic print)
A Breach of Contract from either party will impose penalties as below.
§ Upon a Breach of Contract from the Warlock, the Warlock surrenders all rights of living or ownership of souls.
§ Upon a Severe Breach of Contract by the warlock, the patron has the right to kill the warlock outright and harvest his soul.
§ Invalidity or unenforceability of one or more provisions of this agreement shall not affect any other provision of this agreement.
§ Failure to enforce any portion of this contract immediately upon a breach by the warlock does not invalidate the ability of the patron to make claims at a later date.
§ This agreement is subject to the laws and regulations of _______________
§ Signing under duress is not a valid reason to invalidate this contract. This clause is in keeping with standard warlock - patron contract policy of all Fiend, Fey and Celestial powers
§ Any breach of this contract by the patron will be viewed as an addendum to the contract..
Signed:
_________
{Warlock Signature}
@@fhuber7507 "any breach of this contract by the patron will be viewed as an addendum to the contract"
That's the big one. Yikes. It's also one that a clever player can exploit. If the patron does it first it becomes an addendum, then the warlock can do it because it's now in the contract. In the extreme the player can manipulate his/her way to almost total freedom if the patron is careless.
As a DM I would screw that one up real fast. My players can be real crafty like that.
Great intro, Guy. Really great.
About to run this campaign and I'm doing a lot of research, this has been the single best video hands down. Subscription well earned. Please teach me how to play npc's better and how to discribe scenery (perception checks)! Also a basic how to for magic players would be awesome, tysm for your hard work means a lot!!!
I love your Welcome to hell adaptation! All hail Toby!
Does the book at all cover any of the other eight levels of Hell? Or is it strictly Avernus?
Guy left the location of the third Act deliberately unspoken, and I appreciate the lack of spoilers.
I said i would never run another module but i am actually pretty excited about this.
I would definitely, love to see a play by play guide of the sections on this book, I always have a hard time reading through all the book, when gming! Listening and watching makes it so much easier for me to learn a campaign setting or ideas for one! ((I typically do homebrew campaigns since I dont have to memorize a book lol))
I saw Lulu and fell instantly in love! Great video!
I truly wish I had a chance to play this under a great DM. I had a Tiefling Paladin who would have fit right into this moral and physical struggle
My players have been playing for 10 years, completing 3 campaigns. 2 of them directly involved Orcus or his cults in Faehrun. I think I will rework this campaign to make it their final one, settling with Orcus once and for all...personally in the depths of hell.
I am watching the intro. You would make a GREAT Amnizu!
You look awesome in the jacket. Love the hair cut too.
18:20 Also, every demon is unique, because they are so chaotic. 2 of them being similar is only a coincedence or the Plan of a Demonprince who formed them after their liking. their categorisation into specific creatures is an artificial construct, created by mortals inside the lore and created for players and DMs to handle demonic encounters more easily.
23:30 Maybe let those mutations and other effects replace each other when you repeat them, instead of stacking them multiple times on top of each other.
Zariel was in the fight against the demons before the devils existed. The angels who fought the demon got corrupted to be more evil, including Zariel and possibly Asmodeus, depending on which dnd myth you believe. Those corrupted angels wanted to punish the evil people and the other angels didn’t like that.
Yes, a play by play video would be great
I wouldn't take mad maxy as a bad thing, I would lean into it, allow for some system to create small versions of these machines that are more maneagable and useful for the party members. would be unique and particularly fun the ideas the party could come up with could be wild
Love that vest! And really appreciated the tips.
i've only read 90 pages so far, and i love the campaign.
You should rank every d&d 5e adventure module. I'd be super interested in watching that kind of video
99% of my preparation has been figuring out how to describe the food tastes in Avernus.
My DM spent most of it on the song in the Elfsong tavern, he wanted to sing it
It literally says what the food tastes like in Avernus the book
You litteraly can come up with anything you want in D&D
I know this is 9 months old but to hell with that.
In the book it says that all food tastes like ash while all water tastes like bile.
@@Neasel. dude elfsong tavers song goes to the theme of pokemon
Yes please for the play-by-play!
I'm running this as my very first campaign. I'm anxious and hungry for more information
I hope to get more videos on this campaign
I have only played Homebrew style DND but yet this gives me a feeling to do something
Appreciate the video an absolute ton sir! But I am curious, since you have looked through it, if this can be something as like the final chapters that I can upscale to be 13-20 versus it's as written story? For context I actually have my PC's in a adventure in Baldur's Gate and I have a handful of smaller stories to bring them away for a smaller period of time, hint at and set up the stage for Decent into Avernus.
I am in the same pickle with a homebrew campaign in which I'd already had a plan similar to this with Zariel involved with everything we've done for the last 3 years. But my players have already hit level 13.
Really looking forward to your Twitch sessions of the campaign!
Yes I would love a break down and your views on each parts of the book
Seconded!
I am interested in picking up Descent into Avernus but I much prefer PDF over hardcover. However, I only see the hardcover option available and wondering if that is the only option or if WoTC has plans to release the PDF at a later date.
My group and I are looking forward to this one.
Yes, please break down the book more
Love your video! Great description and I always love your attention to detail sir! I'd love to be a player at your table. Enjoy bringing your players in your hell! 👍🍻
Yes. Do a DM tips for each of the chapters.
Power your war machine with a spelljammer helm like mechanic.
Have been making a homebrew hell campaign for about a year now. I feel betrayed :'(
I am in that boat with you. I was feeling like enough love wasn't shown towards this area of DnD so when Mordenkainens came out I started making a campaign
I feel you, bro. I was making my first homebrew setting and campaign, only to have about 60% of the themes, races, and areas to appear in Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Why does any of the official material conflict with your homebrew setting?
The official material is published in the Forgotten Realms. If your setting is homebrew, then it isn't in the Forgotten Realms. There should be no conflict here.
You homebrewed your own setting, so use it and ignore the official material.
That's the point of homebrew.
I want to work in a Ghostwise Halfling clan warrior that was part of the nightgliders. According to Sword Coast Adventure’s these halflings bond with and ride giant owls as mounts. My Halfling became evil, not because of a choice of his own, but because he was killed through a strength drain from a group of shadow monsters and undead that attacked his tribe. What I am looking for is a good way from D&D lore and some creativity to bridge the gap between him becoming a shadow monster, he was a tribal chief before, and getting thrust into Avernous. Any ideas or suggestions?
His name is Ahusaka, a native american name meaning “one with wings”
Oh shit, I accidentally thought you were #Snæbörn Ragnarsson and just wanted to celebrate him playing D&D...
I should wear my glasses 🙈
12:10 and that is the pragmatic evil that he was missing from the evil PC rant.
I'm currently running an Out of the Abyss campaign...hearing a bit more about this makes me wonder if I could/should connect the two. The demon incursion connection seems like it could be an interesting tie in. I suppose it depends on if the players will be up for diving somewhere deeper than the Underdark...hmmm...I'll definitely be flipping through the pages of this one as I think that over.
You could always just throw it in as a break from current environment. Worst that happens is they die or just have an adventure to get out.
Has I looked and prepared for the upcoming sessions I think my players will deal with a few kingpins first I want to hit later on in levels and adjust the encounters. I want gem to finish and return to Bauldors gate to help fix the city. Finish around 15-17th level
Lore-wise, it doesn't make sense for Zariel to try put an end to the Blood War. The forces of good and neutrality are interested in keeping the Blood War going, because if either side ever wins, evil will be united and unstoppable.
Hello Guy ! Thanks for the explanations and the info on your video, they are very helpful !
I have a question to ask : You mentioned that the module takes place in three distinct acts, each one in its own different area.
I am currently GM'ing for a group of characters who are about to finish Dragon Heist, and reach 5th level. They are very excited for Descent to Avernus, and were asking me if they could use their current characters and run that module as well.
Do you believe it would be possible to get them to begin from the 5th-level content (effectively the second act of the module) or would it remove too much of the experience of the total ?
Thank you in advance !
I've heard that skipping the first 5 levels is doable... But it removes a lot of the backstory and later story elements for them.
i'll be DM'ing this starting in a couple weeks, thanks for this! Listening to it now.
How is it going or how was it? I plan on running this module so if like to know people opinions
@@svartrbrisingr6141 it was alot of fun, the players really enjoyed it. As a DM it's the type of module for me as alot of it is fairly open ended and i have the habit of improving stuff on the spot so i dont like being limited too much by a module.. The first few chapters are quite structured but once you get into the last couple chapters you're free to just sort of guide the players towards one of the endings you think fits with how they're playing. a lot of fun RP and we literally had about 4-5 sessions where they were just mad-maxing across avernus fighting everything they saw, i told them they could do that as long as they wanted but the story wouldn't progress and they wouldn't get any exp... that ate up a couple months and was alot of fun haha.
@@billthecanuck okay, in your opinion is it a module that can easily be ran by a new dm? And at least 3 players?(with some minor tweaking)
@@svartrbrisingr6141 the early chapters are probably fine with a new DM but be careful with some of the encounters, with only 3 players you may need to tone some encounters down a bit. As for later chapters, i'd read through the final chapter before you start running the module, the final chapter uh.. doesn't give you much guidance and you kind of have to fill in a lot of blanks. Which is fine for me as a DM as i mostly wing alot of my stuff, depends if you want structure.
@@billthecanuck I've skimmed through the module as a whole so I know about the lack of guidance in the later parts but I feel confident in my capabilities to improve plus I have remembered my old dnd friends who might be able to raise my player count to 4 maybe even 5
I find the hells extremely fascinating 🧐
When you first start the campaign where do level 1 characters start out?
How the hell (no pun intended) are characters level 13 or less supposed to defeat a freaking CR 24 Archdevil????
Jupiter Rising you don’t have to fight her. The story is one of Redemption. You have The ability to redeem her name and aid her.
She is supposed to be slightly weakened when you eventually meet her also there are opportunities to make allies that will aid in the fight, and there are options to peacefully end the conflict, but yeah if players try to go toe to toe with no aid they'll probably get beat down
You actually use CR?
Just nerf her a little bit if you're worried.
I keep encountering many DMs who are afraid to homebrew the smallest little things.
For instance I completely cut out the bath house thing because it was boring, and I knew my players would end up scouring the city for "clues" about threads that led nowhere.
I added in a different quest to have the players get to hell much more quickly and skip all the (in my opinion) filler stuff that has no consequence on the rest of the adventure other than exposition which is easy to include elsewhere.
If you don't like a monster or quest, cut it out or change it
Simple.
Please do the play by play. As a newish DM I would hugely appreciate it!
I'm starting this today, I'm a bit nervous but also excited I spent 6 hours preparing roll20 yesterday. Here's hoping it goes well this campaign feels larger than what I have always run before so it's a bit intimidating.
I realy hope you had a better experience than me with that one.
@@Fate2071 I think the campaign went well, had one problem player who caused me alot of anxiety and after the campaign was over some real life drama but the campaign went well, a few pc's died 4 I believe, 2 of the OG group made it to the end one constantly flirted with evil and argued against being alignment shifted the entire time and the other sold his soul to save the party went full evil and I hated his character until he got his soul back and went on a redemption path and ended up pulling the sword and nailing the good ending and I loved his character for it. All in all it went well my main issues were mostly tied to out of game and sadly our party spilt afterwards due to the problem player and I getting into an argument but I'm sorry the campaign didn't work out for you.
@@darthremy1802 Sorry to hear that your group splitt up because of one problematic player, sadly this happens sometimes.
It whould be unfair to blame the book for all of what went wrong with this campaing. I guess mostly I am to blame for not tailoring it to my party properly but it turned out to be a quit unenjoyable ride for all of us and I hat to call it off at some point. Currently I'm rewriting it to better fit my players and make it work better ne next time. We'll see when that will be. At the moment I'm enjoying my first time of of gming for 20 years ... there is no better cure for gm fatigue as fare as I know so there is something positive to take out of this mess this campange turned into.
@@Fate2071 I will say I did rewrite parts of it myself, nothing major, mostly I made hell more a survivor game where, equipment weight, water, food, and exhaustion were a thing, I wanted hell to feel like a place you didn't want to be, I think it gave the party a since of urgency but it did make me balance alot more stuff, my players also knew I was going through life problems so I think they cut me some slack and just went with the flow for the most part, happily I too have now taken a break from DMing and it has definitely helped with my stress lvl to just be a player in someone else's game
I found this module and was thinking it would be great fun to run through with my friends. Problem. It says the module is meant for 4 to 6 players but my group as a whole is 4 people and one has to be the dm. Other problem is that I'll be the dm. And I have no experience dming. Is this module difficult to dm for a first time dm? If so are their any other good ones that are better to start with? Or would this one be good for a first time dm(I have no personnel experience dming but know how to do it somewhat)
Now that's a bitchin jacket, Guy! Looking good! I'm really looking forward to getting this module. ^.^
Yes would love play by play!
I would definitely watch a video of a play by play!
I enjoyed this, would you do a video for the Curse Of Strahd?
Probably only if he was paid to
Thoughts on how to lead the characters from The Lost mines starter to this campaign?
Have sildar invite players to go with him to baldurs gate. You ll need to make adjustments though due to lvl
12:17 are you implying we can choose to join Zariel?
i am currently playing Descent Into Avernus as a Paladin who's Xenophobic towards Devils and Demons with the Plot Twist that she's a Tiefling who at birth was Polymorphed in to an Aasimar. she doesn't believe Erinyers are Devils since something so Angelic can't wish harm on someone. she believes Balors and Pit Fiends are the exact same creature.
so if the module allows us to join Zariel i'm all up for it since Zariel is a Legit Celestial granted she is a fallen angel but still a Celestial
So, your war machine idea... you're essentially turning it into a spelljamming helm? Because, there's enough 2e rules for that you could probably adapt them into this campaign.
Are you planning to do a new creator series for your next D&D twitch season?
I'm kind of confused on your take of people/NPCs in Avernus. People who die and go to hell, don't just end up in Avernus wandering around as NPCs to interact with, right? If your soul is evil, you wash up as a Lemure from the river styx with no memory of your previous life.
Anybody who is an NPC is avernus is somebody who plane shifted their way in, through some way or another. Does the book talk about anything like this?
You are right, but it is highly unlikely that those people have any intention of being good, nice, or kind whilst in Avernus. It isn't a 'holiday' spot. The book does cover this aspect.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Thanks! Excited to get my hands on the book and these sneak peeks are enough to hold me over for the next week
I have been trying to find some way to determine when it is appropriate for my party to face a war machine in terms of challenge. I bought a version of the book on Roll20 and it gives me a challenge rating of [nothing]. Literally just says, “Challenge “ and nothing after. I still wonder if that was somehow a misprint in the Roll20 version, but I doubt it.
Can someone point me to a good resource to help me answer that question?
Could you recommend any pre reading for a DM to get more familiar with the lore?
What do I want?...pie sounds pretty good bout now.
Leather Lair . . . Buz cut . . . Guy is Ready!
Ah. Those dang serial killers targeting chickens in their sleep. The monsters 😂