Dungeons & Dragons Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus Hardcover Book (D&D Adventure)

One day, a prominent producer at Wizards of the Coast read Faust and then watched Mad Max. The resulting inspiration afterward was Descent in Avernus.The module features a full campaign, rushing the characters along quickly at first (level 1-4 go VERY fast in this module) but then settling down to a normal pace/cadence by the middle of the adventure.There's a fine line between lethal monsters, treacherous locations and pure camp. This module does NOT take itself too seriously, which allows the DM to keep it fluid and easy when they run it. So if you are looking for GRIT, this module is not it. If you are looking to hit the accelerator while driving away from a flying Erinyes, you've hit the jackpot.The module starts out as a conveyor belt to start, but opens up to less linear exploration and advancement. DMs have plenty of room to customize the experience.Power gamers will love the plethora of items, gear and power that can be accumulated (warning you may lose your soul in the process, the theme of TEMPTATION and CORRUPTION rings throughout the module).RPers will dig the creative NPCs and the unraveling story, that reveals cool snippets of lore and secrets as you advance. And what RPer would not want to give their LG War Priest a spin on the first level of Hell.If you are a fan of the old Planescape game, you'll love the heavy reliance on the lore of the The Blood War and the endless battle between Demons and Devils, a central tenant to the module's story.There's no major beef here with this, the writing is succinct, the story very understandable with plenty of unique configuration/flavoring that can be added by savvy DMs.The only thing that will stop you from liking this module is the tone. This module's tone is a juxtaposition of evil, war, blood, lust, temptation and corruption blended with tiny flying elephants full of glitter and huge raging, heavy metal vehicles lifted right out Mad Max.Think of this way, you can call the rock band "KISS" a metal band, but it's so dressed up with makeup, feather boas, latex and clown makeup that it's sometimes easy to forget it's a metal concert. Descent in Avernus is the "KISS Destroyer" of D&D modules.

Mint condition book! I’m so excited to run this! It’s more of a guide so read ahead for sure!!!

Love the artwork another really solid manual helps me prepare

Descent Into Avernus is a fully fleshed out adventure starting in the famous city of Baldur's Gate and leading the party into the first layer of hell. There's a lot of cool lore to unlock, enemies to fight, and discoveries to be made. My only complaint is that there are some uneven bits and parts that aren't outlined well enough, but the thing I discovered while running this is that I think that was intentional because it gives the DM this giant canvas in which they can paint their own custom parts to the campaign.It works as a really good balance between 100% in-the-book and the DM getting to get creative with the world and scenario. My players had a lot of fun and did some insanely unexpected things (that the book didn't explicitly allow, but had enough background information for me to imagine how these things would work).So, I guess, my review would be Avernus has an incredible set-up with a really good background story and lore. Some of its quests are a little rough around the edges but there is so much content in the book that the DM can very easily adapt and create new things for the players to do that fall in line with the overall story.Definitely my favorite of the 5e adventures, we had a ton of fun! Highly recommend!

Great for players.

I have read only about 2/3 of Descent into Avernus so far, but I can already tell that the book creates a really imaginative alternate world (like the Underdark in Out of the Abyss, Barovia in Curse of Strahd, Waterdeep in Dragonheist), peopled with compelling characters the PCs want to help and details that provide the right mix of dread and humor. Since this is the factor I care about most in these adventures, I'm going to give 4 stars, even though it probably deserves 4.5. The adventure is probably not quite as good as Out of the Abyss and Strahd (my favorites), but probably a little better than Storm King's Thunder (more imaginative than SKT, but with similarly creaky plot mechanics).Spoilers are included from this point forward: The basic story is that a city named Elturel is being dragged literally down into hell as a result of an infernal bargain between its mayor and a fallen angel/archdevil named Zariel. Huge chains are gradually winching it down into the area around the River Styx, and the PCs are trying to stop this from being finally accomplished. To do this, they must travel around a plane of hell, Avernus, and find a magical Sword of Zariel. They can use the sword to save the city in various ways. Interestingly, the ultimate outcome is much more open-ended than in other big 5e adventures: e.g., the PCs can try to persuade Zariel to renounce evil (DC 25 check reduced if certain NPCs are present), or they can sacrifice one of their souls in an infernal bargain to save Elturel, or they can try to enlist any of Zariel's several enemies (demonic or celestial) to destroy the physical chains holding the city down. I'm not sure yet how to present all these possibilities to my players, but the authors are definitely giving me and my players a lot of really interesting material to work with.Pros: Avernus is brought to life as a hellish place, peopled with really cool NPCs and tons of atmospheric detail. Example #1: there is a snuggly mini-elephant named Lulu with wings and Styx-induced amnesia, who can help the PCs as she recovers her memories as Zariel's sidekick back before Zariel's fall. Example #2: the PCs meet a hag who runs a kind of junkyard in hell, and who can give the PCs a Mad Max style war machine to drive across hell. She has a flameskull who might become friendly toward the PCs if they can recover one of his teeth, which has been pilfered by some mischievous devils who also work for the hag. Another really great thing about the story is that the possibility of redeeming Zariel or finding some other way to save Elturel seems like a pretty great overall objective. I also appreciate that the conclusion of the story is going to be up to the players, potentially with lots of negotiating with devilishly cunning adversaries. And the whole idea of a city being slowly dragged down into hell is great.Cons: 1) the PCs are often moved around the story by some pretty weak plot devices. For example, they are told to get the Sword of Zariel without being told how this helps save Elturel. I think the DM ideally would change these features. 2) the intro chapter in Baldur's Gate is kind of ho hum, and Baldur's Gate is such a bleak place that the PCs are unlikely to develop a connection to the city that is in any way similar to the love my players developed for Waterdeep in Dragonheist. (I may try to use Murder in Baldur's Gate, an older low-level D&D adventure available on DMs Guild, as a way to introduce my players to the city.) Similarly, the players are told they must save Elturel before they have ever visited that place or developed a connection to it, which might feel kind of artificial. A little homebrew prologue in Elturel before disaster befalls it might be a good way to avoid this.Verdict: Avernus is described in loving detail and also succeeds as a broad canvas; it is as vivid as a trip to hell should be. There are some weaknesses in the story, esp before the PCs arrive in hell. But I still think the good far outweighs the bad, and puts this in the top tier of published D&D adventures, just below Abyss, Strahd and Waterdeep, but above Storm King's Thunder and well above Princes of the Apocalypse and Rise of Tiamat. After I've actually run it with my players, I may revisit this review, and I suspect that if anything I'll be giving it a higher rating.UPDATE 7/3/2020: I finished running Avernus with my players and found that the experience mostly confirmed my initial impressions. A few additional/expanded criticisms: (1) The heart of the action in Avernus is asking monster X where the Sword of Zariel is, and the end result is this supposedly knowledgeable creature requires the PCs to perform a quest but then sends the PCs to someone ELSE supposedly in the know, who does the SAME thing. This eventually leads to the sword and the confrontation with Zariel, but the runaround leading up to this point feels artificial. Many of these quests are atmospherically interesting (e.g., retrieve something from a crashed flying fortress) but don't require any real ingenuity to perform. They feel like filler to get the PCs up to 12th level or whatever. (2) There is a section on "other locations" in Avernus (p. 122) where the PCs can happen upon some little random encounters at the DM's discretion. A few of these are really good and the best part of the adventure -- e.g., a devil who wants the PCs to go down in a barely functioning diving bell to retrieve something from the bottom of the river Styx. I tried to work these in as required steps toward getting the Sword of Zariel. (3) The final encounter with Zariel is hard to DM and again feels underwritten and artificial. Where does it take place? It seems to occur on a giant battlefield where Z's army is battling demons to take control of Elturel. But if the PCs start fighting her, what's to stop Z's army of thousands from coming to help her out? I just kind of hand waved that. (4) Still believe that the adventure works better if it is Baldur's Gate getting dragged down to hell rather than Elturel. (5) The lack of a defined geography in Avernus (e.g., this location is here, 3 days' travel from this other spot) makes the adventure feel a little thin, unless the DM adds these details.Overall I still feel comfortable comparing DIA to Storm King's Thunder, which like this adventure has some excellent bits but can also be a bit creaky in its plot mechanics. I would actually say SKT is slightly better, and less work for the DM, but for what it's worth my players told me DIA was slightly better, probably because of the more exotic environment. So think four stars is still about right.