Heroes of Baldur's Gate: A 5e PnP Adventure
Vallmyr
Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,459
It looks like there is a new 5e adventure set in Baldur's Gate and it mentions some characters we should all know very well. As an avid DM for 5e I am super excited to eventually run this.
https://youtu.be/F581HTuZX-M
https://youtu.be/F581HTuZX-M 3
Comments
It's not technically an official adventure book from WoTC. It's just sold through their online store (that lets people submit content for sale). That said a physical copy is also being sold (which makes it a bit unusual).
I've actually checked it out. Only about half the book is dedicated to the actual adventure. The rest provides details about different locations in Baldur's Gate (including treasures), the NPC's you can encounter, factions, etc. Stuff that you can certainly use in the adventure but that isn't related to the main plot.
Having said that I could see this book being used really well for people interested in learning 5e. Especially for people who have played Baldur's Gate. The setting is obviously very familiar and it provides some backstories for your characters that fit into the story. Having said that these are backstories that are specific to the adventure and that do make characters slightly more powerful than they would be otherwise.
So, um... at any point in the process did any of the parties involved here consider making this a CRPG?
If not, why not?
I know Beamdog doesn't want to muck with IE any more after the painful production and underappreciated release of SoD... If not Unity or Unreal, how about a NWN premium module to show off the revamped assets and upgrades and get the voiceover band back together? Fun low level hijinks, cozy nostalgia, a way to show off what all these years of tinkering with the engine can achieve. Also: money.
This has been my question as well (except for the IE which I am happy to see put to rest). Murder in Baldur's Gate is also a really good game module, so there's plenty of source material for creating a quality cRPG. Instead of trying to go in one step to making an epic game, why not make a series of relatively small, Gold Box-ish games using existing 5e game modules of which there are now many?
I just don't get Beamdog's game development strategy and business model at all. In fact, I'm rather amazed they've managed to keep the lights on up to now. They need to hire me and put me in charge of game development strategy!
Heroes of Baldur's Gate is a Forgotten Realms supplement by a creator of Baldur's Gate aimed at fans of both D&D 5E and the classic PC game. This book is not just a backdrop for the PC game, it's *aimed* at P&P roleplayers who are also fans of the original PC game.
On the Dungeon Master's Guild it is, for the first time ever, possible for people to publish D&D supplements that are set in an official WotC campaign world. Additionally, it is possible to set these things in any point in time, such as the aftermath of the Time of Troubles. In this case 1368/69 instead of the "current" Forgotten Realms of the 1490s.
Maybe it's not only a matter of wanting to create a proper Baldur's Gate D&D book closely connected to the classical PC games. Maybe its just the smart thing to do right now. Creating a great tabletop RPG supplement probably costs less money and manpower than creating a great PC game (especially considering that I guess more people are nostalgic for Baldurs Gate than are for late 90s gameplay).
Does this book rule out James Ohlen's work on another (BG-)CRPG in the future? Not really. It's not like he's irreversibly wasted his creative power on a book instead of a PC game. If anything, it could be a gauge for general interest in the topic of BG. After all, for a long time the game has not really been acknowledged as a source for the tabletop RPG.