Has anybody picked up Descent into Avernus? If so, how good is it - I've grabbed some, but not all, of the 5e adventures, and have been happier with some than I have been with others. I've liked how Storm King's Thunder gave a ton of information about the Savage Frontier and similarly how much information that Out of the Abyss gave on the underdark beneath the Savage Frontier.

I wasn't as happy with Dragon Heist - its 25 pages on the City of Spendors spends more time on the city's ample law enforcement and how they might keep characters from being naughty than it does on how Waterdeep might be actually a good spot for characters to adventure within a city. It compares unfavorably with 3.0's City of Splendors sourcebook. Granted, that book had more pages for just the city, but most notably it has 28 pages on urban dangers. "Many monsters live in and among the people of Waterdeep--aboleth and skum lurk in the sewers, illithids and vampires prey on the populace, and beholders with legions of charmed servitors, shape-shifting dragons, and all manner of undead each pursue their own schemes. Player characters can fi nd more than enough monsters to battle simply by exploring Waterdeep's seamy underside." This seems to be suggested by parts of the Dragon Heist adventure, but contradicted in the city's descriptions.

So! Where does Descent into Avernus fall on this scale?

Heh I'll venture you should assume the worst.

BTW - howdy neighbor. (Dallas represent).

I have it but have not read through it yet. Still working through Tomb.

But some points so far. It seems to bounce all over the place at a glance. And it feels in a way like it is a little misleading as the "HELL!" part is the middle third of the campaign. But it is a really fascinating section with some crazy fun ideas in there. Sadly not fleshed out enough in some areas. But I'll know when I read more.

I'll comment more after a better read through.

Also still reading though it, but it seems kind of a mixed bag. The Baldur's Gate gazetteer is cool, but it does seem like those parts were jammed in as part of a marketing crossover. The stuff about Hell is really interesting, with lots of NPCs, cool locations, making deals with devils, possible flesh warping, and riding around on infernal war machines (fueled by souls). The vibe of the place doesn't seem all that "hellish," though.

The adventure itself seems fairly on rails.

I got a slight "setting book" feel from it as well. But am not sure yet as have not read through much. From what I read so far seems relatively not on rails overall. The PCs are free to go about dealing with the problems as they may. There are goals that need to be seen to. But that is not "rails". It does though feel a little heavy handed in how one of the events kicks off. But I need to read more to tell for sure.

Bought it recently, read the first part closely and skimmed the rest. Will read the rest properly when I get a chance. The book is a bit of a mish-mash. The artwork is amazing, and the layout and organisation seems spot on.

As usual with 5th Ed hardback adventures, the low-level bits of the scenario are awful, pretty much so heavily scripted that if the PCs deviate even slightly, they will be unable to continue. Basically there are 2 or 3 NPCs who are information dumps. If you miss/don't interact with/kill them, there is literally no way to continue the adventure. An experienced GM can get around this with a little work, but it would have been so easy to include (say) some documents that gave the vital information, and some extra contacts who could help out the PCs if they become stuck. The level progression feels rushed in this part too, but then the meat of the adventure is at the higher levels, so that's forgivable. These are pretty much the only bits of the adventure that are set in Baldur's Gate, and it feels as if they could be set in almost any city you want. There's nothing that screams, "We're in Baldur's Gate" to me.

Also, there is some treasure stolen from a rather important Hellish personage that the PCs can find. What is this treasure, you ask? Some sort of amazing unique magic, or a secret that only the gods know? No, it's literally a chest of coins. Coins that seem to radiate a non-magical field that only worshippers of the Hellish Personage can find? WTF?!! I know why they've put the treasure there - it's to allow interference by followers of said Hellish Personage. But really, you couldn't do any better than a chest of coins?!! That's about as lame as you can get.

After this, though, the adventure improves massively. Lots of fun, exciting ideas that are eminently stealable, exotic locales, over-the-top NPCs with (almost) believable plans and motivations, powerful artifacts that have enough drawbacks that they don't become overpowering. Like I say, I haven't read this bit properly yet, but it seems much better than the opening dross and should be a lot of fun to play through.

The description of Baldur's Gate seems almost an afterthought. I suspect that they chose to house the adventure here as it's a well known piece of IP that they have access too, and maybe there's a tie-in to a new game on the horizon? We can only dream ..

So, a hesitant thumbs up from me, which moves to a much more emphatic "yeah, baby", if you can ignore/rewrite/fix the awful starting chapter(s).

The lower level Baldur's Gate stuff seems very much a railroad. The PCs are pressed into service of the Flaming Fist. If the PCs resist long enough, the text literally says to execute them. From there, it seems to be a cultists investigation.

Once the adventurers get to Avernus, the plot does open up alot more into an exploration/sandbox feel. The maguffin is essentially a fetch quest. However, there are other ways to end it, including making lots of deals with devils and maybe the Queen of Dragons.

The section on Hell is the meat of the book and I really like what they've done with it. Theres a Mad Max vibe too.

Quote from: spon;1110148These are pretty much the only bits of the adventure that are set in Baldur's Gate, and it feels as if they could be set in almost any city you want. There's nothing that screams, "We're in Baldur's Gate" to me.

This is a plus to me. I'd rather run the adventure from Rauxes during the fall of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy than anywhere in the Realms.