D&D has just launched a free Baldur's Gate booklet for anyone that wants to find out more about the city, or to explore this grungy metropolis themselves in a pen and paper RPG.
Available to download now if you have a (also free) D&D Beyond account, the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer describes the eponymous city's history, its points of interest, and people in detail. It also delves into the scuzzy underworld of a location many of us have been exploring in Baldur's Gate 3, providing backgrounds for characters who hail from the region. In much the same way, the 'Dark Secrets' mechanic allows you to pick a terrible choice or conspiracy that binds the party together.
While this isn't an entirely new addition to the library of Dungeons and Dragons books (it was part of prequel adventure Descent Into Avernus a few years back), it's still a useful tool for anyone who wants to create adventures set in the city. Even if you just want to find out more about the location, it's a great place to start; there's plenty of info on the lore of Baldur's Gate itself, so it's a fun read for anyone who's playing through the Baldur's Gate video game.
This is one of many free downloads that D&D Beyond has released over the last couple of years, but it's probably one of the better ones in terms of both timing and content. It always felt a little odd that details for such an iconic setting from one of the best tabletop RPGs was hidden away in an adventure book (good though it is), so it being released by itself for everyone to use while interest in the city is high seems sensible.
Want to check out the full adventure it came from? You'll find the best offers below. It's certainly worth a look; as we mentioned in our Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus review, it's "Dante's Inferno by way of Mad Max: Fury Road." As a story that kicks off in Baldur's Gate before taking players to literal hell, it's "at its best when it's running hot and throwing fuel on the fire."
For more on one of the biggest RPGs of the year, check out our guide on everything you need to know about D&D before playing Baldur's Gate 3. You can also keep the adventure going with 6 board games and tabletop RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3.
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
