User blog:Hashimashadoo/D&D Next adventures

I recently got my hands on copies of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard. I haven't read all the way through any of them yet but I am intrigued by each in a different way.

Ghosts is nothing special. I was really excited when I got it but then I found that over half of the book is 5e rules and blank pages. I'd MUCH rather have Wizards release Eric Boyd's Under Illefarn Anew instead. I haven't yet found a concrete date for the adventure's events yet either, though that's only annoying because of a side project I've been working on - The Grand History of the Realms Expansion Pack.

Murder in Baldur's Gate is interesting in that it comes with a big ole map of the city but I was disappointed to see so much of the content they included was ripped straight from the Baldur's Gate game, some of which flew somewhat in the face of canon established by the novels. For example, there's a statue of Minsc in the city that citizens use as a waypoint and meeting place. Now, it'd be a stretch but I'd kind of understand if the statue was put up by Abdel Adrian in thanks for rescuing him but the source itself claims that it was erected for saving a different duke's life. Canon however, establishes Minsc as a strong but deranged guy who went on to be a cleaner in the Copper Coronet. Otherwise, I like the way that the adventure seems to play out. It's one of those 'shades of grey'-type adventures where you're figuring out which of the major NPCs is the least evil.

Legacy of the Crystal Shard is the first Sundering-era adventure that directly involves a Chosen, this one - expectedly - is a Chosen of Auril. The Campaign Guide is chock-full of as much detail as you could ever want on Ten-Towns and the tiny settlements south and west of it that are hardly mentioned anywhere else. Finally, and thankfully, although he is referenced several times and there are a TONNE of quotes from RAS's books, Drizzt Do'Urden doesn't actually make an appearance. Though a couple of people he knows do.

Overall, so far they read like they're set back in the late 1360s/early 1370s rather than the 1480s. They're less like a progression back to a better time but more like the Spellplague never happened. I'm looking forward to Scourge of the Sword Coast. Expect another blog post when I get that if not before.