D&D’s latest campaign book feels specially made for fans of Baldur’s Gate 3

polygon.com:

Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever, but the pathway to onboarding new players into the tabletop game’s 5th edition ruleset has become a bit overgrown. The best option available to true newbies, the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit, was published way back in 2019. Thankfully, publisher Wizards of the Coast was recently able to take a break from its burdensome 2024 rules revision to revisit an old favorite, an adventure from the originalDungeons & Dragons Starter Set first published in 2014. The new full-size campaign based on that adventure is titled Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, and it feels custom-made for a new kind of d20-curious consumer: rabid fans of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Larian Studios’ long-simmering classic-style role-playing video game is, for many outlets, currently a leading contender for game of the year. It marries a meticulous reinterpretation of traditional D&D mechanics with an excellent storyline, and throws in a bevy of thirsty suitors to boot. It’s taken the video gaming zeitgeist by storm, overthrowing games like Fortnite and even The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to become the most talked-about new game in years. Its shadow looms so large that it’s even impacting development of the soon-to-be-released Warhammer 40,000 CRPG Rogue Trader. But clearly Wizards predicted some of that success, and built Phandelver and Below with plenty of touchstones that should be familiar to those graced by Astarion and Shadowheart’s charms. Just don’t head into the 226-page tome looking for romance — this is a stoically PG-13 adventure, as are the rest published so far for 5th edition.

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