The latest D&D adventure is set in Baldur's Gate

(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

You probably know the city of Baldur's Gate from the two videogames bearing its name (a third in the series is currently being developed by Larian). It's always been a part of the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons setting, but it's BioWare's games that really popularized it.

The current edition of D&D is revisiting the city in a new adventure called Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus. The hook is that the archdevil Zariel is transporting cities straight to the Nine Hells, and Baldur's Gate is next on her shopping list. The adventure apparently starts in the city and climaxes with a trip to the frontlines of the Blood War between devils and demons, which sounds delightful.

I've skimmed through the book looking for references to the videogames and while you don't get to meet Minsc and Boo, they do rate a mention. According to the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer section, a statue of the duo stood in the city for years and was recently discovered to be the actual ranger and his miniature giant space hamster "trapped under the effects of petrifying magic." Now they've been freed to kick evil's butt once more. There's also a tiny nod to how the protagonist of the videogames, "aided by powerful allies, thwarted Sarevok's plan and brought stability, if not peace, to Baldur's Gate once more." It's nice to be remembered.

Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus is out now.

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.