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rickrakontoys · 2 years

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A grounded and gritty, hard-boiled detective story at heart, with clear inspiration from modern thrillers such as SE7EN. While many recent comic book based movies mostly just wear their inspirations on their sleeves, "The Batman" manages to forge its own unique identity among both superhero and crime drama fare, and especially among other Batman movies.

Thematically this film is the most effective since The Dark Knight, exploring the flaws of Batman's seemingly hopeless and misguided crusade for a vague sense of "justice" by challenging him with Riddler's similar albeit more extremist methods for outing corruption in Gotham. The plot is mostly predictable, save for one revelation that shocks Bruce Wayne to his core. The vast duration of the film's runtime feels like a crime thriller, with far more detective work than punching. But the climax devolves into standard superhero action (seemingly out of obligation, Batman must always be faced against an army of nameless goons). However, the need for Batman to evolve beyond a creature of pure vengeance for vengeance's sake provides a refreshing arc for the character.

Pattinson gives a believable performance as the lonesome, death seeking young vigilante. His Bruce Wayne is tacit and awkward, selling the idea that this is a man who identifies entirely as the implacable Batman persona, filled with bottled up, unfocused frustration and anger. Since his dialogue is far more scant than previous Batmen, Pattinson emotes mostly through subtle movement of his eyes and lips, lending an air of sadness to his Batman. If you can look past his gruff, militaristic appearance, you can see the eyes of a lost child. Pattinson also thankfully spares us a ridiculous "Batman voice", speaking in a more subdued manner when under the cowl.

Farrell is all but unrecognizable as the Penguin, and Kravitz's Selina Kyle is sultry and fiercely driven. Turturro hams up his Falcone (though not to the extent of Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins), and Wright plays a Jim Gordon desperate for trustable allies anywhere he can find them. Serkis is not on screen much as the ever helpful Alfred, but at least has one genuinely moving scene with Bruce. Dano's Riddler is seldom seen outside of grainy videos until the climax, but he is terrific in the few scenes stripped of his mask, his Edward imbued with an internet trollish mania (though his constant screaming in later scenes reeks of "Hollywood psycho manchild" clichés).

The shadowy, color focused cinematography, and Giacchino's brooding score stand in stark contrast to Nolan's hyper realism, and Snyder's bombast. Shots here have depth and clear focus, being full of striking silhouettes, neon lights, and claustrophobic framing. The grounded look thankfully doesn't come at the expense of making the comic book elements look silly, as every bit of the production design and costuming blends together into a cohesive whole (an issue I had with the latter two Nolan films was the absurdity of seeing Batman standing around in realistic settings devoid of stylization).

The runtime is a bit excessive, and several scenes drag on far too long, even for those accustomed to more patiently paced films. A scene at the end is included purely for sequel baiting, which while enticing, is a bit annoying.

This movie feels like a blend of the working bits of every cinematic Batman before it (even Mask of the Phantasm). It is grounded without being overly devoted to realism, and is stylized without overindulgence. As a representation of Batman as a character, it captures the appeal of the caped crusader excellently, while setting up this iteration for greater mysteries and adventures to come (hopefully, isolated from other heroes and unnecessary pandering crossovers).

#the batman #movie review

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 4 years

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Psycho Analysis: Emperor Palpatine

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

There are villains. There are memes about villains. There are villains who are memes. And then, high above all of them, sitting on a lofty throne all his own, is Emperor Sheev Palpatine, a character so insanely incredible that it’s frankly quite baffling that even George Lucas at his worst still couldn’t make him awful… No, that was good old J.J. Abrams. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Palpatine is pretty much the archetype for the evil emperor in modern fiction, a mysterious evil sorcerer in dark robes who commands the main villain from afar and contains power beyond anything thought possible. But what’s interesting to note is that Palpatine really has three distinct eras to him: the original trilogy, where he was basically an outside context last minute threat who only had a presence in the third act of Return of the Jedi; the prequel trilogy, which is his best showing and where the Sheev we’ve all come to known and love really got to spread his wings and fly; and finally, the sequel era, the worst showing of Palpatine hands down, where he is randomly slapped into a film with no foreshadowing or buildup to pander to nostalgia.

So let’s take a look at our old pal Sheevy and see what makes him one of the greatest villains of all time, and one of the worst.

Motivation/Goals: Palpatine is motivated by one thing, and one thing only:

He spends the entire prequel trilogy building this up, working behind the scenes and manipulating both sides of the Clone Wars to his advantage so he can be given more and more political power. This works out beautifully for him, allowing him to dispose of his pawns like Dooku, take over the senate, seize absolute power, amass an army of clones, and of course execute Order 66. But most importantly, he is able to manipulate the frustrated and hurting Anakin to his side, mostly because the Jedi are a bunch of bumbling, archaic morons who put so much restrictions and belittle him so much that this creepy, predatory man is able to feed into his insecurities and send him tumbling to the Dark Side.

In the original trilogy, Palpatine is pretty content with letting Vader handle the affairs of the Empire, at least until Luke shows up and the Rebels become a substantial threat. Once the time comes, he has Luke and Vader get together and puts them up against each other, thinking the outcome is either that he gets a new apprentice/keeps his old one in check, or corrupts Luke somehow into killing his father and joining him as the new Sith. He didn’t count on Vader turning, but ah well.

The thing is that throughout these six films he remains remarkably consistent in his goals. He wants power, and if he can’t keep that power he’s going to make sure as many people suffer on his way down as possible. He’s almost cartoonishly evil in the best way possible!

And then came the sequels.

His motivations in the sequels are, quite frankly, impossible to discern, because they seem to change every scene. If he’s behind Snoke and the First Order, it’s easy to guess that he probably wanted Rey dead, right? Because that’s sure the vibe Snoke gave in The Last Jedi. But no, after it seeming like he wants her dead for most of The Rise of Skywalker, as soon as she shows up his plan is suddenly for her to kill him so he can transfer into his body. And then he changes that a short time later to “I am going to suck the life out of Rey and Ben so this shitty clone body can be great.” It’s like they’re cramming three or four different Palpatine plots into the twenty-five minutes of screentime Palpatine has in this film, and there is just absolutely no thematic cohesion anywhere. It’s just a mess.

Performance: If there is one thing that is always consistent with Palpatine, it is that Ian McDiarmid is absolutely fantastic as him. This man is able to take the most cliché, generic evil overlord archetype imaginable and transform every single line of dialogue he spouts into a meme, and even when he’s the absolute worst version of this character possible and strapped to a giant Sith dialysis machine on some Sith planet where he makes Snoke clones and verbally berates Adam Driver, he still finds time to be hilariously awesome.

Final Fate: Palpatine seriously underestimated Anakin, and ended up chucked down into the Death Star, where he died. He certainly didn’t have a poorly-explained clone backup of himself anywhere that would rise up decades later to completely override any victories the heroes ever had by ensuring that the entire lineage of the Skywalkers was destroyed and then usurped by his own spawn.

Best Scene: In a scene that justifies the entire existence of the prequels, shows off McDiarmid’s acting chops as he pulls off some actual subtlety as Palpatine, delivers some great background lore, and helps make Revenge of the Sith as awesome as it is… well, have you heard of the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?

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Best Quote: Look, I could put just about anything he says in Revenge of the Sith here. I could put just about anything he says here. This man is an absolute meme machine who spits out only the finest quotable soundbites you will ever here. But look, I’m tired of not singling out great lines, so let me give you the one I quote the most. It’s one of his greatest quotes, and yet it is unbelievably simple. Two words and a ridiculously hammy inflection is all this man needs to be a meme:

Final Thoughts & Score: Sheev Palpatine is a man of extremes. Every aspect of him is so large that when he does something, he does it with the full force of his entire character. Revenge of the Sith will eternally be his best showing in the entire franchise, because he just spends the entirety of his screentime being the most insanely impressive scheming, manipulative bastard imaginable while somehow managing to cram in time for a sick spin through the air or a monologue about his former master at the space opera house. He manages to singlehandedly redeem the prequels if only by existing in them, and he helps elevates Revenge of the Sith into being the only one of those films that is generally accepted as being legitimately awesome. And while he is absent for much of the original trilogy, seeing as he wasn’t exactly conceived of right off the bat, he manages to make the most of his appearance in Return of the Jedi by being just as delightfully malevolent as ever, goading Luke and Vader into a duel and shooting lightning from his fingertips.

There are few villains who are just this completely basic and cliché that could ever hope to be great, but thanks to McDiarmid’s portrayal, he has gone on to be one of the single most iconic villains of all time, and one of the most iconic characters of all time. The guy is practically a living meme, from his name to his actions in the prequels, and he has certainly inspired many an evil overlord after him. For a character so seemingly unoriginal, it can be hard to believe he probably deserves an 11/10, but he most definitely does. He’s just become a staple of the franchise, to the point where some people feel it just ain’t Star Wars without him…

...Including, unfortunately, J.J. Abrams and a few other writers. Palpatine managed to be shoehorned into the prequels by being a surprise twist villain for The Rise of Skywalker (and as we’ve all seen from their recent animated movies, out-of-nowhere twist villains are great!), and it is without a doubt the most stupid and embarrassing showing one could possibly imagine for a character of this caliber. His motivations seem to change every time he opens his mouth, a lot of his dialogue is just uninspired, and while he does get a somewhat striking design here it’s hampered by the fact that his entire existence and role are really unexplained in the film and he feels like he was slapped in for the sake of being there.

There’s also the fact that his mere existence and the fact he ends up being responsible for Ben Solo’s death means he completely overrides the entire franchise, comes out on top with his granddaughter usurping the Skywalker name, and succeeds entirely at wiping out the Skywalker lineage. This entire nine film series was just buildup to Palpatine ultimately winning, and just when things couldn’t get worse, Disney decided to take away the one thing that made this Palpatine hilarious – the idea that, with his hideous scarred face, he was able to bang a woman and conceive a child – and completely toss it out the window by saying this Palpatine was actually a clone. Not in the movie, of course, because that would make way too much sense, no; it was confirmed on Twitter.

I think it goes without saying Clone Palpatine gets a 1/10. And this is through no fault of McDiarmid; he’s still genuinely great in the role, even if the role is stupid, his character’s actions are stupid, and just everything about the character’s existence is stupid. He’s certainly not phoning it in at all, and ignoring everything else about the film Clone Palpatine is at least somewhat amusing on his own. There’s also the fact that this Palpatine most definitely has an incredibly striking design and looks really cool, despite the unbelievable lameness of what he actually is:

But how he is utilized within the franchise and what he ultimately accomplishes and represents is too much for me to actually forgive in the context of Psycho Analysis. When the most redemptive thing I can say about Clone Palpatine is that his actor is at least trying and his design is cool despite the awful writing and story relevance, that is not the sign of a great character. That is the sign of a great actor desperately trying to salvage a trainwreck.

But it’s like I said earlier; Palpatine is a man of extremes. If he’s gonna be a great villain, then by god is he going to be one of the greatest villains of all time. And if he’s going to be a crappy villain? Well then he’s gonna sit among the worst ever. I kind of respect that about good ol’ Sheev; he just can’t do anything in half measures. I guess as a Sith he really does deal in absolutes, be it absolutely amazing or absolutely awful.

UPDATE: I stand by all my criticisms of Sheev Clonepatine, but dammit, there’s just too many hilarious memes, and I can’t really hate Ian McDiarmid’s performance. Yes, I’ve come around quick, but I guess it is true: when Palpatine succeeds, he succeeds epically and hilariously, and when he fails, he fails epically and hilariously. His role in the story and the stupidity of him being here at all is a 1/10 for sure, but I think he’s just hilarious enough to edge into the “So bad it’s good” category of 3/10 alongside his bouncing baby boy Snoke.

Just remember: No matter what Disney tries to tell you, Palpatine fucks.

#Psycho Analysis #Emperor Palpatine #Sheev Palpatine #ian mcdiarmid #Star Wars #Revenge of the Sith #The Rise of Skywalker #Return of the Jedi

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everyaccentthesame · 4 years

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BG:DIA. Some thoughts on how Chapter 1 could be improved.

Unconstructive criticism has its place, in helping consumers understand a product’s flaws, but more helpful to the artist and the DM is constructive advice, on how to improve a work of art. In this piece, I will be discussing my thoughts on how to improve the first chapter of Baldur’s gate: Descent into Avernus, as part of a series of posts on the topic of this module.

The fundamental issue with chapter 1, which I have tried to outline in my previous posts (bear with me if I expressed myself poorly, I’m new to this), is that chapter 1 fails to set up the rest of the adventure. It doesn’t provide emotional stakes, or a reason for the PC’s to pursue the plot beyond their metagame understanding that the DM is running a module, and that they are expected to play it. And perhaps I have been too harsh. In terms of providing interesting encounters, set-pieces, art-pieces and characters, the module is quite generous. So what we want to do is keep all the good work that has been done for us by the many, many authors of this adventure, but tie it together in a compelling narrative for our players.

In essence, there are three routes that I can see, that a prospective DM can take with the first chapter of this module, without causing the modules’ themes to be cheapened or without significant new material having to be written or improvised by the aforementioned DM.

1. The adventure can start in Elturel, and have Elturel descend into Avernus.

2. The adventure can start in Baldur’s gate, and have Baldur’s gate descend into avernus.

3. You can keep the original story-line of the module, and greatly increase the threat that Zariel and the forces of the Nine-Hells pose to Baldur’s gate, while tying the fate of Elturel to the fate of Baldur’s gate.

Each of the first two options involves getting rid of one of the cities described in the adventure, making the adventure a more thematically appropriate ‘tale of one city’. Each option involves similar work, where we have a description of Baldur’s gate as it is in it’s day to day life, we have none of what it might look like when it plunges into hell, and vice-versa for Elturel. Ultimately choosing between the two probably comes down to personal taste- if you and your players like the idea of Baldur’s Gate, perhaps from the video-games and fiction set there, run it there. If you find the idea of Elturel more compelling, due to the storyline of the Hellriders and Zariel’s connection to them, and the concept of a corrupt, supposedly ‘lawful good’ theocracy breaking down and crashing into hell, go with that city instead.

The last option takes the most work to create a cohesive and compelling narrative, while also remaining the most similar to the plot-line of the book. I personally don’t like this option, so I will only touch on it lightly, and don’t particularly recommend it, though I may write more on it at a later date.

Option 1: The Fall of Elturel, the brightest new star of the Sword Coast.

In this option we will be replacing all of the first chapter set in Baldur’s Gate, and instead setting it in Elturel. Instead of having characters create backstories in Baldur’s Gate, and creating a dark secret, I would instead have them create backstories and backgrounds for their characters that relate to Elturel. A good resource for this is Baldur’s Gate: Fall of Elturel which provides the Hellrider background. I’d also encourage backgrounds that relate to the city in other ways- acolytes of Torm, Helm or Lathander would be very appropriate, as would other city-related backgorunds. For those backgrounds that don’t make sense as being from Elturel, such as Hermit or Outlander, let them know that the dominion of Elturgard is watched over and purified by the light of the Companion, which keeps undead and monsters that fear the light at bay for a hundred miles around, and that the people of Elturgard owe Elturel their safety.

Next, we’ll want to familiarise ourselves with the city. The module gives you a large and detailed description of Baldur’s Gate and day to day life there. It’d be worthwhile reading up on the wiki page on Elturel. In addition, the Hellturel dmsguild product may be worthwhile inspiration (and will be useful in the next chapter as well!). Indeed the tavern, A Pair of Black Antlers, could stand in for Elfsong Tavern. It might also be worthwhile to look at the second chapter and include some of the locations from there in the first chapter, such as the high-hall. This means that when Elturel does descend into Avernus, you can bring the players back to familiar places, and have them be shocked by the deaths of those they knew there, or the destruction of these beloved sites. If you own the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide, it might be worthwhile reading up that section on Elturel, but honestly it’s not too worthwhile.

Depending on how you want to portray Elturel, you could describe it as a bastion of purity and good (now being corrupted from the inside, as a pure-of-intention but misguided theocracy (with a few bad apples), or as a totalitarian quasi-fascist state that hides behind a veneer of purity and religion. The streets are clean, people are well fed and happy, but it’s up to you how much secret crime goes on behind closed doors, or how dangerous it is to speak against the official religion. Questions like ‘Are other religions allowed in Elturel beyond the proscribed gods, Torm, Helm and Lathander?’, ‘How harsh are punishments for crimes committed?’, ‘How are people of races that are perceived as evil by many treated, are they even tolerated?’ and more are worth considering.

We’ll also want to consider what will precipitate the fall of Elturel- I imagine that the players will come close to revealing Thavius Kreeg’s corruption, which will force him to plunge Elturel into hell early (his original plan could have been to plunge all of Elturgard, or perhaps even other cities along the Sword Coast in simultaenously.). Since Thavius will become a major player in this version of the adventure, we should have him be spoken about by various NPC’s as well- usually singing his praises, but sometimes talking about him suspiciously.

The very first mission of the original module was to meet captain Zodge of the Flaming fist, where he will give them their. This works fine, and you could make the dear captain a member of the Hellriders, and use him to represent growing corruption in that organisation and the city as a whole. You could also replace him with Ontharr Frume of the Order of the Gauntlet, hiring the players as he no longer trusts the Hellriders to do their job properly. Obviously replace the mission with something related to cult activity, perhaps the quest-giver believes the cult of Malar that terrorized the city so long ago has returned?

You could use this point to introduce Reya Mantlemorn, though I’d advise against using her Veteran statblock just yet- she’d make a great 1st level fighter, or you could use the Adventure Sidekicks supplement to level her up with the party. This could be the mission that makes her (and any other characters with the Hellrider background) into a full Hellrider, or she could be there to watch the party as the mission-giver trusts her.

I would run the encounters at Elfsong as normal, but with the numbers filed off- rename the Tavern, perhaps to the ‘Pair of Black Antlers’, but the people that inhabit the tavern can remain the same, as should Tarina. This might also be a good time to introduce Reya Mantlemorn if the players are having trouble in the fight, and be certain to tell the players that the people in the Tavern could be persuaded to help out.

The next encounter, the ‘Dungeon of the dead three, I discuss in more detail below, in ‘What should be considered for change in all cases’. It might be worthwhile making the dungeon the old ‘Temple of the beast’, used by the cult of Malar to launch a ‘wild hunt’ from. At the end of the Dungeon, rather than the inclusion of Mortlock Vanthampur, you can insert a character of your own design- perhaps one of the Hellriders, perhaps Reya Mantlemorn if you’ve not introduced her yet. This individual should tell the players that they found out that someone in the Hellriders was funding the cult activity, and letting them into the city discreetly to perform dark rituals and rites. Someone high-ranking, with the power to authorise the funds and to get the Hellriders to look the other way from cult activity.

Run the dragon cultist encounter as normal, its good foreshadowing for Tiamats involvement in Avernus.

You should have the players be made aware of two options at this point- they can go to the one person they know who knows anything about the underworld of Elturel (literally, most criminal dealings would go on underground, away from the Companions light)- Amrik Vanthampur, or they can try to bring their findings to their Quest-giver. We’ll be reflavouring Amrik as an information broker, as well as a loanshark, and he can either be persuaded, negotiated with or threatened for the in for. If you want, he can send the players off on a side mission in exchange for the info, perhaps to smuggle goods past the Hellriders. If they choose to go back to the quest giver, have them give the PC’s their reward, and tell them to report back the next day- when they do, have Thavius Kreeg himself show up, and thank the PCs for their service personally, and inform them that he will take over the investigations personally. He will then tell any Hellrider PC’s or NPC’s that in the next Tenday they will be sent to act as guards of the High Hall, and removed from active duty. This in and of itself should be suspicious, and an insight check of 15 or above should confirm this.

Either way, the PC’s should be directed to investigate the High Overseers personal residence, the re-flavoured Vanthampur Manor. If the players investigate, it will come to light that he’s changed much of the normal security at the manor, and has refused the normal offer of Hellrider guards, preferring his own, personally chosen staff.

While in the manor, the basic dungeon serves as a perfectly good set-piece, but the Vanthampurs should be gone or replaced by Thavius’s servants- Hellriders who’ve lost their faith or paladin oaths but hidden it through infernal contract,or even Thavius himself. Falasker Fisk should be encountered at some point, and inform the players about the importance of the Infernal Lockbox, and send them to Sylvira Savikas, a mage who has long suspected Thavius of dark dealings. You may or may not choose to include the Shield of the Hidden Lord in the adventure. Instead of Thurstwell, have the Infernal Lockbox be found by the players on any serious investigation of Kreeg’s room, but protected by Imps that go to try to warn him what they found. It may also be fun to have the PC’s find a plan that indicates the Thavius has used his power and the cultist activity to create a Nonogram, a 9-pointed star, around the companion in Elturel. This is neat Foreshadowing for what will happen next.

Have the PC’s arrive in candlekeep, where you may wish to take inspiration from Elminister’s candlekeep companion. Have Sylvira meet them, replace her Quasit companion with Lulu, put her in a tower with a high balcony. When she opens the Lockbox (ooh art), have their attention be brought to a low rumble the moment they finish reading the contract. In the distance, have the sky turn red with Hellfire in the distance, and let them see a blinding flash of light and a terrible peal of thunder as the Companion (visible even from this distance), turns black then dissapears.

From here you can have the PC’s feel compelled via the power of the infernal contract to go to Elturel, and Lulu can tell them about Zariel, her Sword, and how she thinks that with the Sword, they can save Elturel. You could also tie their fate to the city, letting them know that if the city falls, so do they- if they swore an oath to defend Elturel, for example, they could suffer a point of exhaustion for every ten-day they stay away from it.

In addition, if the players choose not to go to Candlekeep, and instead try to expose the High Overseer, or even manage to kill him, have the city plunge into Avernus with them in it. That’d be pretty fun, but would require some improv and your players would have to meet Lulu (if they meet her at all), another way.

Option 2: This time, Baldur’s Gate actually descends, first into madness, then Avernus

In this option, Baldur’s gate will be the city that plunges into Avernus. This will keep the first chapter mostly the same, but will require a significant rework of the second chapter (which I will discuss at a later date).

What we will change in this chapter is make Thalmara Vanthampur a far more active villain- while the game goes forward, have her campaign to become Grand duke become far more vocal. She will be using the spat of murders the cult of Zariel has been commiting (on her orders) to justify a series of new laws that will reform the security of Baldur’s Gate, and she becomes highly popular amongst the nobles, who have been victimised by many of her attacks. One of these laws will involve every Baldurian citizen over the age of 16 swearing an oath to defend the city, similar to the one that Elturians swear.

In addition, the refugee crisis that threatens Baldur’s Gate will have to be re-flavoured or removed. I have suggestions about that below. Reya Mantlemorn and the Hellriders will have to go in their current incarnation, but re-flavouring Reya as a Flaming Fist recruit that stumbled on something they shouldn’t and refused to look the other way would be an interesting way to keep her character in the game.

Have them meet Mortlock as usual who tells them about his brothers and how they’re supporting his mothers plans for taking over the city, but that he suspects that her association with the Cult of Zariel goes deeper than just using them as a tool. After the players finish the ‘dungeon of the dead three’ (see the recommendations on that dungeon below), have them hear about Thalmara’s successful election to the position of Grand-Duke, and the new laws being enacted.

Remove Thavius Kreeg from Vanthampur Manor, and have Thalmara not be present- indeed, make it clear that the manor is light on guards due to her moving into the more secure High-hall. Have the Lockbox be experimented on by Thurstwell because he wants to know what deal his mother has made, exactly, so that he ensure he will be spared, or so he can take advantage.

As before, if the PC’s try to expose Thalmara, she will dump the city into Avernus with them in it, and if they go to Sylvira (as before), the city will be sent to Avernus the moment they open the lockbox.

It might be interesting to hint that the Flaming Fist are actually descended from the Hellriders- scrap the Hellriders Elturian origins, and have them be the predecessors of the Flaming Fist mercenary company. This would explain Zariel’s interest in the city and the mercenary company, and could be an interesting and fun revelation for the Players.

For further advice, you might want to check out Eventyr Game’s supplement on this chapter.

Option 3: Now this is actually going to be a tale of two cities

(I will discuss this point in the future, as writing it proved more challenging than I anticipated. I think this does prove my point that having two cities in this adventure does not make terribly much sense.)

What should be considered for change in all cases

There are a few things, that for the sake of thematic consistency could be changed in all of these options for chapter one.

First, the ‘dungeon of the dead three’, while a good dungeon and solid mini-adventure in its own right, should be changed to the ‘dungeon of the infernal cult’. There’s no reason for worshipers of the dead three to be in this adventure, so swap them with cultists of Zariel, and possibly other Archdevils. Have them be working on the Orders of Thavius Kreeg or Duke Vanthampur, but don’t reveal that right away- the cultists probably only know that they’re working through Mortlock or one of Kreeg’s corrupted Hellriders. You can even keep the stats of the cultists of the dead three, just reflavour them as worshipping different devils! Have the Bane-worshippers worship Zariel, have the Myrkulites worship Mephistopheles and have the Bhaalites be devotees of Bael (You don’t even have to change the name for that one much!). If you’re running the dungeon in Baldur’s gate, you could even say that the cult wiped out a local cell of dead three worshippers, and were pretending to be them, albeit sloppily.

In addition, the sojourn to Traxigor’s tower is just unnecessary in my eyes. If the players are in Candlekeep already, filled with Archmages, why not just do the ritual there? Personally, I find Traxigor much more compelling than Sylvira as a character, but his cuteness does distract from Lulu’s. If you want to replace her with him, do so, otherwise just remove him.

If your players are struggling to find a reason for why they should be the one’s to go to Avernus, rather than the other qualified adventurers of the Sword Coast, you may want to introduce a plot point relating the adventurers to the sword of Zariel, or a create a mysterious prophecytm for them to be part of the rescue of the fallen city. You could also tie their fate to the city, letting them know that if the city falls, so do they- if they swore an oath to defend Elturel or Baldur’s gate, for example, they could suffer a point of exhaustion for every ten-day they stay away from it.

If you want to introduce a Refugee-angle into the game, you could place the adventure in the middle of the events of another module, such as the Tyranny of Dragons or Elemental Evil. Whichever city the PC’s are in should be flooded with Refugees from the countryside or towns that have been attacked, desperate for the safety high walls and armies can give.

I’ll be responding to any thoughts or criticism anyone has on these ideas, and may be expanding on them, before I begin my critique and analysis of chapter 2!

#d&d #d&d 5e #dnd 5e campaign #dnd 5th edition #dnd 5e #baldurs gate: descent into avernus #descent into avernus #vanthampur

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