Dungeons & Dragons Descends Into Hell for New Adventure

Dungeons & Dragons is going to Hell for its next adventure. The popular tabletop role-playing game announced Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, a new adventure for Level 1 to Level 13 characters that comes out on September 17th. The new adventure starts in the city of Baldur’s Gate, a major metropolis on the Sword Coast made famous by the popular Baldur’s Gate video games. However, the action quickly moves into Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells and the primary battleground for the Blood War, a major conflict between devils and demons. Players have to navigate the fiery landscape of Avernus to prevent Baldur’s Gate from getting sucked into Avernus while battling (or avoiding) some of the many powerful entities that call the Nine Hells home.

The adventure was described by D&D designer Jeremy Crawford as “Dante’s Inferno meets Mad Max,” and will feature plenty of strange creatures and locales. D&D also teased that the players can come into control of an Infernal War Machine, a tank-like vehicle that resembles… well, a train engine out of hell. If players get lucky, they might even be able to use one of these Infernal War Machines to traverse Avernus is hellish style.

The “big bad” of Descent into Avernus is Zariel, a fallen angel turned archdevil. Zariel rules over Avernus and is one of the leaders of Hell’s forces in the Blood War, and players will move towards a confrontation with this powerful and somewhat tragic figure. Also factoring into the adventure is Arkhan the Cruel, a character created by True Blood actor Joe Manganiello. Manganiello consulted on Descent into Avernus and crafted a storyline and supporting cast for Arkhan that players will encounter during their quest to save Baldur’s Gate.

Descent into Avernus will be released everywhere on September 17th. A regular cover will be available at all retailers, while local game stores will also have copies with an alternate cover designed by Hydro74.