It's All Going To Hell | Baldur's Gate | Descent Into Avernus
Elturel is gone. Baldur's Gate is next. The only door left open leads down.
$25.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Weekly / Monday - 10:30 PM UTC
Jul 27 / Session 3
Session Duration / 3 hours
5 / 6 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
5/6
About the adventure
Two cities are dying. You try everything. In the end, the only thing that's left may be a descent. šļø You have skin in the game before you've picked a class feature. Elturel's vault has been robbed, and your party gets a narrow window to run the thieves down. Succeed, and it's a peace treaty in the making between Baldur's Gate and the Theocracy of Eltergard. Fail, and you've started a war. That's the kind of pressure a first session should carry. š Then you're not chasing the story, you're fleeing it. When IT happens, your run to Baldur's Gate plays like a disaster movie, and that's a different kind of tension than a dungeon crawl: the city behind you has gone, and the one ahead isn't safe either. šļø Baldur's Gate is where the deal-makers earn their keep. The alliances you cut, the secrets you dig up, the factions you turn against each other: none of it is filler, all of it is what keeps you alive later. If your favorite part of the game is the negotiation, not the initiative roll, this is your arc. š„ And when you finally descend, it means something. Hell isn't the reward. It's the last option left. You carry every alliance, grudge, and secret from the surface down with you. Tens of thousands of souls hang on what your party uncovers, who you trust, and what you're willing to trade. This isn't a table that races to Hell. But if you're looking for one where the descent means something because you spent two acts watching exactly what's at stake, this is it.
Meet the Game Master
4.9
(170)
1 year on StartPlaying
1256 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Knows the Rules, Storytelling
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
I have been GMing and playing in this great hobby now for 40 years and as my picture shows, I am still loving it :) Life is a rich tapestry and I try to fit into it as much as I can. I take this attitude into the games that I play and run, and so I always seem to be running something. I like to think that my life and gaming experiences provide benefits to the games that I run and therefore to the experiences that the players have. I am always looking to improve and welcome any feedback; if you don't grow, you decay. I hope we can grow together.
View Profile āCharacter creation
Creating your character
You'll build your Hero on D&D Beyond (free for players) using the 2024 D&D 5e rules, which I provide as part of the game. No purchases needed. Ever. Here's how it works: 1. Book your seat. 2. Get your Discord invite and access to your dedicated game channel: setting links, approved content, rule clarifications, all in one place. 3. Build your Hero. Ask questions in the channel; I answer fast. 4. Bring it to Session 0, where we shape backgrounds together as a group. One thing I'll ask of you: give your Hero a reason to be here. Not a backstory novel. A reason. Who do they owe? What do they want? What would they never do? That last one is the interesting one. Want to go deeper on background after Session 0? The Discord channel is always open.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Four things you need: - ā A microphone separate from your speakers. Don't have one? Ask me, I'll point you to a cheap good one. - ā A PC or Mac that runs Foundry VTT reliably. - ā Free accounts: D&D Beyond and Discord. - ā A group agreement on who takes notes. Even bullet points. Future you will be grateful, and my campaign website has your back either way. Three things that cost nothing: Remember this is a game. Be clear about what you want without being discourteous. Come ready to learn from the table as well as teach it.
What Egonaught brings to the table
What you get at my table - š A GM with 40 years behind the screen who still loves every minute of it. - š A story you live inside, not one you watch. Film noir bones. Horror in the walls. - š Talking that matters. Combat is an option. It is not the option. Scheme, investigate, bargain, deceive. NPCs assume you'll speak first; most of them don't want to die either. - š Fights that mean something. Less frequent. Often brutal. When the steel comes out, someone miscalculated. - š A world that remembers. Significant NPCs act on their own interests and respond to yours. Your choices change the game-world, and it does not forget. - š Your own campaign website with a summary of every session: what happened, who you met, which threads are still open. Miss a week, forget a name, lose the plot? It's written down and waiting. Few tables offer this. Mine do. - š As many voices as I can manage. I am not a voice actor AND I will make sure you can feel who's speaking. - š Everything on Foundry VTT: rules, maps, tokens, audio. Everything on D&D Beyond: the full 2024 rules. Everything on Discord: voice, text, and the community between sessions. Heroes are forged in the white heat of adversity. In the beginning, you might be nobodies. Session by session, you rise to meet a challenge the Gods themselves have set before you. I will cheer you on, but silently. The Gods are known to be jealous masters :)
Homebrew rules
The community area on our discord server contains a range of articles on the new D&D 5.5 rules and how we will make rulings on them. This is an open area where all players can discuss and contribute in turn. Specific examples of homebrew includes: - āļø Heroic Inspiration can be gifted between characters. Because heroism shared is heroism doubled, and hoarded Inspiration helps no one. - āļø Perkins Crits. Your critical hit maximises the extra damage die. When you land the big one, it feels big. - āļø Death Saves are rolled blind. You won't know how close the edge is, and neither will the table. Bless matters. Exhaustion matters. Fear matters. All rolls revealed once your Hero is out of danger. Everything else runs on the 2024 rules, with our table's rulings documented in the Discord community area, where every player can read, question, and contribute. We do not support custom homebrew for individual players outside of reskinning of existing material.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Egonaught creates a safe table
Session 0 is a full-length session, and it earns its runtime. First half: the table talks. Experience levels, the themes in the material ahead, anything that might land hard for anyone, and exactly how our safety tools will handle it. You'll know the shape of the story before you step into it. Second half: the Heroes talk. Characters introduced, connections drawn, a party formed before the first die is cast. After that, the rhythm holds. A few minutes of above-the-table check-in at the start of a session when it's needed. A 5-10 minute break halfway through every session, because three hours is a long time to hold a story and a bladder. Stars & Wishes at the close of every session, so I know what's landing and what to feed. And the occasional check-in from me, because that's what a decent table does.
Content warnings
Safety tools used