Now, this here took me by complete surprise. James Ohlen, former Bioware lead designer for CRPG pearls like Baldur’s Gate I + II, Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age:Origins has become a tabletop rpg publisher and together with another former Bioware employee (Jesse Sky), he just released kind of a sequel for BG 1 in the Dungeon Masters‘ Guild. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate starts a year after the event of that game, when Zhentarim Forces try to fill the power vacuum left by the demise of the Baalspawn Sarevok. Written for 5E, this 160-page adventure serves as an entry point to the Forgotten Realms, bringing new heroes from level 1 to 6 during its course. Including stats for some of the games‘ most popular NPCs, it also comes with a Sword Coast campaign guide, detailing the city and its surroundings.

Immediately bought the digital version of this product (it is downloading while I write this) and haven’t been as excited as now for a very long time. To this day, I think that the BG series has been one of the best gaming experiences of all times (if not for Planescape: Torment, I’d rank it as THE best) and to get an adventure written by the guy who helped bring those game to live makes me giddy with anticipation.  From the looks of it, I already like what I see (the artwork for the NPCs is awesome, I immediately fell in love with Jaheira once again), and I’ll certainly write a full review after I’ve read it.

And this, when I just announced my departure from the Sword Coast yesterday, I guess Tymora has other plans for me.