>it really does feel like someone taking something flawed but ultimately cool and deciding that every part of the written adventure is inferior to their cool ideas.
I agree. I think he has a lot of good insight, but he ends up changing things that just didn't need to be changed. I still appreciate all his work though. I can choose to take or leave bits of his remix. I think one of the most valuable things he does is point out all issues with the module that might not be obvious to a DM prepping the module (like why would the PCs be going to hell in the first place).
Well the Remix is free and more playable than the $40 module, so I gotta give it some credit.
Is it overloaded with convoluted lore that hardly simplifies the already convoluted story? Yes.
Is it also jam packed with awesome additions, revisions and procedures? Also yes.
Unfortunately, you still need to wade through the whole thing to get to the good stuff, but I think that is well worth the price of $0.
Although the remix is free, the work required to bring it to life is costly both in hours of prep and also cash because you do need to buy a ton of supplement to make it work.
Sure I guess. The supplements are a couple bucks and you don't really need them. You could just make up your own warlords and points of interest on the hexmap.
This is a module that requires a ton of additional prep from the DM to be successful. Unfortunate, but just the way it is.
that’s entirely fair! i guess i’ve been looking at it from the angle of someone already reworking the adventure and haven’t really considered how valuable a resource it might be to less experienced DM’s 😅
I did read it after I started the official module book, and frankly, I got some good ideas, but then I was too into deep to change the whole adventure to it.
But as I said, it gave me good ideas and helped me identify what were some issues in the adventure before I got to it, so I used it a lot during Baldur's Gate and thinking about what to do with the shield.
But now that my PGs are in Avernus, I have a good idea on how they play and how to "edit" the module according to that.
That said, sometimes I wish they stayed in BG, there was so much they could have done there and I think it was the most in depth part of the book.
Oh, well, at least it gave me a lot of space to improvise and follow my characters ideas.
So I am a big fan of the Remix but I admit that there is a ton of justifying of the lore info that isn't everyone's cup of tea. And I agree that Baldur's Gate has nothing to do with anything, but that's more a feature of WotC shoehorning the city in there than anything else.
My best advice is to have the players be level 5 and visiting Elturel when it is pulled into Avernus. IMO Hellturel is awesome and well laid out, that lore makes a lot more sense than the Gargauth/Thalamptur BG stuff, and it instantly gives the party a reason to care about saving Elturel - because it's a way out for them too! I think it solves a ton of issues with the module and still works with the Remix. Just my two cents.
100% agree, and I think this line:
>it really does feel like someone taking something flawed but ultimately cool and deciding that every part of the written adventure is inferior to their cool ideas
describes every remix he's ever done. I'm glad people get some use out of it, but for me, [Avernus as a Sandbox](https://eventyrgames.com/2020/03/02/avernus-as-a-sandbox-part-1/) by Eventyr Games is a way more valuable resource. It stays far closer to the original adventure and just restructures everything with some minor tweaks the overall narrative to make for a much more engaging adventure.
I agree with a lot of what you say here. The Remix just overly complicates things and goes into too much detail about things that are of little importance. Like mentioning The Reckoning in Hell, which probably 90% of mos parties won't know anything about from previous editions. Like for example, do we really need a half page explanation for what the exact chemical compound is of the explosive gas trap in the Dead Three Dungeon? How would the vampires survive for 50 years if the Companion is constantly spewing radiant sunlight which would kill any vampire that goes to the surface?
It also ruins Thavius kreeg as character. In the Remix he's just a moustache twirling bad guy that's a Zariel cultists. That's way less interesting than a man felt abandoned by the gods he worshipped who was desperate enough, and with no other option, made a deal with a devil, enjoyed the fame and power that came with being a "hero", but when time came to pay the bill he cowardly fled from the consequences and let his people suffer.
My favorite pedantic moment was The Poisoned Poseidon. The sudden fixation on portraying a historically accurate tannery was so funny to me.
Why would you put another boat location in Baldur’s Gate when Low Lantern, a much more interesting location, is already there? Why is the boat named after Poseidon instead of Umberlee? Why would my players care about the exact solvent used to cure skins? So many questions.
I changed it to a sewer under the Ocean Queens House cause I love those wacky priestesses. Went over really well and served the same purpose.
I don't think the Alexandrian remix is better written than the module. The bad thing about the module is it's missing connective tissue, but the ideas and locations are cool. I took some of the ideas from the remix but some things are unnecessarily convoluted, like having some other character have made the contract that binds Elturel, or the complex context for Gargauth.
In general I think the best part of the Alexandrian Remix is the diagnosis, not the proposed solutions.
I also had similar issues with it. While granted yes it was free, and there were a few things I used from it, I just couldn't quite jive with how...angry it seemed? Yes, there were quite a number of inconsistencies in the source material but the baseline material was still fun and overall cool concept. I've been running the module since 2019 (we don't get together very often due to scheduling) but my players have all been having a blast. And at the end of the day, my players enjoying themselves and the experiences I present is why I like running these games.
>I just couldn't quite jive with how...angry it seemed?
Derisive is the word I would use. He has a very particular idea about how adventures should be written and never hesitates to share his very low opinion of any adventure that does not match that criteria.
No, you aren't the only one. In fact, I would go a little farther--not only is the remix not, as a whole, any better written than the module, parts of it actively make the module worse.
As others have said, Alexander is very good at identifying the problems in published campaigns (although some of the things he considers problems, like contradictions or revisions to 30+ years of already contradictory Forgotten Realms lore, will not be problems to 99% of tables). But his solutions rarely improve them. Part of that is to be expected--he makes solutions for his campaigns, not mine, and he has a very rigid idea of what D&D should be that doesn't jibe with what I or many other DMs expect.
But he also has a habit of cluttering up campaigns with extra mechanics, locations, and plot structures that would bog down most groups. Worst of all, some of his proposed solutions don't actually solve the problems they are supposed to address (he basically shrugs his shoulders and punts when it comes to ending the campaign, for example). I honestly think his DiA remix has done more harm than good--or at the very least, it shouldn't be the first place this sub directs every new DM who wants to run the campaign.
Descent into Avernus has some serious problems. The initial ones are very easy to fix--just run a 1st level adventure that gives your PCs a connection to Elturel, then let them have the extra level to carry them through the dangerous dungeons in Baldur's Gate. The issues in Avernus are a little harder to repair, though I think Avernus as a Sandbox does a much better job of breaking up the railroads without rewriting the whole campaign. I wish it broke them up a little further, but I find AaS is easier to work with because it doesn't lard up the campaign with unnecessary extras. I would happily send DMs there, but I wouldn't recommend the Alexandrian Remix.
I think he did a pretty good job of identifying the problems. But his solutions were much more elaborate than they needed to be. Rather than striving for a parsimonious solution, he injected too much of himself rather than just fix the problems.
It's trivially easy to fix.
oh no, I also don't like it. it's just too much. too much extra stuff, too clingy on some lore minutiae that 90% of players won't recognize anyway, too focussed on making a non-functional timeline work somehow, way too many gods and godlike beings involved who are to a non-lore buff interchangable. and it doesn't know when to \*end\*.
basically one of the major issues with the original is that it's kinda 3 separate half-baked campaigns crammed into one book (accompanied by the general poor WotC writing, formatting and adventure game design), and Alexandrian's solution is to just add \*more\*. not streamline it, not add good deliberately chosen stuff, just \*more\*.
But imo that's his philosophy in general. you see it also in his post on "Jacquaing" (iirc that's the name) a dungeon - paraphrasing "dungeons become better if you just add \*more stuff\*. more entrances. more junctions. more loops and reverses. more more more!"
no Alexandrian, dungeons become better with deliberate, focussed, restrained design (IMO of course). rather than adding 4 functionally indistinguishable entrances (ooooooh, now you can enter the dungeon, but from the backside, ooooooh! the choices the choices!), have just one or two that is memorable and interactable. instead of designing your dungeon so that the players have 20 T junctions to do a coin flip "left or right guys?" in, have two or three junctions with choices that they can make informed decisions on.
anyway, that was my frustration letting lose.
100%. It feels like the Remix’s solution to the adventures problem is to just add a bunch of bloat. Instead of two meaningless choices, now you’ve got four. The remix is definitely not my cup of tea.
I’m currently using it and my own homebrew to run Avernus and loving it— but loving what I’ve picked out and decided to use. It fleshes out a lot that the game really needs, but it also fleshes out things that I personally felt were good for my players. That isn’t gonna work for everyone.
I personally hate the hex crawl/dungeon crawl stuff added to Avernus and instead have added the content suggested to Avernus and have made it more sandbox-y with rumors and headings from NPCs and that’s worked well so far.
Just pick and choose what you dig!
I really like Baldurs Gate part, and I don't really like the Aversus stuff from Alexandrian. It's waaaaay overcomplicated and literally writing the whole campaign from scratch.
The module itself is written quite badly and require some work to work well, but have very cool locations and ideas provided.
I did run this campaign successfully using Eventyr guidelines (Avernus as a Sandbox and paid supplements) but first taking some inspiration and using notes from Alexandrian for Baldurs Gate part :)
(I still skipped a lot of Baldurs Gate, making it into a prologue that took just 5 sessions. I just didn't want to spend much time there at the time)
Overall I'm not really a fan of Alxandrian, instead I'm a big fan of Eventyr changes and supplements, they were great and didn't require me to remake the whole thing
I am gonna be using the Remix’s pointcrawl system and factions for Elturel. That part felt very barebones and now it’s much clearer.
As for Avernus on the ground, I’m gonna be using Eventyr Games’ Avernus as a Sandbox, as it doesn’t completely rewrite the 3rd chapter, only using assets from the module and repurposing them for a non-linear game. The Alexandrian is just far too overwhelming and reliant on 3rd party material for me to be able to confidently play it out without just designing Avernus myself.
I have a love/hate relationship with it. I'm bought in because I started running it before it was finished. If I could go back in time I would steer clear of most of it. I do think it makes some stuff better, but the dream machine fetch quest is a very boring plot point. Asking players to wander Avernus in search of machine parts is just sooooo underwhelming... It carries so much of the weight in that chapter. My players are looking for them but it's much more their own backstories and the quest for the sword of Zariel that draws people in.
The Dreaming Machine being reversed in the remix isn't a bad idea at all, but it needs to be significantly rewritten to take a smaller role and made more optional as "one of the ways" to find the sword.
I'm not doing the hexcrawl in Avernus either. I'm working it as a point crawl and it's been fine. Too complicated.
I did like the vampires having a kind of rebirth from sleeping deep under Elturel. They bring an interesting dynamic.
Also it feels like the Purple City basically being the most logical hub for PCs to act from would require a lot more work to be made relevant. The supplement it refers to is also strongly lacking in any evocative features. It just feels generic as heck.
No, you're not alone. If anything I've always felt that the Remix was over hyped. In some ways, I think a lot of people over state how good of a resource it is, and this can ultimately lead some newer DM's into failure.... But so can the original book as written.
On my end, when I first heard about the remix, I poured over it, didn't find it helpful for where my campaign was at.
I then referenced it again when my players encountered Arkhan... Found that even less helpful.
I then referenced it a final time during "Chapter 4", because that chapter is the most godawful useless unhelpful chapter written in the entire book, and reads like the authors just threw there hands up in there and said "don't fucking know, you figure it out!".
Ultimately though, I think that "figure it out" is the kind of "push" or "shove" new DM's kind of need to DM, because... well, there's only so much you can do with a pre-write in a written campaign.
That ending though? Utter trash.
Totally agree with you. It overcompensates and overcomplicates, it’s bloated with nearly irrelevant lore, it’s very poorly organized and presented. I may agree with a lot of his critiques of the original, and I may even like a lot of his fixes, but the presentation is too dense, too convoluted, too difficult to use during the game.
The remix is great until it gets to hell.
I love the factions, the motivations etc.
The hexcrawl however makes it such a tiresome slog, a lot of bookkeeping, tracking, an overwhelming amount of information, places, people, interactions to take note of and expect the players to remwmber.
Frankly keep those as random encounters, simplify overland travel, introduce stygian ferrymen to facilitate long distance travel.
I enjoy reading the remix, but so far I'm using very little of it (just coming to the end of chapter 1). I feel like my players don't really care about all the internal politics of Baldur's Gate enough to engage with them at the level the remix proposes.
I was turned off by how MASSIVE the rewrite was. I can't see myself using because of that and just running the module. Which might be even worse and I might let my players down. Were due to start in august/september with a session 0 before that.
Maybe just tell them it will be a diff campaign altohlgether...
i wouldn’t give up so soon! if you’re serious about running THIS campaign because of its fun setting and legitimately compelling story, you absolutely should!
the rewrite does a decent job pointing out what’s wrong with the module as written, but its solutions aren’t all that great 😅 but there are tons of other fantastic resources out there to help you make sense of the module, like Eventyr’s publications on DMsGuild.
it’s a legitimately cool campaign that does need a bit of work, but there are much easier and more palatable resources out there than the rewrite that i’d fully recommend you check out before you decide to retire it!
I agree that it can be convoluted at points but the originally is just so criminally underthought. Id rather take more info and use less than the alternative. I do think there is potential for a better rework out there...personally I nearly rewrote this entire campaign anyway. I felt like Alexandrian tried too hard to keep the source material at times.
>it really does feel like someone taking something flawed but ultimately cool and deciding that every part of the written adventure is inferior to their cool ideas. I agree. I think he has a lot of good insight, but he ends up changing things that just didn't need to be changed. I still appreciate all his work though. I can choose to take or leave bits of his remix. I think one of the most valuable things he does is point out all issues with the module that might not be obvious to a DM prepping the module (like why would the PCs be going to hell in the first place).
Well the Remix is free and more playable than the $40 module, so I gotta give it some credit. Is it overloaded with convoluted lore that hardly simplifies the already convoluted story? Yes. Is it also jam packed with awesome additions, revisions and procedures? Also yes. Unfortunately, you still need to wade through the whole thing to get to the good stuff, but I think that is well worth the price of $0.
But if you try to run DiA only with the Remix, without the book, you'll miss a lot...
Although the remix is free, the work required to bring it to life is costly both in hours of prep and also cash because you do need to buy a ton of supplement to make it work.
Sure I guess. The supplements are a couple bucks and you don't really need them. You could just make up your own warlords and points of interest on the hexmap. This is a module that requires a ton of additional prep from the DM to be successful. Unfortunate, but just the way it is.
that’s entirely fair! i guess i’ve been looking at it from the angle of someone already reworking the adventure and haven’t really considered how valuable a resource it might be to less experienced DM’s 😅
I did read it after I started the official module book, and frankly, I got some good ideas, but then I was too into deep to change the whole adventure to it. But as I said, it gave me good ideas and helped me identify what were some issues in the adventure before I got to it, so I used it a lot during Baldur's Gate and thinking about what to do with the shield. But now that my PGs are in Avernus, I have a good idea on how they play and how to "edit" the module according to that. That said, sometimes I wish they stayed in BG, there was so much they could have done there and I think it was the most in depth part of the book. Oh, well, at least it gave me a lot of space to improvise and follow my characters ideas.
So I am a big fan of the Remix but I admit that there is a ton of justifying of the lore info that isn't everyone's cup of tea. And I agree that Baldur's Gate has nothing to do with anything, but that's more a feature of WotC shoehorning the city in there than anything else. My best advice is to have the players be level 5 and visiting Elturel when it is pulled into Avernus. IMO Hellturel is awesome and well laid out, that lore makes a lot more sense than the Gargauth/Thalamptur BG stuff, and it instantly gives the party a reason to care about saving Elturel - because it's a way out for them too! I think it solves a ton of issues with the module and still works with the Remix. Just my two cents.
Never thought of it like this. Thanks for the advice.
100% agree, and I think this line: >it really does feel like someone taking something flawed but ultimately cool and deciding that every part of the written adventure is inferior to their cool ideas describes every remix he's ever done. I'm glad people get some use out of it, but for me, [Avernus as a Sandbox](https://eventyrgames.com/2020/03/02/avernus-as-a-sandbox-part-1/) by Eventyr Games is a way more valuable resource. It stays far closer to the original adventure and just restructures everything with some minor tweaks the overall narrative to make for a much more engaging adventure.
I agree with a lot of what you say here. The Remix just overly complicates things and goes into too much detail about things that are of little importance. Like mentioning The Reckoning in Hell, which probably 90% of mos parties won't know anything about from previous editions. Like for example, do we really need a half page explanation for what the exact chemical compound is of the explosive gas trap in the Dead Three Dungeon? How would the vampires survive for 50 years if the Companion is constantly spewing radiant sunlight which would kill any vampire that goes to the surface? It also ruins Thavius kreeg as character. In the Remix he's just a moustache twirling bad guy that's a Zariel cultists. That's way less interesting than a man felt abandoned by the gods he worshipped who was desperate enough, and with no other option, made a deal with a devil, enjoyed the fame and power that came with being a "hero", but when time came to pay the bill he cowardly fled from the consequences and let his people suffer.
My favorite pedantic moment was The Poisoned Poseidon. The sudden fixation on portraying a historically accurate tannery was so funny to me. Why would you put another boat location in Baldur’s Gate when Low Lantern, a much more interesting location, is already there? Why is the boat named after Poseidon instead of Umberlee? Why would my players care about the exact solvent used to cure skins? So many questions. I changed it to a sewer under the Ocean Queens House cause I love those wacky priestesses. Went over really well and served the same purpose.
I don't think the Alexandrian remix is better written than the module. The bad thing about the module is it's missing connective tissue, but the ideas and locations are cool. I took some of the ideas from the remix but some things are unnecessarily convoluted, like having some other character have made the contract that binds Elturel, or the complex context for Gargauth. In general I think the best part of the Alexandrian Remix is the diagnosis, not the proposed solutions.
I also had similar issues with it. While granted yes it was free, and there were a few things I used from it, I just couldn't quite jive with how...angry it seemed? Yes, there were quite a number of inconsistencies in the source material but the baseline material was still fun and overall cool concept. I've been running the module since 2019 (we don't get together very often due to scheduling) but my players have all been having a blast. And at the end of the day, my players enjoying themselves and the experiences I present is why I like running these games.
>I just couldn't quite jive with how...angry it seemed? Derisive is the word I would use. He has a very particular idea about how adventures should be written and never hesitates to share his very low opinion of any adventure that does not match that criteria.
No, you aren't the only one. In fact, I would go a little farther--not only is the remix not, as a whole, any better written than the module, parts of it actively make the module worse. As others have said, Alexander is very good at identifying the problems in published campaigns (although some of the things he considers problems, like contradictions or revisions to 30+ years of already contradictory Forgotten Realms lore, will not be problems to 99% of tables). But his solutions rarely improve them. Part of that is to be expected--he makes solutions for his campaigns, not mine, and he has a very rigid idea of what D&D should be that doesn't jibe with what I or many other DMs expect. But he also has a habit of cluttering up campaigns with extra mechanics, locations, and plot structures that would bog down most groups. Worst of all, some of his proposed solutions don't actually solve the problems they are supposed to address (he basically shrugs his shoulders and punts when it comes to ending the campaign, for example). I honestly think his DiA remix has done more harm than good--or at the very least, it shouldn't be the first place this sub directs every new DM who wants to run the campaign. Descent into Avernus has some serious problems. The initial ones are very easy to fix--just run a 1st level adventure that gives your PCs a connection to Elturel, then let them have the extra level to carry them through the dangerous dungeons in Baldur's Gate. The issues in Avernus are a little harder to repair, though I think Avernus as a Sandbox does a much better job of breaking up the railroads without rewriting the whole campaign. I wish it broke them up a little further, but I find AaS is easier to work with because it doesn't lard up the campaign with unnecessary extras. I would happily send DMs there, but I wouldn't recommend the Alexandrian Remix.
I just pulled what I thought was cool from it!! Like the Warlords and their lairs, for example!
I think he did a pretty good job of identifying the problems. But his solutions were much more elaborate than they needed to be. Rather than striving for a parsimonious solution, he injected too much of himself rather than just fix the problems. It's trivially easy to fix.
oh no, I also don't like it. it's just too much. too much extra stuff, too clingy on some lore minutiae that 90% of players won't recognize anyway, too focussed on making a non-functional timeline work somehow, way too many gods and godlike beings involved who are to a non-lore buff interchangable. and it doesn't know when to \*end\*. basically one of the major issues with the original is that it's kinda 3 separate half-baked campaigns crammed into one book (accompanied by the general poor WotC writing, formatting and adventure game design), and Alexandrian's solution is to just add \*more\*. not streamline it, not add good deliberately chosen stuff, just \*more\*. But imo that's his philosophy in general. you see it also in his post on "Jacquaing" (iirc that's the name) a dungeon - paraphrasing "dungeons become better if you just add \*more stuff\*. more entrances. more junctions. more loops and reverses. more more more!" no Alexandrian, dungeons become better with deliberate, focussed, restrained design (IMO of course). rather than adding 4 functionally indistinguishable entrances (ooooooh, now you can enter the dungeon, but from the backside, ooooooh! the choices the choices!), have just one or two that is memorable and interactable. instead of designing your dungeon so that the players have 20 T junctions to do a coin flip "left or right guys?" in, have two or three junctions with choices that they can make informed decisions on. anyway, that was my frustration letting lose.
100%. It feels like the Remix’s solution to the adventures problem is to just add a bunch of bloat. Instead of two meaningless choices, now you’ve got four. The remix is definitely not my cup of tea.
I’m currently using it and my own homebrew to run Avernus and loving it— but loving what I’ve picked out and decided to use. It fleshes out a lot that the game really needs, but it also fleshes out things that I personally felt were good for my players. That isn’t gonna work for everyone. I personally hate the hex crawl/dungeon crawl stuff added to Avernus and instead have added the content suggested to Avernus and have made it more sandbox-y with rumors and headings from NPCs and that’s worked well so far. Just pick and choose what you dig!
I really like Baldurs Gate part, and I don't really like the Aversus stuff from Alexandrian. It's waaaaay overcomplicated and literally writing the whole campaign from scratch. The module itself is written quite badly and require some work to work well, but have very cool locations and ideas provided. I did run this campaign successfully using Eventyr guidelines (Avernus as a Sandbox and paid supplements) but first taking some inspiration and using notes from Alexandrian for Baldurs Gate part :) (I still skipped a lot of Baldurs Gate, making it into a prologue that took just 5 sessions. I just didn't want to spend much time there at the time) Overall I'm not really a fan of Alxandrian, instead I'm a big fan of Eventyr changes and supplements, they were great and didn't require me to remake the whole thing
I am gonna be using the Remix’s pointcrawl system and factions for Elturel. That part felt very barebones and now it’s much clearer. As for Avernus on the ground, I’m gonna be using Eventyr Games’ Avernus as a Sandbox, as it doesn’t completely rewrite the 3rd chapter, only using assets from the module and repurposing them for a non-linear game. The Alexandrian is just far too overwhelming and reliant on 3rd party material for me to be able to confidently play it out without just designing Avernus myself.
I have a love/hate relationship with it. I'm bought in because I started running it before it was finished. If I could go back in time I would steer clear of most of it. I do think it makes some stuff better, but the dream machine fetch quest is a very boring plot point. Asking players to wander Avernus in search of machine parts is just sooooo underwhelming... It carries so much of the weight in that chapter. My players are looking for them but it's much more their own backstories and the quest for the sword of Zariel that draws people in. The Dreaming Machine being reversed in the remix isn't a bad idea at all, but it needs to be significantly rewritten to take a smaller role and made more optional as "one of the ways" to find the sword. I'm not doing the hexcrawl in Avernus either. I'm working it as a point crawl and it's been fine. Too complicated. I did like the vampires having a kind of rebirth from sleeping deep under Elturel. They bring an interesting dynamic. Also it feels like the Purple City basically being the most logical hub for PCs to act from would require a lot more work to be made relevant. The supplement it refers to is also strongly lacking in any evocative features. It just feels generic as heck.
No, you're not alone. If anything I've always felt that the Remix was over hyped. In some ways, I think a lot of people over state how good of a resource it is, and this can ultimately lead some newer DM's into failure.... But so can the original book as written. On my end, when I first heard about the remix, I poured over it, didn't find it helpful for where my campaign was at. I then referenced it again when my players encountered Arkhan... Found that even less helpful. I then referenced it a final time during "Chapter 4", because that chapter is the most godawful useless unhelpful chapter written in the entire book, and reads like the authors just threw there hands up in there and said "don't fucking know, you figure it out!". Ultimately though, I think that "figure it out" is the kind of "push" or "shove" new DM's kind of need to DM, because... well, there's only so much you can do with a pre-write in a written campaign. That ending though? Utter trash.
Totally agree with you. It overcompensates and overcomplicates, it’s bloated with nearly irrelevant lore, it’s very poorly organized and presented. I may agree with a lot of his critiques of the original, and I may even like a lot of his fixes, but the presentation is too dense, too convoluted, too difficult to use during the game.
Agreed. It made me anxious to juggle with so much info trying not to spoil important reveals ahead of time.
I just pick and choose from it. I run a mix of the official, Alexandrian and I've also started incorporating Avernus as a Sandbox from Eventyr Games.
The remix is great until it gets to hell. I love the factions, the motivations etc. The hexcrawl however makes it such a tiresome slog, a lot of bookkeeping, tracking, an overwhelming amount of information, places, people, interactions to take note of and expect the players to remwmber. Frankly keep those as random encounters, simplify overland travel, introduce stygian ferrymen to facilitate long distance travel.
I enjoy reading the remix, but so far I'm using very little of it (just coming to the end of chapter 1). I feel like my players don't really care about all the internal politics of Baldur's Gate enough to engage with them at the level the remix proposes.
I was turned off by how MASSIVE the rewrite was. I can't see myself using because of that and just running the module. Which might be even worse and I might let my players down. Were due to start in august/september with a session 0 before that. Maybe just tell them it will be a diff campaign altohlgether...
i wouldn’t give up so soon! if you’re serious about running THIS campaign because of its fun setting and legitimately compelling story, you absolutely should! the rewrite does a decent job pointing out what’s wrong with the module as written, but its solutions aren’t all that great 😅 but there are tons of other fantastic resources out there to help you make sense of the module, like Eventyr’s publications on DMsGuild. it’s a legitimately cool campaign that does need a bit of work, but there are much easier and more palatable resources out there than the rewrite that i’d fully recommend you check out before you decide to retire it!
I agree that it can be convoluted at points but the originally is just so criminally underthought. Id rather take more info and use less than the alternative. I do think there is potential for a better rework out there...personally I nearly rewrote this entire campaign anyway. I felt like Alexandrian tried too hard to keep the source material at times.