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Betrayal coming to Baldur’s Gate

If you’ve ever played Betrayal at House on the Hill, then you know it’s almost like playing every B-grade horror movie created.  It’s a great experience, and no one cares whether you’ve won or lost.  Now the same engine will be integrated with a Dungeons & Dragons setting with Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate.

The shadow of Bhaal has come over Baldur’s Gate, summoning with it a brand new board game from Dungeons & Dragons and Avalon Hill.  Based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill, Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, gives fans the chance to build, explore, and hopefully survive in the iconic city.

With design led by Mike Mearls and the Wizards of the Coast team, players must work with their fellow adventurers to survive the deadly terrors and hideous threats that lurk in the shadows of this fearsome city. That is, until some horrific evil turns one—or more—of them against each other making it a race for survival.

Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate includes:

  • 50 brand new scenarios set in the world of the Forgotten Realms
  • 47 new location tiles, including buildings, streets, and catacombs
  • 86 new cards, including 22 items, 45 events, and 13 omens
  • 18 new monsters to encounter including minotaurs, beholders, and dragons
  • 12 D&D adventurers including a dwarf barbarian, half-orc paladin, and human sorcerer
  • 6 plastic adventurer figures

The 50 scenarios act like “mini-campaigns” and bring adventurers together to battle plenty of foes familiar to D&D fans and gamers. Some fun examples include contending against a Sphere of Annihilation hell-bent on destruction, a hungry slaad devouring you from the inside, and a suddenly-sprouted second head that wants to be in charge.

“When we sat down to talk through the design for this game, Baldur’s Gate made perfect sense,” says Mike Mearls, Senior Manager of Design & Development for Dungeons & Dragons. “Not only is it one of D&D’s most infamous cities, but the thieves, assassins, and other scoundrels that lurk in its shadowy alleys provided a perfect fit for Betrayal’s game play.”

Beloved for its re-playability, Betrayal at House on the Hill has been touted as one of the “Best Horror Board Games” of all time. Like Dungeons & Dragons, the story you tell in one game is unique and original to your party’s experience.

“The core of both D&D and Betrayal is story, exploration, and (mostly) working together so this was a pretty seamless mash-up,” said Shelly Mazzanoble, Brand Manager for Avalon Hill. “Because this is a D&D experience, you’ll see more cooperative haunts than in the original game. But it’s also Baldur’s Gate so there is definitely some double-dealing treachery going down.”

Fans attending Origins Game Fair next week will get a chance to be among the first to preview the game. A limited number of seats are available on a first come first serve basis in the D&D gaming area on the 3rd floor of the Hyatt.

I have to say that I’m anxiously looking forward to seeing what the scenarios created for this game are.  If you get a chance to see it at Origins, then check it out if you can!

Senior Tabletop Editor | [email protected]

While not working as a Database Administrator, Keith Schleicher has been associated with Gaming Trend since 2003. While his love of video games started with the Telestar Alpha (a pong console with four different games), he trule started playing video games when he received the ill-fated TI-99/4A. While the Speech Synthesizer seemed to be the height of gaming, eventually a 286 AT computer running at 8/12 Hz and a CGA monitor would be his outlet for a while. Eventually he’d graduate to 386, 486, Pentium, and Athlon systems, building some of those systems while doing some hardware reviews and attending Comdex. With the release of the Dreamcast that started his conversion to the console world. Since then he has acquired an NES, SNES, PS2, PS3, PSP, GBA-SP, DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One S, Gamecube, Wii, Switch, and Oculus Quest 2. While not playing video games he enjoys bowling, reading, playing board games, listening to music, and watching movies and TV. He originally hails from Wisconsin but is now living in Michigan with his wife and sons.

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