Best D&D Campaigns For Baldur's Gate 3 Fans

Highlights

Dungeons and Dragons has seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to its presence in popular culture, including streaming campaigns and media like Stranger Things.
Baldur's Gate 3, a video game adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons, has further sparked interest in the tabletop game.
Various Dungeons and Dragons campaigns appeal to Baldur's Gate 3 fans with familiar themes, settings, factions, and characters, offering an immersive and similar experience.

The classic tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons and Dragons, has seen a huge resurgence in recent years thanks to its prevalence in popular culture. Streamed campaigns, like Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Dimension 20 have brought the game to a wide audience, along with the help of large media, like the television show, Stranger Things, or the Dungeons and Dragons film, Honor Among Thieves.

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In the video game scene, 2023 saw Larian's RPG, Baldur's Gate 3, achieve Game of the Year, garnering even more interest in the tabletop game, thanks to its faithful recreation of the system in a video game format. For the many Baldur's Gate 3 fans who are looking to get into the tabletop game, these are some great campaigns with some familiar faces and themes.

10 Tyranny Of Dragons

Familiar Political Intrigue And Apocalyptic Threats

Tyranny of Dragons cover — Cover art via Wizards of the Coast

Books: Hoard Of The Dragon Queen, Rise Of Tiamat
Levels: 1-7, 8-15
Release Date: August 19th & November 4th, 2014

The Tyranny of Dragons storyline, including Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat, are likely to appeal to Baldur's Gate 3 fans who particularly enjoyed the aspects of the game surrounding political intrigue and world-ending threats.

Both of those collide in Tyranny of Dragons, as players will fight to stop a dragon incursion. Players are also likely to engage with factions that they recognize from Baldur's Gate 3, such as the shady Zhentarim agents.

9 Phandelver And Below: The Shattered Obelisk

Features Mindflayers As Prominent Enemies

dnd new books 2023 roadmap lost mines of phandelver — Covert art via Wizards of the Coast

Books: Phandelver And Below: The Shattered Obelisk
Levels: 1-12
Release Date: September 19th, 2023

Phandelver and Below is a recent update to the Dungeons and Dragons starter set campaign, Lost Mines of Phandelver. While it gives a faithful update to the old starter set campaign, it also adds an extension to it. Lost Mines only takes players from levels 1-5, but Phandelver and Below takes the adventure up to level 12.

It's this extended story that is likely to appeal to Baldur's Gate 3 fans for one very particular reason: mindflayers. These aberrations are the prominent threat within Baldur's Gate 3 and are also central to the conflict in Phandelver and Below.

8 Icewind Dale: Rime Of The Frostmaiden

Further Explores Netheril And Netherese Magic

Books: Icewind Dale: Rime Of The Frostmaiden
Levels: 1-12
Release Date: September 15th, 2020

The campaign in Rime of the Frostmaiden mainly centers on the eternal winter created by the Frostmaiden herself, and the threat of an all-powerful deity is certainly nothing new to Baldur's Gate 3 players. But there are plenty of other familiar plots for players to latch onto in the Far North.

Players are likely to see a fair bit more of the duergar, encountered in Grymforge in Baldur's Gate 3. They are also likely to hear a lot about the ancient Empire of Netheril, and the Netherese magic that is still prevalent in the area, explored in Baldur's Gate 3 through the arc of the wizard companion, Gale.

7 Tales From The Yawning Portal

Familiar Names From The RPG

dnd tales from the yawning portal official art via Wizards of the Coast

Books: Tales From The Yawning Portal
Levels: 1-14
Release Date: March 24th, 2017

Tales from the Yawning Portal is an anthology collection of seven campaigns from the history of Dungeons and Dragons. Baldur's Gate 3 players may recognize the name of the Yawning Portal from a story that the wizard companion, Gale, can regale them with.

While the anthology will take players away from Baldur's Gate and into Waterdeep, Gale's home city, the Yawning Portal may not be the only familiar name for those who've played the RPG, as characters like the great wizard Elminster can also make appearances during these adventures.

6 Tomb Of Annihilation

Set In The Chult Jungle

D&D Tomb of Annihilation official cover art

Books: Tomb Of Annihilation
Levels: 1-11
Release Date: September 19th, 2017

This campaign, renowned for being one of the hardest in Dungeons and Dragons history, is also likely to appeal to Baldur's Gate 3 players if they're up for a challenge. The campaign is set in Chult, a jungle that players can visit in Baldur's Gate 3 if they upset a certain genie but, unfortunately, players can't explore it for long in the RPG.

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Tomb of Annihilation provides a chance to explore this intriguing setting in a little more depth. Alongside this, players are likely to have prominent dealings with the Harper faction, who are also quite important to the narrative in Baldur's Gate 3.

5 Out Of The Abyss

Further Explores The Underdark

Drizzt attacking a demon creature — Cover art by
Tyler Jacobson via Wizards of the Coast

Books: Out Of The Abyss
Levels: 1-15
Release Date: September 15th, 2015

Speaking of settings, the setting for Out of the Abyss is also a prominent and intriguing location within Baldur's Gate 3, the Underdark. In this adventure, the party finds themselves taken to the Underdark as captives of the drow.

Together, the party must work to escape the Underdark. During their journey, players are likely to encounter plenty of creatures that they recognize from the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3, including interactions with a colony of myconids or mushroom-folk.

4 Princes Of The Apocalypse

Face Similar Threats And Factions

Princes of the Apocalypse official cover art Wizards of the Coast Humaoids fly across a storm wrecked sky, directed by a winged humanoid.

Books: Princes Of The Apocalypse
Levels: 1-15
Release Date: April 7th, 2015

Princes of the Apocalypse is another tale of apocalyptic threats, this time from the forces of Elemental Evil. As with the threat of the Absolute in Baldur's Gate 3, the fight against Elemental Evil will see players go head-to-head with devout cultists, whose ultimate aims guarantee destruction for Faerun.

As with Baldur's Gate 3, players can expect to ally with familiar factions to tackle this threat, including the Harpers and the Zhentarim. These features combined result in a tabletop experience quite similar to Baldur's Gate 3.

3 The Wild Beyond The Witchlight

Hags And Wacky Circuses

The Wild Beyond The Witchlight Cover Art

Books: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight
Levels: 1-8
Release Date: September 21st, 2021

If a player's favorite part of Act Three in Baldur's Gate 3 is the Circus of the Last Days, then they are sure to love this Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight begins and centers around a circus called the Witchlight Carnival.

As with the circus in Baldur's Gate 3, the Witchlight Carnival is a weird and wacky place, thanks at least in part to its connection with the Feywild. For more Baldur's Gate 3 relevance, hags are a prominent part of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and players are sure to show caution around them after run-ins with Baldur's Gate 3's green hag, Auntie Ethel.

2 Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

Lots Of Recognizable Elements, Including The Quest Giver

Dungeons and Dragons Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Campaign

Books: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Levels: 1-5
Release Date: September 18th, 2018

This short little campaign would be perfect for Baldur's Gate 3 players who are hoping to dip their feet into Dungeons and Dragons. While only taking players from levels 1-5, it manages to pack in a lot of elements that Baldur's Gate 3 fans would recognize. On a minor level, players are likely to have dealings with the Zhentarim, who have a few questlines in the RPG.

The campaign also has varying villains depending on the season the DM sets it in and, if they set it in spring, the villain is an infamous beholder called Xanathar. Baldur's Gate 3 players face off against spectators, like mini beholders, so it should be impressive to encounter the real deal! On top of all this, the quest itself is given by none other than Volo, a prominent and amiable character within Baldur's Gate 3.

1 Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus

Acts As A Prequel To Baldur's Gate 3

Books: Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus
Levels: 1-13
Release Date: September 18th, 2019

The title alone could be enough to explain why this campaign is a must-play for fans of Baldur's Gate 3. This campaign once again sees players attempting to save the city of Baldur's Gate from cataclysmic ruin, this time from being dragged into the hells. This may sound familiar to Baldur's Gate 3 players, as it is actually a prequel to the game.

It is referenced a few times, notably by the tieflings in the Druid's Grove. The story centers around the city of Elturel, which has been dragged into Avernus. The party is tasked with being the heroes who save Elturel and prevent the same fate from befalling Baldur's Gate.