Summary
- Baldur’s Gate 3 boosts interest in D&D, expanding to novels and lore, creating a richer universe for fans.
- Various D&D novels like “Homeland” and “The Crystal Shard” tie in closely with the game’s locations and lore.
- Series like “Baldur’s Gate” and “Dark Sun” offer dark and gritty narratives, ideal for fans of Evil or Neutral alignments.
The popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3 has also had a positive effect on Dungeons & Dragons , the famous TTRPG on which its gameplay and rules are based. D&D is a massive franchise on its own that covers every type of media imaginable and includes everything from action figures to video games.
Books have been a part of the IP since the earliest days. These aren’t the adventuring modules or Dungeon Master guides, but sweeping and detailed fictional novels that take place in the D&D universe. Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place in a location where various adventurers have already fought some memorable battles and certain famous events that took place in Faerun, so fans who like the game would also love certain novels about D&D.
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Homeland
By R. A. Salvatore
- Publisher: TSR, Inc.
- Release Date: December 1990
- Cover Artist: Jeff Easley
Homeland is part one of The Legend of Drizzt book trilogy, which is a prequel to the Icewind Dale and Legacy of the Drow book series. Rumor has it that the famous Drow was supposed to appear in BG3, but certain licensing issues kept him out. To honor him as much as they could, the developers at Larian Studios put several references to him and his home city of Menzoberranzan into the game.
This book is the ideal place to start for those who are keen on learning more about the D&D universe as a whole and on a more focused level, the Drow. The first is about Drizzt’s early life and growing up in Drow society, including his training at the Drow Warrior Academy. The sequels, Exile and Sojourn, are the story of Drizzt’s travels in the Underdark after escaping from the Menzoberranzan authorities, which includes his own family.
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Elminster: The Making of a Mage
By Ed Greenwood
- Publisher: TSR, Inc.
- Release Date: 1994
- Cover Artist: Jeff Easley
Elminster is a recurring character who appears in various places in the D&D universe, and he also has a cameo in Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s not a huge part, but an important one that shows how important he is to the magical lore of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
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For those interested in the backstory of Elminster and how the magical side of society works in D&D, Ed Greenwood’s books are an ideal place to start. The Making of a Mage tells the story of how the now-powerful Wizard first discovered magic as a child. Spoiler alert: as a thief, he crept into a temple of Mystra with the intent of stealing from the goddess of magic, but fate had other ideas.
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The Magic of Krynn
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
- Publisher: TSR, Inc.
- Release Date: April 1987
- Cover Artist: Larry Elmore
The world of Dragonlance was created as a campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in 1993, and it has since grown into its own branch of the original IP. Wizards of the Coast has also licensed Margaret Weis’s company, Sovereign Press, to create official D&D content since 1997.
The Magic of Krynn is the first Dragonlance book, and it’s a compilation of ten short stories about the people and places of Krynn. Although Weis and Hickman are listed as the authors, there were several others who took part, and eight of the ten stories are by other authors.
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Dark Sun: The Verdant Passage
By Troy Denning
- Publisher: TSR, Inc.
- Release Date: 1991
- Cover Artist: Brom
There are a total of 16 novels set in the land of Dark Sun, and this is the first. It introduces the setting, protagonists, and main villain of the D&D novel as part of the PR for a new adventuring campaign at the time. Corrupt Wizards have turned the land of Arthas into a barren desert, and a motley crew of heroes has to fight the oppressive king Kalak of Tyr, to free the nation from his tyranny.
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These books tend to be more on the gritty and dark side of the D&D universe, so they’re even better for those who prefer to create characters of Evil or Neutral moral alignments that dominate most of the storyline. The choices that players have for party companions in BG3 are similar, and include everything from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil.
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Baldur’s Gate
By Philip Athans
- Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
- Release Date: July 1999
- Cover Artist: Wizards of the Coast original Baldur’s Gate artwork
This choice might be obvious, but some avid game players who love BG3 might not even be aware these books exist, or haven’t had time to indulge in the previous two installments and their various DLCs. Considering how big BG3 is, players might forget that the two games before it were equally impressive.
Baldur’s Gate is the start of a series that novelizes the entire story of the Baldur’s Gate games, starting with the first one that begins in Candlekeep, moving on to Shadows of Amn, and concluding with the Throne of Bhaal. Most of the locations in these books are the same as the ones in the third installment, or referenced in the books that Tav finds or the NPCs they meet.
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The Crystal Shard
By R. A. Salvatore
- Publisher: TSR, Inc.
- Release Date: 1988
- Cover Artist: Larry Elmore
Icewind Dale is one of the most popular settings in Faerun, distinguished by its polar climate. This book is the first part of a trilogy about the region. The Crystal Shard is also considered to be a continuation of the Drizzt novels, because the famous Drow is also a main character in this book and the ones that follow.
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Drizzt travels here thinking that such an isolated and harsh place would be more welcoming to the Drow. He is mostly proven wrong, but makes some friends among the Dwarves. He travels with two companions: a dwarf named Bruenor, and a halfling named Regis. The latter happens to be a member of the local city council and possesses a magical ruby that hypnotizes the other local leaders into uniting against a barbarian attack.
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Dragons of Autumn Twilight
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
- Publisher: Random House
- Release Date: November 1984
- Cover Artist: Larry Elmore
These are the first Dragonlance novels, predating The Magic of Krynn by a few years, and this book is also the first in a trilogy. It follows the same basic storyline as the Dragonlance adventuring modules, Dragons of Despair and Dragons of Flame.
The story begins with the introduction of several of the main characters, meeting again after five years of adventuring separately, with some of them absent for mysterious reasons. The Seekers, a group of cult leaders who are trying to replace the now-rejected deities of Krynn, are also introduced in this novel, and they’re the main antagonists for most of the series.
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Franchise
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Baldur’s Gate
- Released
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August 3, 2023
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