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Shield of the Hidden Lord

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"It was a great experience for me and my players!"

"My party had a blast playing it..."

"I loved this adventure... Thank you!"

Generations ago, the most dangerous artifact in the world was lost beneath the streets of Baldur's Gate. Now it's your job to go and find it...

Shield of the Hidden Lord is an 8-10 hour Dungeons & Dragons adventure for characters of 1st to 4th level. It expands upon the material presented in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, but can be played on its own or as part of any D&D campaign.

This is a DMs Guild Adepts product. The DMs Guild Adept Program was started and is managed by Wizards of the Coast. It brings together some of the best talents creating for the DMs Guild for creative development. DMs Guild Adepts products are identified by the gold ampersand logo.

This adventure is Adventurers League legal!

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Reviews (10)
Discussions (17)
Customer avatar
fred P April 26, 2021 11:53 am UTC
Hi MT Black,

I just mapped your module for a patron and I was wondering if you would be interested in adding my maps tp your module. We could discuss on the terms.
https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/comments/myul4m/shield_of_the_hidden_lord_module_maps/
PogS
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Customer avatar
M.T. B April 26, 2021 9:39 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Fred,

Those maps look great! At this stage, I'm not looking to add anything to the adventure as I published it some time ago and I'm focusing on new stuff. But I hope your maps see a lot of use!

cheers,
MTB
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Customer avatar
fred P April 27, 2021 10:02 am UTC
Ok if you ever need maps for your modules, I can ask me ;)
Cheers,
PogS
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Customer avatar
Declan F November 04, 2021 9:24 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Why have you more than doubled the scale? The original temple upper (in the module) was about 120ft north to south, whilst yours is 265ft. Some of the room sizes are now ludicrous (for example the 40ft by 80ft latrine !!).

The obvious option would be to ignore your scaling and just double the size of the character tokens, but if I do that all the furniture on your map is now scaled for midgets.

I'm going to be honest. Because of the serious scaling issues the original black and while maps are far better.
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Customer avatar
fred P April 23, 2022 3:32 pm UTC
I don't understand your comment. To me I used the exact same scale as the original map.
Customer avatar
Robert H April 11, 2021 10:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Quick question. Avoiding spoilers as much as possible. In V36 of the DiA adventure, what is the person who is supposed to be in the room doing if the item in that room is removed?
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Customer avatar
M.T. B April 11, 2021 11:27 pm UTC
CREATOR
That's a good question. I'd suggest removing him from the room altogether. Either that, or have him genuinely be a prisoner of the other guy, as he claims.
Customer avatar
Steven T March 15, 2021 9:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is the Magic item (Shield of the Hidden Lord) Legal for AL players to get in current AL guidance for Historic. Same goes for the dagger?
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Customer avatar
M.T. B April 11, 2021 11:28 pm UTC
CREATOR
I'm not sure as I'm not on top of the new historical rules. I'd recommend sending an email to the AL admins
Customer avatar
Francesco Valvo - June 27, 2020 5:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
At the end of chapter 4, "if the adventurers head straight back to the ladder in area P1, they can stay ahead of the pursuit. If they take a wrong turn, they may be in trouble."
I don't see how to run this part. The adventures won't take the wrong turn, they know their way. How to make the pursuit entertaining? Should I add some complications?
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Customer avatar
M.T. B June 27, 2020 7:47 pm UTC
CREATOR
It depends on how you do your mapping. Some DMs don't give players maps, and some players are poor at mapping, so folk could get into trouble in that instance.

Assuming you give your players a perfect map, there are still some ways to run this and provide tension. One good way is to do it as a 4e-style skill challenge (you can google that up if you are not familiar with it). A few people have done that and it is very effective
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Customer avatar
Francesco Valvo - July 04, 2020 8:31 am UTC
PURCHASER
My idea was to use something like the Pathfinder Chase Cards, so thanks for pointing me to the right direction.

I knew nothing about the 4e-style skill challenge. I will definitely use it tomorrow to have my players leave the catacombs, and I will surely use skill challenges in many future scenarios. Thanks again for the useful tip.
Customer avatar
Declan F June 19, 2020 11:32 am UTC
PURCHASER
Its a great addition to BG:DitA chapter 1, but I'm curious - why is this module optimized for characters of level 3, when its intended to take place after 'Under the Villa' which probably means your characters are level 4 (possibly higher if you're using XP and not milestones).
Customer avatar
Doug A June 06, 2020 3:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This was on the release: Someone asked about the AL Adventure code and the AL guidance.
DDHC-DIA-02: Shield of the Hidden Lord
All gp rewards are replaced with the guidance in Adventurers League campaign documentation.

If the characters have already surrendered the Shield, they may not participate in this adventure. Under no circumstances can two versions of the shield be present in a single party.

Source: Adventure League .org site
Customer avatar
Mark G May 27, 2020 4:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm currently planning a DiA campaign and I think this is going to be an excellent addition. In case anyone would like to make use of them, I've created some maps suitable for VTT use. I'm no mapping expert, but I did try as much as possible to stay true to the descriptions in the text. https://www.dropbox.com/s/pausfc6gn8mlk3u/SotHL_maps.zip?dl=0
Customer avatar
Vilma S May 23, 2020 4:51 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hello, any news on AL legality ? Thanks
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Customer avatar
M.T. B June 05, 2020 9:45 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yes! Now approved.
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Customer avatar
Joshua B June 06, 2020 7:41 am UTC
PURCHASER
Did they assign an adventure code? If they that recently approved it, there’s no way it’s in a content catalog, but I have a bunch of adventures, so I need to be meticulous with my organization to be able to find anything, and getting the adventure code would be quite helpful. Thanks.
Customer avatar
Wayne G May 15, 2020 2:38 pm UTC
PURCHASER
In general, an excellent module which adds a LOT to the bloated but vague Chapter 1 of DIA. However, as the party specifically has to tunnel their way into this adventure - where did the halfling & party plus the leucrotta & "larger pack of monsters" come from? The ettercap and spiders have a way in/out but that wouldn't cover the above parties.
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Customer avatar
Wayne G May 16, 2020 3:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I was hoping for an answer along the lines of "you missed the other entrance!" .
To stop my players from pointing out the discrepancies (they always do), I'm switching to the tunnel already opened by the alfling party, who went in looking for the shield for Duke Vanthampur. Leucrotta came along after (from the sewer?).
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Customer avatar
M.T. B May 16, 2020 10:18 pm UTC
CREATOR
There are three entrances, the main one, the crack in the nave, and the kruthik tunnel in the lower level. I think saying the tunnel is open is fine. It’s possible some subsidence closed it up after the half lints went through ~ they only needed a tiny gap, after all
Customer avatar
Brett H April 26, 2020 6:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
I am using this to bulk up a home brew campaign and my players are really enjoying it. There is so much good flavour text, maps and monsters are great, and the whole inccubus thing is PERFECT for my young, emo sorcerer PC!!

BUT - am I missing something about the door that leads from T6 to the hallway behind T15/16, and on to the Lower Temple? Is it just a regular door? Is there anything stopping the party from proceeding to the Lower Temple without exploring the Upper Temple at all? Not that that would be bad, but want to be sure I am not overlooking something.
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Customer avatar
M.T. B April 26, 2020 8:26 am UTC
CREATOR
Glad you are having fun! In theory, you could go T1 => T2/T3 => T6 then on to the lower levels. In typical old-school fashion, I haven't tried to force the party to take a path. In practice, you will probably find the party want to explore the upper level a bit more before heading downstairs. They will obviously miss out on some treasure and a couple of useful knick-knacks if they go straight down.
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Customer avatar
Brett H April 29, 2020 5:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you for the fast reply! Makes perfect sense. Will write up a glowing review when we get through it all, but as I said, its great so far. Cheers!
Customer avatar
Alan D March 15, 2020 5:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I had a great time running this module for my home group, and intend to run it for in Adventurers' League once it becomes legal - has much "changed" between the current version and the one that will likely be AL-legal? I'm gonna get cracking on converting it to roll20 format.

For feedback, I don't think there's any way for players to avoid the trap on p.14 as the required phrase isn't found anywhere else. I also think the map of chapter 4 is excessively large given how relatively sparse it is, but I say this from the perspective of my party - they tend to be very careful and do not needlessly plunder, so I halved the size of the map to avoid time from dragging on as they cautiously moved from corridor to corridor.

I understand the size may be a deliberate choice for a sense of scale/time, though. Finally, there's no included description for the javelin found - I know what it does and own a DMG, but it might leave someone else confused.
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Customer avatar
M.T. B March 16, 2020 7:27 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Alan,

Thankyou so much for the feedback. The changes I made to make it AL legal were minimal, though there is currently a freeze on mods getting AL approved. The only way to avoid the trap on p.14 would be with some sort of divination magic. I put the phrase in there for completeness really, rather than a way around the trap. Of course, those 10-foot poles are always handy...

The catacombs large, but yeah, I felt it had to be given how many great families were apparently buried there. My recommendation is that DMs play that as TOTM, although that is less doable on R20.

Thanks again for the feedback!


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Customer avatar
Alan D March 16, 2020 3:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Yeah, that's a fair point - I have a Wizard player who accidentally knocked themselves unconcious trying to open the Infernal Puzzle Box from the Vanthampur mansion and has become very careful about opening things as a result, hahah. None of the party have discovered the utility of a 10ft pole... nor mage hand.

Makes sense. I drew out a halved size version of the map - I think if my party was in better shape I wouldn't have felt compelled to reduce the size. They got crippled in the preceding chapel and accidentally killed Falaster Fisk (He got caught in the path of the Javelin, which crit), so they were all demoralised and ready to call it quits.

I wrote a review, but again - fantastic module. Looking forward to the opportunity to run some of your others!
Customer avatar
Alan M March 05, 2020 7:27 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is a great adventure that I'm incorporating into my Descent game.

One thing I'd love to see added to it is the frescoes in area D2; the text says a successful history check will reveal them as the story of Gargauth, but it would be great if there was a bit of fleshing out *how* each fresco correlates to his story. I have my own answers to that, based on what I've been able to find in previous editions' resources, but I'm curious of author's intent, and suspect it might be helpful for other DMs to know.
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Customer avatar
M.T. B March 06, 2020 12:04 am UTC
CREATOR
Thanks, Alan - I'm so glad you are enjoying the adventure. If I get a chance to do an update on this adventure, I'll give some thought to your helpful suggestion.
Customer avatar
Michael P December 17, 2019 2:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
No updates on AL legality status?
Reply
Customer avatar
M.T. B December 17, 2019 10:27 pm UTC
CREATOR
Not yet. They asked for a couple of minor revisions which I made and sent off a few weeks ago. I understand they are very busy under a huge backlog of CCC content to review.
Reply
Customer avatar
M.T. B June 05, 2020 9:46 pm UTC
CREATOR
Now approved!
Customer avatar
Michael P November 22, 2019 1:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any news on AL legality progress?
Reply
Customer avatar
M.T. B November 22, 2019 11:53 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yes, I'm in discussion with the AL admins. It's a slow process as there is a huge backlog of CCC adventures to assess.
Customer avatar
Marc S November 09, 2019 6:17 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Are there plans to do a Fantasy Grounds version of it?
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Customer avatar
M.T. B November 09, 2019 9:36 pm UTC
CREATOR
No firm plans at the moment
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Customer avatar
Marc S November 16, 2019 11:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Okay, then I'll have to do it myself.
Reply
Customer avatar
Justin M. C June 26, 2020 5:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I actually converted this module myself to Fantasy Grounds for my own use and I would like to reach out to you to see if you are interested in listing it here on Dmsguild.com.
Feel free to email me razzed25@gmail.com or message on Twitter @razzed251
Customer avatar
Alexander W November 03, 2019 2:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Dose someone has advice to use thes maps in roll20?
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File Last Updated:
October 30, 2019
This title was added to our catalog on October 30, 2019.