Although the release date for Murder in Baldur's Gate hasn't yet come for us, I was able to browse through the adventure as part of my preparation for the upcoming D&D Encounters season. My initial reaction to the Launch Weekend adventure was "challenging". That assessment stands for the full adventure. After a run of adventures during the 4E era that were written for – basically – novice DMs, Murder in Baldur's Gate is definitely an adventure that requires more than just reading out boxed text and running combats.

I will stress that these are my initial impressions of the product. The true test of the adventure will come in the playing. Thankfully, I'll have that chance as part of the upcoming D&D Encounters season. I hope to regularly report on how the adventure plays, and I'll be writing a final review after it's all over.

The package comes with three components: a DM Screen (described as Deluxe), a 64-page Campaign Guide, and a 32-page Adventure.

The DM Screen is sturdy. It isn't as sturdy as the 4E Deluxe Screen; it's a thinner cardboard. However, it's more sturdy than a lot of the DM Screens I've saw in the early 3E era. The screen fits around the two booklets despite its landscape form, although it feels odd to me. The booklets don't have card covers, and so this is necessary for storage and transport. There's a paper wrapper around the entire package, but that doesn't protect anything! On the screen are maps of Baldur's Gate for DM and players (very useful), pictures of some of the main NPCs and a small number of tables to help the DM run the city.

The Campaign Guide I've just skimmed. It feels like a reversion to some of the better AD&D source books for the Forgotten Realms. Despite early fears by some, it isn't dominated by humour. It takes a very serious look at the city, describing its history, the districts, the populace, important buildings, and the major factions and characters of the city. The book has a number of illustrations of the major buildings which are very nicely done, including some cut-away floor plans. If I have one criticism of the book it is this: it isn't full of adventure hooks. This was one of the best features of the superlative Neverwinter book of two years ago. The Campaign Guide is instead concentrated on giving you enough information to bring the city to life. It feels densely packed with information; I am curious to how useful it will be at the gaming table.

The Adventure is fascinating. It is ambitious. It is not a traditional adventure by any means. It does some things incredibly well. I am greatly impressed by its structure.

One of the things it does absolutely right is its beginning: the adventurers reach Baldur's Gate and are immediately thrust into the roles of heroes. They are immediately recognised by the people of the city – and especially some of the key players – as people of significance. The entire adventure flows from that. Why are the adventurers caught up in the ongoing events? Because they stepped forward when the city could see them.

(If, for some reason, the characters don't step forward and participate, I suggest they might be playing the wrong RPG).

It should be emphasised that the social order of Baldur's Gate is unstable. This is made clear in the Campaign Guide, and it is what informs the events of the adventure. The initial event triggers a power struggle between the factions, and it is that struggle which makes up the adventure. Because the players have drawn attention to themselves, each of the factions will try to recruit them and use them for their own ends.

This is where the adventure shines. It is divided into ten stages, reflecting the progression of the internal struggles in Baldur's Gate. The length of the stages is primarily determined by the individual Dungeon Master and the events in their game. Each stage describes what each of the factions is currently doing and how the players can get involved in the action. At time, the factional plans intersect – one group might be trying to intimidate a merchant whilst another faction is trying to protect that merchant. The choice of which factions to aid or hinder is key to the play of this adventure. Everything escalates as the adventure continues, leading to a rather impressive conclusion.

The challenge with all of this comes from how this is presented: by its very nature, the players have a lot of options as to what to do. The adventure handles this by presenting a basic idea of what is going on and what challenges the group might face (including potential opponents). From there, it is up to the DM to expand on the ideas and turn them into actual encounters for the players. Is it actually a combat encounter? Do they hear the news from NPCs? Are they offered a job? It might be possible to run the adventure just from the text provided, but that would shortchange the potential of this adventure.

So, the DM will need to do some work, adapting and creating new material as required and as influenced by the actions of his players as they interact with the events of the adventure. As I said, this is challenging. There are a number of sections in the text that advise the DM on solutions to problems that might arise. What happens if the characters get imprisoned? If they go after the leader of one of the factions? The beauty of the adventure is that there isn't just one answer. For an adventure that is pretty well structured, it allows a lot of freedom for the players and DM to make it their own. There is a railroad – of a sort – but the tracks are quite wide and allow a lot of freedom between them. That freedom comes at the price of requiring the DM to be creative.

There are few rules in the adventure; those that do exist are generally in the form of DCs for ability checks – which can be adapted for skills as appropriate. Available online are the monster stat blocks for the three systems this adventure is written for: 3.5E, 4E and D&D Next. As it is a low-level adventure (levels 1-3), the systems aren't all that divergent in power levels. It should be noted that the adventure doesn't suggest monster numbers; instead, it might suggest the DM use thugs and rogues and leave the actual numbers up to the DM according to what is best for their game.

Likewise, there are no maps in the adventure, tactical or otherwise, although there are some floor-plans in the Campaign Guide. The DM will have to create them as required to fit the situation. Personally, I'm fine with this decision, but I know it has bothered others.

If you have the opportunity, looking over the Launch Weekend event kit can show you how a relatively simple event can be expanded into something more complex and exciting. (The Launch kit expands the initial encounter of the adventure).

It's still too early to say how good this adventure actually is. It departs enough from standard D&D adventure construction that I find it quite difficult to evaluate. I think the potential is there to make it one of the truly great adventures of the game, but it does require work from the DM. I am certainly looking forward to running it. I must applaud Wizards: even if it ends up not working as well as I hope, it is an ambitious module that takes a real chance with its design.