Minsc is the near-legendary ranger from the popular Baldur’s Gate video games and has become a mascot of sort for the Dungeons and Dragon franchise. Since the game came out in 1999, the slightly un-hinged Minsc with his hamster companion, Boo, have been one of the more identifiable ‘faces’ of D&D. Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy brings Minsc’s world to 5th Edition D&D, and has been written by James Ohlen, the lead designer of the first to Baldur’s Gate games.
Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy was a bit of a surprise for D&D fans, as it was not announced in the normal schedule and is only available via the website Dungeon’s Masters Guild. As such it’s not a ‘core’ book, but if you’re a fan of the old school Baldur’s Gate video games (or into the Forgotten Realms setting), we’d argue this is essential. As the name suggests, it’s a miscellany of settings, villains, henchmen and a few monsters you won’t have seen elsewhere. Profits go to the children’s charity Extra Life. A print on demand hardcover is available and does not look out of place amongst the regular D&D range.
The book itself is a miscellany of material. The chapter on Hometowns details potential starting points for your campaign. This includes Athkatla, the city of Coin, a mercantile and busy place that has a sort of fantasy ‘capital city’ feel to it. We also take a peek at Baldur’s Gate itself, as well as a undead controlled dictatorship called Suldanessallar and a Drow city in the under-dark. All of these are interesting starting points and each comes with decent mechanics for picking up magic items, something many DMs will find of use. They’re colourful and useful.
The group patrons chapter is a mixed bag, but the are ten groups in total so there’s plenty of choice. We get another version of The Harpers (the mysterious secret society from the Forgotten Realms), though this take makes them more a conspiracy of heroes, which is nice. Minsc himself belongs to the Knights of Bahamut, a quixotic band that work for the metallic dragons, nominally the good guys. Minsc’s support is a little silly (he can provide you with weird and wonderful companions), but at higher levels you’ll be riding dragons, which is nice. The Order of Icarus is an undead cult and looks perfect for recurring villains. Similarly the Raven Circle is a sect devoted to the mourn-filled Raven Queen. Creepy antagonists or very angsty protagonists, depending on your needs. Over all there’s a lot of meat for a campaign here, though most DMs will likely mix and match for their needs.
The next three chapters are campaign villains, henchmen and monsters. Or to put it another way, a variety of villains for the player characters to thwart, and as you’d expect from the title, this is the books main focus. The big bad villains are all some sort of demonic/extra-dimensional type of threat and they’re well detailed here. Not useful for casual adventures but boy are their fun for planning a campaign. The henchmen are similarly fun, a mix of tragic figures with enough plot hooks to prevent them from being a forgettable speed-bump in a session of D&D.
Overall this is a useful addition to any DM’s collection, and of great interest to fans of the original Baldur’s Gate games. The hardcover version is well worth splashing out for.
