Baldur's Gate is awesome :D it also helped me get more into D&D, though I did play it a bit before Baldur's Gate. The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting. D&D is a game, but The Forgotten Realms is separate to the game. Kind of hard to explain. I haven't actually been able to play a campaign set in The Forgotten Realms yet, but I'd really like to. All the campaigns I've been in so far are homebrew (aka, the world and campaign are unofficial content). My favourite character from BG3 is probably Astarion, mostly because I really didn't like him at first, but after learning about his past history I really grew attached to him.
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Yes, Astarion is a cool character.
I helped him become the greatest vampire in the world.
In practice, he became a worse person than Cazador :)
But like I said, I like evil.
However, of all the companions, I like Minthara the most.
I like her brutal pragmatism.
The fact that I could slaughter the emerald grove was a very pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, in games we usually have to be "good".
I also like the concept of Gods and the fact that they fight each other.
I need to delve deeper into this universe, but I want to focus on Forgotten Realms.
This seems extensive.
D&D seems to be the backbone on which anyone can build their own configuration.
At least that's how I currently understand it.