AL VS LFR of 4th and why I'm so disappointed

[mflayermonk]

I have created/developed just short of 100 interactives for the RPGA/WPN so trust me when I tell you that I have some experience in this.

Greg,
The OP is saying he likes the interactives from after you left LFR.

 

[Steve_MND]

I am fighting for access for all. Screw this idea of exclusive content. I don't know who this benefits. Certainly not the majority of the people who play the game. If it has to be Con exclusive, make exclusive to all cons not just mega cons. loosen the restrictions a bit. You'd be surprised what the local coordinators can pull off if given the chance. Its not just people in the US that play Dnd. This is globally enjoyed game. This is why the logo is so valuable I would imagine. local cons it where you should be focusing for exclusive content. It shouldn't be how can you make it, so you have to have a mega con run it. It should be how you can make it, so it can be run at a local con. If the con can't support it. Its on them. Their con will suck. The experience is not responsibility of the admin. It is the responsibility of the con organizer.

I agree, content for all is the optimal bit. But some things just can't be 'for all,' for various reasons. And the staff is doing what they can with WotC, etc., to make stuff available to as many people as possible. But sometimes things have to go the long route, and they can't just open everything up at once.

Like some of the others here, I've also had experience running RPGA/Organized Campaigns; I was one-half of the Coordinators for the Living Dragonstar RPGA campaign, and one of the things I really wanted to get in there was a way to have 'signature items' in the campaign for characters, outside of the specific module rewards. And I can assure you, it's definitely not that simple. I went through each and every item in the entire campaign, and had my playtesters find as many ways to break them as they could. Because that is exactly what the players will do with an open-ended grab-bag like that -- they will find the most broken option. Not all of them, obviously, but enough.

We all like to think that we're 'the better player,' and wouldn't be the sort to game the system or utilize unforseen, overpowered combos or have characters that break the mod at the detriment of the other players at the table, but something like 20+ years of Organize Play has shown that not to be the case. Taken as a whole, we're pretty crappy and self-serving, and the system has to be aware of that.

 

[kalani]

Speaking of Chris Tulach, up until recently - he was actually the head-honcho ultimately responsible for AL, and the person to which the 6 AL admins directly reported. He has recently moved onto different projects (IIRC, he has joined the darkside of MTG lol) and has since been replaced by Chris Lindsey.

While you may think that the AL ruleset seems arbitrary, keep in mind that the Admins, and WotC employees responsible for AL have been very active in the organized play community for decades, and have a clear understanding of what works and what doesn't. Many of the LCs and RCs have also been involved in the organized play scene for some time as well (I myself used to play LG, and was an RPGA judge for 3.5 and LFR). AL has erred on the side of caution with the goal of slowly (but surely) making adjustments to find the breaking points (and avoid them).

Changes have been made each season to that end (season 1 characters could take maximum gold for their class, and were unable to create healing potions; Season 2 reversed both these decisions; Season 3 ret-conned the Allowed Rules for all Story Origins to include the SCAG, and also granted a special rebuild to existing tier 2 & 3 characters), and Season 4 will make major changes to the DM rewards (among other changes).

The admins, RCs, and LCs listen to all feedback and suggestions, and we often discuss them in our various meetings and think tanks. Some feedback has already been incorporated into the evolving AL rules (such as allowing PCs to craft healing potions), while feedback requiring more extensive changes have been carefully monitored, and experimented with since the beginning of season 1 - the magic item system being top of that list.

Bottom line however, is that we are all passionate and dedicated volunteers with only limited control over the program, but that we ultimately want to make this organized play program as successful as humanly possible while avoiding the pitfalls that previous OP programs fell into (including other programs such as PFS). PFS is a good example actually, as they recently introduced the Core-Only program to address the issue of unintentional power creep disrupting the program. AL circumvented this issue from day one by the implementation of the Story Origin mechanic, which allows characters access to a narrow range of options/character (while still allowing 95% of all options to exist within the program).

 

[skerritthegreen]

Greg,
The OP is saying he likes the interactives from after you left LFR.

I never left LFR. I was part of that team until the end of the very campaign. I wrote or did Dev work on every LFR interactive. Unless these are unofficial interactives that were done by local people in which case, they're not really part of the campaign.

 

[mflayermonk]

I never left LFR. I was part of that team until the end of the very campaign. I wrote or did Dev work on every LFR interactive. Unless these are unofficial interactives that were done by local people in which case, they're not really part of the campaign.

Alright so after the campaign ended and Sean took over is what he is referring to-which is 2010-2014.

Unless these are unofficial interactives that were done by local people in which case, they're not really part of the campaign.

That is what he is referring to.

 

[skerritthegreen]

Alright so after the campaign ended and Sean took over is what he is referring too-which is 2010-2014.

There were no additional interactives after the campaign ended in 2014. Sean just cleaned up the files for the ones we released and posted them online. Also, Sean didn't "take over" the campaign after it ended. The campaign ended in 2014, at which point the admins where Myself, Sean Molley, Pieter Sleijpen and Claire Hoffman. The only other admin that there ever was would be Shawn Merwin, who left in the second year of the campaign 2009 (I think, I might be slightly off on the dates). Perhaps you have confused me with Shawn? But either way, Sean was never the sole admin.

 

[mflayermonk]

There were no additional interactives after the campaign ended in 2014. Sean just cleaned up the files for the ones we released and posted them online. Also, Sean didn't "take over" the campaign after it ended. The campaign ended in 2014, at which point the admins where Myself, Sean Molley, Pieter Sleijpen and Claire Hoffman. The only other admin that there ever was would be Shawn Merwin, who left in the second year of the campaign 2009 (I think, I might be slightly off on the dates). Perhaps you have confused me with Shawn? But either way, Sean was never the sole admin.

I see. Thank you.

 

[smerwin29]

If someone is saying that the campaign got better after someone left, it has to be referring to me!

 

[skerritthegreen]

Nothing is ever better without Shawn Merwin!

 

[Eltab]

For the future, would it be possible to contact random folks who have responded to these critical event summaries (kind of like a sweepstakes or lottery) and ask them if their characters can be incorporated into the events? For example, if I got pulled from the pile of critical event summaries from Season 2, there might be a blurb in a future adventure that discusses how Lonic Tremolo, paladin of Helm, via his contacts in the secret police helped poison the well of good will (albeit unwittingly) against the refugees of Phlan and helped get them evicted from Mulmaster.

I used to dump lots of Ashes of Athas campaign ideas on Alphastream each year at Winter Fantasy / D&D Experience. Eventually my character's name was written into a module. (Describing an off-camera conversation, sure, but I WAS WRITTEN INTO A CAMPAIGN ! Most cool !) Years later, I can't resist the urge to brag about it.
And I can see where other people would enjoy the acknowledgement, too.