Please remove Demiplane of Dread Story Award next season

Warmaster Horus said:

Like I said, some ideas work and others don't. I admire the AL team for stretching the game to keep things fresh and interesting. Sure people can sit out a season because they're annoyed. Or they can jump in and deal with the challenge. Dealing with the Death Curse has been a serious issue in Season 7 and I can understand why folks might hold out a favorite Tier 1 or 2 PC because perma-death can happen at any time. I just wound up making up a new PC, like I do every season, and only put one legacy PC to risk. That said, I doubt I'd play a surrogate if one of them died because I don't want to play a pre-gen, I want to play my character.

Barovia is most definitely a place no one who's been there wants to return to because it was a harsh experience for many and being trapped there was oppressive. It was something to be survived and escaped from. Barovia 'survivors' have that service ribbon on their chests from that point on and it forms a camaraderie between those that escaped.

A mechanic like The Mists is not something I'd want to have repeated in AL because it was restrictive and, well, claustrophobic in it's own way. But I don't want to cheapen the experience by giving a free pass to players who want to go now. If you want Barovia 'cred', you should have to pay for it.

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Caliban said:

That made some sense when season 4 was the active season. But that was two years ago. There is no 'Barovia' cred anymore. Now it is literally just a waste of time.

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Warmaster Horus said:

I was just playing one of my Barovian PCs last weekend and we have frequent recollections of Barovia in my neck of the woods. There are still lots of CCC mods that lend a nod toward the Demiplane of Dread, too, as part of their story. Although I wasn't a fan of the rule when it was announced, I now support the decision to continue restricted access/egress from Ravenloft.

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Caliban said:

I did not share your experience or pleasure with Barovia. I found season 4 pretty underwhelming myself. But - I thought the "Trapped in Barovia" thing was appropriate when Season 4 was the active season. But its time has passed.

PC's are no longer "Trapped in Barovia", they are just minorly inconvenienced and have to spend 20 DT to play another season's mod. It's not a bonding experience, it's an irritant. It's one of the main reasons Season 4 mods are so rarely played (the other being the mods themselves...).

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Warmaster Horus said:

I hear you and please don't take my endorsement of the Mists as pleasure. I was not pleased with S4, the hardcover was okay and the mods were among my least favorite. But I think it's important that we continue to honor it's restrictions for those who went through it. Apparently the mods think something similar since there are no plans to change entry/exit to S4.

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Warmaster Horus said:

Barovia is most definitely a place no one who's been there wants to return to because it was a harsh experience for many and being trapped there was oppressive. It was something to be survived and escaped from. Barovia 'survivors' have that service ribbon on their chests from that point on and it forms a camaraderie between those that escaped.

A mechanic like The Mists is not something I'd want to have repeated in AL because it was restrictive and, well, claustrophobic in it's own way. But I don't want to cheapen the experience by giving a free pass to players who want to go now. If you want Barovia 'cred', you should have to pay for it.

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jasper said:

The Barovia service medal shall be a ribbon of black white vampire fangs. It shall go to the left of "Woo Who I is a PC" ribbon. Multiple clusters of the ribbon shall not be awarded.

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AriochQ said:

By the same logic any season 7 adventure should invoke the death curse in future seasons, so characters don't miss out on the special 'feel' of season 7. If a character in a future season runs a single season 7 adventure, they should have to run a season 7 tier 3 adventure before they are clear of the death curse. It is an analogous situation to season 4 and would be equally as arbitrary in limiting players ability to run content.

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Death Curse Primer said:

The curse is the fundamental aspect of Tomb of Annihilation. As such, is is applied to any D&D Adventurers League character playing a Tier 1 or 2 Season 7 adventure after August 15, 2017, and Tier 1 or 2 CCC adventures after August 24, 2017....

Alternatively, characters can wait until others have done their dirty work by retiring from adventuring until the release of Season 7's Tier 3 adventures (January 2018), or by starting any Tier 3 or 4 non-hardcover (non-DDHC) adventure, and resuming adventuring following Acererak's defeat. A character choosing this option can't play Tomb of Annihilation, or any Season 7 Tier 1 or 2 adventures -- with or without a surrogate; these doors to adventure are forever closed to them. (emphasis in original)

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