Learn about D&D organized play options

[sidonunspa]

the fact that they have not even mentioned home play worries me...

alot

I would like to see my pathfinder game changed to the new 5e campaign (seeing it looks to have a "story" ::gasp:: )

but without a home play option, I see it a hard climb

 

[VenomousFiligree]

I asked Rob and he said it will be answered in a FAQ they're working on;

So who else wants to be a regional coordinator for Adventurer's League?

I'm in the South West of the UK and I also play online (Fantasy Grounds).

I want to DM.

I want to DM D&D Next.

I want to DM D&D Next in the South West of the UK and online for Mr Joe Public, but I don't have a shop near me Mr Wizards of the Coast, what you gonna do...?


And on a different note why should online play only be classed as home play (as has been hinted at) when you have the likes of:

fg-con dot com
rpggeek dot com/wikia/page/Virtuacon13

(sorry not allowed to post links at the moment )

 

[VenomousFiligree]

Oh and in case Wizards didn't know, Pathfinder Organised Play is thriving on VTs....

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Looks like we have some insight on some of the Factions in the D&D Adventurers League:

"Harpers, the Order of the Gauntlet, the Emerald Enclave, the Lords’ Alliance and . . . even the Zhentarim."

I imagine those five are the initial Factions. Perhaps two or three more as the program develops. But, I am just guessing.

Just wanted to reply on this a few posts back.

Now Im speculating here but the Forbes article is quite interesting in regards to this. The fact that the Zhentarim (A LE organisation) are getting on on this is very interesting. Bar the Harpers and lords Alliance I really know next to nothing about the rest of these. (And Im assuming all the PC Zhenatrim agents will be those 'rare but often seen good/neutral types )

Also 5 factions is more than enough. Too few and you dont get as much intrigue, too many and you get too much dilution in content. PFS had this issue. It started with 4, gained more, then recently culled 2 (and changed its Faction mission focus to a different way of incorporating factions). Id prefer the factions to remain constant and unchanging over the life of Expeditions.

Personally i think Expeditions is likely to become the most popular one of the three, simply because Encounters is a blink and you will miss it affair (2 hour sessions?) and the continuity of the same character will draw people back for more.

 

[gweinel]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/news/advleague2

This must be new...
Organized play by home. I am wondering how it works.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Sounds really fun!! One thing though, unfortunatly it look like D&D Expeditions adventures won't be available for home play which would be a real bummer : (

Home/online pick-up games ideal for D&D Expeditions (4 hours play) are basically out if they don't make these available. The adventures allowed in D&D Adventurer's League for home/online play are much longer ones than what pick-up games usually uses. Most LFR adventures ran in 4 hours slot for exemple.

 

[pedr]

Indeed. The success of Living Greyhawk and Pathfinder Society in the UK (and most play of LFR) was down to home play. Not always closed/privately organised home play - I helped organise a Living Greyhawk group which actively welcomed new players and arranged games as often as possible around a few dozen people's availability, but hosted those games in homes for lack of a store or other free venue (particularly a venue which would let us play into the middle of the night, which happened with quite a few complex LG mods). I'm not sure AL will find it easy to progress beyond Encounters in the UK if groups which are currently playing LFR in extended home groups and go to occasional conventions find that they can't get the most "living" style bit of AL, and the bits they can get aren't suited to single-session games which can cope with a fluctuating player-base.

The article seems to suggest that "convention" only really means "in public" so perhaps I'll be able to encourage people who are on the fence that they can run Expeditions in cafe's, pubs, University gaming clubs, etc, but that remains to be seen.

 

[Alphastream]

In theory, the home play category (playing through the main arc adventures Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat, and/or the Starter Set's Lost Mine of Phandelver) is pretty robust. The Starter Set is through level 5, while the other two are levels 1-15. That's a lot of play and all official.

In practice, many will want to be part of Expeditions. And for that, there is no home play. You could play the other adventures and then move over, but you might level out of many of the games. It isn't clear that you could play the Starter Set and then go to Gen Con (assuming you could play it all fast enough) and still play the Gen Con adventures as a 5th level PC. Maybe you can?

How levels work and what transitions exist could be significant. If players can easily play one adventure (say, Encounters) and transition to another (say, HotDQ), that really encourages continued play. But if things are one way (can't play at Gen Con and then play the Starter Set), those barriers can make play less rewarding. (If I can play Encounters, HotDQ, Expeditions, etc. all with one character then I'm really able to get immersed). The number of characters I have to create is also a potential barrier. In LFR gamers had so many PCs that they lost touch with what their characters had done, if not the basic personalities and goals of those PCs.

I'm not saying AL should allow complete interconnected play. It gets complicated to try to create many different experiences and have them all work together... not to mention the story narrative. Every organized play program has to choose its limits because you can't do everything. It will be interesting to see how these factors influence and reward play.

I agree that having public spaces qualify would greatly expand the options. I bet a lot of people could spread DnD to book stores, cafes, schools, and other areas. That could be very good for the game... though it might not be what Wizards wants in terms of a program to encourage store revenue and store WPN membership!

 

[PeteZero]

To be honest, I am rather disappointed by what I see from Adeventurer's League. For me store play is not possible where I live, and I have played PFS for a long time as home play, with the occasional convention and a lot of online play. I like what I see from D&Dnext, but must admit, as it stands PFS is by far more attractive than AL. If Encounters and Expeditions would be made available for homeplay with full credit, I think they would attract far more players. Might not be so much the case in the US, but in the UK, and probably other EU countries, they will miss a lot.
I will wait and see what comes out in the end though.

 

[VenomousFiligree]

Will be interesting to see how they view online conventions.