Learn about D&D organized play options

[Alphastream]

only night open night for RPGs is on Tuesday....

If the only night the store will support is Tuesday, then run Expeditions on that night or run the same Encounters adventure as open play (but don't call it Encounters). You still are a part of Adventurers League and you still get to be a part of the storyline.

You just can't run Encounters on a day other than Wednesday, because the whole point is to have clarity for everyone else that comes by the store. I travel for work often. It is fantastic to be able to call a store and ask if they run Encounters and know pretty much exactly what to expect. But, every now and then I find a store that isn't doing that. They are running something else like a homebrew adventure on Wednesday and calling it Encounters or running on a different night. That confusion is terrible for new/casual/visiting players. Encounters needs to be the dependable part of the program. It's the kind of approach that has been incredibly successful with Friday Night Magic.

 

[sidonunspa]

If the only night the store will support is Tuesday, then run Expeditions on that night or run the same Encounters adventure as open play (but don't call it Encounters). You still are a part of Adventurers League and you still get to be a part of the storyline.

You just can't run Encounters on a day other than Wednesday, because the whole point is to have clarity for everyone else that comes by the store. I travel for work often. It is fantastic to be able to call a store and ask if they run Encounters and know pretty much exactly what to expect. But, every now and then I find a store that isn't doing that. They are running something else like a homebrew adventure on Wednesday and calling it Encounters or running on a different night. That confusion is terrible for new/casual/visiting players. Encounters needs to be the dependable part of the program. It's the kind of approach that has been incredibly successful with Friday Night Magic.

And were you see an advantage, many people see a disadvantage.. you can expect that the game will be on Wendsday at SOME stores, but when you have a local group that can get together on some sundays and some saterdays.. the current campaign stucture totaly sucks.

You failed to understand that there are many players that can't/don't play on weekdays...

The current structure is flat out dishartening, because there is NO home play support except though the adventure paths (which is what they are)

go back and read the rest of my post, WoTC's campaign is currently in direct compatition with Pathfinder.... if they refuse to see it, that's at their own peril.....

I can tell you that Pathfinder DOES see it that way, they see D&D Adventures Leage as compation to their sales, they are fighting and have plans to fight harder for every gaming hour players have.

Who do you think will win that battle? the side that sees no compition or the side that plays to win? and who do you think will suffer in the end?

If you want D&D to 1) take back market dominace 2) win those player hours

Then campaign needs to take a long hard look at the way they are running things.

I like 5e alot, and I want to see it grow, but right now.. where I live... I see it stagnate... tons of people want to try it and are looking for a classic living campaign structure to try it in, these are the same players that don't play pathfinder adventure paths but eat up every pathfinder adventure and have over 6 characters... for it they buy tons of product.

from a buisness standpoint I don't see the advantage to holding back adventures for store play only...

maybe they can limit adventures to store play for 4 months and then have it open to home play or seek some other distribution system.

like I said before, I hope 5e has an OGL.... I know of several companies currently in holding patterns waiting to see what happens, maybe one of them will give players the support they crave.

 

[Mirtek]

WotC cares little enough about D&D that there is no enforcing of when encounters is run. I know a couple of places that run encounters on different days, none ever had any issues, even with reporting their encounter play

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

And were you see an advantage, many people see a disadvantage.. you can expect that the game will be on Wendsday at SOME stores, but when you have a local group that can get together on some sundays and some saterdays.. the current campaign stucture totaly sucks.

You failed to understand that there are many players that can't/don't play on weekdays...

The current structure is flat out dishartening, because there is NO home play support except though the adventure paths (which is what they are)

go back and read the rest of my post, WoTC's campaign is currently in direct compatition with Pathfinder.... if they refuse to see it, that's at their own peril.....

I can tell you that Pathfinder DOES see it that way, they see D&D Adventures Leage as compation to their sales, they are fighting and have plans to fight harder for every gaming hour players have.

Who do you think will win that battle? the side that sees no compition or the side that plays to win? and who do you think will suffer in the end?

If you want D&D to 1) take back market dominace 2) win those player hours

Then campaign needs to take a long hard look at the way they are running things.

I like 5e alot, and I want to see it grow, but right now.. where I live... I see it stagnate... tons of people want to try it and are looking for a classic living campaign structure to try it in, these are the same players that don't play pathfinder adventure paths but eat up every pathfinder adventure and have over 6 characters... for it they buy tons of product.

from a buisness standpoint I don't see the advantage to holding back adventures for store play only...

maybe they can limit adventures to store play for 4 months and then have it open to home play or seek some other distribution system.

like I said before, I hope 5e has an OGL.... I know of several companies currently in holding patterns waiting to see what happens, maybe one of them will give players the support they crave.

You have Lost Mines of Phandelver and Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat are all available for homeplay and the characters can be used in the Adventurers League as long as your follow the AL Character creation guidelines.

Those 3 alone will get a character well into the levels.

 

[sidonunspa]

You have Lost Mines of Phandelver and Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat are all available for homeplay and the characters can be used in the Adventurers League as long as your follow the AL Character creation guidelines.

Those 3 alone will get a character well into the levels.

Your missing the point.. each one of those adventures requires a long term commitment.

I have a group that started Hord but after the first game we have not been able to get together again...

If it was a classic 4 hour adventire.. I could have played 4 games or so with diffrent player/table mixes...

those adventures are all well and good but they do not fit the casual gamer paradigm, they fit the classic home game paradigm...

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Your missing the point.. each one of those adventures requires a long term commitment.

I have a group that started Hord but after the first game we have not been able to get together again...

If it was a classic 4 hour adventire.. I could have played 4 games or so with diffrent player/table mixes...

those adventures are all well and good but they do not fit the casual gamer paradigm, they fit the classic home game paradigm...

Then at this point the Adventurers League is not for you and your casual friends, until or even if they change and allow home play of Expedition modules.

We usually play every other Saturday or so and tend to be up against MTG and Warhammer filling up 90 percent of the store at one store.

We do have another store we can go to where we are pretty much the only gamers there. They just do not have the WPN Level to order things last second so we have to plan it out well in advance.

 

[sidonunspa]

Then at this point the Adventurers League is not for you and your casual friends, until or even if they change and allow home play of Expedition modules.

We usually play every other Saturday or so and tend to be up against MTG and Warhammer filling up 90 percent of the store at one store.

We do have another store we can go to where we are pretty much the only gamers there. They just do not have the WPN Level to order things last second so we have to plan it out well in advance.

my point is that it's killing campaign grouth....

I know a bunch of people (18 or so) that want to play 5e but are waiting for some kind of flexible campaign option, for now they play pathfinder...

those are players not playing 5e..... not getting the next books, I think about half of them have the new PHB, the others are in a wait and see position.

how can the campaign staff not see they are shooting themselves in the foot

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

my point is that it's killing campaign grouth....

I know a bunch of people (18 or so) that want to play 5e but are waiting for some kind of flexible campaign option, for now they play pathfinder...

those are players not playing 5e..... not getting the next books, I think about half of them have the new PHB, the others are in a wait and see position.

how can the campaign staff not see they are shooting themselves in the foot

Not trying to minimize your experience but you and your casual players are likely a small number in a larger pool of people.

The games played at stores or conventions are reported via WER so they see what the play numbers being reported are. I would guess that anywhere between 10 and 20%, maybe more who knows, of games are not reported because they are being played as home games and not reported in the WER.

If the reported play numbers are not to where they feel they should be, that is when they will look at other options to up their play numbers.

Your concerns and suggestions are better served being sent to to the Adventurers League Admins ..... http://dndadventurersleague.org/contact-us/

Or directly to Wizards of the Coast ..... http://wizards.custhelp.com/app/ask

Make sure to have your players and friends write in and share their concerns as well. One person writing in saying they are speaking for 20 is not going to get the same look as 20 writing in with the same concern.

 

[sidonunspa]

Already have, zero responce... (and I know at least 4 of my friends have shared the same concern)

sadly the AL is not seeing this as a compaition for player time, while I have it by some solid sources that people in PFS are seeing 5e and the Adventures Leage as direct compaition, and are acting accordingly.

that kind of situation never ends well...

 

[Alphastream]

You failed to understand that there are many players that can't/don't play on weekdays...

I know this very well, because most of my friends have that same constraint. Which is why Encounters won't work for them... but everything else does. Adventurers League has tons of flexibility:
- Home play? Run Hoard and Rise. You can play any day of the week. Sure, getting a group together can be hard. In that case...
- Store play? Play Encounters on Wednesdays. Because it is a stated day, at most stores it will do wonders for drawing players together. Encounters is seeing tons of play with the current season, breaking records at many stores (one of our 5+ stores running Encounters is seeing 60 players at just that one location!).
- Want the benefit of a store, but Wednesday won't work for you? Schedule Expeditions adventures any day of the week for public play.
- No store in your area? Contact WotC support and request Expeditions (or the Starter Set) for a public location. Just make sure you advertise the game so that anyone can come join.

The current structure is flat out dishartening, because there is NO home play support except though the adventure paths (which is what they are)

As a person with a "collect everything" personality, I can understand. I like having complete flexibility too and I want to be able to play everything. But, that's just not realistic for 99% of gamers. You are still getting a full 20 levels of home play and you can with very little work break Hoard and Rise into home play sessions. If you string Expeditions adventures together, they too will end up feeling like a campaign (less linear, but still a combination of missions you take around evolving and developing campaign plot arcs). There really isn't a huge difference.

go back and read the rest of my post, WoTC's campaign is currently in direct compatition with Pathfinder.... if they refuse to see it, that's at their own peril.....

WotC isn't in competition with Pathfinder. WotC is in competition with entertainment. As the biggest brand there is, WotC has the ability to reach out beyond the hobby's current members and bring in more gamers. That's where the focus is and should be. Programs like Encounters can work fine for an established D&D gamer, but they are specifically built to bring in the new and casual gamer and give them an easy way to connect to D&D and become a customer. The best part is, that customer can then become a customer of the hobby. They can buy D&D, Pathfinder, Numenera, FIASCO, and hopefully try all of the great games our hobby offers.

Just as we see WotC staff join Pathfinder, Pathfinder staff join WotC, freelancers work with both, and all of them hang out together as friends, gamers can and should play both brands. Any separation and edition wars are a silly mental exercise. Life is richer when we play more games and play different kinds of games. I'm a big fan of D&D, of WotC, and of their organized play program. But, I'm also a huge admirer of what Pathfinder Society does. They are different, but are both great programs. They can both continue to grow in size at the same time, because the market can continue to grow.

There is absolutely nothing wrong (in fact, it's awesome) with a player or DM who wants to take one thing from one organized play program and wants to take a different thing from another organized play program. As an example, I really enjoyed playing Legend of the Five Rings' program for all of the heavy RP and no-combat diplomacy missions. I liked the very different feel. I liked that I could order adventures and play them anywhere. At the same time I was also playing Living Forgotten Realms and Living Arcanis. Through all of that, WotC still earned plenty of my money.

I like 5e alot, and I want to see it grow, but right now.. where I live... I see it stagnate... tons of people want to try it and are looking for a classic living campaign structure to try it in, these are the same players that don't play pathfinder adventure paths but eat up every pathfinder adventure and have over 6 characters... for it they buy tons of product.

I don't understand that at all. If they want to play 5E, they can. If they want to be part of an organized play structure, see their faction grow, share their exploits online, and play great adventures officially, they can. If they want to play in a public location and do Expeditions, they can... but it does require that public focus because hobby growth is important.

from a buisness standpoint I don't see the advantage to holding back adventures for store play only...

There is some good data on that, but none of it public. If you keep in mind how important it is to bring in new players... that's why Expeditions requires public locations. If you see the fantastic results Friday Night Magic has had, and if you see how Encounters has been the most successful store program ever in the history of RPGs, that's why the programs work the way they do.

maybe they can limit adventures to store play for 4 months and then have it open to home play or seek some other distribution system.

I'm not opposed to that, and I'm sure they considered it. But, I also do believe that delays have a very different incentive from exclusivity and "public only".

Going back to you and all of your 5E friends that want to see 5E grow. If you truly feel that way, then find a public location (school, library, coffee shop, etc.) and run whatever you like (homebrew adventures, Expeditions, Hoard) and help grow the hobby. Bring in new players and DMs. Grow the player base in your area. It's a great feeling.