D&D 5E First game at a hobby store (DnD Expeditions)

[not-so-newguy]

TL;DR: Any advice for a guy playing in his first "convention style" campaign in a hobby store? Specifically, the Elemental Evil campaign (D and D Expeditions if that makes any difference)




So, I found a hobby store less than 30 minutes away with a DM that plans to run Adventure League's Elemental Evil using D and D expeditions. We talked for about five minutes, mostly about my experience* with DnD. His current campaign will be wrapping up in 4-6 weeks, after which he'll begin this new campaign. Unfortunately I did not leave any contact info, but I plan on calling the place tomorrow (he suggested I talk to the owner).


Anyway I have a few questions:


1. What does D and D Expeditions style campaign mean? The players guide gives this:


"This program centers on playing episodic adventures set in the moonsea region at a convention or local game store. Adventures debut at a convention, allowing players at that event an opportunity to provide feedback to shape the events of the moonsea region. Each adventure is 2-4 hours long, and specifies the character levels appropriate for play. These digital only adventures are complimentary to any organizer of in person, public events."


Will I be playing the same character throughout all the episodes? Should I expect to play different characters? Or should I expect to play in one episode only?


2. If your a DM in a game store, how do you handle random people such as myself asking to join in your campaign? In other words; what should I do, and not do, to ensure myself a place at the table? (After five minutes of pleasant chit-chat, do you tell them to call the owner and hope they never come back? )


Please, help out a guy who's enthused, but a little overwhelmed by it all.


Note: I own the PHB and have downloaded both documents for Elemental evil


* My experience playing D and D: I started with the basic red box set and have moved through each edition since that time, spending most of my time with 2nd edition. I'd consider myself familiar with each edition but master of none. (I have not cracked open a Forgotten Realms book since the eighties. Is that Elminster guy dead yet? )


I've been playing DnD on and off for close to 30 years now. Mostly with the same people (friends and family). I'm usually the DM of my group, usually because nobody else wants the job.

 

[MerricB]

You can use the same character in multiple games. You keep a logsheet detailing the sessions & adventures you've played and the rewards you've got from them. All characters begin at level 1 with 0 XP.

Basically, each adventure has a tier (1-4, 5-10, 11-16, 17-20) which details which level characters may participate. So, for new players, they may only play the level 1-4 adventures. Players who have been playing a while end up with several characters, so they can play according to which adventure is offered.

A player may replay the same adventure, but must use a different character each time.

I am generally very welcoming to new players in my local store. We typically have 20-35 players each week for D&D, split across 4-5 tables. As we enter the Elemental Evil season, we'll stagger the start of each table so new players have places they can play. However, each store organises things differently. Most are really great to work with.

A couple of articles on the structure of the league are here:
http://merricb.com/2014/08/25/dd-adventurers-league/
http://merricb.com/2014/08/26/dd-adventurers-league-which-adventures-should-i-play/

I need to update them for the new season!

D&D Expeditions is a set of stand-alone adventures, each that takes 2-8 hours to play (typically 3-4).
D&D Encounters is a preview of the newest published adventure, takes multiple sessions and brings PCs through levels 1-4, played on Wednesday.

Cheers!

 

[SirAntoine]

Take advantage of the opportunity to make some new friends. The DM should have all the information you need. Most convention events have pregenerated characters for you to use. I would say you're in for a blast. The 5th Edition rules give you a lot of resources and flexibility. Your character should be easy to keep alive. You should bring your PHB and some dice, and a few sheets of paper to make notes on.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

1. What does D and D Expeditions style campaign mean?

The way I like to think of Organized Play is a lot like an MMORPG. You create a character for WoW and then you can join any group of people you want playing any quest that exists in WoW.

Adventurer's League is a lot like this but with tabletop D&D instead. Adventure's League consists of 4 different types of play:

1. D&D Encounters, which is meant for beginner players that runs Wednesdays at stores for a couple of hours. Right now, D&D Encounters is over but it will be starting again with the Elemental Evil storyline. The DM will be running the first couple of chapters of Princes of the Apocalypse (the printed WOTC adventure coming out in a couple of weeks). It will likely take a couple of months to finish these chapters and most DMs will hope you come for all of it.

2. D&D Expeditions, which is designed more like a TV show would be. They must be run in a store but can be scheduled whenever the DM or store wants. Each adventure lasts 4-8 hours (generally 4) and is self contained. You get a mission and accomplish it in the 4 hours. Everything is wrapped up, people get XP and gold and everyone goes home. You never have to play again if you don't want to. But the adventures are part of a longer story arc that all tie together to form a larger campaign. Adventure 1 might be saving some people who were kidnapped and Adventure 2 might be defeating some monsters in a forest but it's likely that both adventures will involve cultists working for the Temple of Elemental Evil and both are part of their larger plot.

3. D&D Epics, which are large SUPER adventures that can only be played at large conventions like Origins or GenCon. These events often involve major story points that affect the whole campaign. They involve 20+ tables of players. Often there is interaction between the tables(like all 120 players are part of a big battle and you can get up from your table and go to a different one to help them).

4. Home Play adventures. These are adventures that are "approved" as official Adventurer's League adventures. In the next season, there will be 3 of them: Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat, and Princes of the Apocalypse. You can run these at home(or in public if you want) and as long as they are run using the Adventurer's League rules then the characters are approved to play in any of the other Adventurer's League campaigns.

The thing to note about the campaign is that each time you play you might be adventuring with different characters as people might not show up one week or more people might show up or people might just play a different character each session. Characters are created using special rules. The characters can ONLY play Adventure's League adventures. Though they can freely move from one game to the other. You could play a session of D&D Encounters then play in a 4 hour D&D Expeditions adventure then go and play in the next session of D&D Encounters. You could play with a DM at one store then go to another store and play with them instead. Your DM might be different each week.

Keep in mind when you play Adventurer's League you are part of a global campaign. You could go to GenCon and play a bunch of adventures there with your character and come back with all of the XP and gold and magic items you find. Your character is considered to have traveled to the new location and adventured there when you were there.

Because of this, the campaign gives up a little bit of "realism" in exchange for the ability to travel and to play wherever you want. You might meet other characters who have played the same adventure you have but different things happened for them. You might play adventures out of order and therefore "go back in time" to help people who died in an adventure you already played, and so on. Most of us take this with a grain of salt since we are used to it. However, it can be jarring for people who haven't played in an Organized Play campaign before.

2. If your a DM in a game store, how do you handle random people such as myself asking to join in your campaign? In other words; what should I do, and not do, to ensure myself a place at the table? (After five minutes of pleasant chit-chat, do you tell them to call the owner and hope they never come back?

The beauty of Adventurer's League is that there should always be a place for anyone to join the game. Most stores have a scheduled time to start and it's polite to show up at the beginning of a session and stay to the end but individual stores and DMs might be more lenient.

If stores are properly following the Adventurer's League rules then they shouldn't be turning players away. If someone is there and has a legal AL character then they should allow you to play. They do need to follow the rules, however. Which means each table can only be 3 to 7 players. They can't have 2 player tables or 8 player tables. Some stores or DMs will restrict it to less players because of room at the table or other reasons. Other stores or DMs might not have read the rules well enough and might be turning people away. Hopefully you don't run into that.

Also, adventures have a tier, as MerricB says above. If they are running an adventure that is for characters 5-10 and you only have a 2nd level character, you can't play that adventure. When I run games at our local store, I try to make sure everyone can participate. I have 2 DMs running games and if new players show up, we will make sure one of the DMs runs a 1-4 adventure so they can participate. Our regular players have been very good at accommodating new players by playing their low level characters and replaying adventures they've already played in order to make sure new players get a chance to play.

So, basically, you want to ask what adventure is being run and whether it allows level 1 characters to be in it. Then you just need to make sure they have enough room at their table and show up at the scheduled time. It might be good to ask the store or the DM in advance to make sure you don't waste the trip. But I've found most of the Adventurer's League players to be great and they'll find a way to work with you. I have confidence.

 

[not-so-newguy]

@ Majoruoakheart

This is the best explanation of how Adventure League works that I have seen so far. I hope you don't mind, but I emailed your post to a friend who's interested in Adventure League.

@ SirAntoine

Yeah, I'm surprised how easy it is to jump into game there. I left my contact info today. There's a second game going that seems a bit more casual, the guy at the counter said they were looking for players. Woot!


@MerricB

I will be keeping an eye out for the updates. Thanks!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Will I be playing the same character throughout all the episodes?

You are not required to, but your character gains exp, gold, items, renown, etc based on your DCI number and the character's /name/, so you probably want play the same character as much as possible.

Or should I expect to play in one episode only?

Depending on the scenario, you can get through them quite quickly.

2. If your a DM in a game store, how do you handle random people such as myself asking to join in your campaign?

I say 'welcome aboard' and ask if you need a character because I do keep pregens handy. Some DMs may simply not have room at their table, or may not have a character for you, or may be running at a higher level.

In other words; what should I do, and not do, to ensure myself a place at the table?

Get a DCI number.

I've been running Encounters for years now, and am also running Expeditions now and then. The FLGS where I run has expelled /one/ player in all that time, and even he has been allowed back while he behaves himself.

* My experience playing D and D: I started with the basic red box set and have moved through each edition since that time, spending most of my time with 2nd edition.

5e will be a piece of cake. You have nothing to worry about.

 

[Riley37]

If stores are properly following the Adventurer's League rules then they shouldn't be turning players away. If someone is there and has a legal AL character then they should allow you to play. They do need to follow the rules, however. Which means each table can only be 3 to 7 players. They can't have 2 player tables or 8 player tables. Some stores or DMs will restrict it to less players because of room at the table or other reasons. Other stores or DMs might not have read the rules well enough and might be turning people away. Hopefully you don't run into that.

I've been playing in AL games at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) since I moved to San Mateo, and I'm taking a turn as DM while the previous DM takes a break. Thank you for an excellent overview!

Regarding that one paragraph: Yes and no. I showed up every week for AL. So did more and more players. When there are seven regulars showing up every week, and also people dropping in to try AL, then *someone loses*, along the lines of Musical Chairs. I started pre-paying, one week ahead, for my "seat at the table", just in case.

Eventually, we got a "no room at the inn" situation. I was delighted that we have players who enjoy the storyline so much that they return every week. I was ashamed, though, that we were no longer providing a game which newcomers could join, to check out local TRPG and to check out 5E. A guy showed up, was told by the store that he could not sign up. He stayed to watch our session, he stayed to chat afterwards. I look at him, and I wondered, what if that had been my experience, six months ago, when I moved to this town and this store became my FLGS?

So, just as I started DMing, I asked the group to split up. That was as easy and simple as ever: that is, it wasn't. People have schedules, people have issues... but I got two of the group, at least, to agree to drop out of the store's AL game, and meet at a player's house on a different evening, to continue the "Tyranny of Dragons" storyline as an independent group. (We may still qualify as Home Play, but that's not my top priority.)

 

[not-so-newguy]

I've been playing in AL games <snip>

I hope I don't run into an overcrowded situation, but I have always assumed that this is a possibility.

Btw, I live in the same county as you! In Pacifica. Small world.

 

[aramis erak]

I hope I don't run into an overcrowded situation, but I have always assumed that this is a possibility.

Btw, I live in the same county as you! In Pacifica. Small world.

The worst cases are when you have either 8 people show to play with only one DM available, or 15-16 with only two...
... as not everyone is capable of DMing effectively.

There was a session where 7 newbs showed up... along with the 23 regulars and 4 semi-regulars... and the 4 DM's scheduled had to cope with shuffling a few, so as to accommodate the mom & tweenager pair. (They came back the next week, didn't play, but did buy... and picked my brain a bit.) One of the semi-regs decided not to play, and one of the regulars opted to not play.

My home FLGS did temp bar a particular player.
His offenses - in sequence:
1) Rolled HP for level 1
2) Alignment NE
3) Showed up late and argued about how added to party.
4) Insisted on sitting behind the screen - invading the DM's personal space - as in, in physical contact
5) Moved the DM's books off the table to make room for himself
6) Borrowed dice & pencils from players without asking
7) argued with the event coordinator over the seating issue.
8) Yelled across room at another player after having been moved away from said player.

He's allowed back. He's learned. And he's actually read the league player's guide.