DDAL Things I learn from being a DM for 400 Adventure League sessions.

[AnotherGuy]

@jasper you must obviously love running D&D with perfect strangers. That is an amazing sacrifice of time on your part!
1. Do you also have your own home games with friends?
2. And how often would you run AL sessions? Once a week, bi-weekly, once a month?
3. Was it easy to keep to the times in the AL? I couldn't when I ran the AL for home-games.

 

[Oofta]

While I haven't done AL judging, I used to do quite a bit of DMing for public games in LFR and LG. So the OP has some great thoughts, I'll add a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

Every group is different, pay attention to what they respond to and enjoy.

Don't be afraid to act out a bit. I feel like i get a little carried away sometimes with accents and characterizations sometimes but people seem to enjoy it. Don't just tell them "these are the rumors", have them talk to someone who is drunk, another bored, another crotchety old man that's hard of hearing*.

Don't be afraid to change the fluff a bit. Instead of a swarm of ravens, it's a swarm of black butterflies with sun glinting off their razor sharp obsidian wings.

I adjust difficulty of encounters for the group based on what they are enjoying and how well they are doing. At the start of an encounter I'll beef up or drop HP, add a few points to their attack bonuses, use different tactics.

Be clear and concise about disagreements on rules. I listen but rarely look up or discuss during the game, we will talk after. Mention this before the game starts.

Remember to have fun.

* That one is getting easier and easier of late for some reason

 

[nevin]

Things I learn from being a DM for 400 Adventure League sessions.

1. The rules and guidance will always be adjusted, late, and location will change.

2. Players will be from all races, education levels, economy levels, skill levels, interest levels, and various backgrounds.

3. Some people will love your DM style and others will hate it. Both will talk about you.

4. Reputation for starting on time is important. Wish the players would be on time.

5. DMing for Autistic and other special needs players is interesting, a joy, and sometimes a pain.

6. Players will give you with snackage, dice, and other gifts. Thank them.

7. Run the adventures/modules you want to run.

8. Don’t run when not feeling well.

9. Say no to your players as needed. Talk about safety tools with them.

10. I will spend more than I should.

11. Breaks are important. Both physical and mental.

12. Listen to constructive feedback.

13. What the internet and forums think is a big deal will be dismissed by causal players.

With 13 you win the internet for a day

 

[Velderan]

Ask questions then. I have done about 2/3 of Season1 to Season 9. And DM the following books. Books Ran - Rise of Tiamat, Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation, Mad Mage, Waterdeep Heist *2, Ghost of Saltmarsh, Descent into Avernus, Icewind Dale, Candlekeep Mysteries, Curse of Strahd, Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Call of the Netherdeep, Spelljammer Academy, Journey of the Radiant Citadel, Spelljammer Light of Xarysis,

Which season do you think players generally seemed to like the most?

Were any of them easier or harder to run with a random group?

 

[jasper]

@aco175


First: That's an impressive feat! Thanks for sharing
Second: I don't really understand the quoted text above. Could you explain a little?

9. Say No as to your players as needed. Talke about safety tools.
No can be simple as "No Bob You are NOT going to describe taking the head as another trophy. " "No Bob, you can flirt with the bar maid but I am going to fade to black as soon as you go upstairs." No Bob cut off creeping on the NPC the two women at the table are about to stuff you into the dumpster."
Safe Tools can be as simple as DM "Any thing that freaky you out? Okay Bob is scared of spiders. I will reskin them. Or Bob the Dungeon is Battle against the Spider Queen, I think you should seat this adventure out."

 

[jasper]

@jasper you must obviously love running D&D with perfect strangers. That is an amazing sacrifice of time on your part!
1. Do you also have your own home games with friends?
2. And how often would you run AL sessions? Once a week, bi-weekly, once a month?
3. Was it easy to keep to the times in the AL? I couldn't when I ran the AL for home-games.

1. Occasionally I am a player at home games.
2. Currently doing Friday night a module and Saturday is Dragonlance. With breaks if the Dragonlance group does not have 4+ players. Running the books I sometimes at some minor homebrew encounters either a small combat or role play with a npc.
3. The hours listed is only a suggestion for home or FLGS games. But I do have a hard close at 11 PM. So I had to skip encounters. Or just call the fight and give the players a win. AKA it was 10:40 and the store closed at 11.
At Cons I do keep a good eye on the clock and have skipped whole parts. But a 2 hour game is generallly in a 2.5 or 3 hour slot.

 

[not-so-newguy]

9. Say No as to your players as needed. Talke about safety tools.
No can be simple as "No Bob You are NOT going to describe taking the head as another trophy. " "No Bob, you can flirt with the bar maid but I am going to fade to black as soon as you go upstairs." No Bob cut off creeping on the NPC the two women at the table are about to stuff you into the dumpster."
Safe Tools can be as simple as DM "Any thing that freaky you out? Okay Bob is scared of spiders. I will reskin them. Or Bob the Dungeon is Battle against the Spider Queen, I think you should seat this adventure out."

Ah ok. I understand

 

[jasper]

Which season do you think players generally seemed to like the most?

Were any of them easier or harder to run with a random group?

The most current season is what players want to run most especially at cons. They will flock to your table if the module is under a month old. Currently I running season 5 at the store because I want to actually run the modules I have.
The Tier 4 modules are harder to run with a random group because the group doesn't seem to mesh well.

 

[jasper]

I found running for AL more of a problem in tracking things and not being able to modify things. I tend to homebrew games a certain way and when DMing for AL I feel restrained in trying to keep things in their rules. I ran Princes of the Apocalypse (PotA) to level some PCs to bring to a convention to use in AL games. I'm pretty sure they are all messed up from being official, mostly since they were created a few years ago and then years change in AL and such. The magic items listing what you can have vs what you need to change was hard to manage. I needed to look at different site and just guess in the end. I do not thing anyone at the convention will care much, but Wizards could make this part better.

When I ran PotA as a home campaign it went much better. I included several background side quests and modified magic items that fit the party and things flowed better overall.

Any suggestions on how to track things better and how to manage the different seasons of AL? We only play it at the conventions and after tier 1, things start to become a problem.

Yes the current official AL comes from the discord channel and the helpers there make no promises when the WOTC AL page will be updated. Moding the book with side quests and magic items is not much of a problem as I have only did a log check at a con twice when the magic item did not seem right. One Guy magic item was a piece of fluff McGuffin which had no real magic. The second I told the person to either drop it or swap it out with a +1 weapon.

For Cons I would stick with the current season or CCC Con created content which your dms enjoy running. When I running the con I ask my dms do they have any special modules they want to run. Then fit that in the schedule but this depends on how far out from the con I get my DMS. Other times I set the schedule and tell DMs to choose a slot. I then LOAN them a copy of the module if don't already have it.
But the introduction to AL at cons can be a pain. These are two hour slots which you run 1 part of the first module in a season. You know the ones which have 4 to 5 one hour adventures. I am sick of the Season 3-1 with the demon nanny goat.

As for tracking, I do a 2 to 4 page write up of the session the next day. This scratches my writer itch and posting to facebook and here gives me a go to play to look up what happen last week.

 

[Quickleaf]

@jasper Wow! That's a lot of AL sessions! Thanks for spreading the word of tabletop to others!

I was wondering how often you had PC death or other similar calamities (e.g. petrification, lost in the Underdark without any gear, a mistake that cost the lives of numerous NPCs) occur in your AL games? And whether it was notably less than in your home games?