Con Created Content (CCC) - Are they any good?

[lonelynoose]

I'll be attending TridentCon in Baltimore next month and I see they have a couple of CCC tables. Has anyone run/played in one of these? Are they any good?

The Baltimore content is apparently Edgar Allan Poe themed.

 

[warfteiner]

It all comes down to your preferences, really. The CCC creator teams have nearly-full control over the content and we (the admin team) only provide them some framework.

Many of the adventures are pretty solid, though a few are fairly experimental in execution. Hit dmsguild and look at reviews if you want, or you can play new stuff with the authors at their events - which is what your post sounds like

Have fun!

 

[skerritthegreen]

On another note, if you have thoughts/comments on a CCC adventure (or any adventure) post them to the DMsGuild. Some adventures have just one or two reviews (or none) and that makes it pretty hard to decide if the community at large likes an adventure. However some have literally dozens of reviews which usually makes the general community opinion pretty solid.

 

[CapnZapp]

Even better, post your opinions here, where people can actually find them, and then just reference that on DM's Guild.

Remember that place is geared towards sales and getting revenue. It does not invite a running discussion, and there is no centralized way to read new reviews (Unless you visit a specific adventure, you will never see it), and who knows if bad reviews are really tolerated?

I find a forum structure (like this place), or even the review database (at rpg.net) far superior.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[skerritthegreen]

...who knows if bad reviews are really tolerated?

There's plenty of bad reviews, so I think its clear that they are tolerated. The review system is used by the Admins to know which authors and types of adventures the community likes, so if you don't voice an opinion there where the information is gathered from, you won't impact adventure/author decisions in the future.

 

[DaydreamTiger]

As the "TridentCon guy" I _definitely_ want your feedback on any CCCs (and any other session, of course) you play at our con, with full candor!

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Played some Tier 3 & 4 CCC over the weekend. I think content as a whole is improving as experience with writing for 5e AL is accrued. I've seen a couple of things that appear to be habitual in these of late, though.

1) Penalties for use of teleportation magic. Make a DC or suffer damage and/or teleportation failure/mishap with no real way to know this could be an issue without just trying a spell and risk getting zapped. Yeah, you don't want a teleportation easy button but what happens is the player spends a spell slot (limited resource) to find out it doesn't work and they are damaged for doing it.

2) Counterspell mania. Had at least two mods where we had 3+ long chains of counterspells going off. In one case it was significantly baked into the encounter (ie items that counterspelled at high level were scattered about). I like a fun wizard duel but when every spell you're trying to get off is being counterspelled only to be counter-counterspelled which in turn is counter spelled, over and over again. Well, not as much fun. On top of that one of the DMs was of the opinion that you have no idea what spell is being cast when you use counterspell (even when the PC in question has a passive perception of 20 and a +15 bonus to Arcana). So people were burning high level counterspells on low-level spells. [DM]Chuckle, chuckle...[/DM] :-/

 

[lonelynoose]

I like Trident. Went last year and had a good time. The only bad experiences I had were from combative players trying to tell other players what to do and bickering over magic items. Soooooo... yeah, a regular Con experience.

Another question though, if AL provides the framework, then is CCC content created in Baltimore?

 

[skerritthegreen]

The AL provides a certain structure (template, treasure and content guidelines, etc...) and the con creates the actual adventure (so in the case of Trident, I assume in Baltimore, though I guess with the internet, their authors could live anywhere). The AL does not edit for quality and just approves or rejects based on meeting certain very minimum standards.

 

[DaydreamTiger]

And "minimum standards" is the phrase which has propelled me through adulthood!

In the case of our CCC written for TridentCon this year, it's framework by me (I'm in Baltimore), actual writing by Jack Shear (New York), then editing by me again. But the theme is Baltimore-appropriate.

Sorry to hear about the bickering last year, lonelynoose - you're right, players are gonna be players, but if things ever veer outside "normal" parameters at TridentCon, please let me know immediately.

 

[MerricB]

The answer to "Is Con-Created Content any good?" is certainly "It depends".

There are CCC adventures I've run which I've found beyond awful. The Bleeding Gate series is one of those.

There are CCC adventures I've run which I've very much enjoyed.

And, as normal, there are a lot in-between, where things don't come together to create a superior adventure, but the overall adventure still works.

Of course, there are also ones that some people like and I hate, and vice versa. Large range of adventures out there.

I do review various CCCs on my site when I get the chance.

Cheers!

 

[Morrus]

What is CCC? Adventures created while at a convention?

 

[MerricB]

Not quite. Adventures created for a convention. (CCC=Con-Created Content)

The idea is that a convention's organisers can write their own D&D Adventurers League-legal adventures to debut at the convention, as long as they get approval from the DDAL admin team (the process must begin at least 9 months before the convention) and then put the adventure up on the DMs Guild within 6 months of the convention.

The DDAL admins don't oversee the quality of the adventure, although they do approve the original concept.

So, Baldman Games has a team of writers that create content for their conventions, and many other conventions have been joining in with their own CCC adventures.

So, a Con-Created Content adventure will premiere at a convention, then become available to everyone once it goes up on the DMs Guild.

The difference between a CCC adventure and a DDAL adventure is that the DDAL adventures are specifically commissioned by the D&D Adventurers League itself, and are edited by the admin team. CCC doesn't have that much oversight.

Cheers!

 

[skerritthegreen]

What is CCC? Adventures created while at a convention?

You can find all the details here: http://dndadventurersleague.org/how-do-i-ccc-and-other-questions/