D&D Encounters Season 3 - Keep on the Borderlands

[Festivus]

Sigh, I was going to take a break from DMing encounters next season when they drop this on me:

Wizards Play Network – D&D Encounters™: Keep on the Borderlands (Season 3)
September 22, 2010 – February 2, 2011

Sanctioning opens: August 9, 2010
Sanctioning ends: January 15, 2011
Play: September 22, 2010 – February 2, 2011

PRODUCT TYPE: Organized Play program
FORMAT: Not Applicable
WPN LEVELS: Gateway and higher

Celebrate the launch of D&D Essentials™ with a return to a classic adventure! Building on the huge success of D&D Encounters Seasons One and Two, Wednesdays will remain every D&D® player’s favorite night of the week! Adventure waits as you journey to the Nentir Vale and face down savage beasts and lurking evils at the edge of civilization. Get into the action quickly by creating a classic 1st-level D&D character using the new D&D Essentials rules options, or grab a pre-generated one. Later in the season, be the first to try out Fortune cards to enhance your D&D play experience. Get ready to explore the
dungeons and dangers at The Keep on the Borderlands!

KEY SELLING POINTS

• Try out the new D&D Essentials™ rules options, designed to make it easy to create your own character with a classic D&D® feel!
• D&D Essentials products will be available in-store by no later than September 21, meaning players are using the hottest new products
• Players use only D&D Essentials books, which means that lapsed players and DMs won’t need to worry about a huge range of rules options at the table
• One session equals one encounter each week – total play time of 1-2 hours, perfect to fit in after school or work
• Mini-campaign offers an ongoing, compelling narrative to keep players coming back each Wednesday
• Easy to play – just show up, create your own 1st-level character using the D&D Essentials rules or use a pre-generated character provided in the kit.
• DMs earn rewards just for DMing game sessions
• Easy to DM – everything is provided in the kit, minimal prep time in-between sessions
• Designed for players of all levels.

MARKETING

• PoP materials for Season 3 sent with Kit 1.
• Prominent on-line presence at dungeonsanddragons.com.
• Support on social media platforms including on-going Twitter buffs on wizards_dnd.
• Included in on-going national PR out-reach supporting the Dungeons & Dragons® Fantasy Roleplaying Game (red box).

SANCTIONING AND SEASON INFORMATION

• Season: September 22, 2010 through February 2, 2011
• Sanctioning: August 9, 2010 through January 15, 2011

KIT CONTENTS

• Adventure* – 2 copies per kit (includes a battle maps).
• Characters – 2 packs of 6 characters.
• Token sheet – 2 sheets per kit.
• Player Rewards – 20 cards in Kit 1 and 12 cards in Kit 3.
• DM Rewards – 2 packs per kit.
• Poster – 1 per kit.
• Instruction sheet

Kits available at www.wizards.com/wpn

* These are the contents of Kit 1. Season 3 is 20 weeks long. Every 4 sessions equals one chapter of play. Subsequent adventures (kits 2-5) containing another 4 weeks of play (along with a new map) will arrive approximately nine days prior to their need.

Can not resist... must DM this!

 

[DeathMutant]

20 weeks is a major commitment. Our Meetup group runs 6 tables every week, at 3 different locations, and several of our DMs are getting burned-out so I have to find replacements. The problem is that few new DMs want to commit for such a long period (5 months!) and they are, essentially, required to buy the "Red Box" so they have access to the "new" rules.

Perhaps convincing the host stores to contribute a "Red Box" for each DM would help. . .

 

[Insight]

I seriously doubt you are required to have the red box to run the game. It would be a nice gift, though.

 

[Festivus]

Well, for season 2 I was given some prize support for the DMs, which was nice, plus WoTC sponsored my meetup site for a few months. I don't know if that will continue but it was nice to have.

 

[webrunner]

I have a friend who is interested in getting into D&D and they don't know who to play with in their area.. would suggesting going for this be a good idea? What happens if you miss a session? Can you "jump in" a few weeks later if you miss the start of the season? What do you need to play? I haven't been able to find out exactly how Encounters "works"

 

[DeathMutant]

Well, for season 2 I was given some prize support for the DMs, which was nice, plus WoTC sponsored my meetup site for a few months. I don't know if that will continue but it was nice to have.

The current (Meetup) sponsorship expires in September -- before season#3 starts -- so if WotC renews the sponsorship it will definitely help. Sending out another "welcome" package, containing books and tiles to give away to DMs and players, would be a nice touch too.

 

[DeathMutant]

I have a friend who is interested in getting into D&D and they don't know who to play with in their area.. would suggesting going for this be a good idea? What happens if you miss a session? Can you "jump in" a few weeks later if you miss the start of the season? What do you need to play? I haven't been able to find out exactly how Encounters "works"

D&D Encounters is ideal for people that want to learn how to play, do not know anyone locally who plays and/or cannot make a commitment to a "regular" game. Pre-generated characters are available so they do not need anything to join an Encounters game; though a single d20 would be helpful. Players come and go all the time so "jumping in" during the middle of the season is OK!

 

[Festivus]

I have a friend who is interested in getting into D&D and they don't know who to play with in their area.. would suggesting going for this be a good idea? What happens if you miss a session? Can you "jump in" a few weeks later if you miss the start of the season? What do you need to play? I haven't been able to find out exactly how Encounters "works"

I have players drop out for a week all the time, it's not a big deal and we work out some story idea like they are off exploring something else when the action occurs. When they come back, we fill them in on what they missed. Sometimes I have guest players who take a regular's seat, and that is fine too. I always start with a brief recap (usually I make the players do this while I am prepping things for the encounter).

Encounters is good for learning the tactical elements of D&D play. With season 3 being limited to "Essentials" I would expect that it's very much aimed at newer players, so yes, I would suggest at least giving it a try. If you don't like it, don't go back []

What do you need to play: Dice... that's about it. I usually bring some extra dice too, but since it's at a store usually, you can just buy some at the store. Beyond that, just your imagination.

In a nutshell, encounters are just that, a series of encounters tied together loosely with a story. Although season 3 is keep on the borderlands, so if it's anything like the original, then you basically can make incursions into the region surrounding the keep (I bet each chapter is like that).

 

[DeathMutant]

I seriously doubt you are required to have the red box to run the game. It would be a nice gift, though.

True, having the "Red Box" rules is not required to running an Essentials game but, considering some players are going to want help in creating new Essentials characters, a DM would look pretty silly claiming "I don't know how."

Pre-generated characters are available, however, so the DM could just say "use these" and not allow custom characters.

 

[Festivus]

This doesn't start until after Red Box releases, so it should be fine (at my store at least, which has a demo copy already of the Red Box). The blurb said "everything is provided in the kit", so I am not too worried.