Have You played In An Official D&D Adventurer's League Event?

Never have. The WotC locator tool is useless - it shows over a dozen stores in my area that participate in Adventurer's League, but most of them actually don't. When I call to check, half of them haven't heard of it before, and the other half said they used to, but stopped a year ago or more. There is one store in the next town over that has an active running game, but it's a 45 minute drive away, and happens right in the middle of my workday. My normal gaming group once tried to run a home AL game, but we found the restrictions too restricting for no benefit.

 

[Grimjack99]

I run Adventure League at a game store, I have played at other game stores, and in homes. I've run at conventions, and played at conventions. Not only the current Adventure League, but RPGA events back in the day (took the test, and got certified, too). I also play in two other home brew 5E games. Games are what we make them. The Adventure League has started giving DM's greater latitude to put their stamp on a session to insure fun for the table. I consider myself a casually serious gamer with little else better to do.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I played AL last year at PAX East when it was available, whereas in years past the con has had D&D, but not I think technically AL. Although now that the regional and local coordinators are gone for AL, who knows who (if anyone) is going to run D&D at all at the con this year.

 

[Sammael]

No. There are no LGSs in Serbia that run AL as far as I know.

 

[JonnyP71]

Played in one 3 hour session at a convention as I had nothing else planned... the adventure itself was pretty dire (a low level CoS scenario), but the DM was very competent and the group were a pleasant bunch.

I've yet to find a local Gaming Store which supports AL play - but I would give it another go if the opportunity was there.

 

[Weird Dave]

Since GenCon 2014 I've run games at conventions for Adventurers League and I've had an absolute blast doing so! It coincided with a realization on my part that if I wanted to play games at conventions, I needed to be the one running them - fighting registration systems and timeouts was too nerve-wracking. GenCon 2014, Gamehole Con 2014, Winter Fantasy 2015, Origins 2015, GenCon 2015, Gamehole Con 2015, and PAX West 2016 have been my AL-focused cons and it's been a blast. Most of that was with Baldman Games, and I've run epics, 1 hour slots, 2 hour slots, and 4 slots for those cons, and I've had a great time doing it - I don't think I've had a single bad or disgruntled player at my tables!

Locally, the AL games are actually too full for me to DM! I run my own home game for D&D 5E that's been a lot of fun so I don't sweat it, and it's been nice to meet and chat with the DMs and organizers that make the big conventions run behind the scenes!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yes, I've done so at cons, and have generally enjoyed myself. The most recent D&D Open at Origins left me really dissatisfied for a number of reasons, but other than that I've had mostly great experiences.

I've never run anything though, and that's something I'd really like to work up the nerve to do some time.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Yes, I played at GenCon when 5E debuted and it turned me off to the system for about a year.....such a bad experience: some level 6-8 NPC just killed the party off, one per round as they got 3 attacks per round.

I tried it earlier this year at a local store and although the scenario was good, I was level 1 running with others who were level 4 or 5, so after almost dying twice even though I was standing back in combat, that was enough. On top of it, the other players just had stacks of magic items which made it feel more imbalanced.

 

[gkramer1]

I've played in them at local cons and the D&D Experience track at Origins. My overall impression has been mixed. I've had a few good sessions (once with Rodney Thomson as DM!) and then some real clunkers (DDEX3-02 Shackles of Blood comes to mind). In retrospect, most of the adventures seem railroady. I know it's tough in a short block of time to make something open-ended, but it seems more like they try to force a "story" at all costs, with some cringe-worthy plot points. Even at Origins, the experience was just "ok" - I'm recalling a villain that was telegraphed early on, but we were given no chance/choice to confront until the end.

And I echo the comment above about other players having "stacks of magic items". At origins, the others at my table who played every week were loaded up; me who brought my player from a year ago looked meek in comparison despite us being of the same level-tier. And I have had AL DMs who, on day 3 of the con, seemed to be phoning it in.

 

[nswanson27]

I really like AL. If anything, it's a great way to meet players even if the AL format doesn't work for you.

 

[Mr. Greengoat]

Whenever my home game starts to unravel because of scheduling (we are all doing the middle aged parent thing), I consider switching over to DMing an organized play game to ensure enough players. The problem is that, as a player, it is really hard to get into the community in my gaming-active city. When I show up once in a while, it always seems like my presence is a burden to the ongoing players. The last time a I scheduled a game through the store I showed up and none of the four tables wanted to take me on. I was 1st level and they were all in the middle of a higher tier story.
Other times, at a different FLGS, new players are shipped off to the table with kids and new players if there is a DM available to take that on. There is nothing inherently wrong with kids playing, but the lack of (play)experience or maturity at those tables makes it a less entertaining experience than it could be. Organization to prevent cliquishness and encourage integration should be key.
I still don't know who to talk to about being a DM for a location or where to check about the hierarchy since it seems region organization is ad-hoc. Hard to get into.