Learn about D&D organized play options

[Tyranthraxus]

Having run Embers of Elmwood and The Drowned Tower since I posted some time back: I had no issue with the scaling in these. Embers was run at Average and Drowned Tower at Weak. I quite liked Embers backgrounding with the information it presented on magic and the different Areas of Mulmaster.

THe Drowned Tower was also interesting due to its information on Umberlee which I quite liked.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

FYI - The Milwaukee Summer Revel has a few of the upcoming PotA Adventures posted for play (in July). They are...

DDEX2-10 Cloaks and Shadows (2-4)

DDEX2-11 Oubliette of Fort Iron (2-4) - 2hr

DDEX2-12 Dark Rites at Fort Dalton (2-4) - 2hr

DDEX2-13 The Howling Void (5-10)

DDEX2-14 The Sword of Selfaril (5-10)

DDEX2-15 Black Heart of Vengeance (5-10)

 

[Alphastream]

i think it depends on the objective. Untiered/unscaled encounters in previous organized play campaigns were usually meant to cover "the PCs should know better than to mess with this... if they do, hit them with this and probably it's a TPK." With the Encounters adventures it is really more that the DM is given freedom to create an encounter or to adjust an encounter. The certain cloud encounter in HotDQ comes to mind. That could be poor design (the designers have talked about being blindsided by monster changes) or it could just be that DMs are expected to adjust encounters and give hints.

Regardless of intent, I would argue that the end result for a DM is the later: The point is for everyone to have fun. If an encounter is up to you to design, is a random table roll, or is an untiered encounter with a potential non-combat or challenge-lessening option, then you the DM should adjust accordingly for fun and give tips as needed for fun.

It's never about softballing. But, let's say the party doesn't catch all the previous hints about a powerful creature. Now they are in the throne room and they decide to go straight into combat. As the fight develops, you might place hints in the room: an open journal, it's open page questioning the trustworthiness of the Cult. Or, flowers placed at the base of a portrait of the creature's spouse, showing she recently died (and perhaps begging the question of what happened to her). Add the depth that can trigger players realizing, seemingly on their own, that there is more than just a TPK to be had here. Recast it as almost a combination fight and skill/puzzle encounter, where as the TPK looms they can figure out the way to a non-combat solution. That can be a very awesome experience.

Let's say you roll randomly on a wilderness encounter table and only two rounds in realize that monster(s) is brutal. You could have cultists come in on the scene and demand either payment or proof of allegiance to help the party. Or, a far larger creature comes in and desires the original monster as prey - it becomes a skill encounter to exit the combat with as little notice and damage as possible. There are often options to make this a really fun scene without a non-fun TPK or handwaiving the challenge. And, sometimes the players do just earn a fun TPK. That happens too. But, it is hopefully fair and not due to bad design or a DM not understanding the challenge level.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

FYI - The Milwaukee Summer Revel has a few of the upcoming PotA Adventures posted for play (in July). They are...

DDEX2-10 Cloaks and Shadows (2-4)

DDEX2-11 Oubliette of Fort Iron (2-4) - 2hr

DDEX2-12 Dark Rites at Fort Dalton (2-4) - 2hr

DDEX2-13 The Howling Void (5-10)

DDEX2-14 The Sword of Selfaril (5-10)

DDEX2-15 Black Heart of Vengeance (5-10)

Wow, I havnt seen that handle in a while. I remember you from the good old irc channel Horus. Good to see you are still gaming (had thought you had given it away!)

Alphastream: Thanks for the information.

My previous concern about Mayhem in the Earthspur have been somewhat satiated in terms of the encounters. I did have to do some juggling during that scenario, but to me the fact that the first encounter did have a scaling box and the other encounters in scenario did not (also Encounters in Scenario and Wed Night Encounters is gonna get confusing ) , first made me think 'oh oh, they have forgotten to includ the scaling boxes'. I can see now that the intention was to not include anymore. I think my preference would be all or nothing in regards to the scaling boxes then.

To be honest, as a gm I much prefer the Expeditions. I find fitting the square module into a round hole personally not that appealing when it comes to the Modules like Hoard and Princes and incorporating them into AL. Thats just a personal view, the latter in particular has a very strong story (enough with the cultists already going forward! )

This is just a personal view but I have found I spend a fair bit more prep time with Expeditions than I have done with other organised play campaigns. Im not particulary good at adjusting on the fly which is why I personally rely on the scaling boxes so much.

 

[Alphastream]

Sounds like it's DC-area only, is that right?

Sorry, which one? Living Divine seems to still be active, but I'm not sure where they are running adventures. Ashes of Athas has concluded, but you can PM me to receive a copy of the adventures.

 

[Coredump]

That said: is there a forum where AL DMs can compare notes, and where one DM can post their particular fill-ins, and then other AL DMs can adopt whatever fill-ins they find most useful for their own table? Including material which YOU had in mind, and which you left out of Story Background in order to avoid overloading DMs who don't have much prep time and who just wanna cut to the chase/conflict scenes. And also, for us to learn from each other's mistakes, possibly, though in a gentle, mutually-supportive manner..

This might be what you are looking for...

http://community.wizards.com/forums/132311

It is common for "DM only" threads to pop up talking about details of the various adventures.

 

[Riley37]

This might be what you are looking for...

Thanks! There's that forum, and the general AL forum, at community.wizards. They have been useful!

 

[Raddu]

Rage of Demons, Moonsea Port of Call announced

“Listen here lad, Hillsfar, the City of Trade, is a great place to make your way, as long as you’re not an elf… or a dwarf… or a halfling or well pretty much anything but human. But if you’re human, there is no better opportunity!”
-Isthana Ro, Guildmaster of Rogues

Read up on Hillsfar, the next port of call for D&D Expeditions during the Rage of Demons storyline season.

http://dndadventurersleague.org/state-of-hillsfar/

 

[keterys]

Huh, I imagine that's going to get odd for non-human characters pretty fast.

 

[Alphastream]

Hi all! I've updated the main thread with information on the upcoming Rage of Demons season!

In particular:
- The new information on the Expeditions city of Hillsfar.
- The new info on bonds and backgrounds for Hillsfar.
- The background for Rage of Demons
- Dates and the like, as far as I know them.

This article was recently posted with information on the Gen Con events and adventures.