Learn about D&D organized play options

[jodyjohnson]

I could see the previous Expedition Season adventures hitting DnDClassics.com after the season ends.

If all you want are bite-sized adventures it might be worth waiting 7 months.

But then everything else will have moved on.

Does PFS have Epic-style Con adventures? Does PFS have 2-hour drop in store sessions? Is a requirement that both programs completely do the same thing (PFS can be home or online) and be completely original and groundbreaking at the same time (Oh no, AL is copying factions from PFS)?

If PFS is just good for grabbing a quick adventure we've been doing that with Dungeon magazine for 30 years.

 

[Alphastream]

Does PFS have Epic-style Con adventures? Does PFS have 2-hour drop in store sessions? Is a requirement that both programs completely do the same thing (PFS can be home or online) and be completely original and groundbreaking at the same time (Oh no, AL is copying factions from PFS)?

If PFS is just good for grabbing a quick adventure we've been doing that with Dungeon magazine for 30 years.

Most of the major organized play programs provide a big convention adventure. Sometimes that involves multiple tables, though that is more unusual. While it is debated whether Arcanis actually started the battle interactive (my information says it didn't), it certainly made it a big huge awesome thing that other campaigns (notably Living Greyhawk) could not resist using. Living Greyhawk was how most people first experienced a battle interactive, and there was a lot of cross-pollination between the two programs. That has continued over the years with cool ideas in Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Legend of the Five Rings, and other organized campaigns.

Shorter introductory adventures have also been used in various organized play programs.

Factions began with either Arcanis or Eberron, depending on how you look at it. Some of the guys heavily involved with Eberron's organized play went on to work for Paizo, which is why you see so many of the ideas from Wizards campaigns in use for PFS. Jason Bulmahn, Eric Mona, Stephen Radney-McFarland... those guys were big guys in Living Greyhawk and SRM was the guy in charge of Xendrik. They all played or organized a ton of Wizards organized play.

Importantly: This is a good thing. We aren't holding a competition, and there is no trophy. Every program learns from, shares with, and influences the other programs. This is hugely to the benefit of DMs, players, and the hobby itself. Also importantly, only by doing some new things can we learn what else might work well (and, sometimes, what doesn't). As I've mentioned before, the very-much-a-failure Delve Night D&D program really isn't that different than the arguably-best-ever D&D Encounters. A few minor changes made it an incredible success. It is no surprise to see other companies copy Encounters, but even better to see them offer new twists and develop some new ideas.

 

[sidonunspa]

Most of the major organized play programs provide a big convention adventure. Sometimes that involves multiple tables, though that is more unusual. While it is debated whether Arcanis actually started the battle interactive (my information says it didn't)

Correct, we didn't start BI's, the first BI's where done in Living City.. we took the idea and expanded upon it.

Factions began with either Arcanis or Eberron, depending on how you look at it.

This one is all ours (Arcanis) we started our campaign the year after 3.0 was published, and the campaign had secret societies from day one.

Importantly: This is a good thing. We aren't holding a competition, and there is no trophy. Every program learns from, shares with, and influences the other programs. This is hugely to the benefit of DMs, players, and the hobby itself. Also importantly, only by doing some new things can we learn what else might work well (and, sometimes, what doesn't). As I've mentioned before, the very-much-a-failure Delve Night D&D program really isn't that different than the arguably-best-ever D&D Encounters. A few minor changes made it an incredible success. It is no surprise to see other companies copy Encounters, but even better to see them offer new twists and develop some new ideas.

Well Said Sir!!

 

[sidonunspa]

Does PFS have Epic-style Con adventures? Does PFS have 2-hour drop in store sessions?

Umm.. they are not called Epic's or what-ever but they have Convention only events and 2-hr intro adventures.. just saying

If PFS is just good for grabbing a quick adventure we've been doing that with Dungeon magazine for 30 years.

not the same thing.... as it fails to tie into convention play

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

If PFS is just good for grabbing a quick adventure we've been doing that with Dungeon magazine for 30 years.

Yeah, it isn't about just grabbing a quick adventure. You're right, I can find that in many places.

The idea is that LG in particular was about community. PFS is the same these days. It created a situation where you'd meet the other people in your city who also played LG or PFS and form a community where most players had played with most other players. Certain characters were favored in the community and some hated. Some groups liked to adventure together on a regular basis and got a bond going between them but would accept new adventurers to periodically fill their 5th or 6th slot. Other people would just join whatever table was available. Other people would only be seen at conventions and the rest of the time they didn't play at all.

It was really about the freedom to play with any of a large group of players at any time you wanted to while having a ready supply of new adventures to play and being able to still feel like you had a sense of advancement. You got to keep your xp and gold so it didn't feel like you were playing a one shot and everyone played similar adventures so had context for where the plot line was gong. The plot kept going and you'd create a legacy over years.

The key is not just to have readily available adventures but to have those adventures be part of a bigger world, a bigger community, and a continuing storyline.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Thanks for the FYI. I'm not in tune with the full nature of the PFS.

I hope AL can meet the same functionality for you all.

 

[Alphastream]

Thanks for the FYI. I'm not in tune with the full nature of the PFS.

I hope AL can meet the same functionality for you all.

Keep in mind, it isn't an "us versus them" thing. The administrators for Living Forgotten Realms regularly played PFS. During my time running Ashes of Athas I played Living Arcanis, LFR, Heroes of Rokugan, Shadowrun Missions, and I'm sure several others.

PFS is fantastic. Fantastic. Absolutely everyone who likes 3E and organized play should try it. LFR is awesome. There are a ton of free adventures there for anyone wanting to play some very cool 4E adventures (especially that amazing Epic series). The dramatic inter-party fun in Heroes of Rokugan shouldn't be missed. The incredible free-flowing creater-your-own approach of Living Spycraft is amazing (and will hopefully return soon). The deep story of Arcanis is really cool. There is no better rumble in the slums than some of the Shadowrun Missions scenarios. 13th Age adventures like the recent Make Your Own Luck are creating some really cool PC-centric approaches.

There are many reasons to try several products. The hobby is plenty big enough for all of that. Some will, of course, be happier doing just one thing. Go deep on PFS, or play just Adventurers League. Some will go back and forth, tiring of one and finding vigor in another. Other groups will play several at a time, alternating. It's all good for the hobby and all good for the companies behind these programs. Every game and gaming company is bigger than just our own individual gaming table.

 

[grifta67]

Hello!

Does anyone have any insight on how this whole officially scheduling Adventurer's League games works? I'm not the organizer at my store, but I am one of the more active DMs over the years for our LFR night so I've been trying to read up and figure it out so I can help prod the store to getting our Expeditions started up.

With word that the adventures wouldn't be debuting until Gencon, I hadn't given things much thought until seeing Robert A. post on Facebook about tomorrow being the last chance to schedule any September events. This was a bit unexpected as I'm/we're used to the 4e LFR system of just using Warhorn to schedule a block of games every couple months or so; there weren't any deadlines or official programs to worry about.

I'm pretty sure our store isn't going to get things decided and scheduled by tomorrow, so we're going to miss that cutoff date. What does that mean for our events? I'm curious in general, but also have a couple specific questions/concerns...

• Do we now have to wait until October to start up any Expedition games?
• Whenever we do get things kicked off, will we still be able to access the 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 adventure PDFs that are listed on the WotC AL site for September?
• Is there anything substantial we're missing out on in terms of those certificates in the kits? My understanding is that they're just pretty pieces of paper, some of which allow magic item trading (which is cool, but no big deal to miss out on).

Thanks for any thoughts or answers in advance!

 

[MerricB]

Hello!

Does anyone have any insight on how this whole officially scheduling Adventurer's League games works? I'm not the organizer at my store, but I am one of the more active DMs over the years for our LFR night so I've been trying to read up and figure it out so I can help prod the store to getting our Expeditions started up.

I'm pretty sure our store isn't going to get things decided and scheduled by tomorrow, so we're going to miss that cutoff date. What does that mean for our events? I'm curious in general, but also have a couple specific questions/concerns...

• Do we now have to wait until October to start up any Expedition games?
• Whenever we do get things kicked off, will we still be able to access the 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 adventure PDFs that are listed on the WotC AL site for September?
• Is there anything substantial we're missing out on in terms of those certificates in the kits? My understanding is that they're just pretty pieces of paper, some of which allow magic item trading (which is cool, but no big deal to miss out on).

Thanks for any thoughts or answers in advance!

Scheduling is now done on a monthly basis, and about 1-2 months in advance. So, for 7th August-6th September (or thereabouts) you schedule all your October games. Then in September you schedule the November games. This is exactly the same method used for scheduling Magic events.

All the adventures will remain available throughout the Tyranny of Dragons storyline (so until March 2015), but I'm not sure of what happens after then to them.

You're not missing out on much in the kits save the certificate (although I really like the table tents). From what I understand, they'll send you kits when you sign up in any case, as well as the kits for the individual adventures that you schedule.

The kits we just got had the certificates for Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Lost Mine of Phandelver.

Cheers!

 

[Alphastream]

I'm pretty sure our store isn't going to get things decided and scheduled by tomorrow, so we're going to miss that cutoff date. What does that mean for our events? I'm curious in general, but also have a couple specific questions/concerns...

I would talk to your store and make sure they understand the benefits. They should already be using the WER system for Magic, so it shouldn't be hard for them to sign up each month for Encounters and Expeditions. The process takes minutes, so they can do it even today without much work.

Even if you missed this window, you can do a couple of things. First and foremost, you can go to the Support page to explain your situation, give them the name of your store, etc. They should approve you, which provides a link to the files you need.

For Encounters: You can buy the adventure as early as tomorrow (I think it is a really good adventure) and start running it. Once the packet arrives to the store you will have actual certificates. They just allow trading, so it isn't critical. You can of course run the adventure anywhere, with certificate support only through a store.

For Expeditions: You will need to wait for the download link from support or the store registering, but that shouldn't take too long. You can run this at any public location. One note: after conventions admins sometimes find that an adventure needs a few tweaks. Because of that, I would simply expect some of the adventures to be live after Gen Con and the rest shortly thereafter.

In the meantime: Running the Starter Set is a great option. You can run this anywhere. The store would have needed to order the previous kit to have the certs for play, but they are again not critical.

The cooler part of the kits, for me, are the welcome packets for Factions. We received them at our store last night and it was very cool for us. Nothing essential, but very cool.