Learn about D&D organized play options

[Alphastream]

Just remember all Expeditions games need to be played via a store.

Im certainly myself looking forward to seeing what Mulmaster looks like in 5th Edition and what new story will be on offer.

A clarification: You can run Expeditions at a store and through a store, but you can also get Expeditions adventures from WotC directly if you are running public games. They can be in any publicly accessible location (convention, library, coffee shop, etc.). If you want certificates, you must then partner with a store, who can order them for you, but certificates aren't needed for play. Make sense?

I'm looking forward to Mulmaster too!

 

[bmfrosty]

Are the DDEN adventures the same as the HoTDQ and TRoT, or are they adapted from to fit 2 hour slots? I've been trying to figure out all of this, and am finding all the different bits (and the naming scheme - 3 'E' words!) to not be as straightforward as I had hoped. I thought that I had had it figured out, but now I'm questioning that. The op is pretty good for this, but I still have questions.

 

[pedr]

D&D Encounters is play of the first sections of the current storyline adventure at a game store on a Wednesday. Stores which create D&D Encounters events get sent a PDF of the first sections of that adventure, which has a few small tweaks to help it to fit into the Encounters programme, primarily a cap on XP available each session so that over the course of a few weeks new players can join, or players can miss a session, without falling too far behind.. So for the first season, DDEN was the first three chapters of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. There was no explicit division into 2-hour sessions, though there's a note that recommends running it in sessions of about that length. Rise of Tiamat (and the later sections of HotDQ) are not technically part of Encounters - though stores may run those on Wednesdays alongside tables of Encounters (if they've a fresh group of new players or players who'd like to try out a different character and play the first parts again).

It's possible to play Hoard, etc, outside the Encounters structure but within the AL. Technically stores should report this using the Casual Play event as it isn't Encounters or Expeditions, but this doesn't change the AL status of those games. One challenge of that in a store is that players need to start with 1st level characters so it is useful to be able to offer the Encounters early episodes as well as running higher level adventures.

There may be some tweaks to this as the new season begins, with more information anticipated in the next version of the ALPG and the new Encounters PDF, due early March.

 

[smerwin29]

I will build upon Pedr's great explanation of Encounters to talk about Expeditions adventures, in case you are curious. Expeditions are shorter adventures than the big "storyline adventures" (being Hoard of the Dragon Queen this season and Princes of Elemental Evil next season). Most currently available Expeditions adventures demand about 4 hours of playtime (roughly). The first Expeditions adventure for the Tyranny of Dragons season, called Defiance in Phlan, was a series of 5 one-hour adventures. The first Expeditions adventure of the second storyline season will also have this format. Greg Marks, one of the administrators of the Adventurer's League, recently said on Facebook that in the coming season there were going to be Expedition adventures of various lengths: the aforementioned adventure with 5 one-hour mini-adventures, some that run 2 hours, some that run 4 hours, and some that run even longer. (There is a currently available adventure designed to run 8 hours.)

The Expedition adventures can only be offered at public locations, like conventions or game stores. There are ways to get them to run at your own local public events even if not sponsored by a convention or store, but to get the tradeable magic item certificates for the players, they have to be sponsored.

Be well!

 

[Tyranthraxus]

From a Practical standpoint, you generally find that the scenarios can drift over the 4 hour suggested limit if you dont reign them in. I run them at a local store and we have about 6 hours of shop open time. The longest one Ive run was about 4.5 hours. Expect on average a little over 4 hours.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I have not run a 5-10 level one yet, BUT based on my previous experience with higher level games they can tend to run long so self enforcement needs to be more established on time but dont be surprised if you can drift to 5 hours.

I shudder a bit to think of these sort of games running in Con Slots.

 

[keterys]

I'd definitely suggest giving more time for the 5 1-hour adventures. You'd do yourself (mostly your RP) a disservice to do them in 1 hour, and they're one of the highlights of Expeditions so you may as well get the best of them that you can

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I ran Tyranny in Phlan on the Weekend. I started at 11:40 am sat Morning and finished at 4:30 pm Sat Afternoon and I had to rush the last battle.

I think there definetly needs to be a reduction in at least one encounter in this scenario and a lot more playtesting needs to be done to esp reign in the play time of the Tier 2 adventures. Ill let you know how Raiders in the Marsh goes.

 

[MerricB]

I ran Tyranny in Phlan on the Weekend. I started at 11:40 am sat Morning and finished at 4:30 pm Sat Afternoon and I had to rush the last battle.

I think there definetly needs to be a reduction in at least one encounter in this scenario and a lot more playtesting needs to be done to esp reign in the play time of the Tier 2 adventures. Ill let you know how Raiders in the Marsh goes.

It took my group just over 2 hours.

The length of these adventures varies wildly from group to group. If it's taking you too long to complete it, look at what you're doing and what's taking so long.

Cheers!

 

[Alphastream]

Edit: Ignore this post, I misread which adventure we were talking about! Sorry!