Legality of AL adventures on Dungeon Masters Guild

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Pure speculation, of course, but they might be thinking about a model more similar to that of Pathfinder's Society which (IIRC; it's been ages since I last played that) you bought the individual mods for a couple of bucks each and then you could run them as often as you wanted. I don't mind that, as the money for all this has to come from somewhere, but the bar is raised significantly when you start charging people for a product as opposed to just offering it for free.

If so, that and the rating system they have implemented on the DMGuild site may provide some... interesting feedback to Wizards on the quality of some of the stuff out there.

The money for the AL materials already has a source: the D&D Marketing budget. Without a clear view of what this will do for AL play, this simply feels like nickel-and-diming the AL DMs to squeeze blood from a stone.

Don't get me wrong. I've been a huge proponent of having AL adventures being sold to the public. However, the AL DMs do plenty of work on the ground level to further the propagation of the program. We should have unfettered access to the adventures in comparison to John Q. Public.

Part of what made AL so easy to adopt for FLGS is that there were no charges to run it. Changing that is going to cause friction between FLGS and DM over who has to pay for the PDFs. Not to mention, I would expect FLGS to start charging for play sessions in locations that there was previously no sitting fee. Care and consideration need to go into deciding how this affects the FLGS level. Otherwise, it's one step forward and two steps back.

 

[kalani]

We will all have to be patient, and wait for tomorrows announcement to know what the full impact to AL will be.

 

[Coredump]

Are the Season 3 mods up for sale? I knew about earlier ones....


I must say, I am apprehensive... on one hand, I have liked what the Admins have been doing thus should trust them about this....OTOH I don't have a good feeling about this, and it may not be based on Admin feedback...

I think selling the mods is good, but only after they have been out for a year or so. But we shall see what tomorrow brings...

 

[Pauper]

Speculation is both enjoyable and potentially valuable, so long as people remember not to get bent out of shape over the speculation (and reserve getting bent out of shape for the actual announcement).

It's kind of like that old 'things I'll do if I'm ever the Evil Overlord' checklist -- this is the 'make sure a 5-year old can't find an obvious flaw in my evil plan' stage.

--
Pauper

 

[Dracoprimus]

I hope it's either past seasons become available on DM Guild, while the current season is still available for free at dndadventurersleague.org/, or stores organizers, and RCs/LCs get a freebie code at DM Guild. The later might make things easier to manage from the admin side. it could also kind of counter the passwords for the modules going public like they have been.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Dosnt make sense to have it for free in one place via password and cost 2.99 or whatever it might cost on another website. Best to just make it cost from this point forward and let people decide how they want to start paying for stuff and pass those costs on.

 

[Dracoprimus]

it can make sense. Free for stores and conventions and such, as part of organized play. Or, you can buy it for home play, not necessarily as part of AL.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Those who purchase them for Home Play should still be able to count as AL play. It doesn't make sense to exclude them as long as they're playing by AL rules. They simply wouldn't have certs, so no trading of magic items.

As for keeping it free for those who run public play, I could get behind the idea of coupon codes being given in place of passwords. That would work best if they offered a season pass, instead of waiting until the end of season for the bundle. Give each store/con either a season pass coupon via email or include the individual adventure codes in the cert packages.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Keep in mind guys you are assuming that just because you can buy it from the store, you can run it at home as part of AL. THats a logic line you really shouldnt be going out on until told properly by AL Admins. It could be that you just buy the scenarios now and can still only run at the store. It does mean that Joe could buy say Secrets of Sokol keep to run in his home campaign (which isnt AL at all).

Its also my preferred method and hopeful outcome.

Why should it be free for conventions? Dont they charge per table now anyway or for entrance for the con? Why isnt any of that going towards dm costs for adventures run there?

 

[Dracoprimus]

most of the conventions in the PNW area don't charge for gaming activity, especially the smaller cons. As far as con entrance fees, those typically go for operating cots of the con itself. Unless you can demonstrably prove that your gaming brings a significant number of pass sales, you aren't going to get any of that money.