Season 4 Curse of Strahd and Adventurers League

[skerritthegreen]

I think AL officials should locate and talk to the _Ashes of Athas_ staff before they set up another Season which is going to have difficulties integrating long-term characters.

Ravenloft, like Dark Sun, is so different from FR that planes-hopping is contra-indicated. Setting-specific characters provide more depth and richness to the experience, compared to "I'm just an accidental tourist here; could you show me the way back to the interstate on-ramp, please?".

The AL Admins include members of the Ashes of Athas Staff.

 

[Eltab]

The AL Admins include members of the Ashes of Athas Staff.

Cool !

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I never realised the changes that had gone on in Barovia with the addition of the additional people and territory. Looking forward to seeing the animosity between the Barovians and the Gundaraks

 

[jrothwell]

How will the Release Event adventure, Death House, fit into the Curse of Strahd book or the AL adventures?

Because of the cost now associated with the AL adventures for our group (Wed: 28 players + 5 gm's... adventure cost plus photocopy cost, since I can no longer get free photocopies) we are going to run the book instead on Wednesday evenings and run 1 group through the new AL series on Saturday and 1 group will continue to be intro demo adventures only. Because of the new costs I have informed most of the players that there will be a one-time $5 fee for the Wednesday campaign and the Saturdays will be $1/session since there is a lot of drop in and out in those 2 groups. The store we run out of will cover the rest of the cost of the books but the $1 fee will hopefully cover the adventures and my photocopy costs. Does anyone else charge for their groups?

 

[kalani]

Death House is an excerpt from Curse of Strahd. If I am not mistaken, it is from an appendix.

 

[KahlessNestor]

How will the Release Event adventure, Death House, fit into the Curse of Strahd book or the AL adventures?

Because of the cost now associated with the AL adventures for our group (Wed: 28 players + 5 gm's... adventure cost plus photocopy cost, since I can no longer get free photocopies) we are going to run the book instead on Wednesday evenings and run 1 group through the new AL series on Saturday and 1 group will continue to be intro demo adventures only. Because of the new costs I have informed most of the players that there will be a one-time $5 fee for the Wednesday campaign and the Saturdays will be $1/session since there is a lot of drop in and out in those 2 groups. The store we run out of will cover the rest of the cost of the books but the $1 fee will hopefully cover the adventures and my photocopy costs. Does anyone else charge for their groups?

Both of my stores charge. It's pretty common. One is $5 per session (not just AL, but anything at the store), which they often waive if you buy product. Another is $3 (per session) and store credit.

 

[Pauper]

Death House is an excerpt from Curse of Strahd. If I am not mistaken, it is from an appendix.

The Organizer's page makes it seem that the adventure was "written specifically for the launch of our latest D&D season", by basically saying just what I've quoted.

If it's actually material from the hard-cover adventure, then I suspect we'll need some guidance as to how to incorporate that adventure with the rest of Season 4's material. I could see waiting until the early release of the hard-cover adventure on March 4, though stores planning to run the launch event alongside other DDAL Season 4 adventures may have difficulty planning without more precise direction as to how the material is intended to interact. For example, the launch event is listed as being for tier 1 (level 1-4) characters -- are the characters likely to reach level 3 if they start at level 1 with zero XP, and if so, should players be warned that they'll be at a disadvantage if they transition those characters into the DDAL adventures? If the launch event is contained in an appendix, and the appendix isn't meant to be part of the main storyline from levels 1-10, do characters that play in the launch event 'sit out' until the hard-cover adventure reaches a certain milestone? If the launch event ends with an 'out' from Ravenloft, can a character transition from a DDAL module into the final session solely to escape from the demi-plane?

Or do we ultimately just fall back on the old 'expect table variation' solution and let the individual stores figure things out based on what works for their own groups?

(Edit: just realized the above is stated in a way that suggests 'expect table variation' is a bad thing; I don't really think it is, but I suspect if that's the official stance, there will be complaints about a lack of support.)

--
Pauper

 

[skerritthegreen]

The Organizer's page makes it seem that the adventure was "written specifically for the launch of our latest D&D season", by basically saying just what I've quoted.

If it's actually material from the hard-cover adventure, then I suspect we'll need some guidance as to how to incorporate that adventure with the rest of Season 4's material. I could see waiting until the early release of the hard-cover adventure on March 4, though stores planning to run the launch event alongside other DDAL Season 4 adventures may have difficulty planning without more precise direction as to how the material is intended to interact. For example, the launch event is listed as being for tier 1 (level 1-4) characters -- are the characters likely to reach level 3 if they start at level 1 with zero XP, and if so, should players be warned that they'll be at a disadvantage if they transition those characters into the DDAL adventures? If the launch event is contained in an appendix, and the appendix isn't meant to be part of the main storyline from levels 1-10, do characters that play in the launch event 'sit out' until the hard-cover adventure reaches a certain milestone? If the launch event ends with an 'out' from Ravenloft, can a character transition from a DDAL module into the final session solely to escape from the demi-plane?

Or do we ultimately just fall back on the old 'expect table variation' solution and let the individual stores figure things out based on what works for their own groups?

(Edit: just realized the above is stated in a way that suggests 'expect table variation' is a bad thing; I don't really think it is, but I suspect if that's the official stance, there will be complaints about a lack of support.)

--
Pauper

Death House was originally written for the Launch Event, but I understand it was so good they decided to add it to the hardcover. I would not expect this to be the case in the future when the LE's are expected to be just for the store. As for guidance, I believe Claire Hoffman and Chris Lindsay are working on just such a document right now.

 

[Pauper]

Death House was originally written for the Launch Event, but I understand it was so good they decided to add it to the hardcover.

That's pretty encouraging. If it's added as a 'side quest', then I could see saying that DMs running the module 'as written' should skip it, leaving it to be just the Launch Day event. If it's really good, though, then an option to run it instead of the level 1-2 content in the actual adventure might be an interesting option. I suspect Claire and Chris are covering those possibilities.

I would not expect this to be the case in the future when the LE's are expected to be just for the store. As for guidance, I believe Claire Hoffman and Chris Lindsay are working on just such a document right now.

That makes sense, and covers my concerns.

--
Pauper

 

[Knight_Marshal]

When does Season 4 start? I haven't been able to find an exact date yet.