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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAngryGameMaster" data-source="post: 6718748" data-attributes="member: 6802191">The Angry GM here. I ain't going to go into a long thing, here. I already had my say. I just want to clarify a couple of things before I step out and let you folks continue the discussion...My point was never to bash the people running the Adventurer's League. They are a volunteer group. They don't get a lot of say in what they get from WotC. I'm running Encounters. Why? Because, the store I volunteered at was offering Encounters and didn't have a DM. So I stepped up to do it. Because I love getting new people into the game and giving lapsed players a chance to get back into the game. And, of course, giving people a chance to play. And, based on what's published at WotC's website and what's published at the Adventurers League website, Encounters IS the program for that. Quite frankly, the whole Encounters/Epics/Expeditions thing? It's really kind of confusing. And most of the players I've talked (not GMs, not organizers, players) don't know one from the other. Hell, even in the store I'm in it's just advertised as D&D Night. Come play D&D. Cool. So, there's already an issue of not knowing what program to run. And, as far as I know, it's not up to the GM anyway. It's up to the store. Maybe, if I'd known the difference, I would have said "oh, yeah, Expeditions! Cool!" But it isn't exactly clear. And I'm not stupid. I've been running games a long time, I've been involved in a number of organized play programs for various things over the years. It's needlessly confusing. So maybe I ended up running the wrong thing. That - IN ITSELF - is a problem.The reason I was angry - and what prompted to write that article - is that for this "weekly Wednesday play program, geared for a casual play audience with short sessions each week" where players are told "each session only takes 1-2 hours to play, so it’s easy to fit your game in after school or work. And each week there’s a new and exciting challenge. Jump in anytime!" I was told to run the first three chapters of Out of the Abyss. A very complex adventure path whose first "adventure" involves a very complicated jailbreak scenario in a completely alien world with no less than 14 NPCs with rich backstories, complex interactions, and who feature prominently throughout the adventure. It is highly esoteric, extremely complex, and not the sort of thing that easily gets broken into (1-2 hours of play). Now, I'm all for that sort of game. Hell, that's closer to the <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I run at home than some random dungeon crawl. But when you have no idea who's sitting down at your table - especially from week to week - that's not what you throw out. At my table, I've got a 10-year-old kid the kid's casual dad, a teenager, two power gamers, and a story role-player. The first session, as written, is basically the players sitting in their cell or doing work detail and getting to know all of the NPCs and the secrets and the politics so they can plan a jailbreak. Imagine if I'd actually followed those instructions for that group. I'd have one player the following week.And it seemed half-assed. Like Adventurers League said "hey, we need a path for newbies and casuals and short Wednesday night games" and WotC didn't want to be bothered to write or provide anything, so they looked around the office and saw Rage of Demons or The Dragon Queen or whatever other adventure module, tore out the first three chapters and said "here, give them this... then tell them to buy the full adventure to continue." That's either half-assed or scammy. That's why I'm mad. Because WotC has A LOT to gain from organized play. It sells their freaking game. And they are letting a bunch of volunteers basically do the job for them and the support is half-assed and opportunistic. That made me mad. I'm not mad at Adventurers' League. I love that AL exists. I love that I've taught 5E to a new group of players who come back every week. That ten-year old kid and his dad, well, not sure but they seem to come from a broken home. That's how they spend time together. At my game. And the kid loves it. And he's opened up to me. Because I treat him like just another player. That's great. That's why I keep going back every week.But I'm angry and I'm sad. Because WotC doesn't seem to give a crap. And that's why I wrote what I wrote. Keep that in mind.</blockquote>

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