DDAL Things I learn from being a DM for 400 Adventure League sessions.

[jasper]

Things I learn from being a DM for 400 Adventure League sessions.

1. The rules and guidance will always be adjusted, late, and location will change.

2. Players will be from all races, education levels, economy levels, skill levels, interest levels, and various backgrounds.

3. Some people will love your DM style and others will hate it. Both will talk about you.

4. Reputation for starting on time is important. Wish the players would be on time.

5. DMing for Autistic and other special needs players is interesting, a joy, and sometimes a pain.

6. Players will give you with snackage, dice, and other gifts. Thank them.

7. Run the adventures/modules you want to run.

8. Don’t run when not feeling well.

9. Say no to your players as needed. Talk about safety tools with them.

10. I will spend more than I should.

11. Breaks are important. Both physical and mental.

12. Listen to constructive feedback.

13. What the internet and forums think is a big deal will be dismissed by causal players.

 

[palikhov]

I have similar thoughts.

(~ 400 modules and campaign sessions, also all epics from 2nd to 10th season)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would love to hear practical things home DMs could steal from you two. That's a ton of experience in a relatively short period of time.

 

[aco175]

What the internet and forums think is a big deal will be dismissed by causal players.

I like this one the most. Thank you

 

[jasper]

I would love to hear practical things home DMs could steal from you two. That's a ton of experience in a relatively short period of time.

Ask questions then. I have done about 2/3 of Season1 to Season 9. And DM the following books. Books Ran - Rise of Tiamat, Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation, Mad Mage, Waterdeep Heist *2, Ghost of Saltmarsh, Descent into Avernus, Icewind Dale, Candlekeep Mysteries, Curse of Strahd, Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Call of the Netherdeep, Spelljammer Academy, Journey of the Radiant Citadel, Spelljammer Light of Xarysis,

 

[jasper]

Season

00

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

1 Tiamat

x

end

2 Princes

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

end

3 Abyss

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

end

4 Strahd

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

end

5 Giants

x

x

X

x

x

x

end

6 Tales

x

x

x

end

7 Tomb

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

end

8 Waterdeep

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

end

9 Avernus

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

10 Icewind

x

I may have dm more than list but any with an x , I have notes on the session. Sometimes not good notes. I know I have ran the following modules.
In Volo’s Wake
CCC-Thent-0101 Beneath the Surface. Ccc-Thent-0102 Those that dwell beneath.
CCC-CIC-06 End of the Line.
DDhc-toa-2 Tortle package. DDHC-toa-4 Cellar of Death. DDHC-toa-6 Heart of the wild. DDHC-toa-8 Return of lizard King, DDHC-toa-9 Ruins of Matolo
ccc-torot-0107 The seat of the Ruler,
DDEP00-01 Red war epic
ccc-priory-01 Martime Mayhem, CCc-prior-02 Prison Pitfalls. CCC-priory-03 Truth in time
Ccc-BMG-Moon 16-2 Procession of the Sage.
Pipyap’s Guide to Hell,
And the starter set Lost Mine of Phandelver,

 

[aco175]

I found running for AL more of a problem in tracking things and not being able to modify things. I tend to homebrew games a certain way and when DMing for AL I feel restrained in trying to keep things in their rules. I ran Princes of the Apocalypse (PotA) to level some PCs to bring to a convention to use in AL games. I'm pretty sure they are all messed up from being official, mostly since they were created a few years ago and then years change in AL and such. The magic items listing what you can have vs what you need to change was hard to manage. I needed to look at different site and just guess in the end. I do not thing anyone at the convention will care much, but Wizards could make this part better.

When I ran PotA as a home campaign it went much better. I included several background side quests and modified magic items that fit the party and things flowed better overall.

Any suggestions on how to track things better and how to manage the different seasons of AL? We only play it at the conventions and after tier 1, things start to become a problem.

 

[Baumi]

Awesome! 8D

 

[Baumi]

My take as a play is that Equipment Rules between Seasons always change

 

[not-so-newguy]

@aco175

9. Say no to your players as needed. Talk about safety tools with them.

First: That's an impressive feat! Thanks for sharing
Second: I don't really understand the quoted text above. Could you explain a little?