What does current Encounters look like?

Leprejuan

Explorer
Hi! TLDR post. Sorry, just processing.
Quick background - was a 1st edition player, then superhero games, then busy for 20+ years, then tried 4E (was fun but a bit too videogamey). A friend was interested in the new 5E and asked if I had played. He wanted a little company and I wasn't averse so we headed down to the local in his nearby town to try out 5E at Encounters.

The 4E encounters I had attended led me to expect that we would show up, create or be handed a pregen character, and get involved in a 3-scene adventure of some kind, usually scene 1 fight/puzzle, scene 2 social or story events, scene 3 big fight confrontation. Back then, we did a bit of record keeping in that when we played scenario X we had some materials that recorded what scenario we played, if we got any cool items, etc.

We got there a little early, me being THAT guy, and we talked to the players as they showed up. One encounter was already full (before they showed up) since that group was "near the end" in their storyline, and we got to join the other group. There were no pregens or any handouts with help for quick creation. One helpful player in the already-full game grabbed the group's cache of blank sheets and loaned us his PH and some advice while he waited for his party. Since the players returning in our group had no fighter and mentioned how they had been captured, recaptured, and TPK-knocked-out three times, I made a 3rd level battle guy to tank a little and protect the damage-tossing characters.

Possible spoilers follow, but if you're reading this far.... We new characters were ushered into Blingdenstone, a Svirfneblin city. We had been recruited after our own capture by drow and unspecified adventures underground to help this understrength party. We were led by a factotum of the city through a maze, then made to climb a tall spiked wall (2 strength checks, 2 dex checks to avoid spikes) to enter the city. My friend and I had built physical characters, so we took a little damage on the spikes but we spent about 10 minutes of play time tying ropes off on the wimpy elf with us because she kept failing the climb checks. We eventually talked the GM into letting us haul her up because we were afraid she would die from blood loss from the spikes and falls before we entered the city. My internal character was firmly of the opinion that we should look somewhere less insane for an exit from the underdark (how do they get PRODUCE into the city?) but I quashed him relentlessly in the name of party unity.

We didn't speak the language but I eventually found a tavern. Every time I was asked what I was doing, I walked down a street and made a perception check for the big board outside. In the tavern, the coin of the realm was information. (Lots of free drinks, but also lots of questions by the owner.) We met up with the rest of the party and heard about them killing gelatinous cubes and being left for dead by vicious but apparently forgiving wererats. This part was fun, because we got to act and do all the characters-meet-in-a-bar tropes.

We were sent for by the King and Queen of the city and most of us stood around trying to look tough while the two characters that spoke the Svirfneblin language got marching orders from the King and Queen to deal with their ooze and wererat problems. On the way back to the Inn, we were ambushed by a group of infernal spiders. It was a long fight, since they went first and they were webby and paralyzing. Later we fought an invisible specter in another long fight, as we spent a lot of time guessing a hex and rolling disadvantage, not knowing if we missed due to the low roll or the wrong hex. Eventually we killed him and that was the end, and we wrote down our names and our new DCI numbers to show we had been at the game.

I had more fun than my friend did. I appreciated the added scene of bringing our characters in and I got to use my protection powers a little despite having the exact wrong monsters for them. He was less excited about his ranger, since the "lose an action to break out of webs" kept him from doing anything until there were fewer spiders than players. It was two slow fights and a social encounter for which he had the wrong language. It didn't help that he had rolled low to break out and so couldn't even draw his bow in the first fight.

I told him that low rolls are going to be a D&D thing. I ran him and my wife (who's a buddy gamer but likes to help out) through a short scenario in Dungeon World. He really liked it, especially the success-but-endangerment effects of low rolls. Now, he wants me to run, for which I do NOT have time. I'd prefer to run buddy characters with someone else GMing, but our friend group doesn't really include this. Encounters sounds like a good place on the WOTC site, but it looks different on the ground.

Based on my experiences, I have revised my understanding of Encounters to include the following:
1) Encounters has moved from being a survey course with planned scenarios for people to try it out to being campaigns set in the hardback adventures. I do notice that WOTC has cut their forums, relying on you fans to do the work, so maybe they are cutting the budget by having the hardbacks be the one thing that they have to produce.

2) Some part of the "encounters" program is actually a play group. Both groups seemed sure that they were all part of encounters but there was a firm line drawn between the new people and the existing campaign. I'm not terribly worried about it except it came off as pretty exclusionary and you know how touchy we gamers are about that kind of thing.

3) WOTC and Encounters no longer worry about who has played what scenario or gained such and such an item, so we don't need to worry about any records being kept.

Should I consider our game a standard Encounters game? There's an encounters night in a game store in my town, less convenient since we both work in his town, but we could make it with effort. I'm tempted to go try it solo because once bitten twice shy, but I'd prefer it something we could do together.
 

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I will make a few observations, with the caveat that the admins can answer better and everything is up in the air now with the changes to the program coming up.

1. Encounters (2hr Wednesday night, playing through the hardcover adventures ) was only one aspect. There is also what I play, Expeditions, which are 4hr modules of independent story but similar theme. This distinction is going to get cloudy since everything is just going to be Adventures in the future. But keep that in mind.

2. Sounds like the program was a bit unorganized. They should have pregens, and I believe they're available online, though character creation can be pretty quick and easy.

3. You really are supposed to start new characters at level 1 and not jump right in at 3. This is what the pregens help with, too.

4. Sometimes thems the breaks and your character just isn't fit for the adventure. There are things you can do, though. Not having played that adventure, I'm not sure why you had to sneak into the city over the wall, or why they didn't speak Common.

5. There are supposed to be log sheets where you record what adventures you play. You are allowed replay by a different character. It also records gold, renown, downtime days, and treasure.
 

Yeah... (Note, the terminology is all changing soon, but I will use the 'old' terms)

"Encounters" is based on using the hardback book and a continual story, often with the same PCs in a party. While some folks will come and go, a party that started together will usually be given the chance to stay together. At my LGS, one table has been very consistent and has the same 6 PCs the entire time. Other tables have more come and go.

"Expeditions" is more like what you are used to. They are a single, self-contained, adventure that is intended to be run in a single sitting. These tend to have different PC groups each time.

I did not play 4E, but from how you explain them, the current "expeditions" are not as formulaic as you are used to.

AL is producing about 30 of these self-contained adventures each year. They are broken up into 2 Seasons with an overall story arc, that also has ties with the released Hardback. Ex: The hardback you played is in the underdark and deals with demons and madness. The 15 mods released also deal with the underdark, and demons, and madness. They are just happening in a different part of Faerun.

AL has some 'official' pregens. (and really anyone can make one for their local group.) Its too bad they did not have any available for you.

All AL PCs need to start at 1st level. This usually isn't a problem, unless you are joining an "encounter" group that is already been playing for awhile. OTOH, it also means that after 1 session you will be 2nd level, and maybe even 3rd level. So the problem quickly goes away.

I can't speak to the actual encounters you had, since I am not that familiar with that part of the adventure.

I see how the 'playgroup' feeling could lead to a 'noobie vs veteran' feel.... but I don't think thats it. Turn it around, imagine you started playing a story with 5 other players, and played together every week for 4 months..... you probably would not want to arbitrarily break apart every few weeks just because somebody new came to the store. (Assuming, of course, that there was another table available for the new people to play.)

Record keeping is actually *very* important to AL, its one of the few hard rules. You need a logsheet, and you need to keep it up do date. (that said, they are rarely actually checked....but they can be.)
A *PC* cannot play the same 'expedition" twice, and cannot play in the same "episode" (usually a chapter of the hardback) twice
A *Player* can play the same "expedition" or "episode" multiple times, as long as they use a different PC each time.
Magic items and most PC info needs to be tracked on the Logsheet.



My advice to you is to check the WotC site to find places that play AL. Then try and contact those places to see which days they play the Expedition modules. I think those will work better for you guys to get used to the system. There is a new Season starting in March (Ravenloft). I may be easier to get into a continual story from the beginning. (But if you had fun, you can always jump into the middle, but start from level 1)

You can also get the Basic rules for free off of the WotC website, which you can use to create a PC that you like. In AL you can change (Rebuild) your PC anytime before you get to 5th level.
You can also get the AL PLayers Guide from the WotC website, which may answer some questions for you.


Feel free to ask more here if you want...
 

Correction: The terminology has already changed but it may take a while before people stop using the old terms. The Adventures formerly called "Expeditions" are now referred to as Adventurers League adventures/modueles, or DDAL adventures. The hardcovers have and will continue to be referred to as hardcovers.

The "Encounters" and "Expeditions" programs are now retired. All DDAL adventures can be played anywhere, on any day, as can the hardcover adventures. In addition, a new program will be launched at the start of next season called Launch Events. These events will have between 12-16 hours of free content exclusive to stores, and can be scheduled on any day that is convenient for the store. Launch Events are in-store play exclusively.

The Season 4 Launch event will be an excerpt from Curse of Strahd, and in this respect it will closely resemble the retired Encounters adventures (which were also excerpts from the seasons hardcover adventure). Future Launch Events (season 5+) will have 100% original content not found in the hardcover adventures, and will be used to promote one (or more) products from that season. These products do not necessarily have to even be adventures. They could for example, create a Launch Event for a new sourcebook (such as a product similar to Sword Coast Adventurers Guide)

Everything else Coredump said is 100% correct
 
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I still use the terminology Encounters/Expeditions for my local games. Mostly because the people know it and trying to shift up the terminology during an OP campaign generally dosnt work too well.


What does Encounters Look like?

For me it started off as playing in a group/table from level 1 when I turned up to the store in Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I had no idea where the store had got its 5 dms and the dm fully told me before the game this was his second time dming.

(In fact I think all of the dms were either brand new or new). Quite a few of the players were not new.

Slowly but surely players dropped off, DMS started to disappear too. In 4 weeks we were down to 2 dms with a corresponding loss of players. Hoard while fun did not have the rewards people would expect from a game of D&D (People talk about how it was created while the DMG was still being made, but to be honest the excuse there comes across as a bit week.). The opening chapter was fairly tough for real new players. Most of the rest of my table were rocking pregenerated characters.

In the end one week our DM just .. disappeared. He didnt turn up, we waited and waitinged and soon 7 became 8:30 and we got tired of waiting and left.

The following week I returned and a few other players from the table did . The other table was low on players so we now had one full table. I had been resisting dming for a long time (my gaming history is long long periods of me just dming).

I was enjoying playing in Hoard, then disaster struck. We got a clump of about 4-5 new players turn up. I decided for better or worse to pull out ( a decision I still regret), and start running Lost Mine. I had run it once before and quite enjoyed it.

I spent a full session helping these guys make up characters. In no time I had 7 on my table. About a Month later, the dm of the hoard table didnt show up one week and I feared the worst. Soon the players on THAT table had no dm and nobody stepped up to run a game. Some of those players still play there Wed.. but its a homebrew non AL game.

Since then Ive run Lost Mine to its conclusion, Princes of the Apocalypse till we had a TPK (Total Party Kill) and then Ive sorta recently started to run out of the Abyss.

I run from 7-9:15 ish Wed nights (I work during the day and I like to sleep before I get back to work). It works out okay, we can generally have 1-2 combats depending on the size. Timewise thats enough for me (because I also run Expedtions every Saturday). I like out of the abyss but again the start I find a bit of a turn off for new players.. just the setup. I think Princes is the best so far hardcover for new players.

Now Ive stabilised at around 5-6 players. I occasionaly get the odd new player but thats really calmed down. Most characters are now either level 2-3 depending of it they have missed a session and the story is progressing along. Ive no doubt in future that I will get new players and thus new characters. They all start at level 1.. no exceptions.
 

Based on my experiences, I have revised my understanding of Encounters to include the following:

First off, for the reasons Kalani notes, I'd stop using the term 'Encounters' for the weekly in-store game. With that said...

1) Encounters has moved from being a survey course with planned scenarios for people to try it out to being campaigns set in the hardback adventures. I do notice that WOTC has cut their forums, relying on you fans to do the work, so maybe they are cutting the budget by having the hardbacks be the one thing that they have to produce.

If you're talking about the transition from 4th Edition Encounters to what used to be 5th Edition Encounters, I'd agree with this statement. I don't know that I'd agree with the explanation, as the old 5th Edition Encounters used to include a supplement that detailed the encounters to be used from the hardback adventure, and while there was a fair amount of copy-paste in the process, there were still some references to how to make the material work from an AL perspective.

What WotC seems to be saying now is that, you can run the hardcover adventures as a regular in-store game if you want, but it's on you to figure out how to make it work in AL, and you probably should make that game a stand-alone AL-legal campaign where characters play exclusively that content for the life of the campaign (rather than bouncing back and forth between that game and, say, a monthly game featuring what used to be called Expeditions adventures).

Some people will complain about this, in that is seems to violate the 'portability' feature of a shared-world living campaign, but I don't really see the problem. AL is providing different types of campaigns for people who are looking for different experiences -- folks who want the more episodic, portable game can play the adventures off the DMs Guild just like the old Expeditions used to be, while people looking for a more campaign-style, tight storyline can play the hardcover adventures and get that experience. To help preserve the integrity of the storyline campaigns, the ability to freely transit in and out of those campaigns is limited; the point is not to punish players who want to bounce back and forth, but to ensure that the campaign remains at its highest quality for those who are specifically looking to play that style of game.

2) Some part of the "encounters" program is actually a play group. Both groups seemed sure that they were all part of encounters but there was a firm line drawn between the new people and the existing campaign. I'm not terribly worried about it except it came off as pretty exclusionary and you know how touchy we gamers are about that kind of thing.

See above -- rather than calling the two aspects of the League by two different names and trying to figure out how they interact, the idea now is that you've just got one program, Adventurers League, and two different ways to play it (three, if you count the game-day style Launch Events, which I'm sure some players prefer over either of the other two types of game). Nobody is going to take away your AL materials if you decide you have a good method for blending the different styles with the player-base you have, but the default assumption is no longer that you can move from one to the other automatically, but rather you choose which way you want to play AL and stay in that mode.

3) WOTC and Encounters no longer worry about who has played what scenario or gained such and such an item, so we don't need to worry about any records being kept.

This is entirely incorrect -- regardless of which mode you play, AL games are still AL games, and should be logged by players and, if applicable, reported by stores. If anything, record-keeping is even more critical in the Brave New World coming, because the only way blending the different play-styles has a chance to work is if everyone involved is aware of what they've played and the rewards they got for playing.

Note: creating a character at higher than 1st level isn't supported in Adventurers League, so whatever game you created your 'third level battle guy' for definitely isn't AL.

--
Pauper
 

I'm a road warrior, travel all over the USA, so the idea of being able to drop into an existing group for an evening's play of standardized AL format has huge appeal.

Obviously I am super-sensitive to the fact that I am a guest at the table, there are existing dynamics and storylines etc. If it was that much of an issue, I would actually sit out. I'm not there to wreck anybody's fun.

The vast majority of the time it's great. I get to meet new people, and as an experienced player I can tune my play to whatever's required.

But I've had two bad experiences in recent weeks, sitting down at what the store suggested was AL format play....but was in fact totally home-brew stuff, I don't think anyone at the table actually WAS playing AL format (nor claiming to, to be clear).

One session was great fun, the other was....well let's just say "poor".


But them's the breaks, always a gamble when you are a drop-in. That's not my concern. The issue is that I'm kinda annoyed that the stores are advertising that they host AL sessions, when they really are not. I felt I couldn't count those experiences so I left without asking the DM to update my logsheet.


I've always endeavoured to contact the stores in advance by email, but even when successful, the stores are not necessarily knowledgeable of what is being played.

I don't like to push for individual DM's contact info, as I don't feel that's really appropriate, but maybe that's what I should be doing?


Suggestions?
 

But I've had two bad experiences in recent weeks, sitting down at what the store suggested was AL format play....but was in fact totally home-brew stuff, I don't think anyone at the table actually WAS playing AL format (nor claiming to, to be clear).

Would be nice to have some specific examples pointing this out -- AL actually allows a great deal of flexibility, via the 'DM is the final arbiter of rules questions at the table' rule in the Adventurers League Player's Guide.

Suggestions?

Sounds like you got Table Variation (tm).

Folks within the AL command structure will comment on how DMs should run the game 'by the rules', but the dirty secret of 5E is that both the Sage and the Player's Handbook (See 'How to Play', p.6) give the DM permission to fold, spindle, and mutilate the rules at whim.

As an outsider, you're unlikely to convince people who are having a good time that they are Playing The Game Wrong, so just chalk it up to an experience that isn't in your wheelhouse and hope for better next time. If the store offers a feedback form (stores typically don't, but some do, as do most organizers of AL at conventions), by all means fill it out, though. You never know who might be listening.

--
Pauper
 

Would be nice to have some specific examples pointing this out -- AL actually allows a great deal of flexibility, via the 'DM is the final arbiter of rules questions at the table' rule in the Adventurers League Player's Guide.



Sounds like you got Table Variation (tm).

Folks within the AL command structure will comment on how DMs should run the game 'by the rules', but the dirty secret of 5E is that both the Sage and the Player's Handbook (See 'How to Play', p.6) give the DM permission to fold, spindle, and mutilate the rules at whim.

As an outsider, you're unlikely to convince people who are having a good time that they are Playing The Game Wrong, so just chalk it up to an experience that isn't in your wheelhouse and hope for better next time. If the store offers a feedback form (stores typically don't, but some do, as do most organizers of AL at conventions), by all means fill it out, though. You never know who might be listening.

--
Pauper

I get the DM flexibility, no issue there.
Also table variation is just a thing, always has been, always will be. I win way more than I lose. So so issue there either.


But for something to qualify as AL, I had understood it needed to be from a published document (OOTA, HotDQ, LMoP, DDEXxxx). Complete home-brew is a no-no, right?
 

But for something to qualify as AL, I had understood it needed to be from a published document (OOTA, HotDQ, LMoP, DDEXxxx). Complete home-brew is a no-no, right?

As I understand it, this is correct. Someone running their own Realms game as AL is Doing It Wrong.

--
Pauper
 

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