What does current Encounters look like?

[kalani]

That is correct. The only adventures that are AL-legal are the hardcover adventures (hoard of the dragon queen, rise of tiamat, princes of the apocalypse, out of the abyss and curse of strahd (coming soon)), lost mines of phandelver (starter set adventure), the DDAL adventures (formerly called expeditions), DDAL Epics (convention exclusives), and DDAO (Author Only) adventures - premiering at Winter Fantasy.

The latter two adventure types are currently convention exclusives, so for the most part it will be Hardcovers, Lost Mines, and DDAL modules.

All other adventures are prohibited in AL in order to create a shared experience. In addition, while DMs have some flexibility with the adventures (eg. adjusting # of creatures in an encounter), they cannot make wholesale changes to them (such as introducing new encounters, substituting items/creatures, etc.)

 

[Motorskills]

That is correct. The only adventures that are AL-legal are the hardcover adventures (hoard of the dragon queen, rise of tiamat, princes of the apocalypse, out of the abyss and curse of strahd (coming soon)), lost mines of phandelver (starter set adventure), the DDAL adventures (formerly called expeditions), DDAL Epics (convention exclusives), and DDAO (Author Only) adventures - premiering at Winter Fantasy.

The latter two adventure types are currently convention exclusives, so for the most part it will be Hardcovers, Lost Mines, and DDAL modules.

All other adventures are prohibited in AL in order to create a shared experience. In addition, while DMs have some flexibility with the adventures (eg. adjusting # of creatures in an encounter), they cannot make wholesale changes to them (such as introducing new encounters, substituting items/creatures, etc.)

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm just going to have to do a more careful check before showing up at a store. Simply asking
"Does your store run Adventurers' League that accepts drop-ins?" just isn't cutting it.


The increased availability of modules might serve to make dropping-in easier though.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Dropping in is always gonna be hit or miss esp late into the season.

 

[Coredump]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm just going to have to do a more careful check before showing up at a store. Simply asking
"Does your store run Adventurers' League that accepts drop-ins?" just isn't cutting it.


The increased availability of modules might serve to make dropping-in easier though.

OTOH, you still got to drop in, and you still go to play DnD. Even if it was in a home-brew world, you still got to have fun and play the game. You just don't get the AL XP etc.... I would still rather play in a drop in home-brew rather than stay in my hotel.

(I get you would rather they were accurate, but just trying to look at it from a different angle.)

 

[Motorskills]

OTOH, you still got to drop in, and you still go to play DnD. Even if it was in a home-brew world, you still got to have fun and play the game. You just don't get the AL XP etc.... I would still rather play in a drop in home-brew rather than stay in my hotel.

(I get you would rather they were accurate, but just trying to look at it from a different angle.)

That's an excellent point, and I'm fine with that. I'd just prefer to know in advance, especially if I have multiple options within range.

A key reason for preferring to find formal AL play is that I can be reasonably assured that the module will be of decent quality. That in turn keeps the DM on point, and hopefully the players too.

My most recent drop-in was a particularly horrible example of "table variation" in that regard.


I'm encouraged by the now-availability of the AL modules, I should probably keep one or two with me for such occurrences, along with some pre-gens. There's no reason I can't drop in as the DM if such is needed.