| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
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| #1DasFalkeAug 13, 2014 17:09:55 | Hello everyone,
I was reading through the Adventurers League Player's Guide in preparation of running a "legal" Horde of the Dragon Queen table for the players at my FLGS that want AL characters. As I read the document and during the course of conversations with other D&D players and DMs a few questions came to my mind and I was wondering how other people with more experience running organized games would interpret certain rules. Some of these questions are a little absurd (to me) but since I'll be responsible for people's "official characters" I'd like to get some input; if this was just a normal game all of these questions would be moot since I would just work with the player to find satisfactory resolutions to the issues.
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Question #1: If I am running an adventure that takes place in a "tier of play" above the first tier, Rise of Tiamat for example, and a new player arrives at my FLGS to join the Adventure's League how do I integrate them into the table?
It would be violating the AL rules to have their level one character join a higher tier of play (AL Player's Guide, page 7). It would also be violating the rules to just have them create a new character at a level greater than one (AL Player's Guide, page 3).
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Question #2: If a player has an AL character of a higher tier and wishes to join the table how do you guys handle that? Do you ask the player to "level down" their character or create a new one (assuming it doesn't conflict with the issue I brought up in the previous question)? ====
Question #3: How are you guys awarding treasure to your players under the AL rules? In previous D&D games, if a player finds and takes a piece of treasure it is assumed that piece of treasure is now, immediately, in the player's inventory. In the AL Player's Guide (page 10) I am instructed to distribute the loot "at the conclusion of a session, episode, or adventure." Am I to understand that I am to tell the player that they found an undisclosed amount of treasure during the game and then as we're about to pack I then disclose the item?
This would help combat sneaky rogue types from using Sleight of Hand to walk away with a disproportionate amount of loot (this seems to happen a lot with our players...) but at the risk of denying players the excitement of finding unique items mid-game.
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Question #4: Do you adjust the amount of XP, gold, and other assorted treasure from what is printed in the published adventures to account for larger or smaller tables than what the adventure was meant for? I've been increasing the numbers of monsters (and thus monster XP) in Lost Mines of Phandelver but what about the XP for overcoming traps or talking your way out of a situation? I've also been increasing the amount of gold the party finds but I don't know if this is "legal" for AL.
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Question #5: According to the AL Player's Guide (page 11) characters can spend downtime before or after the start of an episode. Sometimes the time between episodes may be as sort as a quick night's rest at an Inn. How do I reconcile one night of "game time" to the n days of downtime the player spent? Do you guys just gloss over the inconsistency or do you take the opportunity (while warning the players) to advance the game time by n days and adjust the adventure as necessary?
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Question #6: Can a player whose character died and selects the "Create a New 1st-Level Character" option (AL Player's Guide, page 11) play at a higher-than-first-tier table without breaking the tiers of play rule (page 7)?
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Question/Comment #7: This isn't really a question but the Spellcasting Service daily limit in the AL Player's Guide (page 11) is going to cause some grief at the table. Are my players realistically supposed to believe that in all of Waterdeep, Istivin, Sigil, or wherever that they can only find ONE spellcaster with only THREE spell slots available.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my post and lending your voice to the discussion.
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| #2Setzer_GAug 13, 2014 20:22:08 | Phew...hope I can help
1 That player would have to play at a different table with lower level folks. It sucks. I understand that. You would be more likely to get a couple people who (in order to get this person involved) start a new character on a lower tier of play. I would, but I like playing a whole bunch of different things. The tricky part would be how to divide those people up once you muster everyone together. My suggestion in this situation would be to see who you have. If you have a big group, the people who are dead set on higher tier play can run the mod that night. The others who want to get this new guy involved can run an older or lower tier mod (maybe one has already played it. They get xp for their character when they run too). You have two smaller tables running at that point. One a high tier session, and one a low tier session with the idea that the person spends her down time with the "catch up" option in order to get up to speed with the rest of the group.
2 That person would be required to have a different character to play in that particular tier. That happened a lot when we were playing a lot of Living Greyhawk. I'd need to play my barbarian for the APL (Average Party Level) 4-6 mods sometimes when that was the level range I could find, when I really wanted to play my APL 12 Wizard. Having an alternate character will be handy for people who get to play often.
3 According to the ALPG no one should be allowed to do things within the party that wreck someone else's fun. Some rogue 'ninja-ing' loot is not acceptable, and should be talked to about it, with further consequences coming if they don't knock it off. I guess it would also depend on the loot that they got. Potions, especially not marked ones? going to take some time to figure it out. Perm. Magic Items? Need Identify and don't have it? When I run it, I'll likely hand out loot based off the encounter it was in.
4. How big are your tables? Eight? I've run mods where it was easier for me to have them all interact together and solve social issues and traps/puzzles together, but essentially combat had to be done in two seperate smaller tables. You could also make the rooms bigger, double the monsters (and therefore the treasure) from whatever is in the encounter, essentially running two tables of the same session. If you do the math right, people should have the same share of rewards that they should have whether there were three at the table or seven. My suggestion would be to see how many sessions/ episode, know that you want to hand out the cap of 300 at the end of the episode as per mod rules, then divide accordingly. The people that were there for the right amount of sessions should get what is intended, and the people that missed some will get a proportional amount. Not on an encounter by encounter basis, but at the end of the session.
5 I think the second option i better there. If the characters are thinking, they might see the need to forego the use of Downtime because of the time constraints of the adventure. "Sure you guys can go back to town and get a Speak With Dead spell on this goblin you killed for some information. Would be a real shame if his still-living-employer got to finish this ritual he was preparing" Overall, I think the players will decide that for themselves. Discussing that at the table amongst eachother is part of party cohesivness.
6 No, I think not.
7 I think they are supposed to believe that there's a spellcaster with only 3 slots for a variety of reasons. A) The caster is lower level and identifies with the struggle of starting heroes. B.) Is a higher caster but has been helping other people with his other spell slots and that's what he has left for the time being. C) The caster doesn't know you from Adam and so only will spend lower level spell slots on "you people".
I know I missed stuff. Hope this helps. |
| #3trigicianAug 15, 2014 22:02:31 | Setzer_G, those were all really good answers! |
| #4Setzer_GAug 16, 2014 12:57:29 | Trying to be helpful. Thanks! |
| #5DasFalkeAug 16, 2014 23:05:16 | Thanks for responding Setzer_G.
From what you're saying it looks like this AL thing may not be a good fit for the groups of players at my FLGS once we break out of the first tier of play (that's probably why WotC is limiting Encounters to the first few levels). Since all of the players I've spoken to are tired of continuously starting over and low level play I'll probably just run with Tyranny of Dragons and let new AL players join while most of the players are still in the first tier of play. Once we reach the next tier of play I'll just have to tell new AL players that they are out of luck and will have to join with non-AL characters. Similarly if any of my players die and can't be resurrected I'll just let them bring in a new non-AL character at the average party level.
I'd rather have players come into the store and have a good time (and maybe spend some money!) instead getting tangled up in a bureaucracy. I would, however, like to see a well organized AL site someday and see how they get all of their ducks in a row. |
| (Reply to #5)Solace |
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| #7Setzer_GAug 18, 2014 7:48:26 | The nice thing about the hobby is that once your core group of people get more comfortable, some are going to want to run games.....maybe for your new people that come in. It really is a cycle of perpetual learning. Groups get comfortable with something and try their hand, helping the new people, who will eventually help the new people, etc. It brings other people into the leadership position and grows the community. |
| #8MattprowseAug 18, 2014 8:18:00 | I'm running Encounters at my FLGS too, and am very much looking forwards to it.
It will be fun, but I see it as a showcase for the game, the hobby and for my talents as a GM, plus as a recruitment ground for new players that I want to involve and share stories together with. If people want to diversify, or if bigger rules questions come up over something that seems silly to us, out of game there are reasons for that - Whether I agree or not with them it's fine because I'm running under the collective banner of Econunters. Players can always join me in a regular campaign instead if they want a bit more home-brew with their D&D, and that game can be in strore or at home. |
| (Reply to #5)Sorxores |
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| #10TheBreenAug 19, 2014 0:50:16 |
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| #11DasFalkeAug 19, 2014 17:00:10 |
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| #12KephraAug 19, 2014 19:06:40 | Replies in line with bullets
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