What's the purpose of this. I was under the impression that I log my AL activity here. But when I registered there was really nothing else to do. So is my activity logged anywhere by my paper log sheets?
Caolin wrote:
When you play at stores and conventions, they can report your tables and for that you do need a DCI number. Table counts are used for determining play numbers which in turn help determine rewards, premiers, continuation of the program, etc... Eventually there may be player and DM rewards that WOTC might mail you for repeated public play, but those programs are still being discussed.
Skerrit wrote:
Well this is pretty disappointing. Part of the reason I even came back to the gameing table was because I thought there would be more sturcture and a sense that I was working towards something within that structure......that's how I wa sold on the AL. My first game session was great fun. But the second one was super chaotic and not very fun at all. I thought "at least I'm working towards something with this DCI". But if that's not the case, then I have to hope each week I get on the good table so it can be enjoyable at least. 
I suspect WotC has things planned, but didn't apply the resources to have it ready by 5e launch. Maybe next year!
-HM
Hollow_Man_42 wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
TheBreen wrote:
So I went to my first Adventurer's League session Sunday at FanExpo Canada. The adventure was fun, the group was a good one, and our DM was great, but I expressly went there to joing organized play with a PC I want to take right through to the end. Like you all I signed up for DCI, and lo and behold... it's not what we thought it would be.
I wrote a much longer post about it on my blog here if anyone is interested. http://octobergeek.com/?p=57
I've messaged Mike Mearls and the AL team because I think they should know we feel a bit let down.
Two notes after reading your blog:
1) I can't prove this, but I think there is a problem with the backlog of DCI registrations. There was a record number at Gen Con and the with PAX, DragonCon and FanExpo Canada right on its heels, my guess is that more likely your info hadn't been entered yet. Aside from that, its also possible there are programming issues, but that's not part of my area so I can't speak with any authrity on that.
2) As for tracking, it does in fact matter. We do track tables at store and convention play. It is used by stores especially to maintain their level in the WPN, so it matters lots to them. As for what do you get, I know we are discussing both DM and player reward programs but they are not rolled out just yet, but inputting your tables still matters and assuming such a program gets approved/launched, we expect you will get credit for that play. There is substantial misinformation on this point because tracking tables in the 4e days was not as important and so a lot of people, particularly on message boards have been telling others to ignore tracking. They are wrong. As for messaging the AL team, who did you contact?
Greg Marks
Associate Resource Manager DnDAL
Skerrit, thanks for the reply. I contacted the DnDAL Twitter account.
At the moment I'm trying to see if I can even find organized play near me. It seems most stores are only running MTG. I am considering asking the biggest FLGS if I can be an organizer for them and DM some adventures myself.
As for tracking, I guess I felt like it was a bit misleading, but through ommision as opposed to any active lying by anyone. I was left with the impression that everyone participating would be updating the DnDAL with online notes from their games through their DCI registration. That would be cool, being a part of that over community and getting to affect the storylines, as we apparently were at the conventions this past weekend.
mjsoctober wrote:
mjsoctober wrote:
I would appreciate it, if there would be an easy solution to reward players and DMs for repeated public play especially if your are not organizing playing in a store, but at some public event. At the moment the whole situation is difficult and leads to a lot of additional work. First you need a WPN store who will get the DCI's for you and reporting can also be done by the store only, meaning you have to be linked to the store. It would be much easier if organizers would have some kind of portal where they can also report their games and register new DCI members. Maybe it would still be okay, if you can order the DCI numbers by the store only, even it could still be a problem for less developed WPN store countries (outside the US like Europe for example: If you have no chance to get a DCI you can run Expeditions in public play but something is missing and if this policy changes or if there will be a special reward program you will not be able to attend without a DCI, I assume).
I also agree to mjsoctober that at the moment the benefit for players to get a DCI is not clearly visible DnDAL, maybe beside the feeling doing something good for your store. But maybe the situation will change in the future.
BTW, I had some issue with the registration of the DCI (e-mail not accepted, name given as "UNKNOWN UNKNOWN"), but the customer help of of WOTC solved the issue very fast and kind when I contacted them by request for help.
Hmm... I think you're getting the reward the moment you have a store willing to go through the effort of organizing a weekly event and allow you to just show up and play a game free of charge. No small feat. I know this because I've owned a store for the last 9 years and two stores for the last one, and organizing people is a constant challenge. Store owners put a lot of work into arranging these things and our reward is that people frequently buy things from us. Given Amazon's ridiculous loss leader pricing it's a challenge to get even that sometimes, but that's the world we live in right now.
The DCI system isn't perfect, but Wizards puts a LOT of work into organized play. The extra work we have to go through to report events isn't that awful compared to what we get from Wizards to support these events and their overall marketing engine. Just having any system for regular play that costs the players absolutely nothing is kind of phenomenal. Any time any group of people get together to do the same thing, someone has gone through some effort to organize it. If it's just your friends their reward is your companionship, not so with a store. They really need your support too.
Last year at Gen Con I registered a DCI number, and it never got entered. This year I registsred a new number...same thing. I finally got in touch with WotC support so they could change my name from "Unknown Unknown" to my actual name. The games I played at Gen Con still haven't been entered in any way, nor do I expect them to be.
I've started going to what's supposed to be AL play at a semi-local store (about 35 minutes away is the closest I have), and they don't have it together. This is advertised as AL play, and we were given the Faction folders depending on which ones our characters joined, so clearly the store does have access to the materials. Currently we're doing Phandelver, but, as examples of how this might as well just be informal play at home, 1) there's no enforcement of the important AL rules (such as no dice rolls for ability scores), and 2) there's no use of the Log Sheets. Furthermore, when I ask if we're ever going to play the downloadable Encounters adventures that are currently available, I'm told there's issues with getting the store owner to fork over the login information the DM needs to do acquire them. I've volunteered to assist in any way I can to get this moving, because I'd like to help without stepping on toes, but so far, I haven't been taken up on my offer.
I want to help these stores, because I really enjoy the new game and want to support it via the league play, but if the person organzing isn't able and/or willing to do what it takes to properly get it working in the manner it's supposed to be, I don't know how long I'll be willing to spend my Wednesday nights there, hoping they eventually get it together. Personally, from what I have seen and can infer from talk, the store doesn't feel it gets any revenue from D&D, so they're more or less ignoring it, even though there's an exciting new edition, with possible revenue stream, right in front of them.
-HM
Alphastream1 wrote:
You're absolutely right Caolin, it's not ideal and it's not going to be the experience you want it to be. D&D is an open game however, and people play it in the way they enjoy. There are quite a few people who just enjoy leveling and killing monsters. Some enjoy getting to work through a puzzle or challenge. Some like just hanging out with folks they like. A select few really enjoy getting into their character and following the story closely. I am in your camp also and Adventurers League definitely does not scratch that itch. However, it is a great opportunity to meet people and put together that group you want. I've met an incredible number of people through organized play and while I don't need more players I would certainly enjoy playing with them if I did. It's kind of like going to see a romantic comedy and then complaining there wasn't enough action. You kind of just have to take it for what it is...
Caolin wrote:
So really, for those who want it, DCI should be expanded for public player profiles, where one can be looked up via dci # and possibly a few other variables (character name? advanced search to limit by region?) where one can fill in those details and maybe some of the standard style checkboxes for player style, which could be recommended to be filled out (tactical, hack and slash, story, etc). Also, a virtual logsheet for tracking AL (same as the paper copy used now).
It might help with matchmaking as well if players could flag themselves as in need of a group, help with finding wpn stores (since your address is in there, it can plug directly into the store locator), etc.
WotC could use it for tracking renown/faction progress for how it can impact the story as factions gain in power/numbers faster than the other.
There are probably a number of ways to make it win/win for WotC and players, but non-critical for those who don't want it at the same time. As a thought/extension of whats already been said in the thread.
Hollow_Man_42 wrote:
Caolin wrote:
Here's a another good idea that the store I play at does. They charge $2/player to play. They give the DM the amount they bring in on a reloadable store gift card. So run a table of 6, they put $12 on your gift card. This a win-win. The players are usually okay with rewarding the DM, the DM gets something for their effort, and the store technically makes some money because when the DM uses the card they make the profit on the book (aka a gaurenteed sale).
This also promotes judging events. If you roughly once every three months, you have earned back what you paid to play (plus gotten some other judge perks like xp/judge folder, etc...). Anything that grows the community is for the best.
Alphastream1 wrote:
Caolin wrote:
Also you might want to check the Regional social media pages (you can find a list at http://dndadventurersleague.org/) and check out the one for your area. They will likely talk a lot about the Expecditions events offered at local conventions that might be more along the lines of what you are hoping for.
Alphastream1, I appreciate you reading my comments and responding to what I had to say. I agree with your points, and I'm trying the best I can, as one of the new players, to be positive and proactive, without stepping on the toes of the other people there. They clearly have their own dynamic going on, so I'm trying to find my place in it.
I played tonight (3rd time with this group), and one thing that's tough is that they are happy to start late because they enjoy tallking. Even once the game starts, there's (in my opinion) excessive chit-chat throughout the game. They often get derailed for a long period of time over issues that I think could be rectified fairly quickly, but the DM doesn't seem to make note as to when the debate has gone on too long, nor push people to conclude the bickering.
When the game is being played and is moving along it's good, and everyone there is genuinely nice, but the miscellaneous things that sideline gameplay are time consuming. I'm used to a thing like Gen Con, where people pay to actually PLAY, and they know the time for a session is limited, so for the most part, they get down to business and play. When I can play with my friends it's the same way, but due to schedules and "life", we just don't get together too often.
Anyway, I'm derailing the topic, but just thought I'd follow-up on my earlier post.
-HM
Alphastream1 wrote:
Hollow_Man_42 wrote:
Caolin wrote:
Alphastream1 wrote:
Speaking of this topic, what are your thoughts on this?
We had a player at D&D Encounters tonight switch to my table as his regular Wednesday night DM was out sick. At the beginning of each session I invited the players to fill in the top portion of their next adventure log space. I also pass around a session tracking sheet for the players to fill out, which I hand to the store for entry in the WER.
The "new" player did not present an adventure logsheet and only out his first name on the session trackong sheet. I asked him to put his last name and DCI number and he literally wrote "Last Name" as his last name - Bruce Last Name. He did not want a DCI number and refused to create an adventure logsheet for our ToD session saying, "he is only here to play and not to do paperwork, it's only a table top game, I keep track of XP and GP on my character sheet, " etc...
We had a full house and it was not time for me to argue with this ass hat, so he played with his 3rd-level fighter. After the session he again refused despite me citing the Adventurers League Player's Guide (pages 2 and 4). I explained that this is organized play, not a home game and that twenty other players in the store track official play on the adventure logsheet. He didn't care.
Next week, I am disallowing him a seat at the table if he again refuses. We do bend some rules in AL, but this is important. He is near belligerent in his uncooperative attitude.
Until he creates an adventure logsheet, I'm not letting him play at my D&D Encounters table. Am I being too inflexible?
He should come play with MY group, where even though we're theoretically doing Adventurers League, the DM tracks absolutely nothing during play. Although, to be honest, he did ask my and another new guy's DCI number the first day I showed up, so maybe he's doing more housekeeping than I think...
Anyway, I think you're in the right. If his privacy AND playing was so important to him, he could register a DCI number under fake personal information (including a bogus last name) and no one would ever know. But he's giving not so subtle clues that he thinks all of of this is nonsense. He has an ax to grind and is making it known...this to him is at least as important as playing. If that's the case, well, then don't play. This behavior isn't the adult way to deal with a situation he doesn't care for.
-HM
I'd let him play as long as he understood that he gained no Reknown and was ineligible for magic items with a certificate. That last one would probably make him leave, but if he doesn't then more power to him.
Greyson wrote:
reddaemon wrote:
Wouldn't fly at my store. Negative people kill groups quicker than anything. I don't care about whether or not one person gets reported to Wizards, but I can't allow someone to bring that attitude to the table. We have pay to play for a couple things (miniatures and Expeditions) and the people who don't want to play by the rules are the people we don't want there anyway. Every time someone has challenged us we've laid down the law and sent them packing. Every single time it's been a huge relief because that person is someone we dreaded seeing coming to the door anyway.
In 3.5 days the Rewards program included custom painted minis and special cards that allowed extra options. I don't know what they have planned, though it's been mentioned something is being discussed, but tangible and pretty cool rewards have certainly been done in the past.
Maybe when splat books come out, they will be restricted except if you have a card? Or maybe there will be a bonus of some sort in game? Or maybe it will be something else, reporting will get them the resources for cooler stuff.
Another benefit of a community campaign is that you can take the same character to events at other stores, or conventions, or gaming clubs and have minimal "this character is wrong for x, y or z" arguments. A DM could always make them do the point buy right there if they roilled and "randomly" came up with all 18's LOL.
I'm apparently going to have to get a new (second) DCI number to play AL. I'm transgender and my DCI card's under my old name, and Wizards is refusing to change my name in their system without a court order showing legal name change.
Which is ridiculous, and I've told them that, but they don't seem to want to budge.
Caolin wrote:
Oraibi wrote:
So here's my situation:
I've been playing in D&D Encounters at my FLGS for a couple of weeks now. It's the first time I've ever participated in organized play (I've been roleplaying since Moldvay Red Box Basic back in the 80s), and I've been enjoying it. I've mentioned my positive experiences to friends on Facebook, many of whom I've gamed with in the past, and some of them have expressed interest.
One of my interested friends has never been to an AL event, and he can't get Wednesdays off from work to attend an Encounters session. Noting what it said about home games in the AL guide, and discovering that Lost Mine of Phandelver is eligible as an official AL adventure, I decided it would be fun to run that for my friend via Google Hangouts (since he's on the other side of the country), and invite a couple of other friends whom I think would enjoy the AL, so we have at least the minimum number of players to make it official. Three of those friends are two young boys and their father, whom I think would enjoy being able to participate in AL events in the future if given the opportunity.
I instructed my Wednesday-working friend to go get a DCI card from a nearby game shop; at this point, I was under the impression that it was necessary in order for his character and the sessions he played in to be counted as official. He's been having some trouble registering it on the website because, as he put it, "everything I see keeps telling me I have to participate in a tournament first," and he's getting a little discouraged by his confusion.
In both D&D Encounters sessions I've played in, I was asked to record my DCI on a sheet the DM passed around, as well as recording the DM's DCI on my Adventure Logsheet. So I had assumed a DCI was necessary for participation in the Adventurers League. I was also asked what Faction I wanted to belong to; I don't know if this was solely for the purpose of giving me a faction folder, or if there was more paperwork going on involving that than I knew about.
I'm effectively running a "home game," as the AL guide considers it, and I want it to count as an official AL experience (meaning that my friends can take the characters they play in my Lost Mine adventure and then play them in an in-store Encounters event with all of their accumulated XP and such). I'm worried about them showing up to an AL event at a store or convention and being told by the DM or Organizer that their characters aren't AL-legal.
I've got a DCI number, but do my players have to have DCIs before they join my game? The AL guide says that our "experience and rewards earned are valid for public D&D Adventurers League play" (p.9), but will my players have to provide some kind of proof? Any way I can get some of those nifty faction folders for my players? (Okay, that last question is only a little bit facetious).
mysterycycle wrote:
DCI number has nothing to do with Adventure's League play outside of a store. When it comes to D&D, DCI numbers are strictly a means for stores to report the number of players they attract to their public events to determine the amount of benefits they recieve from Wizard. DCI number offers no advantage to a D&D player and is a burden more than anything because you need to keep your number with you.
Wizards should give players some incentive to keep and maintain a DCI number like with magic, but they are such a good company I'm sure they are already working on it.
So far the only thing the DCI number is good for in D&D is counting who shows up where to play. I've now been to three shops in my area to play two games of Encounters and one game of Expedition and for one thing there is no consistancy on how logging is supposed to be done or who is supposed to hold onto the log sheets. At one shop (Encounters) we are only running characters from the starter set, the DM collected the characters at the end of the session, and there was no mention of the log sheet. Another shop (Expeditions) we brought our own characters, filled out the log sheet, and held onto them. And at the third shop (Encounters) after choosing a faction I actually got a faction folder, which I didn't know I was supposed to get, and at the end the DM had us fill out the top part, them collected them.
Also unless I missed it, I can't find a way to check to see if anything as actually been recorded about either of the characters I've played so far. How is someone supposed to verify if anything a player has written down for their character is legitimate?
PsuedoMiroku wrote:
As others have mentioned already, the DCI number really isn't applicable to anything with the player itself right now, as opposed to potentially with the stores (a good enough reason to make sure you have one, if you like your FLGS).
That said, tho, the logsheets, play experiences, etc., are incredibly lax in AL, compared to some of the previous Living Campaigns I've been involved with. With no way to check things, no way to even verify logsheet legitimacy, etc., it's really only barely a 'structured' campaign to begin with, aside from some hand-waving here and there. I suppose some people will like the more relaxed approach, and I can see that maybe Wizards decided to go with the "People who want to cheat are going to find a way to cheat anyway, so might as well not burden the folks who just want to play the game," but it still seems way too relaxed for my personal tastes.
Luckily, the few modules i've played so far have been entertaining, and I'm genuinely having fun again with the 5.0 system after having abandoned the game when 4.0 hit (plus of course Teos' great Epic with Kryptgarden, which I was pleased to be able to play at DragonCon), so the overall casual approach to the shared campaign isn't a dealbreaker or anything. It grates a bit on the anl-retentive side of my brain a little, perhaps, but I can live with that. :D
SteveMND offers a good example of why WOTC choose the more lax approach this time around. Being far removed from the local environment, they are not going to catch many cheaters, but in trying to do so, they will make life a lot more difficult for those that follow the rules. But asking the stores and local DMs to police their players, we are more likely to catch people (as I expect SteveMND seems like the kind of guy to notice cheating) and at the same time not making it difficult on others.
SteveMND wrote:
CoreyartustheSecond wrote:
I recently played a few sessions of the 5e AL and I guess I'm kinda disappointed. I think MTG is still the bread and butter and the DCI thing follows that with D&D as an after thought.
There really seems to be no orgaized play from the company. At Gencon it "seemed" like this was going to be supported; they had a both, gave out very nice folders for the factions, the adventures were interesting...and there it ends.
I stopped at the local game store and they said they were also promised similar materials and never received anything.
Maybe I'm spoiled for what life was like in Living City and Greyhawk...4e was the decline and 5e just empty promises.
I'll keep playin PFS and wait and see if this ever gets support.
SteveMND wrote:
SteveMND wrote:
Czar_Cascade wrote:
SteveMND wrote:
SteveMND wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Ah, well if you don't think the Expeditions are like the LG and later LFR adventures, keep playing. They build on themselves and the story does develop.
Skerrit wrote: