I have the place holder scheduled, but when I looked earlier today, there was still no advanced .pdf for prep.
To be honest, I am expecting this to be available after Gen Con - but I wanted to see if any body has any new info.
I have nine tables to coordinate, and get DMs for. And I want to coordinate the Slot 0 for the DMs based on their schedules over the next 6 weeks.
-Timmy!
Colorado Springs
Any rumblings about the upcoming WWGD for DMG2?
I have the place holder scheduled, but when I looked earlier today, there was still no advanced .pdf for prep.
To be honest, I am expecting this to be available after Gen Con - but I wanted to see if any body has any new info.
I have nine tables to coordinate, and get DMs for. And I want to coordinate the Slot 0 for the DMs based on their schedules over the next 6 weeks.
-Timmy!
Colorado Springs
My guess would be something like a certain level band, subset of things to choose from (including new traps, etc.) and layout ideas (maybe with tiles? maybe with pre-printed maps that fit together?), then play them one by one to see who made the most challenging/fun dungeon. I like the idea.
I haven't heard anything about a marketing kit that we got a month before the other Game Days..
Likewise, any word on whatever or not we'll have it available online before we get the actual kits?
Also as its listed for me now, its apparently worth no reward points.
Also as its listed for me now, its apparently worth no reward points.
This may be because if you are a player you might? be getting a free figure and if you are a DM you might? be getting some free figures and Dungeon Tiles. Of course this is just a guess on my part.
I see that Chris has created an official group for the WorldWide Game Days: community.wizards.com/dndgameday so I'd expect *some* updates there as time goes on.
Further, as with all the previous Game Day events I wouldn't expect the kits with the materials to arrive until about 10 days before the event.
The ZIP file version has been posted to the event sanctioning site, which is handy. I like the new format for the pre-generated characters, but I'm sad there are so many errors. I will probably end up re-creating the characters in the CB and printing them off the old-fashioned way, which is a shame.
I'm sad there are so many errors.
The only one I saw right off the bat was the Barbarian having one of the Rages colored Red, even though it said "Daily". What else did I miss?
The invoker's tactitian's armor accounts for the extra square on Astral Step and a few other misc. things. I couldn't get the invoker's point buy to work out -- I've got 1 left over.
The halfling barbarian looks like he's got an at-will from Primal Power.
I haven't spent a huge amount of time otherwise working on reverse-engineering the characters.
I think, for the artificier, the characteristics are not legal for a 6th level and, in the equipment, he doesn't mace...
For power, one of them are black but it is normally red.
I've now successfully managed to reverse-engineer the invoker to rules legal. The barbarian looks like it uses a lot from Primal Power. I can't find a feat that gets the swordmage's damage up to the right level. (It currently has Intelligent Blademaster, Eladrin Soldier, and Fey Escape.)
More later.
Having worked through reverse-engineering the artificer and the fighter, the fighter doesn't have any problems with legality. (At this point, neither does the invoker.)
The artificer has two major problems: 1) its attributes aren't point-buy legal, and there's no way to make it so that I've been able to find. 2) It has 2 level 1 daily attack powers and no level 6 utility power.
To summarize:
Invoker and Fighter are complete and legal builds, if not always necessarily optimal ones.
Barbarian looks to use a bunch from Primal Power, because several of its powers aren't in the current builder, even after applying the September update.
Artificer problems listed above.
Swordmage damage isn't working out on its powers, and weapon focus isn't the answer since it only accounts for 1 of the two missing damage.
Overall, though, as a format for new players, I like the sheet design presented.
Other comments from anybody?
any chance some one can post the characters I can't find them anywhere...
WotC will likely publish them as we get closer to the event. They have done so in the past. Of course, here the emphasis is on the DM side of things. Should be fun!
If you're the coordinator, you can download the file. Since I'm not sure whether I'll get enough for 2 tables, I've been starting to work on putting the adventure together in case it's just 1 group.
I'm not hugely happy with some of the monster choices, mostly because one of them has an aura power that's supposed to boost allies, but doesn't affect any of the other monsters in the adventure.
I haven't received my box o' stuff for the day yet, though. Any other coordinators gotten it yet?
Given that in this adventure the players, or the DM, are supposed to select the monsters that may be in the adventure than presumably monsters with features they can't use are all part of the selection process. When the group or the DM picks the monsters they'll have to decide if the monster is worth including even with a feature he can't use.
However it would have been even better if WOTC had included multiple copies of this miniature and made it possible to have more than one in play at a time so that they could use this feature. Is it possible that WOTC deliberately included a sub-optimal choice among the monsters to help the group improve their adventure building skills? Maybe this monster is intended for groups that are deliberately trying to build an easier adventure?
Reading through the materials, I am a bit concerned that there is only sufficient maps and minis for 2 tables. Typically at these sorts of events we run a lot more than 2 tables. We will make due with battle mats and whatnot but part of the incentive for getting people to DM is the maps.
Edit: I haven't received my kits yet either, but I don't usually see those till about 10 days before the event, and we have the PDF, so I am not nervous.
As I understand it, they will send more than one kit if they expect you will have more than two tables of attendance, based on your past attendance. Have you not seen that in the past?
One of my fellow local organizers received three kits for the MM2 game day, each of which could handle three tables! That was more than enough for her event.
To summarize:
Invoker and Fighter are complete and legal builds, if not always necessarily optimal ones.
Overall, though, as a format for new players, I like the sheet design presented
The Fighter has the Steel Vangard feat, usable only with two-handed Heavy Blades, except he's using a Bastard Sword which it will not work with. He also has Rimefire Plate, which should give him Resist 1 All, but that is not listed. His Armor Skill penalty is only -2, but it should be -4 (Plate + Heavy Shield).
The Artificers Arcane Rejuvenation power does not factor in the Intelligence mod so he only grants 3 Temp HP instead of 7 (big difference!). He also has two level 1 Daily powers, and is missing his 6th level utility power. Tanglefoot bags are only +5 to-hit not +10 (this character should not even have these, since he has powers that are so much better).
None of the characters can be built with Character Builder without guessing, or worse are unable to be built because they use powers that are not in Character Builder (like many of the barbarians powers, which probably are in Primal Power, which will only be in the Character Builder update in December).
I would hate to be the DM at this event. The characters are not only suboptimal, they are not even legal.
Here is my best guess at the Fighter, I replaced Steel Vangard with Weapon Focus. The Vicous Sword is a waste without Steel Vangard, but I left it in.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Xandross, level 6
Human, Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
AC: 25 Fort: 22 Reflex: 17 Will: 17
HP: 60 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 15
TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate +8, Athletics +9, Heal +10, Endurance +6
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Arcana +2, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering +5, History +2, Insight +5, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +2, Stealth -1, Streetwise +3, Thievery -1
FEATS
Human: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 1: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 2: Armor Proficiency (Plate)
Level 4: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
Level 6: Shield Defense
POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Tide of Iron
Fighter at-will 1: Footwork Lure
Fighter at-will 1: Cleave
Fighter encounter 1: Shield Bash
Fighter daily 1: Villain's Menace
Fighter utility 2: Shielded Sides
Fighter encounter 3: Covering Attack
Fighter daily 5: Cometfall Charge
Fighter utility 6: Defensive Training
ITEMS
Bashing Shield Heavy Shield (heroic tier), Magic Rimefire Plate Armor +2, Amulet of Resolution +1, Vicious Bastard sword +2, Adventurer's Kit, Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (20)
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
Here is my best guess at the Artificer. Remove Icebound Sigil add Regeneration Infusion.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Tower, level 6
Warforged, Artificer
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 8.
AC: 21 Fort: 19 Reflex: 18 Will: 17
HP: 60 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 15
TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +12, Thievery +8, History +12, Heal +11, Dungeoneering +9
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +3, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Endurance +9, Insight +4, Intimidate +4, Nature +4, Perception +4, Religion +7, Stealth +3, Streetwise +2, Athletics +4
FEATS
Artificer: Alchemist
Level 1: Implement Expertise (rod)
Level 2: Toughness
Level 4: Improved Warforged Resolve
Level 6: Combat Medic
POWERS
Artificer at-will 1: Thundering Armor
Artificer at-will 1: Static Shock
Artificer encounter 1: Shielding Cube
Artificer daily 1: Life-Tapping Darts
Artificer utility 2: Swift Mender
Artificer encounter 3: Lightning Sphere
Artificer daily 5: Corrosive Sigil
Artificer utility 6: Regeneration Infusion
ITEMS
Ritual Book, Rod of Elemental Shielding +2, Magic Leather Armor +2, Disk of Energy Resistance +1, Adventurer's Kit, Tanglefoot Bag (level 2) (2), Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (20)
RITUALS
Brew Potion, Disenchant Magic Item, Enchant Magic Item, Make Whole
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
I just received my kit in the mail. I got one box, and it contains enough of everything to run three simultaneous tables, except there are only two copies of the instructions sheet.
The character sheets are dry-erase cards, which is nice. I haven't cracked open the bags of minis yet, but they look OK from the outside.
There's a pack of handbills for WITR, but there aren't any novel excerpts...which is good because I think most of those ended up in the recycle bin last time. 
How important are the pregen characters to the event?
I'm contemplating whether it's worthwhile trying to modify this to be ran as a MYRE1-2 event with existing L4-7 LFR characters.
I feel dumb: I went to throw away the "empty box" the materials came in, and discovered that it was secretly two boxes taped together. The second box's contents were identical to the first's.
Also, sandwiched between the boxes were a bunch of ads encouraging retailers to stock Jones Soda D&D-themed "Potion Packs" for the game day. LOL.
As for the pre-gens, I don't see how they can be considered essential to the event. The adventure doesn't even have a default story: you're supposed to make it up as part of the event! I plan to allow my players to bring their own RPGA-legal 6th-level characters if they wish.
OK, I haven't received any box of any materials and I'm getting a little worried. Anybody reading this that is DMing the upcoming game--are any of you still waiting on this material?
Joel
OK, I haven't received any box of any materials and I'm getting a little worried. Anybody reading this that is DMing the upcoming game--are any of you still waiting on this material?
I have not gotten mine yet, but there is still plenty of time. You can download the PDFs of everything if you are the one who sanctioned the event if you need extra time to get ready for things.
To summarize:
Invoker and Fighter are complete and legal builds, if not always necessarily optimal ones.
Overall, though, as a format for new players, I like the sheet design presented
The Fighter has the Steel Vangard feat, usable only with two-handed Heavy Blades, except he's using a Bastard Sword which it will not work with. He also has Rimefire Plate, which should give him Resist 1 All, but that is not listed. His Armor Skill penalty is only -2, but it should be -4 (Plate + Heavy Shield).
The Artificers Arcane Rejuvenation power does not factor in the Intelligence mod so he only grants 3 Temp HP instead of 7 (big difference!). He also has two level 1 Daily powers, and is missing his 6th level utility power. Tanglefoot bags are only +5 to-hit not +10 (this character should not even have these, since he has powers that are so much better).
None of the characters can be built with Character Builder without guessing, or worse are unable to be built because they use powers that are not in Character Builder (like many of the barbarians powers, which probably are in Primal Power, which will only be in the Character Builder update in December).
I would hate to be the DM at this event. The characters are not only suboptimal, they are not even legal.
Here is my best guess at the Fighter, I replaced Steel Vangard with Weapon Focus. The Vicous Sword is a waste without Steel Vangard, but I left it in.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Xandross, level 6
Human, Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
AC: 25 Fort: 22 Reflex: 17 Will: 17
HP: 60 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 15
TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate +8, Athletics +9, Heal +10, Endurance +6
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Arcana +2, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering +5, History +2, Insight +5, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +2, Stealth -1, Streetwise +3, Thievery -1
FEATS
Human: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 1: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 2: Armor Proficiency (Plate)
Level 4: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
Level 6: Shield Defense
POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Tide of Iron
Fighter at-will 1: Footwork Lure
Fighter at-will 1: Cleave
Fighter encounter 1: Shield Bash
Fighter daily 1: Villain's Menace
Fighter utility 2: Shielded Sides
Fighter encounter 3: Covering Attack
Fighter daily 5: Cometfall Charge
Fighter utility 6: Defensive Training
ITEMS
Bashing Shield Heavy Shield (heroic tier), Magic Rimefire Plate Armor +2, Amulet of Resolution +1, Vicious Bastard sword +2, Adventurer's Kit, Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (20)
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======Here is my best guess at the Artificer. Remove Icebound Sigil add Regeneration Infusion.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Tower, level 6
Warforged, Artificer
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 8.
AC: 21 Fort: 19 Reflex: 18 Will: 17
HP: 60 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 15
TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +12, Thievery +8, History +12, Heal +11, Dungeoneering +9
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +3, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Endurance +9, Insight +4, Intimidate +4, Nature +4, Perception +4, Religion +7, Stealth +3, Streetwise +2, Athletics +4
FEATS
Artificer: Alchemist
Level 1: Implement Expertise (rod)
Level 2: Toughness
Level 4: Improved Warforged Resolve
Level 6: Combat Medic
POWERS
Artificer at-will 1: Thundering Armor
Artificer at-will 1: Static Shock
Artificer encounter 1: Shielding Cube
Artificer daily 1: Life-Tapping Darts
Artificer utility 2: Swift Mender
Artificer encounter 3: Lightning Sphere
Artificer daily 5: Corrosive Sigil
Artificer utility 6: Regeneration Infusion
ITEMS
Ritual Book, Rod of Elemental Shielding +2, Magic Leather Armor +2, Disk of Energy Resistance +1, Adventurer's Kit, Tanglefoot Bag (level 2) (2), Crossbow, Crossbow Bolts (20)
RITUALS
Brew Potion, Disenchant Magic Item, Enchant Magic Item, Make Whole
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
Yeah, I caught the details on the Steel Vanguard thing later -- I also think he doesn't have any of the at-wills that work with it. So it's a useless feat, although a legal pick.
I think I commented on the Invoker problems above.
My box showed up today; it's also got enough for 3 simultaneous tables but only two sets of instructions. That's not much of a problem for me, as I've already printed several sets of the directions myself planning for the eventuality of only a single table. (I'm working hard at publicity, but many of the possible people would be close to rookies.)
I might also create a set of characters based off the minis from the builder, as somebody else suggested above.
I got my box yesterday. It was waiting on the porch when I got home from work.
Materials look good. Lots of quality work on the printing end. Now to start going over the characters for mistakes.
How important are the pregen characters to the event?
I'm contemplating whether it's worthwhile trying to modify this to be ran as a MYRE1-2 event with existing L4-7 LFR characters.
This is not legal for LFR, and against the purpose of MYRE.
Please do not do this, as we'll lose the MYRE option if judges are abusing the system.
Another problem with Tower, the Artificier
- He should have +3 Initiative, not +0 Initiative, unless I'm missing something.
Just received my kits today but the character sheets seem to be missing... Checked with my FLGS and they didn't get any character sheets too... what's wrong?
Has it happened to anyone else?
(Not only do we get the kits later here in Europe and we also receive them with missing stuff... 
)
I would hate to be the DM at this event. The characters are not only suboptimal, they are not even legal.
I think you guys need to calm down a bit.
This is a one-shot game, and people will be using these characters for 2-3 hours, and then never again. Sure the artificer has an extra 1st-level daily, but it works pretty much like a 6th level utility. Does it really matter that the artificer is -3 to initiative?
I agree, it's pretty hard to believe that WotC could have screwed up these characters so badly (since I've gotta assume they've got a copy of the Character Builder). But are any of these things going to ruin the experience? No.
WWGD is about introducing the features of the latest product and bringing new players into the game. If you're worried about powergaming, maybe you should just play with your home group tomorrow instead.
Well, there were some corrections on the sheets that were not on the PDF's, so that was good.
My DM made up all the encounters and didn't let us in on the fun.
The figures (detail!) and maps (clutter!) were excellent.
Yeah, and I did use the characters as written... but I was worried about the non-legality because some of my anticipated players were going to get upset by it... including one guy who swears that he knows what the designers really meant when they wrote..... you get the idea.
I did have a few people who were brand new, or close to it, to the game. one of them left asking about other ongoing games at the store.
My DM made up all the encounters and didn't let us in on the fun.
That's too bad! The whole point was to give everyone a taste of what it is like to build encounters. The rules, surprisingly, allowed for the approach you described.
I helped a FLGS run a slew of tables (12 maybe?) where we had one DM for each table (an experienced LFR or 4E judge plus 5 players). The DM guided the group through the encounter building and then the DMs switched tables, running what was built for another table.
In the first slot, many tables had a bit of frustration as each group (of course) chose the hard difficulty and pummeled the players. This was a decent lesson in the pitfalls of encounter building, but in the second and third slots we recommended medium difficulty unless the destination table wanted hard. We also recommended removing the brute for time's sake. It went really well.
I even had a table of six that could not play vs another table, and I had three players decide each encounter and then they all played it together. For half the table, each encounter was a surprise. It worked really well. One cool thing about that was that the players could see how the DM did things differently than their instructions, which is a really good insight into writing adventures for other DMs to run (such as in RPGA living campaigns).
All-in-all, there were a lot of really happy gamers and I thought the DMG2 Gameday was really good. The cards for PCs, though inaccurate, were really a great idea. Players liked the visual of the PC, the color glossy printing, and the simplified power info.
Everyone was happy with the loot.
We were thankful enough to have two teams, I ran one group and a friend ran the other. It took us about an hour to organize and assemble the adventure, with some serious malicious intent involved, lol. We then swapped out the adventures and (after a quick read through) we took about 2 hours to go through each scenario. I had 2 newbies (one never played, the other played 2E in 1991), two somewhat experienced players (that were there for WWGD:PHB2) and a fellow DM, so it went fairly well. I love this format, I think they should encourage this for all of them, a collective effort combigned with surprise to see what the other group had done. I really liked the laminated player sheets, I found out about them a few days ahead and bought some cheap dry erase markers to use with them and it worked out great. It's going to be a long time until the next one (March 2010) but I only hope that WOTC takes the lessons learned with this year and include more game days for future product.
It's going to be a long time until the next one (March 2010) but I only hope that WOTC takes the lessons learned with this year and include more game days for future product.
No interest in Weekend in the Realms (6-8 November I think)? I believe that's coming with maps etc, with the added incentive that players can create characters for the Living Forgotten Realms campaign, and it ties in with a novel being published that week as well!
I posted this over at EN world, but thoght I'd put it up here too.
I went to our game day at the Local Barnes and Nobles. We ended up with two tables, one of which ended up with me running three ten year old girls and the mom of one of the girls, and one of my buddies. The mom and girls were all complete newbies. One of them had read some of the quickstart rules on WOTC's website, and convinced two friends and her mom to come and play. Apparently the mom had contacted the guy setting up the event before hand to see what it was all about.
I was quite impressed with how fast they picked up the rules/ideas of the game. And never underestimate the ruthlessness of ten year old girls! They had a lot of fun making up the adventure for the other table but were upset when no one died! They guy running the event wanted me to allow the girls to have the duergar surrender, to show that killing them wasn't the only option. So the last dark dwarf standing surrendered. When I asked them what they wanted to do with him one of the girls said "I chop off his head!" without missing a beat. The other girl saw the look on the managers face and said, "We play Halo. We don't take prisioners." They changed their minds and did question him though
Then, in the second encounter the girl playing the swordmage suggested splitting the party to attack both sides of the room. The girl playing the artificer replied, "I'm the only healer and if we slpit up I won't be able to help everyone." She came up with "never split the party" all on her own.
They left the store with the starter box set, their character mini's and the manager gave them the extra set of monsters as well. So, three or four new gamers. Not a bad day.
It's going to be a long time until the next one (March 2010) but I only hope that WOTC takes the lessons learned with this year and include more game days for future product.
No interest in Weekend in the Realms (6-8 November I think)? I believe that's coming with maps etc, with the added incentive that players can create characters for the Living Forgotten Realms campaign, and it ties in with a novel being published that week as well!
Must have missed that one, or I dismissed it as the LFR ongoing game which I haven't had the extra time to join (more like run around here). I will have to take a closer look.
I posted this over at EN world, but thoght I'd put it up here too.
I went to our game day at the Local Barnes and Nobles. We ended up with two tables, one of which ended up with me running three ten year old girls and the mom of one of the girls, and one of my buddies. The mom and girls were all complete newbies. One of them had read some of the quickstart rules on WOTC's website, and convinced two friends and her mom to come and play. Apparently the mom had contacted the guy setting up the event before hand to see what it was all about.
I was quite impressed with how fast they picked up the rules/ideas of the game. And never underestimate the ruthlessness of ten year old girls! They had a lot of fun making up the adventure for the other table but were upset when no one died! They guy running the event wanted me to allow the girls to have the duergar surrender, to show that killing them wasn't the only option. So the last dark dwarf standing surrendered. When I asked them what they wanted to do with him one of the girls said "I chop off his head!" without missing a beat. The other girl saw the look on the managers face and said, "We play Halo. We don't take prisioners." They changed their minds and did question him though
Then, in the second encounter the girl playing the swordmage suggested splitting the party to attack both sides of the room. The girl playing the artificer replied, "I'm the only healer and if we slpit up I won't be able to help everyone." She came up with "never split the party" all on her own.
They left the store with the starter box set, their character mini's and the manager gave them the extra set of monsters as well. So, three or four new gamers. Not a bad day.
That sounds awesome! Glad to hear the manager of a chain store actually promoted something like this, our local Borders employees tend to get the "deer caught in headlights" look when you ask for the most recent book. (or they flame 4E indirectly by pointing out they play Pathfinder only) I too have found that scratch newbies (those who haven't played any edition) are WAY easier to teach than edition newbies. ("You must unlearn what you have learned"- Guess Who?)
I went to Yottaquest in Cincinnati and played two out of three timeslots, with the Swordmage and the Invoker.
They seem to have fixed the Swordmage to be nearly legal, I managed to get her to build in the character builder, correct damage and all. She has an illegal skill, though. Nature or Perception is houseruled. Otherwise she was fun and effective and I enjoyed her.
Invoker, I get a left-over point on point buy, they still list his implement wrong on the sheet. I dunno if his build sucks or what, I've never really looked at Invoker like I have at Swordmage, but he wasn't nearly as fun to play and I felt massively useless and ineffective. I think my greatest contribution in the end was keeping the Barbarian from drowning while unconscious. Which led to me going unconscious. *facepalm*
I ran three tables at SUNY Oswego, I let one player make their own character as long as it filled the same slot of the pregen it was replacing (mostly cuz he got DDI and wanted to test out the char builder). Otherwise it went the best of all game days so far, the entire format with each table creating an adventure was very popular and even those players I had who weren't too big into 4E enjoyed it. I'd almost love to see a format like this on a more monthly basis (maybe minus the minis and such).
Nobody took the easy route, and most encounters were difficult. My table made theirs as hard as possible but the party avoided a TPK.
I went to Yottaquest in Cincinnati and played two out of three timeslots, with the Swordmage and the Invoker.
They seem to have fixed the Swordmage to be nearly legal, I managed to get her to build in the character builder, correct damage and all. She has an illegal skill, though. Nature or Perception is houseruled. Otherwise she was fun and effective and I enjoyed her.
Invoker, I get a left-over point on point buy, they still list his implement wrong on the sheet. I dunno if his build sucks or what, I've never really looked at Invoker like I have at Swordmage, but he wasn't nearly as fun to play and I felt massively useless and ineffective. I think my greatest contribution in the end was keeping the Barbarian from drowning while unconscious. Which led to me going unconscious. *facepalm*
If you take a background which grants Nature or Perception as a class skill (and use the Eladrin Training for the other one), she's entirely legal.
The invoker's point buy is legal if you go Str 8, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 14, Wis 17, and Cha 10, giving the racial bonus to Intelligence and increasing Constitution and Wisdom at level 4. It's not the cheapest way to get those stats, but it is legal.