D&D 5E Adventurer's League (Not Recruit/Idea terminated)

[NightLux]

Granted, my Search-fu with Elliquiy's search engine might not be the best, but I have a bad itch to DM and since most of my experience is in 5E recently, I thought that perhaps I might head up the creation of Elliquiy's Adventurer's League chapter.  So, without further ado...

Psst... here's the official website

What is Adventurer's League?
Adventurer's League is Wizard's of the Coast official campaign society, much like Paizo's Pathfinder Society.  Any of WotC's official books are eligible for play, as well as other adventures (which can be purchased at the DM's Guild website, don't worry, I have a ton).  It has a set of rules that all characters must adhere to and, more importantly, a logsheet that keeps track of each of that player's adventures with a particular character.  A full FAQ can be found here.  As I said before, don't worry, I can walk everyone through it.

That's great, I really can read the website for all of this; so how is this going to work here on Elliquiy?
Normally each player has an official DCI number that they use to track their character back and forth between different DMs, but since not everyone might want to tie their Elliquiy usernames to some trackable, real-life account, we're going to ignore that requirement.  I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to actually track this (I'm thinking of using this site or, more likely, just track it on the wiki myself.

That makes sense, and I was lying about reading the website earlier; so what are these restrictions on characters?
AL uses a concept called PHB+1.  That is, everything in the PHB is fair game, plus one other published source (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Elemental Evil Players Guide, etc).  A few things are excluded - anything from the DMG, anything for playtest (Unearthed Arcana), anything that can fly at first level, among others.  The other limitation is that all character creation uses the Standard Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) for ability scores although this can be modified with the Point Buy Method (if you need help, just ask).

Awesome, I'm still reading so you're doing... not a bad job; anything else I should know?
Since this is going to be adjusted just for Elliquiy, there are a few other things that go along with it.  As people might tend to want to, shall we say, become intimate with other characters, we're going to pull a concept from the previous incarnations of WotC's official play, of a kind.  Each player will have a home (represented by a thread) in one of the major cities, each of which are connected by the AIRLINE (Amorous Intentions Resolution and Location Interjection Network for Elliquiy).  In short, if you like a character and want to get freaky with another player after adventures, you'll have the opportunity.  Never say I'm not a generous god DM.

You tried really hard for that acronym and it sucks.  What about when we adventure?
Yeah, if someone can think of something better, feel free to offer it up.  That said, I'm going to keep the standard AL rules regarding party size.  No fewer characters than 3, no more than 7, all of which have to be in the same Tier.  Tier 1 is levels 1-4.  Tier 2 is levels 5-10.  Tier 3 is above.  Don't worry about Tier 4 now, it'll be a while.  This will start easy since everyone will be level 1.  What this means is that to start out, I'm only going to take up to 7 people.

A few other notes:  If you do not have the Player's Handbook, the SRD is available here.  If you wish to learn more about other archetypes than those listed there, please let me know and I'd be happy to facilitate.

[AndyZ]

Oooh!  Interested!

[RedPhoenix]

Interested to see where this goes. I admit I'm a little skeptical of the "Adventurer's League" and PHB+1 doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I love 5e so....yeah, tentatively interested one might say. :)

[Countdown0]

Interesting. What sort of campaign do you plan on running first?

[Chulanowa]

You have my interest. I actually have a few ideas, independent of setting (my hurdy-gurdy playing dragonborn bard needs a home, after all, since the city of thieves booted her out)

[greenknight]

The reality is that unless the DM reports games (which is not a requirement), only the players need the RPGA DCI info (name and number) of the DM for their logsheets. If the DM wants to get an E-specific RPGA DCI number and tied to his E handle for the registration, that'll work. The rest of us can just log our regular characters with that DM ID and go on, business as usual. As players, we have to be aware that playing said characters in meatspace may out us, but that's the risk we assume. And if the DM wants to audit a character, same thing.

BTW, yep, I'm interested.

[NightLux]

Interested to see where this goes. I admit I'm a little skeptical of the "Adventurer's League" and PHB+1 doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I love 5e so....yeah, tentatively interested one might say. :)

In the game word, there is no "Adventurer's League", unlike Pathfinder where the Pathfinder Society both exists in the world and as the organization system in ours.  The purpose of either is to put down a set level of options that DMs have to deal with when running adventures for random people that might show up at their table.  PFS has existed for a lot longer and there's still a ton of options for players. 

Its one of the strengths of PF, but I also think at times its one of the weaknesses too - so many options means that there's so much more opportunity to make broken characters.  That's why they do the PHB+1 - you get two sources (backgrounds notwithstanding) to use to make your character.  Want to be a bladesinger from SCAG?  You can't use anything from Elemental Evil or Volos.  Want to be a Tabaxi?  That's from Volo's, so nothing from SCAG.

If there's not really interested in trying to confirm to AL, I'll probably just delete this thread, inform those who were interested, and just start up a normal hardcover or just sandbox a campaign.

Interesting. What sort of campaign do you plan on running first?

I was originally thinking that I'd just run the individual adventures so everyone isn't locked in to a long game but if the group wants to run one of them, I'm fine with that too.  I was thinking with as many people running around playing various 5E games, the total players might be more than the number on one particular adventure.

Or if people don't want to do AL, I could just run a game like the others.

The reality is that unless the DM reports games (which is not a requirement), only the players need the RPGA DCI info (name and number) of the DM for their logsheets. If the DM wants to get an E-specific RPGA DCI number and tied to his E handle for the registration, that'll work. The rest of us can just log our regular characters with that DM ID and go on, business as usual. As players, we have to be aware that playing said characters in meatspace may out us, but that's the risk we assume. And if the DM wants to audit a character, same thing.

BTW, yep, I'm interested.

That's exactly what I did last night.

[RedPhoenix]

Yeah I guess I just don't see how it would benefit a forum game to follow the AL requirements. As long as I don't have to go logging things offsite or something like that I wouldn't mind it terribly but unless people are actually thinking they want to be able to use their characters in other AL games it seems like an extra hassle for no real benefit. But then again sometimes just trying out something different is fun and like I said as long as I can do my part all on E without logging things offsite I'm fine with it. :)

Regarding the PHB+1 thing, I get the idea but I think you can make much more blatantly op characters using just the PHB than you can by mixing supplements. I'm not going to say what those are to give people ideas but I think it just stifles creativity for no real upside. I mean is a Tabaxi Storm Sorcerer or a Lizardfolk Crown Paladin really so broken they would need to be excluded? It would seem like just leaving it to the GM to ban things they think are broken would be a better idea. That being said I could certainly live with it if that's how you want to run things, I'm just nerdy babbling here. :)

[greenknight]

Regarding the PHB+1 thing, I get the idea but I think you can make much more blatantly op characters using just the PHB than you can by mixing supplements. I'm not going to say what those are to give people ideas but I think it just stifles creativity for no real upside. I mean is a Tabaxi Storm Sorcerer or a Lizardfolk Crown Paladin really so broken they would need to be excluded? It would seem like just leaving it to the GM to ban things they think are broken would be a better idea. That being said I could certainly live with it if that's how you want to run things, I'm just nerdy babbling here. :)

On the flip side, I can see how just opening everything up can be a real problem in the future. Lots of unknowns in what Wizbro publishes in the future.

Regarding a lizardman paladin of the crown or other combos, I can see story/fluff reasons not to allow it, particularly within the context of a third party sandbox (AL is explcitly separate from Wizbro) they let you write official stuff for. Not that I think the suits in RI really care what fanboys the team in WA license do, as long as it supports their little side business to Monopoly and Transformers*.

All that said, I can see some fun in limited access character design. If we don't want to deal with AL-ness, there's no reason the modules can't be run outside of AL, too. They're generally decent for the limitations they're written to, and opening up the format to E probably allows us to get more out of them.



*Seriously, Hasbro's owned WotC for how long and there was never a d20Moder setting for G.I.Joe or Transformers?

[NightLux]

Yeah I guess I just don't see how it would benefit a forum game to follow the AL requirements. As long as I don't have to go logging things offsite or something like that I wouldn't mind it terribly but unless people are actually thinking they want to be able to use their characters in other AL games it seems like an extra hassle for no real benefit. But then again sometimes just trying out something different is fun and like I said as long as I can do my part all on E without logging things offsite I'm fine with it. :)

Oh, I agree that AL is a bit limiting and that isn't necessarily a benefit for us here on E.  But my goal was to find a way for those who might be interested in AL to be able to play characters and then take them into meatspace if they wanted, having played those adventures.  Or, if nothing else, a way to have people keep track of characters.  Its going to be a ton of work on my side since I'd be the one connected to DCI but I don't mind.

Regarding the PHB+1 thing, I get the idea but I think you can make much more blatantly op characters using just the PHB than you can by mixing supplements. I'm not going to say what those are to give people ideas but I think it just stifles creativity for no real upside. I mean is a Tabaxi Storm Sorcerer or a Lizardfolk Crown Paladin really so broken they would need to be excluded? It would seem like just leaving it to the GM to ban things they think are broken would be a better idea. That being said I could certainly live with it if that's how you want to run things, I'm just nerdy babbling here. :)

That's how I run my non-AL games for my group.  I'm thinking of taking this down and instead just offering up a new campaign.

*Seriously, Hasbro's owned WotC for how long and there was never a d20Moder setting for G.I.Joe or Transformers?

Amen.  I want that so bad.

[greenknight]

*Seriously, Hasbro's owned WotC for how long and there was never a d20Modern setting for G.I.Joe or Transformers?

Amen.  I want that so bad.

Really?

What's the word? I have no desire to run it, but I do like game design challenges. How many here would be interested in a GI..Joe and/or Transformers plug-in for d20Modern? I'd probably post it up to the Worldbuilding thread and it'd be open season for anyone interested in running or modding it.

[RedPhoenix]

That's how I run my non-AL games for my group.  I'm thinking of taking this down and instead just offering up a new campaign.

Well that would certainly make me happy but if you would be happier doing an AL game you should leave this up and see how many more nibbles you get. It's only been a short while. :)

[NightLux]

I'll do that now that you mention it.  It should be up sometime today.

[Wheeler97]

Would this be play by post? I've never done a system on Forums, but I'm certainly interested in giving it a try for 5th edition.

Edit: Oh, and I'm running Lost Mines so I know the details but would do my absolute best not to act on OOC information.

[NightLux]

Would this be play by post? I've never done a system on Forums, but I'm certainly interested in giving it a try for 5th edition.

Yes, play-by-post over in the Group forums.  It'll either be AL or a sandbox system, I'm working on an outline for the world right now.

[AndyZ]

I have the Princes of the Apocalypse book and am currently playing in a Curse of Strahd game.  However, if it's a game I already know, I'd be more than happy to play a stupid character who won't influence the party's decisions.

Regarding PHB+1, I can see the purpose: to keep DMs from getting overwhelmed by all the crazy options out there.  However, that's more necessary for those who don't know the system as well yet.

Honestly, I don't make a lot of demands.  I just love to play ^_^

[NightLux]

I took everyone's advice and decided that a nice homebrew would be much better for Elliquiy.  You can find that new post here.  I look forward to seeing what we all can create there!