1) I know its organized play that can be done at stores and cons and even at home it seems...but what do you get out of it?

2) I just ran a bunch of people through LMoP and we played by the rules with characters made by the rules...is that technically adventurers league play even though we don't have DCI numbers? Can we get numbers now and backlog that stuff? 

3) I saw you can build your own adventurers league adventures with all the free kits they have on the DMs guild does that mean those are then official too or do you need to upload them first. When you upload something does it need to be "approved" before it counts?

4) What does the DM get out of it and does he (me) need a DCI number too?

I know its a dumb question so I appreciate any responses in advance. Thanks

I do not play AL so my information may not be 100%.

1) You get to play a great game, make some friends, and carry the character from game to game even if you have different DMs. 

2)DCI numbers are used for tracking sheets I think, you can get them from the Wizards website for free. I know AL uses special character sheets and modules so I would suggest looking into those.

3)No clue on this one, I need to poke around the DMSG more.

4) DM's get rewards for running games that they can give to their characters when playing games. Also, you get to run D&D. 

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/events/adventurers-league-resources has good info and the AL rulings. There is also an official website run by the AL Admins which has extra info http://dndadventurersleague.org/

What AL is great for is the ability to go to a gaming store that runs AL games and be able to join (whilst not permanently committing to a group), this is why there is additional rules around making characters AL legal and what variant rules are used, etc. What one DM might allow at a table, another would not - so AL forces DMs to run modules/hardcovers within the specified text and rewards.

If you have a group of friends that you play D&D with, you do not need to follow AL rules, however if you do, any one of the players or yourself can take one of your characters and join an AL game - perhaps at a convention, game store, or event. Personally I don't play AL rules with my group, however I kind of wish we did, as I'm going to PAX Aus end of the month and I'll only have Lvl 1 Characters to go with (instead of some in the higher level tiers of play).

AL can be restrictive, and from what I've seen from FB groups, very very rules lawyerery. But it is a way for lots of people to make friends and play D&D, so it can't be all bad.

For point 3 - only official adventures and modules outside of hardcovers count - you cannot use your own adventures in AL. For point 2 - As long as you can log everything down and get DCI numbers (from https://accounts.wizards.com/ off memory), you should be good.

1. As a player you get a unified rules list and the ability to transport your character from one table to another. You can play at your home today, online tomorrow, and at the con next week all with your favorite character.

2. IF you ran it according to all AL rules it would be AL legal, with or without DCI numbers, however as you are unaware of some of the specific rules I would assume it isn't AL legal unless you announce it upfront and log it accordingly.

3. No. The only way you can create AL legal modules is if you happen to be picked to publish one from the AL admins, or your adventures are approved after being published (like the DM adept ones recently released with Tomb of Annihilation). The reason for this is so that no one makes up a level 1 adventure that hands out Staff of the Archmagi and Storm giants belt.

4. For the DM, there are various rewards you get for running AL games which apply to AL games. You get xp and gold every game you run which you can use to fast level a new player character for when you want to actually play a game. Furthermore you can get magic items to hand out to your characters as well. No one is required to have a DCI number to participate in AL.

Basically if character portability is important to you (you want to play at cons and online and other tables with same PC) then AL is really good.

If however, you are going to be playing the same campaign with the same players every week, then the restrictions the AL guidelines and rules place on you are really an unnecessary burden and will just add paperwork and restrictions from having a more open and customized campaign.

Quote from Thain >>

Basically if character portability is important to you (you want to play at cons and online and other tables with same PC) then AL is really good.

If however, you are going to be playing the same campaign with the same players every week, then the restrictions the AL guidelines and rules place on you are really an unnecessary burden and will just add paperwork and restrictions from having a more open and customized campaign.

They CAN! for that adventure.... Again the rules for AL (which often seem needlessly restrictive) are meant to try to safeguard from people working around the system by say having their buddies give them all their old magic gear. I am not saying I agree with it all. But that is the reason you can't just give items or gold to other players.

So again, if you are going to be running with the same adventuring party through the same hardcover, you can work around limitations because you are allowed to do pretty much anything reasonably possible during the session, but at the end of the session you have to get your loaned +1 sword of slaying back from your friend. Also while playing hardcovers you are even allowed to adventure with people outside the normal level restrictions, which again is part of why the trading restrictions are in effect. My level 15 character could join your level 5 character for a chapter of out of the abyss and hand you 5000 gold, which isn't important to me, but would give you access to lots of potions which might trivialize encounters.

Quote from Matthias_von_Schwarzwald >>

Quote from Thain >>

Basically if character portability is important to you (you want to play at cons and online and other tables with same PC) then AL is really good.

If however, you are going to be playing the same campaign with the same players every week, then the restrictions the AL guidelines and rules place on you are really an unnecessary burden and will just add paperwork and restrictions from having a more open and customized campaign.

 Thank you for that very clear and concise summary.  Can you, perhaps, explain to me why an AL character cannot find better armor, take their old armor off, give the old armor to another party member who can use it, and put on the new armor? 

Exchanging Wealth
You can’t give another character gold or mundane equipment. However, you can pay for some or all of the cost of services that help another character, such as the cost of a raise dead spell. In order to donate funds toward services for another character, you must be in the same party (at the same play table) unless otherwise specified by the adventure.

Thanks for pointing it all out guys. So does someone have to approve your character before its considered legit? Or is it all up to the DM to police that stuff? 

It's up to the group - but basically follow the PHB + 1 rule and any of the guidance from the AL PHB/DMG (pdfs available from the AL site). It's pretty much an honor system that people go by, and when something is called into question the log sheet would need to back it up.

Awesome thanks!