Let me preface this by stating that I've been playing RPGs (primarily DnD) on and off for going on 26 years. The glory days were playing in three different weekly campaigns.
Having said that, I decided to try out AL last week at my local game store.
I sat down with my shiny new paladin, and it became very obvious, very quickly, mostly the level 3 mage blurted it out, that two of the four of us had run the exact adventure we were doing already.
To say I was peeved is putting it lightly, there was no organic progression or 'adventure' when they were clearly just there to get 'easy XP because they were already Level 3'
I'm not putting this on the DM, he was a last minute replacement, and wanted to let everyone play.
I don't know what the cure for this is, short of just joining a regular group and skipping AL. I probably just answered my own question, but here it is anyway.
Are there rules against people joining the same game over and over again?
Players are not restricted to the current season’s adventures, and can play any D&D Adventurers League adventure, with any character of the appropriate level range or tier for that adventure. Players are allowed to play an adventure multiple times, but a character may only participate in a given adventure or hardcover chapter once.
So you can physically play an adventure more than once, but your character cannot.
Don't get discouraged by one session. I have played DnD for many years off and on also. Almost two years ago I was interested in playing 5th edition and went to my local gaming store were I was told they run Adventure League on Wednesday nights. The group was small even before I started showing up with only 3 people who would show up on a regular basis and sometimes less than that. Since that time people have come and gone but the Adventure League now averages 3 tables with between 5 to 8 people per table. Groups usually stay the same amount until enough show up regularly basis to split, which we are getting close to doing that now for a forth table. I went from playing to DM and it as been fun. I have played in Campaigns and DM that have taken characters from Level 1 to 15. Because of my time in Adventure League that lead to me finding a group to play with on Saturday and now they are joining in on the fun on Wednesday nights although at a different table then mine. The thing to remember is that it is open to everyone to play and learn. So your start times my be 30 to 45 minutes off to help the new player create a character. Also adventures sometimes don't get past the second tier which is not always a bad thing in that you can rotate to new characters and classes to try them all. I would encourage you to try it for a few months to see if there is a group that shows up on a regular basis that you can participate in without that Mage. Happy hunting!
Don't get discouraged by one session. I have played DnD for many years off and on also. Almost two years ago I was interested in playing 5th edition and went to my local gaming store were I was told they run Adventure League on Wednesday nights. The group was small even before I started showing up with only 3 people who would show up on a regular basis and sometimes less than that. Since that time people have come and gone but the Adventure League now averages 3 tables with between 5 to 8 people per table. Groups usually stay the same amount until enough show up regularly basis to split, which we are getting close to doing that now for a forth table. I went from playing to DM and it as been fun. I have played in Campaigns and DM that have taken characters from Level 1 to 15. Because of my time in Adventure League that lead to me finding a group to play with on Saturday and now they are joining in on the fun on Wednesday nights although at a different table then mine. The thing to remember is that it is open to everyone to play and learn. So your start times my be 30 to 45 minutes off to help the new player create a character. Also adventures sometimes don't get past the second tier which is not always a bad thing in that you can rotate to new characters and classes to try them all. I would encourage you to try it for a few months to see if there is a group that shows up on a regular basis that you can participate in without that Mage. Happy hunting!
I think in general I just need to find a regular campaign so I'm not so invested in the nonsense of players who assume there are no repercussions for things like stealing from the party and so forth. I played last night and a 'new' player's character stole a box that we asked to have opened for about two hours and while a lot of it lies on the DM, it also lies with the player, who also managed to steal 160gp from us. Things like that are just not the way to get going. The DM went so far as to say they would email the player later what was in the box they took.
Fortunately, my experience Friday night was nothing but fun, so I am going forward with that group for as long as I can.
AL has a "no undermining other characters" rule that, from the limited information we have here, sounds like it wasn't being followed. Stealing from the party really isn't allowed in AL.
As far as the general complaints about AL, I feel them too. I've had to resign myself to AL being somewhat inferior to a home game. There's almost no character development, some players treat it as a grind, and it's difficult to get a continuous story line. Despite these shortcomings, it really scratches the itch in the absence of a regular game and can be quite enjoyable. I've also found that it helps to maintain my own head canon to develop my character and to make sure that I play my ideals and flaws even if nobody else is.
Also, did those players confirm that their characters had played that adventure before or that the players had played that adventure before?
AL has a "no undermining other characters" rule that, from the limited information we have here, sounds like it wasn't being followed. Stealing from the party really isn't allowed in AL.
As far as the general complaints about AL, I feel them too. I've had to resign myself to AL being somewhat inferior to a home game. There's almost no character development, some players treat it as a grind, and it's difficult to get a continuous story line. Despite these shortcomings, it really scratches the itch in the absence of a regular game and can be quite enjoyable. I've also found that it helps to maintain my own head canon to develop my character and to make sure that I play my ideals and flaws even if nobody else is.
Also, did those players confirm that their characters had played that adventure before or that the players had played that adventure before?
They didn't mention that they'd played it until the middle of the adventure when it had become glaringly obvious that they knew what was going on. As for the AL league rules, thanks for the info and I will feel more appropriate calling out the nonsense. I agree that it does fill the void of otherwise not playing at all.
while a lot of it lies on the DM, it also lies with the player, who also managed to steal 160gp from us. Things like that are just not the way to get going. The DM went so far as to say they would email the player later what was in the box they took.
You're being overly kind. That situation lies almost entirely with the DM. An AL DM should never be resolving anything outside of the table. That's true whether they are prepared for a particular module or not. The only exception would be hard covers.
Hopefully you can find a DM who knows what they're doing.
I don't know why someone would waste their time re-running through adventures with the same character to "grind" for exp when it is just easier to write whatever they want on their character log sheet, saying that they have played in whatever adventures they wanted before even sitting down to the table. It's not like the adventures are not widely available and easily acquired. There are whole spreadsheets of exp, treasure, and magical item payouts for AL adventures available online.
Either way, the only good reason I can think of for going through the same AL adventure more than once is because it was fun and you want to try it again and maybe do things differently or maybe share the fun with a friend. Otherwise you are just being troublesome and spoilery for others at the table.
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Let me preface this by stating that I've been playing RPGs (primarily DnD) on and off for going on 26 years. The glory days were playing in three different weekly campaigns.
Having said that, I decided to try out AL last week at my local game store.
I sat down with my shiny new paladin, and it became very obvious, very quickly, mostly the level 3 mage blurted it out, that two of the four of us had run the exact adventure we were doing already.
To say I was peeved is putting it lightly, there was no organic progression or 'adventure' when they were clearly just there to get 'easy XP because they were already Level 3'
I'm not putting this on the DM, he was a last minute replacement, and wanted to let everyone play.
I don't know what the cure for this is, short of just joining a regular group and skipping AL. I probably just answered my own question, but here it is anyway.
Are there rules against people joining the same game over and over again?
*avatar by @ZomgDae on Twitter*
http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/DDAL_FAQv6-1.pdf - Second page - "What Adventures Can I Play/Run?"
So you can physically play an adventure more than once, but your character cannot.
Thanks for the confirmation, won't be sitting down with that shady little mage again.
*avatar by @ZomgDae on Twitter*
Don't get discouraged by one session. I have played DnD for many years off and on also. Almost two years ago I was interested in playing 5th edition and went to my local gaming store were I was told they run Adventure League on Wednesday nights. The group was small even before I started showing up with only 3 people who would show up on a regular basis and sometimes less than that. Since that time people have come and gone but the Adventure League now averages 3 tables with between 5 to 8 people per table. Groups usually stay the same amount until enough show up regularly basis to split, which we are getting close to doing that now for a forth table. I went from playing to DM and it as been fun. I have played in Campaigns and DM that have taken characters from Level 1 to 15. Because of my time in Adventure League that lead to me finding a group to play with on Saturday and now they are joining in on the fun on Wednesday nights although at a different table then mine. The thing to remember is that it is open to everyone to play and learn. So your start times my be 30 to 45 minutes off to help the new player create a character. Also adventures sometimes don't get past the second tier which is not always a bad thing in that you can rotate to new characters and classes to try them all. I would encourage you to try it for a few months to see if there is a group that shows up on a regular basis that you can participate in without that Mage. Happy hunting!
*avatar by @ZomgDae on Twitter*
AL has a "no undermining other characters" rule that, from the limited information we have here, sounds like it wasn't being followed. Stealing from the party really isn't allowed in AL.
As far as the general complaints about AL, I feel them too. I've had to resign myself to AL being somewhat inferior to a home game. There's almost no character development, some players treat it as a grind, and it's difficult to get a continuous story line. Despite these shortcomings, it really scratches the itch in the absence of a regular game and can be quite enjoyable. I've also found that it helps to maintain my own head canon to develop my character and to make sure that I play my ideals and flaws even if nobody else is.
Also, did those players confirm that their characters had played that adventure before or that the players had played that adventure before?
*avatar by @ZomgDae on Twitter*
Hopefully you can find a DM who knows what they're doing.
"Hackers" / "Boosters" in tabletop RPG's, just like video games......nice.
I don't know why someone would waste their time re-running through adventures with the same character to "grind" for exp when it is just easier to write whatever they want on their character log sheet, saying that they have played in whatever adventures they wanted before even sitting down to the table. It's not like the adventures are not widely available and easily acquired. There are whole spreadsheets of exp, treasure, and magical item payouts for AL adventures available online.
Either way, the only good reason I can think of for going through the same AL adventure more than once is because it was fun and you want to try it again and maybe do things differently or maybe share the fun with a friend. Otherwise you are just being troublesome and spoilery for others at the table.