I have considered running a AL game on Roll20 when my current campaign ends, either as a main campaign or if I have the time side games from what I understood they have alwys supported anyway to play as long as you regiter and follow the AL rules.. Not sure if DnDBeyond will have any real impact on AL though as you may have to have to add a special AD character tick box due to the AL character creation rules, 5e character creation is simple anyway it can take as little as 2mins.
That sucks for your friend, I hope it didn't tarnish his view on it (that is if it was his first go at it).
My experience with AL has mostly been online play. I have a group that provides regular games for around 20-30 of us and its really awesome. However, outside of that group my experiences have been not as good. Its never been a bad DM or bad players, its just how "synthetic" it feels. One game I played in, the other players I was with had already ran the module with other characters, and one of them even DMed it. Now that's fine, and they did a good job not spoiling the storyline, but it really put the game on rails. And I wondered why they bothered to play instead of just cheesing it and say that they did. It felt like someone in an MMO speed leveling an alt, which is really what it was. I guess I am happy they at least show up to fill (virtual) seats so the game can launch, but its not the experience I think most people would get a good vibe from.
Another game I played in was a T1 Epic. This was the 3rd time the DMs had ran it that weekend so you could tell it was starting to become a chore. The pacing was just the whitebox speech and "ok, roll initiative" right afterwards. And of the 6 other players at my table, I was the only player that had not ran the adventure before. During the waiting period for other tables to catch up, I mentioned how I thought we could have avoided combat to some extent and still would have been successful, but everyone quickly mentioned how there was no way to avoid the combat. Seemed odd. Maybe its true, but again, the experience was a bad vibe.
Just seems odd to me that I find a fair amount of AL games where people are just going through the motions to get XP and items, but the reality is there isn't a hard-line reason to. I get the "honor system" of it all, but if its just a mediocre experience, is it worthwhile?
I guess for some people D&D is like pizza...
Yeah this is going to happen. The more frequent a person plays the AL format the more likely they are to come across games they have already run as DM or played with as another character. I ran DDAL0414 the other day, we had two players who had played the module before. We had two players who had not played the module before.
So it wasn't surprising that while the players who'd done this adventure before knew where to go, what to avoid, and what to say to the person. This helps in someway that it keeps the story moving. The modules are railroaded so its just as frustrating as a DM when your players want to do something which you can't really implement because it takes them off from the module. Easier to do in non AL games for sure.
It made me laugh out loud when a trap came up, and the player sent his animated skeletons to trigger the trap. No problem with that, however what made me chuckle was that he said he was going up a intentionally missing the 4th step, when I hadn't even mentioned the trap was triggered by the steps. Anyway.
But both these things have the pros and cons, it always feels harsh telling a player you can't really go there or do this because we have a time limit and that's not part of the module. However it also feels harsh when a player rick rolls through the whole adventure with barely a scratch because they knew where every danger lurked.
As a player, it always nice to know where to go and what to do, and what the whole module is leading up to. That makes a big difference. Yet the feeling of development in the story is often lost.
Mostly its down to the table bonding, I enjoyed running this particular session because although the character did everything correctly, including dotting the "i" and striking the "t's" he was actually role playing a fair bit and I thought he quite a nice guy. However its far easier to role play in the situation when you know the outcomes and consequences.
I've played in some very speedy, frustratingly difficult to understand what was actually being conveyed AL games. Generally, the DMs that take a little bit more time and a more fleshed out experience our slightly more enjoyable. Again, if your doing the adventure for XP or loot then you may feel an overwhelming sense to want to run through the whole thing, especially if you are competitive. If you want to enjoy a session and story, speed should be reserved for a very experienced DM.
I really don't see how this is getting us to play online. If they were pushing AL to be online, then there would be a bigger push to Roll20 and Fantasy Gounds.
Very new to D&D and I only know 5e I have gotten to level 4 in AL, and I was wondering the same thing if there is a way to play AL online... also why dont they have form fillable AL sheets????
You don't have to register. Download the AL DMG & FAQ, follow Rules As Written & run either a DDAL-legal module from dmsguild.com or one of the WOTC 5e Hardcover adventures.
It's so easy you could do it with a 6 INT, assuming you're proficient in English.
Over the past few months I noticed 3 bits of information that made me wonder:
1- LC and RC roles no longer supported
2- DCI number overhaul on the backend (this came out as a MtG notice, but technically we use DCI as well for AL)
3- D&D Beyond
So is it safe to say that there is going to be more mainstream support for AL being played online and that D&D Beyond is going to be the official Adventure Log Sheet for it as well? Would be nice to have more organization and "officialness" like PFS with reporting/logging adventures.
We can't talk about how anything will work yet, but I can definitely confirm that we intend to do some cool things with the Adventurers League!
As the DM, you can actually modify these things. To stop the meta gaming. Make it the fourth or fifth step. The AL mods give you guidelines, which you can adjust slightly.
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I have considered running a AL game on Roll20 when my current campaign ends, either as a main campaign or if I have the time side games from what I understood they have alwys supported anyway to play as long as you regiter and follow the AL rules.. Not sure if DnDBeyond will have any real impact on AL though as you may have to have to add a special AD character tick box due to the AL character creation rules, 5e character creation is simple anyway it can take as little as 2mins.
I really don't see how this is getting us to play online. If they were pushing AL to be online, then there would be a bigger push to Roll20 and Fantasy Gounds.
That's how I see it.
Very new to D&D and I only know 5e I have gotten to level 4 in AL, and I was wondering the same thing if there is a way to play AL online... also why dont they have form fillable AL sheets????
how do you register as a AL DM?
You don't have to register. Download the AL DMG & FAQ, follow Rules As Written & run either a DDAL-legal module from dmsguild.com or one of the WOTC 5e Hardcover adventures.
It's so easy you could do it with a 6 INT, assuming you're proficient in English.
As the DM, you can actually modify these things. To stop the meta gaming. Make it the fourth or fifth step. The AL mods give you guidelines, which you can adjust slightly.
Supreme Being of the Extra Terrestrial Plane