Adventurers League: The Old Order Changeth!

Anyone who is followed the Marvel Comics series the Avengers is familiar with the phrase "The Old Order Changeth!". In all frankness, the same could be said of each season of Adventurers League. Starting yesterday, the 30th of August, Season 8 set in the urban sprawl of Waterdeep initiates the biggest change of them all.


Season 2: The adventurers go from Phlan to Mulmaster.


Season 3: Hillsfar replaces Mulmaster as the primary region. Oh, sanity loss is a major concern as the Madness rules are used a lot.


Season 4: Not only do the adventures leave the Moonsea area; but they leave Faerun altogether. PCs stumble about within the Demi-plane of Dread. Barovia to be precise. They're stuck there and can't leave until completing certain quest points.


Season 5: The focus of adventures leave Barovia unless they're unfortunate enough to be stuck there such as one of my PCs. I'd have to DM a couple modules to garner enough Downtime Days to free the PC. Been going on a couple years... but I digress. Anyway, the PCs operate within the Sword Coast. Region is dictated by level Tier.


Season 6: Regions, bah. We don't need to worry about a specific region. Let's go dungeon crawling instead!


Season 7: Bye, bye European environment! Jungle adventurers here we come! What, there's a death curse?! Death, pretty much means death unless you've reached Tier 3 Season 7 modules with a PC... Egads! Sure, came January, there was an opt out clause. However, you'd have to swear off much of the Season (Tiers 1 & 2). CCCs became... questionable.


Season 8: Huzzah! Resurrection magic is back again! Furthermore, plus PCs are once again operating on the Sword Coast. Waterdeep to be precise. However, Waterdeep is an urban sprawl compared to the Moonsea and is home to the mega-dungeon of Undermountain.


That, however, only scratches the surface of the changes. The experience, treasure, and gold system is changing. For example, under the old order, I wondered how a 5th level PC could afford to cast Revivify. 1,000 gold pieces is a luxury in Tier 1. After playing Tier 2 modules, the material cost is within reach. Under the new system, forget about it. You'll be lucky if a PC cleric has the resources to cast to Revivify!


A topic for another blog installment. I've only skimmed the rough draft of the new rules. Much reading awaits. Yet, a mammoth change invites further thoughts. So I will be blogging my opinion on them in the future.


Happy Gaming!


Next time.

Five Take-Aways: D&D 5E AL 8/28/18

If you recall, on Sunday I stated tonight's Shadowrun Missions event was cancelled yet would be willing and look forward to playing a session of Adventurers League using the fifth edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Well, the session is over and in the books or logsheets to use the AL vernacular. While I didn't planned to when I arranged to be able to game, it means I was once again able to play D&D for an unexpected fourth time during 2018. Without further ado, here's my fourth installment of my Five Take-aways for Adventurers League (AL).


DM makes or breaks puzzle modules - I played tonight's module with a different character (PC) previously. Quite sometime though so despite recording notes for a game session I've procrastinated on blogging, there really wasn't much meta-gaming on my end with any of the puzzles. The stuff I did recall through sheer circumstance my foreknowledge didn't alter my play albeit partially cause my PC had reasons to extreme cautious by that point. Heck, I almost repeated a foolhardy move I did prior! All told I enjoyed this repeat more than the first because of how the DM ran the module and the puzzles. Many of the puzzles/traps were more obnoxiously dangerous because the solutions required dumb luck or happenstance. All while being worn down in the process. The DM provided a sense of urgency by either upping or decreasing the threat urgency and thus motivating problem solving. However, we still finished a two-hour module after three hours though


Placing the PCs into faux-initiative order during tense situations keeps the pace going - As players whenever we roll initiative the game signals, 'hey this is a fraught situation!' and we act accordingly. This is an example of how a scene was played faster this time than the last time I played through it. Granted, the DM created an atmosphere where the clock was ticking so that helped too.


First time I sat at a table with an AL illegal PC - Adventurers League forbids Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil PCs. The forbidden evil alignment PC didn't break the game largely due to the gross misunderstanding many have over alignments. Despite the player's grumblings Lawful Evil would have sufficed. What was really frustrating was being demanded to furnish proof! Which kind of leads me to...


May very well have encountered the first player that I would prefer not to play or DM for - Full disclosure: the player in question has probably every week so far this year. Compared to my whopping four times, I understand why he wouldn't consider me authority.  However, I knew the alignment restrictions before I began. Downloading or reading online the player's packets isn't difficult. Also, I did get rules issue wrong. After checking, I apologized for my error. However, I shouldn't have to provide concrete sources while he doesn't have to! He also struck as very belligerent. Maybe we just don't click. However, I don't want to deal with someone that I must operate professionally with to play a game. If we were mustering ourselves, I wouldn't muster with him. While I haven't DM'd for Adventurers League yet, I already know I wouldn't want to DM for him. I am a stickler for some things... Maybe DMing in AL isn't for me...


Arcana skill is more often than not a must in Adventurers League - No skill comes up in Adventurers League play requiring proficiency as the Arcana skill. Sure, you can stumble around without it. However, if a table doesn't include one PC with that skill figuring out the solution to some magical traps/puzzles become difficult if not downright impossible. Could be the modules I've played but Arcana proficiency is among the few consistently enforced.


Happy Gaming!


Next time.

SR5: So Magicians Can Now Shut Off Other Magician's Foci

We're nearing the end of the month so Shadowrun is on my mind again. After all, Tuesday Game Night at my FLGCS hosts a Shadowrun Missions event. More on that later...


Recently, I read portions of the magic section in the Core Rulebook that I really didn't bother too much with. The Enchanting section in particular. My Shadowrun Missions PC, Nox, doesn't possess any of the skills within the Enchanting skill group. Alchemy was strange, new, and something I wasn't quite ready for. As the Missions storyline progressed (and as I bought modules I had played during DM Day sale at DriveThru RPG...), I learned a magical trap was an alchemical preparation. Quick skimming conferred an Enchanting skill was required to disarm such a trap. My knowledge of Alchemy and Dispelling skills in a nutshell. Then with advent of Season 9 and the Neo-Tokyo reboot I embarked on a deeper dive...


Alchemy is neat but requires too much to worth my combat mage's karma at this stage. Unless there's a spellcaster at the table, I am not confident how well an alchemist would perform in Missions play. Although considering how I consider Sorcery is weakened in 5th edition, I may be overthinking Alchemy's apparent weakness too much.


Using Dispelling to disarm alchemical preparations set up as traps is cool. Much better than relying upon Counterspelling when the drek hits, eh? Can be used to shut off another Awakened's active foci within line of sight...


Can be used to turn off an active focus within line of sight?!


What a nice sustaining focus or weapon focus you have there, would be a shame if someone turned it off...


Yes, there's a contested role. Yes, there's drain involved. Yes, dispelling a focus is only a mere debuff. No, a threat won't be taken out directly.


However, I don't recall Magicians being able to shut off another's focus in prior editions of Shadowrun (Maybe they could in 4th...). Dispelling a focus is a means for a magician to deal with a magical threat in a fashion other PC's can't. You're summoned spirit is whirling dervish of death except against the adept with a weapon foci? The poor chummer better possess the power Killing Hands once you've turned it off. There's a magician with an active foci who has multiple magical effects going on? The sustained spell dissipates once the focus is dispelled. Their spellcasting isn't as potent you've target their power/spell foci.


The prospect of dispelling foci is a nifty enough trick that it's worth pumping karma into for my combat mage who in all practicality only has four more modules of play left. The conjurer PC, well a PC who summons and binds spirits better than my current PC, I am considering for the Neo-Tokyo arc would love to disarm antagonists armed with weapon foci to prolong his/her spirits' longevity.


Honestly, I wish I discovered this particular use of the Dispelling skill sooner. Hindsight's 20/20 I guess.


Back to the reason why Shadowrun is once again on my mind, Tuesday Night's Shadowrun Mission event? It wouldn't cancelled three consecutive months? Yeah... See August 30th marks the beginning of Adventurers League's eight season. As a consequence, all the DM's participating in DM's Quest rewards program have this week to finish up Season 7 modules. One of the players is among that number. Unfortunately, Shadowrun is pushed back another month. Again.


At least, I will be able to play D&D 5E AL again though!


Happy Gaming!


Next time.

WWE SummerSlam 2018: The Lesnar Ends with a Whimper

Just finished watching the 2018 edition of SummerSlam a mere half an hour. As one of the big four and a long-time cornerstone of WWE PPV's, this year's SummerSlam did not disappoint!


Heck, if you inverted the awfulness of last month's Extreme Rules, that was how good SummerSlam 2018 was. Not quite as good as WrestleMania 2018 but a solid PPV nonetheless. I would have felt okay paying old-fashioned PPV prices for it.


In fact, I was going to change formats since there's no point doing a match-by-match breakdown and do good, bad, and the ugly. Quite a bit of good. There's some things I didn't like *cough* the squash matches *cough* but writing them felt like padding.


The Lesnar loss was among them.


Don't get me wrong. Lesnar needed to lose the title. His reign had grown stale. He's fighting a match in UFC. Other than Strowman, no other Raw wrestler has been booked a credible winner than Reigns.


Yes, I am not a fan of Reigns. As a babyface, he's simply not at the level to be the Top Guy. However, I can accept him finally winning the belt and defeating Lesnar. The company would be damaged long-term if he hadn't.


Note: I have not yet Raw, probably won't, but I see the Shield has reunited. So I am guessing Reigns is now a heel. Fair enough.


I liked the irony of how by not costing the champion in the usual Money in the Bank fashion, Strowman cost Lesnar the title by distracting him.


Still, the match was meh. Lesnar was booked as being far more resilient in prior matches. Must not want to take bumps in preparation for his upcoming UFC fight? The story was more about surprises than a competitive match this time around.


When Reigns won and defeated Lesnar finally, it felt... anti-climatic... The Lesnar dominance lasted too long. Reigns wasn't the decisive victor. A whimper instead of a bang.


In any case, hopefully this means when Brock Lesnar does return to the WWE he isn't booked as an indestructible monster. Cause this first go-round proves booking him as invincible simply isn't worth devaluing the rest of the roster.


Next time.