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.