In Defense of Adventurer's League...

If you are not familiar with Pathfinder Society (PFS), then this won't mean much to you, but hopefully this can still be helpful.

I've been exchanging emails and having online conversations with gaming buddies of mine, all of us having been involved with Pathfinder Society and Pathfinder Society Online Collective, and I realized that Adventurer's League really is a different beast.

It's been hard to really get our collective heads around it.  PFS has a pretty rigid structure, and that means it has a predictable progression path and for many people, satisfying reward system.  For those of you that are not familiar, PFS is an organized play model organized by Paizo Publishing.  They release scenarios (3-4 hour adventures) and they release over 20 of them every season.  Each scenario has a level range (1-5, 5-7, etc) and they can only be played once and GMed once.  Each scenario is meant to take one session to complete, and once you complete one you get the rewards and you can buy an magic items that are found (you don't get it for free just because you found it).

The result of this is very structured sessions with very a predetermined path. GMs are not allowed to change stats or create combats that are not scripted.  This is of course a very simplified explanation, that isn't completely accurate, but this is the gist.


Another result of this system is its a lot of fun, even if it is a bit inflexible.  Player's play, level their characters, track their gold, increase their power, and play in scenarios that are connected in story, somewhat lightly, by each season they appear in.  I think PFS has also been around for 6 seasons, and even scenarios from season 1 can still be played for 'credit'.   PFS Online Collective has over 1,800 registered users and I see tons of games being advertised everyday.  And its generally easy to get your PC into a game because you know what scenarios you are eligible for and which ones you are not, based on levels and which scenarios you've already been through.

Adventurer's League, I will say again, is a different beast and I've just recently started to get my head around how it will play out.

AL is not suppose to be rigid.  DMs are not constricted to run the model exactly as it is written.  Their prime directive is to make the game fun.  This seems pretty explicite from reading the Player's Guide. The idea is that you show up to a store (or in our case, find a game online) and if you get a seat, the DM will find a way for you to participate.

Maybe you started this adventure and the other players are a session or two behind you?  Because there isn't a rigid scenario structure will players be forced to create a new character?  There also isn't a lot of content (or ways to get to level 4) right now. Will everyone just be grinding away at Lost Mines of Phandelver (LMoP) and Hoard of the Dragon Queen?  Will it get boring?

Well, I don't think it has to be that way.  For PFS players we just need to think about organized play differently.   Remember: as a DM, we don't have to stick to the script.  This is a huge difference between PFS and AL.  This doesn't mean we can hand out magic items willy nilly.  I would argue that we should only give out items that are listed in sanctioned material.

But because both Hoard of the Dragon Queen and LMoP have random encounters, this indicates to me that the XP structure isn't as rigid and DM have a lot of room to create fun sessions.  We don't have to railroad in order to stay in line with the adventure.

Example:  Let's say I have 5 players and we start LMoP. They players follow the module path and kill some monsters in their lair.  First session over. Next week I DM again, and only 3 players from the previous session show up.  I find 3 more players that already played two sessions from LMoP and they cleared the same lair and got into town and took care of some bandits that were bullying the town.

Do I have to run the 3 players that I DMed from session 1 through that material the second group already played, just cause its in the book?  I will argue, no. Because this is a shared world, and since the new players already cleared it, they can just explain what happened and then combine forces to take on the next thing together.  That's an easy one.

Even a level difference of 1 or 2 between PCs will not make a huge difference.  What if the new players are on the last encounter of LMoP.  This would be the biggest gulf possible for two groups who wanted to play the same module.

Here we have a few options:  The old players (from my first session) could just join the new ones where they are at in the adventure (and play carefully because they will be behind in level and hit points).  Maybe they still clear the last dungeon together.  As a DM, I'd still be willing to run through the material they passed by earlier.  Or maybe I can ask the new players if there was any content they skipped and tackle that, doing so in a way that avoids spoilers. (very carefully)

Or the new players could use other characters (or create new ones) and enter the adventure where the first 3 players are. Even if they played the same material, there is no guarantee it will play out the same way. Because remember the main difference in PFS and AL that I see is that DMs are not restrained by monster combat stats.  Our main objective is to make the game fun.  So maybe I change things around for the players that have already played through a particular dungeon.  What if I make it more of a roleplaying dungeon crawl instead of hack and slash.

The key thing is to discuss this with your players and ask them what they would like to do.  The most important thing, isn't to follow the rules of Adventurer's League organized play.  The key thing is to get games going and make it fun. Don't sweat the structure, because compared to PFS 5e and AL is very rules lite.  It's not meant to get in your way and the system is not easy to break.  A few extra XP for fights that weren't in the book are not going to throw off the power balance.  I think the only hard and fast rule should be, if players encounter the same magic item from a previous session, they can't get it twice.  And we should only give out magic items that are listed in AL sanctioned adventures.  Extra gold and XP will not break the system.

What do you think?