This is the first of a series of articles on D&D Adventurers League play, looking at the opportunities it provides and the challenges it faces. All of this is my opinion and may vary from other people’s perceptions!

Dungeons & Dragons is a game played by millions of players around the world. A significant number of those players play under the aegis of the D&D Adventurers League (DDAL), a program that provides additional rules and restrictions for creating characters and playing the game but allows those characters to play at any DDAL table they visit. Unlike more traditional games, you’re not restricted to playing your character with just one Dungeon Master.

Historically, the origins of Organised Play come from convention-based play, but it’s hard to understate the impact of the rise of store-based play during the 4E era on the current program. Having stores regularly running D&D sessions could be the second-most important factor for getting people into playing D&D. The most important factor at present? Critical Role and the other Actual Play games.

I think that, at present, Critical Role grabs the attention of many potential players, and the D&D Adventurers League then provides them with their first game.

This is the first purpose of the D&D Adventurers League: Introducing new players to D&D.

However, it’s not the only purpose. It also provides a way of playing Dungeons & Dragons on an ongoing basis. Both introducing new players and providing ongoing play for experienced players are tremendously important for the health of the game.

Why is this? It comes from the main trouble with home games. Home games are brilliant. There’s nothing like a committed DM creating content entirely to you. But what happens when the DM stops running the game? It’s too easy for the group to break up, and the players to stop playing D&D because they don’t know anyone else to run games!

So, that’s where D&D Adventurers League play comes in. It provides a way for players to meet other players. There have been many home groups formed from people who have met through playing DDAL games at our local store.

The ability to connect with other players makes the in-store part of the League of incredible value to the hobby.

Convention play is important to the league – it’s the best way of discovering new games, new styles, new DMs. But, for many players, the store experience is primary.

The hope is that the D&D Adventurers League is as accessible as possible to both new and established players. However, that accessibility doesn’t mean “everything works as it does in a home game”, because we’ve learnt from many Organised Play games over the years that such doesn’t work! In a home game, you’re probably unaware of the moderating effect the DM has on the game. When your DM could change from week to week, you lose that moderation. Thus, the DDAL provides a set of rules that – with luck – provide a similar sort of effect.

Now, why does the D&D Adventurers League have to appeal to both new and old players? Isn’t it enough to introduce new players to the game and reintroduce lapsed players?

Imagine if games in the League only appealed to new players. After a while, the new players would become experienced, and stop playing. And, at that point, it’s quite possible there wouldn’t be enough new players to run a game! That’s a real problem! The “for new players only” is a system that only works when the number of new players always refreshes itself. Fine for a larger city – a lot less so for smaller centres. I know how much trouble I had starting the old D&D Encounters in Ballarat ten years ago; I’d not like to face that problem every week! You want experienced players coming back week after week. And thus, you want ongoing play.

And if the League only appealed to established players… well, then no new blood, and the program dies out when people stop playing!

Another wrinkle in all of this is online play, which is also part of the D&D Adventurers League. You’ll find a lot of very committed players there, as they’re able to play pretty much as much as they want! Home groups can also play D&D Adventurers League games. I’m presuming that for most it’s because their players then go to stores or conventions later, although just having access to a stream of adventures is very useful.

Historically, conventions were the only way you’d play with other people than your friends. With the rise of in-store play, they no longer quite work that way. However, they still provide a lot of non-regular opportunities. Conventions allow a lot of concentrated play. They allow 12-hour stories to be played in one sitting! And, with the D&D Epics, you get a celebration of the co-operation that is a key feature of Dungeons & Dragons play!

Conventions are also the places where (historically) you got to experience something first, before everyone else. With the rise of CCCs being written for conventions, they’re still that. I think the importance of conventions to the health of the D&D community is less than it once was – due to in-store play – but they’re still amazing. And they provide opportunities that in-store play can’t. That concentration of play is very useful for people who can’t play regularly.

Conventions are also the real test of the DDAL systems. A very large number of different play styles come together all at once. The only-a-few-times-per-year players. The in-store players. The convention aficionados. The online players. The home players.

That’s where the League faces its toughest challenge. The rules and regulations used for character creation, advancement and rewards are tested the most there, as all these styles of play meet. The triumph of the D&D Adventurers League is when the players, from all their different backgrounds, play together and have fun. When this doesn’t work, then the admins need to look at the rules and adjust.