2011 D&D Play Programs

Jan 27th, 2011 - 4:00pm

Find out details on what’s happening in D&D Organized Play in 2011. Get answers about programs like D&D Encounters, and hear what’s going on with community-run campaigns. A Q&A portion will be available if time permits.

Liveblogging notes by @WolfStar76 for Baldman Games

Presenters:

Chris Tulach

Greg Bilsland

Gregg Marks

What we’re here to talk about is D&D Organized Play, the WPN, Stores, RPGA Stuff, and finally Q&A taking up the bulk of the seminar at the end.

• WPN

• Wizards established an Oragnized Play structure where D&D and Magic can work for stores
• Includes a tiered incentive structure for stores - more play? More benefits.
• WPN = Store Play
• For D&D The WPN offers several programs

• Stores often complained that people played D&D all day, but weren’t really involved with the store.  
• Stores wanted to engage players more.

• D&D Encounters

• Last March D&D Encounters launched

• Previous offerings were a bit lacking in structure - especially for stores that didn’t have a lot of experience with D&D Events.
• Wanted to make the new program easy for stores.  Had to be easy for the Organizer to run it.
• D&D Encounters offers a short-play experience on Wednesday nights.  

• Short play is a great offering for busy players and new players
• Goal is to beak the game down into the minimum experience that’s still a lot of fun - one encounter per night/week

• Great for training new DMs - only have to prep a single encounter.
• Players can pick up a pre-gen, or make their own character, depending on comfort level.
• Chose Wednesdays to unify the program.  One message for everyone:

• “Go to your local store on Wednesday to play D&D Encounters”
• Allows for easy enhancements

• Twitter buffs

• Make it easy to find a gamy anywhere you are.

• Designed to be a great program for new and casual payers

• Encounter Seasons are going to be tied to new products going forward

• See our Product Seminar notes for more informaton!
• Great chance for an experienced player to try something new without losing their existing progress in a home campaign or LFR

• We’ve learned that while people enjoy the format, they wanted more story.

• In the new season every encounter will include a little roleplay and/or exploration
• Provides a better balance and better D&D experience.
• Hook for the next week
• Branching tree design - decisions that the players make will affect what encounter they’ll see.
• Treasure generation in the new season will run off a table in the front of the book.  The adventure will say “You find treasure” and the DM will roll tht treasure onthe spot.

• This offers a differing/unique play experience for each table.
• Will also play well wth table seeing differenct encounters

• NPCs will play a larger role in the new season.

• NPCs may become friends or foes
• NPCs may die and have an impact on the story
• Trying to keep things a bit “less railroady”

• Encounters is moving back to an “XP” system - instead of level bumps.

• This provides a better “core play” experience.
• Rewards players who stick it out session by session.

• March of the Phantom Brigade

• Time passage has been added to the adventure.

• Months may pass between chapters

• Allows the PCs to fill in what they do between chapters
• Allows the NPC/Villain to grow more powerful.

• Formatting changes to the character sheets

• Powers look closer to what they look lik in books
• Difficulty rating on the character sheets to match “easy” characters to new players - an more complex to more experienced characters.

• EXCLUSIVE Fortune Cards are in the kits

• Cards that won’t e available in other boosters/kits

• Condition Cards (Ongoing Damage) included in the kit agai.
• Back to  single-book for the entire season

• Makes it easier for organizers/DMs to prep the entire season.

• May 11th - “Dark Legacy of Evard”

• Focusing on the Shadowfell
• Featuring the Heroes of Shadow book

• Chargen - Essentials + Heroes of Shadow
• Fortune Cards still a component

• Despair Deck has been worked into the Encounters Adventure
• The mood of the adventure really comes across - it’s a little darker.

• Base story features a town that keeps getting shunted back and forth into the Shadowfell and out again.
• The monsters this produces
• A bad guy in the background
• Time is a factor in this game too.

• August 10th - Lost Crown of Neverwinter

• Lots of cool Neverwinter Product comig out around this time.
• Game Day will be tied to this season of Encounters

• More on this later
• Will be able to take your character from the Game Day to Encounters
• New fortune card set

• Novembr 16th - Beyond the Crystal Caves

• Based on UK1 adventure
• Feywild themed
• Features Heroes of the Feywild book.
• Another fortune card set

• Game Days

• Last year we had 4 Game Days

• 3 Right on top of each other
• Dark Sun, PHB3, Red Box, and Gamma World

• GW was quite experiemental, but got lots of feedbck - mostly positive

• New theory for Game Day events

• If it isn’t tied to a theme, it may not be worth having
• Want Game Day events to feel special and be memorable.

• Feel this “edge” has been lost recently

• For 2011 WotC really want to focus on Neverwinter

• Everyone will want to be at this game day.
• Game Day will be the day after Core Stores get their early copies of the Neverwinter Guide.
• Create your own character

• First time D&D (not GW) Game Day hs allowed thi
• Pre-gens will be available, as a backup.
• Take your character to Encounters starting the next week.

• Reward you for making a character with a story as well.
• The choices you make in character creation will tie you directly to the story
• Game Day - August 6th - Rise of Neverdeath

• Game Day will be at GenCon 2011!

• New Play Experience

• Name is set, but hasn’t cleared a trademark search so it can’t be shared yet.
• Born from what happen at conventions

• Things like the Delve and Ultimate Delve

• Want to bring that Convention spectacle back to the stores

• Want people standing around tables, drawing in the attention of others with their excitement
• Geared for the super-tactical players

• Will likely requie multiple plays to “solve” the tactical puzzles

• Organizers can schedule it whenever is appropriate

• Stores and Organizers can use the program to their benefit
• Players can try to get this run around their availability

• Starts in Sept
• Will have a kit like D&D Encounters

• One kit covers 2 months
• Store can schedule however the like
• 6 Kits a year

• RPGA, Conventions, and Local Play

• Living Forgotten Realms

• Launched at the start of 4E
• It’s “your” campaign - community driven content.
• WotC has slowly moved from direct management to letting he Global Admins manage the program
• Successful program that the players love
• Many changes recently, but all for the better in extending the program
• Roadmap for Convention Content

• LFR from Gregg Marks

• Lots of things rolling out from us in the next few months
• New LFR Campaign Guide will be done today

• Assorted Technical Difficulties slowed the process
• Other changes that needed to be hashed out

• Meta-Orgs are returning

• Different from LG, but reminiscent

• Trying to figure out Story-Area Interactives

• For smaller cons

• Recently allowed character creation at level 1, 5, 8, and 11.

• New rules will adjust these rules alittle
• Item selection is less resrictie

• Pre-gens are now avaiable
• Websites

• community.wizards.com/lfr - blogs and forums
• www.livingforgottenrealms.com - Rules, Adventures, and other Downloads
• www.twitter.com/LFR_News for more news as it happens.

• Classic adventure at DDXP is well worth playing

• Features content from Heroes of Shadow

• Championship at GenCon

• Was great at GenCon
• Will take lessons from that and put them into GenCon this year

• RPGA

• They key piece is you, the players and DMs - the D&D community
• We want to see you, the community, working with conventions to make them memorable. Custom Content for shows is great

• Example: Ashes of Athas

Q&A

• Q: With three sets coming out: Do you imagine Fortune Card ses being mutually exclusive?

• A: We’re still working that out
• A: We have a couple Encounters Seasons using that first set. We want your feedback from there. Go get them, play with them, and tell us what you think.

• Q: Some of us organize in multiple locations per month, but Encounters doesn’t have a break, leading to volunteer burnout.  Are there any plans to introduce a break?

• A: No, we want Encounters to happen every Wednesday Night right now.  We are working on a way to, not introduce a break, per se, but to help.
• A: Grooming new DMs and/or Rotating DMs can help.
• A: Future sessions should only be 13/14 weeks long.  We don’t forsee a 20-week season again.

• Q: How big of an impact do you see the Fortune Cards having?  For players who don’t want them/can’t afford them/etc?

• A: You can have players without them right next to players with them.
• A: From a complexity standpoint, they are very usable. New players are actually less likely to overthink them than experienced players.
• A: The D&D Classic here at the show includes two packs of the cards - great chance to play with them for yourself.

• Q: Is the trend of “reliving” classic adventures going to continue for Encounters?

• A: A lot of that depends on what we want to do for a forthcoming season.
• A: Sometimes we may borrow a theme, sometimes we may borrow bits and pieces.  
• A: It’s also a fine line you don’t want new players to feel like they’re not “in” on the story.

• Q: The character cards for the new season have been changed - skills are now under the relevant stat.  I prefer them in the old alphabetical structure.

• A: For new players, we wanted to work toward useability.  One thing that’s important for new players is seeing art.  
• We now list all the skills, not just the trained skills, without redesigning the entire sheet

• Q: Speaking of art on sheets - please have the art on the sheets match the description

• A: We agree
• A: At the same time, we don’t want players to “own” the pregen characters - we want them to use them to play D&D. Then we want them to create their own character

• This is part of why characters aren’t super min/maxed - they’re fun, they get you started, but yes, you the player can do it better. Please do!
• Think of these as “Quick Start” characters - they’ll get you started, but making your own character is the REAL way to play.  The cool part of the game.

• A: Please take it back to your players that we want them to create and own their own custom characters. This makes the game better, and gets players more involved in their characters.
• You’ll be able to carry XP between Characters

• Q: Will the Character Builderbe updated for Neverwinter before the Neverwiter Season begins?

• A: It’s something we’re working for.  We want the CB to have a button for the current Encounters Season that will fill that information in.
• A: The digital team is aware of all the Encounters Deadlines, and are willing to jump on these seasons

• Q: Is there any chance that people will at least be able to make level 1 characters with the CB?

• A: We’re investigating demo/trial options.  We’ll see what happens.

• Q: Could Encounters mimic the new LFR Adveture Structure - where a single adventure cveres multiple level bands?  Players get tired of restarting over and over.

• A: We can explore that option, but its more complicated - you end up splitting your audience.
• A: There are also other programs, like LFR, that might better meet your needs.
• A: You might also be interested in options to extend your Encounters season.
• A: LFR is working to try and find rules to help bridge the gap.

• Try to make rules to import Neverwinter Characters
• Introducing “Intro” adventures - 2 hours long.

• Comment: I like to combine old and new players in Encounters - they help each other out
• Comment: Encounters players who tire of the “resetting” really should try LFR

• My Realms adventures let people write their own adventures.

• My Realms don’t *have* to be full four-hour sessions
• Sessions can be split as well - you don’t need to play a full adventure in a single sitting.

• Q: Are some of the missing Year 2 LFR adventures going to be released?

• A: Yes.  Some have already released this year, and more are in the pipeline even now.
• A: www.livingforgottenrealms.com is in the process of listing all the adventures either for download, as “unreleased” so you know it isn’t forgotten, or as a link to the WotC adventure archive

• Q: BALD1-5?

• A: This and other adventures were designed to be part of a trilogy.  The idea and story was great, but the adventures aren’t very playable. Some volunteers have offered to revamp this chain, and we’re working on them now.

• Comment: Sanctioning Enounters requires setting up 12+ weeks one at a time. Can this be consolidated?

• A: We’re talking to the data guys and trying to consolidate, or setup a “subscription” for an entire season. For now, it’s manual, but we feel your pain.

• Q: The Un-named Strategic Play Program - is that for store play only?

• A: Yes. That’s a WPN program.
• A: Stores can work with their WPN Rep to help off-site events (to partner with/sponsor University Play, and other gaming clubs).

• D&D Encounters isn’t available for off-site play.
• Game Day Events ARE available for off-site play

• LFR is working to bring back events like Weekend in the Realms

• Might become “Week in the Realms” and accept Critical Events from the whole week, and use that to affect future plotlines

• Andy Heckt would love feedback about how to help promote players to DM - things he can bring back to the content team, or to provide to stores to help foster growth.

DM Reward Kits for Encounters

• Decided to reward the top performing DMs for Encounters and are sending kits to the top 900 DMs

• Top 900 = most events run over the last six months

• Kit includes

• 11 x 22 Calendar with artwork
• Partnered with Gale Force 9 to get a sample of their tokens
• Exclusive Fortune Card promos

• Not avilable in boosters
• “Gamblers Eye” (we think)

• Sent to your store owner - with your name on it

• Ask your store owner for yours!

New LFR Capaign Guide just got uploaded www.livingforgottenrealms.com !

Thanks for reading our notes!