So yesterday I went down to the FLGS (that’d be Patriot Games in
Sheffield), there to meet up with Pete Griffiths (Long Term D&D Fan and all
round top bloke) to get my copy of the Fifth edition players handbook, generate
a character and get introduced to the whole Adventurers league thing.
I was not the only one down there that evening to do the same thing.
I’ll put this in perspective, Sheffield is a town in the south of Yorkshire,
famous for two things, Steel, and the Full Monty and in todays day and age, it’s
debatable which one of those it’s more famous for...
So for the most part, people there tend to be serious and workmanlike,
the Yorkshire ethic isn’t one of games and game playing, it’s of people working
hard and grafting all day long. Which is
why when I went to Patriot games, it was really nice to see that lots (and by
that I mean easily more than forty) of people had come down to the shop to get
in on the action, generate a new character and sign up to the adventurers
league.
Less cheerful about the fact that I might well have been the oldest
person there, but times can and indeed must change, and the new generation were
just as enthusiastic as my generation had ever been about the new shiny.
A swift word on the book itself, production values are excellent, full
colour throughout and nicely laid out. I’ve
heard a number of comments across the net on the lack of a quick start section
for those people just wanting to bang straight in, get a character, and get
adventuring, and here’s what I have to say to that.
And I know that in the past, I’ve bemoaned the lack of a quick start
section in a number of things, but last night I helped a newbie through the
process of character generation, and I came to a revelation.
You don’t need a quick start section...
He didn’t want a quick start section, he wanted to run through all the
different possible options, he was interested to read what things he could and
couldn’t do, and as a result, he was happy to read through the books in a way
that perhaps those of my generation and those who’ve been playing for years,
just aren’t willing to do. If you’ve
played the game for years, the rules haven’t massively changed, and you already
have an idea of what you want to do, what character type, race, alignment and everything
you want to play, and either way.
You don’t need a quick start section...
He ended up with a Barbarian Prince, flung far from his lands in search
of adventure to the disappointment of his family and peers, all from reading
through and picking sensible options rather than min maxing. Now I have to say that I haven’t really
played D&D for some years, lost all hope round about 4th edition
and was fearing that 5th might look something similar.
Pleasantly surprised...
So, looking through the options as I was helping the newbie next to me,
Dragonborn was an interesting idea, the whole noble “Monster” concept sits well
with me at the best of times, so also went with the Paladin option and rather
than choosing the Noble option, I chose Hermit, as of one who had gone from the
world and meditated on what things needed to be rather than live a life in the
world. Again, all within the character generation
process and easily findable with the old fighting fantasy trick of leaving your
fingers in the pages.
Easy to navigate through the book as well, the index is complete and
the details of how to find things are clear, which makes the whole character
creation thing very easy to do and doesn’t bog you down with unnecessary
details that you just don’t need.
Previous editions have included things from the other books that
distract from the process of character creation and while there’s a lot of
stuff in here, it’s all player material, there’s nothing in here that will give
you an insight into what the GM does or how they do it.
Some would say that’s a good thing, some a bad, from the point of view
of an experienced player, I already have most of what I need in my head, from
the point of view of the newbie to the side of me, he didn’t want to be
distracted by what the GM did. This was
his first foray into the world of playing around the tabletop with other
humans, as far as he was concerned, the GM would replaced the world of Warcraft
server that fed him adventures on his computer and that was all he needed to
know about the matter.
And this brings us to the League of Adventurers, for which D&D have
been giving out a lot of promotional materials to help bring people into the
world. Not as much as the local club
would have wanted, but if WotC gave out as many adventurers packs as there were
adventurers, they’d be bankrupt and that right soon. Besides, ask a gamer how much free stuff they
want and they’ll respond with “All of it...” as all of us know.
That said, one of my good friends, Martin Tideswell, just got appointed
to regional co-ordinator for Europe, so I’m sure that everything that can be
handed out, will be...
But back to the league, every person playing gets a pack that welcomes
them to their particular faction, to be chosen from The Harpers (Wandering good
guys protecting people from evil), the Order of the Gauntlet (best summed up by
the line “SMASH EVIL”), The Emerald Enclave (mostly druids and rangers,
dedicated to maintaining order and balance), The Lords Alliance (All for one
and more for me, on top and like it to remain that way.), and the Zhentarim
(All about themselves and what they can get for themselves).
No surprise with my Dragonborn Paladin that I chose the Order of the
Gauntlet...
The pack is simple enough, you get a character sheet, an adventure log,
a letter of introduction to the faction from its head, a membership note, a
special one use item as a bonus from your faction, and a stand up card to take
with you from game to game and put out there introducing your character to the
rest of the world.
It’s a very good start, and if more of these packs can be given out (as
I’m sure they are being right at this point at Gencon), then there should be a
strong start to the adventurers league.
I’m playing in the first adventure next week, and there’ll be a report
on how it went when I return.
