In support of its new Dunegons & Dragons game releasing this summer, Wizards of the Coast has announced a revamped organized play program, the D&D Adventurers League. The League, which launches this summer with the Tyranny of Dragons storyline, appears to be adopting more of a living-campaign approach than its immediate predecessor.
In fact, the Adventurers League is really a system for tying together three types of events: Epics, Encounters, and Expeditions. Rules for creating and maintaining persistent characters will be published in a Player’s Guide. Special treasures will be tracked through a certificate system. And all players will be invited to align their characters with one of several factions.
The performance of the various factions in the course of organized play will then influence how the overall campaign story unfolds in future events.
Wednesday night Encounters will continue as the primary vehicle for introducing new players to Dungeons & Dragons. But with the League, WOTC is also attempting to involve experienced gamers, as well as support those who wish to move beyond the introductory experience. Thus, another implementation of the League is D&D Epics, a program for event and convention-based games that introduce major campaign plot twists. D&D Expeditions will provide players an opportunity to explore the campaign setting and story in greater depth, including at higher level.