Grognard requesting Cliff Note Adventures League help

OK, so I am showing my age and inexperience here...please go easy on me. Started playing D&D in 1981 and have stuck to old school gaming as my true love. I have played 5th edition probably a half of a dozen times in one-off games at small cons and enjoy the game and its mechanics...but will admit to being completely ignorant of how the Adventures League works...and have been too intimidated to find out...the whole idea of organizing D&D has always baffled me (being old) and humorously reminds me of when they organized "Snowman Leagues" in the Peanuts comic strip back in the early 70s...
My request...is there someone who can give me a brief (Cliff Note) explanation of how the league works, how one "joins" and...well, anything else one would need to know in general...greatly appreciated!

 

I don't know anything about the Adventurer's League except that this event exists: Everything You Want to Know About the D&D Adventurers League.

 

I saw that also...but figured it would be a gathering of members who were interested in hearing about what is new with the League...not having to listen to them trying to explain to an old guy how it all works Thanks though

 

Some key concepts for AL:
1. Character guidelines (your PC must conform to the rules - these may vary based on the season you're playing in). Typically AL uses the Players Handbook +1 guide for what's available (the +1 is a single other sourcebook that you can draw from to prevent bloat of options - i.e. you cannot use a class from the PHB, a race from Tomb of Annihilation, and a unique item/spell from Horde of the Dragon Queen for one character. Once you choose your +1 you're married to it for as long as the info is relevant to your PC). No evil characters (IIRC) so you shouldn't have to spend valuable game time watching your back - this does not mean that there can't be opposition (several factions are in play that may not have the same goal) just the Chaotic Evil murder hobos are discouraged.
2. "Legal Characters" - Not sure about Gary Con but at Gen Con you are discouraged from playing in higher level games that you do not have a "legal" PC for. By legal I mean one that you have used in other AL games to get to the required level of play for that adventure. This has pros and cons- the pros being you know the PC and are familiar with how all the options work, the cons are that if you don't normally play AL you will not be able to play in any of the higher level games unless you can push a PC from level 1 to the required level during your convention play.

 

as a grognard did you ever do the RPGA?

modernize that with computers.

you will need to start in the neophyte games. since you have no conventions or local XP under your belt.

edit: Gary Con counts as real for the characters so it is like Gen Con.

 

For Adventurers League, you start with first level characters and advance them through playing AL events. You should check out http://dndadventurersleague.org/start-here/playing/ to get specific AL rules, but I'll give you a quick intro. You can either create your own 1st level character, using rules that are linked to on the page I'm sending you to, or you can use one of the pregenerated characters that will be available at the convention. The pregens are all first level, so if you are only going to play in one or two adventures, I would suggest using one of those. They have a wide range of classes and races available, at least one of each from the PHB. The nice thing with AL play, is that you can use a pregen to get started, and if you decide you wish to continue, you can take the XP and any treasure or other rewards the character earned, and transfer it to a new character. Say you play a fighter to start, but decide you'd rather play a spellcaster of some sort for your next game. Grab a sheet for a sorceror, wizard or warlock and go. All rewards are tracked on log sheets, so it is easy to change any aspect of your character between adventures (before your character hits level 5, where they are locked in) other than the name, which has to stay the same in order to track the history of the character. You may be better off creating your own character if you are interested in playing more than one or two games, or if you prefer to create your own character, as long as you follow the character creation guidelines you should be fine. The one caveat I must mention: as a new player, you will have to play in Tier 1 games, which are for characters level 1-5. Pregens are only available for first level characters, anything beyond that will require you to play the character (or apply XP earned from DMing AL games) in order to level them up. If you sign up for a higher Tier game, and you do not have an appropriate character that has been legally leveled up, meaning you can't create a character and just give him enough XP to make him of sufficient level for the adventure, you will not be allowed to play. DDAL07-01A-E are the current season's introductory adventures, designed for 1st and 2nd level characters to get new players familiar with AL play, so that might be a good place to start, although you should be fine playing in any Tier 1 game. DMs are always happy to help out new players, as are experienced players. Find a game that sounds interesting, and go for it!

There are two unusual games being offered this year. First is a competitive event, Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness, Friday at 8 pm, based on the original Allen Hammack competition module, C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness. In this adventure, each player will get a pregen so that all the tables have the same characters as they are competing with each other to get the highest score during the adventure. Players will still be able to earn Adventurers League rewards to apply to their own character. The other is We Are Grung, Saturday at 8 pm. This is not an official AL event, so you will not earn AL rewards. The adventure is written by the Gary Con AL admins, and is an Epic, so all 24 tables will be working together. They will have pregens available, as everyone will be playing Grung, which are a humanoid frog race, normally not a playable race in Adventurers League, which is why this one will not earn you XP or treasure.

 

Thanks all for the feedback