D&D Encounters – A Coordinator’s Review

My husband and I are coordinators for D&D Encounters. We schedule, organize, and supply the program, while our local favorite gaming store supplies the space. As we approach the final weeks of the current season of Encounters, I decided to reflect on the changes to the Encounters program and how these changes have affected the program.

No More Free Ride
I was dismayed to learn Encounters modules would no longer be supplied for free, but instead would have to be purchased at full retail price. This was very disconcerting. In order to host our 4 weekly tables, we would need to purchase 4 modules at $30 apiece. Wizards of the Coast was kind enough to send us one free copy, which helped, but we currently don’t know if this will happen every season or if that was a one-time thing.

This is the biggest hurdle to the ongoing Encounters program, in my opinion. Maybe not for small stores (if they receive one free copy?) but larger stores with multiple tables faces a decision on how to manage materials for multiple DMs. At first we considered asking the DMs to buy their own modules. All but one of our DMs could not afford to purchase materials. It seemed unfair to demand that they pay and then also volunteer their personal free time to run D&D for a group of strangers. Eventually we purchased the modules for our DMs and started gathering donations to cover next season’s modules.

Modest Module
The module includes a campaign booklet, an adventure booklet, and a DM’s screen. I found these contents disappointing. The DM screen is nice, well-organized and neatly put together, but only one out of our four DMs actually use it. Many of our DMs no longer prefer to use screens; they create a barrier between the DM and the player and can sometimes instill distrust of the DM.

No maps were provided, which I personally found the most disappointing of all. Encounter’s poster-sized maps were routinely the most coveted items among my volunteer DMs. When a season had good maps, I could count on DMs wanting to volunteer, just to have a chance to receive a copy of the module with the poster maps. I understand the lean towards theater-of-the-mind with D&D Next, but if Wizards wants to claim the module has compatibility with 3.5e, 4e, and Next, a map would not have hurt that impression! I think many DMs would have felt more rewarded if the module included maps instead of the DM screen.

Next to No Edition
No monster stats are included with the module. Instead, the module makes suggestions and the encounters the DM may decide on do not rely on stats from any particular edition. Online we can download a packet of monster stats. I found it was easiest to pre-print the entire packet, one for each DM, and include it with their copy of the module.

Of course D&D Next Playtest is in full swing, so there is considerable interest in having a playtest table. This has generated a lot of positive interest and drawn in new players. We recruited a DM to run the Next Playtest with the module in addition to our 4e tables. We now keep a binder at the store with the latest playtest ruleset and provided printouts of the most current Next pre-mades.

The whole module isn’t the usual Encounters fare with its more open approach to encounter planning. This altered how we managed our DMs and our tables. On any given day we might have once shuffled players around because every table experienced generally the same series of events. We found we could no longer do that. Each table progressed too differently.

It also presented a considerable hurdle to recruiting new DMs. As the coordinator, I can no longer snag a random DM and sit them down to a table and say “run the combat on page 6”. When a DM called out on short notice, we eventually decided it was simply easier to cancel the entire table than to try to seat a substitute DM. The DM then caught up the table the following week.

Reporting Live
The WPN Reporter (the software coordinators use to report attendance to Wizards of the Coast) now turns into a pumpkin at midnight. It simply will not let us report after midnight on the day of the Encounter. This is slightly inconvenient as it now requires coordinators to ensure we report attendance immediately after Encounters, instead of the following day(s). Admittedly, sometimes we were quite tardy reporting our attendance and I can imagine the requirement simplifies things greatly for WotC. Still, its very limiting for coordinators. A weekday session requires playing in the evening to get after-school children and after-work adults in attendance. Reporting can only be done once attendance has been reported and if the coordinator is one of the DMs, they may not be able to report until the night’s session is done.

The Sundering
The materials for the new season talked much about The Sundering and how the events at Encounters would shape the actual world… except it hasn’t. There’s been no means of reporting what has happened, not to mention each table has been experiencing the module differently.

Thankfully, that seems to be about to change. The flyer for next season promises a mobile app with which players will report the outcome of their Encounters session. I look forward to seeing if it really does affect the Forgotten Realms setting.

Overall, the changes to the Encounters Program created new hurdles that I think will impair new coordinators from launching and/or growing their local Encounters Program. I think current coordinators will experience difficulty recruiting and keeping DMs – who are the heart and soul of the Encounters program. I’d like to see what Wizards of the Coast plans to do to encourage DM recruitment.

On the other hand, it is very exciting to see a more immersive approach to the Encounters material, not to mention the possibility of a sort of return to a “living campaign” in that Encounters may actually affect the Forgotten Realms setting.

However, I have only my own experience to go by, and I coordinate for a large game store that seats 20 to 30 players each week. A small store with only one or two tables may find these insights less applicable. I’m especially interested in hearing how other coordinators have coped with the changes to Encounters and how it has affected their players and DMs! Post comments and let us know!