D&D Encounters

[Shatteredtower]

For all the bad points (mainly not progressing above level 4)

I might be remembering wrong, but I think there was a chance to reach 4th level in one season if you hit all the marks. I don't think it was Neverwinter (even if you played the introductory adventure session). For some reason, I think it was the Feywild that gave you a chance to play the last session with 4th level characters if you picked up all of the points. Still, I agree that replaying those levels can get a bit tedious.

Since the next three seasons are all Underdark themed, my DMs are all discussing the possibility of advancing straight through each season, assuming (as is likely) each new season resets to 1st level. Adjusting the next season would be easy. Adjusting the one after that could be a little bit more difficult, but most of these guys have been around since at least the March of the Phantom Brigade. It won't be much trouble, as long as the DMs agree to do this across all tables. (We had one guy agree to run a higher level table before, which was very frustrating when all but one player had to drop out and we couldn't just siphon players from other tables to him.)

(but can we please have some new pre-gens!)

One of my DMs enjoys puttering around on Character Builder to design things that feature the new material, especially the themes, but those sheets aren't really as new-player friendly as they could be. He's pretty skilled, so I'll see if he can't design a card-stock version closer to the style of the Encounters' pregens.

It's worked out surprisingly well here. I joined when there was only one table of four players for Dark Sun, and we wound up struggling through the next three sessions with only three. We hit seven players within a month, then three tables for a week before settling to two. A Season of Serpents ran with two, though if I'd known the second DM was commuting halfway across Alberta (north-south) each week, I'd have tried to find someone else earlier. A very good free-former took over from her with March of the Phantom Brigade and consistently ran an oversized table. That effort probably did more for us than anything else, as two of his players have been DMing ever since, and we've averaged four to five tables a season.

A lot of people have wandered away from the program over the last two years, some because they weren't satisified with what it provided. (Some of them could have been accomodated if they'd just said something.) A number wandered away to start their own campaigns, which counts as a success for the program. Others find the program itself better suits their gaming needs, since it's consistently run and doesn't require a lot of preparation beyond character building or (for the DMs) reviewing the adventure.

Socially, it's been great, especially in terms of helping new campaigns get started or having a recruiting pool for other events in the area. It's helped a few people get set up somewhere new, or to reestablish ties. I'm not saying it's all sunshine and lollipops, but it's generally been good.