(insert description later)

Adventurer's League, or 'AL', is a type of organised dnd play, usually in public spaces like conventions. the idea is to have a unified set of rules so that no matter where your local table is, you'll still have mostly the same experience as anywhere else.

AL goes off 'RAW' rules - 'Rules As Written'. in other words, there's no homebrew, and the GM doesn't make up rules as they go - it all has to come out of the book.

the main three rule books AL uses are 'The Player's Handbook', 'The Dungeon Master's Guide', and 'The Monster Manual'. you'll find other players like to use other books when making their characters, but those are definitely the main three to know about.

you can check out the official Adventurer's League website at this link. there's a more in depth pdf with more detail on the specific rules and no-no's.

AL works in 'Tiers' of play. there are four tiers, and these correspond to whatever level your character is. levels 1-4 are 'Tier 1'. levels 5-10 are 'Tier 2'. levels 11-16 are 'Tier 3'. and level 17-20 is 'Tier 4'. your character can only play in Tiers that fit their level.

you can start with a brand new character at either level 1 (Tier 1) or level 5 (Tier 2). for every session your character completes, you get to level up! so once your level 1 character completes at least four sessions, they become a Tier 2 character.

(note: you don't HAVE to level up, you just can if you want to.)

a session is the actual sit-down 'playing the game' time. a session is usually about 2-4 hours long. usually, this will also be the length of the adventure!

so in AL, you get something called 'downtime'. this is basically time spent in between sessions as your character does stuff in their world. downtime is measured in days, and can be spent doing various things.

first off, in Adventurer's League you can spend 10 downtime days to 'catch up' and level up your character. so after a session, you can level up once for free. and you could also spend your downtime to level up twice if you wanted to.

you can also use downtime to trade magical items. sometimes an AL adventure gives you an item as a reward. these items can be traded with other players for 5 downtime days each. you write down the other person's name, what adventure they got the item from, the date, and the rarity of the item. and then you swap! so you no longer have your old item, and can't use it anymore. but you get the new one, and you can use that on your character now.

there's some other stuff about how the items have to have the same 'rarity' (so it's a fair trade) but i don't mess with it too much, so that's really all i know about it. you can do more reading on the AL website i think.

lastly, you can save up downtime without spending it on anything. just keep track of how much you've saved.

i hear you, it's a lot. it starts to make sense once you start playing, but it's still a lot to manage.

for that reason, AL has mandatory 'logsheets'. these are where you write down the date, adventure your character played, their level, how much downtime they have, if they got any magic items from the session, how much money you have... all that sort of thing. you can grab logsheets from the AL website to print off, and those will have everything you need to track already on there.

i hope AL makes a bit more sense now, so when can look up your local 'organised play' you'll have some sense of what to expect when playing. with that, here are some last little tips and tricks that maybe won't make sense right now, but are still useful to hold onto:

• you can spend your gold to buy basic items at any point between sessions. it doesn't cost any downtime, but it does cost gold. so if you want some better armour, you can save up your gold from adventures, and buy that shiny new plate once you have enough!
• it's not always certain if your AL location will allow flying races at level 1 (e.g. winged tiefling, aaracokra). i think the most recent update of AL allows them now, but they're still troublesome for some GM's, so it really depends! always best to ask
• bring dice. if there's physical maps, bring a mini - or if you don't have a mini, you can just use a spare die. bring a water bottle, some snacks, bring a coat if you get cold. bring a sense of teamwork, and a sense of adventure! like a lot of games, you get out of it what you bring into it
• last: if it sucks, hit da bricks. if the people aren't nice, if you feel uncomfortable in the space, don't be afraid to walk out! "something's come up" you say, and apologise, and grab your bag and go. don't feel obligated to stick it through if you're not having a fun time. there's always other places, and you can always try playing online.

well, i think that's everything. i may come back and add more if i learn more. maybe i'll check out 'online play' - i don't know much about that, although i know you can do it on roll20 and other places. but i hope AL makes a bit more sense now, and i hope you have fun in whatever game you choose to play! happy adventuring!