COMBAT ENCOUNTERS
Design your adventure for o ne of t he four tie rs, as set
forth in chapter 1 of the Player's Handbook: tier 1 in-
cludes levels 1- 4 , tier 2 is levels 5- 10, tier 3 is levels
11-16, and tier 4 includes levels 17-20. Within each tie r,
it's a good idea to use a spec ific level as a starting point.
Assume a par ty of five 3rd-level character s for tie r 1, five
8th-level cha racter s for tier 2, five 13th-level characters
for tier 3, and five 18th-level characters for tier 4. Use
that assumption when creating combat e ncounte rs,
whether you use the e ncounter-building rules in the
Dungeon Master's Guide or are making an estimate.
For each battle, provide guidelines to help DMs adjust
the difficulty up or down to match stronger or weaker
parties. As a rule of thumb, account for a pa r ty two
levels higher and for a party two levels lower, and don't
worry about balanc ing the adventur e for parties outside
the adventure's tier.
REWARDS
Adventures in a shared campaign that uses variant rules
for gaining levels a nd acquiring treasure (such as those
descr ibed be low) don't include experience point awards
or specific amounts and kinds of treasure.CHARACTER CREATION
A shared campaign's guidelines for cha racter creation
might include definition of which races a nd classes
player s can choose from, how players generate ability
scores, and which alignments playe rs can choose.PLAYER' S HANDBOOK PLUS ONE
You s hould thi n k about w hich products playe r s can use
to create a character. The Adventurers League specifies
that a player can use the Player's Handbook and one
other official D&D source, such as a book or a PDF, to
create a character. This restriction e nsures that players
don't need to own a lot of books to make a c ha racter
a nd makes it easie r for DMs to know how all th e char-
acters in the campaign work. Since a DM in a shared
campaign must deal with a broad range of characters,
rather than the same character s each week, it can be dif-
fic ul t to track all the inte ractions and abilities possible
throug h mixing optio ns freely. We strongly recomme nd
this rule for any shared campaign.ABILITY SCORES
For generating ability scores, we recomme nd a llowing
playe rs to choose between the standard array-^15 , 14,
1 3, 12 , 10 , 8-and the option presented in "Variant:
Customizing Ability Scores" in chapter 1 of the Play-
er's Han dbook.STARTING EQUIPMENT
For the sake of s implicity a nd e fficiency, it's a good
idea to require that beginning characters must take the
starting equipment specified by a character 's class a nd
background.VARIANT RULES
A shared campaig n might use some variant rules to
handle certain aspects of th e game. The Adventure rs
League, for instance, has variant systems for gaining
levels and acquiring treasure. These "house rules,"
presented below, serve as a sort of common language,
e n suring tha t the rewards all characters receive are
equi valent no matter what kind of adventure a character
experienced.CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT ~~~~~~~~-
In a shared campaig n , character s gain levels not by
accumulating experience points but by reaching experi-
e nce checkpoints. This system rewards every character
(and player) for taking part in a play session.
A character reaches 1 c heckpoint for each hour an
adventure is designed to last. Note t hat the award is
based on the adventure's projected playing time, rathe r
than the actual time spent at t he table. The reward for
completing an adventure designed for 2 hours of play is
2 c heckpoints, even if a group spends more than^2 hours
playing through it.
If a character completes an adventure designed for a
tie r higher than the character's current tier, the c ha r-
acter is awarded 1 additional checkpoint. For example,
if a 2nd-level character completes a 6th-level a dven-
ture designed to take 2 hours, the c haracter reaches^3
c heckpoints.
P laying time m ight seem like a n odd way to measure
experience awards, but the concept is in keeping with
how a shared campaign is meant to work. A character
played for 10 hours reaches the same number of check-
points, whether the c haracter went up against a dragon
o r spent all that time lurking in a pub. This approach en-
sures that a player's preferred style is neither penalized
nor rewarded. Whether someone focuses on roleplaying
and social interaction, defeating monsters in combat,
or finding clever ways to avoid battles, this system gives
credit whe re credit is due.USING CHECKPOINTS
The number of checkpoints needed to gain the next level
depends on a character's level:- At levels 1- 4, reaching^4 c heckpoints is sufficient to
advance to the next level. - At level 5 o r hig he r, reaching 8 checkpoints is needed
to advance to the next level.
At the end of a play sessio n, characters must level up
if they have reached enough checkpoints to do so. The
required number of c heckpoints is expe nded, and a ny
remaining checkpoints are applied toward the next op-
portunity for advancement.
INDIVIDUAL TREASURE
In a share d campaign, each character receives a fixed
number of gold pieces upon gaining a new level. (This
gain represents the treasure a character might find in a
standard adventure.)
As an addit ional benefit, c haracters are not required
to put out gold to mainta in a lifestyle. Instead, each char-1\PPENDIX A I SHARED CAMPAIGNS