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Jun 28, 2012 -- 12:05PM, morandir62 wrote:

Where can one find the "D&D Championship adventure Trial by Shadow"?

The D&D Championship takes place every year at Gen Con and is a really cool challenge. An insane adventure using pregens and designed to challenge the party in many different ways. Tables are scored on time, goals, damage taken and so forth until only one table emerges from the final round. The top three teams get a really sweet set of prizes.

You can read about all the Gen Con events here. (Ashes of Athas, Living Forgotten Realms, and Living Divine events are described in more detail here. Gen Con slot times can be found here.)

Jun 28, 2012 -- 12:39PM, morandir62 wrote:

Once upon a time these adventures were published after the event by TSR.  Maybe WotC should reimplement this approach again.  Especially since there are many enthusiasts who are unable to attend events such as GenCon, Pax, and even Encounters [no FLGS].

Classic adventures like G1-2-3 started as RPGA competitive convention events, but that was back in a time when there were very few other sources of adventures. There are many more sources of adventures today and the economic landscape is very different. Also, the time required for distribution may seem small, but it can be substantial enough to bring release into question. And then there is the question of benefit. Some of the Gen Con Championships from fairly recent years (perhaps even 4E, if not late 3E) were released, but those were not high demand in any way, shape, or form.

There is a benefit to exclusivity. If Encounters were available for download even after the season it would likely cause many to no longer play them in stores. The D&D Championship is meant to be a Gen Con event - it is all about the big event and competing in that setting. The special events are meant to draw players to Gen Con. Knowing you will otherwise miss the events is one of the reasons why you attend.

I would like to see more adventures used in organized play released, don't get me wrong, but this isn't a simple or black-and-white issue.

I do think there are great opportunities to share certain events. The drow PAX East adventure, for example, may have been a better choice for Free RPG Day, as it would have been low level and themed to all of the Drow offerings (including the current Encounter season... it could have even provided XP toward joining Encounters if you had missed some sessions). And, it could then have been available for download to create even more incentive.

Another example is the Gardmore Abbey preview adventure. I think that could have really created interest in the boxed set product because it is such a fantastic way to extend the play experience. It's a shame, really.

Finally, I think organized play for some settings, such as Ashes of Athas, makes a lot of sense. It helps provide content for settings where there is a lack of content and showcases what organized play has to offer. One of the keys (and it isn't simple) is figuring out when to release the content - you don't want to remove the incentive to attend big conventions or any other conventions that also host the content.