Running Older AL Adventures

If you have the honour of running (DMing) any older Adventurers League adventures, there are a few things you need to know.

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This article is regarding Adventurers League adventures in (usually) PDF format, not official WotC D&D hardcovers.

Ignore Built-In DM Rewards

Many older AL adventures have a section labelled “DM Rewards” or “Dungeon Master Rewards” which gives instructions to the DM on their rewards for running the adventure.

Ignore that entire section.

Dungeon Masters are now rewarded for running the games through 🏆Service Awards

Ignore Advancement and Treasure Checkpoints

Some older adventures include things called “Advancement Checkpoints” and “Treasure Checkpoints”. Ignore those.

Also, the adventure may mention that some Magic Items are “unlocked”. The players should receive these items directly, using the updated rules for rewarding Magic Items in the ALPG and ALDMG (see 📄Documents)

Watch the Gold Rewards

Some older adventures give gold as a reward, some don’t.

Gold Found In the Adventure Is Given As Written

If an adventure gives any gold, then the gold (found or awarded) is given to the party and split evenly.

Even if the heroes found 0 gold, but gold could have been found in the adventure, then they split 0 GP.

Adventures Without Gold Give a Minimum/Maximum

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This is for cases where the adventure does not reward gold at all. It does not apply for when the heroes don’t find any gold.

If the adventure does not reward any gold (for example, DDAL08-XX adventures), then gold should be awarded to the party according to the chart labelled “UNSPECIFIED TREASURE ALLOWANCE PER SESSION” in the AL Dungeon Masters Guide (see 📄Documents). I have included the chart below.

UNSPECIFIED TREASURE ALLOWANCE PER SESSION

Adventure Level	Minimum	Maximum
Levels 1-4 (Tier 1)	100 gp	500 gp
Levels 5-10 (Tier 2)	1000 gp	5000 gp
Levels 11-16 (Tier 3)	10,000 gp	50,000 gp
Levels 17-20 (Tier 4)	50,000 gp	100,000 gp

Note that the above chart is gold to the party. So you could give up to 500 GP to a T1 party, which the party then splits.

Give the Correct Downtime Days

Some older adventures say that characters receive 5 Downtime Days. Use the current rules instead: characters receive 10 Downtime Days.

Give Updated Versions of Magic Items

Adventurers League is now using the 2024 rules. When handing out rewards to your players, they should be receiving updated versions of the items if they exist in the 2024 version of the Dungeon Masters Guide.

Try to give the full description of the magic items. The DMG is not a required resource for players, so they may not have access to the book in order to find out what the item does.

Minor Properties

Some minor properties don’t exist in the new DMG that are on some magic items (such as the “Language” minor property). In these cases, for now, keep the old minor property.

Players Like Flavour

When updating Magic Items, try to preserve the flavour added the item by the adventure’s author.

Regarding Monster Statblocks

Many Adventurers League PDF files include statblocks for monsters that are used in the adventure. As a DM, it is your choice to use the statblock “as is” from the PDF or to use the updated statblock from the 2025 version of the Monster Manual.

From DragonvuClaire (AL-admin):

Yes, using the ones in the adventure is valid. As a DM you can update, authors should not change critters in already published adventures.

https://discord.com/channels/516367331358801950/1050205833859964990/1357708339928240268

and in #al-rules-compendium

Q1): Which version of stat blocks do we use for adventures published before the Monster Manual 2024’s release?

A): You can use the stat blocks listed in an AL one-shot adventure’s appendix, otherwise update stat blocks.

https://discord.com/channels/516367331358801950/1049795363999055883/1050217073743241256