Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Asmor 09-11-06, 03:01 AM	Ok, here's my deal. I just played my first RPGA game yesterday, and it was a blast. Did the Sahuagin Stone. Tonight, a different group I've been playing with for a while just finished up their campaign. To give the DM a little extra time to prepare for his next game, I offered to run a one-shot at the next session. I'd like to run the Sahuagin Stone, but I can't take the test yet as I guess my number isn't fully in the system or something yet. It says that it can take 5 days or more for this to clear up, meaning that by the time I could take and pass the test (I've done the practice test so much I have most of those answers memorized >_<) it wouldn't leave the players with enough time to make their characters (I'd run something very different if I can't run this adventure). Basically, I need to get this adventure in the next day or two to make sure that I can definitely run this, or I'm going to have to run something else and I might not get a chance to run this for this group for quite a long time, if at all. So anyways, I dunno how strict they are about distributing these things, but given that it's free and just a matter of jumping through some hoops (which I'd happily jump through if I could but I can't) I can't imagine that there would be much of a problem with someone sending me the adventure. So if you're willing to help me out, please just email it to me at itoltz@gmail.com. And if this isn't allowed, I guess a mod will delete it or something and I apologize.
smerwin29 09-11-06, 07:24 AM	I can't say that it isn't done, but it is certainly not encouraged. People often ask why, and here's the best reason I can give. The RPGA gets its funding from Wizards of the Coast, and let's just say that in my opinion they do a great deal with the little funding they get. Every year I imagine the head of the RPGA has to fight for that funding, and the only ammunition he has is play numbers. And the only evidence of play numbers he has are people ordering the adventures and then reporting results. So if people go outside the normal channels to get adventures and never order or report them, then the next year those adventures might not be there because Wizards decides play numbers don't warrant the funding. Shawn
Asmor 09-11-06, 11:03 AM	I totally understand that, and like I said I'd love to go and do all that official stuff if I could, but I'm in a time crunch and I'm not allowed to yet. Whenever I can finally do that, there's another group that I regularly DM which I plan on converting to RPGA.
pedr 09-11-06, 11:52 AM	Your RPGA number will be in the system as soon as the senior GM from the event you played at reports the event. From then you'll be able to log into the members' area. You don't need to have taken the test to DM an RPGA adventure, just to be the senior GM. (i.e. the person who orders the event and is responsible for it). If you can find someone who trusts you to run things properly (perhaps the Senior GM from the event you played at?) then you could ask them to order the event for you. Based on other threads here, it seems that the RPGA is very shortstaffed (down one content manager and one database guy, which is a significant loss when IIRC there are only usually a handfull of people working there when fully staffed). This means that it is taking a very very very long time for applications to become DMs to be processed - you'll be able to take the test pretty soon, but you're probably not going to actually have access to download adventures for a few months yet.
Asmor 09-11-06, 02:48 PM	Emailing the DM was the first thing I did, but I haven't heard back from him and I don't know him very well (that game was the first time I met him) so I don't know if he would trust me or not. Oddly, I can log in and see that I have one registered character (Called "Default Character", clicking the link I assume would edit it leads me to a page with some server-side error.) and that I've played in one event. However, when I try to take the test or sign up for rewards, it says that my number isn't in the system yet.
Butterface 09-11-06, 03:18 PM	Emailing the DM was the first thing I did, but I haven't heard back from him and I don't know him very well (that game was the first time I met him) so I don't know if he would trust me or not. Oddly, I can log in and see that I have one registered character (Called "Default Character", clicking the link I assume would edit it leads me to a page with some server-side error.) and that I've played in one event. However, when I try to take the test or sign up for rewards, it says that my number isn't in the system yet. Unfortunately, it just takes a while to do things right now in the RPGA. It took about 2 weeks for my membership to go through, and 6 weeks for them to give me herald level GM status after I passed the test (just got it today!). I would tell you to email RPGA, but honestly, it's probably not going to speed things up; they have a standard time these things take. I sent about 3 emails, talked to Wizards customer service on the phone, and even emailed Tim Sech to ask for help. While everyone I dealt with was nice and tried to be helpful, it still took six weeks to get my GM status. I don't think there's any way around that.
Asmor 09-11-06, 05:48 PM	I understand that, and I'm not in a huge rush to get my GM-ship. For the time being I'm just trying to get the adventure so I can run an unsanctioned game with my friends.
dreamwolf 09-11-06, 06:20 PM	You can get somewhat the same effect out of the standard Eberron games. Obviously it's not RPGA, and not written to reflect the factions, but you could probably adjust any of them to do so (the Blackwheel Company could easily fill in for the Lord of Blades and his warforged, for instance.) The Eberron Campaign Setting book even comes with the first adventure in that series. That way, if your players like Eberron you can work them into RPGA events after you get your GMship.
Asmor 09-11-06, 06:28 PM	I'm not going to get a chance to DM for this group again, though. I'm usually a player in this group. This is a unique chance because we just finished one campaign and I'm giving the usual DM some extra time. I'd rather run this game for them because I know that they've never seen it before, and I've played in it and know how great it is.
catsclaw 09-12-06, 10:50 AM	As someone suggested, you can have a Senior DM order the adventure for you, and record the results. That's probably the best for you. Your second option is to run the adventure and hold the results until your DM membership comes through, then order the adventure and report the game. You'd have to fudge the play date on the adventure, and given how broken the RPGA registration system is currently there'd be a huge lag between running the adventure and your players getting credit for it. Plus this approach is not sanctioned by the RPGA. -- Chris
Marcia_S 10-05-06, 06:19 PM	Your best bet is to get one of the local RPGA GMs, as the "senior GM", to order the event for you and report it. We have some youngsters (15-17) here who want to run some games (they run for their home groups, already), but because they're not 18 yet, they can't order them, even though they've passed the Herald's test. This helps me quite a bit, as well, as I can only run one mod at a time and we often have several tables at our game days. If ordered as a "home game", the person who ordered it cannot get credit for playing it. If ordered as a "game day", the person who ordered it can play it and report himself as part of that event. Marcia