ADCP2-1 Paladin's Plague (H1 - P2)
AKAN1-6 Abeir Eternal (H3)
AKAN2-2
BALD1-5 Lost Refuge (since AUGUST) (H3)
BALD2-1 Turning Point (P1)
BALD2-2
CORE1-16 Fragments of a Shattered Mind (P1 2 Rd)
CORE2-4 Lost on the Golden Way (H1)
CORE2-6 (??)
EAST1-7 Right of Passage (H2)
EAST2-2 (P1) (in system but no download)
IMPI2-2
LURU2-1 Hands That Rock the Cradle (P1)
MOON2-2
QUES2-1 (P1) (in system but no download)
TYMA1-7 Stolen Cargo (H3)
TYMA2-2 The Hand of Darkness (H2)
Up to date as of 7/25/10
Damon
PS. The only one I actually missed was AGLA1-7. Just added it to my list.
And last I checked, yours wasn't in regional alphabetic order.
I mean, not that I have the power to do so...
MINI 2-1 would be the start of a new mini-campaign.
community.wizards.com/lfr/blog/calendar....
CORE2-3 High Infidelity (P2) - Released for public (WPN) play.
My two coppers,
Bryan Blumklotz
AKA Saracenus
I know it's only been a day, but neither ADCP2-1 nor any of the SPEC2-1 mods have arrived.
As has been pointed out numerous times, if the adventures don't show up on the exact date on the schedule, don't be surprised. Even if Chris (or whoever) delivers the adventures "on time", when they get uploaded to the system is out of the RPGA's hands.
Honestly, I think they'd be better served by putting a "week of" date on the schedule, rather than an exact date, because the moment that date passes, someone has to start asking about it.
All five of the SPEC2-1 adventures are available to sanction and download (for WPN Public Play). We're working on getting ADCP2-1 up there as quickly as we can. If it is going to slip past Friday then I will let everyone know.
Thanks for the quick update.
I know it's only been a day, but neither ADCP2-1 nor any of the SPEC2-1 mods have arrived.
As has been pointed out numerous times, if the adventures don't show up on the exact date on the schedule, don't be surprised. Even if Chris (or whoever) delivers the adventures "on time", when they get uploaded to the system is out of the RPGA's hands.
Honestly, I think they'd be better served by putting a "week of" date on the schedule, rather than an exact date, because the moment that date passes, someone has to start asking about it.
In the future, I'm going to try to sound less whiny when I post something like that. I'm not trying to be that guy. I'm just trying to offer a day-of status update for anyone who might be checking this thread.
The delay is my fault; I take full responsibility. Not much more I can say about it than that, unfortunately. I wouldn't have put it on the release schedule for this week if I didn't believe that it would be ready, but it isn't quite there yet. I want to make sure it's as good as it can be, including some of the stuff we made up on the fly at DDXP (a lot of which I think will be of interest to other convention organizers who might want to tweak some things when offering the event).
All -- Just wanted to provide an update on the status of ADCP2-1. It's not going to make the launch window to get into the database today, and seeing as how today is Friday (at least, on the US east coast as of the moment I am typing this message), that means it's not going out this week. I do expect it to be available next week (as early as we can make it, but no later than next Wednesday, since I know that next Wednesday's releases are on schedule to be uploaded).
The delay is my fault; I take full responsibility. Not much more I can say about it than that, unfortunately. I wouldn't have put it on the release schedule for this week if I didn't believe that it would be ready, but it isn't quite there yet. I want to make sure it's as good as it can be, including some of the stuff we made up on the fly at DDXP (a lot of which I think will be of interest to other convention organizers who might want to tweak some things when offering the event).
Thanks for the detailed update!
All -- Just wanted to provide an update on the status of ADCP2-1. It's not going to make the launch window to get into the database today, and seeing as how today is Friday (at least, on the US east coast as of the moment I am typing this message), that means it's not going out this week. I do expect it to be available next week (as early as we can make it, but no later than next Wednesday, since I know that next Wednesday's releases are on schedule to be uploaded).
The delay is my fault; I take full responsibility. Not much more I can say about it than that, unfortunately. I wouldn't have put it on the release schedule for this week if I didn't believe that it would be ready, but it isn't quite there yet. I want to make sure it's as good as it can be, including some of the stuff we made up on the fly at DDXP (a lot of which I think will be of interest to other convention organizers who might want to tweak some things when offering the event).
Any update on the two adventures for today? Weren't they "on schedule to be uploaded?"
Keith
Still no sign of The Paladin's Plague.
As of 11:55pm on Thursday, both CORM 2-1 and WATE 2-1 are in the system.
Still no sign of The Paladin's Plague.
Sean said a couple of posts earlier it was not finished yet.
ADCP 2-1: Over a week late
BALD 1-5: A day late (the second time)
IMPI 2-1: A day late
MINI 1-6: A day late
*ducks*
Update as of 3/4, 10:30AM EST:
BALD 1-5: A day late (the second time)
IMPI 2-1: A day late
MINI 1-6: A day late
But are those mods also a dollar short?
Update as of 3/4, 10:30AM EST:
BALD 1-5: A day late (the second time)
IMPI 2-1: A day late
MINI 1-6: A day late
But are those mods also a dollar short?
I'll let you know after I try to run a slot 0 of ADCP2-1 on Saturday. I'm desperately trying to remember Sean's speeches from DDXP so I have something to say in place of the box text.
Update as of 3/4, 10:30AM EST:
BALD 1-5: A day late (the second time)
IMPI 2-1: A day late
MINI 1-6: A day late
But are those mods also a dollar short?
I'll let you know after I try to run a slot 0 of ADCP2-1 on Saturday. I'm desperately trying to remember Sean's speeches from DDXP so I have something to say in place of the box text.
I'll give some speeches slaad if you want
slaad
(slaad)
That way the can be led by the Ceaser Slaad.
couton = minion
Be sure to give them an ancient Roman theme.
That way the can be led by the Ceaser Slaad.
couton = minion
Or, even a Romaine theme.
Be sure to give them an ancient Roman theme.
That way the can be led by the Ceaser Slaad.
couton = minion
That's it, Ty dies first.
Be sure to give them an ancient Roman theme.
That way the can be led by the Ceaser Slaad.
couton = minion
That's it, Ty dies first.
Two Brutes, Eh? Or something.
Let's face it, BALD 1-5 is never coming out.
*ducks*
It's going to be LFR's Bridge Over the Svartjet.
List is updated.
By my record, we're missing the follwing in the system:
ADCP2-1 A Plague on Both Your Svartjets
AGLA1-7 Svartjet, Fey-Style
AKAN1-6 Svartjet Eternal Earthmote Style
BALD1-5 Lost Svartjet (since AUGUST) (may be renamed to Svartjet Nukem Forever)
CORE1-15 Where Dragons Die
CORE1-16 Fragments of Svartjet (build-your-own Svartjet, some parts not included)
CORE2-1 Killing the Messenger
DALE2-1 Forever
DRAG2-1 Discomfort
EAST1-6 The Fardrop Incident
EAST1-7 Right of Svartjet (was named Svartjet: The Great Outdoors)
MINI1-6 Quench the Svartjet (Also called Svartjet: Can't Touch This)
IMPI1-6 The Ancient and Unknowable Svartjet
IMPI2-1 Svartjet From Below (if only they had a bridge)
TYMA1-7 Stolen Svartjet
Up to date as of 3/8/10
I fixed the first post with the revised titles.
Apparently MINI 1-6 was given to the database managers last Wednesday and has simply not been uploaded.
This is what happens when a company has no meaningful competition...
This is what happens when a company has no meaningful competition...
I am about 130% sure that complacency is far from the reason.
Compare to Shadowrun's living Missions campaign... they launched at Origins last year. It has been almost one year and their web page is still solely dedicated to the previous (Denver) campaign. The new campaign (New York) is practically invisible on the company web site and the process for ordering mods is almost impossible to determine unless you happen to know to go to the Dumpshock forums.
Spycraft's living campaign was rebooted and yet has basically crawled. A lot of that can be attributed to the history of how the campaign was awkwardly suspended, offending the player base. Still, the company has done very little to make it a success.
Heroes of Rokugan has no official plan for the future. There will be a 4th edtion Legend of the Five Rings at Gen Con (this was announced at last year's Gen Con) but the living campaign lead announced they will not be leading any living campaign and the company (very small) has yet to make any plans known. Maybe there will be some volunteer-led effort again, maybe not.
I can't speak to Pathfinder, but clearly they have embraced the living campaign as an extension of their adventure path origins. This is their focus and I would expect (don't know) they might do it better than others because they are focused on this as the vehicle for sales.
As I look across the living game landscape, it seems to me that it is a very hard decision for any gaming company to support a living campaign. It is a massive time and energy-consuming machine that can almost never be sated. The cost is significant, even crippling for small companies. I can't say what I would do for sure if I were in a decision-making position for any of these smaller gaming companies, but I imagine it would be a complex and difficult decision as to how much support to give. (I've had a few jobs where I had to make such decisions for major customer-desired expenditures... it is never as easy as the customer thinks, because the money has to be taken from some other budget... what do you cut?)
Now, in this case, I would take a guess that process and organization are the culprits, and you may be able to resolve the problem without spending money. But, I don't know. Smart people are working on it. At the same time, human nature plays a role, from the author that turns their work in late (I've missed all my deadlines by some small amount) to what the admins have to juggle.
Regardless, I don't think this has anything to do with WotC's assessment of the competition.
I do believe the MINI series was originally supposed to conclude in December?
Regardless, I don't think this has anything to do with WotC's assessment of the competition.
When I said what I said, it was from the perspective of someone with an economics degree. I should have been more explicit.
I don't mean that WotC's measuring themselves against their "competition," I mean that since they are the only meaningful source of D&D material, there's no economic incentive for them to meet deadlines for LFR mods, or edit Dragon articles, or do any of the other things that people get upset about. For frustrated consumers, there's nothing to do except complain, and there's frankly no economic incentive for WotC to listen to the complaints. What are we going to do, stop playing D&D? There's not really a viable alternative.
Imagine that a savvy 3rd-party publisher created a rival Living Campaign, based on D&D, and did everything right—hit all their deadlines, updated their mods to reflect the errata, came up with more interesting plot lines than "X is lost/stuck/being held captive in Y, we need to go save him/her!" over and over again. Do you think we'd put up with the BI being two weeks late when there was one just as good in the other LC that came out on time?
I know people that play Living Shadowrun, and to a man, they say that the mods are better, more balanced as a group, and more reliable. And maybe it would be worth it to pay a couple bucks to get a mod, if it could ensure quality and reliabiliy.
I agree that an LC is a huge undertaking. But we're not talking about a mod being a couple days late now and then. We're talking about everything on the slate being late, week after week after week. And now we're hearing reports that the mods are ready, but the IT guys can't find five spare minutes in almost a week to put them on the servers. If WotC can't handle three mods per week, then it's in everyone's best interest for them to scale down their operations significantly. I would be content to see two or even one new mod released per week if I knew that they would be of good quality and on time.
Let's just hope this isn't a taste of what we can expect from Encounters...
Let's just hope this isn't a taste of what we can expect from Encounters...
Given what little I/we know, it would appear that at least each season will come out all at once, but the DMs will be asked not to run more than one of the 12 "encounters" per week.
So, the whole of the Encounter season could be late, but individual "pieces" probably won't be.
That might actually be worse, but let's hope it trends towards better.
Regardless, I don't think this has anything to do with WotC's assessment of the competition.
When I said what I said, it was from the perspective of someone with an economics degree. I should have been more explicit.
I have some coursework and some practical budget management experience.
I don't mean that WotC's measuring themselves against their "competition," I mean that since they are the only meaningful source of D&D material, there's no economic incentive for them to meet deadlines for LFR mods, or edit Dragon articles, or do any of the other things that people get upset about. For frustrated consumers, there's nothing to do except complain, and there's frankly no economic incentive for WotC to listen to the complaints. What are we going to do, stop playing D&D? There's not really a viable alternative.
If you are saying the customer base has a strong preference for D&D, then, economically speaking, the company has more latitude to annoy them than if the customer base is flexible as to the game they will play. This would seem to be counter to what you are suggesting the company do.
However, I disagree that the customer base will not shift preferences. A lot of people play games other than D&D or adjust their D&D to other games ratio according to what happens with living campaigns or game rules. Any LG player will likely be able to name a good number of people who stopped playing LG and didn't take up LFR. Almost every top-tier player I played LG with regularly now plays something else instead of LFR. Some of it is burnout, some of it is not liking the rules set, some of it is the campaign having a lower "living" feel.
Besides leaving D&D, you can play Pathfinder if you don't mind (or actually want to stay with) 3.5. There are options. You can also play home campaigns, which removes the need to follow errata or rely on official material. It is much easier to design a monster or encounter today than it was in 3.5.
You can also leave RPGs completely, for board games, video games, LARPs, going to school, raising a family...
Imagine that a savvy 3rd-party publisher created a rival Living Campaign, based on D&D, and did everything right—hit all their deadlines, updated their mods to reflect the errata, came up with more interesting plot lines than "X is lost/stuck/being held captive in Y, we need to go save him/her!" over and over again. Do you think we'd put up with the BI being two weeks late when there was one just as good in the other LC that came out on time?
Such a competitor would have to actually do those things. It is easy to say you will do it - LFR said all of that. In fact, they keep saying it. They mean it, too. Just like I mean it when I say my next adventure won't be turned in a single day late. The goals are worthy and intended, but a volunteer-run system has to deal with the realities of real lives. All of my days of tardiness have to do with a combination of work and life balance. That's just the reality of a living campaign.
I would be interested in seeing any living campaign where these issues are handled well. I haven't seen it. Shadowrun barely has a production schedule - half of the in-tune players couldn't figure out if the first NYC mods released at Origins were actually official. It took ages for them to get into any real system as volunteers changed. I volunteered back in the Denver campaign to run game days. By the time the people in charge answered my proposal I was no longer playing... more than a year later!
With Heroes of Rokugan, the authoring is done by one guy and his buddies, and there is no real schedule. A convention the lead is attending comes up and he pushes things to release a couple of mods for it. There is no real release schedule.
The original Living Spycraft missed all sorts of deadlines. Mods would come out at Gen Con, then never make it into the system or experience massive delays. The new incarnation is worse.
I know people that play Living Shadowrun, and to a man, they say that the mods are better, more balanced as a group, and more reliable. And maybe it would be worth it to pay a couple bucks to get a mod, if it could ensure quality and reliabiliy.
It is hard to find players that can give an unbiased answer about a campaign and game they favor. If that is the case, I'm glad to hear it. I have not played any NYC mods, but the Denver ones were pretty lame. I've played SR over each of the versions - I know a decent amount about the potential adventure quality within the system. The Denver Missions are generally ok, and they have a nice open feel so you can give players a lot of latitude to choose a course of action (Spycraft is particularly good at this), but the quality of what is there seems very average to me. Maybe NYC is much better. The system in place for distributing Missions is abysmal, though, and this is a game struggling to survive. Everything I hear suggests there is no reliability to the NYC release schedule.
I took a quick look and I see seven (7) adventures released since Origins. That is a pretty low number for them to have the problems they seem to have with communication. On the Dumpshock forums I saw plenty of confusion around no one checking the main e-mail where people request support, confusion on how to get con support, etc.
It seems things are getting better, but were dismal enough in October and November to cause people to quit. The problem? Getting mods released into the system. In other words, the same exact problem (but with a total of 7 adventures out!!!)
I agree that an LC is a huge undertaking. But we're not talking about a mod being a couple days late now and then. We're talking about everything on the slate being late, week after week after week. And now we're hearing reports that the mods are ready, but the IT guys can't find five spare minutes in almost a week to put them on the servers. If WotC can't handle three mods per week, then it's in everyone's best interest for them to scale down their operations significantly. I would be content to see two or even one new mod released per week if I knew that they would be of good quality and on time.
Smart people are in charge. They made changes to improve the process, and right now it seems those changes haven't changed a whole lot. It sounds remarkably like a lot of projects at the companies I work with. You change, you change again, you keep adjusting until you get it right. I trust in the guys in charge and I try to temper my expectations based on my knowledge of the other living systems being far worse.
Let's just hope this isn't a taste of what we can expect from Encounters...
That is an entirely different process, plus the adventure is all sent out at once. Stores have already seen physical copies of them (Tulach and others have toured some Seattle and Portland stores and showed off the kits). They should be arriving at stores this week.
I hear your points. I do think this is an important issue that can have a negative effect on the campaign. The admins seem very aware of that. I still disagree with the premise that this has anything to do with the campaign taking the market for granted. I would disagree even more with WotC taking 4E for granted. I think they have some pretty huge budget pressures and are working very hard to make smart business decisions. The decisions they are making are the smartest I have seen (in my opinion) since I started playing. (A financially sound decision is not necessarily one we like).
If you are saying the customer base has a strong preference for D&D, then, economically speaking, the company has more latitude to annoy them than if the customer base is flexible as to the game they will play. This would seem to be counter to what you are suggesting the company do.
However, I disagree that the customer base will not shift preferences.
Yes, by the time we finish LFR and move into 5th Ed and the next Living Campaign, people may switch preferences. In the meantime, LFR is more popular than ever, and for many people, it's the only legitimate chance they have to play on a weekly basis. Just because there are other options available doesn't mean they're legitimate competition. Or at least not competition enough to give WotC an economic incentive to change.
Such a competitor would have to actually do those things. It is easy to say you will do it - LFR said all of that. In fact, they keep saying it. They mean it, too.
The issue here is self-awareness and adaptability. If WotC can't stick to its earlier projections and schedule, they should acknowledge that some changes are needed, and they should make those changes. As far as I'm concerned, they seem to be banging their head into the wall over and over. And since, like you said, there's no viable competitor, there's no economic incentive for them to do otherwise.
Also, Link - See Post #27
I hear your points. I do think this is an important issue that can have a negative effect on the campaign. The admins seem very aware of that. I still disagree with the premise that this has anything to do with the campaign taking the market for granted. I would disagree even more with WotC taking 4E for granted. I think they have some pretty huge budget pressures and are working very hard to make smart business decisions.
I think it does have something to do with taking the market for granted, or more precisely, it has to do with the lack of economic consequences for poor quality. Competition in a market does two things—it lowers prices and improves quality. And since there's no legitimate threat to D&D, the leash is a little longer, and certain mistakes and oversights are more tolerated. I'm thinking about the Game Table, and the poor editing in Dragon Magazine, and LFR. And the fact that my PHB is nearly obsolete because information on half the pages has been changed. These are all examples of quality concerns that in a truly competitive market would not be tolerated. I agree that WotC is trying hard, but with the amount of money they expect us to spend on this game, it's reasonable for us to expect a certain level of quality. And right now, I'm not seeing it. My options are either to quit or to try to affect change from inside the community. And I've chosen the latter.
To that end, as of 1:45 ET (10:45 PT), ADCP 2-1 is three weeks late, and none of the mods for either March 3rd or March 10th have been uploaded to the server.
Compare to Shadowrun's living Missions campaign... they launched at Origins last year. It has been almost one year and their web page is still solely dedicated to the previous (Denver) campaign. The new campaign (New York) is practically invisible on the company web site and the process for ordering mods is almost impossible to determine unless you happen to know to go to the Dumpshock forums.
Aren't they being sold via Drive-Thru RPG?
I don't mean that WotC's measuring themselves against their "competition," I mean that since they are the only meaningful source of D&D material, there's no economic incentive for them to meet deadlines for LFR mods, or edit Dragon articles, or do any of the other things that people get upset about. For frustrated consumers, there's nothing to do except complain, and there's frankly no economic incentive for WotC to listen to the complaints. What are we going to do, stop playing D&D? There's not really a viable alternative.
Imagine that a savvy 3rd-party publisher created a rival Living Campaign, based on D&D, and did everything right—hit all their deadlines, updated their mods to reflect the errata, came up with more interesting plot lines than "X is lost/stuck/being held captive in Y, we need to go save him/her!" over and over again. Do you think we'd put up with the BI being two weeks late when there was one just as good in the other LC that came out on time?
That would have been Living Arcanis during the 3e heyday. When their BI went off at GenCon each year the RPGA area was near to being a ghost town. (and you can thank Sean Molley for that since he did a lot fo the writing for those). However, I think you're putting a bit too much faith in your premise.
Granted we are in 4e now, but back during 3e, there were many of the same complaints about WotC publications and lots of people heralded the 3rd party publishers as being better than the core product. I never saw it except in a few rare cases. (most notably the Iron Kingdoms books from Privateer Press. Easily the most polished well crafted 3rd party product ever printed for D&D) Most 3rd party stuff was riddled with inconsistencies, editing mistakes, and just flat-out broken/overpowered stuff.
One just needs to point back to Living Arcanis. When Paradigm released their Arcanis PHB it immediately needed over 50 pages of errata to fix a lot (a LOT) of problems with it including classes/prestige classes that were unplayable as published. (I still have the PDF and it's 53 pages) And that was just one book. However, despite all that, their living campaign was second only to Living Greyhawk, and they had late mods, and mods never released, etc.
Ultimately, there are other choices out there. None of them perfect. But if you give a good enough product, the people will put up with a few minor problems.
Compare to Shadowrun's living Missions campaign... they launched at Origins last year. It has been almost one year and their web page is still solely dedicated to the previous (Denver) campaign. The new campaign (New York) is practically invisible on the company web site and the process for ordering mods is almost impossible to determine unless you happen to know to go to the Dumpshock forums.
Aren't they being sold via Drive-Thru RPG?
Yep, there and their own site. You can get them for free if you are part of their organization/demo team, including for running at public events. Still, the delays are pretty crazy, and for a total of 7 mods. It is one thing to have delays with 100 mods out... according to the posts I saw they had delays of nearly a year in between adventures (the adventures had been out at conventions but were not orderable). That's pretty crazy when you have 7 total mods out thus far as of this writing, and indicative of how difficult it is for companies to run a living campaign. (The Shadowrun Missions campaign should in theory release one adventure a month).
To that end, as of 1:45 ET (10:45 PT), ADCP 2-1 is three weeks late, and none of the mods for either March 3rd or March 10th have been uploaded to the server.
ADCP is still with Sean (as pointed on this forum) - a vollunteer who besides RL also has to do a lot of other things for this campaign. Its delay has nothing directly to do with WotC.
Keith
I'm not stressy about ADCP 2-1. I'm getting kind of frustrated about delays in the posting process; I understand that the admins have very little leverage, seeing as how they aren't WotC employees. It would be bad form for the admins (aka volunteers) to tell us how to pressure WotC, for hopefully obvious reasons, and I'm sure everyone involved has already done the appropriate thing anyhow.
But this does kind of suck. Late mods due to rewrites, sure, that happens. I want to wait as long as it takes to get good mods. Late mods because we're lowest priority on the IT queue, that gets to me. I mean, I assume it's because the process is ten times harder than it should be, since all the portions of the DCI site that I can use are somewhat clunky, but even so.
Bleh. I'm just venting at this point.
I'm not stressy about ADCP 2-1. I'm getting kind of frustrated about delays in the posting process; I understand that the admins have very little leverage, seeing as how they aren't WotC employees. It would be bad form for the admins (aka volunteers) to tell us how to pressure WotC, for hopefully obvious reasons, and I'm sure everyone involved has already done the appropriate thing anyhow.
But this does kind of suck. Late mods due to rewrites, sure, that happens. I want to wait as long as it takes to get good mods. Late mods because we're lowest priority on the IT queue, that gets to me. I mean, I assume it's because the process is ten times harder than it should be, since all the portions of the DCI site that I can use are somewhat clunky, but even so.
Bleh. I'm just venting at this point.
Yeah, that's basically my take too. I would suggest that for future release schedules, we're just told to expect certain mods in a certain month and just leave it at that. That way the admins can cluster a certain group of mods around the 1st of each month, and then they have the rest of the month to clean them up if necessary.
Yeah, that's basically my take too. I would suggest that for future release schedules, we're just told to expect certain mods in a certain month and just leave it at that. That way the admins can cluster a certain group of mods around the 1st of each month, and then they have the rest of the month to clean them up if necessary.
That sounds about right, yeah. Or if they really need to keep the weekly schedule, add in two weeks to the schedule for the IT push time. I mean, I'm an IT guy -- I routinely demand that I get code pushes a week before the push date, not because I need a week to do a code push but because it's a last buffer against slippage.
(And I work in the IT and have seen the above happen when actual money was involved as opposed to disgruntled customers.)
But make the deadline too vague and people forget or simply push it to the last minute with all inherent risks involved. Both approaches have their downsides. I am not sure which works best...
(And I work in the IT and have seen the above happen when actual money was involved as opposed to disgruntled customers.)
Oh yeah. One of the hardest things in the world is maintaining that kind of buffer.
I really sympathize a lot with the scheduling issues; I hope you don't take any of this as criticism of the unpaid work you're doing.
I was about to put my D&D Encounters: Undermountain Kits on the list but they finally hit my store yesterday...
Bryan Blumklotz
Guardian of the Gameday Organizer
www.warhorn.org/guardiansofthegameday/
-Rozman
I was about to put my D&D Encounters: Undermountain Kits on the list but they finally hit my store yesterday...
D&D Encounters is completely out of the control of LFR campaign management. Much better to direct questions about those to either the RPGA forum or the D&D Community Group forum.
Weird, they're not there for me (under either Private or Public play.) Maybe they're still replicating across multiple servers?
-Rozman
Well, they're visible now, downloaded and safe from an vagaries of the db world.
-Rozman
Damon
Maybe they're only sanctionable via public play? IMPI2-1 is supposed to be public play only for three months, but MINI1-6 definitely is not. Can someone fix this?
Damon
It's possible to download the mods without going in and sanctioning events over and over (I won't describe it here since it might not be considered kosher). Long story short, if it's in the system, this method can find it regardless of whether it's public or private play. It's much easier IMHO, and it bypasses Bogjob's problem.
However, it is true that MINI1-6 was supposed to be open for home play ... essentially grandfathered in since it was supposed to originally be released before the new rules about 3 months of Public Play only for new mods. At least as far as I know.
battles14, regardless of whether it is kosher for the simple purpose of downloading, if the module isn't open for home play ... it isn't home for home play. Playing it at home would be breaking the rules of the RPGA -and- has the added effect (since you can't report it) of damaging the RPGA's ability to count play. And that's important for it to continue to get funding from WotC/Hasbro.
However, it is true that MINI1-6 was supposed to be open for home play ... essentially grandfathered in since it was supposed to originally be released before the new rules about 3 months of Public Play only for new mods. At least as far as I know.
No, I meant that I wasn't sure it was kosher to download and read mods without sanctioning events. I only play LFR at public stores, so the three-month delay didn't cross my mind.
AKAN 1-6 Aebir Eternal (since 3/17/10)
BALD 2-1 Turning Point (since 3/17/10)
EAST 2-1 Ends and Means (since 3/17/10)
TYMA 2-1 Old Enemies Arise (since 3/10/10)
BALD1-5 is still missing, although I sort of expected that anyway, given its near-legendary Svartjet status. But I was actually hoping that EAST1-7 and TYMA1-7 might show up within perhaps a "one-week rounding error." This doesn't look to be the case. And from what I can tell, TYMA2-1 hasn't been released yet either.
Is ADAP2-1 sucking up all of the editing resources? Since from what I hear, that hasn't been released yet either. I was fortunate enough to play that at DDXP and I know the score -- quite a bit of the box text wasn't written down and had to be created on the spot -- but I'm beginning to feel like private play is getting almost completely shafted, behind the crowd clamoring for ADAP2-1 and then the public play crowd.
Given that I pretty much suspected that this would happen when it was first announced that the ratio of public play to private play mods this quarter would be about 70/30, I still hate to be proven right.
Damon is a sad panda now and will go sulk in a corner.
Damon
PS. Just so you folks know, the closest local con recently (at least since DDXP) was Megacon, about an hour's drive away from me in Orlando, FL. While the BI was announced to be run there, none of the other new public play-only mods from this quarter were run there. And in any case I couldn't go because of a schedule conflict. My local gaming shop isn't anywhere close to running the most recent mods. They're about two quarters behind. So I really don't have any legitimate options for "new" play.
occurred behind the scenes set DDXP up for success, but that put many admins in catchup mode. On top of all of that, the Global Admins were given more responsibility and the urgent assignment to reconsider some strategic aspects of LFR, to include the campaign staff structure, our regional construct, etc. (Whenever those decisions are made and all coordinated, they will make an announcement, probably on the LFR Group Community blog.) So they were not just fighting alligators while trying to drain the swamp, now the boat was on fire too. 
When you add the change in release, delaying private play release by 3 months, that may make it seem like a double whammy. Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that WotC (really Hasbro) changed the contracting procedures with authors in the middle of this which caused more disruption. Without supplying specifics, I have been assured the Globals are working very hard to get all remaining adventures, due this quarter, out by March 31st. So, yes, they might be a few weeks late.
Keith
who was in a cheerful mood, but now needs a drink
I thinks there's a red head at the yawning portal feeling the same way ;)
As somone who can't sanction public event-only mods, this is getting very sad.
So get yourself sactioned for WPN Coordinator status. Go take the Tournament Organizer test.
Oh, wait, I forgot to mention that WotC (really Hasbro) changed the contracting procedures with authors in the middle of this which caused more disruption.
Oh, ducky. That's gasoline on the fire, huh?
Welp: as I note fairly often in my field, you can tell you're building fun stuff because people get really upset when it doesn't show up on time.
So get yourself sactioned for WPN Coordinator status. Go take the Tournament Organizer test.
Don't know for sure, but I think the main thing is having a public mailing address you can register with wizards.
Or you're a spy posting from an undisclosed location. Or you don't officially exist.
Being an organizer is half of it; you also need to have a public venue to play in
That's the crux, as I understand it; if you run at your home (or someone else's home), you can't use that as a WPN site.
Everyone should have a mailing address... unless you live in a hut in the middle of nowhere with no roads and post to the internet via satellite link...
Or you're a spy posting from an undisclosed location. Or you don't officially exist.
Shhh!!! You're going to blow my cover!!!
Everyone should have a mailing address... unless you live in a hut in the middle of nowhere with no roads and post to the internet via satellite link...
Or you're a spy posting from an undisclosed location. Or you don't officially exist.
Dragon, I mean no disrespect, but the way you came across in your reply was extremely insulting. If it were as easy as you say, I'd have already done it.
I tried to get a location to sanction for public play events, but since I already registered my address for sanctioning private play events, I've been informed by CustServ that attempting to use the same address for public play events will not only not work, but you won't even get an error message telling you what went wrong. I tried this myself several times before finally calling CustServ and finding out what the deal was.
BTW, Keith, that update is muchly appreciated. WotC has regained some of their muchness that they seemed to have lost. (With apologies to Tim Burton et. al.)
If you thought my reply was insulting, it wasn't intended and you obviously haven't read enough of my posts. I frequently attempt to be humorous, although I don't always succeed. It should be obvious from the absurdity of my post. (and the smiley) I certainly wasn't trying to make you out to be the Unabomber 2.
While the system used to require location of private play (I think I had 3 locations listed), it stopped asking for that last year as I recall.
Keith
Get to work!
I was about to put my D&D Encounters: Undermountain Kits on the list but they finally hit my store yesterday...
D&D Encounters is completely out of the control of LFR campaign management. Much better to direct questions about those to either the RPGA forum or the D&D Community Group forum.
Sorry, I have been so busy with slot-0s for GameStorm, PH3 Gameday and Launching D&D Encounters in PDX that I haven't checked the LFR forums lately.
Um, this was a joke, hence the tounge sticking out emoticon.
I know full well that DDE is in no shape or form connected to LFR except that the first Season (Undermountain) will allow the PCs played in it to transition to LFR with full xp, treasure and gp gained at the end of the 12 session.
Nah-nah-hah,
Bryan Blumklotz
Guaridans of the Gameday Organizer
www.warhorn.org/guardiansofthegameday
Another Wednesday passes . . . another update due . . . .
LoL, yeah. This campaign is behind over ten adventures over a three week period by now. Hey, at least we're not paying for these things. I do feel badly for convention organizers, though, that probably get gray hairs from these constant delays.
I can only say we're sorry for falling further behind and beg your indulgence while we bring on a few volunteers to help us catch up.
Do you need more volunteers or do you have enough? If you need more, what do you need them to do?
Of course, if they need proofreaders, they should let me know ... no more mysterious engrish!
Which would include aiding with process tweaks and redesign as I think with the IT slant common amongst the D&D population we might be able to lend a hand there too. Oh and for completeness.. yes if needed I am perfectly willing to sign some waivers
Other than that I just wish the busy parties strength, good luck and eventual rest while we wait with bated breath.
Our con managed to get a mod or two at the last minute, but I have no idea if these are available widely. Anyone check lately? Any reports as to how things are going? I'm willing to help...
I usually check once a week and update as necessary. However I am currently away from my main PC because i am in the Florida Keys. if someone finds any in the system, post it here and i will update the list, otherwise i will check when I get back at the beginning of next week.
I usually check once a week and update as necessary. However I am currently away from my main PC because i am in the Florida Keys. if someone finds any in the system, post it here and i will update the list, otherwise i will check when I get back at the beginning of next week.
Nope, nothing has been released.
The only change necessary is to add AGLA2-1 and CORE2-4 to the list of missing modules. AKAN2-1 and CORE1-16 are scheduled for tomorrow; maybe they'll surprise us.
I usually check once a week and update as necessary. However I am currently away from my main PC because i am in the Florida Keys. if someone finds any in the system, post it here and i will update the list, otherwise i will check when I get back at the beginning of next week.
Nope, nothing has been released.
The only change necessary is to add AGLA2-1 and CORE2-4 to the list of missing modules. AKAN2-1 and CORE1-16 are scheduled for tomorrow; maybe they'll surprise us.
Not bloody likely.
My sources say the other adventures will soon appear with appropriate titles:
ADCP2-1 A Plague on Both Your Svartjets
AGLA1-7 Svartjet, Fey-Style
AGLA2-1 The Svartjet Connection (Svartjet is actually in France)
AKAN1-6 Svartjet Eternal Earthmote Style
AKAN2-1 Adrift on the Sea of Svartjet
BALD1-5 Lost Svartjet (since AUGUST) (may be renamed to Svartjet Nukem Forever)
BALD2-1 Point of No Svartjet Return
CORE1-16 Our Minds Fragmented by Svartjet (build-your-own Svartjet, some parts not included)
CORE2-4 Lost on the Bridge of Svartjet Way
EAST1-7 Right of Svartjet (was named Svartjet: The Great Outdoors and features no dwarves)
EAST2-1 By No Means Will Svartjet End
IMPI1-6 The Ancient and Unknowable Svartjet
IMPI2-1 Svartjet From Below (if only they had a bridge)
MINI1-6 Quench the Svartjet (Also called Svartjet: Can't Touch This)
TYMA1-7 Stolen Svartjet
TYMA2-1 The Old Enemy of My Svartjet is Still My Svartjet
I do trust in what Skerrit says. I'm sure it is being worked on and I am actually impressed it is less of an issue in that there are so many people out there that are behind on playing adventures. Delays aren't as huge an issue for LFR as in other living games.
Still, this is an area the campaign does need to address in a permanent way. I want mods, but more importantly I wan't quality and I want those in charge of the campaign to have real lives and enjoy their job. The delays can't be fun for them. While the delays added some stress to our recent convention, it all worked out and we all remain huge fans of the campaign.
I do trust in what Skerrit says. I'm sure it is being worked on and I am actually impressed it is less of an issue in that there are so many people out there that are behind on playing adventures. Delays aren't as huge an issue for LFR as in other living games.
Still, this is an area the campaign does need to address in a permanent way. I want mods, but more importantly I wan't quality and I want those in charge of the campaign to have real lives and enjoy their job. The delays can't be fun for them. While the delays added some stress to our recent convention, it all worked out and we all remain huge fans of the campaign.
Agreed on all counts.
I would encourage the global admins to consider tying the start date for private play for these mods to the scheduled release date rather than the actual release date. There's already a bit of a gap for private play, and delaying the release of these modules even further would be painful for those who do a lot of private gaming. (Online is included in this.) It may be that it's more important to encourage public play and maintain the real time gap, of course; I'm just asking for consideration of the idea.
Still, this is an area the campaign does need to address in a permanent way.
Yeah, this problem has plagued the campaign badly for the last six months, and it's getting worse, not better. The last adventure release was four weeks ago. How is it even possible that the campaign allows four weeks to go by without a single adventure release? Not even one! Something needs to change with the way the process of getting adventures out, because the current model is not working.
Having said all of that, this is free for an at-large person like me. I don't pay a dime, so I can't be too critical. But, I am organizing LFR for a convention in May, and I'm fearful of the crunch that others have felt as they struggled with and waited on LFR to provide new (and promised) content.
Anyway, I played AGLA 2-1 and IMPI 1-6 @ GameStorm - they appeared to be in final or near final forms, so I would expect them relatively soon.
I'm sure it is being worked on and I am actually impressed it is less of an issue in that there are so many people out there that are behind on playing adventures. Delays aren't as huge an issue for LFR as in other living games.
Depends on your point of view.
From the perspective of just needing modules to play, sure. If you're not 15th level, there's enough adventures that you can continue leveling without the need for replay, and the ability to replay adds further freedom in ensuring you have modules to play.
From the perspective of wanting to play particular storylines, however, LFR's structure makes these delays much more of a problem than in any other living campaign.
My "primary" character (in quotes, because he's now significantly behind my "secondary" character) has been 10th level since November. This is the character about which I actually cared about storylines and themes, and due to both, he's been sitting there waiting for BALD1-5 and AGLA1-7 for months.
In any other campaign, it wouldn't matter: they might be EL 6-16 adventures, for example, so it would be tough to level out of being able to play them, and besides, the advancement speed would not likely be so fast as to cause a couple of months to make that much of a difference.
LFR's narrow level bands and rapid advancement, however, mean that even a small delay in particular adventures will force you to choose between playing a storyline with a particular character and playing that character.
Friday is my personal deadline, which seemed a safe bet when the schedule was released. That's the point at which I'll stop caring about storylines from a character perspective. I'll enjoy them on a player level, but simply stop caring whether the particular character I'm playing has ever encountered the NPCs or region before.
Of course, as the universe loves irony, my character leveling and becoming ineligible to play the modules I've been waiting for months for will be the signal allowing those modules to be released. I hope everyone appreciates the sacrifice. ;)
Neither is visible in the system. This marks the end of the Q1 release schedule. It wasn't a pretty quarter, to say the least. In the closing three weeks we saw two adventures become available and more than that join the late list. Based on what I saw at GameStorm, we are probably very close on IMPI1-6 and AGLA2-1.
My sources say the other adventures will soon appear with appropriate titles:
ADCP2-1 A Plague on Both Your Svartjets
AGLA1-7 Svartjet, Fey-Style
AGLA2-1 The Svartjet Connection (Svartjet is actually in France)
AKAN1-6 Svartjet Eternal Earthmote Style
AKAN2-1 Adrift on the Sea of Svartjet
BALD1-5 Lost Svartjet (since AUGUST) (may be renamed to Svartjet Nukem Forever)
BALD2-1 Point of No Svartjet Return
CORE1-16 Our Minds Fragmented by Svartjet (build-your-own Svartjet, some parts not included)
CORE2-4 Lost on the Bridge of Svartjet Way
EAST1-7 Right of Svartjet (was named Svartjet: The Great Outdoors and features no dwarves)
EAST2-1 By No Means Will Svartjet End
IMPI1-6 The Ancient and Unknowable Svartjet
IMPI2-1 Svartjet From Below (if only they had a bridge)
MINI1-6 Quench the Svartjet (Also called Svartjet: Can't Touch This)
TYMA1-7 Stolen Svartjet
TYMA2-1 The Old Enemy of My Svartjet is Still My Svartjet
I do trust in what Skerrit says. I'm sure it is being worked on and I am actually impressed it is less of an issue in that there are so many people out there that are behind on playing adventures. Delays aren't as huge an issue for LFR as in other living games.
Still, this is an area the campaign does need to address in a permanent way. I want mods, but more importantly I wan't quality and I want those in charge of the campaign to have real lives and enjoy their job. The delays can't be fun for them. While the delays added some stress to our recent convention, it all worked out and we all remain huge fans of the campaign.
Hmmm.. I know some of these adventures have been finished and turned in, so I'm not sure why they aren't in the system. Lemme shoot off some more emails and see if I can find out what's up.
You need more mods after a four week break? You've played all the mods out there? That's...a lot of play.
Anyway, I played AGLA 2-1 and IMPI 1-6 @ GameStorm - they appeared to be in final or near final forms, so I would expect them relatively soon.
If you've been playing since campaign go-live, then that play has been spread out over two years. I've done over 90% of published adventures in just under a year. So what?
Hopefully, some of you in-the-know will be able to continue to at least give us accountability updates so we know when Wizards just hasn't uploaded the mods we've been waiting for.
I may have a few replays =P and double rounders but I've played (just tallied it up) 230 adventures. The very first of which was Weekend in the Realms 1-1, so that should indicate the time frame. I wouldn't mind the missing mods showing up so I have some new stuff to play =)
I may have a few replays =P
Understatement of the year!
OK, Ibixat and I play and run at a lot of tables together, but we have the exact opposite approach to replay. I despise replaying mods. It just is not fun to me to play an adventure again once I know what happens. That's why I end up running a lot more than I play. I think I have replayed a grand total of seven while playing 95% of the released adventures.
All that being said (I knew there was a topic around here somewhere) I'd like to see the new adventures come out so I had something new to play. TPtB have been silent on the reasons for the delay, and that's OK. It does get frustrating when I check on Thursday mornings to see what new adventures have been released and keep finding nothing.
With all due respect to those of you who don't like replaying, I've maintained for a while that WotC releases way too many mods. Releasing 2-3 a week is way too many plates to keep spinning at the same time. I believe Alpha's list backs me up on this. If there were only, say, one new LFR mod released per week, I don't think anyone would really be that upset, and it'd be much easier to maintain.
Plus, seriously, tell me that The Black Knight of Arabel with a good DM isn't better than 80% of the mods that have come since.
Looking into it, there have actually been even more adventures submitted to HQ than I thought (so the campaign staff is less far behind that I thought, they we are definately not running at 100%). That said, I haven't heard anything back from HQ so I can't say why adventures are being put up.
That's good news, in that in theory the issue of files handed off to WotC being put on a server should be simple to fix. (In theory!)
Recommendation: some global admin (or a regional that volunteers, or a mortal that volunteers) should check on the day a mod should be out to verify it is orderable in the system. Or, the person from WotC that uploads should have the check-off task of verifying it can be ordered and send an admin a message to that effect. I like that one better.
AGLA2-1 The Undumor Connection
AKAN2-1 Set Adrift
IMPI1-6 The Ancient Temple
A bit of good news to see some content and avoid more MyRealms action in our gaming circles.
These adventures just hit the database:
AGLA2-1 The Undumor Connection
AKAN2-1 Set Adrift
IMPI1-6 The Ancient Temple
A bit of good news to see some content and avoid more MyRealms action in our gaming circles.
And there was much rejoicing!!!
These adventures just hit the database:
AGLA2-1 The Undumor Connection
AKAN2-1 Set Adrift
IMPI1-6 The Ancient Temple
A bit of good news to see some content and avoid more MyRealms action in our gaming circles.
Any word on what the levels are for these?
Just so we can plan out our April adventure line up.
Thanks!
Any word on what the levels are for these?
Just so we can plan out our April adventure line up.
Of course, shoulda added this info. Here ya go:
AGLA2-1 The Undumor Connection (H3)
AKAN2-1 Set Adrift (P1)
IMPI1-6 The Ancient Temple (P1)
You need more mods after a four week break? You've played all the mods out there? That's...a lot of play.
Worry about your own gaming, and I'll worry about mine. Okay?
These adventures just hit the database:
AGLA2-1 The Undumor Connection (7-10, pt 2 Circle of Stones)
AKAN2-1 Set Adrift (11-14)
IMPI1-6 The Ancient Temple (11-14)
A bit of good news to see some content and avoid more MyRealms action in our gaming circles.
Any word on what the levels are for these?
Just so we can plan out our April adventure line up.
Thanks!
The Q1 release post has blurbs and levels for all adventures. There are also wiki entries in the LFR group that describe all the adventures. (There is also information to be found in the FR Wiki for LFR). You can also check out the Gamer's Clubhouse for adventures already released.
Edit:
Ninjad by Greyson on the levels!I'm hoping to host it at a convention later this month.
If there were only, say, one new LFR mod released per week, I don't think anyone would really be that upset, and it'd be much easier to maintain.
You're looking at a schedule cluttered with the remnants of overdue modules, which obscures the actual releases.
The DDXP Special and ADCP aside, the schedule for the first three months of the year was for 15 new adventures to be released:
* Three L1-4 (CORE2-4, CORM2-1, TYMA2-1)
* Three L4-7 (DALE2-1, EAST2-1, MOON2-1)
* Three L7-10 (AGLA2-1, IMPI2-1, WATE2-1)
* Five L11-14 (CORE2-1, CORE2-2, AKAN2-1, BALD2-1, DRAG2-1
* One L14-17 (CORE2-3)
Which ones do you think should have been cut?
Yes, if there was one new module released each week for a level band I'd like to play, I'd be fine. However, what I personally need is unlikely to the same as what you need, or what the campaign as a whole needs. I wouldn't bat an eye if no new L1-4 modules came out for a while, for example, but that's unlikely to help with new player recruitment.
If you are a casual LFR player with a single character, you're likely still in the L1-10 range and this schedule would have given you one new LFR module each month, which seems fairly reasonable to me (and potentially problematic for new player retention to have less).
This is unlikely to get better as the campaign encompasses more level bands.
Damon
The plans were that mods would be con only upon release and available for open play 3 months later. So January mods would be coming open for casual play this month, whereas the mods for March wouldn't be available until June, etc.
I'm still wondering if that's from the official release date or from the actual release date.
However, to make an assumption, I believe it was 3 months from the time of release back then. The old database used to give the dates of when you could order it for public and private games.
huge rush job
I can tell you, as a guy who was on two different Triads, that "Huge Rush Job" was the standard, not the exception.
It is unlikely that a Q2 schedule will be posted while Chris is out of the office (putting in appearences at various conventions across the US). Hopefully we can get something out as soon as he gets back.
Is this also a bottleneck on release of further Q1 modules, and if so, is there an idea as to when he'll be back in the office?
It is unlikely that a Q2 schedule will be posted while Chris is out of the office (putting in appearences at various conventions across the US). Hopefully we can get something out as soon as he gets back.
According to his Twitter account, he should be back in the office already. Of course, if the Q2 schedule isn't out on time, I'd understand (lots of catch-up to do after a trip, even a work-related trip).
CORE2-7 Where Secrets Lie (H2) is now available.
Whcih begs the question: Where's 4, 5, and 6? :P
Honestly I think instead of a release schedule made public at this point just a weekly post on wednesdays naming any mods released since the prior weeks post would be best, at least then we have a way to keep up with what has come out.
Theoretically, the release schedule is a way to inform convention directors and others planning LFR events of upcoming mods, so they can offer the newest mods as a way to entice players to attend their events. Of course, it hasn't really served that purpose well as of late...
Ideally, we would have a target schedule, with the schedule adjusted when something is late. That's assuming there is any warning to those in charge.
Honestly I think instead of a release schedule made public at this point just a weekly post on wednesdays naming any mods released since the prior weeks post would be best, at least then we have a way to keep up with what has come out.
Theoretically, the release schedule is a way to inform convention directors and others planning LFR events of upcoming mods, so they can offer the newest mods as a way to entice players to attend their events. Of course, it hasn't really served that purpose well as of late...
That part was kinda why I halfheartedly suggested what I did.
Yeah, ideally con organizers need to know when something is likely to come out. Also, the date of release needs to exist if we are to know when something is going to be available for public play.
Ideally, we would have a target schedule, with the schedule adjusted when something is late. That's assuming there is any warning to those in charge.
Ideally, I agree.
However, faced with a choice between public release dates not met and no release information at all, I'd prefer the silence frankly.
Thanks...
Damon
Speaking as someone who runs private play, when am I going to see anything other than mini 1-6 and the specials? Wasn't it supposed to be three months lag time? I want to play and I want my players to be able to play midparagon at gencon. It is going to be a waste if they can't get the required adventures in due to lateness.
The 2-X modules are only now starting to pass their public-only expiration date.
IMHO, it's about time for another status report. I realize that we did get CORE2-7 out recently, but what's the status on the rest of the Q1 2010 mods?
Thanks...
Damon
I just checked the server. Everything on the missing mods list on the first post of this thread is still MIA.
With no accurate forecasts available so that I can start sign-ups reasonably in advance for people to plan to attend my cons and a complete lack of interest in adventures released months ago that have already been played at Gamedays and other public events, I'm to the point that I can no longer support LFR at my conventions.
Okay, I have poked a few people and it looks like I should be able to get an accounting in the next few days.
Thanks for hanging in there for us.
I completely understand. I've been trying to dig into what's going on, but so far I haven't been getting much in the way of responses. I hope to have some knowledge of what's missing and why in the near future.
If I can beat the dead horse a bit more, its 17 days into Q2 and there isn't a release forecast posted.
I love to have LFR in convention play. I get a lot of pressure to put the latest and greatest modules on the schedule. This years con I could only provide one or two year 2 mods.
My next three day con is just after the start of Q3, and I can still only put in a couple of year 2 modules.
Thanks for poking them Skerrit, can you poke more about a Q2 schedule even if it repeats the Q1 schedule?
I love to have LFR in convention play. I get a lot of pressure to put the latest and greatest modules on the schedule.
imho: putting recently released adventures on a con schedule is better than putting unreleased adventures that may or may not be released in time.
The problems caused by scheduling an unreleased adventure appear to exceed any benefit of using newer adventures. I wish con planners would stop doing that.
Please bare with us while we try to overcome the recent difficulties.
Thank you for all of your efforts - - and please feel free to keep your clothing on while overcoming the recent difficulties.
Please bare with us while we try to overcome the recent difficulties.
Thank you for all of your efforts - - and please feel free to keep your clothing on while overcoming the recent difficulties.
Speak for yourself.
[VCL Hat On]
Please don't post any of these bare pictures in this thread. Your help appreciated.
[/VCL Hat Off]
P.S. Oh, god, please no. Please. ;)
Delays because campaign staff need more time to create, edit or improve modules is one thing. Delays caused because uploading RPGA adventures is something done only when the IT guy has nothing else to do is much more frustrating.
Can we hope that the communications issues or whatever it was that was keeping modules from being uploaded within a reasonable amount of time of their submission to HQ will be dealt with?
Otherwise, might I suggest that campaign staff might want to look at alternate ways of releasing adventures, if WOTC staff are unable to make dealing with the adventures a reasonable priority.
The problems caused by scheduling an unreleased adventure appear to exceed any benefit of using newer adventures. I wish con planners would stop doing that.
The devil and the deep blue sea. I post modules for a major convention about 6-8 weeks out, if I can. It generates excitement, and if you go to a con I schedule I usually try and get the author out for a premiere. People travel to large conventions, and I want them to have a reason to
pack things and travel 200miles for an event.
There are a lot of people who complain they can play mods at home, so its important to have a carnival atmosphere, which includes new mods.
Give people their money's worth.
We are currenly in a bit of catch up mod. Rather than make additional promises we might not keep and ignore most of Q1, we have farmed out alot of the work that fell behind and hope to be releasing large numbers of adventures over the next few weeks. Once we have a little bit better handle on where we stand with the large number of late adventures we will be in a better position to announce the order of the next pile. Please bare with us while we try to overcome the recent difficulties.
Skerrit, can you guys put new dates on the Q1 schedule? Maybe even make the Q2 schedule the Q1 schedule with new dates plus a few more events.
We know things are behind. Tell us where you are, we are all ready to support you.
Its great you farmed out work, we are all ready to do what it takes to make LFR be as solid as we expect it should. Many of us complain, but I know that myself, Bgibbons, and all the posters here will put our labor where our mouths are and work if you ask.
Can we hope that the communications issues or whatever it was that was keeping modules from being uploaded within a reasonable amount of time of their submission to HQ will be dealt with? Otherwise, might I suggest that campaign staff might want to look at alternate ways of releasing adventures, if WOTC staff are unable to make dealing with the adventures a reasonable priority.
Its definately something to look into, but I have to point out again that the campaign staff is actually pretty much on the bottom of the totem pole and we don't have much power to get events uploaded. I should also point out that WOTC owns the adventures, and thus we can't just set up some other website and release adventures without WOTC.
There are a lot of people who complain they can play mods at home, so its important to have a carnival atmosphere, which includes new mods.
Give people their money's worth.
Hm. I was thinking the greater prep time (and reliability) was more in line with getting one's money's worth, but that that was only my own preference... I have no idea what other's preference might be. I'd like to see the concept explored further, so I'll start a separate thread here.
Do we know if these mods are ready and just not uploaded or they aren't even ready. BALD 1-5 had been delayed for months. It'd be nice to know why.
Campaign policy (based on lessons learned with previous campaigns) is not to share the details. Doing so tends to cause problems between those involved and doesn't really resolve anything.
As a player/DM, I usually figure any significantly late mod had some balance or concept issues. Maybe it hinged on using a certain NPC/group that would not have been approved in the proposal stage. Maybe it has a really strong vision for a certain type of creature that didn't work in playtests. Failure at the playtest or admin final review stage is really rough - the author often is low on energy. Delays can increase while people are saying "No worries, I will do it." But, every case is a little different and rough if it involves anyone higher up (which happens - they have lives too!).
I'm fine with not hearing particular stories. I know a few from both LFR and LG and they really aren't worth telling. What I think most of us would like, at some point, is to understand the key issue and what is (being) done to resolve it. But, even better is just for the issue(s) to be resolved. Mods in hand and all is forgotten.
I just wish we had a clearer picture of what's going on behind the scenes.
I, however have no interest in what is going on behind the scenes. The cause or inner workings of the failure hold no interest to me. Especially when so many of the people involved are not even willing to acknowledge the complete disregard for there own release dates as a failure. The "get what you get and don't throw a fit" attitude is very arrogant and condescending.
Besides the solution is simple. Stop posting release dates. Just simply post what is released as you release it. Stopping setting yourselves up to fail. Of course the risk in the digital age is one of interest. New content is king. Go too long without and people move on.
Do we know if these mods are ready and just not uploaded or they aren't even ready. BALD 1-5 had been delayed for months. It'd be nice to know why.
Campaign policy (based on lessons learned with previous campaigns) is not to share the details. Doing so tends to cause problems between those involved and doesn't really resolve anything.
As a player/DM, I usually figure any significantly late mod had some balance or concept issues. Maybe it hinged on using a certain NPC/group that would not have been approved in the proposal stage. Maybe it has a really strong vision for a certain type of creature that didn't work in playtests. Failure at the playtest or admin final review stage is really rough - the author often is low on energy. Delays can increase while people are saying "No worries, I will do it." But, every case is a little different and rough if it involves anyone higher up (which happens - they have lives too!).
I'm fine with not hearing particular stories. I know a few from both LFR and LG and they really aren't worth telling. What I think most of us would like, at some point, is to understand the key issue and what is (being) done to resolve it. But, even better is just for the issue(s) to be resolved. Mods in hand and all is forgotten.
I don't necessarily want to know all of the details of what is going on but I would appreciate an update on modules statuses. For example, Core1-16 was suppose to be released last year and was eventually rescheduled to 3-31 of this year but it's almost a month past release date and I still don't see it and I'm signed up to play it at an upcoming convention in a little over a month, which might seem like plenty of time but without any update I have no faith it will be available. Since it's a two-round module and I'm only going for one day, if this adventure ends up not being available, then that messes up the whole day for me for a convention I've paid money for. I'm sure others have similar stories. Even an acknowledgment that the mod is behind schedule with no known release date at this point would let me know that someone somewhere is thinking about this.
I'm also wondering if there is going to be a Q2 schedule released? Have I missed it? Even a schedule that is not entirely met is better than no schedule at all.
When planning what we will be running at our monthly meetup, part of the draw is running stuff you can't play at a home game. When things get delayed, we end up running less desirable private play mods. I believe many of the current 2-1 mods are going to be available for private play very soon, leaving me with very little to offer that they can't run at home.
It's really helpful to know what is coming up so planning can occur... but when there is a posted schedule, and that schedule cannot be kept could I ask that a couple things be done:
1. Post as soon as you know something will be late
2. Revise the release schedule with a best guess as to a new release date
Those who are posting it's best to put no dates, I disagree. I find knowing what is coming up very useful for planning. Instead of dates, perhaps quarters would work? That certainly gives plenty of wiggle room for schedules on both sides.
Those who are posting it's best to put no dates, I disagree. I find knowing what is coming up very useful for planning. Instead of dates, perhaps quarters would work? That certainly gives plenty of wiggle room for schedules on both sides.
From me, anyway, it's not "post no dates", it's "I'd rather have no dates at all than dates that aren't met".
And in this case, anyway, even posting quarters wouldn't have been met.
If you're signed up for CORE 1-16, I'd find something else to sign up for - better to choose now, than choose on-site.
The "get what you get and don't throw a fit" attitude is very arrogant and condescending.
Besides the solution is simple. Stop posting release dates. Just simply post what is released as you release it. Stopping setting yourselves up to fail. Of course the risk in the digital age is one of interest. New content is king. Go too long without and people move on.
I don't believe that most, or even any, of the campaign staff have a "you get what you get when you get it" attitude. I believe rather that they are trying hard and realize that they are behind the 8 ball and need to get work done. So, if they aren't here telling us the latest, I fully expect it is because they are working on it, or the latest isn't done yet.
You do have a point about waning interest though. This lulll is the first big one in the LFR schedule since the very beginning and it could take the wind out of folks' sails. Of especial concern to me is the convention community that had only recently started to see a strengthening in interest ... only to hit this latest wall. I want to see D&D and LFR grow, but right now, they are very much in danger of shrinking.
Finally, I think schedules are important. While LFR could move to a private release schedule for events, keeping the community out of the loop, I think the public release schedules help keep interest up. It keeps up player excitement by showing them what is coming. Without it, the community will grow restless and again, you'd have the waning interest problem.
(1) The current "support" is down - so less swag.
(2) With no new mods, no reliability, etc. - it puts a huge strain on scheduling "attractive" events for conventions. (Especially since specific events need to be finalized 6-8 weeks before a con.)
(3) With moving on - our home group is now playing published/home campaigns, since we're out of LFR stuff to play. We'll likely come back to LFR (assuming things get better), but in the meantime, we're doing our own thing (and thus, not supporting the larger community).
And as long as MINI2-1, 2-2 and 2-3 make it out on time for Gen Con I will be a happy camper. I have a ticket for the SPEC module as well but I am not getting my hopes up just in case.
Personally, I appreciate the public schedule but I don't hold my breath for the modules to come out on time. That helps to avoid stress but I understand that not everyone thinks that way.
Especially when so many of the people involved are not even willing to acknowledge the complete disregard for there own release dates as a failure. The "get what you get and don't throw a fit" attitude is very arrogant and condescending.
No admin has expressed such an attitude and to accuse them of that is, frankly, rude and condecending, full of the attitude that you are accusing them of having. The (volunteer) admins involved have indeed owned up to the issue (in various threads on these boards) and are trying to deal with it.
No admin has expressed such an attitude and to accuse them of that is, frankly, rude and condecending, full of the attitude that you are accusing them of having. The (volunteer) admins involved have indeed owned up to the issue (in various threads on these boards) and are trying to deal with it.
It's been a couple of weeks since it was posted that extra help was being brought on board to try to deal with the backlog of mods. However, absolutely nothing has been released in that time. Are people planning on releasing the backlogged mods all at once, or what?
It would be nice if we could get *something*, even if it's only one mod.
Damon
PS. Oops, I misremembered. It's been a couple of weeks since CORE2-7 was released. That's been the only release this month. Last month only five mods were released, and two of those were at the beginning of the month.
I'm not trying to "whine" or anything, just point out that there has been plenty of time to do some damage control for this situation. A trickle, even one mod a week, or even every two weeks, would be nice.
The (volunteer) admins involved have indeed owned up to the issue (in various threads on these boards) and are trying to deal with it.
Maybe it's time for someone who gets paid to look into this. While I appreciate the work of the campaign's volunteers, it seems like the time is ripe for someone who can make things happen to get involved.
The campaign issued adventure release schedules and created an expectation. For private gaming, I don't think it's a big deal for the campaign and WotC to welch on getting promised adventures out on time. But now, we have a three month window of public-play-only coupled with the expectation that adventures shall be released as promised. The failure of the campiagn to honor the release dates hurts conventions and game days that depend on that public-play-only window. These endless delays nullify that window. The incentive to go to a convention is diminished because somebody who gets paid does not take a "volunteer" seriously.
This whole model needs to be reconsidered. Not for the sake of casual private games, but for conventions and game days that took the timely expectation of adventure releases at face value. And, it's just good practice for one to do what one says.
This thread has almost eight thousand views. People out there want to know where the adventures are and what the hold-up is. Posters to this thread can make their "how many adventures do you need?" and "Wow, you've played them all?" quips. It doesn't change the fact that the campaign is way behind on providing promised content it committed to release and has created a dry spell that makes some people wonder if there really is any more LFR going forward. This is affecting convention offerings and I think that's a problem.
This situation has gone on long enough. I've been tolerant of the delays, but LFR has been at a virtual standstill for weeks. Not only is it extremely frustrating for those planning cons, but it's disappointing for those of us trying to support this campaign.
I hate to call someone out on the forums, but where has Chris Tulach been? I feel like this should be his top priority. But we've got (a) no official statement from him, (b) no explanatory post on this or any other thread, and (c) no D&D Play report in Dragon this month. With as much attention as this thread has gotten, and with as many people as there are concerned about this topic, I feel like we deserve a few answers.
Skerrit, I appreciate the information you've been able to share, but as far as I'm concerned, this is about more than just a couple of late mods. I'd like to know what the problem is, and what's being done to correct it. And I'd like to hear it from someone whose user name starts with WotC_.
The silence is pretty deafening, though. We're getting a convention going in May, and it's basically goign to be the same stuff as DDXP.
There are numerous issues that have occurred. One I can say something about is the new contracts. WotC (or Hasbro) decided this winter to place LFR authors under the same contracting & purchasing system they use for all freelance buys. The bottom line is authors now have to have a contract and maybe a purchase order in place before they start work on an adventure. Due to the transition, some adventures have been written, but the authors do not have a contract and the adventure cannot be accepted. In other cases, work on adventures just never started. Why we can't share which adventures are in that mess, I don't know.
Another problem is authors who have to be replaced.
We are also down two regional Writing Directors.
Those are by no means the only issues but I am not empowered or sufficiently knowledgable to speak of more issues.
Keith, a lowly regional Writing Director and author
We trusted that LFR was going to get backing from WoTC. LG had a system of regional writing and play, writers were not paid, but they donated the work to WoTC for the good of the campaign. Right now they can't even donate the work so it can be released.
It was flawed in some ways, but we could get results and answers from our local people more than we can now. I could call the Ulek Triad and ask questions, and they would answer. (assuming they didnt have caller ID
) All I can do not is complain on a message board, and maybe a global admin will answer.
There are numerous issues that have occurred. One I can say something about is the new contracts. WotC (or Hasbro) decided this winter to place LFR authors under the same contracting & purchasing system they use for all freelance buys. The bottom line is authors now have to have a contract and maybe a purchase order in place before they start work on an adventure.
Does this sound likely without a full time employee? I wouldn't sign off a PO request from a free-lancer without a full time employee looking at it, would you?
Another problem is authors who have to be replaced.
We are also down regional two Writing Directors.
Those are by no means the only issues but I am not empowered or sufficiently knowledgable to speak of more issues.
I feel for anyone noble enough to fight for this cause. Who would take that job?
Without besmirching the Global Admins, who can but poke and prod, without a definite WoTC employee to shepard the LFR campaign, we are going to have more problems.
An aside:
In January, Chris Tulach turned over most authority/responsibility for LFR to the Global Admins, and except for legal matters (like getting the contracts with authors), is not much involved with LFR any more. I assume his time is taken up with other projects such as the D&D Encounters program.
It appears D&D encounters, the ONE hour module for Wednesday only is killing LFR. This does not pump up store sales, it doesn't get people in the door like a well run campaign and it doesn't bring new people into the hobby like conventions do everytime they run. A lot of people who live far from a store are not going to drive an hour to play for one hour, then turn around.
It was flawed in some ways, but we could get results and answers from our local people more than we can now. I could call the Ulek Triad and ask questions, and they would answer. (assuming they didnt have caller ID
Or contact your local PoC or mail us Globals directly. Our contact information is freely available on the LFR Community Group. The only difference is that we are less able to send the con organizers half-finished adventures in case adventures are delayed.
There are numerous issues that have occurred. One I can say something about is the new contracts. WotC (or Hasbro) decided this winter to place LFR authors under the same contracting & purchasing system they use for all freelance buys. The bottom line is authors now have to have a contract and maybe a purchase order in place before they start work on an adventure.
Does this sound likely without a full time employee? I wouldn't sign off a PO request from a free-lancer without a full time employee looking at it, would you?
Huh? Chris obviously still must spend some time on LFR. Somebody has to approve those POs and deal with the budget. It is not a full time job though.
Another problem is authors who have to be replaced.
We are also down regional two Writing Directors.
Those are by no means the only issues but I am not empowered or sufficiently knowledgable to speak of more issues.
I feel for anyone noble enough to fight for this cause. Who would take that job?
Without besmirching the Global Admins, who can but poke and prod, without a definite WoTC employee to shepard the LFR campaign, we are going to have more problems.
Chris Tulach still works on LFR, just not in the same full time capacity he did before the start of the year.
It appears D&D encounters, the ONE hour module for Wednesday only is killing LFR. This does not pump up store sales, it doesn't get people in the door like a well run campaign and it doesn't bring new people into the hobby like conventions do everytime they run. A lot of people who live far from a store are not going to drive an hour to play for one hour, then turn around.
My experiences are different. I know the local games really like it exactly because it is short and allows them to game for the evening without asking the same kind of dedication that conventions and LFR demands. Conventions btw only draw in new players into LFR. They do not really draw in new D&D players, while D&D encounters are a perfect vehicle to teach people D&D.
Of course, in the end it hardly matters. D&D Encounters is NOT the cause for the current delays in adventure release. The Globals are not involved in anyway in D&D Encounters.
It was flawed in some ways, but we could get results and answers from our local people more than we can now. I could call the Ulek Triad and ask questions, and they would answer. (assuming they didnt have caller ID ) All I can do not is complain on a message board, and maybe a global admin will answer.
Or contact your local PoC or mail us Globals directly. Our contact information is freely available on the LFR Community Group. The only difference is that we are less able to send the con organizers half-finished adventures in case adventures are delayed.
My apologies. I assumes you all wanted to be left alone like circle members preferred to be left alone. I will fix that as I spin up my work for the next convention.
Huh? Chris obviously still must spend some time on LFR. Somebody has to approve those POs and deal with the budget. It is not a full time job though.
Fair enough, its my observation, and I am glad its wrong. I still want to see the Q2 schedule, that seems to be a Tulach only thing.
It appears D&D encounters, the ONE hour module for Wednesday only is killing LFR. This does not pump up store sales, it doesn't get people in the door like a well run campaign and it doesn't bring new people into the hobby like conventions do everytime they run. A lot of people who live far from a store are not going to drive an hour to play for one hour, then turn around.
My experiences are different. I know the local games really like it exactly because it is short and allows them to game for the evening without asking the same kind of dedication that conventions and LFR demands. Conventions btw only draw in new players into LFR. They do not really draw in new D&D players, while D&D encounters are a perfect vehicle to teach people D&D.
I teach brand new people D&D at every con I run. Even the Florida New Years Con (which caters to seasoned players) I had brand new players. I had about six new players at Megacon, lots of walk ins who never played LFR, and most surprisingly, LG players who came in from the cold and played LFR.
Madfox, I apologise if I implied that you guys didn't work your posterior off. Please accept my thanks for your work.
My beef with LFR right now is:
1) Q2 schedulemust be released, even if its the Q1 schedule with a few things added on. It means life for future conventions.
2) It is our campaign too, and the people here are the vangard of your fans, evidence that we care is that we post on the message board, not just complain to our friends over beers. Tell us all whats going on and what we can do. We are not an angry mob, we are friends and fans.
3) I hate it when people complain and do nothing. When I complain, like now, I am willing to put my efforts behind my complaint. If we need to add labor to help the campaign through this difficult time, ask for volunteers.
My apologies. I assumes you all wanted to be left alone like circle members preferred to be left alone. I will fix that as I spin up my work for the next convention.
First try to contact your PoCs with any questions. If they feel they cannot answer the question and think we (the Globals) have them, or they do not reply within a reasonable time frame (and please, give them more then 1 day ;)) then by all means contact us. Otherwise you are correct, we have more than enough things to do without answering all the questions. It is why there is a PoC in the first place ;)
[air enough, its my observation, and I am glad its wrong. I still want to see the Q2 schedule, that seems to be a Tulach only thing.
No, that is actually the task of the Globals. The biggest reasons for the abscense of a Q2 schedule are the PO issue mentioned by Keith, which made it unclear for us when exactly an adventure would become available, the current backlog, which makes us a bit hesitent at the moment about promising stuff, and the loss of a Global.
Madfox, I apologise if I implied that you guys didn't work your posterior off. Please accept my thanks for your work.
I never had the impression you accusing us of doing nothing, so no need to appologize. I fully understand and share your concerns. We are working on a solution, in fact we have a plan, but there is a difference between having a plan and implementing it.
My beef with LFR right now is:
1) Q2 schedulemust be released, even if its the Q1 schedule with a few things added on. It means life for future conventions.
2) It is our campaign too, and the people here are the vangard of your fans, evidence that we care is that we post on the message board, not just complain to our friends over beers. Tell us all whats going on and what we can do. We are not an angry mob, we are friends and fans.
3) I hate it when people complain and do nothing. When I complain, like now, I am willing to put my efforts behind my complaint. If we need to add labor to help the campaign through this difficult time, ask for volunteers.
I appreciate the offer for help, but understand that catching up with the current backlog is not as easy as getting help from an untried stranger on these boards who offers it. Hack, it is not as easy as asking highly experienced knowledgeable adventure developers like the writing directors from this campaign (although they are helping). There is a point of less return where too many people working on the same 30 page adventure just leads to longer delays. Furthermore, new people need time to get up-to-date which in turn requires additional energy and time from people in the know. Finally, in the end, the globals are required to give their final stamp of approval and more people looking at an adventure are not guaranteed to reduce the time that we have to spend on an adventure. The Globals need to do this because of IP protection and for legal reasons they are paid for it and signed specific freelance contracts detailing such duties.
community.wizards.com/lfr/wiki/Administr...
I appreciate the offer for help, but understand that catching up with the current backlog is not as easy as getting help from an untried stranger on these boards who offers it.
Fair enough!
This situation has gone on long enough. I've been tolerant of the delays, but LFR has been at a virtual standstill for weeks. Not only is it extremely frustrating for those planning cons, but it's disappointing for those of us trying to support this campaign.
Skerrit, I appreciate the information you've been able to share, but as far as I'm concerned, this is about more than just a couple of late mods. I'd like to know what the problem is, and what's being done to correct it. And I'd like to hear it from someone whose user name starts with WotC_.
This is what I was alluding to in an earlier post about finding out what's happening. I can understand the occassional mod or two running behind or a complication develops, like the suddent departure of a Global admin. This however has been a problem since last year. We've heard from the admins and the volunteers about that they are doing thier best, which we all appreciate. However. the reponse from WotC seems to be bupkis.
We're about 10-12 mods behind, I think, plus whatever might've been released this month, had a schedule been released. At some point, it looks like some future quarter's releases, will just be everything that was delayed from the last year.
I too would love to do something, that sit here and complain and toss out statistics, but aside from contacting admins, I feel thre is nothing else than can be done.
I appreciate the offer for help, but understand that catching up with the current backlog is not as easy as getting help from an untried stranger on these boards who offers it. Hack, it is not as easy as asking highly experienced knowledgeable adventure developers like the writing directors from this campaign (although they are helping). There is a point of less return where too many people working on the same 30 page adventure just leads to longer delays. Furthermore, new people need time to get up-to-date which in turn requires additional energy and time from people in the know. Finally, in the end, the globals are required to give their final stamp of approval and more people looking at an adventure are not guaranteed to reduce the time that we have to spend on an adventure. The Globals need to do this because of IP protection and for legal reasons they are paid for it and signed specific freelance contracts detailing such duties.
All very understandable and I can completely understand that the current backlog will have to be worked through with the process that is/was in place. I know you and others are working at it as hard as humanly possible so be assured the following is meant constructively.
Can I suggest that the current process is flawed? From where I stand, looking at it from somewhat of an angle, it seems too many of the steps in the authoring/production process require detailed knowledge and the right paperwork. Because gaining those take time and effort the number of people involved is kept small. That should be fine as long as few unforeseen occurrences, like people leaving, happen. But it is very vulnerable, as we can see.
Now I kinda assume (yes I know.. ass..you...me.. but still) the plan you mention will deal with that. As a suggestion though: make smaller chunks of work. As many reactions here show there are plenty of people willing to do some of the grunt work that will let the more official volunteers focus on coordinating and being responsible i.e. manage.
I doubt every little step in the process really needs the in depth knowledge and/or bureaucratic safeguards. Getting more people involved in a way that allows you to buffer the unexpected seems to me to be a good thing. I realize that may be an unrealistic sentiment though.
Either way, looking forward to the plan, and wish everyone involved nothing but the best of luck in catching up..
Does this sound likely without a full time employee? I wouldn't sign off a PO request from a free-lancer without a full time employee looking at it, would you?
If you check my post, I think you will find that I did say Chris retained the legal issues (like dealing with the contracts...).
Keith
Especially when so many of the people involved are not even willing to acknowledge the complete disregard for there own release dates as a failure. The "get what you get and don't throw a fit" attitude is very arrogant and condescending.
No admin has expressed such an attitude and to accuse them of that is, frankly, rude and condecending, full of the attitude that you are accusing them of having. The (volunteer) admins involved have indeed owned up to the issue (in various threads on these boards) and are trying to deal with it.
First of all, it is not rude to point out rude behavior in others.
Second of all, your statement is ridiculous unless you are trying to claim that you have been present for every conversation that any of the campaign staff have ever had regarding LFR.
Third of all, you can not have it both ways. How can those involved "own up" to the problem if it does not exist?
My goal is to have the campaign admins tell me what is going to be released in advance, so I can plan my convention, and other TOs can plan theirs.
Global admins are hopefully making a class I pest of themselves to WoTC to break the deadlock.
Especially when so many of the people involved are not even willing to acknowledge the complete disregard for there own release dates as a failure. The "get what you get and don't throw a fit" attitude is very arrogant and condescending.
No admin has expressed such an attitude and to accuse them of that is, frankly, rude and condecending, full of the attitude that you are accusing them of having. The (volunteer) admins involved have indeed owned up to the issue (in various threads on these boards) and are trying to deal with it.
First of all, it is not rude to point out rude behavior in others.
Second of all, your statement is ridiculous unless you are trying to claim that you have been present for every conversation that any of the campaign staff have ever had regarding LFR.
Third of all, you can not have it both ways. How can those involved "own up" to the problem if it does not exist?
While context swapping makes it difficult for some to tell, I'm fairly sure the problem he's referring to is the problem noted in this whole thread. The lateness of mods.
And as others who know me will diligently attest (oh my irony meter is full right now), it is actually very easy to be rude when pointing out the rudeness in others. Since tone cannot be transmitted over teh intarwebs, it would probably be useful for everyone to try and accept that perhaps a given statement is not meant to be rude or condescending. However, words like "condescending" do have a particularly offensive feel to them, especially when used to tar and feather an entire species ... so I'll grant that Dragon9 was probably right in his feeling that he needed to defend the admins.
Lest you assume I'm attacking you, I'm not, I'm merely trying to point out where I think some of this might be coming from.
While context swapping makes it difficult for some to tell, I'm fairly sure the problem he's referring to is the problem noted in this whole thread. The lateness of mods.
And as others who know me will diligently attest (oh my irony meter is full right now), it is actually very easy to be rude when pointing out the rudeness in others. Since tone cannot be transmitted over teh intarwebs, it would probably be useful for everyone to try and accept that perhaps a given statement is not meant to be rude or condescending. However, words like "condescending" do have a particularly offensive feel to them, especially when used to tar and feather an entire species ... so I'll grant that Dragon9 was probably right in his feeling that he needed to defend the admins.
Lest you assume I'm attacking you, I'm not, I'm merely trying to point out where I think some of this might be coming from.
I was not trying to say that one could not be rude while pointing rudeness. Merely that the act itself is not inherently rude. I understand context is difficult to convey over this medium. And I am not trying to be a pain. But I stand behind my statement. People can call me what they want, but I just call them like I see them. Do note that my opinion was not garnered from this thread (mostly), but from several face to face exchanges with campaign and WoTC staffers at DDXP. I was actually quite appalled at how I was treated.
Dragon9 did irk me my implying that my opinion was wrong. He might mean to say the no one intended to be rude or condescending, but that does not mean they were not. And to imply that the admins are not capable of it is also ridiculous. Last I noticed they were human and thus capable of mistreating others. (And yes this applies to myself as well.)
I also did not consider my statement to be an attack or offensive. I suppose others might, but that was not my intent. I was a negative criticism. And if others feel that equals an attack, then I would say they are entirely too sensitive. If I thought the admins or the situation where irredeemable I would say so. I am pointing out what I see as problems.
And for the record I am not claiming the admins (or anyone) are failing in regards to the release schedule out of any sort of malice or intent. I met all three of them at DDXP (Well not technically since one had recently relinquished his position and the replacement was not there.) and they all seem like decent enough people. I have little doubt that they are trying. But that does not change the fact that they continue to fail. To think that this pattern will not continue without some notable changes is not reasonable. I also recognize that they do not have full control over the situation. Maybe that is why they can be touchy in regards to the topic?
So forgive me for giving my blunt and honest opinion, but there it is.
Keith
(who is still wondering how someone thinks Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate adventures are alike)
I would also like to point that, as is my habit, I presented a possible solution along with my criticism. I find it telling that people seemed to focus solely on the criticism and summarily ignore the suggestion.
Global admins are hopefully making a class I pest of themselves to WoTC to break the deadlock.
The admins may be in a lose-lose situation. To the extent that the campaign's existence rests upon WOTC's continued sufferance, being too much of a pest is unlikely to yield a good result.
My cynical interpretation of WOTC handing over more direct responsibility for the campaign to volunteer staff was that WOTC no longer saw the campaign as something worth spending employee time on, but campaign staff pleaded with WOTC not to end the campaign.
Remember that this announcement was made shortly after an employee layoff (when it would not be unusual for a company to reconsider which projects are worth allocating its now-diminished resources to), as well as some time after they pivoted to a new direction with their book releases (with the announcement of the Essentials line). It would not surprise me if a decision was made on some level that LFR was an interesting experiment that had run its course, and was no longer a direction WOTC was interested in expending substantial resources on.
Unfortunately, one possibility is thus that WOTC is unwilling to give up direct control but also unwilling to have their employees make the campaign even the slightest priority, leading to long delays at every stage when something needs to be reviewed, commented upon or uploaded. That is not to say that WOTC has any animus toward the campaign, but benign neglect leads to the same result.
This is, of course, nothing but utter speculation and there may not be a shred of truth to it.
The other possibility is that the campaign's method of generating adventures is deeply and systemically flawed. We hit the two-year anniversary for many campaign staff a few months back, which is traditionally when we would expect to see a meaningful percentage of staff burn out (and, sadly, a certain percentage of those burnt out will simply drift away without notice, leaving those above them in the dark until deadlines past).
If the system was insufficiently robust (which, given the experience level of some of the campaign staff, is surprising), the falling away of key campaign staff could certainly effectively shut the campaign down for three months.
Were that the case, though, I would have expected to see a substantial number of holes at the local campaign staff level, as well as more announcements of openings. Still, I can hope that this is the case, because that at least is something the campaign has the potential to recover from.
One hopes that if the problem is not on the WOTC end (for which, alas, the only solution is to ask whoever's last on staff to turn out the lights before they leave), that the last few months will lead to an in-depth review of the LFR's adventure development and release systems. I'm not just talking about the means by which an idea becomes a module (though that obviously needs review), but also the other factors that cause delayed adventures to have such an impact (such as the tight level bands, rapid advancement and narrow windows for PCs trying to play storylines).
The contract problem is one of transition. Once we get the backlog of authors with MTAs and POs, and have set new expectations about our process for bringing on a new author, that should go away.
The upside of the new process, as an author I have found I get paid roughly 3 weeks after sending in my invoice. Better than months later under the old process.
We have seen some campaign staff turnover which seems normal to me. I anticipate some staff structure changes later in this year to correct insufficient capacity in some areas and reduce excess capacity in other areas, and perhaps realign who works for whom. But first a common vision of what LFR will do needs to developed. That is currently underway between the Global Admins and WotC.
Keith
I don't know or think LFR is at the point that Brian speculates on, but there is historical basis to be concerned. I know for a fact that if a campaign becomes viewed as "too much trouble," the upper management will start pushing to drop the campaign. So we do have to be careful about sending overstated messages that "LFR is broken" and unless you do X, Y, or Z, the campaign is worthless. The unintended consequence could be they agree with you and cancel the campaign rather than "fix it."
My intent was not to sound the alarm that LFR is dead.
I just want enough information to plan conventions with LFR in mind.
We have seen some campaign staff turnover which seems normal to me. I anticipate some staff structure changes later in this year to correct insufficient capacity in some areas and reduce excess capacity in other areas, and perhaps realign who works for whom. But first a common vision of what LFR will do needs to developed. That is currently underway between the Global Admins and WotC.
We still have to keep the information flowing. Its important to know when adventures are released, because new modules are the life blood of conventions.
Yes I am a broken record. Please tell us about Q2!
One hopes that if the problem is not on the WOTC end, that the last few months will lead to an in-depth review of the LFR's adventure development and release systems. I'm not just talking about the means by which an idea becomes a module (though that obviously needs review), but also the other factors that cause delayed adventures to have such an impact (such as the tight level bands, rapid advancement and narrow windows for PCs trying to play storylines).
I can tell you that just such a review is currently on going.
I don't know or think LFR is at the point that Brian speculates on, but there is historical basis to be concerned. I know for a fact that if a campaign becomes viewed as "too much trouble," the upper management will start pushing to drop the campaign. So we do have to be careful about sending overstated messages that "LFR is broken" and unless you do X, Y, or Z, the campaign is worthless. The unintended consequence could be they agree with you and cancel the campaign rather than "fix it."
I am of a mind where I am thinking that if LFR were cancelled, what might become the new focus? D&D Encounters?
For me, part of the enjoyment of LFR is the 'private play' factor. I can host a game right in my house for folks, and proceed along with the game, at the same pace of those who host or attend conventions, or events in public places.
I don't have the time to get to the public places, nor do I have the resources to attend conventions that are not within a short drive, or train ride. Don't get me wrong, I would love to, but my commitmenets to my job and family, leave me time for little else than my weekly game.
If they cancelled LFR, I would have to wonder what sort of 'private play' option would become available, if any.
If they cancelled LFR, I would have to wonder what sort of 'private play' option would become available, if any.
Continuing the rampant speculation...who's to say there would be a "private play' option for organized play? WotC provides adventures for home play, via Dungeon, as well as the "published" adventures which are sold in game stores. As long as we're speculating...it's entirely possible that they feel that those are sufficient.
(And, once upon a time, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, RPGA play was largely, if not entirely, limited to public events.)
One hopes that if the problem is not on the WOTC end, that the last few months will lead to an in-depth review of the LFR's adventure development and release systems. I'm not just talking about the means by which an idea becomes a module (though that obviously needs review), but also the other factors that cause delayed adventures to have such an impact (such as the tight level bands, rapid advancement and narrow windows for PCs trying to play storylines).
I can tell you that just such a review is currently on going.
If that review can lead to meaningful changes, that in my opinion is infinitely more important than getting these late mods out.
I can't help thinking that these are not good signs...
... lost the "RPGA Reports" name in February ....
The RPGA acronym is an old term and has been replaced by the Wizards Play Network (WPN). While rebranding has been slow in many areas of Wizards of the Coast, Dragon saw fit to ditch the defunct RPGA acronym.
But yeah, the other two circumstances do suggest change away from LFR...
We have the new Character Creation Guide project announced late this month (April 2010). Of course, the CCG is a WPN-wide document and LFR could certainly be officially written out of play and made defunct by not being included in this forthcoming CCG.
Since nihilisn reigns at WotC, we just have to wait to find these things out sometime in the future by a "surprise" announcement.
Well, I can't say that I like Chris Tulach drawing back some from LFR, but it parallels what he said at DDXP, that the Global Admins would be in the forefront and spotlight, not him. I suspect he has picked up some unannounced project, but that is speculation on my part.
Keith
We have the new Character Creation Guideproject announced late this month (April 2010). Of course, the CCG is a WPN-wide document and LFR could certainly be officially written out of play and made defunct by not being included in this forthcoming CCG.
Hmm... maybe there is some confusion. I used the acronym CCG cause its the one we're familiar with. The new document might not even be called that, since it will be a document wholly for LFR, complete with everything you need to make an LFR PC (so general rules that might be the same as the current CCG in some cases, but also with all the specifics for LFR). The new project is NOT a WPN-wide document.
From another thread...
1) We really need to know the Q2 plan. Even if its the Q1 schedule of backlog, plus a little, or even if the dates are going to be vague, it at least gives TO people like me a chance at offering events. I have three months to play these for conventions and its nice to be able to plan these ahead.
1) We're working on it; having some staff issues at the moment so it seems likely that the schedule won't be out until next week at the earliest.
Looking on the sunny side of the street, that means in a week (or two) we should be getting the Q2 release dates.
Quick question, are those dates are used for the opening of the three month public play window, or are the actual release dates used?
Do we make this as a wiki in the community and simply ask each writing director ourselves, when each module is going to come out?
spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AuAkwkB...
The writing directors won't know this information; esp. if the adventure is late due to the Globals or HQ.
Skerrit, every week we wait it makes it harder and harder for conventions to schdule LFR. I said it so often I don't even like to say it.
The writing directors won't know this information; esp. if the adventure is late due to the Globals or HQ.
If only someone would devleop a near instantaneous means of communication. A way to quickly send information to individuals or groups. Or even a way to present information to the public in a medium for all to see.
I could swear someone named Ray did just that back in 1971. Perhaps they could call him?
Wow if they had that in 1971, just imagine what they will come up with by 2010.
If we want admin participation in this thread, let's keep it worth their while to read this.
I'll distract the disgruntled by saying that the adventures I've been playing (some fairly recent, some older that I had not yet played) have been pretty darn good. EAST1-6, DRAG1-5 and 1-6, AKAN2-1, and even DALE1-7 and DRAG1-7, have all been really good. The first four were especially excellent and some of the better LFR mods.
I've said it before: I'll take quality over quantity any day.
I was just trying to inject some humor. Two mods were released... I can see the floodgate starting to open, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Doom and gloom shall cease, there will be rejoicing and dancing in the streets (or at least at the gaming tables).
Deep breath people, deep breath.
If we want admin participation in this thread, let's keep it worth their while to read this.
I'll distract the disgruntled by saying that the adventures I've been playing (some fairly recent, some older that I had not yet played) have been pretty darn good. EAST1-6, DRAG1-5 and 1-6, AKAN2-1, and even DALE1-7 and DRAG1-7, have all been really good. The first four were especially excellent and some of the better LFR mods.
I've said it before: I'll take quality over quantity any day.
I absolutly love the modules, and LFR is worth the work. People love playing it. I am disgruntled only because I expect advance notice, and I am waiting on the promise made for the Q2 schedule.
I have a new promise from you all for a week or two. I am waiting.
When I don't get the modules, I have to scramble. When I ask people to pay money, hotel rooms, and a weekend, and I can't even tell them what modules are going to be offered that they can't play anywhere else, I am stuck. It makes me look bad, and I have to make excuses.
I hate excuses. I have my own standard which is produce results.
I can't expect people to make plans if I only can order modules and post them two weeks ahead. I can order the modules last minute, but my DMs can't get the modules a week out and be prepared.
Deep breath people, deep breath.
If we want admin participation in this thread, let's keep it worth their while to read this.
Understood, but I am not going to let someone blow smoke up my hoop. So the legitimate questions remains. Why are HQ and the globals not communicating with each other and the writing directors? They are all working together for the same goals correct?
I'll distract the disgruntled by saying that the adventures I've been playing (some fairly recent, some older that I had not yet played) have been pretty darn good. EAST1-6, DRAG1-5 and 1-6, AKAN2-1, and even DALE1-7 and DRAG1-7, have all been really good. The first four were especially excellent and some of the better LFR mods.
I've said it before: I'll take quality over quantity any day.
I agree with this. I would rather see quality adventures that are ready to be released as opposed to rushed releases. Which brings me back to an earlier point. Why not just stop posting the release schedule? Just simply annouce what is released as it is released.
I was just trying to inject some humor. Two mods were released... I can see the floodgate starting to open, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Doom and gloom shall cease, there will be rejoicing and dancing in the streets (or at least at the gaming tables).
I do hope we can have the dancing and rejoicing soon.
Currently all we have is ... pain and agony.
CORM 2-2 and DALE 2-2 are now available for sanctioning and download.
I'm not 100% positive off the top f my head, but I believe that CORE2-5 and WATE2-2 are next week's releases.
That's great, but where are the 10 adventures from the Q1 schedule that have yet to be released?
A discussion occurred amongst the admins (Globals and regionals) that maybe we should just start releasing what we had available, rather than try to go through the painful exercise of predicting when the unpredictable will occur. I for one figure that getting some adventures out, while not optimum, is better than waiting a long time for a schedule, then releasing adventures.
Not the only, but probably the biggest headache in predicting release dates of late has been the WotC change in contracting procedures. I have zero confidence in predicting when and if an author will get his/her contract, and the adventure can be legally acquired and released. Over time, this problem will go away, as we will only pick authors who already have a contract. But estimates of how long the process will take have proven totally unreliable.
That we have lost staff and authors are also issues.
Then we get to the more routine....random adventures that need significant rework.
Keith
If only someone would devleop a near instantaneous means of communication. A way to quickly send information to individuals or groups. Or even a way to present information to the public in a medium for all to see.
Cynism not withstanding, announcing almost immediately when something is available is not the issue - this thread does exactly that. The problem right now is to get a dependable schedule, and that has nothing to do with modern fast communications.
Currently all we have is ... pain and agony.
Gomez
The problem right now is to get a dependable schedule, and that has nothing to do with modern fast communications.
All sarcasm aside, Kieths email implies to me that you are not going to publish a schedule ahead. You sound like you will. .
I appreciate that capable people are willing to be thrown on the flaming pyre of a very thankless job. We want the same thing, and we are four square behind you guys, and I am happy to do what it takes to help.
When I plan to run a major gaming event, I first have to agree with the con organizers. We started talks with my latest convention ten months ahead. We signed a agreement a couple months ago, the organizers have laid out money to hotels, halls and other vendors already.
It is reasonable for me to tell gamers that we will play certain modules, about six weeks ahead. I often try to schedule things that are released three weeks ahead of date, but sometimes I cut it close and take that risk.
Risk management is an important part of the gamesmanship of having a good event.
If I work without a schedule and see GELF 2-4 "My Gnome is Burning" comes out today, and I post it for my convention in July, most everyone has played it.
If I have a vague schedule and that you all tell me that POWN 2-4 "Nailed to the Hull" is going to come out sometime in June, I would schedule it for July knowing that if you all are late its OK.
If I have an exact schedule and I see that SWET2-6 "Lets Not Fight and Have Tea" is going to come out on July 12th at 11AM, it would be a bad idea to plan for it for my July 23rd con (Be there - Metrocon, Tampa), unless I really have a lot of people who like to role play a tea party.
You guys making a schedule, even if it is flawed, directly makes it easier for all of us who run events for the public to enjoy. When people tell me a some engineering task is ready in two weeks I add a little bit, if I underpromise and overdeliver it makes us all look good.
Not many people appeciate the risk that was taken in Q1, and when you leap for the stars, sometimes you land iface down.
Currently all we have is ... pain and agony.
... and discomfort. You forgot discomfort.
Currently all we have is ... pain and agony.
... and discomfort. You forgot discomfort.
True. We've had the discomfort for a while though. I'd almost gotten used to it. The pain and agony are new. I haven't even experienced them yet, though I'm hoping to next week.
Oh, we will have a schedule again... someday. Once we fix some of the current issuses, things will go back to normal. That said, we need to fix the current problems and then we should be better able to tell when stuff is coming out. For now, predicting about one week out is the best we can do.
Any chance this might be the same day of the week, each week? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with chocolate sauce?
I for one would prefer it if the globals would not dump the mods as the catch up but release a couple a month for the summer/early fall and get a selection of about 2 dozen that are definitely and fully done and ready to release. Put those completely finished ones on a Q3 schedule and release according to that schedule, period. Work it out with WotC however you have to. Then, as new mods are finished, playtested, and ready to publish, put them in the back of the queue until you have 24 again and release a Q4 schedule and so on.
This will mean a bit more of a drought this once this summer, but then we can have a regular schedule full of mods that will definitely release, that event organizers can definitely plan on because the mods are already done or they wouldn't be on the schedule at all.
I would also like to see con-only specials like more BIs and the much-rumored Raids happen ASAP and on a regular, quarterly as well. I think this structure would work for everyone?
Then let Encounters, WWGDs and Chris's other projects be the draws specific to stores and something you don't have to focus on or synchronize with him.
I'd really like to see that kind of all-encompassing schedule that gives everyone something special be a focus for the admin team as the writer issues are resolved and we can work on a regular flow of content. Please explain why it's a bad idea.
At DDXP we released the battle interactive
Well, kinda released it for Con play too.
At this moment we release 4 con specials per year: 2 in DDXP, 1 in Origins and 1 at GenCon. At DDXP we released the battle interactive and the special. At Origins we release another ADCP: ADCP2-2 Heart of the Desert (race in Calimshan) with one version for heroic tier and one version for paragon tier (each version is distinctly different and hence can be played by the same characters, although obviously con-organizers can decide different in case of a match with both paragon and heroic tables). At GenCon there is the special. These costs a huge amount of resources to develop compared to regular adventures, especially a BI is a LOT of work. Don't expect there to be more then 3 to 4 per year.
Well, at one a quarter, that would be 4 a year. I just wish the Core Specials were also Con-only and things went back to con-only instead of public play-only as everyone played single tables of ADCP1-1 at a store or library here and there by the time the local cons happened and no one was interested once a multi-table experience was actually possible.
I think what you guys are doing is cool, I just think a better structure for how it's released to us would make everything far more worthwhile at all levels.
I agree with Lord_Darquain on the release strategy. Have CON specific releases (Core Specials, ADCP, Minis) available for private play 3-6 months after initial release, but allow regional and core modules available for private and public play at the same time. This way you don't have to worry about updating the event sanctioning database twice for most of the modules.
No idea why the formatting is odd here...
SPECs, ADCPs, and BIs (Plus LAIRs/RAIDs if they ever happen) seem like plenty of "special" things for my local cons
Encounters, WWGDs and WEEKs seem like plenty of "special" things for my store events
And Regional and COREs as they're released by campaign staff are plenty to keep us regularly playing in my home and internet games and not miffed since I understand the bigger events get cools tuff, but at least I get stuff regularly without fail.
And that way campaign staff doens't have to keep and eye on a double schedule to track when things should move from one level to the next. They simply stay on their appropriate level and in the arrow doodle I made earlier, any event higher up the chain can use things from below, just not the other way around.
At this moment we release 4 con specials per year: 2 in DDXP, 1 in Origins and 1 at GenCon. At DDXP we released the battle interactive and the special. At Origins we release another ADCP: ADCP2-2 Heart of the Desert (race in Calimshan) with one version for heroic tier and one version for paragon tier (each version is distinctly different and hence can be played by the same characters, although obviously con-organizers can decide different in case of a match with both paragon and heroic tables). At GenCon there is the special. These costs a huge amount of resources to develop compared to regular adventures, especially a BI is a LOT of work. Don't expect there to be more then 3 to 4 per year.
Thanks for this info. These special adventures and the hard work that goes into them are much appreciated.
Any chance we will see some new H1/H2 mods in the next week or two? Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
Or maybe a H3 or P1 that offers step 3 of "In Slumber Remain"? Please, with like, double chocolate cherries on top?
Show
It has task 3 in it, unless it's a typo
Barring unforseen circumstances, I expect TYMA2-1 and EAST2-1 to become available for order by conventions this week (likely Wednesday).
As for ADCP2-1, from what I read, a version is going to be posted soon as well. Remember, Bgibbons, that adventure has been made available through PoCs for convention organizers, so you can always ask a copy through them.
Good news about TYMA2-1 and EAST2-1. I don't know about anyone else, but we've been trying to get ADCP2-1 from our PoC for a convention in Phoenix area and so far, no luck. The people that we've contacted that are running it told us they were running a playtest version. Hope it gets posted soon.
Allen.
I don't know about anyone else, but we've been trying to get ADCP2-1 from our PoC for a convention in Phoenix area and so far, no luck. The people that we've contacted that are running it told us they were running a playtest version. Hope it gets posted soon.
I obtained ADCP2-1 from my region's event manager in early April for our convention two weeks ago. I'd try sending the Moonshae Isles region an e-mail and see if they're willing to help. Is Phoenix in the Moonshae Isles region?
Barring unforseen circumstances, I expect TYMA2-1 and EAST2-1 to become available for order by conventions this week (likely Wednesday).
As for ADCP2-1, from what I read, a version is going to be posted soon as well. Remember, Bgibbons, that adventure has been made available through PoCs for convention organizers, so you can always ask a copy through them.
Madfox, I appreciate the effort and the updates, but I'm really at a loss as to how to react anymore when these deadlines keep getting missed.
Note btw that Chris Tulach and the globals are looking into another distrubuting model that should solve some of these issues. We are well aware of the problems it is causing.
When a global mentions something that is because they delivered the adventures, and RPGA send it to IT. I have asked Chris Tulach to look into it. That is all I can do.
Note btw that Chris Tulach and the globals are looking into another distrubuting model that should solve some of these issues. We are well aware of the problems it is causing.
Incidentally, I wasn't around for years 1-2 of Living Greyhawk, but from the bits and pieces I picked up, isn't this very similar to the developments during those years? At first regional adventures were distributed via the RPGA sanctioning system, then the volume of releases led to bottlenecks and delays, so an alternative was found? I'm not sure that alternative of delivering regional modules by email from the PoC would work in LFR - at least under the current system - both because the PoC would be inundated with requests and because we've got used to same-day sanctioning.
Question for WotC: do we have to put LFR adventures behind a 'wall' at all? One of the major questions when people first hear about the RPGA is 'how can I get these adventures' (often 'so I can use/abuse them in my home campaign?). Traditionally that's not been 'allowed' for RPGA adventures, but why not? Administrator comments seem to suggest that the campaign staff want this material to be used, to be played, and I'm not sure that there's any real value in restricting access to it. Certainly, more people would make use of Paragon Tier modules if they were made available beyond the campaign - and I'm sure this kind of thing is happening at the moment, anyway.
Those who want to play and run the campaign can do so, but the adventures have been written, they've been paid for, so why not let people play them? They could be put somewhere with good download statistics-tracking and made freely available, giving the admins the ability to upload them once they were ready.
- Log in
- Look at what is available. Everything can be seen (including maybe grayed-out mods with "Coming Soon!"), with public-only events labeled that way and the date when they will become public.
- If you want to sanction something, click on it and schedule a date when to run it and whether public or private. If public, you choose an approved location. The system takes into account whether you can order it or not based on the date you choose.
- Module can be downloaded.
- The day after the event concludes, an e-mail prompts you to report it. Repeated one more time a week later if you have not reported it.
And no loading, whirring, giving people story awards, entering their #s once, then selecting them from a list, etc.
All things being worked on and/or looked at.
- Log in
- Look at what is available. Everything can be seen (including maybe grayed-out mods with "Coming Soon!"), with public-only events labeled that way and the date when they will become public.
- If you want to sanction something, click on it and schedule a date when to run it and whether public or private. If public, you choose an approved location. The system takes into account whether you can order it or not based on the date you choose.
- Module can be downloaded.
- The day after the event concludes, an e-mail prompts you to report it. Repeated one more time a week later if you have not reported it.
This looks like a pretty ideal way to manage sanctioning. It'd be nice if it was this intuitive. As a free service, I think the current system is fine. But, something a little more modern would be cool. It does seem a little clunky as is. But again, it's free and better than nothing and works for its purpose.
One thing at a time, however - let's get the adventure releases back on some kind of reliable schedule. Thanks for all the work in sorting this out to the principals involved. I hope we get something going soon-ish.
Allen.
Skip the add session. When a DM is entered, add a new session, with that DM running and any players not assigned to a session playing. Any new players added by ID should be added to the most recently added session.
After that, it would be handy to have some preconfigured sets of players/DMs. Select "Moday Night LFR Game" from a drop down or check box, select which ID is the DM, and remove anyone that wasn't able to make it that week from the players. Answer questions, hit submit.
I'm guessing we're not going to see any new mods posted until after Origins is over.
Barring unforseen circumstances, I expect TYMA2-1 and EAST2-1 to become available for order by conventions this week (likely Wednesday).
They're in the system. Thanks!
I'd really really like reporting to be easier. Like, enter the judge number, click (# of questions at end of adventure plus 1-3) buttons easy.
And no loading, whirring, giving people story awards, entering their #s once, then selecting them from a list, etc.
Is there really any point to spending any effort on the sanctioning/reporting system now?
My understanding from Skerrit's LFR blog post (community.wizards.com/lfr/blog/2010/06/1...) is that starting Q3, there will be an entirely new mechanism for downloading and providing feedback for LFR mods.
That said, don't stop sanctioning now, as it might give WOTC the idea that play is falling off dramatically and thus there is no reason to spend the $ and manpower to implement the changes we are in the process of doing.
Oh, that's not what I meant.
I meant that there seems to be little point for WotC to spend money and time on improving the current sanctioning system if it's going to be abandoned in three months. I'm certainly going to comply with the current policy and sanction/report my games until the new system is in place.
I'd really really like reporting to be easier. Like, enter the judge number, click (# of questions at end of adventure plus 1-3) buttons easy.
And no loading, whirring, giving people story awards, entering their #s once, then selecting them from a list, etc.
Is there really any point to spending any effort on the sanctioning/reporting system now?
My understanding from Skerrit's LFR blog post (community.wizards.com/lfr/blog/2010/06/1...) is that starting Q3, there will be an entirely new mechanism for downloading and providing feedback for LFR mods.
My response was before the blog post - certainly, abandoning that method entirely is a viable means of addressing my complaint
Is there a rough estimate of when the adventures that premiered at Origins will be available for download? I'm running a convention the weekend of July 23rd and was hoping to offer many of these.
I know what we, the globals want, and that is either this or next week, but I cannot promise that is going to be the case.
AGLA2-2, QUES2-1, LURU2-2, and DRAG2-2 are now available.
ADCP2-2 has been added to the Convention Specials zip file.
"As a reminder, just like all Adventuring Company adventures, ADCP2-2 is available for public events ONLY. (If any of your local organizers are having trouble finding ADCP2-2 in the RPGA download system, remind them to look for the "D&D Convention Specials" package -- all new content, including both LFR and non-LFR content, that is intended for conventions is being added to that package as it becomes available. The idea is that any convention organizer can always just add that "adventure" to their order (along with any other adventures they want) and be assured of getting the most current set of convention-only content. ADCP2-1 will soon be added to the Convention Specials package as well.
ADCP1-1 (Jungle Hunt) will continue to show up as a separate adventure because it has been around for a while, so it has existing records in the system from all the past events that have ordered and reported it. I'm guessing it would probably mess the database up to delete that adventure and move it into the Convention Specials package. It's almost a year old anyway, so it doesn't really qualify as "current" convention-only content."
Renout
Dalelands PoC
I assume there is still fidgeting going on, because none of the newer mods are downloadable yet. You can sanction them, but can't get them, including the convention special (which I was excited that I would finally be able to report our run of Paladin's Plague with about 75 participants).
I don't know about the 'normal' mods, but I created a WPN event for a week on Sunday and have been able to download the Convention Special files. However you're right that it doesn't seem to be available via the website. If you import the event into the Wizards Event Reporter then it is available to download via that program.
The WER is available here: webapp.wizards.com/download.aspx and once it is installed you can click 'Create New Event', give it a name, click 'Select Sanctioned Event', choose your event from the list of currently un-reported events you've created, and then there should be 'Download' links in the Adventures box at the bottom of the page.
Plus, reporting 75 players will be much easier with WER! (Admittedly, you're only going to be able to record that they have played "D&D Convention Specials", but I think that's how those adventures are always going to be recorded in the system from now on).
Yeah, I tried through WER too, but it kicks back an error, download failed error. It's ok, it's been 2 months since we ran that event, a few more days won't hurt for reporting
Oh. Odd. It worked for me at 1514 GMT. Perhaps they've removed the file to do something with it in the meantime.
Though since ADCP2-1 isn't actually in the file, and you don't need it to do the reporting, couldn't you just report it anyway? Or is it failing to accept report submissions too? (I can't check that)
any thoughts?
this was the email:
The following membership for DCI Number 7xxxxxx has expired:
Brand: WPN Material
Membership type: Coordinator
Memberships auto-expire after one year. If you no longer play this game, then please disregard this notice.
Thank you.
The DCI
Yeah, I tried through WER too, but it kicks back an error, download failed error. It's ok, it's been 2 months since we ran that event, a few more days won't hurt for reporting
Oh. Odd. It worked for me at 1514 GMT. Perhaps they've removed the file to do something with it in the meantime.
Though since ADCP2-1 isn't actually in the file, and you don't need it to do the reporting, couldn't you just report it anyway? Or is it failing to accept report submissions too? (I can't check that)
Well, I sanctioned for tomorrow
I'll figure it out tomorrow, like I said, I am not too worried right now.The absence of the Convention Special file (and, I expect, QUES2-1) is due to someone at WotC doing things to the file, or an error at their end. When I posted, I thought that since I'd got the Convention Specials downloaded around 3pm GMT, they'd still be accessible via WER, but I was wrong.
The following membership for DCI Number 7xxxxxx has expired:
Brand: WPN Material
Membership type: Coordinator
This email has nothing to do with D&D events. "WPN Material" is the pretend game-type the system uses to allow you to order membership cards (and, perhaps, a few promo items). It shouldn't really expire as it's there to get useful things into organisers' hands, so I'd send customer service a note and I expect they'll put it back. On the other hand, if you don't need promo things and membership cards, don't bother.
The absence of the Convention Special file (and, I expect, QUES2-1) is due to someone at WotC doing things to the file, or an error at their end. When I posted, I thought that since I'd got the Convention Specials downloaded around 3pm GMT, they'd still be accessible via WER, but I was wrong.The following membership for DCI Number 7xxxxxx has expired:
Brand: WPN Material
Membership type: Coordinator
* AKAN2-2
* BALD2-2
* IMPI2-2
* MOON2-2
* TYMA2-2
Given that we're missing BALD1-5, BALD2-1 and BALD2-2 (and BALD1-7 was not even scheduled), I suppose the obvious question to be asked is whether there currently is a Baldur's Gate region, or whether it's been unceremoniously retired ahead of the rest of the pack.
EDIT: Added IMPI2-2
So, with the end of the second quarter, we can presumably add the following modules to the missing list:
* AKAN2-2
* BALD2-2
* MOON2-2
* TYMA2-2
Given that we're missing BALD1-5, BALD2-1 and BALD2-2 (and BALD1-7 was not even scheduled), I suppose the obvious question to be asked is whether there currently is a Baldur's Gate region, or whether it's been unceremoniously retired ahead of the rest of the pack.
You forgot IMPI2-2. It is currently being playtested. TYMA2-2 is more or less finished, and currently mostly delayed since last week already included the release of several adventures. I don't know the status of the other three adventures.
The delay in LURU2-1 is my fault. It can be difficult to generate the energy to add the last finishing touches, especially if you are busy with other adventures which do have a higher priority (GenCon MINI and Specials at this time). Sorry.
Is there any word on when any new material will be released for private play? One 8 adventure grouping three months ago and nothing since is very disappointing. Since the original public release dates were spread out over time, shouldn't the same thing be available for private play? Just asking.
I was wondering this myself. I've been waiting since May to be able to run CORM 2-1 for home play, but it hasn't shown up yet in Event Sanctioning.
Is there any word on when any new material will be released for private play? One 8 adventure grouping three months ago and nothing since is very disappointing. Since the original public release dates were spread out over time, shouldn't the same thing be available for private play? Just asking.
I was wondering this myself. I've been waiting since May to be able to run CORM 2-1 for home play, but it hasn't shown up yet in Event Sanctioning.
When I had trouble obtaining AGLA1-7 for private play I ended up asking customer service. They told me it would be resolved in 3-5 days and it was - maybe it was just coincidence, but I would recommend at least trying this avenue if you know a mod is now due to be ready for private play. It can't hurt.
When I had trouble obtaining AGLA1-7 for private play I ended up asking customer service. They told me it would be resolved in 3-5 days and it was - maybe it was just coincidence, but I would recommend at least trying this avenue if you know a mod is now due to be ready for private play. It can't hurt.
I went ahead and opened a ticket. I'll post an update when I get a resolution.
What is the status of Waterdeep 2-1?
My group was hoping to play it before GENCON, I don't see it on the list of missing mods, but
our DM said it was not available for download.
Thanks!
Keith
I had heard Rumors on some p2's Wate 2-3, Core 2-8, MYRE P2/P3. Any update on these as well?
I am hoping that WATE2-3 is a P1 (and that it will be forthcoming shortly), as it's been said that will contain Task 3 for the In Slumber Remains quest, which I'm waiting to complete.
ShowIt is not a typo. WATE2-2 offers the change to do Task 1 or Task 3. WATE2-3 will also offer the chance to do Task 3.
Keith
Keith
Since the traffic seems to be moving to the LFR official group site, how about copying the current list to a new thread under LFR adventures at the LFR group, and then give folks a link to the new location?
Keith
Oh, crap... you're gonna make me do work? geez... ;)
Since the traffic seems to be moving to the LFR official group site, how about copying the current list to a new thread under LFR adventures at the LFR group, and then give folks a link to the new location?
Keith
Where is this mystical "official site". Can you link please? You referring to the Yahoo group?
community.wizards.com/lfr
and the forums on that Community site. These general group forums are largely a legacy of the import of the old WOTC forums. As such they are not monitored as vigorously as the forums unique to the lFR group.
Where is this mystical "official site".
Not too mystical, considering that I put a sticky about it (complete with a link) on this forum's main page two months ago:
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
Any updates on CORE2-8?
I'm actually really perturbed that it hasn't been posted yet. I think the admins have a copy... at least they should. Do we have any updates on this?
i have an eladrian artificer with spider pupils & i don't plain on getting her out of h3 without this mod
i am stuborn. i will wait
IMPI 2-2 Wetwork (P1)
LURU 2-3 Forgotten Crypts, Hidden Dangers (H1)
SPEC 2-2 Tyranny's Bleak Depths (P1)
SPEC 2-2 Tyranny's Bitter Frost (P2)
SPEC 2-2 Tyranny's Perilous Bastion (P3)
Enjoy!
Any word yet on a release date? Or any updates on it's status?
Also, I've be contemplating sending Sean cookies as a bribe. Will it work?