Is there every any plan to add additional worlds to the RPGA format? Right now there is Living Forgotten Realms... but do you ever plan on adding Living Eberron, or Living Dark Sun??
Thanks.
(Unofficial answer...I'm just a VCL, not an RPGA staffer)
There aren't any announced plans for a second RPGA campaign at this time.
Back in the 3.x era, the RPGA usually had multiple campaigns going at once, in different settings. When I first started playing in the RPGA in 2001, there were three RPGA-run campaigns (Living Greyhawk, Living City (Forgotten Realms), and Living Force (Star Wars)), plus a number of other campaigns, run by third parties, that you could order through the RPGA.
It's clear that the RPGA has changed their philosophy on their campaigns. It may be that they want to focus their resources, at this point, on a single campaign.
As part of the announcement that Dark Sun would be the 2010 campaign setting that's supported by WotC releases, Chris Tulach indicated that there would be some level of "organized play support" coming from the RPGA behind Dark Sun. I'm not sure that I'd count on that being a full campaign (it may be more likely that "Dark Sun support" will consist of Game Day events, delves, etc.).
I'll also note that there are a number of other publishers and organizations out there, beyond the RPGA, which offer "living-style" RPG campaigns of various sorts, using a number of different rules systems.
It might be interesting to see Dark Sun to get the old "Classic" convention adventure treatment that I've heard about:
- Pregen Characters
- Tournament style where roleplay is the focus, adventure completion secondary. Teams are moved forward into the next round based on how well they bring their parties/characters to life.
- Have prizes for teams and for notable individual performances. Powergamers would probably be put off by the subjectiveness, but roleplayers would rejoice. Then again, powergamers could always stick with the Delves/Ultimate Delves/D&D championship.
Kind of like an RPGA version of NASCRAG.
On the other hand, if you're looking for more LivingWorld type campaigns, you should check out the Blackmoor campaign. They just rebooted that campaign setting as a 4e setting (with some of its own races and classes). I used to play in it back in version 3.5 and it was a great fun.
It might be interesting to see Dark Sun to get the old "Classic" convention adventure treatment that I've heard about:
- Pregen Characters
- Tournament style where roleplay is the focus, adventure completion secondary. Teams are moved forward into the next round based on how well they bring their parties/characters to life.
- Have prizes for teams and for notable individual performances. Powergamers would probably be put off by the subjectiveness, but roleplayers would rejoice. Then again, powergamers could always stick with the Delves/Ultimate Delves/D&D championship.
Kind of like an RPGA version of NASCRAG.
It'd be interesting, for certain, though I wouldn't be holding my breath.
As the numbers for play of "Classic" adventures tailed off dramatically in the first half of this decade, the RPGA eventually stopped supporting that style of play, apparently deciding that most of their players preferred Living-style play.
I'm just not sure I can see a situation in which the RPGA would re-introduce that type of event.
It might be interesting to see Dark Sun to get the old "Classic" convention adventure treatment that I've heard about:
- Pregen Characters
- Tournament style where roleplay is the focus, adventure completion secondary. Teams are moved forward into the next round based on how well they bring their parties/characters to life.
- Have prizes for teams and for notable individual performances. Powergamers would probably be put off by the subjectiveness, but roleplayers would rejoice. Then again, powergamers could always stick with the Delves/Ultimate Delves/D&D championship.
Kind of like an RPGA version of NASCRAG.
It'd be interesting, for certain, though I wouldn't be holding my breath.
As the numbers for play of "Classic" adventures tailed off dramatically in the first half of this decade, the RPGA eventually stopped supporting that style of play, apparently deciding that most of their players preferred Living-style play.
I'm just not sure I can see a situation in which the RPGA would re-introduce that type of event.
Fun yes but in era where we're struggling to complete most adventures within a four hour slot that kind of gross self indulgence is just impossible. Maybe if slots were expanded to 6 hours it would be do able.
\Fun yes but in era where we're struggling to complete most adventures within a four hour slot that kind of gross self indulgence is just impossible. Maybe if slots were expanded to 6 hours it would be do able.
[VCL HAT]
That's a pretty crass way to describe it, Vamroc. Just because you don't care for a particular style of play, doesn't mean you need to demean it.
[/VCL HAT]
I'd note that the RPGA's old Classic-style modules were often written for (and played in) 4-hour convention slots, so it certainly can be done, and those who played those modules in the past obviously knew how to do it.
I'd argue that the biggest disadvantage to a Classic module at this point would be the modularity of 4E.
Let's toss a dart at the wall, and say a module is written for 7th level.
In the 2.x (and to a degree the 3.x) era a 7th level Paladin/Rogue/Fighter/Cleric/Mage was a 7th-level character. Same powers, more or less the same to-hits, and while there was a variety of feats in 3.x to supplement - they weren't a game-changing experience.
With 4E one 7th Level Paladin will be completely different from the next, same with all the other classes.
So to get a group of players to sit down, roleplay a character they've never seen before, then be effective in 2-3 combats over a 4.5 hour slot is probably asking a bit much.
Not that it's impossible, just that it isn't something that I find as many people would enjoy in practice as they do in theory.
Actually in 2001, RPGA was also running Living Death (although by Claire rather than HQ). Depending when in 2001 you mean, as I recall, Living City was transfered to Ryan Dancey and OP. 
The old classic RPGA adventures really died in play numbers in the early-mid 1990s with the growth of LC. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. They limped along with some offerings, but most D&D players preferred a game where they used and advanced their own character rather than role played a pre-gen character in a tournament setting. Unless the demand grows, I would not expect to see that style of adventure reappear in any significant numbers.
Keith
Actually in 2001, RPGA was also running Living Death (although by Claire rather than HQ). Depending when in 2001 you mean, as I recall, Living City was transfered to Ryan Dancey and OP.
I didn't include Living Death in that list only because it wasn't run by HQ...though, that shouldn't be seen as a slight towards LD, because it's right there with Living Force as my all-time favorite RPGA campaigns.
IIRC, when I first started in RPGA play at GenCon 01, you could play, under the RPGA banner:
- Living City
- Living Greyhawk
- Living Force
- Living Death
- Living Rokugan
- Living Jungle
- Virtual Seattle
Living Verge (the old Alternity campaign) may have just been winding down at that point; I may well be spacing out on one or two more campaigns, too. And, within a year after that point, Living Spycraft, Living Arcanis, and Living Dragonstar all started up.
At GenCon 01, LC was still under the RPGA; the transfer to Ryan Dancey happened either right at the end of 2001, or sometime in the first part of 2002. I do recall playing quite a bit of LC in its last months, before Dancey pulled the plug on it at the end of 2002.
Unless the demand grows, I would not expect to see that style of adventure reappear in any significant numbers.
Agreed. Groups like NASCRAG do a great job with their tournaments, but, AFAIK, they really focus on a once-a-year presence at GenCon; they don't seem to make their tournaments more generally available. They fill a niche there, but maybe it's not a very big niche anymore.
\Fun yes but in era where we're struggling to complete most adventures within a four hour slot that kind of gross self indulgence is just impossible. Maybe if slots were expanded to 6 hours it would be do able.
[VCL HAT]
That's a pretty crass way to describe it, Vamroc. Just because you don't care for a particular style of play, doesn't mean you need to demean it.
[/VCL HAT]
I'd note that the RPGA's old Classic-style modules were often written for (and played in) 4-hour convention slots, so it certainly can be done, and those who played those modules in the past obviously knew how to do it.
I'm sorry you feel that way but combats just take longer in 4th edition this leaves less room for the role play aspect of a ROLE playing game.
As I stated I'd love to have time enough so every one can give dramatic speeches or allow the DM to really portray a villain with some serious bravado. But the only way to get that time is to get rid of action points and just add the starting HP to the con modifier because lower HP creatures die faster and the quicker we get through combats the more time players have give their charactors life.
Dark Sun might become the basis for delves or other neutral-setting events we see currently (right now these are just delves and gamedays, such as the MM2 day, etc.).
That's probably the extent of what we can expect. You play something you might have played anyway and now it is set in the Dark Sun world. Good, in that you get to experience the flavor, bad in that the setting isn't the emphasis.
Ideally, there would be a Dark Sun day, timed with the release of the books. That might be the only love the setting gets, but it could be the proper love and a really good promotion.
The Dark Sun forum is doing a good job of tracking the various tidbits on DS, such as James Watt's blog, the 1d12 questions interview, etc. If you are a fan of DS, check the forum out!
I'm sorry you feel that way but combats just take longer in 4th edition this leaves less room for the role play aspect of a ROLE playing game.
They can...but as someone who's run a lot of high-level 3.5, I'm not convinced that earlier editions were much better in this regard.
As I stated I'd love to have time enough so every one can give dramatic speeches or allow the DM to really portray a villain with some serious bravado. But the only way to get that time is to get rid of action points and just add the starting HP to the con modifier because lower HP creatures die faster and the quicker we get through combats the more time players have give their charactors life.
It sounds like you're assuming that a "classic-style" adventure would have the same kind of encounter structure that a 4E LFR adventure has (typically putting 3 combats into a 4-hour module)...and that may not be a vaild assumption. When you, as a writer, aren't having to worry about an XP budget (because you're no longer writing for a Living campaign), it really changes what you can do with those 4 hours. I'm fairly certain that many of the old Classic modules weren't as combat-heavy as most LFR modules are.
I'm fairly certain that many of the old Classic modules weren't as combat-heavy as most LFR modules are.
Although, some of the best ones were bloodbaths where the expectation was for most/all of the PCs to be killed... It is much more satisfying (for me) to have a one-shot character go down in a blaze of glory than to have a Living character I've been working on for months/years do the same.
One of my best DM experiences ever was running the 3E Classic Winds of Change, where the 6 PCs were all differently built monks who had to hold off a red dragon (that was waaaay beyond their level) long enough for one of the monks to sacrifice themselves into a soul gem type thing. The party was successful, but only barely - each of the PCs in turn was killed by the dragon, buying just enough time for the last one to enter the gem.
I actually miss something like the new mini-campaign for Ebberron. It would be nice to get the support to at least try that setting.
On another account: Does anyone still have the X'endrik Expeditions? I may interest my home group with one faction and try to convert it to 4.0.
Here's a radical thought inspired by reading the DMG2 ...
It would seem both within the rules and within the spirit of the rules to allow an LFR Vignette module to be written. The concept would be as follows:
- Each player must play with a legal LFR character.
- The module consists of a 'flashback' or other vignette using pre-gen characters
- Experience is awarded to the players' characters as per the rules in the DMG2
Generally this seems like it would provide less experience than a standard module, so players will play it for interest, not for power-gamer reasons. I would tie the characters' experiences into the flashback so they have legal in-game knowledge of the flashback events (they have a shared vision, for example) and a reason why they gained experience. Bundles could be treated normally, or this might also be an opportunity to award a boon (going all DMG2).
I think this might work very well as a quest start adventure:
- Characters summoned by a vision-y NPC
- Characters experience flashback
- Characters equipped by NPC to perform future quest
- Results of flashback mod used to tailor the way the quest works
Any thoughts? Would anyone play such a mod?
The reaction to it coudl be mixed. In the Living arcanis campaign they began using what they called "Story Mods." They were mostly story, with some interaction and little to no combat that were used to further plot lines and give information on what was coming up.
They went over very well with the LA crowd. Then again that was a very story driven camapign (good thing too since their own published rules were a total mess).
Here's a radical thought inspired by reading the DMG2 ...
It would seem both within the rules and within the spirit of the rules to allow an LFR Vignette module to be written. The concept would be as follows:
- Each player must play with a legal LFR character.
- The module consists of a 'flashback' or other vignette using pre-gen characters
- Experience is awarded to the players' characters as per the rules in the DMG2
Generally this seems like it would provide less experience than a standard module, so players will play it for interest, not for power-gamer reasons. I would tie the characters' experiences into the flashback so they have legal in-game knowledge of the flashback events (they have a shared vision, for example) and a reason why they gained experience. Bundles could be treated normally, or this might also be an opportunity to award a boon (going all DMG2).
I think this might work very well as a quest start adventure:
- Characters summoned by a vision-y NPC
- Characters experience flashback
- Characters equipped by NPC to perform future quest
- Results of flashback mod used to tailor the way the quest works
Any thoughts? Would anyone play such a mod?
I fore see two issues one being keeping track of two charactors and the second being a division of XP and GP if I fight 3 combats and one of those is a "Flashback" I'd have a charactor getting XP and gold for only one fight leveling at that rate would take forever.
It sounds like a fun option to me, Graham. Some won't want something that is heavily story-driven.
It could be an interesting alternative to the potentially short options we are hearing about (Lairs).
There seems to be a strong pro-delve movement and there seems to be a feeling at WotC that the old delve night should be replaced with something that is similarly crunchy. I can understand the desire to sell the rules rather than the general concept of an RPG. But, it could be a cool option to explore and see how it goes. Sort of the way MINI seems to be popular enough to deserve more play and how ADCPs seem to be a cool idea that could be used by stores to create competitions.
It would seem both within the rules and within the spirit of the rules to allow an LFR Vignette module to be written. The concept would be as follows:
* Each player must play with a legal LFR character.
* The module consists of a 'flashback' or other vignette using pre-gen characters
* Experience is awarded to the players' characters as per the rules in the DMG2
I suppose I need to take a look at the DMG2, but from your description, my first (95% in jest) thought is that now you can use any home campaign as a MyRealms module, with the actual LFR characters of those players seeing it in a vision and receiving xp accordingly.
I'm slightly dubious about "you're along for the ride to experience a story the DM wants to tell" adventures. It's bad adventure writing when done as a normal adventure, I'm not sure it's any better if you're up-front about it.
It's been tried a few times in RPGA adventures, with the one that sticks the most in my mind being a just-after-conversion Living City module, Amber's Story, which not only failed on multiple levels, but created several new levels just so it could fail at those as well.