How soon can we expect from the game desingers that they will construct such a game. I do believe there is a huge fan base out there.
There will not be another Living Campaign based on comments by WOTC staff back at 4e release, and Ravenloft would not be one anyhow.
It has been folded into the Shadowfell. If your lucky you might see a Ravenloft module at some point, if your real, real lucky.
If you're feeling ambitious, though, you could always suggest or write some core adventures for LFR that may give reference to the old Domains of Dread! You never know, the writing directors may enjoy such a thing...
How soon can we expect from the game desingers that they will construct such a game. I do believe there is a huge fan base out there.
My guess would be when all nine layers of hell freeze over. But that's just me.
1) The campaign setting gets new support from WotC in the form of 4E sourcebooks.
2) RPGA has sufficient bandwidth (personnel, budgets) to administer another campaign.
3) RPGA feels that such a campaign is sufficiently different from their existing campaign offering(s) that the incremental play (new players, additional play opportunities for existing players) more than offsets any cannibalization of their existing campaign(s).
In the case of a "Living Ravenloft", you might be able to argue #3. AFAIK, there's no plans for #1, and #2 is probably an inscrutable for those of us outside of RPGA/WotC.
If you want to play in a large RPGA style campaign, why not start your own?
If you want to play in a large RPGA style campaign, why not start your own?
Well, it's a ton of work, for one thing.
The OP is interested in Ravenloft...but I'd bet that WotC still has the rights to that intellectual property, which means that he'd be prevented from creating a Living-style campaign in Ravenloft without WotC's permission (and, possibly, insistence on editorial approval), which would likely not be an easy thing to get.
Well, it's a ton of work, for one thing.
You could totally start up a game at a FLGS, get two or three other DM's involved and work on writing up a few adventures for an open "Living" style game at a shop or two easily. So it takes some work, that's not a big deal.
I'm not talking about a global game, it's entirely possible to do something on a local scale. Plus it'd probably help bring in businesses for the shops on the days it was done. Sounds like a win/win situation.
You could totally start up a game at a FLGS, get two or three other DM's involved and work on writing up a few adventures for an open "Living" style game at a shop or two easily. So it takes some work, that's not a big deal.
Well, you did say, "If you want to play in a large RPGA style campaign, why not start your own?"
I'm not a lawyer, but the issue with using intellecutal property (such as Ravenloft) is this:
You're free to use WotC's intellectual property (such as Ravenloft, or the Realms, or Dark Sun, or whatever) in games that you, yourself write and run for others. You're even free to run those games at public events, such as game days or conventions.
But, what you're not free to do is write a Ravenloft adventure, and give it to someone else to DM. At that point, as I understand it, you're considered to be "publishing", even if you're not asking for any money for the adventure, and you're violating WotC's IP rights.
Now, if you and your friends want to get together and run a "shared" Ravenloft campaign, I believe that you can do that...so long as you are the only person who DMs the adventures you run, and each of the other DMs does the same.
First one to get his/her Dark Powers Checks rule approved wins!
Anyone can write and submit an adventure for LFR, and if it's accepted, it'll be published and we can all play it. This mean LFR is what we make it. If you want some Ravenloft adventures, write some good ones and submit them - I know I am. In fact, I encourage lots of people to, since I enjoy Ravenloft - I want lots of LFR mods in it!
First one to get his/her Dark Powers Checks rule approved wins!
As far as I know, there's no canon connection between Faerun (the world of the Realms) and Ravenloft. While I could see the LFR staff possibly approving a module witha Ravenloft-like flavor (particuarly in a place like Thay), I'd be very surprised to see them approve an LFR module that overtly takes place in Ravenloft.
No canon connection... except the one where the domains of dread are part of the shadowfell and FR is in the new cosmology... right? ;)
Bah! You kids! Get your gothic horror out of my swords-and-sorcery! ;)
Just remember to run towards the mists.
Fine though, General Konobi Copyright Jedi has a point. It really shouldn't be hard to come up with your own Gothic Horror setting though since well Ravenloft is based on quite a few mythes and legends and people should have a general understanding of the background just by saying Dracula.
Start something up, don't rely on the RPGA to get you the games you want to play.