For starters, I attended a local public RPGA event held by some friendly local gamers. I obtained a DCI/RPGA membership card there. After the game settled up, I went home and tried logging into the RPGA system with my RPGA # and the activation code under the silver scratch-off. This seemed to go without a hitch. I set up my personal/contact info and, after some fumbling through dead links, signed up for the rewards program (which required me to re-input my contact info) and took the herald level GM tests, both of which now show up on my memberships list, with the apparent related functions added to the righthand side bar.
Although I can add characters if I "brute force" my way directly to the the add-a-character page, no option/link to do so appears on my home page. My added character also shows up numbered 1 (I thought I heard the numbering starts at 0?). I do, however, have links for sanctioning events, appeals, etc. I also signed up with the WPN, with no real visible results after it confirmed me.
So, based on this info, here are my questions:
#1: It seems I'm missing the "RPGA Player - Active" membership, as well as the apparently associated side bar menu options, My Play Statistics, My Play History, and My Characters . Will these show up when my membership application is processed, and/or the play report for the game I was in is submitted?
#2: Regardless of the state of #1, is it kosher for me to sanction games/events now? Or do I need to wait for anything further to clear?
#3: My main reason for getting in on this as a sanctioned DM was so I could function as an extra point of contact for people who want to get involved. To this end, is it legitimate for me to request membership cards by e-mail now? Do I need a specific registered event to request them for? Does this have to be a public event, or can one request cards for a private (but sanctioned) get-together? In fact, are cards even still necessary to sign up? I feel like I'm getting slightly conflicted info on that. If not, would it be better to encourage people to sign up online or order cards for themselves than try to distribute them on my own?
#4: Just what did I get into by signing on with the WPN? What I was reading seemed to imply that it's a necessary step for ordering membership cards, but I'm not quite sure of just what I signed on for, or if I should be fearful of being abducted to some kind of secret training camp in Brazil.
#5: I took the 4E and 3.5E herald tests, but only one Herald level GM certification shows up on the memberships list on my RPGA home page. Does this reflect both, or is one of the two missing? Since I can see adventure listings for both editions, it seems the former is the case, but I'm the cautious sort.
#6: Free-answer time! Any general hints, advice, suggestions or recommendations for a newbie out to help spread the evident fun and joy of the RPGA? Any other things I ought to be registered/signed up for? Anything particularly important I should bear in mind or know? Do I need to learn any secret handshakes?
My earnest and considerable thanks go to any information anyone can offer me in clearing this up, and it's knowledge I vow to share to help keep others out of the same mire. I'm extremely excited about this whole thing, but it's in that "cat squeezing into something it can't squeeze back out of" way. So, my appreciation to those who're willing to help cut me loose again!
Perhaps it's a consequence of me being caught in the apparent still-ongoing merge of the RPGA and DCI online material, but the entire process of getting myself set up in the RPGA has proven to be incredibly opaque. The nutshell of my question is this: Am I doing this right?
For starters, I attended a local public RPGA event held by some friendly local gamers. I obtained a DCI/RPGA membership card there. After the game settled up, I went home and tried logging into the RPGA system with my RPGA # and the activation code under the silver scratch-off. This seemed to go without a hitch. I set up my personal/contact info and, after some fumbling through dead links, signed up for the rewards program (which required me to re-input my contact info) and took the herald level GM tests, both of which now show up on my memberships list, with the apparent related functions added to the righthand side bar.
Although I can add characters if I "brute force" my way directly to the the add-a-character page, no option/link to do so appears on my home page. My added character also shows up numbered 1 (I thought I heard the numbering starts at 0?). I do, however, have links for sanctioning events, appeals, etc. I also signed up with the WPN, with no real visible results after it confirmed me.
So, based on this info, here are my questions:
#1: It seems I'm missing the "RPGA Player - Active" membership, as well as the apparently associated side bar menu options, My Play Statistics, My Play History, and My Characters . Will these show up when my membership application is processed, and/or the play report for the game I was in is submitted?
#2: Regardless of the state of #1, is it kosher for me to sanction games/events now? Or do I need to wait for anything further to clear?
#3: My main reason for getting in on this as a sanctioned DM was so I could function as an extra point of contact for people who want to get involved. To this end, is it legitimate for me to request membership cards by e-mail now? Do I need a specific registered event to request them for? Does this have to be a public event, or can one request cards for a private (but sanctioned) get-together? In fact, are cards even still necessary to sign up? I feel like I'm getting slightly conflicted info on that. If not, would it be better to encourage people to sign up online or order cards for themselves than try to distribute them on my own?
#4: Just what did I get into by signing on with the WPN? What I was reading seemed to imply that it's a necessary step for ordering membership cards, but I'm not quite sure of just what I signed on for, or if I should be fearful of being abducted to some kind of secret training camp in Brazil.
#5: I took the 4E and 3.5E herald tests, but only one Herald level GM certification shows up on the memberships list on my RPGA home page. Does this reflect both, or is one of the two missing? Since I can see adventure listings for both editions, it seems the former is the case, but I'm the cautious sort.
#6: Free-answer time! Any general hints, advice, suggestions or recommendations for a newbie out to help spread the evident fun and joy of the RPGA? Any other things I ought to be registered/signed up for? Anything particularly important I should bear in mind or know? Do I need to learn any secret handshakes?
My earnest and considerable thanks go to any information anyone can offer me in clearing this up, and it's knowledge I vow to share to help keep others out of the same mire. I'm extremely excited about this whole thing, but it's in that "cat squeezing into something it can't squeeze back out of" way. So, my appreciation to those who're willing to help cut me loose again!
It sounds like you've done everything the right way from the way you've described things. Good job, I know it's frustrating.
Character numbering starts at one.
#1: That doesn't make sense to me. I'm pretty sure you should have the RPGA Player - Active flag, and the associated links, people I've signed up have gotten that as soon as they finished the Herald test, before I ever reported any adventures with them in. The "My Characters" link, I believe should appear after you manually "force" your way in and register a character. If you haven't done that yet, try it and see it if it helps, if not send an email to the wizards customer service guys.
#2: Yes technically if you're a herald, however I think it might be wiser to resolve the issues you're having first.
#3: You can request cards. It doesn't need to be a specific registered event. You can use the cards you've requested to sign up new players at a public or a home event or sign up new players at an airport like a hare krishna. I keep hearing that they've changed it to allow people to sign up online, but if that's true I haven't seen how you can do that yet. I thought that they couldn't do it because it was a potential issue with underage people releasing private information over the internet or some such.
#4: The training facility is actually in an underground bunker in Malaysia.
#5: Hmm ... I am not really sure about that one.
#6: You obviously took the time to look a lot of stuff up on your own, and the questions you're asking are good ones ... (we get so many people asking questions over and over again that are answered clearly in the CCG). In my opinion the best way to be "in the know" or stay on top of things is to keep an eye on these boards. I've learned a whole lot from conversations and lurking around here, there's a whole bunch of helpful and informed people here.
Good luck, have fun, and welcome aboard.
3) The online sign-up should be the second fastest way to get an active membership. The fastest way, when they are available, is with the DCI activation code cards.
4) The online WPN signup is actually the membership option that is mentioned as an alternative. You will probably, unless they check the database thoroughly, wind up with another DCI/RPGA number at some point.
5) Okay, Herald (or Master, for the 3.5E ambitious) is an on-off switch. Pass either herald test, and you are a Herald level GM.
6) When you schedule games, remember to pay attention to the way you sanction them.
Home Game is for private games, usually at a residence, and dioes NOT go up oin the RPGA calendar.
Retail is for an open game held at a retail location, like your FLGS. It goes on the calendar, and should be open for accepting additional people.
Game Day is, usually, for a regularly scheduled meeting, held at a regular interval. The local gaming group typically hasd a game day here every 4th Saturday, holidays excluded. Advertised on the RPGA calendar.
Convention is for a larger event, with multiple slots with multiple games and GMs. Also advertised on the RPGA calendar.
Also, be sure to sign up for D&D Rewards before anything is reported. If you sign up alter, you will never get points for anyhting reported before you signed up. Keep the signup confirmation email as proof that you tried to signup insase something goes wrong.
1. It won't show up until you're actually reported as having played a D&D session.
Also, be sure to sign up for D&D Rewards before anything is reported. If you sign up alter, you will never get points for anyhting reported before you signed up. Keep the signup confirmation email as proof that you tried to signup insase something goes wrong.
Sorry for my thanks being somewhat belated. For some reason my "subscription" e-mail didn't inform me of your reply. Anyway, that answers my current most burning question. Unfortunately, it looks like the event I attended has still not been reported, and the due date to do so is tomorrow I believe (8 day time frame, isn't it?). Buuuut, at least there's an appeal form for events one hasn't been credited for, so it should all be fixable even if the organizer is being lazy. I'll do my best to do this in a timely fashion when it's my turn on that side of the table. Also, thanks for bringing the rewards registration to my attention. I signed up for that the very day I got my foot in the door, so that should all be in order. Really, aside from being formally billed as a player (which doesn't seem like it's going to be hugely consequential), I think I'm pretty much squared away at this point!
#1: It seems I'm missing the "RPGA Player - Active" membership, as well as the apparently associated side bar menu options, My Play Statistics, My Play History, and My Characters .
I have had this same problem happen with my own account and two friends who have subsequently signed up as well. You are exactly correct on the problem - your flag for "RPGA Player - Active" is not set correctly.
The fix for this is to go through the Help pages. It will require a seperate login and will feel like you are dealing with a completely different system (I think you are), but it will fix it.
Hit the "Help" button at the bottom of the screen. If it asks you to login or register, just do so and include the proper email address. Then there will be a tab for "email us". Click that and explain the problem. Include your RPGA Number, the missing Membership (RPGA Player - Active in this case), and your email.
Via that process we got all three of our incorrect accounts fixed in about a day. Once they set the flag, everything else should fall into place.
They really need a way for us to sign up ourselves.
Good Luck!
Thanks! The funny thing is, the problem cleared up yesterday when the play report for the event I attended was finally processed.
Just FYI...generally speaking, the RPGA event reporting system has no lag time...that is, as soon as the event co-ordinator submits the information on his event, the players and GMs have their accounts updated immediately; the system is totally automated.
So, if you played in an event, and it's not showing up on your record yet...the most likely situation is that the person who set up your event (and is responsible for reporting it) hasn't reported it yet. If you're concerned that you aren't getting credited for something, your first step should be checking to see if it's actually been reported yet. If that's been taken care of, *then* it may be worthwhile to file an appeal.
Just FYI...generally speaking, the RPGA event reporting system has no lag time...that is, as soon as the event co-ordinator submits the information on his event, the players and GMs have their accounts updated immediately; the system is totally automated.
So, if you played in an event, and it's not showing up on your record yet...the most likely situation is that the person who set up your event (and is responsible for reporting it) hasn't reported it yet. If you're concerned that you aren't getting credited for something, your first step should be checking to see if it's actually been reported yet. If that's been taken care of, *then* it may be worthwhile to file an appeal.
Got it. Thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't sure if there was a delay period or not.
#6: Free-answer time! Any general hints, advice, suggestions or recommendations for a newbie out to help spread the evident fun and joy of the RPGA? Any other things I ought to be registered/signed up for? Anything particularly important I should bear in mind or know? Do I need to learn any secret handshakes?
I would reccomend, if hosting a local consistant game group, to make selections of players in numerous individuals.
Don't get really frustrated if some don't show for events, but be sure to realize that the players who are loyal and committed are the ones you can trust.
Trustworthy players often "breed" other trustworthy individuals, especially if such player travels witrh his/her friend!
When you get into higher level RPGA play, you can't afford to lose players if you have only one group, for you usually can't pull higher level characters out of the sky. Worse, though, is that you cannot incorporate new players into high level games, for they will have to start at level one.
It's okay to have an overage of players/DMs, but preferably don't have the minimum a table every week, for if one person does not show, the table dies.
It is also always helpful to try and coordinate other groups, as if in a "bridge group" where players from one group are able to play with another if individuals are unable to show.
My group had difficulty in high-level LG when some dropped out. We ended up with a going group of five: 4 players and a DM for whatever session. Everyone had to show, which may have caused burnout for two individuals who were semi-dedicated.
If you have a larger group of individuals, "breaks" allow.
If it is a slight issue one player has in attending a session, that is fine, for another can take their slot at the table.
If "everyone needs to be there," the mood of the table, also, won't be so great, if people don't want to be there (or simply for the need to be there).
A bit of a rant, perhaps, but tl;dr: have a large group and multiple if you can so diversification is abound, causing non-attendance of one individual not to wreck a session!
So does that settle things, or do you have any other questions?
Nope, for the moment you've satisfied every quandary I had. The set of 25 RPGA membership cards came in just yesterday, by the way, so everything's squared away. Onward to glory!
I've done nothing. It was the other people on the board that answered your questions, and the wizards in customer service that fixed everything. I just wanted to know if I could help you answer anything else?
Yes, you could. Why were seasons 7 & 8 so .... bad? ;)
Seasons 7 & 8 of what?
Ummm.
Red Dwarf, what else?That one cop joke in the vent with the rat made it all worth it.
Last night I e-mailed the DCI people about it. They responded very quickly:
You may want to contact your GM who reported those events. I currently show you set up as an RPGA rewards member, but with no events listed for your RPGA number. The my characters link doesn't show up because you haven't been listed as an RPGA player (something that should happen when your first character's event is reported).
Thanks, and sorry for the confusion!
Unfortunately, that leaves us between a rock and a hard place. Interesting, though - while playing the second game, the DM mentioned that some of his points still haven't shown up from games he played over a year ago. *shrug*
In general the events will show up for you immediately after they are entered. Ask the DM for the event numbers, they will show up on his list of events he has reported, then send those to customer service and ask them to check if you are reported on those events. If you are not, file an appeal, ideally with the DM's contact info so he can verify you were there.
Thank you for this.
I spoke with him today; he's going to look into it and get back to me.