Possible Newbie Wondering if I'd fit in - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Possible Newbie Wondering if I'd fit in

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Thalion94518
Jan 21, 2009 21:55:26 I haven't played D&D for about 10 years but I've recently picked up the 4.0 rulebooks and am starting to get the bug again now that I've a bit more time than before.

It's difficult finding a consistent group to campaign with so I thought doing RPGA Living Forgotten Realms might be a good thing for me to join.

I've never played RPGA events before so I was wondering about the overall general atmosphere of the events.

As I mentioned before, I haven't played 4.0 before so I would be starting off a bit behind the curve in terms of tactics and such. Are the RPGA events generally newbie-friendly?

Along those lines, how do people tend to develop characters? Are most characters pretty much optimized and number-crunched like those out of the Optimization forums or are people generally pretty much accepting of non-optimized characters?

I mean, if I start out with a character that doesn't have a 20 in his prime attack stat (or an 18 if I use the standard array), will it cause too much of a problem?

I understand that all gamers aren't alike and it will all depend on the particulars of the group that is assembled... but I was simply wondering if I wanted to play more with a character concept in mind that isn't dependent upon being optimized, whether I would have fun or not.
#2
matteblack
Jan 21, 2009 22:31:45 I can only really speak to LFR as I haven't played much else but, I think you'll find the campaign and adventures do not require optimization. You'll likely run into a fair amount of players expecting you to have optimized your character but, that will tend to vary with specific communities within the campaign. You'll find many who don't optimize at all but those who are at least partially optimizing their characters are probably in the majority in my experience through the NE of the US.

I believe a 17 is the lowest primary stat I have started with but, a 16 could do fine if you play well and expect to be in a well balanced party. Play something that is fun, interesting and can pull it's own weight and you should have little problem getting along.
#3
kenobi65
Jan 21, 2009 22:41:03 As MatteBlack says, there's no one answer to this, but, IME, RPGAers generally are welcoming to new players, and more than happy to show you the ropes.

I've seen players who are serious optimizers, and players who really don't optimize much at all (I'm somewhere in the middle, I suspect). Hopefully, there's enough RPGAers in your area that you can find a group which shares your sensibilities. (If you take a look at the LFR part of this board, there's a debate as to whether LFR adventures, as written, are "too easy" for skilled players / optimized PCs.)

One thing that I will note, which may or may not make a difference to you:

Many RPGA events, particularly those at more formal gatherings (particularly conventions) are under a time limit; at those, you'll usually have 4 to 4.5 hours to finish a standard ("one-round") adventure. If you don't finish, the PCs at that table may not get the full rewards from that adventure (i.e., treasure and XP); because of that, many players at such events won't do a whole lot of roleplaying or IC discussion / debate. So, if you decide that your character wants to have long bargaining sessions with the local merchants, your fellow players at "timed" events may not appreciate it much. (OTOH, more casual RPGA play, such as at someone's home, may not have the same time pressures.)
#4
tancread
Jan 22, 2009 8:59:20 Pick up games are always a dice throw, you get no guarantees about how well you will fit in. If you fit in at with one group or at one store it is no indicator that you will at the next one. That said, I find the RPGA style of play to be limited, but much less cut throat and optimized than I expected when I started to play last fall. The players I have met and the DMs I have played under have been uniformly decent and friendly even when their play style didn't match mine perfectly. LFR isn't like playing in a home campaign, I don't think it can compete really, but it is a very pleasant way to spend a day playing D&D and I am very pleased I got over my bias and gave it a try.
#5
Alphastream
Jan 22, 2009 14:52:06 You will likely find a mix of everything. I would advise you make a PC without too much effort towards optimization, then try out a few games. Keep in mind that the later mods (often the higher level 1-2s) tend to be the ones that are starting to show setting and story.

If you like the RPGA, game on. If you find it doesn't work, consider other living campaigns, such as Living Spycraft (for Spycraft 2n Edition), Heroes of Rokugan (for Legend of the Five Rings, 3rd Edition), or Shadowrun Missions (for Shadowrun 4th Edition). All of these are fine games with fun living campaigns.

Spycraft is a virtually cheese-proof system. While you can make ridiculous characters, the modules are so story and skill and team-based that success never hinges on your PC being optimized.

Heroes of Rokugan is hugely into RP and flavor, with lots of great challenges based on your choices instead of anything you could optimize. I recommend this as a nice periodic break from 4E, as it works well to re-inject RP into your life if 4E gets too much of a board game feel.

Shadowrun 4th Ed has some issues, and the game is still very prone to optimization. The living campaign is flexible, however, so you really can make changes to keep that in check.

And LFR is fun, of course, and steadily improving.
#6
kenobi65
Jan 22, 2009 15:57:35
If you like the RPGA, game on. If you find it doesn't work, consider other living campaigns, such as Living Spycraft (for Spycraft 2n Edition), Heroes of Rokugan (for Legend of the Five Rings, 3rd Edition), or Shadowrun Missions (for Shadowrun 4th Edition). All of these are fine games with fun living campaigns.

As a player of a number of non-RPGA living-style campaigns, I like this suggestion, but there's a caveat: play of a lot of the smaller campaigns tends to be pretty regional. There are cities in which there's a vibrant Living Arcanis community, or a Living Spycraft group, or whatever...and there are cities in which you can't find anything other than RPGA play. It all depends on what the local player base decides to get behind. (And, this was true of the smaller RPGA campaigns in the past, as well, such as Living Force and Living Death.)

In the same way that one was able to find a Living Greyhawk group in most cities in the U.S., you can probably find LFR play just about everyplace now. The smaller campaigns are going to be more challenging to find. I've wound up playing a lot of those campaigns either (a) online, or (b) at big conventions like Origins or GenCon.
#7
Thalion94518
Jan 22, 2009 22:36:41 Thanks for the advice everyone.

I think I'm going to give it a shot. I'm familiar with convention tournament style gaming so I do understand time constraints and such things. I've always played in games where characters were always provided though so I was just wondering how people approached bringing their own characters.
#8
matteblack
Jan 25, 2009 9:49:08 Think less about optimizing and more about getting value out of your build choices. A good well-rounded character with a few areas of expertise he is relaiable in can be just as useful or more than an all-out damage champion type.

Very often, a party with a broad range of good skills will save more healing surges through their skill play than the toughest combat party will mowing down an encounter in two rounds. Not every adventure is just beating up the bad guys. Sometimes, you need to find them in time, do something while fighting, or even need to prevent a fight.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Thalion94518 Jan 21, 2009 21:55:26	I haven't played D&D for about 10 years but I've recently picked up the 4.0 rulebooks and am starting to get the bug again now that I've a bit more time than before. It's difficult finding a consistent group to campaign with so I thought doing RPGA Living Forgotten Realms might be a good thing for me to join. I've never played RPGA events before so I was wondering about the overall general atmosphere of the events. As I mentioned before, I haven't played 4.0 before so I would be starting off a bit behind the curve in terms of tactics and such. Are the RPGA events generally newbie-friendly? Along those lines, how do people tend to develop characters? Are most characters pretty much optimized and number-crunched like those out of the Optimization forums or are people generally pretty much accepting of non-optimized characters? I mean, if I start out with a character that doesn't have a 20 in his prime attack stat (or an 18 if I use the standard array), will it cause too much of a problem? I understand that all gamers aren't alike and it will all depend on the particulars of the group that is assembled... but I was simply wondering if I wanted to play more with a character concept in mind that isn't dependent upon being optimized, whether I would have fun or not.
#2 matteblack Jan 21, 2009 22:31:45	I can only really speak to LFR as I haven't played much else but, I think you'll find the campaign and adventures do not require optimization. You'll likely run into a fair amount of players expecting you to have optimized your character but, that will tend to vary with specific communities within the campaign. You'll find many who don't optimize at all but those who are at least partially optimizing their characters are probably in the majority in my experience through the NE of the US. I believe a 17 is the lowest primary stat I have started with but, a 16 could do fine if you play well and expect to be in a well balanced party. Play something that is fun, interesting and can pull it's own weight and you should have little problem getting along.
#3 kenobi65 Jan 21, 2009 22:41:03	As MatteBlack says, there's no one answer to this, but, IME, RPGAers generally are welcoming to new players, and more than happy to show you the ropes. I've seen players who are serious optimizers, and players who really don't optimize much at all (I'm somewhere in the middle, I suspect). Hopefully, there's enough RPGAers in your area that you can find a group which shares your sensibilities. (If you take a look at the LFR part of this board, there's a debate as to whether LFR adventures, as written, are "too easy" for skilled players / optimized PCs.) One thing that I will note, which may or may not make a difference to you: Many RPGA events, particularly those at more formal gatherings (particularly conventions) are under a time limit; at those, you'll usually have 4 to 4.5 hours to finish a standard ("one-round") adventure. If you don't finish, the PCs at that table may not get the full rewards from that adventure (i.e., treasure and XP); because of that, many players at such events won't do a whole lot of roleplaying or IC discussion / debate. So, if you decide that your character wants to have long bargaining sessions with the local merchants, your fellow players at "timed" events may not appreciate it much. (OTOH, more casual RPGA play, such as at someone's home, may not have the same time pressures.)
#4 tancread Jan 22, 2009 8:59:20	Pick up games are always a dice throw, you get no guarantees about how well you will fit in. If you fit in at with one group or at one store it is no indicator that you will at the next one. That said, I find the RPGA style of play to be limited, but much less cut throat and optimized than I expected when I started to play last fall. The players I have met and the DMs I have played under have been uniformly decent and friendly even when their play style didn't match mine perfectly. LFR isn't like playing in a home campaign, I don't think it can compete really, but it is a very pleasant way to spend a day playing D&D and I am very pleased I got over my bias and gave it a try.
#5 Alphastream Jan 22, 2009 14:52:06	You will likely find a mix of everything. I would advise you make a PC without too much effort towards optimization, then try out a few games. Keep in mind that the later mods (often the higher level 1-2s) tend to be the ones that are starting to show setting and story. If you like the RPGA, game on. If you find it doesn't work, consider other living campaigns, such as Living Spycraft (for Spycraft 2n Edition), Heroes of Rokugan (for Legend of the Five Rings, 3rd Edition), or Shadowrun Missions (for Shadowrun 4th Edition). All of these are fine games with fun living campaigns. Spycraft is a virtually cheese-proof system. While you can make ridiculous characters, the modules are so story and skill and team-based that success never hinges on your PC being optimized. Heroes of Rokugan is hugely into RP and flavor, with lots of great challenges based on your choices instead of anything you could optimize. I recommend this as a nice periodic break from 4E, as it works well to re-inject RP into your life if 4E gets too much of a board game feel. Shadowrun 4th Ed has some issues, and the game is still very prone to optimization. The living campaign is flexible, however, so you really can make changes to keep that in check. And LFR is fun, of course, and steadily improving.
#6 kenobi65 Jan 22, 2009 15:57:35	If you like the RPGA, game on. If you find it doesn't work, consider other living campaigns, such as Living Spycraft (for Spycraft 2n Edition), Heroes of Rokugan (for Legend of the Five Rings, 3rd Edition), or Shadowrun Missions (for Shadowrun 4th Edition). All of these are fine games with fun living campaigns. As a player of a number of non-RPGA living-style campaigns, I like this suggestion, but there's a caveat: play of a lot of the smaller campaigns tends to be pretty regional. There are cities in which there's a vibrant Living Arcanis community, or a Living Spycraft group, or whatever...and there are cities in which you can't find anything other than RPGA play. It all depends on what the local player base decides to get behind. (And, this was true of the smaller RPGA campaigns in the past, as well, such as Living Force and Living Death.) In the same way that one was able to find a Living Greyhawk group in most cities in the U.S., you can probably find LFR play just about everyplace now. The smaller campaigns are going to be more challenging to find. I've wound up playing a lot of those campaigns either (a) online, or (b) at big conventions like Origins or GenCon.
#7 Thalion94518 Jan 22, 2009 22:36:41	Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm going to give it a shot. I'm familiar with convention tournament style gaming so I do understand time constraints and such things. I've always played in games where characters were always provided though so I was just wondering how people approached bringing their own characters.
#8 matteblack Jan 25, 2009 9:49:08	Think less about optimizing and more about getting value out of your build choices. A good well-rounded character with a few areas of expertise he is relaiable in can be just as useful or more than an all-out damage champion type. Very often, a party with a broad range of good skills will save more healing surges through their skill play than the toughest combat party will mowing down an encounter in two rounds. Not every adventure is just beating up the bad guys. Sometimes, you need to find them in time, do something while fighting, or even need to prevent a fight.