Living Forgotten Realms

[Blastin]

So, after playing in the Game day I got a bit of an itch to maybe get into the Living Forgotten Realms. I have played in Living Greyhawk (LG), and Living City before that, so I am familiar with how it all works.
What I would like to know is, from people who have been involved thus far: What do you think of it? Have the modules been any good? Has there been consistency in quality (a big problem in LG modules). Are they as tough as the LG modules (some of those were character meat grinders)?
Any feed back is appreciated.

 

[bh2]

I didn't play a lot of LG and LC (mainly only a bit at Gen Con), but I have been playing LFR over the last year quite a bit and its pretty great. There are a couple modules which can be insanely hard (IMPI1-3 is brutal). The main complaint is some are just too easy. Althought, now that a year has passed, I have noticed the adventure quality has been getting successively better. Overall, its well worth a shot.

 

[darjr]

Adventure quality started out pretty good, and yes they are getting better.

There are some very cool things in some of them as well. I just ran one were there were combat encounters presented also as skill challenges and designed to go either way based on what the players did.

 

[cdrcjsn]

Played LG a lot back in the day (was Pale triad).

I currently play a lot of LFR (I have 2 game stores within 20 minutes of me that run games on different nights, so I can usually play several times a week if I wanted to).

The mods are not as important as who you play with. The amount of fun you get is almost always dependent on the guys you're playing with, the players as much as the DM.

I do have one issue with the mods though. I'm a tactical gamer, but I don't like the trend I'm seeing in some of the newer mods where they save up all the XP to make encounters that are 2 or more above the level of the PCs.

It's made some mods take forever to resolve and punishes less tactical players unfairly. I think this is a holdover from LG days and a possible reaction to people saying that it's impossible to die in 4e.

Overall, I like LFR.

Even the replay rule is fine, though I initially thought I'd have a problem with it as a convention organizer.

The My Realm events are brilliant as well. Great idea and highly recommended if you can find a good DM.

 

[Blastin]

Ok...I looked over the stuff on the site, and the character generation info, but don't remember seeing anything about a Replay rule or My Realm events...can you fill me in on what these are?
and thanks for all the other replies. Sounds like things are about the same to a bit better than the LG days, and that's a good thing.

 

[MrMyth]

Replaying: You can play the same adventure with different characters, and can even run an adventure and then play it. You need to notify the GM in this case, and are supposed to try to avoid using out of character information - the goal is mainly to prevent people from being forced to constantly 'eat' mods (running them and thus never being able to play them), etc. There were initially some worries about abuse, but I haven't seen any real issues with it.

My Realms Adventures allow a DM to design his own adventure and run it, with standardized rewards for the players. Again, there is potential for abuse (run an easy adventure to give out quick XP and treasure)... but the same is true even without these, honestly. Again, I haven't seen much abuse, and it has really allowed some DMs to truly personalize the campaign and provide a much greater opportunity for characters to build their own story.

The biggest weakness compared to LG is overall story. Individual mods are quite good, but there is not quite the same sense of regional narrative as there was before - but part of that is simply that the campaign is only a year old, after all! There have been good strides in this direction recently, so I'm hoping all it will take is time, and we'll have the best of both worlds!

 

[fba827]

The biggest weakness compared to LG is overall story. Individual mods are quite good, but there is not quite the same sense of regional narrative as there was before - but part of that is simply that the campaign is only a year old, after all! There have been good strides in this direction recently, so I'm hoping all it will take is time, and we'll have the best of both worlds!

Well, in this news release
RPGA Report: More LFR? You Got It!

They mention that they're doign 'mini arcs' for LFR modules to play in sequence, to allow for an overarching plot line.

Mind you, I don't know anything about it other than what is mentioned in that article, so I don't know how well it addresses what you refer to. But it at least seemed tangent to your topic.

 

[Glyfair]

There are a couple modules which can be insanely hard (IMPI1-3 is brutal). The main complaint is some are just too easy.

I do have one issue with the mods though. I'm a tactical gamer, but I don't like the trend I'm seeing in some of the newer mods where they save up all the XP to make encounters that are 2 or more above the level of the PCs.

It's made some mods take forever to resolve and punishes less tactical players unfairly. I think this is a holdover from LG days and a possible reaction to people saying that it's impossible to die in 4e.

Perhaps the solution here is to have a two-prong approach to RPGA events. Have some be more tactical and/or power gamer oriented (tougher encounters, more heavily scripted) and others less tactical and more story/character oriented.

In my experience, these are the main conflicts in styles I see at the table. I have seen quite a number of complaints from those who feel that the RPGA events are all about min-maxing your character and making sure that you have a chance at surviving the tough encounter. Others complain about how the scenario was too easy, and that their carefully designed character just walked over the encounter. The complains are the worst when one player stands out from the rest for his style of play.

With scenarios designed for two different directions of play styles, those who have no preference, or at least no conflict with the other style, can play in whatever events they want. Those who tend to have friction with the other style (or the extremes of the other style) can avoid those events.

There are a number of ways you could differentiate them. You could have a soft difference, perhaps rating adventures by their focus. You could have a hard difference, with different campaigns for the different styles of play.

 

[Blastin]

Thanks for the explanaiton MrMyth. Back in my LG days I did eat a lot of modules. I'm quite surprised that they allow replay, but I can see how some people might like it. I'm not sure if I could have fun playing through a module I already DM'ed though...

 

[amysrevenge]

I'm not sure if I could have fun playing through a module I already DM'ed though...

You'd be surprised. The way that I play has very much switched from adventure-focused to character-focused. I always have fun playing my characters, whether it's the first run through an awesome adventure with good friends, or the fifth run through a terrible adventure with strangers who suck at D&D.