New RPGA DM with some Questions

[mevers]

The offer of a free adventure finally got me to sign up to the RPGA and take the herald level DM quiz. But I still have a few questions, and since the website is atrocious if you actually want to find clear information, I am hoping someone here can help me.

A short aside: If WotC are really serious about pushing organised play and the RPGA, the first thing they should do is fix that website so it is actually usable. But that's a topic for another thread. Onto the questions.

1. Is the RPGA only for LFR adventures? For a long time I was under the impression that the you could only sanction adventures as part of the 'living' campaigns (or dungeon adventures). But recently I thought I read that you can also sanction home adventures. Does this mean homebrew / other modules?

2. Do the PC's in my home games have to conform to the LFR character creation rules? I have a few houserules in my game, does that matter as far as the RPGA is concerned? Obviously it does for 'public' adventures, but I am strictly talking about my homegame I run for my mates.

3. If I do have to run LFR adventures, how much am I allowed to modify them? Eg, Can I effectively strip the FR fluff out and replace it with fluff that matches my own campaign? Can I swap monsters in the encounters so they fit with my existing plot lines?

4. How do I check whether I am signed up to the DM rewards program? I think I must be going blind, cause I can't see it.

5. Do all my players have to be registered RPGA members? I am pretty sure they do, but just wanted to check.

Thanks in advance for anyone that can help me out.

 

[Glyfair]

1. Is the RPGA only for LFR adventures? For a long time I was under the impression that the you could only sanction adventures as part of the 'living' campaigns (or dungeon adventures). But recently I thought I read that you can also sanction home adventures. Does this mean homebrew / other modules?

You can sanction home games. There are Star Wars games as well. There are a couple of stand alone 4E adventures (such as
"Return to the Moathouse"). I think that is it for now.

2. Do the PC's in my home games have to conform to the LFR character creation rules? I have a few houserules in my game, does that matter as far as the RPGA is concerned? Obviously it does for 'public' adventures, but I am strictly talking about my homegame I run for my mates.

If you are running as part of the LFR, yes they do. If you are running
home games" then they don't. You do have to conform to the 4-6 players per table rule, though.

3. If I do have to run LFR adventures, how much am I allowed to modify them? Eg, Can I effectively strip the FR fluff out and replace it with fluff that matches my own campaign? Can I swap monsters in the encounters so they fit with my existing plot lines?

There is a bit of flexibility allowed with the LFR. However, if you are running as part of the LFR, you need to follow those rules (such as actually being part of the LFR). Remember your players get to take their LFR characters and use them in any LFR game they show up at.

4. How do I check whether I am signed up to the DM rewards program? I think I must be going blind, cause I can't see it.

I am not sure anymore. They recently merged the RPGA site with the DCI sit and made things very difficult to use.

5. Do all my players have to be registered RPGA members? I am pretty sure they do, but just wanted to check

They do, but it is free to join, so it's not too much of a hurdle.

 

[mevers]

Thanks for your prompt and helpful answers Glyfair.

I have a couple more questions,

6. Can I run LFR adventures without being part of the LFR campaign? I doubt my PCs even know LFR exists, let alone care about taking their characters to other games etc. As far as they know, I would just be running a home game.

7. Are there any plans for more 'Living' campaigns? I would be on board a living Ebberon campaign in a heartbeat?

 

[Nebten]

4. If you passed your Herald exam and order modules, once you report your games you are automatically signed up for the DM rewards program. Just make sure your mailing address is right when they send you stuff. =v)

6. If you run the LFR module, you are techinally apart of the LFR campaign. When you go to report it, there will be questions at the end that describe how the PC's over came the challenges. If you don't want to report that you could order the mod you want and the generic Home Game FR place older. When you report, you just report the home game. If you decline to report or cancel a bunch of game, they may suspend allowing you to download new modules until proper reports have been made.

7. At this time, no there is not. But with Gen Con coming around the corner and the new Ebberon books coming out who knows. There were 2 "living" Ebberon campaigns for 3.5 back in the day.

 

[Festivus]

6. You could write your own adventures as long as they conform to the rules set forth in the MYRE 1-1 adventure... it's the one you get to design yourself and is still a part of the realms game. You can also just run a good old fashioned home D&D game this isn't a part of the realms... those too can get reported for DM credit. I think WoTC would just like to know who might be running their game.

7. I do not think there are any new campaigns coming up...can't recall where I read it now but I am pretty sure that LFR was it for now.

 

[cdrcjsn]

The big question you have to ask yourself is:

"Will I or any of my players ever participate in LFR events outside of our personal circle?" Right now you're saying yes, but is that likely to change in the future?

The purpose of a living campaign is to be able to take your character and travel to any convention or game store hosting the same living campaign and be able to play your character.

If you are only going to be playing with your same group of friends, then there's no need to be constrained by LFR rules. You just need to follow the general RPGA rules.

You can do any of the following:
1) Schedule an RPGA event as a home game (one of the options available when you schedule a session). There is no adventure with this, but you can report your home game for reward points. DMs get cool things as rewards for events run. Things like the free Village of Hommlet adventure and dungeon tiles in the form of a ship.

2) Schedule a non-living FR game. Same as above, but it's separated in the ordering system for some reason.

3) Schedule an LFR game. You get to choose any of several dozen free adventures. Technically, you are limited in the amount of stuff you can change in the mod (i.e. you cannot change the 5 orcs and replace them with a black dragon), but you can tweak plot hooks, tactics, etc. to suit your players. Technically, you have to follow the LFR rules regarding treasure acquisition (all detailed in the campaign guide on the wizards/com.rpga). Of course, nobody is gonna find out if you strip the mod wholesale and change everything...but what's the point of getting a pre-made mod if you do that? Likewise, if you change the treasure rewards, then it will no longer be a valid LFR game and those characters can't play in the campaign anymore.

4) LFR has a series of mods called My Realms (MYRE1-1) that allows the DM to create their own adventure and still be able to participate in the living campaign.

There are no current plans for another living campaign.

You're supposed to be using LFR mods only in an LFR campaign. Technically.

 

[pedr]

Firstly, you may find it easier to get these questions answered on the RPGA forums here: RPGA - Wizards Community - we're usually a very friendly and civilised enclave of the WotC boards!

The following is long, as I'll try to be as precise and comprehensive as I can.

1. In the 'Event Sanctioning' section of the RPGA/DCI members' area, there are two Dungeons and Dragons logos. One is for creating public events held at stores, libraries, conventions, etc. This has 'Wizards Play Network' under the D&D logo. The other one is for private play, which will not appear on the public calendar and which doesn't require you to provide venue information. You want this one, I think! After clicking next a few times and choosing a date, you'll get a list of adventures. Most are LFR adventures as there are a lot of them at the moment. They all have four-letter region codes to identify them. You can also choose 'D&D Home Campaign (Forgotten Realms)' or 'D&D Home Campaign (Other)'. These do not provide an adventure, but give the GM one reward point for every session of a home campaign run. There are a few other things there too - the last few Dungeon Delves, the Star Wars Saga adventure path, and so on.

2. The RPGA Character Creation Guide explains the general rules for character creation, but essentially for genuine home campaigns, you do not need to use those rules. If you are running LFR at home, you have to use all the rules as it is a shared campaign. The guide is available here: RPGA Downloads - you can, essentially, ignore the other downloads for now.

3. The Guide also includes an update to the rules on modifying LFR adventures. Each adventure contains a section encouraging a GM to make modifications but some people were taking this beyond what the campaign designers expected, so do read the Guide. Essentially you have to keep the plot, rewards, major NPCs, and choice of monsters the same; you can alter levels, add or remove (the same) monsters and do other things to provide the players with a challenge and respond to their intelligent ideas, though.

4. If you are in the Rewards Program, you will see 'My Rewards' on the right-hand menu in the members' area. If you click it it should show 'Activity Reward' (one point for each game you GM) and 'Contact Reward' (one point each year for updating your details).

5. Yes. The easiest way to do this is to scrounge cards from a game store that runs Magic tournaments as they will have hundreds of the things. Otherwise, contact customer services (www.wizards.com/customerservice) or use the 'WPN Play Materials' in Event Sanctioning to request some cards.

6. Technically, no. Whether anyone would notice if you did, I do not know, but the adventures are clearly designed to be downloaded for play at official RPGA events as part of the LFR campaign.

7. There are no plans for the RPGA to run more than one Living Campaign at the same time, where 'Living' means: open-ended, global, probably regional in some respect, producing eight or more adventures a month. LFR is, as Chris Tulach tweeted recently, a beast. While Living Greyhawk was running the RPGA did also run 'D&D Campaigns' (Legacy of the Green Regent, Mark of Heroes, and Xen'drik Explorations) which were time-limited, had far fewer adventures, and took up far fewer resources. Since the start of LFR, the RPGA experimented with 'Delve Night', which was simply a few combat encounters designed to get people playing a very simple form of D&D, but that has come to an end. There are a few rumours that something new will develop, which might have an Eberron theme. I certainly hope so, though the chance of it being anything as significant or widespread as LFR is negligible.

Some people have mentioned the My Realms adventures (there's only one for 1st to 4th level PCs at the moment). The announcement is here: LFR My Realms Adventures - in the ordering system the adventure is MYRE1-1 and if you download it you can see the parameters. Essentially it's a way for a GM to write an adventure which his players can use their LFR characters in and get LFR rewards.

I hope that helps (and wasn't too long-winded for everyone else reading). If you have any other questions, post them here or PM me on the WotC boards - same username.

 

[mevers]

Thanks Everyone!

Thanks guys for your very informative posts.

I think I'll just stick to running my own home game, and give the LFR a miss. I have never been that big a fan of FR anyway, and I have enough stuff to run anyway.

Now, just need to get my players signed up. Any idea what incentive the players have to actually sign up?

 

[pedr]

Now, just need to get my players signed up. Any idea what incentive the players have to actually sign up?

Not a great deal, to be honest. There is an annual reward for giving WotC up to date contact details. This year it was the Village of Hommlet adventure.

However the RPGA is currently on an 'encourage people to GM' kick - what with WotC firmly believing that GMing 4e is very easy. The rewards for GMing five sessions in a six-month period appear to be nice - the ship map tile that is coming soon looks great! Perhaps some of your players would like to run adventures from time to time?

 

[Festivus]

Have the players rotate DMing duties, report all your games. If you DM 5 games you get a reward. As a player, there isn't much incentive anymore, other than helping out the DM to get his or her rewards.