WotC has ended support for Living Forgotten Realms (and the RPGA, too)

[Steel_Wind]

Not trying to stir the pot here, but some rumors and scuttlebutt have surfaced this past weekend which indicate that WotC has recently decided to effectively kill off the RPGA and end all corporate support for LFR.

As I heard it described, they have essentially killed official support for Organized Play of 4E other than for D&D Encounters, on a going forward basis.

Any truth to this rumor or is it overblown alarmism?

 

[OnlineDM]

They have indeed ceased official support for Living Forgotten Realms - it's community-run now. They still have Encounters, and they've announced another organized play program for more advanced players that's scheduled to debut in September (no official name announced yet).

That said, there's still a ton of LFR being played. I'm recuperating today from Genghis Con here in the Denver area, where they had between 6 and 9 sessions of LFR running in every time slot for three full days.

 

[Lanefan]

They have indeed ceased official support for Living Forgotten Realms - it's community-run now.

What about the RPGA - is that still supported?

Lanefan

 

[darjr]

What about the RPGA - is that still supported?

Lanefan

One in the same, I'm afraid.

 

[ScorpiusRisk]

I would note, however, that it is perhaps still being looked at. The form for Judges for this year's PAXEast still asked for people's RPGA #.

 

[Tanstaafl_au]

*sad face*

 

[ExploderWizard]

Why should a company maintain an organization for the playing of games that it does not intend to produce anymore?

 

[Steel_Wind]

So, at the same time as corporate support for Pathfinder Society is expanding -- WotC has killed off the RPGA and Living Forgotten Realms?

I... was skeptical over the news as it seemed to me to be painting a very unflattering picture of the state of their game and its community. I thought they had been down this road before and WotC reversed all of that when they took TSR over. Perhaps I am misremembering?

*shakes head*

There sure do like to kick their own game -- and its ardent fans -- when they are down. Man-o-man...

 

[OnlineDM]

At Genghis Con this past weekend, players (and DMs) did NOT provide RPGA numbers.

That said, I don't think it's true that the RPGA is necessarily gone; LFR is just no longer part of it. It's possible that WotC could run Encounters and the new program in September under RPGA.

 

[Stormonu]

Well, we did have them let DDM go "community-run" a few years ago and we saw what happened there.

More and more I get the impression that WotC is putting D&D higher and higher on the shelf out of everyone's reach, and before too long it'll be "boxed away".

Unfortunately, it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophesy - don't support the game, people stop buying because there's no support forthcoming...and you cancel the game blaming no one is buying it.