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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barendd Nobeard" data-source="post: 2497032" data-attributes="member: 960">You rang?!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Mark speaks with great wisdom.  The RPGA is what *you* make of it.  I have judged a little, but mainly played in RPGA events.  And most of those are Living Greyhawk (150+ modules) and a little Living Death (approx. 12 modules).I joined to learn the 3.0 rules.  Playing with different classes at every table helped with that a lot.  I also met a lot of great people, some of whom I play with a lot (both RPGA and home games).But, yes, it's just a marketing arm of WotC.  Yes, it concentrates (for better or worse) just on the Living campaigns.  Yes, they have a very small staff.  Yes, sometimes pledges made to a campaign aren't maintained. Yes, sometimes you have to game with loser dweebs.I have played some HORRIBLE adventures through the RPGA.  But I have also played some fantastic adventures, and also played with some DMs and tables that took bad modules and made them great ("Brendigund's Bride" anyone?).  It's also interesting to play a module and then run it later.  I have played modules that I hated, but them liked them much more when I ran them.The long-term plot lines can be amazing (at least here in Wisconsin, the Highfolk region of Greyhawk).  In Year 5, they're now wrapping up plot lines that started in back in Year 1 (Aug. 2000 - Dec. 2001).  We were playing one mod and the judge started asking, "Who's played module 'X' with this character?"  So many people have multiple characters, that it was a lot of fun to be the only character at the table who was involved in the "old" plot line (I've played 40 out of 43 Highfolk modules with the same character).If you get involved in judging RPGA events, there is a hidden benefit.  As people prepare for conventions, they will run a "slot zero" of a mod--a chance for the convention judges to play it before the convention.  Since you're playing with other judges, you tend to get great role players at the slot zero tables.  When the triad members (each region is run by a triad) run the slot zero, they often give a lot of cool back-story to the module that's not printed in there.  It's great fun to see what they were thinking when they wrote a module, instead of just the module itself. Of course, sometimes the "slot zero" version is not done yet and it's a killer mod.  Two of my five of my PC deaths were in slot zero events.  On back-to-back days.  Right before I would have levelled up.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />In Arlington, VA again early next year.  Feb 23-26, or something like that.Lucky you!  Living Death is great!  But I haven't played it in almost two years.  There is another type--the RPGA power gamer.  There are lots of them out there (both playing and writing modules, as well as judging), so unless you have an optimal character build, combats can be nasty (or boring as you watch everyone else fight).  I have played at many table where victory was achieved, but I think the judge was going easy on us.  The first time that happened, I was very happy.  But the second, third, fourth time it happened....well, then it just seemed silly.  Very true.  Work to improve it--most regions welcome any help you can give.Great idea, mzsylver! (Rydia, is that you?)   Getting a small group together at the same level for half a table is a great way to meet other role-players.If you go in with a good attitude and have fun (despite any problems), people will notice and want to play with you.  There are players I avoid like the plague--but they're few and far between.  95% of the RPGA players are fun to adventure with.  The modules, well, maybe 70% of them are good+.... and, yet, my friends play them *all*.  They seem aghast that I will miss mods, but look at my .sig file below:  Life is too short to play crappy games.</blockquote>

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