Living Kalamar

[Oracular Vision]

Had a chance to attend the briefing on it this weekend at DragonCon. I like almost everything I heard them say, return of certs, low magic, limited availability of magic and superior items. The naming conventions are odd.

My biggest problem with them was the lack of support from KenzerCo. They were at the convention, and five modules were run. But there was no character creation center, and there continues to be no online character creation guidelines posted. How they expected anyone to play without these two services baffles me. I managed to create a Living Greyhawk character and use him. I liked the DM and the module. But, after asking KenzerCo. about the character creation guidelines, they said they were too busy to do those things. All the other living campaigns had a creation center. I even met Ryan Dancey of the Living City (Organized Play), who was there to personally help anyone wanting to play Living City.

KenzerCo. also did not sell any merchandise below retail, even for bulk purchases, which are widely available elsewhere. The were rude about it to several people. They did not sell to those people, who decided to playing Living Arcanis instead.

I don't think KenzerCo. are organized enough to pull off this Living Campaign, and the lack of support is puzzling. I contrast this with Living Arcanis, which is also a relatively new system, and for which there was enthusiastic user support. Character creation guidelines for this system were available and I was able to have a character ready.

Unless KenzerCo. wakes up, Living Kalamar will die on the vine, which is a shame as I like what I heard and saw about it, I just did not get the feeling they much cared if anyone played it or not.

 

[jgbrowning]

well

to jump in with a totally ignorant opinion ( i know NOTHING about any "living" game") i'd just have to ask...

how do they make money at it?
and
does it make more money for the time they spend then can can make doing something else?


as i said, i dont know, but i suspect those questions are involved somewhere in there.

joe b.

 

[qstor]

Oracular Vision - did you check the Living Kalamar Yahoo Group? I played one of the modules too. I was a little dismayed at the very low exp. Our 1st and 2nd level party fought 2 4th level evil NPC's, 2 ettercaps and 2 leveled hobgoblins and got only 150 exp. I guess I'm more used to LG mods where in Year one the exp was 500.

Mike

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Well, as a KenzerCo employee who's not really involved with the running of Living Kingdoms of Kalamar, I can say that you should be posting your feedback on the Kenzer and Company boards at www.kenzerco.com - those who ARE involved with LK often check them.

Originally posted by Oracular Vision My biggest problem with them was the lack of support from KenzerCo. They were at the convention, and five modules were run. But there was no character creation center, and there continues to be no online character creation guidelines posted. How they expected anyone to play without these two services baffles me.

Well, I wasn't at the con, either, but I can tell you that the character creation guidelines are in the sole Living Kalamar book, the Pekal Gazetteer.

But, after asking KenzerCo. about the character creation guidelines, they said they were too busy to do those things.

Not really sure about this one, because the guidelines are in the Pekal Gazetteer. Perhaps you talked to a "non-office" person who was just running a game?

If you mean that they were too busy to hold a character creation center, it may be that there weren't enough staff, or various other reasons. Not sure...

KenzerCo. also did not sell any merchandise below retail, even for bulk purchases, which are widely available elsewhere.

As a general rule, we've never offered bulk discounts. Our margins are just way too thin for us to lose even the little it may seem to cost us. It really adds up over time.

The were rude about it to several people.

Well, like I said, I wasn't there, but I apologize if this was the case. Did you witness this firsthand or did you just hear about it? Often, conventions can be very frazzling and its possible the person was just rushed.

Again, please get onto our discussion forums so you can discuss your questions and get feedback with the people who are actually working on it.

Thanks!
Mark Plemmons
Kenzer and Company
www.kenzerco.com