New Realms = Old School

[Windjammer]

the only real win from the player point of view is that they can pick their characters up and go play in higher level LFR games somewhere down the line.

From the DM point of view, it's just additional bookkeeping. If all you want is the DM rewards, you can sanction your home games as non-LFR games and still get ship tiles and Dark Sun boxes and so on.

The question is, are you interested in your player's characters having portability in public LFR campaign events (conventions, game stores, etc.)? If not, then MRYE is like hanging a giant anchor around your neck. You can always sanction your home games as generic RPGA events to collect the DMing bennies, and ignore all the LFR rules.

Thanks for the honest break down, guys. On inspection, MYRE has too little incentive for us. The LFR scene in Germany is so small, the chance of players porting from one campaign group over to another so negligible, that this benefit you outline here doesn't currently have the appeal that I'm sure it would have were we playing in the States with its vast LFR network.

Something else I disliked about MyRealms (having since checked out the full guidelines) is this:

You cannot distribute your adventure to another
DM, player, or organizer. The maximum number of DMs that can run any unique My Realms adventure is 2, if the adventure had co-creators.
My Realms adventures are not intended to be interactives or completely replace standard Living Forgotten Realms adventures officially produced through Wizards of the Coast.

I understand why and where they are going with this, but I would have liked the idea that, say, darjr, Kurtomatic, and myself are all crawling in the same hex (roughly, the map in the OP) if at different tables, with stuff happening at one table having repercussions in the other campaigns, us sharing campaign logs and so on. I'm not sure the above quote undermines this, but it's a slight turn off to be told to not circulate one's own stuff to other people using MyRealms.

 

[Thanlis]

I understand why and where they are going with this, but I would have liked the idea that, say, darjr, Kurtomatic, and myself are all crawling in the same hex (roughly, the map in the OP) if at different tables, with stuff happening at one table having repercussions in the other campaigns, us sharing campaign logs and so on. I'm not sure the above quote undermines this, but it's a slight turn off to be told to not circulate one's own stuff to other people using MyRealms.

I would say that it doesn't undermine it at all -- you'd certainly be crawling in the same world. Sharing campaign logs and experiences is way kosher. In theory, if you had a group of three DMs, you couldn't all say "OK, this is what's in hex A8, whoever has a group there first should run it" but if you described it in rough outline, I think you could.

However, yeah, I wish MYREs could be distributed. I get why they can't -- LFR is canon, and WotC doesn't want J. Random writing LFR canon -- but it's a shame and a drawback.

 

[darjr]

I like some of the ideas here. I would like to be able to have the crawl work out to be closer to the guidelines, but doing a traditional hexcrawl with the meta knowledge of the players being that anything over and above is not to be kept is way cool.

I really don't like the 'non-sharing' and 'non-3pps' aspect. I think that WotC is hurting themselves with this rule. It would also be a nice way to kick something back to 3pps. I'd love it if frex Goodman Games could sell bits and pieces intended to help GM's run MYRE adventures. They are missing out on a grass roots collaborative addition to LFR. One that I think would generate great adventures and ideas.

I have a large player base around here that insist their characters be portable. Sometimes that truism can be bent, the MINI campaign in LFR being the big example, but in the end most of them will take those characters elsewhere. The big reason being that we have four or five places to play RPGA and two big local cons with several game days and some of these guys go all over for other cons.

 

[Kurtomatic]

I have a large player base around here that insist their characters be portable. Sometimes that truism can be bent, the MINI campaign in LFR being the big example, but in the end most of them will take those characters elsewhere. The big reason being that we have four or five places to play RPGA and two big local cons with several game days and some of these guys go all over for other cons.

Nice. I have similar requirements, so it's no surprise we're thinking along parallel lines.

Just a couple of follow-up comments, and then I will try to move back towards the OP topic...

All MYRE adventures are non-canon by definition, regardless of the LFR campaign as a whole.

Anyone can RPGA sanction their own DIY network of shared continuity interactive game sessions set in 4E FR; you just can't call it Living Forgotten Realms and you can't bring characters from your network into LFR. It's just a matter of knowing your requirements and using the right tool for the job. I respect both the rules and intentions of the LFR campaign managers and consequently I enjoy the challenge of subverting their campaign for my own ends.

Speaking of a small-scale DIY shared/interactive hexcrawl network idea, Kingmaker may turn into a better setting for that kind of multi-venue persistence gaming.

 

[Kurtomatic]

Windjammer, looking at your nifty terrain encounter charts, I do not see moor. The proximity of the High Moor to Loudwater has me looking at this region in some detail. I'm currently looking through older source material for all the adventure sites I can find, both canon and non (Legacy of the Green Regent, etc.); I'm finding a lot of stuff in the Moor.

So, just in case you are interested, and don't already have access to Eliminster's Ecologies Appendix II, here is an example 2E encounter table to work from. (Please note the term abomination in this context simply refers to non-native creatures, and not a creature type or keyword.)

The Central Moorlands 1d8+1d12

2 Leucrotta
3 Troll
4 Swamp ferret
5 Thornslingers
6 Giant sundew
7 Snapper fungus
8 Moor rat (near marshes) or rabbit (elsewhere)
9 wolf
10 Sheep
11 Raven
12 Goblin (more likely in the west), hobgoblin ( more likely in the south and east), or human (more likely in the north and east)
13 Goat
14 Pony or horse (roll 1d4: 1-3=pony, 4=horse)
15 Kobold or ogre (roll 1-4=kobold, 5-6=ogre)
16 Ankheg
17 Will o’ wisp
18 Abishai or other abomination (roll 1d6: 1-4=abishai with type chosen by the DM, 5-6= roll on Central Moorland Abomination Table)
19 Kestrel (in warm months) or owl (in cold months)
20 Falcon or buzzard (equal chances). A buzzard indicates nearby carrion.​

Central Moorland Abomination Table 2d4

2 Neogi
3 Baatezu (DM chooses type; no abishai)
4 Dragon (choose type by location)
5 Adventurers
6 Undead (roll 1d6: 1-3=wight, 4-6=DM's choice)
7 Other High Moor abomination (DM's choice)
8 DM's choice (not native to High Moor)​