RPGA Campaigns promoted as Adventure Paths

[takasi]

Here's a quote from the new SAGA Organized Play campaign, Dawn of Defiance page:

"This adventure path, brought to you by the Star Wars Roleplaying Game team at Wizards of the Coast, is designed to take characters from 1st level to 20th level."

Legacy of the Green Regeant, Mark of Heroes and Xen'drik Expeditions were, in a way, "Adventure Paths" (Xen'drik Expeditions offering four separate paths in fact).

Is it possible that they're going to merge the Organized Play Campaign model with the Dungeon Adventure Path model? Perhaps putting these adventures in Dungeon?

How do people feel about this? I think if they cleaned some of these up, promoted them well and made them friendly to more traditional, non Organized Play games (which isn't hard to do IMO) then I think this could be successful. One of the biggest faults of the RPGA Campaigns, especially with the early games for Legacy of the Green Regeant and Mark of Heroes, was the inconsistency of release dates.

I see this as a win-win, as there are plenty of modules (with many of them, IMO, better than many Dungeon adventures) and if Dungeon promises to release them every month then the RPGA Campaign model would work very well. The caveat being that they would have to break up the modules into Sessions (maybe 3-4 sessions per Adventure per Dungeon Issue). IMO suggestions for breaking up a module into Sessions would be helpful (but of course, just a ballpark as you never know what might happen in a home game).

 

[TerraDave]

In the good old days

printed modules=tournament modules

I never figured out why this was not the case in 3red.

 

[Adso]

In the good old days

printed modules=tournament modules

I never figured out why this was not the case in 3red.

Sometimes it was the other way around. Tournament modules would eventually become published modules, or part of the printed modules were the tournament adventures (not all of Slave Lords was played as the Gen Con XIII AD&D Open, just some small sections of it IIRC. The same is true for Dwellers of the Forbidden City).

But what we did do in the RPGA is allow Organized Play of published adventures, and even offered updates support of those adventures. For instance you can play Red Hand of Doom as part of Living Greyhawk, soon you can play Expedition to Greyhawk, and via the Greyhawk Ruins you can even play expanded parts of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons.

 

[borc killer]

As I recall a subscription to DnDinsider is also a subscription to RPGA. Right? If I am recalling that correctly then I don't see why you would want to separate the two.

 

[takasi]

While many in our club are fortunate enough to play in multiple campaigns, the problem I've seen with most groups is that they can only run one campaign at a time. If they're running a Dungeon adventure path they probably aren't going to run Mark of Heroes or Xen'drik Expeditions at home.

I think it would be awesome to see the same efforts put into the Dungeon adventure path and the RPGA Campaigns model combined into one campaign package. There were several RPGA modules that I thought were really good, like Gambit at Dreadhold and the Delirium Stone, that would have benefited from more exposure, better editing and artwork (basically, everything Dungeon has to offer).

 

[TerraDave]

Sometimes it was the other way around. Tournament modules would eventually become published modules, or part of the printed modules were the tournament adventures (not all of Slave Lords was played as the Gen Con XIII AD&D Open, just some small sections of it IIRC. The same is true for Dwellers of the Forbidden City).

But what we did do in the RPGA is allow Organized Play of published adventures, and even offered updates support of those adventures. For instance you can play Red Hand of Doom as part of Living Greyhawk, soon you can play Expedition to Greyhawk, and via the Greyhawk Ruins you can even play expanded parts of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons.

Hey 'Adso' thanks for the reply! That is kind of what i meant...but in any case it would seem to make more sense to concentrate "adventure design" resource and not diffuse it over so many different audiences.

 

[Adso]

Hey 'Adso' thanks for the reply! That is kind of what i meant...but in any case it would seem to make more sense to concentrate "adventure design" resource and not diffuse it over so many different audiences.

I totally agree with you. And as the guy who used to sit at the RPGA desk, I would have loved it if we only had one campaign, and had the resources of Dungeon magazine to produces a top rate product. Between legacy issues, fan desire, a tight budget, and a desperate need to try new things and discover the golden apple of D&D organized play, we were not afforded that luxury.

And I know and play D&D with the guys who used to run Dungeon (now Pathfinder, which is awesome by the way!) and they’ll think it’s very funny that'll I call what they do luxury!

When I started back in 2000, the RPGA had more than half-a-dozen campaign programs and a wanted to support all RPGs if they could. And that was with a staff of 9 worldwide. A year later, we were reduced to a staff of two with only a very modest decrease of offerings. Those were the heartburn years. ;-)

I think a single robust offering is the best way to run an RPG OP program. It should be more game-centric than setting-centric. It should allow for a healthy degree of fan input, but never be hijacked by fan angst. It should be exciting to both players and DMs. And it should always be inclusive to new players while still rewarding to existing players.

That’ may just be a Utopian wish.

 

[takasi]

Adso, are there any plans for the new OP Campaign in the works (not Living Forgotten Realms, the other secret one) to be released as a Dungeon AP?

 

[Glyfair]

Between legacy issues, fan desire, a tight budget, and a desperate need to try new things and discover the golden apple of D&D organized play, we were not afforded that luxury.

I think this has been the biggest issue in recent years. WotC just hasn't felt the RPGA was important enough to give them the budget to have the manpower to get done the basics.

WotC has mentioned that a goal is for Dungeon adventures to be plugged directly into the game table. If they want Organized Play to take off, they should do the same thing for RPGA adventures. Create a strong synergy between the RPGA and the virtual game table and both might feed off each other.

 

[Adso]

Adso, are there any plans for the new OP Campaign in the works (not Living Forgotten Realms, the other secret one) to be released as a Dungeon AP?

I know there are many ideas, but few final plans, and none I would feel confortable scooping from Chris Tulach, the fantastic guy sitting down in RPGA right now.

Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see.