RPGA: Is it any good?

[Piratecat]

This proves, quite conclusively, that nobody with the tiniest bit of sense would want to associate with the RPGA.

Interesting. It seems to me that the logical thing to do would be to report the database error, instead of going into an insulted rant. At least, that's what I would do if that happened to me.

 

[diaglo]

Interesting. It seems to me that the logical thing to do would be to report the database error, instead of going into an insulted rant. At least, that's what I would do if that happened to me.

but we know you don't have any cents. otherwise you would've bought him a bowl to place his cheese in.



i've not been a fan of the RPGA since the early to mid 80's. that was the last time i was a member and also thot Poly was any good too btw.


part of it was the insular nature of the RPGA members. they had an elitist chip on their shoulders. they didn't want to help newbies. and they wanted to grab all the good stuff for themselves and ignore the normal rules... plus the crap they churned out to me was very subpar.

it may have changed since then.. but i'm not up for going thru the process of checking.

i can find games and people to play with... without having to resort to it.

life is too short to play crappy RPGs.

 

[GSHamster]

Ah, yes. This happens a lot. And it's nice of you to remind us that it's not just RPGA, but role-playing games in general. RPGA was my return into the hobby after a 18 year absence. I learned 3.0 at my local LG gamedays. That was rough. I was a burden to many of my fellow players for quite a while. LG is somewhat combat heavy, and I didn't know what I was doing...

But what was my alternative--sitting at home and not playing until a group came to me?

That's very true. My experience with LG was that some people said, "Come, this will be fun", and I went, and it was pretty much not fun at all. My reaction was that I would rather play with my existing gaming group

If I didn't have a gaming group or was just moved to a new area, yeah, I'd consider playing in the RPGA. It is a good place to find people interested in the hobby. But that's pretty much the only time I'd consider it.

As for being a newbie, in my opinion no newbie is ever a burden to a gaming group. My group has introduced several new people to the game (we belong to a university club) and it's always been a good experience. The people who are burdens are almost always people who are experienced with the system and just being annoying. A newbie is always willing to at least try.

 

[IronWolf]

And be beset with non sequitor responses.

It seems the test only likes Internet Explorer. I saw the same thing happen when I tried using the test with FireFox a month or so ago. Once I used IE to access the test all was well.

 

[Dogbrain]

It seems the test only likes Internet Explorer. I saw the same thing happen when I tried using the test with FireFox a month or so ago. Once I used IE to access the test all was well.

Another strike against them.

 

[diaglo]

Another strike against them.

it just adds more credence to the Microsoft conspiracy theory.

2000ed and 3.11ed for Workgroups...

 

[billd91]

i've not been a fan of the RPGA since the early to mid 80's. that was the last time i was a member and also thot Poly was any good too btw.

part of it was the insular nature of the RPGA members. they had an elitist chip on their shoulders. they didn't want to help newbies. and they wanted to grab all the good stuff for themselves and ignore the normal rules... plus the crap they churned out to me was very subpar.

it may have changed since then.. but i'm not up for going thru the process of checking.

For what it's worth, I was pretty down on the RPGA since the mid-80s too. And I think it's reasonably different now. For one thing, there are the highly diverse and varied Living Campaigns (so all RPGA awards aren't dominated by people like Don Bingle and Janice Ours like they were in the 1980s), which are a grab-bag to be sure, but I figure that's part of the fun of going to conventions. I got back into it for the Living Greyhawk stuff that I plan on using as an idea-mine for my home GH game. And, heck, it gives me a chance to PLAY in GH rather than be DM all the time.
The Living Force campaign has also been reasonably fun.

It really is true that your mileage may vary, but since it's free, it certainly won't cost you much to check it out. I'd suggest giving a couple events a try next time you go to a convention.

 

[diaglo]

It really is true that your mileage may vary, but since it's free, it certainly won't cost you much to check it out. I'd suggest giving a couple events a try next time you go to a convention.

oh, i tried a couple of Living GH events. i'm not saying i didn't look at stuff.

my definition of checking something out involves years of playtesting.

 

[Coreyartus]

part of it was the insular nature of the RPGA members. they had an elitist chip on their shoulders. they didn't want to help newbies. and they wanted to grab all the good stuff for themselves and ignore the normal rules... plus the crap they churned out to me was very subpar.

it may have changed since then.. but i'm not up for going thru the process of checking.

i can find games and people to play with... without having to resort to it.

life is too short to play crappy RPGs.

RPG's in general are elitist, not RPGA. Any home group is an example of elitism--you go through players until you find the right combo, and players or groups come and go until that happens--that's elitism the same as RPGA. Some RPGA members play better with each other because they know the system better, or their play-styles match. That's no different than non-RPGA play. Exclusion is exclusion, be it subtle or overt. It doesn't take an organization to behave that way.

I've learned that good players (and people) go out of their way to help newbies, even though it might personally cramp their style and curtail their enjoyment of the game. They WANT to infuse the same enthusiasm for their hobby as they have, and are willing to exercise patience and personality to help others learn.

I've seen how the tension can grow between newbies and more experienced players, especially if they're both either young or lack the social skills to exercise better judgement. More mature players and judges handle it with aplomb. With RPGA, you are constantly meeting and playing with new people--that's a good thing to some people. Some people like that. But that espouses a certain kind of player that can't be selfish in any respect. They're the ones that will have fun. Other players take advantage of the situation to exercise their more selfish, myopic, power-gaming roots. In my area, there are a lot more patient and altruistic people than self-indulgent people--enough to make me want to keep coming back and invest my time with them.

Bad experiences with the RPGA usually involve selfish players, and there's nothing RPGA can do about that. Each campaign has taken a different approach to ensuring the quality of their play experiences--some make more rules, others are more laissez-faire. In the end, it's up to the players to make their own quality experiences, and that's why RPGA seems elitist. If one gives it a bit of time, and has the advantage of a playing with a regional group of players on a sem-regular basis, a newbie will quickly develop a sense of who he/she likes to play with. I think that's okay.

Good players, though, will learn to play with everyone for the sake of everyone's enjoyment. It's about fun, after all. If you can't balance that out, RPGA might not be for you.

Coreyartus

 

[diaglo]

Good players, though, will learn to play with everyone for the sake of everyone's enjoyment. It's about fun, after all. If you can't balance that out, RPGA might not be for you.

you are preaching to the choir. i tuffed it out for a few years. overall, it was more trouble than it was worth. a lot of bad apples teaching those who wanted in the same bad habits.

the RPGA of the mid 80's was more broken than the 2000ed bard.

add on top the cost to be a member. and the fact that the quality of the product was drastically slipping.