RPGA Living Greyhawk -- Anyone interested? [Archive]

Kalan

June 5th, 2006, 18:09

My experience with Living Greyhawk was that the modules were well written. I would be interested in the LG game except I am already overbooked. For those who haven't ever played in Living Greyhawk, I highly recommend it. You really get a sense that your play affects the overall world.

LG COR mods are overall VERY well written - the Regional and Metaregionals are iffy.

Just be warned tho - you can only play COR mods online thru LG :(

That said, I have a Lev 3 Wood Elf Ranger I'd love to play online some more with :D

Ganadai

June 5th, 2006, 18:53

tfelts and I had briefly discused this about a month ago. I finally got around to posting it on the caladar yesterday, but will not get the first adventure I ordered until June 17th and have planned to run the first game July 8th. I plan to start with the Bright Sands arc. The first adventure in the arc, COR5-06 Blood on Bright Sands, requires new players only with Bright Lands as their home region.

I assume there will be interest in this. I have set the number of players allowed to 4-12 since we currantly have 2 Herald level DM's, but if you are also willing to DM I could increase it to 4-18.

How do you plan on doing membership cards for new RPGA members? I figured we could fill out the cards for the new players and mail the cards to the players and all the applications to Wizards. If someone has a problem with releasing their DOB and address to us then they would have to goto a local RPGA event and pick up a membership card to fill out themselves.

Hooray

June 5th, 2006, 19:17

Ok I think I have misunderstood something here.
In fact I tought living Greyhawck was just another world to play in like any other.
I admit I was used to play D&D base ruleset back in my teen age where it provided players with a regional map (expert books) and a continental map (companion books), now things are changed and the DM has to choose the world to use or create, I was misleaded by this and thought it was just another world.
I went through some infos about Greyhawck and saw real life home region features, now beside I have no problems posting my address I have to say it will be surely different from yours (Italy), I'm now wondering if this can cause problems for the game.
I applied to your campaign because i saw the translated time was surprisingly very adequate to my needs and I didn't know of this real life address issue.
Can you point me in the right direction about this?

Ganadai

June 5th, 2006, 19:36

Can you point me in the right direction about this?

Not a problem at all. You can play 'Core Adventures' regardless of where you live in the World. This is why they are the only RPGA adventures allowed for online play. If you already have a character made you will need to spend Time Units (TU's) to travel to the new region. After signing up for Living Greyhawk you will be able to read my GM Announcements explaining:
What is RPGA?
Participation in RPGA.
Living Greyhawk.
The Bright Lands.
Character Creation.
Plus more to come.

You can also learn about this at the official WotC RPGA website. (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=rpga)

Living Greyhawk website (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome)

Living Greyhawk Campain Standards (LGCS) (https://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LGCS_596.zip)

Blight on Bright Sands Sourcebook (https://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LGBBSS_v1-0.zip)

Kalan

June 5th, 2006, 19:41

Living Greyhawk is a "Living" campaign supported by WoTC through the RPGA. Basically - your character "comes" from the home region which corresponds to your RL home region (mostly).

There are three levels of modules available: COR (Core), Regional (your "home country"), and Meta-Regional (a number of different regions grouped together). As of right now, only COR modules are available to play in any kind of Online format, since the RPGA has direct influence over those modules, while regional and metaregional are primarily under the jurisdiction of the local triads (kinda like leaders).

Better, and more accurate info, on Living Greyhawk can be found here:

https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome

Hope that helps some :S

edit: And that dang Ganadai beated me to da punch ;)

Llarish

June 5th, 2006, 20:36

I don't know how much of this info you read when you went looking for greyhawk, but let me go into some of the basics of the setting for LG.

Living Greyhawk is a campaign sponsored by the Role Playing Games Association (RPGA) that can be played anywhere in the world. One of the large benefits of this campaign is that you do not need to have a regular group of people. I can play in California with friends or strangers here, then travel to England and play a game with my same character, same rules set, and same world.

The games of LG are broken up into a few different types of games. There are Core events. These events can be played by people anywhere in the world. These events can be played on-line with friends from very different parts of the world. In theory, Core events are games that take place in or around the Free City of Greyhawk as well as other regionally "unclaimed" territories (more on regions later). This is a large bulk of the LG campaign.

LG is broken up into Metaregions and Regions based on where you live in the real world. Your region determines your metaregion. I live in Northern California, and so I live in the Theocracy of the Pale. If I go and play modules for my region they will be taking place in the Pale and dealing with events in the Pale. The module authors will be reasonably local, and even though I'm particpating in a world wide campaign, I can have an influence on how events progress by my play in these games (that is in theory).

Also because I am in the Pale I am part of the Nyrond and Her Environs Metaregion (NMR). There are modules that are written for this larger area that can be played within the Pale, or in Nyrond, the County and Duchy of Urnst and Ratik. To get an idea of how big that is the NMR region covers most of the western United States and Canada as well as Australia. I think that it is one of the bigger Metaregions. Now, even though I am in NMR, I cannot go and play a Nyrond adventure unless I travel to the Nyrond region (Southern California, Arizona, and more).

I can take my character who I have played in Northern California Pale adventures and travel out to Chicago. Since I'm in Chicago I can play in the Verbobonc Region and the Velverdyva Trade Route Meta Region.

Regional and Metaregional adventures you can only play in real life while you are within the borders of your region and metaregion.

These games are based around a 4 hour time slot. On-line play is only allowed for Cores, you cannot play Regionals or Metaregionals on-line.

That is a brief bit of info on it. You can go to www.rpga.com and get some more information about the Living Greyhawk campaign. The current year is 596 CY.

Llarish

rabbit

June 5th, 2006, 21:20

OK, I'm confused, sorry, I'm a newbie, it's been a decade at least since I've done anything RPGA.

So this would be denovo Level 1 28pt characters? They don't need to come from our home region?

What are the proposed times? (couldn't find it on the calendar, unless i'm just an idiot, which is totally possible.)

Craw

June 5th, 2006, 22:28

and have planned to run the first game July 8th. I plan to start with the Bright Sands arc.

What time on the 8th? Would you consider running an additional session during the week on a Mon, Tue, or Wed?

Hooray

June 6th, 2006, 01:12

As far as now I've only found that my region is the Sea Baron and that I'll have to partecipate to an event in order to get my PG.
I went to the Sea Baron site and couldn't find any events scheduled.
however the first session is in a month so I have time to gather more infos and will let you know.

timerino

June 6th, 2006, 01:30

If there's a ground spring of support, I'll purchase the application! :-)

tim

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 02:28

I am also a Herald Level GM for the RPGA, and have run the 2nd module in the Bright Sands Arc - I think its probably the adventure I've had the most fun running in my short tenure as part of the RPGA club back in Calgary (don't seem to be much in the way of RPGA players in my neck of the woods...short of going into Hamilton :( )

So if there ends up being a fairly decent size interest, I could run some LG mods in the nearish future (once I have my projects and holidays sorted out :) )

Ganadai

June 6th, 2006, 03:47

What time on the 8th? Would you consider running an additional session during the week on a Mon, Tue, or Wed?

The current game is scheduled for Sat, Jul 8th @ 12pm PDT (GMT-08:00).
I have actually considered moving the date forward, and could run an additional session during the week, but it would have to begin around 5-7pm PDT (GMT-08:00). There would also have to be 4-6 reliable people willing to play at that session too. Per RPGA rules you need to 4 to 6 people playing at a session, otherwise the session is invalidated.

Ganadai

June 6th, 2006, 03:55

I am also a Herald Level GM for the RPGA

Great Kalan! I have a sneaky suspicion that there is going to be a fair amount of interest. Each adventure will probably need to be ran at different times/days so everyone is able to participate, which will probably require several DM's coordinating with each other, and possibly sharing and critiquing FG modules made from RPGA adventures. We may want to even start a Yahoo or Goggle group dedicated to FG RPGA DM's.

Plus it would be nice to play sometimes instead of judging. :)

rabbit

June 6th, 2006, 12:01

I'm still not sure I get whether you can do this if:

1: You don't live in the particular region
2: You're not currently RPGA

But asside from those two things, I'm interested...

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 13:24

I'm still not sure I get whether you can do this if:

1: You don't live in the particular region
2: You're not currently RPGA

But asside from those two things, I'm interested...

As these games will be classified as official "RPGA" events, you can "sign" up at any of the games. Living in any particular region is not required to play in COR modules - your home region really only affects the types of Regional and Metaregional modules you can play.

I'm thinking the sessions would be run something like this:

15-20min Intro over MSN or some style of chat client to get all the "paperwork" in order.

4-6hours for the game session proper (this is a minimum. Standard LG mods are supposed to be finished in 4-5hrs...but at the higher levels it can get VERY long...) In order to keep this time down in FG will require a LOT of prepwork and setup on the part of the DM's.

20-30mins to finalize any paperwork.

The only issue I can foresee will be the distribution of the AR's upon completion of the modules. Now I have a scanner, and a decent printer (no toner mind)...but otherwise AR's will have to be mailed I'm thinking, and a lot of trust will take part.

@Ganadai - page me on MSN (if you use that client), I'd be interested in starting up some kind of "official" online RPGA club that uses FG, and would welcome your involvement (actually, that goes for anyone interested in this). I have a fair amount of webspace, and have thought of approaching a webhost buddy of mine for better place (once I have some spare $$ to do so). I believe my MSN account is listed on my profile, but in case it is not:

[email protected]

Peace all :)

rabbit

June 6th, 2006, 15:49

Craw

June 6th, 2006, 15:58

The only issue I can foresee will be the distribution of the AR's upon completion of the modules. Now I have a scanner, and a decent printer (no toner mind)...but otherwise AR's will have to be mailed I'm thinking, and a lot of trust will take part.

ARs will be a problem. With a scanner, you can email a signed AR back to the player. However, this begs the question of how to get the completed AR to you in the first place for signature. Personally, I have a scanner and can fill out my own AR and email it to you. Of course, there is the toner issue of having to print them out, sign and then scan them. The other option is to have each player tell you what he needs on the AR and you fill out a blank and then sign and scan it and email it to the player. Saves ink at the expense of DM effort.

Of course, the same thing will apply for MILs.

Random thought -- convert the ARs, MILs, etc. to jpeg or png. Scan your signature into your computer. Cut and paste sig onto the record and email back. Totally paperless.

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 16:02

ok, now that I get it, if the times worked out, I'd be really into it. With that big a block, timing (for everyone I'm sure) will be key. As I understand it, this is done as "oneshots" - start to finish on one piece of the arc each session?

That is the "ideal". As technically the module is only "valid" for a certain timeframe before the GM must report results. I know myself I've sat through home campaigns that lasted far longer than what I've proposed - and remember that the time's I listed are "averages" for live play. Depending on the reporting deadlines, I think its possible we could stretch one module over two sessions.

I've not done any RPGA work online yet - so there is a lot of research I myself need to do before I'd run such a game...but I'm willing to give it a shot as I myself really really enjoyed both the LG and Mark of Heroes (the Eberron Living Campaign). As far as I know tho at this point, only LG can be played "legally" online...unless things have changed in recent months.

All that said - I've PM'd Ganadai on this topic, and tossed an idea his way...with some luck we should have something more concrete over and above what Ganadai and Netminder here have posted :)

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 16:06

ARs will be a problem. With a scanner, you can email a signed AR back to the player. However, this begs the question of how to get the completed AR to you in the first place for signature. Personally, I have a scanner and can fill out my own AR and email it to you. Of course, there is the toner issue of having to print them out, sign and then scan them. The other option is to have each player tell you what he needs on the AR and you fill out a blank and then sign and scan it and email it to the player. Saves ink at the expense of DM effort.

Of course, the same thing will apply for MILs.

Random thought -- convert the ARs, MILs, etc. to jpeg or png. Scan your signature into your computer. Cut and paste sig onto the record and email back. Totally paperless.

That is a possiblity too...tho depending on how anal some judges are at Live events, they may disqualify those AR's obtained from online play. Tho if the scans and such are of high enough quality it'd be difficult to tell.

Online events such as this require a lot of trust on the part of the participants (no more so than live events mind! I've seen some shady things go down even during my brief time running RPGA mods).

If this takes off like it looks like it will - I'd want to have a system in place, much like a Triad, who can work out standards of online reporting and play...if you'd like in on this Craw, my MSN/email is in a post above...

Craw

June 6th, 2006, 16:08

I have actually considered moving the date forward, and could run an additional session during the week, but it would have to begin around 5-7pm PDT (GMT-08:00). There would also have to be 4-6 reliable people willing to play at that session too. Per RPGA rules you need to 4 to 6 people playing at a session, otherwise the session is invalidated.

I will commit to a game on Mon, Tue, or Wed starting between 5-7 PDT. I need at least a week's advanced notice to warn the wife of my prolonged absence, though. :)

Beowulfe

June 6th, 2006, 18:00

ARs will be a problem. With a scanner, you can email a signed AR back to the player. However, this begs the question of how to get the completed AR to you in the first place for signature. Personally, I have a scanner and can fill out my own AR and email it to you. Of course, there is the toner issue of having to print them out, sign and then scan them. The other option is to have each player tell you what he needs on the AR and you fill out a blank and then sign and scan it and email it to the player. Saves ink at the expense of DM effort.

Of course, the same thing will apply for MILs.

Random thought -- convert the ARs, MILs, etc. to jpeg or png. Scan your signature into your computer. Cut and paste sig onto the record and email back. Totally paperless.

Seems like you are getting way too complicated with this. I know others who have run online games operate on the honesty system. The DM fills out the ARs and mails them to the players. Players kick in money to cover printing and postage. I mean if somebody has the ability to add a digital signature to an AR and then email the file that would be better.

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 18:22

Seems like you are getting way too complicated with this. I know others who have run online games operate on the honesty system. The DM fills out the ARs and mails them to the players. Players kick in money to cover printing and postage. I mean if somebody has the ability to add a digital signature to an AR and then email the file that would be better.

Honesty system would be great - but all it'd take is one person to abuse it, and have the rest of the AR's nullified by their action. It sucks - but I've seen people have to tear up a character because of bad AR's. There has to be a system in place that benefits everyone...and unfortunately it may get complicated. This is not OUR rules - rather just trying to conform to the RPGA guidelines.

The benefit of working all this out into an "official" club of sorts tho is that together we can get the clout to have the RPGA loosen up restrictions on the AR's - but only once we can prove to them that we're taking all this serious.

Long an short - its just the old corporate game of "cover thine own behind"...sucks - but that's the RPGA.

Llarish

June 6th, 2006, 18:32

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 18:39

Generally what on-line play has done is the judge mails a signed AR to each player at the end of the module. The judge fills in APL, XP gained, and treasure gained and assumes an honest player beyond that. To be honest, it is what a lot of folks do at the conventions too. I know that I don't want to have to babysit a player to make sure they are following the guidelines.
Llarish

Edit: I doubt you will get the RPGA to change the system for ARs even if you get a massive amount of folks playing within a single group.

Never say never ;) Just because something's never been done, doesn't mean it can't be :D Tho I too doubt the RPGA would EVER change things just to suit a few online gamers (unless of course we end up with more people playing online than in some regions)...

And I know - AR's for the most part are based on an honesty system - but I myself have caught some pretty silly errors on AR's - I just hate to have someone's character disqualified because of an AR they received from online play - especially if it came out of this forum. All it takes is one anal judge and that's the end of it...

Apocalupagus

June 6th, 2006, 19:08

Kalan

June 6th, 2006, 19:15

I think that this might be something I could get behind as well. You all seem very well organzied, which I respect immensely. I should point out that all of this RPGA stuff is very new to me but I will read whatever I can on the subject. I think anything is workable with a little mutual respect and a whole lot of communication. I am still curious about schedule conflicts but, aside from Thursdays, I am free practically whenever. I am able to dedicate time as necessary. Apparently I am at GMT -4 time so...point me towards danger, I am prepared.
I mean...if you'll have me.

We're organized? :eek: Most of this has been off the cuff ramblings while I've been at work ;)

I've been in contact with Ganadai and some others throughout the day, and I'm hoping to get some groundwork laid down on all this before I am essentially afk for 3wks here soon...

My hope for all this is that we'll be able to accomodate pretty much any timezone - and as is the case with most of the RPGA events I've been involved with, we're always short on DM's as opposed to players. But we'll see :)

More will be posted in the days to come I'm sure, so keep an eye out ;)

Apocalupagus

June 7th, 2006, 02:55

Organized...well you may be right. But it is all building towards something. Building, I tells ya! Something great will come of this.
I can be the peppy one.

Kalan

June 7th, 2006, 13:20

Organized...well you may be right. But it is all building towards something. Building, I tells ya! Something great will come of this.
I can be the peppy one.

Okies then ;) Apocalupagus can be the cheerleader ;)

Ganadai

June 8th, 2006, 03:30

Would it be a good idea to only use the original FG ruleset and character sheet when running RPGA games?

Also, in order for the game to run within the 4 hour time slot players will have to login prior to the game to enter their character. This would also give the DM time to look over the characters before the game and edit the adventure as needed.

Craw

June 8th, 2006, 17:05

A good way to deal with getting characters entered is just to have the host announce that he will have the server up at X date(s) and time(s). I.E. a post on the FG board, "Hey, I'll have an hour or so tonight at X o'clock if you want to log on and set up your character. Server alias xxxx etc." That way anyone who is free can log on and get set up. Not everyone has to be available and the DM can just fit short periods in as his sched allows, he doesn't even have to participate.

Kalan

June 13th, 2006, 16:11

Just a quick update before I head off for holidays:

The Four Ugly Monsters (https://www.fouruglymonsters.com) have kindly allowed me to setup a campaign section for RPGA discussion over on their boards. Here is a link to the thread I have started: Stay Tuned! (https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/fumcomm/viewtopic.php?t=398).

Note too I'm on holidays until July 3rd, so I won't be doing much more setup work on things until I get back - but feel free to chat and discuss what you'd like to see in an online RPGA club. I'm aiming to avoid the use of yahoogroups or any such place as I really don't like them...too much of a control freak I guess ;)

Thanks for your time all :)

Cousin Vinny

Craw

June 14th, 2006, 06:20

Great first session. Ganadai did an excellent job of herding six strangers into moving things along. Kudos. Lots of fun and looking forward to the next installment.

Nice maps, by the way.

Kalan

June 14th, 2006, 14:16

Great first session. Ganadai did an excellent job of herding six strangers into moving things along. Kudos. Lots of fun and looking forward to the next installment.

Nice maps, by the way.

Good to hear :) I've not played the first mod of that arc - but I do know the second one inside out...and I can say it only gets better! Its been my experience that the COR modules on the average are VERY well done. Its when you get into Regional and Metaregional that the quality tends to vary...

Anyhow, glad to hear you had a great time in it :)

netminder69

June 21st, 2006, 19:21

Just a quick note: i have played LG games online many times int he past using either AOL Instant Messenger or OpenRPG. Except for one time, the ARs were fille dout and mailed. it is rare that someone doesn't get an AR from a game. RPGA games have been played online for some time as evidenced by the yahoogroups OnlineGameDay, ArcanisOnline, and there was a living force group as well. They have games going on all the time. Most people use AIM or OpenRPG since they don't have to pay for them, but they aren't as nice as FG.

Online games typically take 1.5x to 2x longer than a normal face-to-face session of the campaign. F2F an LG game typically runs in 4 hours. Online, expect it to take 6-8. People tend to role-play more online which eats up time. (not that it's a bad thing...)

I have a ton of LG experience. I was organizing the monthly gameday here in Cincinnati and also have played online a lot. I have also judged at Origins and GenCon and run a local LG convention here in Cincinnati.

FiveSola

June 29th, 2006, 03:06

festivus

June 29th, 2006, 05:25

My guess is that the good old USPS would work for Certs and ARs. Perhaps have players SASE (Self Addressed Sent Envelope... I think Zoom was the show that crammed that in my brain) so that you don't have to pay the return postage.

Ganadai

June 29th, 2006, 07:19

is this game still open? I am interested if it is. Also when (time/days) is it played on? I am in CST time and can play most evenings depending on start / finish time though Friday or Saturday would be the better days

The game is always open to anyone who would like to join. Just sign up on the Calendar for "RPGA D&D 3.5 Living Greyhawk" and I will accept you ASAP so you can sign up for the scheduled sessions. Currently we are running two sessions; one on Tuesday nights 8pm CST (GMT-6) and another on Saturday at 2pm CST (GMT-6). If you have played RPGA before please send me a PM with your RPGA # and current character classes/levels. Otherwise, I will send you a RPGA membership form after you play your first adventure. Membership is free and easy. :)