Ok, so I looked at joining the RPGA, and if I get it right, I can join as a member but not get access to the game materials unless I show up to an event and get to take a test and run games. Problem is, I have other hobbies and I know I'll not be able to show to RPGA events even remotely regularly. Am I reading too much into the requirements? I chose Greyhawk for a campaign because I liked the old setting and it's what I know from the old days. But TSR hasn't put out all that much material since the Star Cairns and other modules came out. I was expecting a new Boxed set with new city maps. _________________ Greyhawk fan since Keep on the Borderlands
And showing up at RPGA events regularly won't get you a boxed set either; it'll just let you play in scenarios set on Oerth.
The closest thing is the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, which you don't need to be an RPGA member to get. You can get them used on Amazon extremely cheaply.
There is no minimum participation requirement to join Wizards of the Coast's RPGA. And, membership is free. There are small rewards for playing at RPGA sanctioned events - such as Campaign Cards for players and D&D Miniatures for GMs. But, those are small things compared to the friends you'll make and the fun campaign worlds you can play and judge in, Living Greyhawk and Eberron's Mark of Heroes being my two favorites.
Playing in Living Greyhawk gives you the oppurtunity to experience up to thirty adventures a year between the twenty Cores, eight regionals and six to eight meta regionals - more if you count the Core specials, introductory adventures and interactives.
Don't discount the RPGA until you've tried it. I say give it a shot. When you're ready, become a herald level GM and organize your own home games for anything from homebrew to Dungeon magazine adventures. I think access to the adventures is what you're looking for. I reccomend learning a couple of the campaigns.
For more specific RPGA talk, check out the official boards, HERE. Happy gaming. _________________ Don (Greyson)
Organize a group, all of you join the RPGA, pick a DM, and have him order and run the RPGA adventures for you.
I am not sure what you consider "regularly," but around 36 adventures are released every year that you can play without traveling (20 cores, 8 meta-regionals, 8 regionals, with a core special, and maybe 1 less meta-regional or regional because of a 2 round adventure). You don't have to play all of them, but it isn't that hard to play a decent number of them.
If you mean that you just want general access to all LG adventures, that is not available. Those adventures are only for members who participate in the campaigns. This is in no way a Catch-22, or anything else, as nothing in the membership suggests that such materials will be made generally available. There is no entitlement to any of the LG material. While many feel this is unreasonable, there is equally no entitlement to any of the Living material for Star Wars fans, any Living Green Regent material for Forgotten Realms fans, any Mark of Heroes material for Eberron fans, or any other material for any other fans.
I don't think it is unreasonable to restrict access to the mods at all, although it is a bit disappointing! I too have no spare time to play at conventions but I love the concept of LG.
I'm disappointed because I'd like to be able to follow how the plots develop in the different countries around the world and access to gazetteer info from the mods such as the names of key npcs to flesh out Oerth for more general use.
I'd happily pay to be on a mailing list that sent around updates twice a year after the mods are retired - even more so if gazeteer information was included in the mix (similar to the articles that have appeared in Oerth Journals and Dungeon but understandably with less information).
There is so much potential in this idea of an evolving world but at present, you have to work really hard to keep track of information & updates and the amount of info varies greatly from one region to another.
As it happens, several Triads are having the same problem. And I'm currently going through the cores creating a base of all the places and people mentioned for future reference.
As for regular (or irregular) summaries, check the various regional websites. That is the best place for what you are looking for.
Organize a group, all of you join the RPGA, pick a DM, and have him order and run the RPGA adventures for you.
We already have a group, had it for about 5 years in a campaign. The gm is moving away so one of us is shifting to the gm's seat to run the campaign. Our group trys to play once every 2-3 weeks as our schedules, work and kids allow.
[quote]I am not sure what you consider "regularly," but around 36 adventures are released every year that you can play without traveling (20 cores, 8 meta-regionals, 8 regionals, with a core special, and maybe 1 less meta-regional or regional because of a 2 round adventure). You don't have to play all of them, but it isn't that hard to play a decent number of them.[quote]
Regularly is showing up at a local con or event. I get to dragon con usually now, but I tend to work security and have enough time to run around the dealers room, run my armored car around for show and meet with people in the evening. Last year I didn't even have time to play a friendly game of dirtside. I did sit down for an open game of some WWII armor game. Most of my con time that your average GM/D&D type spends is either take up with WWII re-enacting revents or performing maintenance on one of my armored vehicles.
Quote:
If you mean that you just want general access to all LG adventures, that is not available. Those adventures are only for members who participate in the campaigns. This is in no way a Catch-22, or anything else, as nothing in the membership suggests that such materials will be made generally available. There is no entitlement to any of the LG material. While many feel this is unreasonable, there is equally no entitlement to any of the Living material for Star Wars fans, any Living Green Regent material for Forgotten Realms fans, any Mark of Heroes material for Eberron fans, or any other material for any other fans.
I'm not implying an entitlement, but I'd like to get to some of the extra material that's out there. The LG material is tantalizing. I have most of the recently (last 6 or so years) released GH material, I just have gaps in modules and could use some more fill. Ultimately, if the material was out there for sale, I'd get it, I have more spare money than free time. That happens as you get older, have too many hobbies and such. And the price for accessory books, modules and such are peanuts when compared to the cost of diesel for a truck that gets 14mpg over a 700 mile trip or for the cost of replacement parts on a 60 year old vehicle made in the UK. _________________ Greyhawk fan since Keep on the Borderlands
There is so much potential in this idea of an evolving world but at present, you have to work really hard to keep track of information & updates and the amount of info varies greatly from one region to another.
That is an unfortunate effect but unless individual triads want to do anything about, then the problem remains. In our region (which is small compared to many others) we hope to update gazetteer once a year and also put out information about scenarios once they retire.
I have found the RPGA and its requirements unworkable also. Also, the LG format does not create a consistent world among triads, and thus not a coherent Greyhawk.
If you like Greyhawk, you could try the most recent Adventure Path from Dungeon. WOTC required the removal of the GH label, but you will find that the setting is coherent and the adventures are enjoyable. Also, it makes for an easy time for the DM.
Currently Dungeon is IMO the best source of new Greyhawk with the possible exception of some of the excellent work on CF!
If you follow the ordering process, you can play all the regular RPGA adventures released for your LG region every year. You won't be able to play all the core specials, or any regional interactives, but you can play everything else. (Within character level limitations of course, which will mean missing about 5 or 6 adventures the first year you play.)
As for counting, these are listed in the play history tracking. Do you mean something else?
As it happens, several Triads are having the same problem. And I'm currently going through the cores creating a base of all the places and people mentioned for future reference.
As for regular (or irregular) summaries, check the various regional websites. That is the best place for what you are looking for.
Lol - I'm surprised that all the Triads didn't invent the post of a local Loremaster to keep track as they went along. I do check with the websites and yahoo groups but there is so much information that I'm having to collate one country at a time, which means I'm getting out of date very quickly on the others.
And some sites (like Splintered Suns or Onnwal) are really good at disseminating information in easily digestible formats, others maintain a lot of flavour by seeding information in really well written narratives and teasers that are sent out via the Yahoo groups. The latter are great but it can also a pain to weed out the relevant data.
I know the Geoff site did a potted history for their mods, listing key events with corresponding dates. That sort of thing would be very brief and very useful for folks like me.
Blimey, I'd volunteer to maintain a Yahoo Group for this purpose if I was provided with the information (perhaps giving each region its own folder in which update documents could be postedtwice each year?) but I think the leg work on getting every Triad on board would take more time than I have at the moment.
If anybody else is up for it, feel free to volunteer!
It is amazing what can be lost when emergencies come up in Triad work. (Mostly a sudden failure to produce an adventure, but also a burst of work every time a rules revision, and subsequent meta-org revision, comes around.)
As far as I know, there is no overall collation of events across the campaign, or even within a meta-region.
As for volunteering, as you say, you'd have to get in touch with every Triad, and get them all to agree, and work with you in a timely fashion. And yes, I suspect getting them all on board would be significantly more difficult than searching all the adventures for the relevant information.
I can sympathise with the Triads - as a DM since I was 12, I know what a time-consuming and thankless task it is, and multiply that complexity with LG, it must be a nightmare!
I don't think timing matters to much though, since updates would only occur long after the mods are retired and if you keep the updates in separate folders for each region, it doesn't matter if one region falls behind.
I think the major problem getting it off the ground would be, as you say, that nobody has been keeping proper track up until now, which means collating everything up to 595 CY might be very labour intensive and no Triad wants more work!
I (rarely) do some LG, and so far the adventures for my area have been OK. But the whole thing still makes me wonder...
There are Living campaigns for Greyhawk, Realms, Eberon, and Star Wars (at least, if there are others I missed um). Only Greyhawk has been totally cut lose by WotC. All the other settings still recive support but us, even though there is a fan base that is interested enough to play and would (one assumes) buy new Greyhawk material. I just don't get it.
There are Living campaigns for Greyhawk, Realms, Eberon, and Star Wars (at least, if there are others I missed um). Only Greyhawk has been totally cut lose by WotC. All the other settings still recive support but us, even though there is a fan base that is interested enough to play and would (one assumes) buy new Greyhawk material. I just don't get it.
Greyhawk and Star Wars are the only Living Campaigns. And, Living Star Wars is going away this year. The Forgotten Realms's Legacy of the Green Regent (which also ends this year) and Eberron's Mark of Heroes are D&D Campaigns.
The Living Campaigns give enormous freedom to the campaign's volunteer administrators - LG's circle and triads, for example. Development of the campaign is done by those volunteers, so there is no pressing need for commercial products that are setting specific. Triads devise plot arcs and submit adventure reports, which are generally approved by the circle.
The D&D Campaigns, like Eberron, are under the direct control of the RPGA and Wizards of the Coast. Campaign members don't develop the setting or organize in any specific way. You just play the adventures. The RPGA dictates the course of the very few adventures that are released. DM's MArk adventures are negligible, since they are limited, too. _________________ Don (Greyson)
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And the price for accessory books, modules and such are peanuts when compared to the cost of diesel for a truck that gets 14mpg over a 700 mile trip or for the cost of replacement parts on a 60 year old vehicle made in the UK. 
