Living B5 - RPGA

[El Cid]

Are there any folks on this list that would be interested in a Living B5 campaign?

The RPGA allows Living Dragon Star as an example.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about check out the follow web sites:

http://livingdragonstar.com/

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=rpga

Sidney

 

[LoneStranger]

I can certainly see people wanting to do that (hell it'd be a reason for me to get into the RPGA or whoever is responsible for doing that) you just couldn't get the true B5 feel bouncing around from game to game. I just think it would be seriously hard to truely feel like someone is running a B5 game the right way if you just showed up for one or two sessions (or played it at a con) and moved onto the next game. Also it could technically work for a military campaign but you would have to have areas run military campaigns for at least the big 4 (EA, Narn, Centauri, Minbari) but possibly the League as well.

I will say if living B5 does become a reality I will support an intelligent version of it but I do have my concerns about a lot of the problems that will arise from this.

 

[El Cid]

DragonStar is doing this. I think the way A Fiery Trial is set up would work for a Living Campaign.

Since there has only been your relpy, I don't see a lot of interest in this.

BTY joining the RPGA is free.

Sidney

 

[Anonymous]

Wow that would be really cool thing to do. But I'm in agreement with LoneStranger. I would like to see an on going campaign, if seeing that I will most definantly join. I'm going to be starting my B5 campaign this coming Sunday and will be using the Firey Trails campaign module. But what the hell if they do a B5 RPGA thing I will join.

 

[LoneStranger]

Everyone's probably too worried about the Nationality Feats in the EA book to look at this right now. Oh well at any rate I will still say it's an interesting idea however it could possibly work if it's done like Spycraft, where feedback from the players would help shape the universe. Now I will grant this will only work in the era after Babylon 5 itself but if people are willing to put forward the commitment it would be something to see.

As for the RPGA fees I thought there were fees, oh well.

 

[qstor]

The fees are free. The RPGA has said they won't sponser any campaigns without RPG company backing so if Mongoose is onboard it would be very cool. But I'm not sure if they would want something competing with Star Wars.

Mike

 

[lastbesthope]

I'd definitely be interested!

LBH

 

[petitbilbo]

OK, at the risk of sounding incredibly stupid , here are my two questions :
1) what's a "linving campaign"?
2) what's RPGA?

petitbilbo
(in Brussels and never having heard of those two things after more than 20 years of RPGing)

 

[Eryx]

The RPGA is the RolePlaying Games Association. They are an international fan base basically, that run tournaments and write modules for those games.

Their Living Games are (and I'm sure someone can correct me here if wrong) scenarios run at tournaments for a given game (Living Greyhawk, FR...etc). And you can play your sanctioned character at any tournament where that game is being run by the RPGA. There is more too it but I'm not a member so I don't know all the details.

 

[VictorySabre]

Their Living Games are (and I'm sure someone can correct me here if wrong) scenarios run at tournaments for a given game (Living Greyhawk, FR...etc). And you can play your sanctioned character at any tournament where that game is being run by the RPGA. There is more too it but I'm not a member so I don't know all the details.

They have a giant story arc that runs at various conventions every year. You play a character and progress the story and take the character from game to game. Usually at GenCon they have a special event where you can do things and only play stories geared for the convention. Living Force had it where you can only buy a ship at GenCon.

Personally, the Living Games are very amateurish and the GMing can vary from game to game, where you have very inexperienced people running for you. Example: Living Force...we had a crime boss cornered with proof of his crimes (pictures, DNA evidence, etc), he bluffed us that was all wrong (GM enforced the fact that even we had solid proof we believed him). So eventually we overcame this. I pulled out a fake thermal detonator and bluffed him that I was crazy enough to blow us all up if he tried anything funny. I totally faked him out with an awesome roll. The crime boss, fully convinced I was going to take him out if he did anything, pull his own bomb out and somehow bluffed us back. Like I said...amateur.

Personally, find good GMs running a solid home-brewed game they put their heart and soul into making good. Cookie cutter modules made to be run by anyone have no flavor or fun.

 

[August]

As the International Coordinator for Living Force, please allow me to correct a few of your points.

Living Force allowed players to purchase a specific ship one time during one GenCon. Other than that special additional opportunity, ships have always been purchasable whenther or not a player ever goes to a big convention. Players have never been limited or specifically rewarded for being abvlew to travel (heck, even our 'Celebration II'-only module was eventually released to the public specifically because we did not want anyone feeling left out.

As for having different GMs of different skill levels in a Living campaign, how else can we do it? Fly a cadre of GMs all around the world? It would be nice but ultimately not feasible. Besides, 67,000+/- players all over the globe seem to like the tournament play and continuous universes; I suppose we 'amateurs' must be doing something right.


As for the bluff and counterbluff of your example, I really could not say. From your desciption that does sound like a bad GM call but without his side, how could I really know?

If you have any specific critiques about my campaign, please feel free to contact me directly at august@rookhaven.com I believe the gentleman only wanted to know what the RPGA and Living Campaigns were (the latter of which you answered quite well). Anything further, I invite you to adress to me. If there are real problems with Livign Force or anythign within your RPGA experience, I will be happy to help.

-August

 

[petitbilbo]

I believe the gentleman only wanted to know what the RPGA and Living Campaigns were (the latter of which you answered quite well).

Thanks for the info !

The thing is that here in Belgium, we depend much more on the French side of the industry, where those types of events do not (yet :?: ) exist.

(Well, I GMed at a con or two and even at competitions, but there's nothing like ongoing campaigns and such).

Now that I think of it, yes, I have seen quite a lot of adverts for RPGA in RPG-magazines over the years...

petitbilbo
(played in french, german, english and dutch, but never heard of Living Force before... tsss!) :twisted:

 

[qstor]

They do have Living Greyhawk events in France, as far as I know. You can order the Living Force modules too but all the modules are in English except maybe the French Living Greyhawk modules. The UK mods are all in English of course.

This is getting a bit off topic. For more information see www.rpga.com

Mike

 

[petitbilbo]

They do have Living Greyhawk events in France, as far as I know.

Could I be THAT far out of the loop?

petitbilbo (who's going to have a check on this ! Thanks !)

 

[El Cid]

For those who can't attend a convention, the various modules are normally available for "Home Play".

One player who will be the GM orders the module and then runs it at a scheduled time. Sometimes this is done in a local gameing store.

To work, you need a lot of volunteers to write the modules. A small group should review and approve them.

One thing I liked about living Planer was that you could run the adventure and play it with different PCs.

Sidney