The RPGA
When I was just getting back into the game after a few years of neglect, I found it difficult to acquire a new gaming group. I tried playing a few adventures with my then girlfriend (we're married now) and brother, but it was rocky since we were all still learning the 3.5 rules. So, I looked up the RPGA, an organization that gives players and DMs a place to game under a universal set of house rules. I found a local game store than runs a weekly game session and signed myself and my girlfriend up for a beginner adventure. In preparation for the event, we rolled up characters using the creation rules posted on the website. I made a healing-type cleric, my girlfriend made a greatsword-type fighter, a group in itself.
So we arrived, after a little introductory confusion we settled to our gaming table with a friendly DM and two other players. The other two players didn't have level 1 players standing by so they had to roll new ones. They both rolled up drow warmages (hmmm...) . The adventure was pretty fun, short but fun, and the other players were very nice. However, when we were in the middle of our little adventure, a heated argument broke out at one of the other game tables (they were playing a much higher level adventure). Something about riding a horse in a dungeon. Anyway, the DM (I think) lost it (and we were told he usually does). The game store was filled with the booming voice of a 30+ year-old man who was so insulted that anyone would argue a rule with him that he could not calm himself. He stormed back and forth through the store demanding the opinion of the store owner, tearing through texts, and berating the transgressor for his hurtful lack of D&D knowledge. It was quite a show. He eventually settled back at his table (though still far from calm), and we finished our game without further incident. We haven't been back since.
Now, I know this doesn't happen every event (I would hope) and also that not every game store puts up with this kind of thing, but that seriously turned us off to playing in such a setting. I have much more fun playing with a group of friends that have put together a party with extended backstories and a DM who puts effort into personalizing a campaign rather than a group of people I don't know (though most were friendly) and a pregenerated adventure. Don't get me wrong, I still use pregenerated adventures, but I also tweak them to my PCs. But, it did help me get a handle on some of the basic 3.5 rules so that I can run my own campaigns more smoothly.
So, if you're interested in the RPGA you can find them here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=rpga/welcome
I hope you have better luck than we did.
So we arrived, after a little introductory confusion we settled to our gaming table with a friendly DM and two other players. The other two players didn't have level 1 players standing by so they had to roll new ones. They both rolled up drow warmages (hmmm...) . The adventure was pretty fun, short but fun, and the other players were very nice. However, when we were in the middle of our little adventure, a heated argument broke out at one of the other game tables (they were playing a much higher level adventure). Something about riding a horse in a dungeon. Anyway, the DM (I think) lost it (and we were told he usually does). The game store was filled with the booming voice of a 30+ year-old man who was so insulted that anyone would argue a rule with him that he could not calm himself. He stormed back and forth through the store demanding the opinion of the store owner, tearing through texts, and berating the transgressor for his hurtful lack of D&D knowledge. It was quite a show. He eventually settled back at his table (though still far from calm), and we finished our game without further incident. We haven't been back since.
Now, I know this doesn't happen every event (I would hope) and also that not every game store puts up with this kind of thing, but that seriously turned us off to playing in such a setting. I have much more fun playing with a group of friends that have put together a party with extended backstories and a DM who puts effort into personalizing a campaign rather than a group of people I don't know (though most were friendly) and a pregenerated adventure. Don't get me wrong, I still use pregenerated adventures, but I also tweak them to my PCs. But, it did help me get a handle on some of the basic 3.5 rules so that I can run my own campaigns more smoothly.
So, if you're interested in the RPGA you can find them here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=rpga/welcome
I hope you have better luck than we did.
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Labels: D and D, d20, Dungeons and Dragons, rpga
posted by Jono at 12:42 PM
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