I was curious if this is just in my group or universal.
 
We tend to hold the RPGA in incredibly low esteem. We consider it the place to go if you want to smell every negative aspect of the RPG hobby.
 
Anyone can play, including the cheaters, the loud unwashed jerks, Mr. Green Teeth, the non-paricipant XP sinks and even the 30 year old guy DATING the 13 year old Yu-Gi-Oh player.
 
I was just curious if the RPGA = Lawncrappers experience was across the board or not?

I don't play in any league or visit cons, but I always had to say that the discussions about such associatons kinda freak me out. I don't even want to start talking about the HMPA...
(On the other hand, I generally don't like big groups. I'm having gobs of fun with my RPG group, but MMORPGs and LARPs either bore or annoy me)

It use to be really good in the UK, when you use to subscribe, we had our own version of Polyhedron, good support at cons, etc. Then WotC took over and it just went down hill form then. RPGA subscribers were promised a Dungeon subscription to run the length of their remaining paid membership (when they would have got Polyhedron), in my case that would have been three years, then never sent a single copy of Dungeon and I never got a refund for subscription. About a year late they sent a battlemat to sort of say sorry.

UK GenCon then went from strength to absolute rubbish when some company that couldn't run a piss up in a brewery took over. They gave in running the UK side of things and another company took over but by then GenCon brand had alienate most of its fans, the following year it was staged in a tent, this year it wasn't staged at all.

It's a shame because in the UK the RPGA was doing great things until WotC took over, they had a successful schools competition which got lots of new kids into playing D&D, winners of regional tournaments got to come to GenCon and the winners of that went to the US Gencon. Hows that for an incentive to get new people playing.... all down the shitter when WotC took over.

So basically RPGA UK was great, RPGA as it stands now is a pointless waste of space.

Me and my crew dipped our toes into the local Living Greyhawk scene about a year back.  I came to two related conclusions.  1) The campaign rules have to be written to protect the game from the Cat Piss Men and other malcontents, because you can't eject them as easily as from home games.  This results in the unnecessary curtailment of the free form activity that is the very essence of RPGing.  2) The Living system works to undermine the authority of the DM, becuase they have to be designed under the assumption that maybe the jerk at the table is the guy behind the screen.  Say what you want about indie games that curtail or eliminate the GM, but D&D needs its Dungeon Masters.  And those Dungeon Masters need absolute authority in their game.  The Living Greyhawk system runs counter to that need.

Or to be brief: I think Living Greyhawk sucks.  The extent to which that maps onto the rest of the RPGA is unknown to me.  Also, I don't poo-poo the people who get enjoyment out of it.

Never played with 'em, never got asked.  Alla ellos, "them over there", as the Mexicans say.

I had to do a Google search to find out if we had it or not. We do, apparently.

There aren't enough gamers down here to really participate in that sort of thing, but I'm not a bigtime "joiner" anyway. I'd avoid it.

I hear only good stuff from the German Living Greyhawkers. They are run semi-professionally, by dedicated people. They also have events in family friendly stores.
Sadly they don´t want/can reach out to the non-gamers.

I played a Living Cthulhu game at a con a few years back (in the UK).

Never again.

Ned

never needed the RPGA, not now, not ever.

Quote from: Ned the Lonely DonkeyI played a Living Cthulhu game at a con a few years back (in the UK).

Never again.

Ned

How 'bout this?

"Loving Cthulhu": a live-action role playing game of romance, intrigue and the slippery embrace of cold, wet death!

Quote from: mattormeg"Loving Cthulhu": a live-action role playing game of romance, intrigue and the slippery embrace of cold, wet death!

It could use cards instead of Dice. Everytime you played a heart card, it meant you were "Loving Cthulhu" and any action you took with it brought the Elder Gods closer to reality creating a Love Polyhedron between you, girlfriend/boyfriend and your unknown horror from the deep.

Quote from: mattormegHow 'bout this?

"Loving Cthulhu": a live-action role playing game of romance, intrigue and the slippery embrace of cold, wet death!

Scarily, the game contained an element of this.

Quote from: made up movieSummoning Cthulhu Dir: Norah Ephron. Starring: Billy Crystal, Reece Witherspoon, Jim Belushi, Shub Niggurath the Goat With A Thousand Young.

The latest romantic comedy from Ephron sees Crystal on fine form as Harvey Walters, a journalist with a history of mental illness and a broken heart. Having left Arkham to move in with his wacky friend Brent (Belushi) in New York, Harvey hits the singles scene looking for romance to take his mind off of the sanity destroying horrors of his previous relationship. At the same, his last girlfriend Shirley (Witherspoon) has embraced the darkness and moved into the flat across the hall with her wacky friend Gail (a career making performance from Shub Niggurath the Goat With A Thousand Young).

When Brent asks Shirley out on a date - in a deftly handled scene set in a romantic sewer where Belushi mugs hilariously among the cannabilistic ghouls - he mentions his single friend and she suggests they make it a foursome.

What follows is a funny and touching tale of love amongst the deranged followers of evil cults and the lonely hearts who try to rid the world of their evil. Although we all know that Witherspoon and Crystal will finally either die or go mad, the pleasure of watching them circle around each other matches anything from Ephron's previous films.

Ned

The RPGA community in Denver is fairly mature, with gamers from the teens into the 40s playing in the Living Greyhawk campaign.  I've sat down to tables with three generations from the same family playing together.

I'm not saying that you don't get some bad seeds in it, because occasionally you do, but generally in Denver the RPGA is a fairly positive roleplaying environment for folks who like to play D&D, but don't have a time for a regular game, or for folks who just like playing in a shared world.

IME, the RPGA tends to be gathering ground for players nobody wants to game with. They go to RPGA and publisher sponsored con events because they will not likely be turned away.

Thats not to say their are not normal people, that otherwise don't have a hard time finding a game, that got to RPGA events.