RPGA

RPGA (Role-Playing Game Association — Ассоциация ролевых игр, Role-Playing Gamers Association — Ассоциация ролевиков, RPGA Network — Сеть RPGA) — организация, существующая в настоящее время под патронажем компании Wizards of the Coast, занимающаяся организацией настольных ролевых игр (в основном по системе d20) в международном масштабе.

RPGA была основана в ноябре 1980 г. Франком Менцером из TSR, Inc. с целью продвижения отыгрыша в ролевых играх и обеспечения возможности любителям RPG из разных мест встречаться и играть друг с другом. С 1997 г. владельцем RPGA является Wizards of the Coast.

Цель RPGA

The RPGA was originally formed to provide tournaments to conventions that would be both fun to play and fair to the players in the event. Each player was given a pre-generated character with a background, equipment, and some limited information about the other characters at the table, and a great deal of effort was spent trying to create balanced events. A game master and four to eight players would play a 4-hour adventure supplied by the RPGA. At the end of the adventure, the «winner» of the event was decided (on the basis of rules knowledge and role-playing ability) by tallying votes from the game master and the players (the game master’s vote counted double and was used to break any ties). These events are now referred to as «Classic» events. Players were awarded experience points based on how well they did in competitive events, and over time they could advance to higher levels. The players also rated the game master, and the game masters similarly gained experience points and could achieve levels as judges.

Initially, all RPGA events were for TSR products, primarily Advanced Dungeons & Dragons but also the Top Secret (espionage) and Gamma World (science fantasy) role-playing games. By the mid-1980s events based on games from other publishers were approved and distributed by the RPGA; the first such event was a Star Trek Role Playing game at Glathricon in Evansville, Indiana.

The RPGA later decided to allow gamers all around the country (and world) to play in a single campaign where everyone could create changes in a dynamic world. In essence it was to create the largest single RPG campaign(s). The first such campaign was Raven’s Bluff, the Living City.

The game(s) are set up as a series of «modules» (or adventures) where players play in groups of 5-7 people (one of whom is the Dungeon Master) at a time. Modules with story arc hooks have results sent to RPGA Headquarters for compilation — usually a certain percentage (a majority) is required for a specific result to occur. For example, if a world is cursed due to a cursed item and most people in a particular adventure succeed in removing the object, the curse could be lifted or altered for the world in all future story modules. Players who do not succeed still play in the world and gain experience and character growth as if they had succeeded since the «official» storyline dictates as such.

Членство в RPGA

Membership was originally paid by yearly fee and included a subscription to "Polyhedron" magazine. In the early years, membership was largely limited to North America, but in 1989, the RPGA Network branched out into Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the U.K., Israel, and Australia. In 2002, RPGA membership became free, but the subscription to "Polyhedron" was no longer included as a membership benefit—the magazine’s association with RPGA ended the same year when it was bought by Paizo Publishing, who then published it as a section of "Dungeon".

The RPGA currently has members on all continents of the world, except Antarctica.

Кампании RPGA

There have been many campaigns organized by RPGA, free to play for RPGA members (although some of the Living campaigns use or used retail books such as the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and the Living Force Campaign Guide.) Below are some of the current and previous campaigns.

• The Living City (1987—2004) A D&D campaign set in the Forgotten Realms setting, specifically the city of Ravens Bluff. The first adventure for this shared campaign appeared at GenCon in 1987, primed by articles that had appeared in "Polyhedron" magazine over the previous two years. The first adventures were played using the rules for AD&D, but the campaign reached the height of its popularity using Second Edition rules. The campaign converted to Third Edition rules in 2000, but with the advent of the much larger and more popular Living Greyhawk campaign the following year, interest in Living City waned, and the campaign drew to a close in 2004.
• Living Greyhawk (2000—2008) A D&D campaign set in the original Dungeons and Dragons world of Greyhawk, this campaign was introduced at GenCon 2000 in conjunction with the release of the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.. The real world was divided into 30 administrative regions, each one keyed to a specific region of the Greyhawk world (that is, France = Ekbir, Switzerland = Dullstrand, Australia = Perrenland, etc). Players could either play "Core " adventures that were available to all players worldwide or adventures that had been specifically created for their home region, but they could not play adventures written for other regions. (In order to play adventures from another Greyhawk region, the player was required to physically travel to the real-world area associated with that region.) The campaign was very popular, with over 15,000 players and over 1,000 adventures, but with the advent of Fourth Edition rules, the campaign was drawn to a close in 2008 and replaced with the Living Forgotten Realms campaign.
• Living Forgotten Realms Launched in August 2008 at Gen Con, this is currently RPGA’s only active living campaign, a D&D campaign using WotC’s 4th edition D&D rules set in the Forgotten Realms. This worldwide campaign divides the real world into twelve administrative regions, each linked to a specific region or city of the Forgotten Realms (the Dalelands, Baldurs Gate, etc.). However, unlike the regional play limitations of the Living Greyhawk campaign, players are free to play any adventure from any region at any time.
• Legacy of the Green Regent (2003—2006) A D&D campaign using v3.5 rules, and set in the Forgotten Realms campaign world centered on the northern city of Loudwater. Players took the role of defenders of Loudwater and supporters of the Green Regent. This was the first RPGA campaign to feature online tracking of characters and adventure outcomes.
• Mark of Heroes (2004—2006) This D&D campaign, using v3.5 rules, was designed to introduce the new Eberron campaign setting. Players portrayed members of the Diggers' Union, an archeology-and-adventure society, as they became involved in the ongoing story of the postwar turmoil that engulfs Eberron.
• Xen’drik Expeditions (2006—2008) This D&D campaign using v3.5 rules was also set in the Eberron campaign setting, and replaced the Mark of Heroes campaign starting at Gen Con 2006. Players had to join one of four factions, each of which had different (and often competing) goals. This campaign ended at Origins 2008.
• Living Force (2002—2007) A d20 campaign using the Star Wars RPG and following the then current movie story line. In 2006, the license agreement between WotC and LucasFilm ended, and the campaign was brought to a close in 2007.
• Living Death (1997—2007) A D&D campaign, using Second Edition rules and the Ravenloft expansion book, set in 1890s gothic Earth. Also called «Masque of the Red Death». Players belonged to the «Society of the White Rose» and fought the evils of the world. It concluded its scheduled 10-year run in February of 2007.

There were also several other smaller or time-limited campaigns started by RPGA, some of which continued to be organized and played outside the auspices of RPGA when the original campaign was drawn to a close:

• Living Kalamar (set in Kenzer & Company’s Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign world);
• Living Jungle (a sister campaign to Living City, set in the jungles of Kara-tur that lie to the south of Ravens Bluff);
• Living Spycraft (a pulp spy action campaign using Spycraft rules by Alderac Entertainment Group);
• Living Arcanis (set in Paradigm Concepts' Shattered Empires RPG);
• Living Rokugan (set in feudal Japan, using Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game rules by Alderac Entertainment Group);
• Virtual Seattle (an sf campaign using the d20 Shadowrun rules)

Ссылки

• Главная страница RPGA
• RPGA в Википедии