Very recently, I decided to get into the LFR (and RPGA) possibilities as a DM. I have been DMing almost 30 years, but haven’t really hosted anything set in Toril since the 80s so thought it would be refreshing to get back into it and bring along some friends.
So to facilitate this, I set up a couple of gaming nights, private “campaigns”, and am adding people into the mix for them. As my friends didn’t make out a complete roster for either night, I did a little advertising to get the numbers up to about 6 for each night (figuring it would allow for 1 or 2 people to miss occasional nights and still allow a session to proceed).
That said, someone who isn’t actually joining my campaigns brought up some interesting rules issues that I would like to have clarified.
Again, keep in mind that this is a private campaign.. and by campaign I mean that I hope to have continuity from session to session, backgrounds for characters, and, yes, even roleplaying. I would like to do more than say… “last time you ran through that… now you are here doing this… and go…” I’d like to fill in the gaps and create an atmosphere of real involvement in the world and some more depth of detail without breaking from the spirit and intent of the LFR.
The issues the outside person brought up:
1) A DM cannot change any rules (which I don’t) or reject any player options that are listed as legal in the character creation guide (which I do, sort of). In other words, I am working with the players to flesh out backgrounds, work together to create interesting & viable reasons for them all to be together, and to create an “Adventuring Company” that is set in Toril. I did put some restrictions on character creation. Some are a part of the RPGA I believe (no evil characters or worship of evil gods), but I encouraged everyone to play races that would mesh well together and make sense in the campaign. While I didn’t specifically say “you can’t play a minotaur”, I said that playing anything exotic would need to be approved by me. I wanted to see what roleplay and background they would come up with first to explain their presence and inclusion with the group. Is it okay for me to create a more in-depth, more restrictive private LFR campaign?
2) I know the PRGA Character Creation Guide is pretty specific about what’s legal, as a DM, in its rules. I just want to make sure I have the right of it. If I decide one encounter is too hard so I drop a skirmisher while another needs a little boost so I add an extra brute, am I right in reading that those changes will not change the XP earned for that encounter? Same way with tactics… if, instead, I tweak the tactics a bit to either increase or decrease the challenge, I am still legitimately playing a LFR campaign? It also looks like there’s no leeway involved in treasure. So, even though a +1 Orb of Inevitable Continuance is the same value (and item slot, intent) as a Thunder Wand +1, if I were to change the Treasure Rewards as such I would be invalidating the campaign and ruining the official nature of the characters?
3) Related to (2), I also noticed that the two modules I initially intend to send the groups into seem to be using the old table suggestions for DCs for various traps, skill checks, etc. I intend to adjust them to be more in line with the new DC tables from the Official Errata, but was told that any altering of the material would invalidate the game as LFR.
4) He suggested that I just call this campaign something else and to stay away from using LFR because I would be misleading my players to think they are a part of the LFR because I am not using everything to the letter. He could be right, for all I know.
It could very well be that my intention to try to pull some friends (new and old) into the Forgotten Realms through the Living Forgotten Realms material is ill conceived. Perhaps my private campaigns are better off as being listed as Other: D&D Campaign (Forgotten Realms) and stay away from the LFR stuff.
Honestly, I was simply hoping to see what interesting creations and direction the Forgotten Realms was going in and using the Living Forgotten Realms material as a conduit to that ends. It could be that I am better suited just doing homebrew campaigns set in FR where I can add more roleplay and adventuring cohesion to the campaigns.
Still, would love to hear others’ take on the subject and what does and can work for FR campaigns.
Thanks in advance!
SR
PS: Sorry for the wall of text! Didn't realize how much I wanted to ask about. :P
(1) In general, characters are legal as long as they conform to the CCG. However, you can post any restrictions you want for your private play experience. (i.e. I am judging an LFR table for Adventuring Company X. Adventuring Company X only allows humans to join. If you want to play at the table I am judging, you'll need to bring an appropriate human character.) Ultimately, it's up to you how permissive you intend to be with characters. At PUBLIC events, you cannot turn away players who are playing a CCG legal character solely for that reason.
(2) Yes, you can add/remove monsters already in the encounter - and play the tactics any way you want. You cannot change the treasure bundles and still be LFR-legal.
(3) For older mods, you should always incorporate the errata. (Of course, you are well within your rights to give bonuses or penalties for good ideas and/or roleplaying.)
(4) Many judges run their own content as MYRE adventures so that players' characters remain LFR legal. To be legal, the characters need to (a) be CCG compliant and (b) have an accurate adventure log recording the XP/treasure as restricted by the mod.
Hope this helps!
Dan Anderson @EpicUthrac Living Forgotten Realms Calimshan Writing Director Living Forgotten Realms Epic Writing Director
Meet me at TotalConfusion: http://www.totalcon.com/RolePlaying.html
My feeling is this: you can "go off the map" and make whatever changes you want...but you and your players should recognize that you're no longer strictly playing LFR.
The real benefit to hewing to the LFR rules is that your players' characters would be "portable" -- that is, they could play those characters at an LFR table at a convention. If there's no intent for doing that -- if they will only be playing those characters in your campaign -- theh, there's really no harm in you "changing the rules".
"Of course [Richard] has a knife. He always has a knife. We all have knives. It's 1183, and we're barbarians!" - Eleanor of Aquitaine, "The Lion in Winter"
Basically, you are running a private campaign, whose characters are legal to play in the LFR campaign ... thus, you can add whatever restrictions you want to put on them. In fact, in my opinion, you could -even- declare that if they want to play in your private/home campaign they can't use material from certain books, Dragon, even from the PHBH minis sets. If you wanted to and if the players agreed. If they don't want to abide by your desires, that's on them. They can go find another game. Or you can change your restrictions.
Is that out of keeping with the spirit of the CCG? I don't see why. After all, the point is that the CCG is the way to determine what the overall campaign with allow as legal. For public play, that is both the min and the max allowed set. For private play on the other hand, players and GMs can agree to all sorts of other restrictions. Uthrac has a very cool adventuring company (a couple actually) that runs together, they have restrictions both IC and OOC that their PCs must abide by and they are a lot of fun to play with. However, all the players agreed to those restrictions.
When running their characters at public events, though, if they wanted to use a feat from Dragon (via retraining) and wanted to go through the bookkeeping and risk of being unable to play their character in your private game until next level .... sure, they can do that too.
As my friends didn’t make out a complete roster for either night, I did a little advertising to get the numbers up to about 6 for each night (figuring it would allow for 1 or 2 people to miss occasional nights and still allow a session to proceed).
Don't advertise that you're running LFR games. That will only lead to misplaced expectations and player disappointment.
If I show up for an LFR game, I expect that I will be playing LFR, not a bastardized version thereof. If, however, I see someone advertising that they're running a home campaign where the characters will be LFR-legal when they leave, that's a separate matter.
* As the organizer of the event, you are free to exclude anyone you want. As an LFR DM, you don't get to tell people what rules they can use or what type of characters you can play. As an event organizer, you're welcome to say that only players with human PCs are welcome. This is an important distinction.
* You are free to make minor changes to an encounter, such as dropping a creature or adding another one present in the module, or changing their tactics. Read the CCG for the complete list of what's allowed.
* You cannot change the rewards an adventure offers. You cannot give the PCs more XP or GP than is listed in the rewards section, nor can you offer them different magic items.
* You're free (and encouraged) to apply errata.
I think it's a fine idea to run a home campaign, where the characters are also legal for use in LFR. You need to make sure, however, that prospective players know that they're walking into a home campaign that uses the LFR rules, and not just a group playing LFR modules.
If you really want a customized touch, I'd suggest you look into the MYRE series of adventures. You can basically design your own plots, characters and encounters and still remain LFR legal.
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Heh. What a can of worms I have opened up here! Funny, originally, as I explored the possibilities out here, I saw the RPGA material and then the Living Forgotten Realms subdivision and though, "Wow, that's pretty cool." Naively, I didn’t realize how much control I would lose by intending to do a LFR campaign.
I will be both the event organizer and the event DM, though, so perhaps all is not lost.
I suppose now, though, I am vacillating between either continuing with the idea that all characters from this private campaign will be LFR legal, but that the campaign itself will not be completely open to all comers… or with just making this a RPGA legal campaign set in the Forgotten Realms so I don’t have to worry about one of my players insisting it’s his legal right to use his decked out level 4 paladin when everyone else was starting with fresh level 1 characters.
I am really looking forward to getting back into the Forgotten Realms after a long hiatus. The question is simply, will the LFR be an enhancement to my desire to see friends (new and old) explore its expanses, history, and future or will it be a detriment to any hopes of having a cohesive, continual campaign.
It sounds more like the latter. LFR is intended for fire-and-forget play where there’s no use for party organization or campaign structure. Which makes me believe I better talk to my players and update the advertisement to reflect the fact that I am going to need to change it to a FR set campaign that’s not intended to be LFR restricted.
Frankly, if control is an issue for you, you are far better off avoiding any claims to LFR at all.
Feel free to modify LFR adventures for your own private purposes all you like (even though it probably isn't within the spirit of the organization, you can order all the adventures you like and then cancel the events) if you are interested in a large collection of free adventures - although you'd probably be better served by the slightly-less-than-free Dungeon magazine for this purpose I reckon. Just don't call what you are doing LFR, or even hint that PCs will be portable into some other official LFR setting, and everyone is fine.
LFR is very, VERY casual in nature. Not at all like the traditional campaign you'd run by yourself. It is easy for us old-timers to forget just how different it is.
If you are interested in things like continuity, long-term story, and adventures customized for individual PC backstories and motivations, then LFR is not the place for you. If you are interested in casual light-roleplay and smooshing bad guys, then LFR is just for you.
Frankly, if control is an issue for you, you are far better off avoiding any claims to LFR at all.
You seem to be right. It sounds like a LFR DM is there just to read text out of a predefined adventure. Nothing wrong with that, but not all that I want as a DM.
If you are interested in things like continuity, long-term story, and adventures customized for individual PC backstories and motivations, then LFR is not the place for you. If you are interested in casual light-roleplay and smooshing bad guys, then LFR is just for you.
Well, for those who've been through any of my campaigns, they will attest that we are mostly casual light-roleplay with plenty of baddies smackdowning... but that's mixed in with backgrounds, motivations, and plenty of interaction with the DM in an evolving story.
The idea, though, that players have more input, is a bit foreign. Not to mention the fact that it's alright, even encouraged, for players to know the adventures ahead of time! That just goes against my old timer ways.
"Bob, in this next room, there's going to be a trap on the left side, 3 squares in. Need you to use Arcana on it right away to counteract it. It's a killer. Jenny, you will need to take out a skirmisher that will be on a platform to the left because it's there to try to take out our leaders. Oh, and don't forget to check the pillar when we get done with this. There's a loose panel that hides a magic wand in it. Let's do this!"
Come to think of it, that's not so foreign after all.. it's called raiding in an MMO.
"Bob, in this next room, there's going to be a trap on the left side, 3 squares in. Need you to use Arcana on it right away to counteract it. It's a killer. Jenny, you will need to take out a skirmisher that will be on a platform to the left because it's there to try to take out our leaders. Oh, and don't forget to check the pillar when we get done with this. There's a loose panel that hides a magic wand in it. Let's do this!"
Come to think of it, that's not so foreign after all.. it's called raiding in an MMO.
Man, that kind of meta-gaming drives me up a wall. Fortunately I don't feel so handcuffed as to not mix things up when people are that blatant. Move the trigger panels 3 squares closer, hide the enemies in different parts of the room, change the tactics listed.
As much as the "4E is an MMO" argument strikes me as a stupid and ignorant thing to say, I have to agree that LFR is quite well described that way, with each adventure being an "instance". I'm lucky that I like having the option to play that way, as well as having a long-running campaign option.
What makes me sad - no more compiled magazines: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/27580349/Dungeon_and_Dragon_Magazine_PDFs&post_num=24#495423645
I would like to do more than say… “last time you ran through that… now you are here doing this… and go…” I’d like to fill in the gaps and create an atmosphere of real involvement in the world and some more depth of detail without breaking from the spirit and intent of the LFR.
That just goes against my old timer ways. 
