DMing for Living Forgotten Realms Games
Running games in Living Forgotten Realms can be a fun way to play D&D in nice convenient short sessions. Each session is planned to be a four hour game, although modules can run longer at times and there is no rule saying the game must be completed in four hours. As it is a world wide game that aims to let players play anywhere and get a similar game experience it is much more restrictive than running a home game, but you and the the players can still have a good time if you as a DM are prepared.
Each Living Forgotten Realm (LFR) game is presented as a module and each module has a couple of pages up front that give the DM instructions for running a LFR game. To run the game someone has to register the event on the Wizard’s site, once the event is registered the organizer is responsible for reporting the game results back to Wizards. The organizer must be a ‘Herald Level’ DM, that is a DM who has passed an easy open book test on 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, but the person who actually runs the game needs only to be a RPGA/DCI member and they can pass the game results to the organizer to report. All players also have to be RPGA/DCI members and to be legal a table must have at least four and at most six players.
The modules are in restricted by the character levels that can play in them, with the current common level ranges being 1-4, 4-7 and 7-10. All players may have as many characters as they like, but characters must start at level one can only gain experience by playing within the official LFR adventures. The modules are organized by regions within the Forgotten Realms such as the Dragon Coast, Cormyr, Akanul but players and DMs are not restricted to playing in a single region and can do adventures from anywhere in the Realms without restriction. The region hopping can lead to a disjointed feeling for players, one game is in Waterdeep and the next is Tymanther which is a long way away. I tend to view my characters adventures as short stories in his life rather than as a single long story line as in a traditional campaign. It is possible to run a full traditional campaign in the Forgotten Realms using LFR, but it does take some planning and thought and is really only possible if you always play with the same players.
The modules can be a bit formulaic, normally three fights and a skill challenge in each mod, but the modules writers are pretty good and they work around the restrictions the format brings in a number of clever ways. The modules can be run at two difficulty levels, Low or High, which the players choose at the start of the adventure. The modules are rarely brutally difficult for the players so many players choose high level by default, but many of the newest modules are more difficult and I always recommend that new players play low as they are focused on learning the game so the danger level for them is higher than for experienced players.
The modules are free and there are quite a few of them available. A complete list of adventures doesn’t exist, but a series of PDFs listing them all are available here. If a DM wants to run something a bit more freestyle they have recently released the first two of the My Realms Adventures, which allow a DM to design his or her own module within the LFR format. The only real downside the the moment is there is no way to check out adventures before ordering them, but you can get information from other DMs who have run the modules or check the forums for opinions so you don’t have to order completely blindly.
As a DM in LFR it is important to play by the book as much as possible, players are moving from DM to DM and if you tell them they can do things other DMs won’t allow you are going to make both the players and other DMs grumpy. This doesn’t mean that you have be a mechanical DM, just that the game mechanics should be as straight to the core rules as possible so that the player experience is consistent. Although I feel more constrained as a LFR DM than I do in my home game, in practice this is rarely an issue and as a player I like that my character will work the same in every game I play regardless of who the DM is.
In many areas you can find game shops with organized LFR game days, where many modules are offered. In the Washington DC area there are monthly game days at both Game Parlor stores with games held also at Outpost Games and weekly games held at Games & Stuff. To find if there are game days near you the easiest way is join the LFR Mailing List at Yahoo Groups. If you don’t see an announcement in your area you can post up asking if there is anything near you and get good information on what is available. Game days are a great place to start DMing LFR, you get a wide variety of players and you can see a variety of other DMs to steal ideas from.
The players I have DMed for at game days have been uniformly well behaved and I have met quite a few who would be great in any group. Players vary in experience level, some are brand new and are using LFR to find a regular group or in place of one. Some are hardcore players who play in multiple campaigns as well as at game days. The community I have seen so far is very good at helping a DM out, they are polite when the DM makes a mistake and don’t whine when calls don’t go their way. I have not had any barracks room lawyers or bullies in any of my games, I would be happy to have a new DM start out running at our local games days.
Resources:
Living Forgotten Realms Wiki: Great stuff if you want to know how the campaign is run and managed.
My job has a rotating schedule, so LFR allows me the flexibility to get in 4hr blocks of D&D. It also removes the pressure of coming up with adventures, just pick and play!
Living Forgotten Realms of Oxford is a handy site for basic info about the LFR adventures.
http://www.lfr-oxford.oxif.org/
I find that playing LFR games in addition to a regular game give you a chance to try out new character concepts and fight monsters you might not normally see in your ongoing campaign. If you’re playing in a public setting it’s a great way to meet other gamers in your community.
Just remember that if you’re playing in a public setting, you should take your turn behind the screen. The games wouldn’t be possible without a DM so make sure that the same guy doesn’t get stuck being the DM week in and week out.
If you’re in the Greater Toronto Area there are LFR games every Monday night at 401Game on Yonge St. Just be sure to sign up or else there may not be room for you at the game table.
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