February 15th-18th, in Crystal City, Virginia.

Anyone else going?

I'll be there. I'll be DMing a Living Greyhawk Core, and a Xendrik' Expeditions adventure, and I'm really looking forward to playing in the Living Greyhawk Special this year, which is set in the City of Brass (AD&D1 DMG cover painting!), and somehow involves an Efreet Lord.

About half of my weekly gaming group is going, and most of my "sister group"- the weekend RPGA guys and gals I hang out with--are going.

Notable events will include a 2 hour talk from the Wizards R&D team about "Whats up with D&D", the yearly RPGA meeting, and a chat with the Xendrik Expeditions faction-masters.

Sounds wicked. I'm not going though, since I live too far away and have other commitments.

They really spelled it "eXperience"? Wheee! :rolleyes:

Well, I just checked. The official "abbreviation" seems to be DDXP, but it's just "The D&D Experience". Normal caps. My bad.

In previous years, I could always mask my attendance at Winter Fantasy by saying "yeah, it's a uh,.. swingers convention."

Is there really anything there for people who don't care to get involved with RPGA games?

Let me put this up front: The RPGA is free, and I can help you join or talk to anyone about it who is interested. I think it's great.  Let me further add: Winter Fantasy or "The D&D Experience" or whatever-- is free too. You only pay for what slots you play.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadIs there really anything there for people who don't care to get involved with RPGA games?

Well, yes and no. But keep in mind the RPGA is vastly differrent than it used to be. There's D&D Miniatures and Three Dragon Ante, and a coiuple of others (Axis and Allies last year). The D&D Miniatures tournaments are technically sanctioned by DCI, but that's still RPGA. So pretty much everything there is RPGA, but it isn't all Living Campaigns.

I would recommend trying out some of the RPGA games. It's not the kind of con where you have to pay for a badge- you only pay by event. So if you live near the area, you could just pay to play 1 or 2 slots and see if you like it. Thats how I did it last year, and I ended up staying for a second day- I think I did 6 slots. I remember the really bad reputation RPGA had through the 1990s and early 2000s, and how it was reviled and such at the Big Purple and even EnWorld. To some degree I think this was warranted: I remember DMing the D&D Open tournament in 2001, and several of the RPGA DMs were still unclear on the 3.0 rules at that time.

Bottom line: now it's free, and pretty darn good. If your'e a D&D player, I would highly recommend it. The Living Campaigns may be a bit unfamiliar- you have to follow certain guidelines with your character in order to be "legal", but once you get all that down, it opens up a pretty huge network of gamers and games and free stuff.

If your'e into D&D Miniatures, and you register for those events, you get a booster (or two?) with your ticket of the pre-release set, Unhallowed. You also nearly always get a free alternate-paint or promotional miniature or two at RPGA events.

For meeting people, it's definitely worth it to be a member.

It just so happens I do live near the area... I just don't know how much fun I would have.

Are they still having Living Spycraft events?

I don't see them on the schedule. I saw Living Death (Ravenloft), Living Kalamar, & Living Greyhawk.

Then there's the Xendrik Campaign, which is a bit like a Living campaign in that it has persistent characters, but you choose a faction, and there are 'level-kicks' at regular intervals, so that everyone in the campaigns levels at the same time. So if someone were to join now, they'd probably be 4th level.

The Eberron: Mark of Heroes campaign may be retiring soon, but it still has one event going on now.

Miniatures & card events include D&D Miniatures, Star Wars and Star Wars starship battles, Three Dragon Ante.

I'll be there for the D&D Minis Championship, but I plan on doing some RPGA stuff too.  

--sam