A few people have asked questions regarding the WPN status of our meetup. Recently, with the new rules for Wizards Play Network (WPN) things have gotten more complex but I will attempt to explain them here.

LFR Apex has always participated in the Private Network in regards to RPGA reporting. There was a special event, not to long ago, called "Fiat Lux" in which we hosted a mini-convention in a public school. We anticipate hosting another convention soon but our weekly games do not qualify as a convention.

There are two main reasons to host a Public WPN: access limited adventures and convention prize support. To qualify for limited mods, we must register the event as a convention and host a minimum of four tables over two days. Qualifying for prize support requires a minimum of 25 tables over 2 days. I have faith in the group that we can accomplish these requirements but I'm not convinced that we can for our weekly LFR Apex games.

Hosting signups in a private meetup group is one reason that we do not qualify for Public WPN. Joining Meetup.com is free to the public. Joining our DND meetup is "as free" and "as public" as I can make it with my admin control. Unfortunately, the meetup is not free for me but I happily pay the quarterly fee out of pocket because it is something I enjoy and it is my hobby. Technically, this DND meetup is a private group.

To qualify for Public WPN status you have to order your mods 2 months in advance. There are no legal ways to avoid this one. With the style of our weekly games, it is possible to cancel your reservation up to 2 hours before the event. Because LFR Apex is free and you can no-show without losing money, scheduling all our DMs and mods 2 months in advance is not practical. I know, a lot of our members would prefer a 2 month set schedule, doing so would limit our participation and would restrict us against changing the mod at the last minute. The point of advanced scheduling has been a hot topic lately. The current style or strategy of LFR Apex has developed over the course of one year and it has evolved into what it is today. The driving force behind its evolution is to get-the-word-out about 4e and LFR and to build an active member base. Scheduling events 2 months in advance would restrict our membership.

Public WPN requires a public space. While our location is a public retail spot, the meetup affiliation with the store is strictly a private reservation. The store has its own DCI/RPGA leadership that uses the store front to qualify for a public retail venue. We reserve a number of tables weekly with the store owners but their involvement ends there. I do not qualify as a DCI representative for All Fun and Games and so I can not use their location to report events. The easiest solution to this one would be to get the store more involved with the meetup. There are several reasons why we don't want this but the simplest is that the store doesn't want to spend extra resources managing our group. AFNG is a public store providing a private venue.

The last reason is that Public WPN requires the event signup to be posted on WotC website to truly allow public access as well as walk-in attendance. I'm not sure how other groups handle walk-ins but it seems there are only two options: squeeze them in or send them home. Recently, we have been reviewing our walk-in policy and there have been more than a few members who openly object to our policy. We are currently revising the walk-in policy but it has been increasingly difficult handling walk-ins. Hosting a Public WPN event would require us to allow walk-ins without exception and because of the space and our style this would be quite difficult.

I hope this answers everyone's questions about the WPN status of LFR Apex. I want all the information to be out-in-the-open because we can't do all this without you, the members. LFR Apex and the meetup in general has been an exciting and enjoyable experience for me and for plenty of its members. We are still growing and changing all the time. I have big expectations for the future involving creating a regularly occurring convention through the meetup. Right now, what we need is more leadership, more volunteers and the same friendly and flexible members that we've grown to love.

-Nathan

Well said, Nate. You actually worked in all the things we had previously discussed. Thanks for posting this.

Christian

Is there are requirement for all the games to be hosted at AF&G. Could one consider the games not only at AF&G and perhaps another locale to be a tournament?

Is there are requirement for all the games to be hosted at AF&G. Could one consider the games not only at AF&G and perhaps another locale to be a tournament?

Thanks for this question. There are no requirements for the games to be hosted at AFNG. In the past we've held events at Lost Goblin and have attempted to hold events at Game Connection and Time Sink. We are always looking for suggestions on new venues and leadership to drive organization for these new games.

If you have ideas or suggestions, post them here or send me a message.

-Nathan