URealms Live
Unforgotten Realms Live, or UR Live for short, is a group-based role-playing game developed by Robert Moran and a dedicated staff, including the Buffalo Wizards. It consists of adventures undertaken by players in a world called the Unforgotten Realms, and is meant to "[dumb] down tabletop roleplay to its purest form of storytelling and adventure." [1] Though Tabletop Simulator is utilized for the core gameplay, most of UR Live's entertainment is derived from the communication of the players. In contrast to typical role-playing games, UR Live concentrates more on discussion, interaction, comedy, and drama than on the outcome of dice rolls.
The Buffalo Wizards play through a newly made campaign of UR Live each week, which is streamed live every Saturday at 3 PM EST at Coestar's Twitch channel. Previous campaigns are also uploaded to Rob's Youtube channel.
Gameplay
Unforgotten Realms Live uses several elements to create both the game and its storytelling environment. By use of these elements, spectators and players can build their own interpretation of the world as the game plays out. More detailed information can be found at Game Rules.
There are different types of cards that are used to represent various aspects of the game. Before gameplay starts, players choose from race, class ability, and accessory cards to determine their characters' identities and skills. They may also purchase item and treasure cards to aid themselves in battle. These cards are held in each player's inventory for reference, and may gain or lose some in the course of a campaign.
The board is the main focus of gameplay, where players move and take action. Varied environments can be represented on the board, while player and NPC tiles interact atop it. It is divided into squares that tiles and their movement are aligned to.
For the players' and the Game Master's turns, a twenty-sided die is rolled to perform most actions. Generally, the higher the number rolled, the more favorable the outcome to the roller. Therefore, 20's can result in perfect execution that provides extra benefits, while 1's end up in spectacular failures that are often comical.
In UR Live, all characters have stamina, a combination of the health and mana stats seen in traditional role-playing games. Using abilities and taking damage will both lower a character's stamina. When a character loses all of their stamina, they will pass out, or, in extreme cases, die.
Show
In a weekly stream held on Coestar's Twitch channel, a new campaign of Unforgotten Realms Live is revealed and completed by the Buffalo Wizards. Rob acts as the Game Master, and the stream displays his perspective of the Tabletop Simulator session. In addition, the stream makes use of other in-house software, such as Puppet Pals and a stamina tracker, to provide more entertaining and informative visuals. During the show, viewers can also donate towards the activation of events that can influence the campaign positively or negatively for the players.
Although Rob aims to stay true to the continuously updated set of rules, his main goal is creating entertaining content for the audience. As such, parts of the campaign are liable to be altered by Rob at his discretion.
