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Aliving campaign, orshared campaign, is a gaming format within the table-toprole-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within ashared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing games, living campaigns allow and encourage players to develop characters that can be played at games run by many different game masters, but which share a game world andcampaign setting, as well as a plot line that is overseen by a central core of professional or volunteer editors and contributors. Many living campaigns serve a dual role of providing a creative outlet for highly involved volunteer contributors while also serving as amarketing tool for the publisher of the game system that is the focus of the living campaign. While the earliest living campaigns were run by the now defunctRPGA (Role Playing Gamer's Association),[1] many groups around the world run active living campaigns which are independent or sponsored by other publishers.
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Living campaigns are a shared campaign setting with a codified set of rules for the campaign that govern how to build and advance characters as well as how the campaign will handle rules elements of the setting. Campaign staff create, distribute, and manage new adventures in that campaign setting, and quite often administer a player database and promote various products. A living campaign lets players build and advancecharacters, develop their personalities, and forge relationships. Living campaign games are run at conventions, game days and other gatherings. The rules for character tracking allow a player to take their PC they created for the campaign to any of these gatherings and play it in the adventures offered. It is still common for adventures to be offered at conventions with premade characters that fit to the story, but Living campaigns allow for additional options.
The original living campaign was theLiving City, set in theForgotten Realms city of Ravens Bluff, and created by the RPGA.[2]: 13 The campaign ran in its original form inPolyhedron magazine starting in the mid-1980s, and continued until shortly after the advent of 3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons (D&D) in 2000.[3] It then restarted under the auspices of the company Organized Play, but lasted only two years under that license and then reverted in 2003 to Wizards of the Coast.[4][3]Living City proved to be a popular concept and "the number of Living City events actually surpassed the 'classic' RPGA tournaments — possibly as early as late 1993".[5] In the first decade of the twenty-first century, RPGA created a variety of living campaigns.[5] The largest wasLiving Greyhawk, played by thousands of people around the world from 2000 to 2008.[6][7]
Shared campaigns have occurred for multiple role-playing games:
| Name | Year | Setting/system | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashes of Athas | 2011 – 2013 | Dark Sun (4th EditionDungeons & Dragons) | Administered by Baldman Games at conventions such asWinter Fantasy. | [8][9][10] |
| Chronicle for Vampire | 2019 – present | Vampire: The Masquerade (5th Edition) | The official campaign produced byModiphius Entertainment. | [11][12] |
| Cypher Play | 2016 – present | Numenera, theCypher System, andThe Strange | Organized byMonte Cook Games.. | [13][14] |
| D&D Encounters | 2010 – 2016 | Forgotten Realms (4th EditionDungeons & Dragons, 5th EditionDungeons & Dragons) | An officialDungeons & Dragons organized play program launched by the RPGA and then administered by theD&D Adventurers League after 2014. | [15][16][17] |
| D&D Expeditions | 2014 – 2016 | Forgotten Realms ( 5th EditionDungeons & Dragons) | An officialDungeons & Dragons organized play program launched by the D&D Adventurers League; envisioned as the living campaign successor. | [18] |
| Legacy of the Green Regent | 2003 – 2006 | Forgotten Realms (3.5Dungeons & Dragons) | The first of the RPGA'sDungeons & Dragons Campaigns program; it also included digital tracking. | [19][20] |
| Legends of the Shining Jewel | 2003 – present | World of RAIA (3.5Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder) | Transitioned toPathfinder in 2009. | [21][22][23] |
| Living Arcanis | 2001 – 2009 | 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons | Originally a part of the RPGA, it was then relaunched as a separate program byParadigm Concepts. | [24] |
| Legends of Arcanis | 2010 – present | Arcanis Roleplaying Game system | Paradigm Concepts relaunch program. | [25][26][27][24] |
| Living Arcanis 5E | 2016 – present | Arcanis (5th EditionDungeons & Dragons) | [24][28][29] | |
| Living City | 1987 – 2003 | Forgotten Realms (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, 3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons) | The first Living Campaign launched by RPGA; it was a series of adventures set in the city ofRaven's Bluff. | [5][30][31] |
| Living Death | 1997 – 2007 | Masque of the Red Death (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, 3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons, 3.5Dungeons & Dragons) | A RPGA Living Campaign; the campaign was played in seasons assigned to specific campaign years, from 1890 (1996) through 1899 (2007). | [32][5] |
| Living Divine | 2011 – 2012 | 4th EditionDungeons & Dragons | [33] | |
| Living Force | 2001 – 2012 | Star Wars Roleplaying Game | A RPGA Living Campaign; the campaign was set in the Mid-Rim Cularin system one year afterThe Phantom Menace – it jumped forward in time after the release ofAttack of the Clones. | [34][35][36] |
| Living Forgotten Realms | 2008 – 2014 | Forgotten Realms (4th EditionDungeons & Dragons) | A RPGA Living Campaign; this living campaign utilized the new4th Edition rules and replaced the 3.5 Edition Living Greyhawk campaign in organized play. | [37][38][18] |
| Living Greyhawk | 2000 – 2008 | Greyhawk (3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons, 3.5Dungeons & Dragons) | A RPGA Living Campaign; the largest RPGA living campaign. | [6][7] |
| Living Jungle | 1995 – 2003 | Forgotten Realms (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, 3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons) | A RPGA Living Campaign; a spinoff from Living City set inKara-Tur. | [39] |
| Living Spycraft | 2002 – 2007 | Spycraft | A RPGA Living Campaign; in 2005, the campaign converted to the Spycraft 2.0 ruleset. | [40][41] |
| Mark of Heroes | 2004 – 2006 | Eberron (3.5Dungeons & Dragons) | The first RPGA Campaign set in Eberron. | [42][43] |
| Pathfinder Society | 2008 – present | Pathfinder | The official Pathfinder organized play program. | [44][45][46] |
| Quelmar | 2012 – present | The Quelmar Realm (Dungeons & Dragons,Candela Obscura,Swords of the Serpentine, among others.) | Community-driven series of living campaigns which share the single living realm of Quelmar, primarily at conventions and in local chapters. | [47][48][49][50] |
| Sarbreenar the Living City | 1992 – 2008 | Forgotten Realms (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, 3rd EditionDungeons & Dragons) | A RPGA Living Campaign; a spinoff from Living City specifically for theUnited Kingdom. | [5] |
| Shadowrun Missions | 2004 – present | Shadowrun (3rd - 6th Editions) | The official organized campaign setting sponsored byCatalyst Game Labs. | [51][52][53] |
| Starfinder Society | 2017 – present | Starfinder Roleplaying Game | The official Starfinder organized play program. | [54][55][56] |
| Star Trek Adventures Living Campaign | 2017 – present | Star Trek Adventures | The official organized campaign setting by Modiphius Entertainment. | [57][58][59] |
| Virtual Seattle | 1996 – 2004 | Shadowrun (2nd - 3rd Editions) | The first non-Dungeons & Dragons RPGA-sponsored campaign; it was replaced by Shadowrun Missions. | [60][61] |
| Witch Hunter: Dark Providence | 2011 – 2013 | Witch Hunter: The Invisible World | A Paradigm Concepts convention program. | [62][63] |
| Witch Hunter: Revelations | 2007 – 2010 | Witch Hunter: The Invisible World | A Paradigm Concepts convention program. | [64] |
| Xen'drik Expeditions | 2006 – 2008 | Eberron (3.5Dungeons & Dragons) | The second RPGA Campaign set in Eberron. | [65][66] |
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