Living Campaigns are part marketing tool, part volunteer campaign settings, which allow people all over the world to play role-playing games in a shared universe. While the most popular living campaigns are run by the RPGA (Role Playing Gamer's Association), a division of Wizard's of the Coast, many groups around the world run active living campaigns. Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up marketing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A campaign setting is a fictional fantasy world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer and various d20 System games. ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... A shared universe is a literary technique in which several different authors create works of fiction that share aspects such as settings or characters and that are intended to be read as taking place in a single universe. ... RPGA – Role Playing Gamers Association // History The group was originally formed and founded by TSR, Inc. ...

Overview

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 advance characters, 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. Prior to this, it was common for adventures to be offered at conventions with premade characters that fit to the story.

Much to the dismay of some, Living campaigns are rigid in their administration and do not allow for much DM caveat on rules or setting. DMs are not at liberty to change and/or ignore rules that they do not like or agree with. They are not allowed to go "off script" in adventures or allow thing in the campaign that aren't approved by the campaign staff. For some people, not having the ultimate control of a home campaign is a real turn off. Living Planar is an exception to this rule, allowing dungeon masters a great deal of flexibility in running their games, giving it a feel somewhere between a normal living campaign and a home campaign.

The original Living campaign was the Living City, set in the Forgotten Realms city of Ravens Bluff. The campaign ran in its original form in Polyhedron magazine starting in the mid-1980s, and continued until shortly after the advent of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) in 2000. 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. The Forgotten Realms third edition logo. ... The Polyhedron magazine is the official publication of the RPGA, or Roleplaying Gamers Association. ... The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ... This article is about the role-playing game. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ...

What is a Campaign-Style Game?

WOTC began, with Legacy of the Green Regent, to offer a living style campaign that was a slightly different play experience. An campaign-style game follows many of the same conventions as other Living campaigns such as Living Greyhawk, but differs in a couple areas: Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... Living Greyhawk is a role playing game organization run by the RPGA that administers an on-going living campaign based on the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. ...

1. All accounting/book keeping is done on the RPGA website.
2. The campaign provides periodic level bumps so everyone in the campaign is the same level
   1. In traditional Living campaigns, you cannot level without gaining experience from playing in adventures
3. Your character in the campaign isn't as static, meaning you can change a lot of details in between play opportunities.

Campaign-style games are believed by some to be more of a marketing brainchild than anything else. Providing adventures to retail locations through their retail support packs and providing fast play characters on the campaign's official website, even if you never played in the campaign before you can pick up a character and play in the adventure right away without having to deal with sometimes cryptic and/or complicated character creation rules.

There is much debate amongst players over whether campaign-style games should truly be called Living campaigns or not. They are generally lumped into the same category, although WOTC/RPGA very obviously left the term Living out of the campaign titles. Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... RPGA – Role Playing Gamers Association // History The group was originally formed and founded by TSR, Inc. ...

Campaigns

RPGA Living Campaigns

WOTC/RPGA-sponsored Living campaigns: Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... RPGA – Role Playing Gamers Association // History The group was originally formed and founded by TSR, Inc. ...

• Living Greyhawk: A D&D campaign set in the world of Greyhawk. Currently the most popular Living campaign.
• Mark of Heroes: The RPGA's Eberron campaign-style game.
• Xen'drik Campaigns: WOTC's newest RPGA campaign-style game set in the Eberron setting, first appearing at Origins 2006 and officially launching at Gen Con 2006. Has four sub-campaigns within it.

Living Greyhawk is a role playing game organization run by the RPGA that administers an on-going living campaign based on the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. ... Greyhawk is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, also known as the World of Greyhawk. ... RPGA – Role Playing Gamers Association // History The group was originally formed and founded by TSR, Inc. ... The Eberron logo Eberron is a campaign setting created by author and game designer Keith Baker for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... RPGA – Role Playing Gamers Association // History The group was originally formed and founded by TSR, Inc. ... The Eberron logo Eberron is a campaign setting created by author and game designer Keith Baker for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... Origins International Game Expo is one of North Americas most prominent annual gaming conventions, second in size only to Gen Con. ... Gen Con is the largest and most prominent gaming convention in North America. ...

Third Party Campaigns

Living campaigns that are or were part of the RPGA, but administered by third parties, include:

• Living Arcanis: A d20 System campaign set in the world of Onara. No longer part of the RPGA as of 2007.
• Living Kingdom of Kalamar: A medieval fantasy setting set in Kenzer & Company's Kingdoms of Kalamar.
• Living Spycraft: A world of espionage using the Spycraft d20 System rules, managed by Crafty Games (previous to 2006, it was managed by Alderac Entertainment Group and Raven). No longer part of the RPGA as of 2007.

Arcanis is an award-winning campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons game, created and supported by Paradigm Concepts. ... Arcanis is an award-winning campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons game, created and supported by Paradigm Concepts. ... Medieval fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that encompasses medieval era high fantasy and sometimes simply represents fictitious versions of historic events. ... Kenzer and Company (KenzerCo) is an Illinois based publisher of role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games. ... The Kingdoms of Kalamar is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting created by Kenzer and Company and released in 1994. ... Spycraft is a d20-based roleplaying game dealing with superspies and modern action. ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... Spycraft is a d20-based roleplaying game dealing with superspies and modern action. ... This is about the games publisher. ...

Unofficial Campaigns

There have been quite a few grass roots movements among fans to create Living campaigns for other settings.

The following are known non-RPGA Living campaigns that are actively running:

• Legends of the Shining Jewel: A D&D 3.5 edition campaign set in its own high fantasy campaign world.
• Heroes of Rokugan/Champions of the Emerald Empire: Uses the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game
• Living Planar: Mixes all types of settings using D&D 3.5 edition rules into a dark planar setting. Character creation generally begins at 14th level.
• Iron Kingdoms: Chronicles of Immoren: A new campaign in the planning stages using the setting published by Privateer Press
• Dave Arneson's Blackmoor: Campaign set in the "original D&D setting"
• ShadowRun Missions: Uses the ShadowRun Roleplaying Game.

For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game originally written by John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group, under license from Five Rings Publishing Group, in 1997. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... The Iron Kingdoms is a campaign setting for the d20 fantasy RPG system and set in the same fictional world as the WARMACHINE miniatures wargame. ... Privateer Press is a role-playing game and miniature wargame production and publishing studio. ... Role playing Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting originally created in the early 1970s by Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ...

Extinct Campaigns

The following campaigns are no longer in existence or have ended but still have adventures available:

• Living Death: A d20 System campaign set in the Victorian era, based on the Ravenloft expansion called Masque of the Red Death. Its finale premiered in February 2007.
• Living Force: A d20 Star Wars RPG campaign. This campaign was designed to have a 5-year run, starting in January 2001, its finale premiered in January 2006. It was originally set in the time period just after The Phantom Menace and moved forward in Year 3 of the Campaign to just after Attack of the Clones.
• Living City: Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting
• Living Jungle: Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting
• Virtual Seattle: Used the Shadowrun rules and setting by FASA
• Living Verge: Used the Alternity rules system and Star*Drive setting by TSR
• Living Rokugan: Used the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game. It has since become an independent campaign known as Heroes of Rokugan
• Legacy of the Green Regent: A D&D campaign set in the Forgotten Realms. Its finale premiered in January 2005.
• Mark of Heroes: A D&D campaign set in Eberron. Its finale premiered in February 2007.

Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Ravenloft is a fictional campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... Masque of the Red Death is a campaign setting for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons named after the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... The Star Wars Roleplaying Game is a d20 System-based role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe. ... Film poster for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 film by George Lucas starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Jake Lloyd. ... Film poster for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) is the fifth Star Wars science fiction movie released and the second part of the prequel trilogy which began with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. ... The Forgotten Realms third edition logo. ... The Forgotten Realms third edition logo. ... Shadowrun is a cyberpunk-urban fantasy cross-genre role-playing game, set in the years 2050-2070 following a great cataclysm that has brought use of magic back to the world, just as it begins to embrace the marvels (and dangers) of technologies such as cyberspace, omnipresent computer networks, genetic... This article is about the role-playing game company. ... Alternity was a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. ... Star*Drive is a science fiction campaign setting that was published in 1998 by TSR, Inc. ... TSR, Inc. ... The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game originally written by John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group, under license from Five Rings Publishing Group, in 1997. ... The Forgotten Realms third edition logo. ... The Eberron logo Eberron is a campaign setting created by author and game designer Keith Baker for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ...

Where to Play?

Living and Living style camapigns are played all over the world. The Living Greyhawk campaign boasts the highest play numbers and is played in North America, Australia, and Europe. Campaign adventures are offered at conventions (such as Origins and Gen Con), at retail locations, and also for home play. A current popular trend is to play them online using a variety of software that range from simple chat programs to full scale retail applications that provide a reasonable simulation of a tabletop to game at including mapping features, miniatures, and in some cases, dice you can roll. Origins International Game Expo is one of North Americas most prominent annual gaming conventions, second in size only to Gen Con. ... Gen Con is the largest and most prominent gaming convention in North America. ...

Part of the lure of Living campaigns is the ability to take your character to any of these places and play it in the adventures offered and continue to advance that character.

External links

• Legends of the Shining Jewel Official Website
• Heroes of Rokugan Official Website
• Living Planar Yahoo group for the campaign
• Iron Kingdoms: Chronicles of Immoren Yahoo group for the campaign
• Living Greyhawk Official website
• Living Spycraft Home Office Official Living Spycraft Website
• Mark of Heroes Official website
• Onara Online The official unofficial website for Living Arcanis
• RPGA Living Death The official website for Living Death
• Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Official website
• ShadowRun Missions Official website