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I saw a thread about this on enworld where someone is fishing for interest in starting a Living Pathfinder campaign and I thought someone over here might be up for the challenge.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=223027
The "Living ______" setup is something like a shared world pbp. Multiple dms running their own storylines (usually single adventures- not AP's and the like). When you finish one your character can group up with a different crew and take the next job (& dm) that comes along. I suppose it's sort of like rpga-lite, because to keep things balanced there has to be a general agreement on awards, what source books are kosher and all that. Typically a few people end up as sort of overseers and vote or put up an open vote on what will be allowed. You can look at the Living Eberron and Living Enworld boards to get the idea.
Anyways- there's the link if that sounds appealing to anyone.
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Hmm. No. Those aren't exactly the same thing. I was already well aware of the Pathfinder Society and am curious to see it develop.
Some key differences?
-"Living _______" games aren't waiting on sanctioned product to be run. DM's run whatever they want as long as the rewards remain standard for the level of the players.
-That said, a Living game could run every Pathfinder Society release if a dm had them and wanted to run them.
-Living games don't typically run duplicates of the same game for many players. The idea is that you are inhabitants of the same world- so it doesn't make sense for 30 players to be in the tavern telling how they all handled the same threat. (This is an issue because these games usually have a central meeting place where characters bs between adventures)
-Living games are PBP only (not a primarily convention based medium) and being PBP they are slow as hell :)
Here's the thing... I'm not a Living games player, I've just skimmed through them while passing by. I prefer to stick with a single dm and enjoy a long narrative plot. However, if someone is trying to start one I'd like to see them succeed especially considering it's on Enworld where more people may come across it in time and find that they enjoy PFRPG. It's good to have a presence off the island.
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I think what you're referring to as a "Living" game may be different to what I know as a "Living" game. What you're referring to sounds more like "Play by Post", kind of like the various messageboard games that occur here at Paizo.
What I know as a "Living" game are events organised by the RPGA (Roleplaying Games Association), such as "Living Greyhawk" or "Living Arcanis", and these ARE primarily a convention based medium, they DO typically run duplicates of the same game for many players.
If you're referring to PBP games, then refer the player to the Paizo messageboards. However, if you're referring to an organised play event, then Pathfinder Society may be what they're looking for.
"Living ..." games are organised play campaigns by the RPGA, which is co-ordinated by WotC. They grant licences to, or retract licences from, third parties, such as Paradigm Concepts recently losing their "Living ..." licence for their Arcanis campaign. It is still running as "Arcanis", and at the last couple of conventions, I would say has gained in popularity, as players seem to be leaving Living Greyhawk, as that setting is also to be retired to make way for a new 4E Forgotten Realms campaign. Therefore, I doubt any campaign will be granted official "Living" status, unless it's 4E.
I'm sure we'll be hearing more about Pathfinder Society in the coming months, and whether adventures other than those available for download from the Paizo website will be available for play. It may be that Pathfinder adventure paths, GameMastery modules, and other home games set in Golarion will be legal for purposes of character advancement, rewards etc, according to the organised play campaign guidelines, as were Dungeon adventures, Red Hand of Doom, and other home games previously for Living Greyhawk.
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Ok- "Living" was the confusion. I'm not a convention person and I didn't know that rpga also referred to their campaigns as "living x"
The ones the poster on enworld referred to are not the same thing as they exist only in pbp, but obviously they were modeled on the convention gaming idea. It's also not the same as the pbp hosted here in that there is coordination and oversight between dms.
Either way- yes, of course I'll forward him along to the Pathfinder Society. But my original intent was to facilitate for someone who had interest in building a Pathfinder community/project outside of Paizo's own boards.