cosined:
3) We are already playing by forum; mostly going by the honor system here in terms of "everyone should have a copy of the game" which is similar to the rules that FFG has; but since the people that are playing right now are such forum regulars that they almost all the PACG stuff anyway.
I don't have Skull and Shackles, but that doesn't preclude me from playing from someone else's box in the physical sense. Why would I be prevented from playing in a similar manner online?
I want a database for card reference for cards I don't have at hand, which means having as much of the information on the card available as possible, up to and including pictures. The one I'm putting together uses ideas stolen from my old On the Edge database and MtG's Gatherer.
I'm likely overthinking things, but that's how I work sometimes. For example, the concept of type is a three level affair. The top level is Bane/Boon/Support/Other (none of these), the middle are most of the types we know, and the bottom are subtypes for cards that have them.
To the user, a card has a type and potentially a subtype. When searching for types you can also specify Bane/Boon/Support/Other.
To the database, a card can be assigned any number of types, but typically has two or three. (A similar mechanism is used for Traits.)
I'm still deciding how to manage Characters; my initial thought was to cheat and make Character a main type with Character/Role/Token subtypes. (Likely one of the names would change.)
Then you get into things like card identity and letting the user redefine things and it becomes a big mess and I quit out and go play video games. :)
There is a facebook pathfinder online play group and another PACG Community. If you want to discuss things, then groups are best. Community on FB is more like a blog. The community is mostly about OCTGN.