Open Legend Living Campaign (potential community project)

Initially transcribed on the Discord Server on May 7, 2017

GrimDS - Today at 7:52 PM
Hello all,

I would like to say that this is an amazing community.

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping me get a living campaign going for Open Legend

@ConradCurtis I have been in touch with Brian through @Con Brian would like us to work out the details on here. My idea is to have a database for players and GM’s to register for an ID. Would track player ID character name, level and XP earned. Would track id for GM. As a community we would develop adventures that take about 4 hours to run at conventions, in store events and online. Event organizers would report tracking sheets to server. If possible I would like to get something together for launch day. Even if it is just one adventure. For at least the first year possibly two they would be Amaurea’s Dawn. After that given the openest of the system we can come up with ways to incorporate other settings. I live within an hour of Ed so if he’s not already doing so I would like to organize something on Opening day in Port Hope. I have People willing to cover an event on the same day in Peterborough. I have not heard back from others yet to see if I can arrange something in other places.

5 Likes

For anyone wishing to help, please message @GrimDS here or on Discord (using the same handle).

This is a very large project idea, and it would really be helpful to get the weigh-in of the @mods and everyone else. I pushed this through to Brian, and his take is he’s interested but wants to make sure those who are organizing this are capable of handling such an enormous task.

2 Likes

I think that this is a really cool idea. The Adventurer’s League concept has been really successful for other large games, and I think it would be awesome for Open Legend. I personally lack the knowledge to contribute to the backend that something like this would require, but have experience managing large projects.

1 Like

Any contribution is welcome and this is something where having the ability to manage large projects would be an asset. I have someone who can manage the database but will need many people to manage different areas and coordinate the different modules I’m hoping will be written.

I know it’s probably something thats looking to far ahead but what PFS has done that is a great idea is for introducing Pathfinder to new players are what they called ‘quest’ adventures which are scenarios that only run for 30-60 mins which are great for cons http://paizo.com/pathfinder/pathfinderSociety/pfsrpg/quests

Whilst I don’t have time to help out in any major way with this project, I’ve been a PFS GM for a few years so I’ll try and contribute when I can.

Creating stories isn’t my forte but I enjoy the mechanics behind them

1 Like

I’m assuming @ucffool might want to be involved in this, though I do have some concern about “letting this loose into the wild” before it can be integrated into the main website. Would create alot of headache around data migration, needing to verify user profiles, confirm ownership of the data. I mean, it can be done, but it would be nice to have it land in the main openlengendrpg.com website the first time around so that people don’t get confused and data doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

4 Likes

Agreed that the best way would be to do that. I good with that and as far as collected data I would prefer to collect as little personal information as possible. I wasn’t sure if you would have time to get involved right now. What are your thoughts around a launch day event and is this something you would have time for?

1 Like

Nope, not for a while. But there is lots of planning that can be done without actually writing any code. That could happen here and then we can figure the rest out later.

1 Like

I’ve tried typing something a few times now.

  1. I think it’s a good idea.
  2. it’s not an exact match for HM.
  3. It feels like this would distract me too much right now.
2 Likes

To get a better idea of timelines​ when are you planning to do an official release date for in store event?
Do you know if Ed is already planning to do anything in Port Hope?
To get a better idea of what interest there would be for a living campaign I thought we could setup something like this:

  1. Event organizer registers for an ID and event ID.
  2. Have an exclusive launch day or month adventure limited to only be downloaded by event organisers.
  3. At the event the event coordinator will assign a prearranged sequence of numbers to players and provide them a sitento register at to show that they would be interested in seeing a living campaign.
  4. Make a decision to proceed further or not

If I can get the code for the registration server in place from my end is this something that you could see being able to get put in to place befor launch day?

Once the IDs are starting to be issued are you willing to add a field for it on the character sheet?

Possibly. An event ID doesn’t really link to a character. This is all really ‘big picture’ right now.
The ‘Additional Notes’ section is a great place to add those types of things.

Now, if the modules/series has fixed PreGen characters that are created, I’m happy to give those characters custom URLs and a section on the PreGen page (for instance, all fantasy pregens right now are /pregen-fantasy#).

1 Like

Actually I was thinking of just a spot for player ID if it is a Living Campaign Character doesn’t have to link anywhere. Would be check box maybe to reveal whatever takes the least amount of space

The link to pregens would be cool too

My thinking of is that someone needs to volunteer to create ALOT of content if you’re going to keep a whole army of gamers stocked with fresh adventure content. Also, living campaigns normally have large writing teams to weave together the distant threads and groups

Agreed I used to be part of a group assisting in writing for Living Greyhawk. I am in close contact with some of them still. I am also friend with other writers in the industry. I’m hoping to also get writers from this community.

Right now though I was wanting to assist with the regular launch and arrange things for local stores around here given that I live in close proximity to Ed I thought that might help. I haven’t heard majority of my gaming group willing to assist in some capacity and a local store willing to host the event but I need a date to make sure we have the day set aside. I also have friends in Port Hope willing to run something but I don’t want to step on Ed’s toes if he’s planning something.

A couple weeks ago, I posted a related idea, on a much smaller scale, to the other mods. The idea would be to eventually form a small pool of one shots, that someone has Quality Control over, that can be used at local places/conventions. No huge database right away. Here’s a selection from that post (hopefully there’s some ideas that can be cherry picked):

(start)

If playing at a local gaming store, that’s a good place for “A Star Once Fallen,” as you can probably get the group back together for a few sessions.

If playing at a local gaming convention, one shots would be great, since the group may not be getting back together again. It’d be wonderful to develop a small pool of one shots that we could pull from to show off the possibilities of Open Legend at conventions and gaming stores. This allows players to have common stories that are told differently. They can talk to other people that played, and ask them how their group solved X and Y.

Ruty Rutenberg mentions the benefits of gamers having different experiences with the same story through Adventures League in this episode of DM Tips: https://youtu.be/4cWbw5cj1FI

The other thing I thought could be beneficial, was to have a flier/advertising that we can all use to post about the games we’re going to run. Have an Open Legend logo, and then a space to fill out with short synopsis and contact info. Probably a 8 ½ x 11 and one a little larger than post card, just so we can cover different sized ad spaces.

(end)

1 Like

That would be a great start. Sorry I missed seeing the Post. I’m willing to assist in writing some one shots once I have more info about the setting. I have an idea already for a villian that could work through a story arc.

1 Like

Do you know if anyone is running something at Phantasm in Peterborough