Living World RPG Guide for Noobs

I've been itching to play in a Living World campaign for years. First I was interested in a 1st Edition Living Greyhawk, then considered a Living Mutants and Masterminds and Eberron here at ENWorld. Most recently I've been considering joining the Living Pathfinder game, but am not sure where to begin.

Each time I've been intimidated from joining a campaign because I am unfamiliar with the proper decorum for entering a Living World. I wanted to start a thread for noobs like me, so that experienced RPGers can help coax us newbies into the fold.

I need those that are willing to guide us new folk to explain the following:

1.) What Living World campaign have you experienced?
2.) Do you have any particular positive or negative experiences you would like to share as examples of these campaigns? If so, please share.
3.) How does one enter the Living World campaigns that you have mentioned? Is there any words of wisdom or rules that we should know about before stepping into a Living World campaign?

I appreciate any help and advice that experienced guides can give.

Hey Deuce Traveler,

I'll try and field this as best I can...

1.) I am active member, Judge, and DM in Living Pathfinder, and in previous incarnations have been a Judge, player, DM, and founding member of Living 4th Edition, as well as having played in living EnWorld.

2.) I find it intimidating to join a living world that has been long established, when people have been playing for years and are in the double digit levels and you are starting out at 1st level it is daunting. On the other hand it is quite inspiring to. The bigger issue is whether new players are still supported, whether games come up for them, etc.

I find pace of games a big issue myself when I joined Living EnWorld - the 3.5 version - years ago it took something like four months to do a very basic adventure and the pace was agonizingly slow. This is primarily down to individual DMs and players, but LPF does seem to be generally a lot pacier than most living worlds I have experienced.

3.) To join Living Pathfinder simply follow THIS LINK! to the LPF wiki, under the Player's Guide you will find an introduction and a Character Creation guide. These will help get you started and you can always PM myself or any of the other judges with questions, or post the in the old LPF Recruitment thread.

The older living worlds have their own forums and will have sticky threads in those forums to introduce new players.

Deuce!
Glad to see you are interested in Living Pathfinder! I know you have great ideas, are a good DM, and we never got to play in a game as players together (or at least, for very long). I'd love to have that chance.

1) Like Aldern, I am an active player in Living Pathfinder and I also judge and DM for it. I don't have any other experience in Living campaigns so I rely on those who do and stumble forward as best I can.

2) I, at one time, considered joining another Living world campaign but I wanted my character to be a part of the world and I couldn't find much world information other than mostly empty threads with not much more than titles of locations.

Because of that experience I try to make an effort to ensure the barrier to entry is as small as it can be. That's difficult since I've been involved in LPF from the beginning and I can't see things from the eyes of a newcomer and there is just sooo much to do. SO, I really like it when people jump into the group with both feet, start creating, proposing ideas and giving feedback. Getting that feedback is important and will hopefully make it easier for the next new guy.

3) To get involved in Living Pathfinder (LPF) join our Social Group. This is where we do all of our discussions. It is chaotic and unorganized and unfortunately that alone is a big barrier but we'll be glad you are getting involved. Join some discussions, make a proposal or two, and...

Head over to our LPF Wiki. Sign up, follow the 'Creating a Character' link. It will help you get to the actual playing part. Other important links, like the beginning location of the Dunn Wright Inn and the city of Venza are on the front page.

Following the wisdom of Nike, my best advice would be to just do it. If you have any questions the social group is a great place to get answers. And you can always pm the judges (or anyone else, I'm sure). And definitely speak up if you think something can be done better.

Looking forward to seeing you there
--GE

as Glass eye says go to the Social group where the wisom of Ray dios of the shack says: you got questions, we got answers!

As my astute colleagues have so eloquently put it your questions can best be answered at the Social Group. Feel free to start a new topic there for all new players if you wish. (Man typing like that is as bad as speaking like it.)

I have wanted a Read This First thread in the group but the set up would have it so far back it wouldn't really matter. I am new to Living worlds as well but I can tell you my most significant reason for wanting to play in a Living World environment. And that is the ability to pick up my character after a long hiatus and go back into playing.

Who knows what life will throw at you to take you out of a game for a month or more. And if you are in a regular game it will either be...

a) dropped for whatever reason.
b) that you were replaced and you don't want to be a jerk and kick someone else out of a game (even though you loved your character).
c) never started after you took the time to make a character.

It appeals to me that I can keep my character even after RL throws me a curve ball.

HM

I like it that I can use the same character over and over, which give me a chance to actually *Gasp* give character growth in pbp! in any case, more than usual

have fun and good gaming!

GM

Thanks for the responses, you Living Pathfinder types. I now have a character idea and will probably be posting it this weekend.

I was also interested in Living Greyhawk because it has been around forever, but I was stunned to read somewhere that WOTC had the RPGA shut it down in 2008. Is that true? That doesn't seem to make any kind of sense.

It was not updated to 4 ed and if it was not 4 ed, it was not wotc.