Good list! And thanks to those mentioning Ashes and the page I'm maintaining on D&D organized play. I'll try to add/clarify a few:Living Force (Star Wars (d20), don't recall which era)
Living Arcanis (3e D&D, Greyhawk)
Legacy of the Green Regent? (I think this was a Forgotten Realms 3e D&D campaign?)
There was some Living Eberron game, but I don't know basically anything about it.
Living Rokugan (Rokugan; I don't remember if this was D&D 3e OA or L5R rules; actually, there may have been both?)
Shadowrun Missions? (I think this was a later Shadowrun living campaign)
Living Realms
My recollection is that Arcanis started later than 2002, by which time various regions of Living Greyhawk had already experimented with battle interactives (I recall one in Veluna, for example). Am I recalling incorrectly? I think of Arcanis as having, for many gamers, perfected the idea of a mass scale battle but that no particular component was especially unique as compared to LG (or at least, no more unique than the BIs across LG regions). Sean Molley would know, I guess, so maybe I'll ask him. A great question would be which region had the first BI for LG and how that came about.Living Arcanis is now known as Legends of Arcanis, and it now uses Paradigm's original Arcanis roleplaying game. The campaign is perhaps most notable for its creation of the "Battle Interactive" concept, in which a whole room of tables participates in a large-scale event like a war or siege, all while sitting around tables with their own GMs. So successful has this format become that an earlier poster to this thread essentially described them as a general summary of what an "interactive" is all about.
This was deliberately removed from 4E play. I believe Chris Tulach (but perhaps an LFR campaign admin) stated that Wizards made the decision to remove any emphasis on LARP-style play as they believed it to be bad marketing/press. No silly people running around in costumes. A real shame, if you ask me, and I think it really removed an important player demographic (and source of creativity) from D&D organized play.Prior to Living Arcanis, most (if not all) interactives involved players wandering around a room with several "activity booths," occasional mini-adventures, and other non-adventure opportunities. The idea (though not wholly the practice) was that once you stepped into an interactive, you "were" your character, and in-character chatter was highly encouraged. Many NPCs (volunteer judges in improvisational mode) dressed in character, and a small number of players did, as well. Typical interactive activities might include fortune telling, buying property, enlisting in a knighthood, jousting, a strong-man contest (ability check rolls, essentially, winner gets some kind of unique magic item, etc.)
Certificate trading was a major part for the "living" tag, and I enjoyed reading your account. I'm curious how you feel about certs today. Can they be used to good effect in campaigns? Pathfinder Society seems to use various aspects of this (such as race unlocks). Have we learned enough to identify some right ways to use certs?In the early Living Campaigns, a more or less unique "cert" was the chase-card of the whole experience.
Sarbreenar certainly didn't stop when 3e came out. It ran right up to the release of 4e, and they still have occasional events.
My recollection is that Arcanis started later than 2002, by which time various regions of Living Greyhawk had already experimented with battle interactives (I recall one in Veluna, for example). Am I recalling incorrectly?
think missed one.. Living Dark sun?..
Hi Henry! Certainly well before 2003. There were LG Interactives in 2000 - in fact, the very first LG event, Legacy of Valor, was actually a pre-LG event to kick off the campaign. It took place in Geoff and was an incredible battle interactive (including an incredible exodus from the capital of Gorna and determined the fate of many NPCs and factions and gave birth to Legacy descendents that were amongst the most active players for years). The first LG interactive I attended was in 2001, though I missed several that had taken place before I became an addict!Living Arcanis launched in March of 2001 (or so) and we had out first Battle Interactive, The Battle of Semar, was held at Winter Fantasy 2003.
While I can't speak as to when LG had their first Battle Interactive, we were told by many people in the RPGA that they hadn't seen anything like it.
No slight meant! Arcanis is clearly doing things well, since several of my DC-area friends are playing again. I'll be playing as soon as I get a chance!As for Arcanis having a "small" following, we have a couple of thousand registered players across the world, so we're doing alright, IMO.