About 3 weeks ago, I posed a simple question in the forums.  Would you be interested in a Living Campaign for Myth.  Response started off slow, mostly with people wondering what a living campaign was.  Then, as I explained things more, and posed the same questions on other forums, support quickly started to grow, both in players interested in playing, and others willing to volunteer their services to get things running.  With the positive reaction, and with the support network building to where I think this can be a success in both the short and the long term, we are officially underway with building Lands of Myth Tales (final name subject to change.)

I’m going to get a team together so that all aspects of the campaign from writing, to branding, to technical aspects are in place to make the best experience possible for players.    I’ve added a section in the forums.  Anyone wanting to see what progress is being made, or who wants to volunteer in some way, please visit that section of the forums.

For those of you who don’t know what I mean by a living campaign, here is the introduction from the forum.

1) What is a living campaign?
Living Campaigns are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe.  The idea is that by having a shared set of rules for advancement that equalize the playing field, a player can take a character from one table played with a group of players, and be able to use that character at another table with a different set of players, and they without upsetting the balance.  (Examples of RPG living campaigns for those who want to learn more: Pathfinder Society, Living Greyhawk (no longer running), Shadowrun Missions, D&D Adventurers Guild, and somewhat related True Dungeon)

2) But Myth isn’t an RPG.  How would this work?
Although Myth isn’t an RPG, it shares character advancement concepts with role playing games.  The idea would be that a player could play through common sets of scenarios, track their character’s advancement, and take that character to play with other characters whether it is at a convention, a game day, with another group of players at home, or even online, if a feasible online tool is in place.  Basically, by tracking the titles, items, and card swaps of your character and advancing on the same track, you should fit right in with other players and characters.

3) How would I track my character?
Each character would keep a character tracking sheet that tracks which adventures/stories they have completed, and what rewards they received for that adventure.  Rewards can include experience, titles, items, promotions (to journeyman),gold, serendipity, and card swaps.  Each quest would have specific rewards, in addition to rewards earned for accomplishing a certain number of quests.

4) How would advancement work?
At the end of each quest, each character would receive 1 experience (or whatever we end up calling that metric).  In addition a quest can reward other resources that carry over from quest to quest, and/or unlock certain items that the character can add to their character (if they have the ability to keep an item.)  As the character accumulates more experience, they can unlock further abilities like titles, keeping items, or card swaps.  The idea is that characters who have completed 5 quests should be about even in power no matter what table they played at, and it would eliminate some of the luck from drawing a good item.

5) How do I know if my character is appropriate to a certain quest?
Each quest will be rated with an experience range.  Characters outside this range would be unable to play the quest.  Borrowing from Pathfinder Society, it is likely each quest would have a high and low tier, allowing a couple different level ranges experience the same storyline with appropriate challenges in place.

How often would I play?
The initial plan would be to publish 6-12 “modules” per year, depending on how many writers got involved, and how much editing is needed to get each module out the door and get it play tested.  Players could play as little or as often as they’d like.  A player could play the same quest multiple times, although a single character could only do a quest once.  By using multiple characters, a player can play more times than there are modules available.

Can I use my living campaign character outside the campaign?
You are welcome to use the character for whatever games you want, but only campaign games would result in advancement of your character.  You would receive no experience or other advantages from the non-campaign games.

Why would we even want a living campaign system?
By having a living campaign system, it will allow the creation of events and campaigns, with players supplying their own characters from their own gaming groups.  For example, a kraken event at gencon could be run by supplying each player with a pregenerated character, but wouldn’t it be more fun if each player were able to arrive with their own character that they have been playing over time, with the development they have put into the character?  As the number of Myth players grows, this is a way to get a shared experience with other players from around the world.