Has anyone here thus far put thought into or considered a community managed Living Campaign and Organized Play setup for the FFG line of Star Wars games? I think it could be an amazing amount of fun and with the creative types there are in this community some really professional looking modules could be put out.

The character generation part would be pretty easy since, from what I can tell, there's no need to really completely remove any of the character options presented in the books so far. The stat generation isn't randomized like some forms of D&D. Over all it's very good at presenting a relatively level playing field for all new characters. But I think some form of 'tier' system based on total XP spent would be a good idea to have players of similar power levels playing together. Modules could contain suggestions for adjusting the encounters based on the tier of the players as well as for different sizes of table from 4 to 6 players.

I would also, personally, plan on going with an advancement system similar to what is done in Pathfinder Society.. no free gear from adventures with a flat amount of XP and Credits for each completed adventure. The record sheet for the adventure denoting equipment that may be available that may either normally be restricted or is available at a reduced cost for completing the adventure. Potentially a small XP bonus and/or credit bonus for completing some kind of optional goal in the adventure. This method, to me, helps keep all players advancing at a fairly steady and predictable rate. Several players have all completed 3 adventures.. then they should have roughly the same XP and available credits worth of gear.

How would you handle things like Obligation, Duty and Morality for a system like this? Perhaps everyone gets Morality which is kind of like an alignment indicator and some groups may not work with you if you are within certain ranges of morality.. use a steady static gain per session minus any potential conflict gained.. and maybe introduce some kind of fame or reputation mechanic instead of the other systems?

Can anyone think of some kind of Star Wars equivalent to a D&D Adventurer's Guild or Pathfinder Society that might bring random folks together for a given adventure?

Any other thoughts, comments or idea on the general topic?

My campaign started that way . Relative to PFSOC, it's tiny, with just 15 regular members and 5 frequent guests that play as their schedules allow. We reserve 1 guest spot per 5 members, so we often see new faces during our 2-3 weekly sessions (2 weekend and 1 optional midweek). We also occasionally get together for double or triple sessions, when we have multiple GMs and teams on a map tasked with certain objectives that affect the other teams.

On a larger scale, there is the Unifying Force campaign.

One thing to keep in mind is that character progression is a lot more free-form in SWRPG compared to other RPGs. Characters of the same xp level can have widely different areas of focus, especially when it comes to Social vs. Combat-focused PCs. Also, this system is much more forgiving when it comes to characters of different "levels" playing in the same adventure. We've had several sessions where a guest with 150 earned xp was voted adventure MVP, despite being grouped with several characters at 1K+.

Those both look really interesting.

The Unifying Force is a great idea as it has minimal tracking and record keeping behind it and the problem with anything more organized than that would be recording and managing the necessary records. But it does rely heavily on GMs running their own games, making their own modules, and just provides some basic resources they can draw on if they choose.

I was more curious if people had considered something a little more organized, like the PFS system, with modules to use and tracking of games played, the outcome of those games, more regimented advancement of characters potentially. It seems you were somewhat headed that way with your Shadow of the Broker campaign. And something like this makes it easy for players to bring their favorite character with them for convention play.. or for convention organizers to have material to run for their conventions and organize those games potentially.

As much as I would love to see something like this, I really don't expect to, at least not anytime soon. I don't have experience with the PFS model - but I do have a fair amount with the Living Forgotten Realms that WotC put out. Organizing all those people, adventures, etc was a full time job. Relatively speaking, the FFG SW system is 'new' from a roleplaying game world stance; whereas D&D had been around for ages and already had a solid core of experienced players. Trying to launch a living campaign now, most of the adventures would have to work in teaching people exactly how to play, as well. This works great with things like Rebellion Day, or Free RPG day, when you're specifically trying to advert for the new people; it also serves as advertising, rather than ongoing development.

That said, I know FFG did a big push lately (and may still be doing it) about trying to hire a bunch more product demo folks. Especially if the new movies help the system really take off, they'll already have a framework in place with experienced agents, well placed in their community, serving as the nodes of such a web. But for now, there just aren't enough people - at least in my local gaming circles, and I'm extrapolating outward from there, YMMV - who play it to make a living campaign an ongoing success. When you also add in the licensing, costs to produce, and things like that where FFG will see no direct money coming in - they may just not be able to justify it. At least not yet.

As a note, the original Living <whatever> campaigns were actually fan made, organized and managed. It is a lot of work though and does require a pretty good sized group of pretty dedicated individuals.

My LFR experience was later, and it had at least official support, if not being an official arm of WotC. I know that all the GMs and such were volunteers, and yes, on their efforts those things succeeded or failed. Right now, official focus seems to be on the X-Wing game, and if that organized play takes off I suspect we'll see it branching out somewhat.

Imagine what fun tie-ins would be - it's up to the RPG folks to find the objectives and set up the stage, then the X-Wing crews to defeat the forces and throw wide the gates!