PDA

View Full Version : Idea--Multigenerational Lineage Fantasy Game?



Amaril
2013-11-16, 04:26 PM
So this is an idea that's been bouncing around my brain for a while, and I'm interested in getting some input on it. I've been playing Fire Emblem: Awakening and watching Extra Credits' miniseries on the Punic Wars, and I've been thinking it might be really interesting to play a D&D game (or some other fantasy system) with players controlling not one character, but many different ones over the course of multiple generations. They could be the rulers of kingdoms (I know about Pathfinder's Kingmaker campaign, so it might be worked into that), or possibly just families who pass their adventuring careers down to their children--the important thing would be the epic scope that could be created by playing out the stories of many characters across generations, each having to live with the legacy their forebears left behind.
There are a couple systems and/or adventure paths that jump out at me for this right away, including the aforementioned Kingmaker and possibly A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. I'm sure there are others, though, probably ones that have themes like this deliberately built into their design. Can anybody offer any recommendations? Any other advice or ideas that would tie into a premise like this well? And is anybody interested in running or playing a game like this?

BWR
2013-11-16, 04:50 PM
I've played a game like this for an alt.u. L5R d20 game with my gf. In recent years its been an at best infrequent game, but we've been at it for 10 years now. The current crop of heroes are the great-grandchildren of my original character. For most of the last 50 years or so, that family has been the ruling family of the empire, with all the intrigue and problems that brings (assassinations, civil war, politics all over the place, supernatural threats, family disagreements, less than perfect members creating their own problems, the reincarnation of the kami, etc.).

We haven't felt the need for any special rules for governing the empire or running things. Heck, we barely use the regular stats, just having it all be roleplaying.

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-11-16, 04:52 PM
King Arthur Pendragon! :smallbiggrin:

This is literally the premise of that game, and it's one that not a lot of people have heard of, even though it's actually a classic RPG in its 5th edition. You play Arthurian knights, going on one adventure per year, but you also have to manage your families. When your knight retires or dies, you bring your eldest heir on as a brand new knight, and they join the comrades-in-arms of your previous character. So the band of knights rotates in and out, as characters die and leave and new characters arise.

And, get this: The Great Pendragon Campaign (http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/48835/the-great-pendragon-campaign), released about 7 years ago, actually covers nearly 100 years of Arthurian history and legend. 100 years. It's the most epically long-scoped campaign I've ever heard of. (Remember that 1 year = one adventure.)

Amaril
2013-11-16, 05:18 PM
King Arthur Pendragon sounds cool, although I might prefer to play something a little more modern high-fantasy (Fire Emblem is rapidly becoming one of my favorite games and settings). I figured there had to be systems based on this premise, though, since it's by no means an original idea.

Rhynn
2013-11-16, 05:22 PM
King Arthur Pendragon! :smallbiggrin:

I came here to plug this!

Personally, I've always wanted to run a Middle-Earth campaign from ~1405 to 1640 or the early 1700s, set in the North-Kingdom and Gondor, centering around the fall of the former in the wars with Angmar and the split of the latter in the Kin-Strife. Dwarven and elven characters would be welcome, obviously, so one might have to find a way to balance human characters against elven and dwarven; Rolemaster's declining benefits of experience would do a decent job (a level 50 character probably isn't more than 25% better than a level 10 character at their respective specializations), but I don't like Rolemaster.

Anyway, Pendragon has rules for rulership, war, and family (you get 1/10 your father's Glory, etc.).

Adventurer Conqueror King System (see sig) also has rules for rulership, and the Domains at War supplement coming out next year to cover warfare (tactical and strategic), and the henchman rules, XP reserves, and XP-for-gp (including domain income) give you an assortment of ways to give your heir a leg up when it comes time to take over.

Artesia: Adventures in the Known World bases character creation around Lineages that help determine your starting scores and Gifts, and heroes can alter their Lineages (there's two basic types of Lineages; Common [Ethnicity] and Lineages traced back to a named Hero who altered their Lineage to represent themselves). Over generations, you could build a power-Lineage that gives a bonus to each attribute and an arbitrarily high number of levels in any number of Gifts. (Of course, your Lineage could also be Cursed by a rival or enemy!) The game also has simple rules for all stages of life, from conception through birth to death and finding your way into the Underworld, judgment, afterlife, and being called back as a Spirit of the Dead...

Overlaying basic "inheritance" rules over any RPG would be easy, though. You'd probably want one where character progress slows down over time (any D&D retroclone works, really). Give heirs 10% of the XP or other applicable universal progress marker when they enter play (either when they come of age or when their predecessor dies/retires).

Amaril
2013-11-16, 05:29 PM
Artesia: Adventures in the Known World bases character creation around Lineages that help determine your starting scores and Gifts, and heroes can alter their Lineages (there's two basic types of Lineages; Common [Ethnicity] and Lineages traced back to a named Hero who altered their Lineage to represent themselves). Over generations, you could build a power-Lineage that gives a bonus to each attribute and an arbitrarily high number of levels in any number of Gifts. (Of course, your Lineage could also be Cursed by a rival or enemy!) The game also has simple rules for all stages of life, from conception through birth to death and finding your way into the Underworld, judgment, afterlife, and being called back as a Spirit of the Dead...

This sounds pretty interesting...I'd have to do some research on the setting and system, but some of those rules you mentioned sound pretty much perfect for what I was picturing this game being like, and the fact that you mentioned cursed lineages, the underworld, and spirits of the dead is definitely a first impression of the setting that I like...

No brains
2013-11-16, 11:19 PM
I had a similar idea which was some hugely long-term combination of D&D and Civilization. It plays with the classic classical narrative of The Hero's Journey; the adventurers go out into the world to find something that can help their people survive.

Some quests can be a simple and short-term as finding places to live, hunt, and harvest, but you could also raid monster lairs for artifacts that can improve life even more. One idea I had for a campagin to find such an artifact was Lolth's Spinnerets; you take the still living pieces from the dead god and you get a long-lasting supply of super-spider silk for use in construction projects.

The classes the players can use are determined by tech level. You start off with very low-tier classes, unlocking higher tiers as you can discover and study truths about the world and its magic. Being a rogue takes basic observations on living creatures, but being a wizard would take advanced philosophy, magic equivalent of E=mc2, and basic literacy.

So far I only have ideas for humans that aren't supported by any deity, but I could imagine other civilizations being elves backed by their god or federations of monsters.

Rhynn
2013-11-17, 12:29 AM
This sounds pretty interesting...I'd have to do some research on the setting and system, but some of those rules you mentioned sound pretty much perfect for what I was picturing this game being like, and the fact that you mentioned cursed lineages, the underworld, and spirits of the dead is definitely a first impression of the setting that I like...

It's based on an awesome (and rather adult-rated) fantasy comic by Mark Smylie (who needs to get the heck back to work on it), who created the game basically entirely by himself (down to the beautiful and functional layout and all the art in the book).

There's some caveats: the basic resolution system is a bit simplistic (about on par with D&D 3E), but combat is relatively realistic yet simple; and the magic system must be carefully managed (basically, PCs shouldn't have access to True Principles of Rituals and Incantations because they are far too powerful; runes and enchantments especially).

Otherwise, it's pretty awesome. It's got simple rules for e.g. relationships with people, character creation is downright fun, and the world is approachable yet distinctive.

There were promises of supplements and of a second edition (that was apparently up to the private playtest stage), but don't hold your breath on those. Fortunately, the corebook is robust and provides everything you need to run a game. (Although military and land-management rules would be nice.)