Would a Century-spanning campaign work?

[Belac93]

I was wondering about this. Does anyone have any advice on playing a campaign that spanned a long period of time? So, if you were playing an elf, you might be able to get through the whole game with the same character?

How would you handle humans in a game like this? I'm thinking they are started with 1/4th the xp of their parent or grandparent.

What tips would you give for this sort of game?

[Rysto]

Punishing a player for playing a race with a short lifespan sounds like a ill-conceived idea to me. Honestly, you probably wouldn't go wrong with just hand waving it entirely and replacing an older human character with another of equivalent level. You were probably going to do that if a PC died in combat anyway, right?

A potentially more interesting option would be to have the PCs explicitly train the next generation. They could act as squires at low levels and only really have out-of-combat utility, and level them up quickly so that they can eventually replace the older PCs. Your players would have to be on-board with the complexity of managing multiple characters at once during the transition, though.

[JNAProductions]

Punishing a player for playing a race with a short lifespan sounds like a ill-conceived idea to me. Honestly, you probably wouldn't go wrong with just hand waving it entirely and replacing an older human character with another of equivalent level. You were probably going to do that if a PC died in combat anyway, right?

A potentially more interesting option would be to have the PCs explicitly train the next generation. They could act as squires at low levels and only really have out-of-combat utility, and level them up quickly so that they can eventually replace the older PCs. Your players would have to be on-board with the complexity of managing multiple characters at once during the transition, though.

Seconded. Punishing players for certain options is bad-adding new options is good.

[dejarnjc]

I was wondering about this. Does anyone have any advice on playing a campaign that spanned a long period of time? So, if you were playing an elf, you might be able to get through the whole game with the same character?

How would you handle humans in a game like this? I'm thinking they are started with 1/4th the xp of their parent or grandparent.

What tips would you give for this sort of game?

If it were me, I'd have any characters whom are long lived and/or lucky enough to survive the time jumps in the story only be reintroduced as npcs.

[Coidzor]

Invest in charisma so you can make sure your character has an heir so you can keep playing.

Or be an Elf or Dwarf.


If it were me, I'd have any characters whom are long lived and/or lucky enough to survive the time jumps in the story only be reintroduced as npcs.

That'd work.

[Belac93]

Well, the way I saw the shorter lived races working, is that you get to have everything all your previous ancestors had, as well as all the stuff you gain on your adventures.

Maybe instead, all the players could choose at the beginning of the campaign if they wanted to do a long-lived or short-lived game. A short-lived game would be about a bloodline of humans, halflings, orcs, tieflings, and so on, while a long lived game would be about elves, dwarves, and gnomes.

[Temperjoke]

One option that can be employed would be the Samurai Jack idea, some or all the heroes are flung forward in time, to deal with the consequences of their failure in the past. If any of the longer lived PC characters stay in the present, they can become NPCs when the heroes arrive, maybe to present what has happened, sending their child/grandchild/great-grandchild to join the party in their place. The real problem with time skips though would be, do the heroes stay the same, or do they continue to get stronger in the time between adventures? What have they been doing over the decades or centuries?

[hymer]

How would you handle humans in a game like this? I'm thinking they are started with 1/4th the xp of their parent or grandparent.

Depending on how exactly XP works, and the players agreeing, I could see some really interesting character interaction come from this. Living up to your parent or bloodline, with someone watching you with the exacting eye of one who was there when grandma did her greatest deeds, and so forth. Seeing the dead hero in the growing one. And what happens when/if they fail to live up? And how, a couple of generations down the road, does the youngest child feel about having generations og ambition or hope heaped on their shoulders?
Aragorn and Elrond's relationship springs to mind, the mingled grief, joy and pride in seeing your dead brother's descendant grow into a mighty king, reviving the lost splendour.
But it does do away with equality between PCs. That can certainly work, but it's not for everyone.

[Gastronomie]

Have you ever read the manga series "Jojo's Bizarre Adventures"? The story (which is about the epic, century-long fight between the Joester family and the vampire "DIO") doesn't keep focus on a single protagonist. Instead of doing so, it switches the protagonist every now and then, from "father" to "son", or "grandfather" to "grandson" in the Joester lineage. The protagonist of Part 1 is the grandfather of the protagonist of Part 2 - and the protagonist of Part 2 is the grandfather of the protagonist of Part 3. It keeps on going.

Or, the American TV drama "Roots" takes the same style.

These could work out quite nicely.

[Alerad]

This can be an interest campaign, spanning 200-300 years.

The humans and halflings will be different generations each time. Maybe even skip a generation.

The dwarf will start young, then middle aged, then old.

The elf will stay the same. Creepy :)


I suggest don't change anything about XP. Maybe just equipment and names. Even try to keep the same classes and archetypes for humans. After all, each next generation should be an improvement over the previous one.

[Giant2005]

An alternative would be giving the next generation some but not all of the xp from their heroic parent, but giving them some other sort of advantage like higher ability scores or some kind of feat that denotes them being the child of a hero of legend.
It would be extremely difficult to balance it with those still adventuring from the previous generation, but if you managed to pull it off, it would be much more thematic and maybe even more appreciated by the players.

[D.U.P.A.]

If playing a human or similar race, just play Druid and reach level 17 before the century passes :P

[Belac93]

If playing a human or similar race, just play Druid and reach level 17 before the century passes :P

Or undying warlock at level 10.

But the point of this is that it is a century spanning campaign. By the time characters get to level 17, 2-5 human generations will have passed. Maybe your 5th character will be living that long, or your 3rd if you go warlock.

[Merellis]

If I had a say in my family lineage, I'd totally go with a short-lived race.

Have a magic blade that is inherited down the line, have cousins and such fighting for who gets the blade and all sorts of goodies. So many fun little things you can do with a family name there.

[Belac93]

If I had a say in my family lineage, I'd totally go with a short-lived race.

Have a magic blade that is inherited down the line, have cousins and such fighting for who gets the blade and all sorts of goodies. So many fun little things you can do with a family name there.

That's kinda what I thought.

This game would require people interested in it, not powergamers. A powergamer would just be a long lived race, get gold, and be done with it. People interested in it would found empires, create bloodlines, and do some really interesting stuff, no matter if they only live for 1/5th of the campaign.

[Alerad]

Just an idea. Throw in a dragon, fighting either for or against the party. The first time it will be a wyrmling, then young, adult and finally ancient.

[Aett_Thorn]

If this were me DMing, I would give my players a choice: either make a character of a race that can live across centuries, OR make several characters of the same family of a shorter-lived race. That way, an alt-oholic like myself might make several different characters of different classes that would join the campaign over time. However, another player might just want to focus on one character for the whole campaign, and might go dwarf or elf. That way each player doesn't feel "penalized", and might actually see it as a benefit. They might even compromise by having a couple human characters and then ending with a half-elf that could do a couple legs of the campaign.

Then if some players did choose the shorter-lived race option, just work with them to come up with a story for why their bloodline is involved with this story.

[RickAllison]

If this were me DMing, I would give my players a choice: either make a character of a race that can live across centuries, OR make several characters of the same family of a shorter-lived race. That way, an alt-oholic like myself might make several different characters of different classes that would join the campaign over time. However, another player might just want to focus on one character for the whole campaign, and might go dwarf or elf. That way each player doesn't feel "penalized", and might actually see it as a benefit. They might even compromise by having a couple human characters and then ending with a half-elf that could do a couple legs of the campaign.

Then if some players did choose the shorter-lived race option, just work with them to come up with a story for why their bloodline is involved with this story.

By that same token, the houses will allow for passing down rewards and accomplishments! I love the idea of an Eldritch Knight establishing a school of wizardry so his ancestor becomes a wizard, or a founding an order of Paladins with variant tenets based around protecting arcane magic, or even finding themselves destitute and having a generation fall into crime!

[Temperjoke]

By that same token, the houses will allow for passing down rewards and accomplishments! I love the idea of an Eldritch Knight establishing a school of wizardry so his ancestor becomes a wizard, or a founding an order of Paladins with variant tenets based around protecting arcane magic, or even finding themselves destitute and having a generation fall into crime!

"Descendant" not "Ancestor" :P

Now that I'm thinking more on this, and seeing other responses, it might not be a bad idea. Imagining how a human's family tree could end up looking is amusing.

"Well, his first son got involved with that elf clan, you know, so that whole branch of the family are half-elves."
"We don't like to talk much about that part of the family, after the one daughter got involved with that incubus, that part of the family tree has gotten rotten and twisted. Most of them are Tieflings now."

Even if you had some characters that were long-lived, it could be amusing.

"Oh my gods, you are exactly like your great-grandfather, right down to the twitch in his forehead."
"Disappointing. Your grandfather was one of the fiercest barbarians I've ever seen, always willing to take the lead, never abandoning his friends. Now look at what his blood as become, a rogue skulking in the shadows, cutting purses and cheating at card games. He's probably raging in his grave right now."

Ooooooh, that leads to an even juicier thought. The villain raises some of the long-lived PCs old companions, the ancestors of the later generations, as undead minions...

[Laserlight]

Give the short lived races a bit of a stat bonus per succeeding generation. "Of course I'm stronger than normal--my daddy was Stoneweaver Smith and my grandaddy, old Loren Smith, was called the Iron Bull back in his day."

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

I don't think playing a long lived race would be lazy or boring from an RP perspective. The short-lived races would get to RP multiple characters with multiple perspectives across a large amount of time, and that's a cool thought. However, the long lived races would be one continues perspective across a lot of time. It would be interesting to be one of the few people who remembers the "Battle of Whatever" from 100 years ago. They could tell stories of the new adventurers parents and have deep conversations. recollections of comical stories that weren't passed down in the past heros biographies. These are just a few, and they all sound really cool IMO.

[Belac93]

What I thought would be really cool in these stories, is if every character kept a journal. Someone who played a long-lived race would get to have some pretty neat entries, and someone who was generational would get to switch perspectives a lot.

[Dark Ass4ssin 1]

What I thought would be really cool in these stories, is if every character kept a journal. Someone who played a long-lived race would get to have some pretty neat entries, and someone who was generational would get to switch perspectives a lot.

Exactly, both could be immensely fun to RP across large spans of time. The best part would be seeing how these perspectives interact. Like, would the elf like the human's kid or thinks he could never live up to his father. Another could be the human's son liking or disliking the elf based on his father's opinion.

[EccentricCircle]

I've been wanting to do an Immortal campaign for a while. Not quite like this, but with some similar ideas.

The campaign would begin in the stone age, with all of the characters becoming immortal for one reason or another. The campaign would be episodic, with each player taking a turn to GM, and the time line would advance between each episode so that no one player was in control of the sweep of history, everyone would have their characters with different agendas and plans, which would unfurl over thousands of years.

I particularly like the idea that the campaign wouldn't stay the same, or even use the same system for its duration. It would begin as a typical ancient fantasy, before transitioning to a swashbuckling piratey campaign, then steampunk, then pulp and so on into the modern day and beyond. I really like the idea that you could start at the dawn of civilisation with magic and monsters, and end with the characters having to fly back to their home solar system before the sun goes supernova to deal with something on their homeworld, that began all those millennia ago...

[MintyNinja]

I'm doing something similar to this, but with multiple campaigns. The point will be to start as early in the history as is interesting and jump forward a bit after each campaign, gradually opening up more class and race options from the original restrictions. This is my attempt at building a setting, and I don't expect a lot of players to play through multiple campaigns.

[Osrogue]

Meet an androsphinx in its lair with a group of characters and go forward in time ten years for every two rounds of combat rounded up.

Roll new characters when the party had left off from before the Sphinx fight.

Have the more recently formed party encounter the characters sent forward in time by the Sphinx a short time after their time travel after an appropriate number of decades has passed.

Perhaps the BBEG had won because they were displaced from time, and the newly rolled characters are the new heroes who have risen up to defeat him. Potentially have them be related to the previous party.

???

Profit.

[2D8HP]

I can't think of any better RPG to be a model for a campaign that spans generations than:

King Arthur Pendragon (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/81449/King-Arthur-Pendragon-Edition-51)

The Great Pendragon Campaign (http://drivethrurpg.com/product/12405/The-Great-Pendragon-Campaign?language=es&it=1&filters=0_44536_2140_0_0)

Rules for families and descendents.
Just Awesome.