mbolis
2016-12-29, 05:31 PM
For quite some time now, I've been brooding over an idea: playing a game based on a very large time scale (i.e. hundreds of years) in which characters are near immortal and take on quests spanning many years.
This would of course (at least, in my mind...) mean that the game would be run no more in quasi-realtime, like most RPGs I know, but rather as a set of storytelling blocks to which the players are going to add detail.
Still, the detail added would not be as much cinematic (i.e. how the action is actually carried out) as "background" (i.e. what the action really meant to the story).
I would love to be more clear, so I'd rather try concocting a short example:
Let's say a party of heroes is going to upturn the evil king.
Traditionally, I would set a series of encounters which they have to grind through in order to reach the final battle. Each encounter would be played out round-by-round, using the PCs abilities.
But what if we all knew that even coming close to the evil king would take a century or more. During this 100 years the wizard decides to spend some time researching a powerful spell, but needs some rare component, so the rogue sets off for a quest to obtain it, all of this while the cleric and the fighter are rallying the troops to erode the king's power... and this game of detailing goes on and on until the moment for the final confrontation comes.
Now, playing every single encounter would be actually impossible. Some would argue that it would be enough to cut out the uninteresting encounters and play only the more challenging ones. I see the point in doing this, but it's not actually what I have in mind!
I would make the players roll for their PCs' skills on a year by year (or decade by decade, or whatever) basis and decide what their rolls mean in the grand scheme of the story (i.e. the wizard could not research the spell because the rogue went lost in his quest, but a powerful ally showed up to help, and then...).
So... my question is: is there a system that would lay itself to this style of play?
I add that I am quite proficient with the d20 system (any variants/derivatives?)
I also note that as much as I love Fate and similar systems, my players opted them out, because they want "more crunch"...
That said, any suggestion is welcome!
This would of course (at least, in my mind...) mean that the game would be run no more in quasi-realtime, like most RPGs I know, but rather as a set of storytelling blocks to which the players are going to add detail.
Still, the detail added would not be as much cinematic (i.e. how the action is actually carried out) as "background" (i.e. what the action really meant to the story).
I would love to be more clear, so I'd rather try concocting a short example:
Let's say a party of heroes is going to upturn the evil king.
Traditionally, I would set a series of encounters which they have to grind through in order to reach the final battle. Each encounter would be played out round-by-round, using the PCs abilities.
But what if we all knew that even coming close to the evil king would take a century or more. During this 100 years the wizard decides to spend some time researching a powerful spell, but needs some rare component, so the rogue sets off for a quest to obtain it, all of this while the cleric and the fighter are rallying the troops to erode the king's power... and this game of detailing goes on and on until the moment for the final confrontation comes.
Now, playing every single encounter would be actually impossible. Some would argue that it would be enough to cut out the uninteresting encounters and play only the more challenging ones. I see the point in doing this, but it's not actually what I have in mind!
I would make the players roll for their PCs' skills on a year by year (or decade by decade, or whatever) basis and decide what their rolls mean in the grand scheme of the story (i.e. the wizard could not research the spell because the rogue went lost in his quest, but a powerful ally showed up to help, and then...).
So... my question is: is there a system that would lay itself to this style of play?
I add that I am quite proficient with the d20 system (any variants/derivatives?)
I also note that as much as I love Fate and similar systems, my players opted them out, because they want "more crunch"...
That said, any suggestion is welcome!