CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
Now I want to play a D&D campaign where characters cap out at 3rd or 4th level, and then start gaining ASIs or feats at every milestone instead of levels.
The Best Game for A Long Campaign
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
So Epic6 but with 5E?
I don't remember the exact start of my current campaign, but it was pre-pandemic, so must be at least 4 years old, minus a six month pause after my second child was born.
We're playing D&D 5e using milestone leveling. The characters started at 7th level and just hit 20th last session.
We're playing D&D 5e using milestone leveling. The characters started at 7th level and just hit 20th last session.
humble minion
Legend
How does M&M go in practice with a long campaign though?
I've only ever played short games using the system, but just eyeballing it, it looks to me you'd have to really carefully pace the pace of acquisition of power points (by the book, PCs gain them FAST) or else houserule that PL doesn't automatically increase after every 15 PP. PL gain looks like it'd be really, really fast otherwise. Slowing PL advancement would at least encourage players to use their PP to broaden their powerset a bit rather than just bump their primary attacks and defences continually.
In 30+ years of gaming, my longest campaign lasted around 1.5 years.
For me, it was 2e AD&D. Streamlined but with enough options to keep it interesting.
3.x/PF and 4e were too crunchy to keep us engaged - and got completely overpowered. 5e's advancement and power growth is too fast by default.
Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, and Warhammer are too deadly. Highly thematic games like Monster of the Week wear out their themes too quickly.
For me, it was 2e AD&D. Streamlined but with enough options to keep it interesting.
3.x/PF and 4e were too crunchy to keep us engaged - and got completely overpowered. 5e's advancement and power growth is too fast by default.
Cthulhu, Savage Worlds, and Warhammer are too deadly. Highly thematic games like Monster of the Week wear out their themes too quickly.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
Shouldn’t be a problem. The GM is encouraged to consider raising the PL at each 15 power points, but it isn’t a requirement. And it’s not even a house rule to keep the PL of the campaign fixed.
Autumnal
Bruce Baugh, Writer of Fortune
Pendragon is a classic for this. The Great Pendragon Campaign is good five years and then some.
QuestWorlds is good for long play in other ways. You can run it with no mechanical advancement other than assets and connections reflecting developments in the world, or with slow or rapid advancement, without more powerful adversaries becoming unwieldy. An avatar of a gif is barely more complicated than a coyote or a bandit. (I love the system for a bunch of reasons. That’s super high on the list.)
QW is very amenable for adapting settings and campaigns, in whole or part, from other sources, too. So if you have a dream concept that involves unholy Frankensteining, QW is right there with the slab and jumper cables, ready to help.
QuestWorlds is good for long play in other ways. You can run it with no mechanical advancement other than assets and connections reflecting developments in the world, or with slow or rapid advancement, without more powerful adversaries becoming unwieldy. An avatar of a gif is barely more complicated than a coyote or a bandit. (I love the system for a bunch of reasons. That’s super high on the list.)
QW is very amenable for adapting settings and campaigns, in whole or part, from other sources, too. So if you have a dream concept that involves unholy Frankensteining, QW is right there with the slab and jumper cables, ready to help.
Thauramarth
Explorer
Purely in terms of the system, I'd go with Chaosium's BRP first, GURPS second. BRP has skills advancement that slows down as player characters' skills increase, so can last a long time. In the event of character deaths, it's not that difficult to create a starter replacement PC that's a bit "behind" the others but not ridiculously underpowered compared to the others. The greatest campaign I ever played was Call of Cthulhu / Delta Green that ran around six years; I had four PCs (two deaths, including one (un)friendly fire incident, one change because I felt like a change). It worked very well.
Pendragon has already been mentioned and I'd totally endorse that.
I'd add Ars Magica to the list. A long campaign can take the Mages and their covenant through all of the seasons from the bright and energetic Spring, the mature Summer, the height of power and prestige in Autumn and finally their decline into stasis and Winter... only (perhaps) to be reborn from the glowing embers. This can cover literally decades of game time and see the characters get embroiled not only in the politics of the Order of Hermes but also of the mundane world.
The game mechanics are absolutely built for this kind of generational long-term play: Wizards fall into Twilight as their minds get warped by exposure to magic, Apprentices get trained, the Covenant (the place where the player wizards live to pursue their craft) can be upgraded, changed, expanded and sometimes explode and there are detailed rules for how aging affects characters (the value of longevity potions cannot be underestimated and get a detailed treatment).
I'd add Ars Magica to the list. A long campaign can take the Mages and their covenant through all of the seasons from the bright and energetic Spring, the mature Summer, the height of power and prestige in Autumn and finally their decline into stasis and Winter... only (perhaps) to be reborn from the glowing embers. This can cover literally decades of game time and see the characters get embroiled not only in the politics of the Order of Hermes but also of the mundane world.
The game mechanics are absolutely built for this kind of generational long-term play: Wizards fall into Twilight as their minds get warped by exposure to magic, Apprentices get trained, the Covenant (the place where the player wizards live to pursue their craft) can be upgraded, changed, expanded and sometimes explode and there are detailed rules for how aging affects characters (the value of longevity potions cannot be underestimated and get a detailed treatment).
