Press J to jump to the feed.

Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts

Search within r/rpg

r/rpg
Log In

Found the internet!

Feeds
HomePopular
recent
r/rpg r/DnDr/DogEatDogRPG
Topics
Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations.

r/rpg

PostsWiki🎲Beginner's Guide🖥️ Play Online

Game Suggestions
TTRPGs Elsewhere
Resources

r/rpg

116
Posted by
u/Sniflet
12 hours ago

Best RPGs for the longer campaigns?

Game Suggestion

I only played D&D campaign for longer than a year. All others that we tried we figured are best
played as a short term - we tried Mork Borg, Mutant Year Zero, Dragonbane, Alien RPG...

Mostly criticism was that character progression is not good enough in a long run.

What are best systems apart D&D, CoC and PF that are made for longer campaigns?

174 comments
96% Upvoted

|
level 1
Better_Equipment5283
· 9 hr. ago

For me, D&D style character progression is what causes a campaign to break down. PCs get too
powerful, and combat is slow and lacks tension. I think a flatter power curve is much better for a
long campaign. Rely on the story to keep people engaged. Some people feel the exact opposite
way and get bored if their character isn't constantly getting cool new powers.

119

level 2
the_light_of_dawn
· 8 hr. ago · edited 5 hr. ago
I'm with you on the flatter power curve. This is why, IMO, games like OD&D (r/odnd) actually
work quite well for much longer games.

34
Continue this thread

level 2
ADampDevil
· 7 hr. ago · edited 7 hr. ago

That's why most campaigns don't go much beyond 10th level. D&D Beyonds survey data had
90% of campaigns not going beyond 10th level.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/90-of-d-d-games-stop-by-level-10-wizards-more-popular-at-
higher-levels.666097/

I suspect it might be even less with higher level characters just made for the fun of it. Although
to be fair, a lot of the 1st level characters might be speculative as well, rather than active in
campaigns.

15
Continue this thread

level 2
redalastor
· 6 hr. ago

I think a flatter power curve is much better for a long campaign.

Or a power curve that resets. In King Arthur Pendragon, one session is the equivalent of one
year in game. So soon enough, you are playing your descendants.

9
Continue this thread

level 2
RemtonJDulyak
· 6 hr. ago
Old School (not Renaissance) Gamer

Try a different edition.

AD&D 2nd Edition is perfectly built for long standing campaigns.
Characters do get powerful, but not the demi-gods of later editions.

level 2
GreatDevourerOfTacos
· 5 hr. ago

I wouldn't say this is specifically a "D&D style character progression" problem, but it's, for
certain, a 5E problem. 5E has the least dangerous feeling, slow combat out of every similar
system I've played. PF 2E has, for the most part, resolved this issue. Players and NPCs stay
pretty equivalent is power and, in my experience, the health pools don't way out scale the
damage output like in 5E.

I feel like in 5E if you're not having 5-7 fights to tax player resources they just feel too safe.

You can have 1 or 2 combats in PF 2E and still have both feel dangerous and resolve in a quarter
of the time.

level 2
den_of_thieves
· 19 min. ago

The designers dramatically shortened advancement time in 5e because market research told them
the average campaign is abandoned after three months, so that’s why there’s no zero-to-hero
experience in D&D5e and why the system breaks down on a long campaign. D&D3.5 is a much
better platform for running a long campaign, mines been going for around 5 years. They’re on
level 13.

Vote

level 1
Fussel2
· 12 hr. ago

The majority of World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness, because character progression is
expensive and the lore expansive.

Shadowrun's system is... exhausting, but long, serial-like campaigns are very fun with it.

The Dark Eye is notorious for its most sold campaign taking most groups about a decade to play.

Actually, most trad games with a big corebook and a whole catalogue of sourcebooks should be
able to support massive campaigns.

84

level 2
Hitman3256
· 8 hr. ago

Expansive or expensive?

2
Continue this thread

level 2
DriftingMemes
· 6 hr. ago
The Dark Eye is notorious for its most sold campaign taking most groups about a decade to play.

What's it called?

2
Continue this thread

level 1
TillWerSonst
· 9 hr. ago

In my personal experience, games with a relatively minor, but frequent character improvement
rate, like Call of Cthulhu, Runenquest or Mythras are usually better suited for long running
games than those with less frequent, but more substantial improvements, like most class-based
systems. You still have the fun of seeing numbers go Up, maybe even once every game session,
but it is less likely that character development outruns the game world, while you are also less
likely to hit a ceiling.

So, besides Call of Cthulhu (which works really well with long run campaigns such as Masks of
Nyarlathotep or the two-headed Serpent), I guess Runenquest's Six Seasons in Sartar and its
follow-ups is a pretty damn good one.

However, if you truly want to play the long game, nothing comes close to the Great Pendragon
Campaign and its multi-generational arc about the rise and fall of King Arthur.

39

level 2
WrestlingCheese
· 9 hr. ago

I came to say the same. Incremental ability improvements are perfect for long games, and that
usually means percentile systems.

11
Continue this thread

level 2
beriah-uk
· 5 hr. ago
Completely agree - and I think I'd break this down into two dimensions.

One is to go for systems with constant progression in lots of little ways. Off the top of my head:
RQ, Mythras, Delta Green, CoC, and many years ago Flashing Blades.

The other is that progression can be relative, and "social". RQ does this in a way that CoC
doesn't: you power up relative to the society around you - starting as lowly clansfolk and ending
up as the right-hands of gods and demigods. Pendragon and Ars Magica are both excellent games
for this - though Ars Magica has the problem that the GM has to be thinking ahead and
understand the flaws of the system well enough to prevent the PCs' powers either breaking the
world or resulting in an overwhelming backlash that wipes out all the PCs and ends the
campaign.

I guess my suggestion would be that, in order to take advantage of both constant-but-tangible

power increases AND social powerups, RQ, Pendragon and Ars are all excellent options - with
the caveat that RQ is the easiest to GM and Ars is the hardest.

level 2
hedgehog_dragon
· 4 hr. ago

Interesting, I can see the logic behind that and I like the concept... but then I remember the
system with the most incremental improvements I know of, I bounced off of pretty hard. That
was the Warhammer Fantasy system (4th ed IIRC)... because it felt like I was so damn bad at
everything and I couldn't really get better.

Although, Vampire: the Masquerade is also pretty incremental but it feels better all around in my
experience.

1
Continue this thread

level 2
miroku000
· 1 hr. ago

In Call of Cthulhu, doesn't everyone just die or go insane in a long running campaign?

Vote
Continue this thread
level 1
Quietus87
· 10 hr. ago
Doomed One

RuneQuest/Mythras/OpenQuest, Traveller/Cepheus, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, among

others.

40

level 2
Astrokiwi
· 10 hr. ago

Man there's a lot of forks of RuneQuest, because there's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) too

12

level 2
Romulus_Novus
· 7 hr. ago · edited 7 hr. ago

I know this isn't exactly fair, but releasing something called Openquest as a paid product when
Open-Noun typically means it's a free and open source product is just baffling.

5
Continue this thread

level 1
Razorcactus
· 10 hr. ago

If you're purely talking about character progression, I really enjoyed playing a long game of
Whitehack. Characters progress in a unique and natural way in that one, I was a big fan.

There is something to be said about games that offer very little to no profession for longer
campaigns, like ICRPG or EZD6. Usually long games fizzle out because of lack of interest in
what's going on in the game, not lack of new things on the character sheet. It can be hard to focus
on creative stuff if you're also constantly adjusting how you create encounters because your
player's stats keep going up.
One of my longer games was played with Tiny Gunslingers, and that game only petered out
because I wasn't bringing my A game crafting encounters and I slowly lost interest. In that game
there's very little optional progression, and honestly if I played it again I'd take the progression
out because that's not what my players cared about.

Obviously your mileage may vary, but I was stuck in a big long rut of trying a ton of different
systems but ultimately changing how I approached the game is what fixed things.

22

level 1
Pilodermann
· 12 hr. ago

Chronicles of Amber or Ars Magica. World of darkness and Chronicles of darkness as Fussel2
said.

I guess Nobilis can do it too.

I think you should look at games without levels.

17

level 2
Havelok
· 4 hr. ago
Finder of Games

Nobilis does eventually have an end to progression (max out all your stats and then pursue true
godhood by questing to become an Imperator) but that would probably take at least 100 sessions
if not more, for sure.

level 1
high-tech-low-life

· 10 hr. ago

Night's Black Agents because The Dracula Dossier can be very long. Likewise for Pendragon as
The Great Pendragon Campaign plays over 85 years.
Other than those two "proof by example" games, any game with a slow enough character
advancement would be fine. Rocket growth leads to imbalanced high level play.

The setting is also a big deal. If the players are more powerful than smaller nations, there needs
to be something in the setting to keep them in check.

Personally I would go with RuneQuest or QuestWorlds because I think that the Glorantha setting
is good for that.

17

level 2
sword3274
· 9 hr. ago

Is the OP talking more “game time” or “real time?” I’m thinking it’s the latter.

4
Continue this thread

level 1
muranternet
· 8 hr. ago
I shall fear no GURPS downvote bots

From personal experience: Traveller (Mongoose 2E), 2.5 year campaign; Street Fighter the
Storytelling Game, 3 year campaign; GURPS, arcing campaign consisting of 4 normal
campaigns lasting 9 mo, 6 mo, 1yr, 2.5 yr. Keys are (1) the GM just commits to running no
matter what, (2) the system has a slower, non-level progression system, and (3) the characters
have goals outside personal power accumulation.

12

level 2
ADampDevil
· 7 hr. ago

Street Fighter the Storytelling Game, 3 year campaign

So jealous.

7
Continue this thread
level 1
Bold-Fox
· 10 hr. ago

Anything designed for generational play should be well suited for long campaigns, surely? Be it
classics such as Pendragon or quirky such as The Warren. You just won't be playing the same
character for all of it.

level 1
NobleKale
· 8 hr. ago
Arnthak

Not a recommendation, but the opposite. I love Genesys, but I'll be the first to tell you that it
just... doesn't hold up enough for very long campaigns if you're handing out 5xp or so per
session.

It's a pretty compressed curve (max for characteristics is 5, min. is 1, so you have just 5 numbers
to play with there), and while the Talent Pyramid kinda helps prevent people just going
STRAIGHT to dedication (looks squarely at one player in his group, in particular), it's not
going to hold that line long.

level 2
NopenGrave

· 10 min. ago

Strongly agree; Genesys requires a lot house rules and pacing adjustments to last a while.
It's...kind of doable, but more of a chore than it's worth

Vote

level 1
ManedWolfStudio
· 10 hr. ago
Shadow of the Demon Lord can be as long as you want. The characters start at level 0, level up
after each adventure, and have their final adventure at level 10, thus a full campaign has eleven
adventures. The first adventure should not be too long, but all the others are up to the DM, you
can easily make the campaign take more a year.

level 2
cokeplusmentos
· 8 hr. ago

can be as long as you want

thus a full campaign has eleven adventures.

I don't get this

13
Continue this thread

level 2
communomancer
· 8 hr. ago

The characters start at level 0, level up after each adventure

And even that is optional; it's just the default (the designer wanted people to actually have a
chance at finishing campaigns and always be giving players new toys to motivate them to
return).

You can easily level up more slowly, and there is some virtue in that. The "level-up-once-per-
adventure" mechanic can be something of a breakneck pace, especially for some characters.

level 1
GoNumber4
· 12 hr. ago

A few not mentioned in the other comments:

Blackbirds - Powered by Zweihänder but the PCs are a bit more competent. Dark Fantasy game
with some super cool takes on fantasy tropes. Very Elden Ring-, Dark Souls-, Berserk-like.
Exalted - Super high power game, with tons of options for characters. Some find the dyster quite
clunky but it has some really cool and unique features. Also a really cool setting.

level 1
Adventurous_Appeal60
· 11 hr. ago

A lot of folk seem to repeat this idea that DCC is only for short campaigns, but this has not been
my experience at all.

I will recommend DCC as better for long campaigns than DnD or PF are, as well as similar big
titles.

level 2
delahunt
· 9 hr. ago

Could you expand on that and what people suggesting it is only good for shorter games are
getting wrong/missing in your opinion?

6
Continue this thread

level 2
synn89
· 2 hr. ago

From what I've heard character power in DCC starts to creep up a lot past level 5. Is this not
true?

3
Continue this thread

level 1
soggy_tarantula
· 9 hr. ago
You mentioned Dragonbane (which isn't even released yet). What about it made you think it
wasn't suited for long campaigns? I have the beta PDFs and I have the opposite feeling. Therre's
tons of room for long term character growth without them turning into unkillable DnD demi-
gods.

level 1
chopperpotimus
· 8 hr. ago

Also wondering about this since most indie games these days seem more geared towards short
term play. Would very much like to see more strategic character progression.

OP I'm curious, why do you say Mutant Year Zero is better for short term play? I roughly know
it, but have never played it.

level 2
turtlehats
· 2 hr. ago

I ran a 30+ campaign of MYZ and it was a blast. We all loved it. Not sure why people consider it
not good for that. In particular the Ark (your settlement) grows and changes, as a core part of the
game, which is hard to explore and play if you only run say 5 or 10 sessions.

About Community
r/rpg
Tabletop Role-Playing Games(TTRPG): meaningful discussions, questions, and help related to
them.
Created Jan 25, 2008

1.5m

Role Players

995

Rolling dice

Similar to this post

•

r/WhiteWolfRPG
 Reminder VtM: Bloodhunt is free to play today. No...

96%

32

9/7/2021

r/rpghorrorstories

Gunpire: The massacre

98%

20

7/28/2021

•
 r/TTRPG

Souls D20: A full Elden Ring and Souls inspired RPG

100%

Feb 20

r/boardgames

No Pun Included - Gloomhaven Overview

90%

68

4/3/2017

•
r/rpg

What's Your Go-To Advice for TTRPG Etiquette?

97%

184

Feb 15
•

r/rpg

RPGs based on an existing IP that do it well?

98%

364

Feb 11
•

r/rpg

What are the weirdest games you can recommend to someone?

96%

198
 4d

r/rpg

Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

95%
 60

Feb 18

r/rpg

Is there ANY game that has actually fun Starship Combat?

 97%

161

5d

r/rpg
 Who is your favorite RPG product critic?

97%

109

Feb 4

•
r/rpg

What is something you've had to ban from games because of...

94%

337

Feb 7
•

r/rpg

How much between-session stuff do you enjoy?

96%

165

3d
•

r/rpg

r/RPG simulator.

92%

495
 Feb 5

r/rpg

Why aren't cooperative games more popular?

87%
 180

Feb 13

r/rpg

Drunk Player
 93%

24

Feb 18

User AgreementPrivacy policy

Content policyModerator Code of Conduct
Reddit Inc © 2023. All rights reserved

•
•
•