Roleplaying through the ages (campaign idea)

[mkenner]

I've had an idea for a campaign that I'd like to do once we finish up our current AP. I want to run a series of linked campaigns which progress through the various ages of the world. The PCs would play different characters in each age and their actions would help to shape how the world develops for the next age.

I'm thinking something along the line of
Stone Age -> Bronze Age -> Medieval -> Steampunk -> Modern
(maybe even progressing on to cyberpunk or science fiction).

Along the way the nature of the world, what sort of challenges would be faced, what science/technology/magic has been developed would all change. I'd also like to change which races and classes are available in each age, to show society progressing.

Has anyone done anything like this before or have any suggestions about what sort of classes and monsters would be appropriate for different ages?

[Joshua Goudreau]

I think that sounds like a really neat idea. Watching the world evolve could be really cool.

[ZombodyElse]

I am a lurker of these boards day in and day out. This is the first post in over a year I've had to reply to.
I recently ran a stone age game which was very successful. I had a similar idea, having the players play descendants of their cavemen throughout history, shaping civilization each time. I decided to go another way with it (cavemen jumping through time to different ages) and i threw out the ideas i had for development in favor of a more episodic campaign, with the time spent in each age as a one-shot, maybe the occasional two-parter.
At the end of the prehistoric campaign they experienced their first jump and found themselves smack-dab in the middle of a good old-fashioned dwarven gold rush, gunslingers abound.
I'll be following this thread and will kick in what advice/inspiration i've got.
I'm at work right now so that might be sparing, lol.

[Jaelithe]

I'd had a similar idea for a Marvel Super-Heroes game, wherein the PCs were thrown back in time and through some judicious railroading, needed to aid and be aided by the heroes of yore: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, the Green Hornet, and finally Captain America (which explained why he knew them when first they met).

It can be a blast.

[ZombodyElse]

I found theIntelligence Check blog's article on the Stone Age to be extremely helpful when decided which classes to allow.

[mkenner]

Glad to see people like it and that a few people have tried this before with good results.

And thankyou Zombody, very useful set of articles although the link was broken (google rescued me though).

[Durinor]

The RPG 'Nephilim' had the PCs take on the role of ancient spirits that incarnate periodically into the bodies of humans, taking on their skills and memories as they do. There were rules for many time periods such as Ancient Egypt through the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the World Wars, the Renaissance and the modern era.

The game had lots of secret societies (like the Knights Templar) and manipulation of society behind the scenes.

It may not be exactly what you are looking for but would certainly have some decent ideas that could help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim_(role-playing_game)

[Orelius Lionpaw]

dotting for extreme interest!

So, will this be fantasy-history or real-world-history?

Also, how exactly will our characters reshape history?

Can we use MCArchetypes? (there's a few part-barbarian MCAs that I would like to use for Stone Age)

[ZombodyElse]

mkenner wrote:

Glad to see people like it and that a few people have tried this before with good results.

And thankyou Zombody, very useful set of articles although the link was broken (google rescued me though).

Ah, I see I missed a colon there. There are also some short sections on ages in Ultimate Campaign.