How to keep a character relevant for a long period of time? I don't know. Families? (As in, character families not unlike e.g., alts)? Perhaps something similar? Maybe some other way to release content that is for low level adventurers but high level adventurers still want to do it?
Have you seen any RPGs — singleplayer, multiplayer, persistently online, etc., or otherwise — ever address this in a satisfying way?
Likewise:
How to address the issue of adding content that players[their characters] can't access?
That is, in terms of adding new content to a game. Consider something like Dragon Age Origin's stand alone adventure DLCs.
I feel that a large appeal of these RPGs is the story, which means you want to go through all of it in order. If you want a game where you can hope around different regions, then I think you are looking more at a sandbox game like Crusader Kings or Kenshi or Elin. One common issue I have with "standalone DLCs" is that they are usually not well integrated into the base game's narrative and feel very disconnected, sometimes bordering on fanfiction in how isolated the factions and characters and events and lore from the DLC and the base game are to each other.
As for having characters of different powerlevels being able to have stuff to play in the same expansion, just have a wide level/tier range of enemies and varying different missions for different characters to fight. You can swap POVs to a lower or higher level characters and there will be something appropriate for them to do.
Last edited by Val the Moofia Boss on July 29th, 2025, 05:54, edited 3 times in total.
I don't get it. You mean 'long-running series of games with the same character', or some constantly updating game where the devs regularly add new content?
I don't get it. You mean 'long-running series of games with the same character', or some constantly updating game where the devs regularly add new content?
Consider a hypothetical game not unlike Neverwinter Nights where new small campaigns are regularly added and you're expected to use the same character.
This is analogous to the original design for Neverwinter Nights which was meant to be a bunch of 90 minute to 2 hour long adventures.
If anyone is aware of any RPGs that actually have regular content additions like this, I'd like to know of them.
I'm aware of the various MMOs that do, but many fail this test because they focus almost entirely on adding so-called "end-game" content and regularly obviate old content. Certain MMOs like DDO or OSRS manage to have lots of content and add new content for characters of all levels.
How to keep a character relevant for a long period of time? I don't know. Families?
I think a hybrid of a classical RPG with something like The Banner Saga with the management of mercenaries may work. Storm of Zehir with the mercenary company instead of the trade company basically. Low-level content may provide some story and the ability to use influence or other resources and skills for the main character but the combat may be delegated to mercenaries from which they can gain experience. There may also be a limited scaling so the content is available to a larger range of levels (something like in Wizardry 8).
I don't know any games that pull off something like this though.
I'm aware of the various MMOs that do, but many fail this test because they focus almost entirely on adding so-called "end-game" content and regularly obviate old content.
Yeah. it's a problem with most modern MMOs. This focus on the end-game content only is really tiring. Older Lineage 2 updates had something like this when they added Schuttgart territory - basically an alternative locations for later early game and mid-game. They switched to end-game content model too later unfortunately but they had this design in the early history.
Remorting AKA reincarnation. Dungeons & Dragons Online does this.
Remorting is a feature in some multi-user dungeons (MUDs) that allows players to restart their character after reaching the maximum available level or experience points, but with enhanced abilities or stats not available to first-time characters.
An entourage of characters. Whether this be an ancestry, a band of mercenaries you manage, etc.,
I'll try to come up with examples but would like to see some other ideas
Remorting AKA reincarnation. Dungeons & Dragons Online does this.
Remorting is a feature in some multi-user dungeons (MUDs) that allows players to restart their character after reaching the maximum available level or experience points, but with enhanced abilities or stats not available to first-time characters.
An entourage of characters. Whether this be an ancestry, a band of mercenaries you manage, etc.,
I'll try to come up with examples but would like to see some other ideas
Lots of solutions, problem is as I see it is that the content progression speed for most games is so fast that it isn't practical to keep up with it. So even if you figure out a way to reintroduce old content, you still run into the problem of locust play burning out that content too fast.
DDOs solution works well, but... its carrot is very small increases in power to which a lot of the "general" base dislike. They want big power increase at a fast pace and I just don't see it possible to reasonable cater to that (maybe there is, but I can't think of it right now).
Remorting AKA reincarnation. Dungeons & Dragons Online does this.
Remorting is a feature in some multi-user dungeons (MUDs) that allows players to restart their character after reaching the maximum available level or experience points, but with enhanced abilities or stats not available to first-time characters.
An entourage of characters. Whether this be an ancestry, a band of mercenaries you manage, etc.,
I'll try to come up with examples but would like to see some other ideas
Thinking on it, I'm not sure remorting actually solves the issue I'm addressing.
An entourage of characters. Whether this be an ancestry, a band of mercenaries you manage, etc.,
This concept has already sort of been explored: It's basically meta-progression. Characters become less a thing in their own right and more of a means to an end. In an MMORPG, for instance, a player may stop being concerned so much about any single individual character and instead seek to build a stable of characters for the goal of efficient farming of resources. Character progression becomes a means to an end for economic progression, the goal no longer being necessarily to get the best stuff for any one character, but STONKS. In something like a Crusader Kings-like, you may have individual character progression, but the character will eventually die, of old age, if nothing else, and your goal is to advance your kingdom or dynasty.
Thinking on it, I'm not sure remorting actually solves the issue I'm addressing.
Well, there's a similar system in Lineage 2 with sub-classes - after reaching level 75 and completing the relevant quest a character can acquire a sub-class that can be switched at will in the city. Also, the main class can get some bonuses from sub-classes. It's a system that allows to repeat the old content with new eyes and give some horizontal progression to a character.
Thinking on it, I'm not sure remorting actually solves the issue I'm addressing.
Well, there's a similar system in Lineage 2 with sub-classes - after reaching level 75 and completing the relevant quest a character can acquire a sub-class that can be switched at will in the city. Also, the main class can get some bonuses from sub-classes. It's a system that allows to repeat the old content with new eyes and give some horizontal progression to a character.
Final Fantasy XI did this as well. There's even a special reward obtained by leveling every class to max.
I suppose the obvious solution now I think on it is the passage of time.
Too many games don't realistically simulate time. Adventures that could theoretically take years happen in mere days in game. Rarely is there any urgency.
With that in mind, after a few year long adventures, the character(s) may be older, less able or willing to continue, or I suppose with a framework like ACKS - even become powerful faction leaders in their own right.
I think too many games ignore the flow of time to their detriment.
What about games like Valheim and such? I don't know much about them. Does it regularly add new content?
I think Valheim does, but slowly.
The base game has, I don't know, about 30 mobs (+variants) after several years of development, while there're mods with literal hundreds of them. And the same is true for crafting, etc.
I saw community bashing devs for slow progress. But the same was true for Minecraft while Notch was dev.
As for having characters of different powerlevels being able to have stuff to play in the same expansion, just have a wide level/tier range of enemies and varying different missions for different characters to fight. You can swap POVs to a lower or higher level characters and there will be something appropriate for them to do.
Most games suffer from very poor vertical integration in play. Characters at low levels of play basically have no meaningful interaction with characters at high levels of play except possibly for being powerlevelled to the endgame and then carried. What we really need is a role analogous to spear infantry: An entry level role that any new player can play with no real barriers to entry that remains effective in numbers even in high level play. Like maybe my level 20 Paladin buddy isn't available today, but I can do just as well or better by rounding up a half a dozen level 5 newbie spear peasants instead, making the opposing team complain about how spear infantry OP, plz nerf.
Seems like two solutions I've encountered:
Remorting AKA reincarnation. Dungeons & Dragons Online does this.
An entourage of characters. Whether this be an ancestry, a band of mercenaries you manage, etc.,
Clan, organization, "stable" - this seems more interesting than soap opera-like remorting. The only issue is, there probably should be some way to commemorate dead characters in game - getting bonuses from their achievements (do a class-specific quest, achieve a blood-bond for barb mercs), sucking their souls into talking swords that could be crafted by ancestors, having a clan book that would list their achievements, etc.
X-COM and similar let's plays are basically this.
There's an RPG that released a year or two ago where it's sorta-roguelike, you play as a spirit that inhabits bodies. Can't remember the name of it… But I think it might be relevant
Oh, also, the "stable" approach presupposes permadeath in some fashion. E.g. Haven and Hearth has both PD and meaningful free alts, X-COM and other tacticools have rookie conveyors.
There's an RPG that released a year or two ago where it's sorta-roguelike, you play as a spirit that inhabits bodies. Can't remember the name of it… But I think it might be relevant
Svarog's Dream
I tried playing it and the UX was clunky, but it has gotten a lot of updates
Clan, organization, "stable" - this seems more interesting than soap opera-like remorting. The only issue is, there probably should be some way to commemorate dead characters in game - getting bonuses from their achievements (do a class-specific quest, achieve a blood-bond for barb mercs), sucking their souls into talking swords that could be crafted by ancestors, having a clan book that would list their achievements, etc.
X-COM and similar let's plays are basically this.
It stops being an RPG at that point tho, it goes from "my guy" to "these dudes"
Clan, organization, "stable" - this seems more interesting than soap opera-like remorting. The only issue is, there probably should be some way to commemorate dead characters in game - getting bonuses from their achievements (do a class-specific quest, achieve a blood-bond for barb mercs), sucking their souls into talking swords that could be crafted by ancestors, having a clan book that would list their achievements, etc.
X-COM and similar let's plays are basically this.
It stops being an RPG at that point tho, it goes from "my guy" to "these dudes"
Just like Gary Gigax intended with his D&D1e stables! Or something.
Clan, organization, "stable" - this seems more interesting than soap opera-like remorting. The only issue is, there probably should be some way to commemorate dead characters in game - getting bonuses from their achievements (do a class-specific quest, achieve a blood-bond for barb mercs), sucking their souls into talking swords that could be crafted by ancestors, having a clan book that would list their achievements, etc.
X-COM and similar let's plays are basically this.
It stops being an RPG at that point tho, it goes from "my guy" to "these dudes"
Just like Gary Gigax intended with his D&D1e stables! Or something.
That's more of just eliminating low level characters until you get to Your Guy
I don't get it. You mean 'long-running series of games with the same character', or some constantly updating game where the devs regularly add new content?
Consider a hypothetical game not unlike Neverwinter Nights where new small campaigns are regularly added and you're expected to use the same character.
This is analogous to the original design for Neverwinter Nights which was meant to be a bunch of 90 minute to 2 hour long adventures.
Realmz was an early attempt at this on the Mac. You could argue the Adventure Game Set is an even earlier one, but people need to be interested in making content and then the content has to be good.
