Any system for playing large time-scale games?

[mbolis]

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!

[tahu88810]

Ars Magica might work for something like this.

[DonEsteban]

Microscope does large time-scale stuff, but it is not crunchy at all. So probably not what you are looking for. Also more of a story telling instead of a roleplaying game. Very, very good, though.

You should look into Adventurer Conqueror King. The basic idea in ACKS is that you start out as an adventurer, become a Conqueror in a later phase who can eventually gain a "Kingdom" where you could do things like running a thieves' guild or actually becoming a King. I haven't looked at it in detail, but it has very good reviews and could be what you're looking for.

[Jay R]

In Pendragon (at least the first three editions), you are intended to go through 75 years of play, eventually playing the great-grandchildren of your original PC.

Everything stops in the cold winter, and you repair to your castle (or your liege's castle) to improve skills, train, study, and/or brood.

[Tyrrell]

Ars Magica might work for something like this.

I'll second this with the caveat that Ars Magica characters tend to get really powerful in comparison to the rest of the setting after about 60 years of study even if you restrict their access to lots of vis and don't give them strong sumae to read.

[mbolis]

Thank you for the replies, I'm checking your suggestions out. In my Copious Free Time™, that is...

[LibraryOgre]

If I were to use Ars Magica for this, I'd probably up the time scale. Ars Magica thinks in "seasons", with about 4 things happening each year. If you want things to happen over the course of centuries, I'd change that to decades, instead.

[Beleriphon]

https://fate-srd.com/

The Gods and Monsters FATE stuff works on the idea of your characters being deities, like the Asgardians or Olympians. It works on the time scale of millennia if you want it to.

[mbolis]

https://fate-srd.com/

The Gods and Monsters FATE stuff works on the idea of your characters being deities, like the Asgardians or Olympians. It works on the time scale of millennia if you want it to.

Yes, Beleriphon, that would be my system of choice, but not my players'. Go figure out why...
Essentially, I believe they like D&D so much that they can't shake off the thrill of being a munchkin character building.

[Beleriphon]

Yes, Beleriphon, that would be my system of choice, but not my players'. Go figure out why...
Essentially, I believe they like D&D so much that they can't shake off the thrill of being a munchkin character building.

FATE still has character building, its just a very, very different kind than what they're probably used to. I mean they can still totally game the system, but if they wont play ball they wont play ball.

[daniel_ream]

So... my question is: is there a system that would lay itself to this style of play?

Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth by Last Unicorn Games is explicitly this.

It's also ridiculously out of print and more collectible than Nobilis, so I'm not sure that helps.

[mbolis]

Thank you everybody.
I'm going with Ars Magica, even if I'm not 100% convinced (more of a gut feeling than anything...).
Next time I'm not going to be the GM, I swear!