This is an interesting and hard question for me.

I think you can find the answer if you look back at your answers for the previous two questions. I believe I covered a lot of the points I would use for this one yesterday but I will give another one which I think is really important.

Publisher support

The publisher should continue supporting their RPG after it has been released. This can be done in various ways. Organized play is an important one. This allows new players to enter without a ton of effort. I saw that when I played in my LGS. A few people came to watch us game and said they’d come next time to play.

Another way to provide support is by updating the system based on community feedback. It’s not enough to create new editions of the system every few years. Listening to the player base and adapting to their needs is what gives an RPG staying power. An example can be easily found in D&D fourth edition and Pathfinder. Even if I like fourth edition, a large part of the community didn’t and that was the reason Pathfinder came out.

Of course, apart from updating the system, providing content is also important. New adventure and character options can be important in keeping the interest high. However, this has to be done not in an overwhelming way. Look at the release schedule of D&D 5th edition, for example. The amount of books per year is just right.

And that’s my answered for today. It was a bit harder to answer than I thought, and I already knew this was a hard question. That’s probably because of my lack of experience with various systems. Hopefully I’ll get to try a few more systems soon so I can have a better answer.

But I want to turn the question to you. What gives an RPG ‘staying power’? What makes YOU want to keep playing it?

Tomorrow’s question is about my most memorable NPC. I have a few in mind.

So until then, have fun!