Quests

[Jangoo]

...absolutely genius. I didn't realize you could weave quest line stories so well Gl1tch - perhaps you should apply for this job instead of me?

I know this is necromancing a stalling work in progress but:

Yeah! Awesome quest-ideas Glitch. They add some more fantasy flair to this thing.

I think so far, the quest-designs have been a bit ... technical ... meaning it is always just about game-mechanics
(stay, move, come back ...) and "somehow" defeating "someone" X many times. You know what I mean.
I think part of that is that the quest-suggestions so far always involve another player if I understood the concept correctly. Interweaving players with other players and hence creating a 100% pvp-quest is awesome and
should definitely be pursued.

But how about creating a set of "AI"-quests that have a nice storyline-background (like Glitch wrote them up)
and bind the player to play against a specific deck (played by a quest-manager),
possibly even require him to use a specific deck himself? ... You know, gimmicky stuff instead of just bluntly
having to defeat someone by whatever means possible.
Moreover, these quests could be multi-optional at times or even unfold into a mini-series ...

Some more "quest-staff" than just one quest-organizer would be needed to realize this, e.g. to submit the quests,
 process the story-tree, design and actually play the "AI"-decks that are featured in the story.
But I think this could be an awesome way of bringing many more quests into WoE because if you look
at the example below, you will see that a single quest can easily be handled by a single player.
He wouldn't really need to know all the details behind the scenes of the organization and hence just
about anybody who feels like contributing could design an "AI-quest" and enrich the WoE.

I would be happy to design some quest when the time has come and help with the organization of them.



Example of a small storyboarded quest-tree:
(No spoiler guys ... there are plenty more like this, where it came from.  )

---------------------------------------------------------
[INGAME]

The Bandit-Chief (altern.: Business-men)

You just left the tavern and wanted to call it a day, staggering to your house through the darkness,
when you are feeling something pointy gouging into your back. As you are trying to turn around, a rough,
obscure voice advises you not to: "I would stay right where you are! You look like a reasonable fella who
wouldn't want this blade to meet his kidneys right? Now listen, and listen good." The blade gouges just
a little deeper into your back, before he continues: "I hear you command a fine little troupe of mercenaries.
Now I have a little problem that needs to be taken care of." Of course, you are all ear.
"In the pine-forests just a few miles north of Riddleston, a former friend of mine has a little operation going.
Now I ain't too happy about our relationship lately and I think it is time that our ways finally part. You have
one week to bring me his head if you don't want your house to go up in flames because of some
`accident´ that is ... And in case you were wondering: I have a nice little something for you if you don't fail me."
Before you know it he has vanished into the darkness, leaving you wondering in the street.
"Tss,`business-men´ these days", you are thinking to yourself as you make your way home.

a) Ok then, I will call the boys together first thing in the morning and we are going to pay that "friend" a visit.
b) Who does that scumback think he is? I think it's time to start a little investigation ...
c) Yawn ... Wasn't there my third cousins wedding this sunday? Jeez, I need to get a present. (forget about it.)

-------------------------------------------------------------

[TYPE]:
 Medium/Low difficulty ambiente-side-quest.

[MANAGEMENT]:
 One quest-manager.
(He may of course choose to have other staff-members play the matches for him, interact with other
staff-members to select good target players etc. This status is just to say that absolutely nothing is
crucial about this quest. It doesnt HAVE to be made with everyone at a a certain time and place and
other staff-members don't need be bothered with keeping track of it ...
You get the point: alleviate management-load.

[TRIGGER]:
 Totally optional. Whenever the quest-manager has time and a player comes in question to do it.
Could be bound to a certain square on the map but doesn't have to be. ... Generally,
I am picturing this to simply be in a players mail-box one day after the manager got word he had just
returned from some journey, so the trigger-location is the players hometown or any town for that matter.

[TARGET]:
 Only players that command critter-control cards can do this quest. Whether freezing, mutating or
rewinding counts as success is arguable but I would say yes, simply because it's about multiple ways
to deal with quests in a fantasy-world ...


Upon choosing one of the three options, the player will be confronted with the following:

-----
a)
[INGAME]:
Make your way to the forest north of Riddleton and defeat the bandit-chief.
You will have to actually kill the bandit-chief to satisfy the blackmailer. (so some CC will be needed)
Experienced in the art of scouting, you choose the perfect moment for attacking the bandit-camp.
(Hex XXX. You may choose any deck.
You get two matches/shots to succeed at killing the card that represents the chief.
You have to win one match to succeed.)

[OUTGAME]:
- A rather straight, not too hard, deck was designed beforehand.
It features several graviton-guards, only ONE of which will be played by the "AI"-player. (quest-manager or replacement)
- The AI-player sets a date for the match and informs the player that the grav.guard is the target when
the match is about to start.
- The player, ingame not being inexperienced with this type of adventure, gets two shots at fulfilling the mission.
The AI-player informs on the win-conditions again: Win 1/2 matches. CC-kill the grav.guard during one of these matches.
- Proof that it has been done will be either the AI-players word or via screenshot (if someone other than the
AI-player himself is managing the quest ... maybe the manager didnt have time to play the match himself or whatever.)
- If no grav.guard or CC-cards get drawn during the matches it's just bad luck ... "Sorry, but the chief just wasn't
around when your guys hit his camp repeatedly."

Penalty for failing the quest (1/2 matches won):
Your men fight well and clearly defeat the bandits. Just when you are about to seize
their leader though, he manages to swing himself on horseback and vanishes into the green of the forest.
A whole day of trying to track him down does not turn up any success.

-> No penalty. (see c) )
-> (altern.) You may not move next turn since you are busy trying to track down the bandit-chief

Penalty for losing both of the two matches:
When your men charge into the bandit-camp the resistance is tougher than expected.
Concealed archers are covering your advance and more bandits turn up from within a cave you hadn't
discovered before. As you order your men to retreat, some of them get picked out by the sniping archers.
You see them biting the grass but there is unfortunately nothing you can do for them.

-> Pick a card you used in the battles and remove it from your vault.

Reward for completing the quest:
1. (forest) Impressed by your combat-skills and faced with their beheaded leader bleeding out in the grass, the few
survivors of the encounter offer their services to you. You are not sure if any of them could do any good for you
but finally select a couple well-built brutes to join your ranks.
2. (scumbag) "Wow, you are a fine soldier indeed! I think we can do business again some time."
The scumbag is grinning foul-teethed as he hands you a rust little dagger. "I think you know this pretty well already."

-> The player may add two graviton guards (or fire-eaters or whatever...) to his vault.
-> The player may add a dagger to his vault.

-----

b)

[INGAME]:
Your private investigator only needs one day to find out who is blackmailing you:
A low-level troublemaker who has been making a living of petty theft and robbery. He dwells in
a run down shag just outside the city-wall. You don't even bother to bring your guys as you kick in
his front-door to teach him a lesson ...
(Hex XXX. You may choose any deck.)

[OUTGAME]:
- A ridiculously easy deck was designed beforehand.
Amongst other weakass stuff, it features some terrifying flying daggers. 
- The AI-player (quest-staff) sets a date for the match. 
- The player gets one shots at winning the match.
- Proof that it has been done will be either the AI-players word or via screenshot (if someone other than the
AI-player is managing the quest ... maybe the manager didnt have time to play the match himself or whatever.)

Penalty for losing the match:
As you fall down on your knees, the menacingly laughing scumbag about to slit your
throat, you hear the roar of you lieutenant who comes storming in. Apparently he had a bad feeling about this
and hence came to your last-minute rescue. You will need a while to recover from your wounds.

-> You may not move the next 2 turns/next week/next whatever.
-> (altern.) Any deck you use for the next 2 turns/next week/next whatever has to carry min. 2 HP-generating cards.
If you don't have these, you cannot move.


Reward for winning the match (downing the scumbag):
The fight is over within seconds. The ill fated attempts of the scumbag to
stab you with his dagger were met by swift retaliation through your fists ... no need to draw a blade for this.

-> The player may add a dagger to his vault.

-----

c)

[INGAME]:
The day of your cousins wedding comes and you have actually managed to
find him a beautiful gift: A hand-knitted carpet from the plains of Sahja. You are having the most wonderful
time drinking with his friends as you remember something: "Wait a minute ... when I was totally drunk that
saturday-night last week, wasn't there some scumbag who threatened to burn down my house? Ah, whatever ...",
you are thinking to yourself and pour yourself another one.
Whatever indeed: Nothing happens to you, your house or anybody else ... just another scumbag after all it seems.

[OUTGAME]:
This is just it:
The "don't want to be forced to quest right now", "quest-cowards get nothing" or
"awesome storyline ... he was indeed just a cowardly scumbag" - option.
Depends on how you look at it I guess. 

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[Glitch]

I like those Jangoo, but a tip, make the more difficult quests more lengthy.  An easy difficulty quest doesn't need a paragraph description.

Or maybe that's just my opinion =/

[Jangoo]

Would you think that this type of "AI"-quest is actually doable on the "management"-side?

I was really picturing this as an option for everybody, even those who actively play and/or organize the game.
If, say, 15 people decide to create and manage just one of these you would already have an awesome variety of
quests ... having them randomly pop up in players mailboxes would be a nice element of surprise.
You know, not so much that MassiveMultiplayerORPG-feeling where 20 players will be crowding a
quest-location at any given time, each of them hearing the words  "I don't know who else to ask ... You are my
only hope." ... say what? Look around, there is a whole army at your disposal!


As for lengthyness of the paragraphs:
I agree that this is really no big deal-quest at all as long as the player doesn't choose a) and even then, beating
a simple deck with CC to win a couple grav.guards ... depends on the actual deck, still pretty light stuff.
Back when I was still roleplaying with friends I would always enjoy getting into detail about the more simple things.
I think it's the salt in the soup. A world within which only mighty dragons and apocalyptic events deserve a
description whereas your everyday thief remains totally generic is no world at all.

[Scaredgirl]

I was thinking that we should start the WoE resurrection process with quests.

Gl1tch has offered to help by becoming a WoE "Loremaster". This means that he will be in charge of all WoE lore.

We will also have about 3-6 people to help him write WoE lore.  These WoE lore writers would all get some cool title and access to secret forums where the magic happens. Everyone writes different stuff, and Loremaster kind of acts as a chief editor of a newspaper. Idea is that quests are kept secret before they actually happen (to make things more epic).

If you are interested in writing WoE lore, please let me know. There's a lot of talent in this community and I'm hoping you have time and energy to help make WoE an amazing experience. Thanks.

P.s. Being a lore writer doesn't prevent you from entering the event.

[Jangoo]

Is that "lore" as in ambience texting, e.g. writing up some background-storyline, description of
the cities, wonders ... ?
Or is it lore as in "quest-lore" with the Loremaster being the Quest-Organizer at the same time?

-> Either way, if lore-writing still permits to partake in the event you can count me in.

It looks like I am in for another rough patch of RL-challenges soon but given the pace WoE
is developing at right now, that might have changed again by the time things get going.
Writing up some lore can be done along the way anyways I guess.

SG, what do you think about the type of "AI"-quest I sketched above?

 

[Scaredgirl]

Is that "lore" as in ambience texting, e.g. writing up some background-storyline, description of
the cities, wonders ... ?
Or is it lore as in "quest-lore" with the Loremaster being the Quest-Organizer at the same time?

-> Either way, if lore-writing still permits to partake in the event you can count me in.

It looks like I am in for another rough patch of RL-challenges soon but given the pace WoE
is developing at right now, that might have changed again by the time things get going.
Writing up some lore can be done along the way anyways I guess.

Yeah, I probably should have been a bit more clear on this. I think I confused even myself because I kind of mixed lore and quests.

These "writer people" basically write all texts found in the event. For example if we have a shop, we need some kind of flavor text for it, like the shopkeeper saying a couple of words. So in the shop topic, there will be a picture of the shopkeeper and flavor text next to it, followed by the items that are for sale.

The basic idea is to copy MMORPG system. In MMO's, when you talk to an NPC, a new window appears where the dialog happens. In WoE, instead of windows, we have topics.

We also need tons of other text like:
- event introductions
- quest descriptions
etc.

All this will be done by the people I talked about in the previous post. I will help as much as I can, but my English skills are limited, and my writing skills even more so.

I'll add your name on the list. I'll give you forum permissions soon, after which you will see a new forum section appear at the bottom of the forums. More information will be posted there.

SG, what do you think about the type of "AI"-quest I sketched above?

I like it. I basically suggested the same thing previously, but I only suggested it for the final quest where you have to beat the final boss to win the event. That final boss will be played by one of the organizers.

But there's no reason not to have more of these "AI"-quests. It might actually work pretty well because then some quest organizers didn't even have to participate in the actual event to get some PvP action. They could simply fight as NPC's.

Heroes of Might and Magic has a good system that we could use. All resources are occupied by NPC's. To get to those resources, you first need to beat those NPC's.

[Glitch]

Well, if it's massive amounts of NPC dialogues you want, there's always good ol' fashion random tables.

Roll 3d10, and look at the results.

Rolled Number	First Roll	Second Roll	Third Roll
1	"Hello"	"Sir/Madame"	"How are you?"
2	"Hi"	"Mister/Misses"	"What can I do you for?"
3	"Yo"	"Homie"	"What's happening?"
4	"'Lo"	"Soldier"	"Wha' choo want?"
5	"'S'up"	"Man/Lady"	"How you been?"
6	"'Welcome"	"My good sir/lady"	"How can I help you today?"
7	"''ello"	"mate"	"Welcome to me store!"
8	"Howdy"	"stranger!"	"Feel free to look around!"
9	"Hey"	"dude"	"wanna buy some death sticks?"
0	*silence*	*silence*	*silence*

This will randomly decide what the shopkeep says.  For instance, if you roll 249, he says "Hi, soldier!  Wanna buy some death sticks?"  Or if you roll 865, he says "Howdy, my good sir!  How you been?"  If you roll a 0, just omit that section.  103 reads "Hello.  S'up?".  If you roll straight 000s, write "the shopkeep looks at you with stony silence, and you get the eerie impression he's offering his wares"

EDIT:  Changed the third roll of 3.  It used to be "s'up" but that meant on a roll of 503, the shopkeep said "S'up, s'up".

[Dragoon1140]

If that could somehow be included in the forums, you, Gl1tch, would win at life.  Seriously, that sounds amazing.

[Kuross]

If you need some help in the lore department, I'll help if you want. I spent a couple of years playing a story-driven RPG (I was an admin/mod) where players essentially wrote the storyline as we went and I wrote many, many short stories along with helping in the creation and continuation of the story. Where do I send an application? 

[Jangoo]

These "writer people" basically write all texts found in the event. For example if we have a shop, we need some kind of flavor text for it, like the shopkeeper saying a couple of words. So in the shop topic, there will be a picture of the shopkeeper and flavor text next to it, followed by the items that are for sale.
[...]
I'll add your name on the list. I'll give you forum permissions soon, after which you will see a new forum section appear at the bottom of the forums. More information will be posted there.

Sounds awesome. Thanks.

I like it. I basically suggested the same thing previously, but I only suggested it for the final quest where you have to beat the final boss to win the event. That final boss will be played by one of the organizers.

Oh boy. Rainbow will be pissed. 

Heroes of Might and Magic has a good system that we could use. All resources are occupied by NPC's. To get to those resources, you first need to beat those NPC's.

That sounds good at first. I would still reconsider that because people will be doing quite a bit
of "farming", provided it is actually worth it economically. So, depending on how many players
you got, you would need a whole team of "AI-resource-combatants" and they will be like "Damn,
gotta do another set of 14 boring standard fights over some lumber tonight." after the
excitement of the first few battles blows off.

A better approach would probably be to create resources on the map in a way that they are
indeed sort of precious and encourage PvP battles ... having to PvP-fight for it would be thrilling.

[Scaredgirl]

Well, if it's massive amounts of NPC dialogues you want, there's always good ol' fashion random tables.

Roll 3d10, and look at the results.

Rolled Number	First Roll	Second Roll	Third Roll
1	"Hello"	"Sir/Madame"	"How are you?"
2	"Hi"	"Mister/Misses"	"What can I do you for?"
3	"Yo"	"Homie"	"What's happening?"
4	"'Lo"	"Soldier"	"Wha' choo want?"
5	"'S'up"	"Man/Lady"	"How you been?"
6	"'Welcome"	"My good sir/lady"	"How can I help you today?"
7	"''ello"	"mate"	"Welcome to me store!"
8	"Howdy"	"stranger!"	"Feel free to look around!"
9	"Hey"	"dude"	"wanna buy some death sticks?"
0	*silence*	*silence*	*silence*

This will randomly decide what the shopkeep says.  For instance, if you roll 249, he says "Hi, soldier!  Wanna buy some death sticks?"  Or if you roll 865, he says "Howdy, my good sir!  How you been?"  If you roll a 0, just omit that section.  103 reads "Hello.  S'up?".  If you roll straight 000s, write "the shopkeep looks at you with stony silence, and you get the eerie impression he's offering his wares"

EDIT:  Changed the third roll of 3.  It used to be "s'up" but that meant on a roll of 503, the shopkeep said "S'up, s'up".

That's a pretty funny idea. Should be relatively easy to implement as well.

If you need some help in the lore department, I'll help if you want. I spent a couple of years playing a story-driven RPG (I was an admin/mod) where players essentially wrote the storyline as we went and I wrote many, many short stories along with helping in the creation and continuation of the story. Where do I send an application? 

Ok, sounds good. Thanks for offering to help. I'll start giving out access passes to secret forum section soon.

Heroes of Might and Magic has a good system that we could use. All resources are occupied by NPC's. To get to those resources, you first need to beat those NPC's.

That sounds good at first. I would still reconsider that because people will be doing quite a bit
of "farming", provided it is actually worth it economically. So, depending on how many players
you got, you would need a whole team of "AI-resource-combatants" and they will be like "Damn,
gotta do another set of 14 boring standard fights over some lumber tonight." after the
excitement of the first few battles blows off.

A better approach would probably be to create resources on the map in a way that they are
indeed sort of precious and encourage PvP battles ... having to PvP-fight for it would be thrilling.

That's how it is in Heroes of Might and Magic. At least that's how I remember it was. Basically you have these valuable resources that are occupied by a big mob. When you take that resource, that mob doesn't respawn. You just beat it once after which it's gone.

In WoE we could use this so that each element had one hard-to-beat NPC in their Elemental Wonder, meaning there are a total of 12 of these NPC's. On top of this we would have some NPC's related to quests, and of course the final boss NPC. There wouldn't be that many NPC's, and none of them would respawn, so I don't think it would get boring at any point.

[slovenc555]

Well, if it's massive amounts of NPC dialogues you want, there's always good ol' fashion random tables.

Roll 3d10, and look at the results.

Rolled Number	First Roll	Second Roll	Third Roll
1	"Hello"	"Sir/Madame"	"How are you?"
2	"Hi"	"Mister/Misses"	"What can I do you for?"
3	"Yo"	"Homie"	"What's happening?"
4	"'Lo"	"Soldier"	"Wha' choo want?"
5	"'S'up"	"Man/Lady"	"How you been?"
6	"'Welcome"	"My good sir/lady"	"How can I help you today?"
7	"''ello"	"mate"	"Welcome to me store!"
8	"Howdy"	"stranger!"	"Feel free to look around!"
9	"Hey"	"dude"	"wanna buy some death sticks?"
0	*silence*	*silence*	*silence*

This will randomly decide what the shopkeep says.  For instance, if you roll 249, he says "Hi, soldier!  Wanna buy some death sticks?"  Or if you roll 865, he says "Howdy, my good sir!  How you been?"  If you roll a 0, just omit that section.  103 reads "Hello.  S'up?".  If you roll straight 000s, write "the shopkeep looks at you with stony silence, and you get the eerie impression he's offering his wares"

EDIT:  Changed the third roll of 3.  It used to be "s'up" but that meant on a roll of 503, the shopkeep said "S'up, s'up".

I lold when I got: *silence* Dude, wha' choo want?

WAIT!

Someone comes for a quest. The person that is suposed to give out quests runs out so he saies that.