An idea in getting started on quests.

[Fish]

I was a dungeon master for about five years in AD&D.  One of the features I had in most cities were some common places.  One of them was if you wanted to get started on a quest and really didn?t know what quests/jobs were out there you headed to the pub, bar, or other fine drinking establishment.  They?re there were a couple of ways to get a job.  

One was to read the bulletin board.  It was a good way to preselect people who could actually read.  If your were a magic type or high-end artisan you can get your jobs there.  But for warriors, rogues, or people that didn?t do much reading the bartender and patrons was generally were quests/jobs could be found.  But they generally did not get a response unless they were drinking something

This solved several problems.  The people playing didn?t have to wander around aimlessly until something hit them that seemed interesting.  It gave them a chance to select something from a bunch of possibilities.  And they basically knew where to get it.  I suppose I could have shoved it down the player?s throats but I always figured that was a cheap shot.

I don?t propose that all quests be done like this.  But I think it would work well for the low level one?s.

[lostprophet]

Sounds like a good idea, maybe the quests on the notice board could change every so often?

[Xordan]

Yes, that\'s a very good idea. :]
Maybe eventually players would be able to pay to put ads on a notice boards, upto a certain limit. Say 20 ads per board.

[Zabulba]

And there could be some quick 10-minutes special flash quests only for the afortunate enough to get them

[lostprophet]

I like that, but they would have to stay for longer than 10 minutes, and reapear every so often, because it\'s too much work for the devs otherwise.

[Xalthar]

I like your idea fish... I also like randomly generated quests.. And support any such notion..

[Fish]

To clarify a couple of points you don?t start the quest at the bulletin board it merely points to them.  It would have advertisements like Captain Jake is looking for crew members at the dock.  So that means if you go to docks and lookup Captain Jake he?s got something for you to do. One would assume that he or one of his crew members put the advertisement on the bulletin board.

But when it comes to a crew member that can read its not important so is more likely they would tell the bartender instead.  If you go up to the bartender and say ? do you know of any jobs out there? the bartender would reply? go see Captain Jake at the docks he?s got a job .?  The NPC might have several of jobs.  It is also possible you might have to specify more exactly what you are looking for.

[lostprophet]

I like that a lot. The current npc\'s are able to continue conversations, barely, so I guess you could say, \"I\'m looking for a job my good man\" and he\'d say \"what kind of job\", and give a short list of stuff.

[Samoth]

There should be different types of quests:

1) Entry level quests - Simple, low reward quests that are always available for a quick buck when you are short on jing; getting rats out of a cellar, etc.

2) Reoccurring quests ? Always available, these quests become harder as player?s skills advance; the rewards become higher as well.  The quests rotate around; getting rid of pesky mobs, knocking off bothersome thugs (NPCs), gathering special resources from the corners of the wild, and running messages to the wrong side of the tracks.

3) Standard quests ? Unique quests that are left open for some time and allow everybody a chance at a special item or reward.  These quests would be introduced on a regular basis so we can always have a special challenge available.

4) Special quests ? A once in a lifetime, short lived quest that give a few players a chance a very special item.

[hook]

Samoth, you just described what the currnet idea on the quests is :roll: ...only that the \"special quests\" aren\'t obligatory linked to a special item. their purpouse is to be ultra-hard, ultra-long and can be solved only once. ...the reward, may be even better then special items, what about saving a special beast and gain its trust, finding a (the?) lost city etc etc.

[Fish]

Sometimes I wonder though if the only way to easily show that you?ve completed a quest is to bring an item to an NPC?  Then the NPC provides the reward.  It would be nice for the development team to came up with some new ways to show that you have completed a quest.

I think there should be a distinction between a quest and a job.  For instance if your warrior and you?re not very high level and you decide to do pest control for local Lord in his militia that?s a job.  Even if you get paid for it its not a quest.  They might pay by the left ear or something on top of a daily salary.  If you don?t collect enough ears from the monsters you might get fired. However finding the head monster and killing him to shut down a few spawn points is a quest. For that you might get something special like a metal.  It would increase your social standing and gain favor with the locals and get a nice fat bonus payment.  You might also get a promotion from a quest and get a higher base salary.  One you do for a living the other one is a special case.