New type of Quest

[Araye]

So I have been doing a lot of questing lately (as I know a lot of us have been) and I was thinking about how "quests" are done in paper and pencil rpgs, especially in the original D&D game (not AD&D).

So it was typical that a DM (Dungeon Master) would start a group of adventurers at the beginning of a maze and say, "OK get out alive".  No real story, blah, blah.  But it was still a lot of fun.  So I thought it would be fun to extend this idea.

Example of quest:

Player asks an NPC for a task and receives a special quest to retrieve an item from the maze.

The maze could be behind a "locked door" (like winch area).  In the maze, there could be tons of danger, leading to a final conflict or solution.  It could include puzzles, monsters, acrobatics, etc. to complete the maze.

Too make it more special, the NPC could only give the quest once and it would not give the quest again until it is completed or the questor died.  Maybe it could be given to a group and if a member dies, she is eliminated from the group.  This continues until all members are dead, the group is disbanded (removing the group from the maze ie. instant death to all), or they complete the quest.

I like the "group" idea, because it encourages teamwork and could generate work for "adventurers for hire".

If this works out, then there could be many of these "mazes" added.  That way, players wishing to participate wouldn't have to wait very long for the quest to be available.

I know this isn't an innovative idea as it has been done before.  Just not in PS, but I think it would bring a little more excitement to the current quest tasks.

* Araye puts on his flame retardant suit.

[Zan]

I love the idea ... however, one tiny problem We'd need improvements in NPC AI, the implementation of traps and various other skills before these dungeon quests would really get interesting and challenging enough.

I definitely hope that PS will be heading in this direction more in the future though. Quests that emphasise on teamwork and survival. It might also be a good idea if the GM's take these type of ideas into consideration when organising events.

[Nikodemus]

When i were playing with friends, we were switching the role of GM for each session. My friends were doing quests where you get rich and i were begining a session with "You wake up in some kind of prison, all your stuff is not there and last what you remember a barfight " ;P

This quest could be started by a NPC you talk too and you end up with poisoned missile from a blowpipe ;P Who knows what they wanted from you, but you wake up trapped somewhere ;P
Of course there would be more fun for a group, but before al these quests would start make sense, so much must be developed earlier.

[Dahoma]

I like the idea a lot actually. But I think that it shouldn't be so much of a quest as something in the Arena for fun. Using that the GM's in game could have tournaments, to see who finishes first, who uses the most cunning, etc.

And then maybe there could be an actual maze somewhere else too, like in the Bronze Door Region, then spells that help you figure out where you're going would come in handy, when those, if they are even being considered, are made.

[RayvenD]

I would love for there to be dungeon type quests in the game. And I think doing it in groups would be amazing. The only thing that might make it harder to acheive is that you'd need to make it so that each group in the dungeon had their own dungeon, rather than all groups using the same map at once. It'd have to work similar to the explorable areas and missions in guildwars where only the players in your party will be sharing the map with you. It'd be awesome if it wasn't just fight your way out aswell. If items were needed to get past certain areas, and multiple routes were available it'd be great. I'd really like to see this idea happen, and for skill tree's to become more defined, so if you had a character who'd been trained as a rogueish type with high lockpicking, you could take a different route than if your characters were all brute strength warrior types. Good idea.

[Nikodemus]

There is a possiblity, that if there will be enough dungeons, it won't get that crowded, even if we wont be "inscasing" (i hope i didn't mess up the word, it describe what you have in GW for instance), the quests won't broke, just because someone broke the quests chain of some of ther group.
Monsters, closed doors, traps, and so on can be spawned as they are needed and disappear as they stop being needed as the team never reach that place.
This way you decrease the chance, that someone will break the quest chain, because most likely it's somewhere far away or not in the dungeon at all.
And even if the tie get broken, it may be spawned somewhere again.

I think we shouldn't be cut from meeting others in the process of the quest, thats fun too.

[orino]

i don't know about the rest of you but i have already started taking adventuring into my own hands... i set up scavenger hunts with rewards as prizes.. not exactly what you were saying but still it is something to do..i agree the npc quests have become stale and repetitive.. i hided objects all over the lands and offer rewards to the first person to find it... it is hard to get people interested in 70k in prizes because i did another one yesterday and i only had 5 people looking for the things i hid... most people get into a mind numbing exercise  of : dig the ore, sell the ore, dig the ore , sell the ore... talk to npc (get stuck).. dig some ore.. I am just saying i try to do events and nothing happens .. i think the people are satisfied with digging in the dirt and wining about nothing to do. i mean seriously,, most people would rather dig in the dirt that do some adventuring.. given finding objects that i hide isn't really adventuring, but at least it is something to do while we wait for more options.. but it seems 70k in prizes wasn't enough for all those "BLUE BLOODED" Hydlanians.. why do i bother trying anything if everyone would rather dig worms.. have fun in the dirt chumps

[Araye]

While I completely agree that meeting others on the same quest or even allowing the remnants of a failed quest to join your search would be outstanding, I feel what would actually happen is, you would have people camped all along the quest routes, slaughtering every mob.

Good intentions are always exploited.  So a method must be determined that allows the quest chain to be maintained, while providing a challenging/exciting task to be accomplished.  That's why I suggested the limitations of single quest group per dungeon quest.

Also I'm suggesting populating the quest route with creatures that will require a team effort and potentially extreme strategy to defeat.  "Hey guys!  What's up?  Are you doing the 'Talad's Secret Quest' too?"  May ruin the well planned strategy.

I also recognize your point that if there are "lots" of these quests and dungeons, it would be of benefit.  But I felt guilty for asking for just one knowing the effort it would require and I didn't have the testicular fortitude to ask for "lots".

@Orino:  I'm glad you are conducting these scavenger hunts.  It is a very good idea.  The only way to get more people to participate however, is to continue to host these events and build a name for yourself.  We used to have several players known for their events.  I looked forward to them each time (Thanks Proglin and Xillix!) they were held.  But they too had to build name recognition.  Soon a tournament by Proglin was a spectacle to behold as well as participate in.  The prizes were no longer the reason to attend or participate, but rather the fame of saying, "I was there."

Don't get discouraged and don't expect that just because you offer 1 million trias, people will participate.  If the event is poorly organized, no amount of money will be worth the hassle.  If it is truly fun and well organized, the prize of an apple will still draw a large crowd.

Araye

[Ziamor]

I like all of your ideas but I think the biggest thing they should do is remove the talking to the npc for quests. I go and looking around for him. Whan I finaly find him I dont know what to say and then I spend another hour trying to figure out what im supposed to say.

[Adiron]

The last MMORPG I played was Anarchy Online (a long time ago), which used a system of randomly generating dungeons whenever you got a "quest" (their term, being a sci-fi MMORPG and all, was "mission"). Basically you bought a mission from a terminal, were directed toward a random building in a city, walked inside, and were whisked across the server to a randomly generated dungeon area that nobody else could see or visit (unless they had the same quest, which is impossible unless you were part of the same team). Mission terminals would cover a variety of missions, such as "go here and kill this person", or "recover this object", or even "take this object and combine it with another object inside the building". I think it was a great idea, as it offered variety as well as the rewards of being an actual quest rather than just killing monsters in the environment. I think it would be great if Planeshift adopted a similar idea.

[Entevir]

For the limit of one group id like to go against that on the grounds because we can just put the limit on say 8 people a maze, BUT its not logical if say the Octarch has given your party a task to get the one of a kind thingy from the super danger maze dungeon and you meet 3 other guys with an identical quest.So for the limit i would say keep it to the party.
And i was thinking of event quests.Say a raid on a town by a huge band of fighters.And the GM's organise the attack to take place and maybe stop selling everything in the town.And after that announce that they need to gather fighters to raid the raiders.And generaly stuff like that.
Also survival quests.Those could be the most fun of all.Where you and say up to 5 other guys are put in a random maze at difrent points while geting lost on messenger  duty and repetetive things like that.And oh it just so happens that this forrest is home to a band of bandits or generaly any other kind of death-trap maze.
Oh and maybe the coolest thing ever would be that the survival quest requires you to show real survival skill.Like geting stranded somewhere waiting for rescue and youd have to get food, stale water, shelter and other things for survival.I know these ideas are lightyears from making it to PS but im gona be first in-line when\if they come.