Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[Zepher]

I don't have as much of a dissertation as the others. I liked 93 well enough, and some of the issues above I shared with it, and some I didn't, but I wasn't on it so their perspective counts more than mine (especially as far as battles go). I thought it dragged a bit, sure, but at least there were 13 battles, so even with the drag you still got loot and experience, which isn't always the case with a dragging quest.

I think that, like the others said, this could have just used a little revision. I used to not revise quests very much, but now I do - cut this part, add this part, etc. I'm not suggesting you didn't do this, obviously I have no way of knowing, but it looks like it could have used a bit more.

The characters were, as always, beautiful looking. I felt that a few of them were nice and complex, but mostly they boiled down to quirks (Noel is angst-ridden, Sorsha is loud, Carrot is from a bad part of town, etc.) It's a question of how you view characters, though, and I think we view them slightly differently. I think you like to build more archetypal mythic characters, which is awesome in its own way! And most of the time I think you strike a good balance of subverting the archetype enough that they become a CHARACTER instead of a MYTH, while still letting us see the golden knight. In the age of the complex anti-hero, it's actually cool to see some classic "good guy" and "bad guy" archetypes. The only issue this round was that there were SO MANY we didn't get to dig. We didn't always get to the subversion, and the quirk wasn't fleshed out enough to feel mythic, just to feel weak (sometimes, not always). That being said, I loved Drucuilla (and Heckz's interaction with her). I really liked Hawkes too, it really was a shame when he died. I liked Sorsha, and I don't think it's only because of Kinto's work (though it helped). Noel was decent if relegated to the back near the end of the quest. Syrio was an awesome design and seemed so so cool, I wanted him to talk more.

The two characters I felt the most issue with, actually, are Nuitan and Lyren. I don't really know what this quest progressed for them. We've had three or four quests focused on them, and the only thing we've really established is that they care deeply about each other. That's cool... but that's just one thing that's already established. They are, unlike a lot of your other characters, not as archetypal, but they also lack the complexity that should substitute for that. We know Nuitan is snivels and is smart, Lyren a rascal. So, what else? I am a big believer in actions speaking louder than words, and they haven't really done anything yet. This quest could have (with it's six months) shown us how they act in a myriad of situations (how does a peers death REALLY affect them - maybe one of them liked a peer, and one of them hated him, and theres some conflict, or maybe they both hated him and their hatred, though grotesque to the viewer, draws them together, or maybe they have an argument about their families, or maybe they don't want to go back to Eubric and are willing to risk the void to be together, or maybe only one of them is). My point is, they don't get to do much, and the structure of this quest made it imperative that the heroes send them back immediately upon discovering them, stealing away the chance for them to do anything.

That goes for ALL the characters. I wish they had taken more ACTION. I wish they'd been more ACTIVE. BUT, it is extremely tough with that many characters, and I recognize that. You built yourself into a corner once, but it caused more than one problem - the crime did not fit the punishment.

The battles seemed cool. Obviously the two impossible ones weren't alright, but all the others were cool. I liked the darkness battle and the knight battle and the enemies buffing each other was cool if not properly thought out there.

Another note on the players: Cutcobra, Heckz was a huge reason for me to continue to follow the quest. Do be careful about spot light stealing, but not too much more careful, I thought you did a wonderful job.

Karie and Sorrow - THESE are the characters who bothered me this quest. I like both of them normally, and Kinto actually seemed aware of their folly, and tried to refrain (sorry, not the pick on you Endgame) but dear god I would have punched them. Sorrow is dying, we get that. But I heard about it so so so much. And are Karie and Masson getting married?! Because boy did we hear about that a lot too. It seems even worse when we know Endgame plays Masson - it's bringing one of his plot points into a quest it has no business being in, and then pushing it over and over again. I'd imagine that's why some of the NPCs and PCs were quiet... what does it have to do with them, or with the school? Did we ever see anyone else respond to this plot point? I doubt it. I don't mean don't mention it, but it was just too much, too often. I still love Kinto and Endgame, and the characters as well, but it was overwhelming.

Overall, I enjoyed following it, but echo a lot of the things about characters and pacing. But we're all learning, Sandy!

Speaking of least enjoyable experiences so far in Heroica, I don't know if I'm supposed to review 96 yet or not...

EDIT: Also, I've argued loudly against rebalancing battles mid-battle in the past. The Saga move has already been talked about - I think it was extremely extremely unfair. However, rebalancing an impossible battle makes me eat my words - that was (obviously) the right move, so bravo! Also, that final battle was a-okay in my book. Heroes whine a lot. Sometimes you should listen. Sometimes you should say "stuff it" and keep doing things you know you are doing right.

[Palathadric]

Another note on the players: Cutcobra, Heckz was a huge reason for me to continue to follow the quest. Do be careful about spot light stealing, but not too much more careful, I thought you did a wonderful job.

Same here. I love Heckz because though he can be overbearing his comments are usually short, sweet, and to the point. One can read them and laugh and then get on with life. It's not like he's trying to push something on you. It's just there. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to because Heckz is so readable and one can more or less know what to expect from him.

I wish we had seen a bit more from Erik though, but I think him and Amorith were always going to be pushed into the background which is really very unfortunate because, especially Erik, is an extremely likable character, both from a player and a character perspective.

[Endgame]

I'm on mobile so I'll try to keep this brief, but you're right, Zepher. My reasoning was that it kept me at least partially invested in the action. Sorrow really would've devolved into one line responses if I didn't artificially invest myself. I HATE being an inactive questee, but what I did was too much. Reason doesn't equal justified, though, as this has shown.

[Kintobor]

I'm going to comment a few more times, but I'll leave it here. I don't want 93 to drag on into the community, so I'll finish off with responding to your response.

You blame me for not doing much with the important NPCs, but just think about a situation where either Lyren or Nuitan would have actually died in a battle. Think of the prepercussions it would have for the whole Hinckwell/Shadeaux storyline! I don't know what more I could have done with them than to give their fate into your hands.

There should have been much less students to save, I can see that. That way you probably would have felt more personal with each of them, but just remember that it was my intention that the heroes would get frustrated with the teens refusing to cooperate. Otherwise saving them would've been a walk in the park, if the battles weren't taken into consideration.

It was tacked on, because I had no idea the quest would take as long as it did. I thought I did you guys a service by giving you an in-game explanation why your character was missing from the world for half a year, since I know such roleplaying details are important to you. I'm sorry if the execution wasn't to your liking.

Why is it a cardinal sin? Why does every character need to be likeable and relatable? Again, these were teenagers who were supposed to be annoying, so you'd have more of a hard time saving them.

And you remember wrong. The students wouldn't just "run off" when you went to their classroom. The different cliques prevented students from following the party if it was followed by a member of a rivalling faction. They also wouldn't get into the box with said person. The only time the students would run away was if you tried to make them follow you with a student of an opposing faction. It was consistent, trust me.

That's forcing the PCs to care about NPCs. Honestly, Karie didn't know who Nuitan and Lyren were, and despite us players knowing who they were, the characters didn't. We've never met them before, so why should we feel attachment to them? They're just like every other annoyingly suicidal student.

There's a difference between the character's being frustrated, and the players being frustrated. The mechanic was annoying for the players as much as it was for the characters to the point the players were willing to leave the school with kids inside just to end the quest earlier. You can't run a quest on "frustration" because it's exactly that; frustrating. It's fine if you make the party frustrated every now and then, perhaps they're dealing with a stuck up guard who's being a prick for the sake of being a prick. That's fine, and an excellent roleplaying scenario. When the quest runs on "frustrating", it bleeds into everything.

When I say tacked on, perhaps the better word is "poorly executed". Why wouldn't loved ones be sending the heroes messages? Why wouldn't someone eventually call the operation a major incident and send in reinforcements? It felt lazy is what it was. Same with the Void Eater. Have the party see something outside the windows, shapes, movement, anything to hint to something being on the outside! It would've made the elephant in the East wing less of an elephant and more of a reveal.

Refer back to my previous statement on the students, but an NPC doesn't need to be relatable to be likeable. The Apprentice from 54 is a sociopath who uses his weapon to torture innocents and enthral people. You can't relate to him (or at least I hope you can't relate to him ), but he's still likeable as a character because he's compelling and an a$$hole, and you want to see his comeuppance. Game of Thrones runs on this. No one in that show is truly perfect, and a lot of characters are despicable human beings, yet we watch what happens because we still like them as characters. We find something compelling about them. That to me is the difference here.

I remember multiple times students of rivalling cliques got into the box together. Or maybe my memories gone fuzzy, I don't know...

Karie and Sorrow - THESE are the characters who bothered me this quest. I like both of them normally, and Kinto actually seemed aware of their folly, and tried to refrain (sorry, not the pick on you Endgame) but dear god I would have punched them. Sorrow is dying, we get that. But I heard about it so so so much. And are Karie and Masson getting married?! Because boy did we hear about that a lot too. It seems even worse when we know Endgame plays Masson - it's bringing one of his plot points into a quest it has no business being in, and then pushing it over and over again. I'd imagine that's why some of the NPCs and PCs were quiet... what does it have to do with them, or with the school? Did we ever see anyone else respond to this plot point? I doubt it. I don't mean don't mention it, but it was just too much, too often. I still love Kinto and Endgame, and the characters as well, but it was overwhelming.

My stance on why Karie was blabbering was because it was basically the only thing keeping me going. I stopped really caring about the plot of the quest, and I need something to do besides "Karie does this", or "Karie does that", because by the end of the quest that was basically all I was doing and like Endgame I hate not doing anything. Looking back, yes, it was a little grating, but it was the only interesting thing going on. However, the feedback is helpful, so thank you.

[JimBee]

More on 93. A lot's been said that doesn't need repeating, so I'll be brief.

I liked the battles very much, and I liked how varied they were. Too much variation is never a bad thing as long as it doesn't bend or break the rules, IMO. I still stand by my opinion in that their difficulty was reasonable. No enemy, to my knowledge, was over level 45 or so, so any difficulty beyond that is clever QMing.

I really enjoyed the depth of the characters and lore, and it's a big reason why I kept reading. With 73+ NPCs, there's no need to give them a full backstory and I agree with Zepher that simple traits were good enough for most. Others who followed the party were really well fleshed out, IMO, and actually I think some of that credit can go to the PCs. Karie caught my eye as the one who was always asking NPCs about their background, which probably helped Sandy a lot. I wish more players would display an interest in backstory like this because it motivates the QM tremendously (in my experience) and makes the world that much richer. It's certainly inspired me as a player to dive deeper into NPC interaction and lore.

Syrio was the coolest NPC of the quest and had one of the largest backgrounds. I'd really like to see more of him as well, or maybe a quest to Ombracian coast (the Dastan map Brickdoctor made needs filling!). Sorcha, Drucilla, Aunt H, and Noel were also interesting.

As far as PCs go, like I said Karie did an excellent job of keeping things lively with conversation. I absolutely loved Heckz. He's such a good character, and I liked his and Karie's dynamic as well. Erik was also fun to read, although a little more subtle, also brought out some backstory of the NPCs. I also wished that Sorrow, Thalion, and legobodgers (see, I can't even remember the character name) were more vocal. Eagerness to get out of the quest I can understand, though.

There's one final point I'd like to make, and it's about the obvious comparison to Quest 50 (and even 15). 93, in my opinion, was an enormous improvement over 50. Variety, purpose, and freedom were all things that this quest had that 50 did not. 50 was repetitive, with zero (except Jun) NPCs to interact with (let alone 75), the battles were monotonous, and the quest very well could have been just as long if not longer if we hadn't quit while we were kind of ahead. 50 has had it's fair share of criticism since it ended so I won't beat a dead horse, but 93 was nothing near the impossibility of 50.

And I actually enjoyed 15. I wouldn't rule out dungeon crawlers in Heroica at all.

Karie and Sorrow - THESE are the characters who bothered me this quest. I like both of them normally, and Kinto actually seemed aware of their folly, and tried to refrain (sorry, not the pick on you Endgame) but dear god I would have punched them. Sorrow is dying, we get that. But I heard about it so so so much. And are Karie and Masson getting married?! Because boy did we hear about that a lot too. It seems even worse when we know Endgame plays Masson - it's bringing one of his plot points into a quest it has no business being in, and then pushing it over and over again. I'd imagine that's why some of the NPCs and PCs were quiet... what does it have to do with them, or with the school? Did we ever see anyone else respond to this plot point? I doubt it. I don't mean don't mention it, but it was just too much, too often. I still love Kinto and Endgame, and the characters as well, but it was overwhelming.

I have to agree. To add to this, I also thought the whole grandfather/daughter thing was really forced sometimes. Sorry guys, I do like both of your characters, but I really cringed whenever I read something like "hey gramps do you approve of me slutting around in this dress?"

[Palathadric]

Yeah, I can't really recall hearing anything bad about 15 before now. I thought it was a fun quest and was actually one of the ones that got me really interested in Heroica. Plus, Maurice's relationship with Hybros and Eric was great.

[Comrade Commander]

Quest 101 Review

Summary: Overall I thought it was a good quest, though it could have been improved upon. Limited character interactions hindered the quest.

Plot:

I liked the plot, and felt it played well to Darksten's story. Made him question his choice in joining Heroica if all he is going to do is be an exterminator. That being said, I kind of wish there were some more opportunities to flush things out a bit more. But that will come below.

Time/Length:

I think the quest was designed to be the right length with 3 battles and a few other opportunities to RP/develop. Unfortunately I think the lack of player involvement at the start ruined a lot of things. I felt that there were times when we were simply on a timer. After X amount of hours we simply moved on despite what was going on. I know that there times I tried to roleplay and/or ask questions and it appeared that they were simply skipped over when the party was moved along. I understand that we cannot do everything, it just simply felt like it happened multiple times. What also made me feel this way is that I would ask a question/roleplay and not get an answer for hours despite Kintober responding in other quests/threads.

Again, I understand fully that it takes a lot from a QM, and with the lack of participation from some players this quest fell to the back burner, but it just got frustrating sometimes.

Battles:

Overall i think the battles were fair. Just seemed the roll of the dice was against us. The only issue I had was the final battle. You corrected the issue where Kianu couldn't attack anything, but you let her only damage a beast which could one hit kill her. we won, I am not going to complain too loudly, just wanted to through it out there. I am always interested to here what other people would have done so I can learn improve

Players:

Deus (Lego Spy): You started out quiet but then got more active which was very much appreciated. I don't have too much to say on him other than I think him and Darksten will get along alright! The one suggestion I might have is that you roleplay a little more in your posts. This way you can flush things out, and it gives others more to work on.

Hoang Anh (Hoananboe): Another quest where we just lugged him along. Hopefully he remains inactive now so it doesn't ruin any more quests, but let this be a warning to others who want to include him.

Pictures:

I just want to throw out there that I really liked your sets! Especially where you added clues to the picture (Kianu's dad, no horses, etc). We might not have gotten them the first time, but it gave us a new perspective and it was very much appreciated.

Again, overall it was a good quest and I enjoyed playing along with it. Thanks for hosting us!

[Sandy]

Hoang Anh (Hoananboe): Another quest where we just lugged him along. Hopefully he remains inactive now so it doesn't ruin any more quests, but let this be a warning to others who want to include him.

It's best that QMs steer away from him, if he decides to come back. I was really hesitant about writing that he successfully completed the quest in the Heroes' Gallery, but apparently Kintobor didn't give him experience from the battles he didn't participate in, so I wrote it anyway.

[Kintobor]

Quest 101 Overview

I felt this quest had it's ups and downs, but mainly it's ups. I will agree that the pacing and the length were a drab, enough said.

The plot I think was there. The inn scene was meant to introduce you to the going ons of Uland and learn about the world through NPC interactions. It was an idea I had that sparked somehow, and in order to keep things consistent, I stole Zepher's Weeping Inn (which later got me dragged into 103's plot, since Zepher thought it fun to try something out ). However I'll agree that the timer might have been annoying. I didn't want you in the inn or in the Thicket forever, so I tried to limit your time in their, but give you enough time to interact with people. The inn I felt conveyed this better, seeing as how you had to choose to sit and talk with, but in the end, what's done is done. I can understand your frustration, Commander, and it's these comments I take into account when I host quests.

I hope Kianu was liked. I was aiming for young fangirl who wants to help but doubts her own abilities. She'll show up again, don't worry. I've got plans for her story which I don't want to delve into right away.

Battles:

I thought the fights were fair, despite the really cruddy rolls you guys would get. Don't blame me, blame my dice.

Bandit Beatdown- A basic battle. This was meant to get you guys into the basics of battling. It was mainly meant for Deus to get a grasp on the battle system, but I wanted it to be challenging enough that it had some meat to it. Actually, I stole a lot of stuff from 56 for this fight, so if anyone was curious, yes, that was intentional.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!- Relatively standard fight. The enemies were higher levelled, their specials did more damage, and I introduced poison, because it really is a nasty effect. The Cymbalroot made it's glorious return, and you got an idea that all was not well in the woods. I liked it.

Murkwood Queen- This battle was meant to be a test to see if you could apply what you'd learned before and use it to your advantage. I also introduced Free Hits and Passive Specials, something I wanted you guys to get accustomed to. I realized I made some mistakes with Kianu, but I want to make it clear that Kianu could've sat in the back row and only receive half damage. Ranger's aren't the only ones who can do that. I thought Lolth provided a fun challenge for you guys, and I could see you guys getting a little slowed down with all the bad rolls, so I kicked up the music once you two managed to get some impressive rolls to hopefully keep you motivated. It seems to have worked.

Characters:

Deus: You were active and you participated, which I will always commemorate first time heroes for. If you got those two things down, you should be good under most QMs. However, I'd like to see less OOC and more IC posts from you. There were moments during the Lolth fight where I wish you would speak for Deus, as in when he's hitting his target. Deus is also a bit of a blank slate, which is fine. It takes some time to find a solid grasp of a character sometimes. I'd love to host you again, Lego Spy, keep up the good work!

Darksten: You surprised me in 97, and you were a joy here. I got no real qualms with Darksten's character. He's fun to watch, I get the feeling like the guy who's been there, done that. You're interactions with Kianu were fun to play off of, and I was just really enjoying your presence. He's a simple character, but there's nothing wrong with that. Inigo Montoya's a rather simplistic character, but he's honestly one of my favourite characters ever. I'd love to host you again!

Hoang Anh:

It's best that QMs steer away from him, if he decides to come back. I was really hesitant about writing that he successfully completed the quest in the Heroes' Gallery, but apparently Kintobor didn't give him experience from the battles he didn't participate in, so I wrote it anyway.

Hoang Anh (Hoananboe): Another quest where we just lugged him along. Hopefully he remains inactive now so it doesn't ruin any more quests, but let this be a warning to others who want to include him.

I decided against dropping him because it would feel really awkward for a PC to disappear and then suddenly a new one appears, despite the road trip taking three days. I had hoped he'd show up, so I decided to mark him as inactive and not reward him with experience, loot, or the quest reward, so take that as you will Sandy. I'd mark him as "failed", but that's just me. Perhaps replacing him would've been the better choice, but it would've been hard to explain narrative wise how a hero just appeared out of nowhere.

I was hesitant to take you along after your absence in 97, but it seems I made a mistake taking you along. When you were active you were doing good, but simply disappearing without explanation is irritating to both your fellow players and your QM. I'd have to think long and hard before taking you again.

Pictures:

I just want to throw out there that I really liked your sets! Especially where you added clues to the picture (Kianu's dad, no horses, etc). We might not have gotten them the first time, but it gave us a new perspective and it was very much appreciated.

Again, overall it was a good quest and I enjoyed playing along with it. Thanks for hosting us!

I'm glad you appreciated the sets! You'd be surprised how much I recycle from old stuff.

Thank you to those who stuck along, I hope you enjoyed it! ~Kintobor

Edited July 26, 2014 by Kintobor

[Comrade Commander]

I hope Kianu was liked. I was aiming for young fangirl who wants to help but doubts her own abilities. She'll show up again, don't worry. I've got plans for her story which I don't want to delve into right away.

haha, I did like Kianu. I don't know why but when I saw her picture I thought she was supposed to be a lot older (in her mid 20s) so I was going to play a little to the love aspect. Then I went back and read she was 15-16 and wa like "shoot" haha! I learned to check ages a lot closer

I did like the inn scene a lot. Though I have to admit I also learned my lesson about reading other threads during a quest. I saw someone post about the hurricane in the general discussion thread and that made me hesitant to drink it. But I figured what the heck. Tried to play the drunk, which I think was by far one of the harder things to do. Puns do not come naturally.

Kianu's hut felt like there was a lot more out there which could have been explored if we had been more agressive in our searching (and had the additional player). But no loss now.

Also, I should mention the music was a good choice. I didn't listen to all of them but I often played just a bit to get the feeling and you did a good job. Somethings this quest seemed to be influenced by the small things... new dice, new positions, and new songs. Just seemed fate was finicky this time around.

[Kintobor]

I forgot to add some of the references to other media, since this quest has a ton.

-Kianu's songs were all references to Tolkien. Tom Bombadil's song, and Down from the Door were the two big ones. Also, I freaking hate Tom Bombadil.

-All the crook's names during the first fight were references. Honest John was a reference to Honest Tom from Gun, Richard Lionhart was a reference to the Richard the Lionheart, Sully the Stabber was a reference to a Borderlands 2 mission where Tiny Tina tells you to go and get an autograph from her third favourite serial killer Sully the Stabber, and Paula Madoka was a reference to Madoka Magica which is a great little anime that subverts the magical girl genre really well.

-Also, the broken cart scenario is one of the oldest roleplaying scenarios in the book, that I swore you guys wouldn't fall for it, but you did!

-The first Murkwood Mauler you fought was inspired by the oddball and random jabbering of the Psychos from the Borderlands franchise.

-The Root Beer's shown up before, but for those of you who still don't quite understand why it only affects undead, go play The Secret of Monkey Island.

-The Hint Coin is stolen directly from the Professor Layton franchise, but it's first appearance was 94.

-Sir Bearrington is an actual meme.

-Derpsy made her third appearance, for those of you keeping track. She is of course based off of everypony's favourite mailmare.

-Lolth is named after the goddess of the same name from Dungeons and Dragons. Generally you don't mess with Lolth, because she will screw you up.

That's all of them, I think!

[Palathadric]

Another great quest, Kintobor! As usual, I liked the NPCs. The battles were good too. To me there seemed to be a bit of a steep jump between the difficulty of the first battles and the last one, but I will have to review that. In any case, the PCs came out on top so that battle can't have been too hard.

Disappointing that the quest seemed quite sometime due to a lack of participation from the party, especially Hoang Anh. Like his last quest, it sometimes seemed to be just Comrade Commander and Kintobor, but I think LEGO Spy worked his way in a little later on.

I like Darksten a lot and hope to quest with him sometime in the future.

[Duvors]

Also, I freaking hate Tom Bombadil.

[Flipz]

Feedback on 95 since it's (I HOPE) ending in a day or two:

I've probably followed Quest 95 a lot closer than most people have for a few reasons--high among them that B&P actually asked my advice on a few things at various points, and that the Quest featured Hal and Luosh, two elements I enjoy quite a bit.

Here's my take on your Quests, B&P: You try so many new ideas all at the same time that it stops being Heroica anymore. Instead of observing and adapting and putting your own unique spin on the base format that all of us have worked with for the past three years, you go off in such a completely different direction that no one knows how to handle it. UsernameMDM puts it best:

The 'home brew' game mechanics aren't worth it to me.

I think the same holds true for most of us, actually. Look at 93: despite all of its flaws, the Quest was still mostly true to the Heroica format, with a different twist each time. Look at the weather mechanics in 100, or the disarm-ment in 108, or even the many gimmicks in Quest 48: every time, it's still Heroica, just a little different.

But not every battle or every Quest has to be totally different. Look at 91, or 59, or even 83. None of those Quests were particularly mechanically complex, and yet all of those have been very well recieved because they featured memorable stories and characters. Heroica isn't about hitting things until they're dead, it's about interacting with and playing interesting nuanced characters--in many cases, some of the nuance comes from or is influenced by the Heroes' mechanical abilities, but at the end of the day who they are is more important than what they've done.

Personal opinion here: This is just another example of why B&P quests are a min-max'ers dream. For years, I've seen this. I've never had any interest in his quests for their story or their sets, but that loot, drool. I swear, it seems like every quest he hosts, there is at least one hot-topic item dropped/made available. Other quests have 'em sometimes, sure, but for the same host to repeatedly have something crop up that raises debate? If you want loot that straddles a very fine line, go on B&P quests.

There's some truth here, but I want to direct your attention to your most successful Quest to date: Quest #22: Winter Problems. That Quest actually had some decent, well-balanced loot; the only truly crazy thing was the Jo-No Tree Seed, which was clearly the result of making something up at the last minute without really thinking about the consequences. Here is a handy-dandy list of almost everything you dropped that Quest--it's a lot better than what I had in mind when I started planning 104, I'll tell you that. I can't recall anyone complaining about your loot in 22--that's a good thing. Sometimes it's better to be understated than overstated.

That said, you are capable of some really good ideas--for example, your Scrolls (and the effects!) of Weakening and Frailty, which have become staples of the community. On the other hand, some of your stuff in your later Quests ended up completely under-powered to the point of uselessness--such as your Regeneration potions, which are utterly pointless in comparison to the Blessed effect we already have. I think overall, you just try too hard to be "different", and sometimes "different" isn't a good thing. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you know.

Let's move more into 95 specifically. First of all--the parkour. Both times you used it, it did nothing but slow everything down unnecessarily. This isn't Assassin's Creed--Heroica doesn't work at the split-second pace that makes something like parkour so fun in video games, and when we've tried to operate with that kind of speed (CAT), it didn't work out well because people kept getting screwed over by timezones. This problem was exaggerated by the sloooooooooooooow pace of updates, from both you and your players--it seemed like no one involved was really interesed in continuing at several points. (I mean, this Quest has been going on for six freaking months, for gods' sake!)

I do think a lot could have been improved by putting more polish into the story. The basic premise wasn't too bad--"an evil corporation secretly poisons the villages of the land while disguising their actions through decoy robberies, which the Heroes end up hired to investigate." The promise was that it was so drawn-out and updated so infrequently that no one could remember (or care) what they were doing--why did they have to go into the pharmacy again? Why had they decided to sneak inside instead of fighting their way in? I honestly couldn't remember no matter how many times I re-read.

Part of the problem was that there were way too many inconsequential choices--"do we go in the front door or try to find a window?" "Do we take the right door or the left door?" "Do we order a tuna sandwich or a salami wrap?" They weren't choices, since the players weren't given any meaningful information about the decisions they were making--and once the decisions were made, it didn't seem like the result they got would have been any different than if they'd taken the other choice. Case in point: you gave the Heroes the chance to go after Quin-whatever, but instead of letting them victoriously claim the antidote and the bad guy as reward for their extra work, they got...the exact same thing they would have had if they'd stayed behind, minus a little bit of extra money and loot. A lot of these choices--and a lot of these battles, really--seemed like they were there just for the sake of being there, resulting in a lot of unnecessary tedium.

This was exacerbated by the huge number of bland, uninteresting characters--there was no reason for these Heroes to be here other than "I'm being paid", because none of the NPCs were authentic enough for the players to invest in them. What should have been a fast-paced rollicking stealth adventure turned into a months-long grind because there was no sense of urgency, because nobody cared. This, coupled with the dearth of updates, killed your Quest. And yet you kept dragging it out, even after the players and the bystanders told you they weren't interested. It ultimately proved that there was nothing at stake, because you dragged them along the railroad line of plot regardless of what anyone else said--even when you brought Benji in, instead of using the injection of new life into the Quest to rush forward to an exciting ending ("the Heroes happen to stumble across the bosses and have an unexpected opportunity to kill them!" or "the Heroes have set off an alarm and the bad guys get away, leaving behind one last group of guards guarding the antidote!"), you dragged things out until he lost interest as well.

Bottom line: this was a decent idea that was poorly executed. In the end, it missed the point of Heroica and tried too hard to be something else, and thus alienated players and spectators alike. My advice IF you try to host again: Keep It Simple, and REALLY put more into your characters and story. Make a Quest that's worth getting invested in.

[JimBee]

Flipz said that a lot better than I could have, with feedback and everything. I didn't follow 95 very well at all. In fact I only checked it every so often just to see how close it was to ending. It just seemed to drag on and on, and in fact I think it's the longest quest to date at over 7 months! And what really happened in those 7 months? Not a whole lot from what I can tell. A lot of the quest seemed pointless or otherwise a drag to me. Lack of player participation was clearly a contributing factor to that, but updates from you seemed to be slow as well. I remember a stretch where the quest would go untouched for a full week or more (or at least that's what it seemed like, I can't say for sure). And frankly I don't blame the players for losing interest.

I can't really give you any feedback otherwise, but those were my observations for you to consider.

[Bricksandparts]

I'll start out by saying that I'm not disagreeing with many of these points, and that these became clearer as time progressed.

Here's my take on your Quests, B&P: You try so many new ideas all at the same time that it stops being Heroica anymore. Instead of observing and adapting and putting your own unique spin on the base format that all of us have worked with for the past three years, you go off in such a completely different direction that no one knows how to handle it.

~~~

Let's move more into 95 specifically. First of all--the parkour. Both times you used it, it did nothing but slow everything down unnecessarily. This isn't Assassin's Creed--Heroica doesn't work at the split-second pace that makes something like parkour so fun in video games, and when we've tried to operate with that kind of speed (CAT), it didn't work out well because people kept getting screwed over by timezones. This problem was exaggerated by the sloooooooooooooow pace of updates, from both you and your players--it seemed like no one involved was really interesed in continuing at several points. (I mean, this Quest has been going on for six freaking months, for gods' sake!)

I realized this was an issue A while into the parkour to get inside the pharmacy, and at that point wanted to end it, although it was already virtually over. And looking back on the mechanic itself, you are right, parkour in gaming should be kept to consoles, considering split-second decisions, and the utter time events will take.

I definitely take partial credit for the time elapsed, considering it was extremely longer than I had expected. I underestimated the chase, the battles, the sneaking, etc. and the new mechanics involved took too long for this type of an RPG. However, I do feel that much of the time wasted was due to circumstances beyond my control, although I did bring the quest to last long enough to reach those times.

There's some truth here, but I want to direct your attention to your most successful Quest to date: Quest #22: Winter Problems. That Quest actually had some decent, well-balanced loot; the only truly crazy thing was the Jo-No Tree Seed, which was clearly the result of making something up at the last minute without really thinking about the consequences. Here is a handy-dandy list of almost everything you dropped that Quest--it's a lot better than what I had in mind when I started planning 104, I'll tell you that. I can't recall anyone complaining about your loot in 22--that's a good thing. Sometimes it's better to be understated than overstated.

Since this was mostly discussed already, I won't respond much, however I'll say that avoiding super-valued items is probably a good idea for anyone.

Part of the problem was that there were way too many inconsequential choices--"do we go in the front door or try to find a window?" "Do we take the right door or the left door?" "Do we order a tuna sandwich or a salami wrap?" They weren't choices, since the players weren't given any meaningful information about the decisions they were making--and once the decisions were made, it didn't seem like the result they got would have been any different than if they'd taken the other choice. Case in point: you gave the Heroes the chance to go after Quin-whatever, but instead of letting them victoriously claim the antidote and the bad guy as reward for their extra work, they got...the exact same thing they would have had if they'd stayed behind, minus a little bit of extra money and loot. A lot of these choices--and a lot of these battles, really--seemed like they were there just for the sake of being there, resulting in a lot of unnecessary tedium.

This is somewhat similar to the parkour mechanics. I wanted to give the party freedom, but the choices were seemingly pointless overall, they may have just led to different loot and fights. I have an idea for a quest once I can fully work out getting models and pictures, assuming I will host it, and in it I plan for the quest to be very linear, hopefully not causing too much trouble.

This was exacerbated by the huge number of bland, uninteresting characters--there was no reason for these Heroes to be here other than "I'm being paid", because none of the NPCs were authentic enough for the players to invest in them. What should have been a fast-paced rollicking stealth adventure turned into a months-long grind because there was no sense of urgency, because nobody cared. This, coupled with the dearth of updates, killed your Quest. And yet you kept dragging it out, even after the players and the bystanders told you they weren't interested. It ultimately proved that there was nothing at stake, because you dragged them along the railroad line of plot regardless of what anyone else said--even when you brought Benji in, instead of using the injection of new life into the Quest to rush forward to an exciting ending ("the Heroes happen to stumble across the bosses and have an unexpected opportunity to kill them!" or "the Heroes have set off an alarm and the bad guys get away, leaving behind one last group of guards guarding the antidote!"), you dragged things out until he lost interest as well.

I honestly had an effort to try to create a more interesting plot with Jenessa, and even possibly a relationship with Romulus, but he decided to leave her in Luosh, even after her showing her abilities in combat. It is probably a good thing to note: If you're party is travelling in enemy territory, without any frequent NPCs talking, it's a good idea to have NPCs with the party to keep the plot interesting.

Flipz said that a lot better than I could have, with feedback and everything. I didn't follow 95 very well at all. In fact I only checked it every so often just to see how close it was to ending. It just seemed to drag on and on, and in fact I think it's the longest quest to date at over 7 months! And what really happened in those 7 months? Not a whole lot from what I can tell. A lot of the quest seemed pointless or otherwise a drag to me. Lack of player participation was clearly a contributing factor to that, but updates from you seemed to be slow as well. I remember a stretch where the quest would go untouched for a full week or more (or at least that's what it seemed like, I can't say for sure). And frankly I don't blame the players for losing interest.

I can't really give you any feedback otherwise, but those were my observations for you to consider.

I agree much of this was from my lack of properly thinking about how the plot-line, mechanics, etc. would play out in the actual quest. It's easy to make a plan, hard to execute it how you imagine. If I do plan to host my next quest, I will definitely be checking it out with some other QMs for advice, however my next quest is planned to be very straightforward, so hopefully it's execution would be easier.

[Tachyon]

Since the feedback is coming out, I'll comment on it.

For all those who are commenting on the length of the quest, I'll take full responsibility for that. As a party leader, it should have been my job to move on the plot to make sure that the quest didn't stop. There were times that I dissapeared for periods up to a week, and that probably demotivated B&P. If not for Benji, this quest would probably have gone on much longer. So please don't blame B&P so much about the length of the quest when it wasn't fully under his control.

[Flare]

As for Quest #95, I pretty much completely agree with everything that Flipz said, but on the other hand I also agree with what Zakura said. Even though I was only around the latter part of the quest, it was really discouraging how slowly the whole thing moved, and how utterly uninspiring the whole thing was. The plotline was not moving and was relatively boring, I tried to be active and interested in the quest at first but my enthusiasm started to become forced and not genuine, and then not existing at all as it became very boring and not interesting.

The positive thing i have to say is that I liked the overkill gold

Sorry to be so negative but sadly the quest was a bit of a flop

[swils]

Since this was mostly discussed already, I won't respond much, however I'll say that avoiding super-valued items is probably a good idea for anyone.

I don't mean to harp, but I really don't feel like this has been discussed thoroughly enough. The exact case, maybe, but I'd like to get your thoughts behind it. Your last sentence there, I really agree with, and yet, as I've mentioned before, it is something that you seem to have a habit of going directly against. Is it just a realization you finally made after this quest? What was your rationale for including, even at "nigh-impossible" odds, the Lucky Die? It could have easily been any other high-value item with slightly improved odds (mithril/adamantium ore or chunks, bright polish/grating stones, etc), but you chose to go with one of the more controversial items in the game. I just want to understand your thought process behind it.

[Emjajoas]

Alright, so:

I've been skimming what's been going on lately with the whole B&P Quest thing. As someone who has yet to QM (my first quest'll be going live in like 4 days), but who is interested in making cool quests, I'm wondering if you guys could help me out with some questions I have. I've got big plans for my second quest, so I'd like a bit of advice. I've been really motivated these past couple days because of a few trailers that were released, so I was hoping to make another quest after my first to kind of... siphon that motivation towards something cool while giving the series itself a rather large tip of my figurative hat.

Anyways, what are some pointers you guys have as far as:

1. How linear is too linear? You can make significant choices during a linear storyline; it just changes the direction the line is going. Is linear good? Is linear bad?

2. How much freedom is too much? If you have, for example, a map, and the heroes have to go investigate certain strange occurances in this town, is the freedom to wander around the map as they please too much freedom? Based on their actions/choices/how they interact with NPCs, are eight to ten outcomes too many?

3. Is it better for quests to have more freedom, or be more linear in nature?

4. What do you think of battles that are not necessarily not meant to be won, but instead too hard to win at a certain point in time in most cases? Something that's not impossible to win, but would be hard to win without proper preperation (and thus would not lead to a Failed Quest)? Is that a good plot device? A bad plot device? Is it annoying? Should it be clearly stated if it won't lead to a Failed Quest? Is it okay to lose a battle if it helps you gain information to win the next one?

5. Are Hidden Specials/Weakness Specials cool as far as enemies go? A discoverable weakness that can be "read in a book(so to speak)" or discovered while in battle? Or is a Hidden Special that is akin to a "special move?" that requires certain circumstances to fulfill cool?

6. Instead of fighting a plethora of weaker enemies, would a smaller number of more powerful enemies be cool? Perhaps a "gauntlet" of six to eight boss fights with plot-centric breaks in between to recover, research your enemy, or perhaps somehow sabotage them?

7. How many NPCs is too many? The quest I'm planning would have about 14 "important" NPCs, plus a few "non-important" ones such as shopkeepers, bartenders citizens, etc.

8. If part of the quest (not a large part) requires the Questees to research enemy weaknesses to use against their enemies, is that going to far? Should battles only matter when they happen, or if they are foreshadowed, should you give the heroes a chance to look up said weaknesses?

9. Based on what I've asked, is this Quest feasible? Does it sound cool/fun? Would you want to go on a quest like this?

10. Would you not want to go on a quest like this? If so, why? Is my inexperience as a QM going to affect this Quest so negatively that it'll make it unrealistic to do?

11. If the answer to #9 was a yes, would anyone be interested in helping out or building for this quest? It's still a few months off my radar; however, I plan on working hard on it and having most things done until I pitch in in perhaps six months. Someone with knowledge of the Fate/ franchise would probably be best, as it's what I'm basing a lot of this quest off of, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth and deny any help. All help would be greatly appreciated it.

_________________________________

Those are the only questions I have at the moment. Sorry in advance for the text wall and the annoying questions, but I really want to contribute to this RPG like a lot of others have before me, and I'm (as I said) really motivated right now.

Thanks in advance to those who answer my questions! Also thanks for being cool enough for me to (finally) get really invested in this after a year. Took me long enough.

[Bricksandparts]

I don't mean to harp, but I really don't feel like this has been discussed thoroughly enough. The exact case, maybe, but I'd like to get your thoughts behind it. Your last sentence there, I really agree with, and yet, as I've mentioned before, it is something that you seem to have a habit of going directly against. Is it just a realization you finally made after this quest? What was your rationale for including, even at "nigh-impossible" odds, the Lucky Die? It could have easily been any other high-value item with slightly improved odds (mithril/adamantium ore or chunks, bright polish/grating stones, etc), but you chose to go with one of the more controversial items in the game. I just want to understand your thought process behind it.

I wanted it to be the lucky die considering it was a chance game. I didn't expect it to be won, and I was expecting it have cost much more if it had been won in the end, at which point it's cost compared to nostrums wouldn't have been very over-powered. I do feel that the quick-draw quiver could have not been available, though. However, I feel that the majority of loot was was more balanced. Those two items not included, I believe the quest was very balanced in terms of loot.

[swils]

Well, yeah, but the issue is that those items were included, heh. Casinos exist entirely around chance based games, but they don't offer dice or roullette balls or card decks as prizes, so I don't think that's exactly a reasonable rationale for it being the reward. I'm not as much worried about the retrospect -- you seem to have learned from your mistakes. What I wanted to know was why you chose to include those items in the first place.

[Kintobor]

Let me see if I can answer some of your questions, emjajoas.

1. It really depends on the type of quest. It's usually good to have at least one decision that alters the quest in someway. It can be as simple as "does the party go left or right", but the party needs to have the feeling as if they're actions are meaningful.

2. Once again, this depends on the quest. Something like 70, while still having a lot of freedom, was linear. Eight to ten outcomes is a little too much, though. If your trying to make a quest that reflects party accomplishment (which isn't the way to go, honestly, character interaction with NPCs would be the better option), perhaps one for good, one for fair, and one for poor.

3. A balance of both is really required. If the party enters a building, let them look around and explore, but make sure they know what they're doing in a location. In other words, ensure they're goal is clear.

4. This is a tough one. It really depends on execution. It could be an interesting plot thread, or an annoying gimmick. I'd stray away from the idea.

5. I'd avoid doing this. It feels a little out of place, what with all the elemental affinities in the game.

6. If you want to know how to run a gauntlet, look at Endgame's quests. I'd avoid out of combat sabotage, unless it makes sense with the environment, and the players are being clever. However, building up enemies is what I'd recommend. Have people mention the character so when he or she shows up the party knows not to mess around.

7. Fourteen's a little bloated. It'd depend on how you incorporated them, honestly. If they were spread out, maybe, but not all at once. Perhaps tone it down to eight or nine

8. Foreshadowing an enemy is fine, and I'd even recommend it! Perhaps people mention how intense your villain gets when he enters a fight, and how he kills all his enemies with a single blow. The party knows that when they meet this guy, they better be ready. However, researching an enemy sounds really dull. I don't want to come off as mean, but it's not very intuitive in terms of the game's mechanics.

9. Cut the fat. You're planning way too much here. Start off simple for your first few quests, then make something more branching and difficult. Honestly, if the quest is about tracking a dangerous man down, you could cut it down to about a month and a half and still have build up, about five major NPCs, and a series of fun fights. In it's current form, it sounds way to complicated, and the last thing you want to do is complicate things for yourself and your players.

10. I wouldn't say no to the quest, but in it's current form, I'm not entirely sure what you have planned. You've got too many NPCs, for sure, and the mechanics you've suggested feel slightly unnecessary. I wouldn't say your inexperience would hinder your ability, but I would say that it would affect the quest. This looks like a long quest, and I for one am more interested in shorter quests. The thing you need is some experience. My suggestion to you is to host Dreamscape, and come back to this afterwards with some experience under your belt. You can always ask other QMs for help with quests, that's what we're here for.

Hope this helps!

[Chromeknight]

1. How linear is too linear?

You can make significant choices during a linear storyline; it just changes the direction the line is going. Is linear good?

Is linear bad?

2. How much freedom is too much?

If you have, for example, a map, and the heroes have to go investigate certain strange occurances in this town, is the freedom to wander around the map as they please too much freedom?

Based on their actions/choices/how they interact with NPCs, are eight to ten outcomes too many?

3. Is it better for quests to have more freedom, or be more linear in nature?

4. What do you think of battles that are not necessarily not meant to be won, but instead too hard to win at a certain point in time in most cases?

Something that's not impossible to win, but would be hard to win without proper preperation (and thus would not lead to a Failed Quest)?

Is that a good plot device?

A bad plot device?

Is it annoying?

Should it be clearly stated if it won't lead to a Failed Quest?

Is it okay to lose a battle if it helps you gain information to win the next one?

5. Are Hidden Specials/Weakness Specials cool as far as enemies go?

A discoverable weakness that can be "read in a book(so to speak)" or discovered while in battle?

Or is a Hidden Special that is akin to a "special move?" that requires certain circumstances to fulfill cool?

6. Instead of fighting a plethora of weaker enemies, would a smaller number of more powerful enemies be cool?

Perhaps a "gauntlet" of six to eight boss fights with plot-centric breaks in between to recover, research your enemy, or perhaps somehow sabotage them?

7. How many NPCs is too many?

The quest I'm planning would have about 14 "important" NPCs, plus a few "non-important" ones such as shopkeepers, bartenders citizens, etc.

8. If part of the quest (not a large part) requires the Questees to research enemy weaknesses to use against their enemies, is that going to far?

Should battles only matter when they happen, or if they are foreshadowed, should you give the heroes a chance to look up said weaknesses?

9. Based on what I've asked, is this Quest feasible?

Does it sound cool/fun?

Would you want to go on a quest like this?

10. Would you not want to go on a quest like this?

If so, why?

Is my inexperience as a QM going to affect this Quest so negatively that it'll make it unrealistic to do?

11. If the answer to #9 was a yes, would anyone be interested in helping out or building for this quest?

1. There is no such thing as too linear. Linearity provides sense of accomplishment, ticking things off to achive a task.

1b. yes

1c. No

2a. Heroica is a LEGO (Ahem, sorry for shouting, wanted too emphasise this) role playing game. As such the size of your quest should be a function of how much building and figbarfing and photographing you can/want to do before starting. But as a suggestion for first quest, keep it simple!

2b. Not too much freedom if you have photos prepped of the various places. Holding the quest up to build/shoot a new location could lose players interest if you're not careful

2c. Again deepened so your level of preparedness. If you've got script drafted for 8-10 options fine. As long as they are actually different and don't all lead back to a small set of results. If your players have a 'choice' to visit locations but the actual order they visit in doesn't matter, why give them the choice? Just keep the quest moving without waiting for a timezone lagged conversation.

3. More LEGO locations with clear direct goals and means of getting there.

4a. Gut feeling says failed battles are frustrating, especially if they burn resources.

4b. You'd need so signal up front and often that battles are like that so players know to look out for such preparation.

4c,d,e no, not a good one. No bad if executed very well, and yes annoying.

4f. YES! Always always no exceptions flag clearly upfront and multiple times (use bold italic supersized font if needed) when a battle does not count toward quest goal.

And the don't bother with that battle and move on to one that does affect the quest, SIMPLIFY!

5a,b,c. If I can't see how the battle can be won up front, I'd feel stonewalled as a player.

If you change the rules mid battle making the battle harder if feel gyped. So, no, not cool to my thinking,

6a,b Depends. If I was an AOE Type character hordes are great to mow through. If I'm a tank a single enemy I can go toe up with is better.

7. Distinguish here between NPCs added to the party and NPCs the party meets,

For the first catagory, never more NPCs than players, and be careful not to make them too much more powerful than the players.

For the second. Diminishing returns, the more NPCs you have the less the players will care about any of them.

8. If the quest is about working out how to defeat powerful enemy then fine, foreshadow, training montage, research breakthrough unexpected setback and final victory it up! If that's not the (clearly demarked) point of the quest then leave that mechanic alone!

9a. Feasibly depends on your building and photography and scripting skills.

9b. Yes

9c. Yes.

10a,b. Premiss of question invalid

10c. Experience is earned in doing it. Doing it well entails good building/photos/scripting.

11. Sorry not interested in helping as would rather work on a QM slot of my own.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Chromeknight

[CMP]

1. How linear is too linear? You can make significant choices during a linear storyline; it just changes the direction the line is going. Is linear good? Is linear bad?

2. How much freedom is too much? If you have, for example, a map, and the heroes have to go investigate certain strange occurances in this town, is the freedom to wander around the map as they please too much freedom? Based on their actions/choices/how they interact with NPCs, are eight to ten outcomes too many?

3. Is it better for quests to have more freedom, or be more linear in nature?

4. What do you think of battles that are not necessarily not meant to be won, but instead too hard to win at a certain point in time in most cases? Something that's not impossible to win, but would be hard to win without proper preperation (and thus would not lead to a Failed Quest)? Is that a good plot device? A bad plot device? Is it annoying? Should it be clearly stated if it won't lead to a Failed Quest? Is it okay to lose a battle if it helps you gain information to win the next one?

5. Are Hidden Specials/Weakness Specials cool as far as enemies go? A discoverable weakness that can be "read in a book(so to speak)" or discovered while in battle? Or is a Hidden Special that is akin to a "special move?" that requires certain circumstances to fulfill cool?

6. Instead of fighting a plethora of weaker enemies, would a smaller number of more powerful enemies be cool? Perhaps a "gauntlet" of six to eight boss fights with plot-centric breaks in between to recover, research your enemy, or perhaps somehow sabotage them?

7. How many NPCs is too many? The quest I'm planning would have about 14 "important" NPCs, plus a few "non-important" ones such as shopkeepers, bartenders citizens, etc.

8. If part of the quest (not a large part) requires the Questees to research enemy weaknesses to use against their enemies, is that going to far? Should battles only matter when they happen, or if they are foreshadowed, should you give the heroes a chance to look up said weaknesses?

9. Based on what I've asked, is this Quest feasible? Does it sound cool/fun? Would you want to go on a quest like this?

10. Would you not want to go on a quest like this? If so, why? Is my inexperience as a QM going to affect this Quest so negatively that it'll make it unrealistic to do?

11. If the answer to #9 was a yes, would anyone be interested in helping out or building for this quest? It's still a few months off my radar; however, I plan on working hard on it and having most things done until I pitch in in perhaps six months. Someone with knowledge of the Fate/ franchise would probably be best, as it's what I'm basing a lot of this quest off of, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth and deny any help. All help would be greatly appreciated it.

1. Varies wildly. Look at Quest 82. having been the QM, there was like literally no wiggle room for the heroes are far as going places went, yet I don't think I received any complaints about it because there was a lot of choice and interaction within the liner plot. As far as my quests go, they're largely linear, but I offer as much choice as I can to the PCs.

2. You can't have too many different outcomes, but try and guide the heroes to the better/likelier choices. If you leave situations entirely up to their devices, they could end up going complete off the rails. As far as that level of freedom goes, I can't imagine planning something so time-consuming.

3. Again, it varies wildly. There's more linear quests than there are freeform. There's good and bad in both. I find there's more room for error in freeform quests.

4. That sounds annoying. My next quest is in a linear format, and without spoiling anything, the heroes are searching for the weaknesses of a huge boss monster. Maybe something to that effect would be better. I'd never force a battle that's meant to be lost.

5. Don't throw out devastating specials at random in the middle of battle. Hint at something in a passive special maybe...I recall an enemy in Quest 51 whose special would increase in power after each use, and eventually exploded spectacularly.

6. Sounds interesting but might get repetitive after a time. I try and mix up battle formats when I can.

7. Something I learned very recently in Quest 98: keep too many NPCs around the heroes and their characters get watered down. I have too many important NPCs to count but I try and space out their appearances as much as possible.

8. I don't think anything like this has happened yet. It's a big part of my next quest, though. I think it's an intriguing idea.

9. It sounds kind of complex, if you're factoring in the gauntlet of boss monsters that have to be researched and weakened plus the freeform map format. You may want to scale it down. I would consider signing up for this quest.

10. I don't think experience as a QM has much to do with it. Look at Quest 93. There were a ton of complaints about its size and scale despite coming from one of the best QMs around.

11. I would be happy to help out with whatever you need. But I don't do too many sets. And they're generally not very good.