Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[Sandy]

The coast belongs to the Kingdom of the Four Boulders Kingdom.

Aka. Realm of Redundancy.

Loving the map of Baltarok!

[Endgame]

Does anyone have any plans about Goland (small island off of Uland) and its surrounding waters? Don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Endgame

[Kintobor]

I know there's one island of limit's due to C.A.T, but that's it, really. Wasn't it Angel Island?

[Endgame]

Doomsayer's Island is pretty much condemned, but other than that, I don't believe any others are overtly blocked. Just want to make sure I wasn't mucking up anyones plans.

[Zepher]

Alright fellow QMs (and even aspiring QMs too!) a rare question for the interim in this topic:

How do you come up with a quest idea, and then (perhaps more importantly) how do you grow that idea from an egg or seed into a full blown quest?

[CMP]

Generally I just get a really vague idea (Ji Pei....Eubric-central quest....newspaper...orcs) and figure out the conflict. From there, throwing figs together is a significant part of creating the meat of my quests. Build them, give them a name, personality, let heroes run with it if they end up being interesting. Another big chunk of that is using familiar faces to make it look like I have some sort of overarching storyline going on, then working off of whatever random breadcrumbs I dropped in a later quest.

[Kintobor]

Well, lets talk about the individual quests, shall we?

61: I was actually working on a church and cemetery at the time, (still am) and thought a graveyard centric quest would be fun. McCreary and Mr. Timmins were based off of the pastor and the gravedigger minifigs I built for it respectively, and quiet a few of the buildings were actually built for the cemetery MOC (the mausoleum, the statue in the Lover's Grove, the trees, the Gravedigger's shack). A few of the characters were based off of other characters, the Hitchhiking ghosts were based off the ones in the Haunted Mansion Disney ride, Scary, Jerry, and Thomas Jefferson are based on the slot machine guys from Earthbound, etc. Aldus and Violet weren't really based on anyone, but were definitely inspired thematically by Tim Burton. I decided to use the premise of Quest 1 and retool it just to see if I could actually write a quest for the game, and I could, so onto the next one.

71: Heavily inspired by Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door, the idea was that keys to unlock the door would be recovered over a series of quests, with the arc finale having the vault be opened and the battle moves into the spooky vault with undead and demons and the remnants of a long forgotten civilization. Then Sandy brought up Haerasias, and the fact that the capitol was originally built on Eubric's location sparked the idea that the vault was Haerasias's personal vault, somehow surviving the destruction. Abbot was designed with a brother in mind, and I decided to name them both after famous comedians just as a jab. The Shadow Sisters are pretty blatant rips off of the Shadow Sirens from The Thousand Year Door, with Irene being Vivian, Maude being Bedlam, and Helga being the other one who's name escapes me but I remember being really large.

To be continued.

[Waterbrick Down]

Most of my quests are 1-shots and tend to be centralized on everyday life in Eubric that usually have a deeper story than they first appear. Like Pie, I brainstorm a conflict, MOC up characters, and then fill in the details generally with fights, puzzles, or random NPC interactions.

[swils]

I'm not terribly creative on my own, so I've got a solid source material that I want to adapt to a Heroica setting. I think I've done a pretty good job of capturing the flavor of various mobs/enemies from the source and translating them into the game (albeit without defining any stats/numbers). I've got a few ideas on how to do some non-combat challenges, as well, though those are a mixed bag. I've done some DnD stuff before that I'm happy with, but it's a lot more easier to set up an encounter with a selection of arbitrary pass/fail skill checks, because in our setting, it's just a matter of "I cast a fireball at the wall of vines" or "I pick the lock" and boom, the path is cleared. The difficulty lies in providing an obstacle that can be approached in a multitude of ways, but isn't immediately solvable by any single method (in my opinion). Might not be the most clear explanation, but I hope the point gets across.

Recently I've thought about ways that I could deviate from the source such that I'm not just retelling the story. I think I've solved that one, just need to flesh that out a bit more. Another difficult aspect is that I don't want to just introduce another "Aspiring-Lord-of-the-Universe" type villain. I was going to plan a fairly linear series of quests, but I think I'd be better off planning all the parts out in advance and letting each party choose the arc they wish to tackle. The downside, of course, is that I'd need to do a whole bunch more set building beforehand so that I have all arcs covered.

I think the most intimidating part of this, for me, is the combat balancing. While I've got a host of ideas that could balance the playing field regardless of the party composition/level difference/etc, I don't want to throw anything too complex into the mix. All the QM's to this point have had a lot of interesting and creative ways to take advantage of each class' skillset, so building off that I think I can put together some solid puzzles/obstacles without relying on natural 20's That said, if anyone wants to offer their services as a coach, I'd love to get some backup on the battle planning.

*This is all assuming that I ever find the time to finally put this all together and build the sets, heh.

[Brickdoctor]

Thanks for the terrific quest, Sandy! The lore behind your quests is always very well done, and I had fun, although I must apologize for my somewhat lacking amount of activity.

[Kintobor]

Alright, I followed 85 rather closely, and despite it being a bit long, I felt it was good! The desert mechanic was difficult but not cheap, the NPC's were colourful, and the battles were for the most part rather well put together. I always love the look of your characters, particularly the demons! Namaah was really cool looking, and Ahriman was nifty too! I got one complaint though, and it has to do with Atramor getting knocked out in the desert with nothing to do for a few days in real time. I pointed this out back in 66 when the kitchen party was knocked out, and I hate to say this again, but it's never fun to be on the receiving end of this. You could've send Atramor on a small side quest, you could have had him run into a wandering caravan, heck, run into a mirage or something! You're usually good at avoiding these things, and I've been on quests where party isolation has worked beautifully It's a gripe Sandy, and a serious one, but overall, it was a fun quest to watch! You've got me curious as to what's going to happen next, and that's a good thing!

One quick question: where is Goetia? Is it a city, a country? I'm just a little curious.

[CMP]

Thanks for the awesome Quest Sandy. The pictures and atmosphere were, as always, incredible, and I liked the interaction with even the bit part NPCs like Ifrita and Hathor. The battles were enjoyable (though like Kint said I wasn't too crazy having nothing to do for a few days - punish the character, not the player ) and the desert mechanic was quite enjoyable. It's always fun to take part in a quest with an even more significant storyline behind it, much like the Wren Quests, and I'm really interested to see where things go with the Pandemonicon.

[JimBee]

I agree on 85, one of the few I've followed closely as of late because of time constraints. I thought it started a little slow, but the ending was worth it. I really like the design of Ahriman, especially the wings. It reminds me of the art style in Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.

So we have archdemons representing gluttony, greed, and envy... I'm guessing Azazot, or whichever demon killed Zed Ziegfried, is Wrath. That who Ziegfried story arc relates to the Pandemonicon arc, right?

[CMP]

So we have archdemons representing gluttony, greed, and envy... I'm guessing Azazot, or whichever demon killed Zed Ziegfried, is Wrath. That who Ziegfried story arc relates to the Pandemonicon arc, right?

Abraxas. I think he was Wrath, maybe Pride.

Hmm. I wonder if none of this would've happened if we hadn't opened the bottle 83 quests ago looking for Potions.

[JimBee]

Abraxas. I think he was Wrath, maybe Pride.

Hmm. I wonder if none of this would've happened if we hadn't opened the bottle 83 quests ago looking for Potions.

Is it explained in the first Pandemonicon quest? I can't seem to find it.

And yeah, if only Atramor knew then that'd he'd be wandering alone in the desert because of it.

[CMP]

Is it explained in the first Pandemonicon quest? I can't seem to find it.

That or Quest 3...or both? Don't forget Marilith who's still sealed in Zoot's Temple. That makes five thus far. Abraxas, Mephisto, Marilith, Ahriman, Namaah.

[Flipz]

He's Pride--53 explains it. Wrath is the last demon that got out at the end--I can't ever remember her name, it starts with an A and it seems to like Nyx Marilith (thanks Pie!).

Edited January 28, 2014 by Flipz

[Pandora]

Thank you so much for the fun quest, Sandy. It was a great story with fun NPCs and some interesting twists. I really appreciated that you gave us the opportunity to go back into Eubric for Elphaba before she left, plus the "optional" boss battle against Namaah (who wouldn't say yes to another battle? ). You put a lot of extras into the quest for us (the clams game springs to mind) and I always appreciate touches like that. So thanks again for yet another great Sandy quest.

[Sandy]

Thanks for the compliments, guys! The quest went on for so long that I made several alterations to it as it progressed.

You'd be surprised that Naamah wasn't even in on the original script, the battle inside the ziggurat was supposed to contain only King Nebukadnezzar and the guards. Then I started thinking about what really happened in Azzurat, what made the sand appear etc., and came up with the thought of adding another archdemon in the fray.

That makes five thus far. Abraxas, Mephisto, Marilith, Ahriman, Namaah.

I'm impressed how well some of you keep up with the lore I create. But yeah, three archdemons have now been vanquished, Abraxas and Marilith are at large somewhere in Eubric, and the archdemons of Sloth and Lust have yet to be revealed.

[Flare]

Yeah, Quest 85 was a pretty epic quest, great work Sandy and all the players whose heroes had to fight those archdemons!

I'd also like to know:

One quick question: where is Goetia? Is it a city, a country? I'm just a little curious.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Flare

[Sandy]

One quick question: where is Goetia? Is it a city, a country? I'm just a little curious.

Goetia is a small town in Drandora, ruled by a marquis. But that's all you get from me until the quest is pitched some point in the distant future.

[Kintobor]

Goetia is a small town in Drandora, ruled by a marquis. But that's all you get from me until the quest is pitched some point in the distant future.

That's all I was looking for, Sandy! Thanks.

[Flare]

Goetia is a small town in Drandora, ruled by a marquis. But that's all you get from me until the quest is pitched some point in the distant future.

OK, cool, didn't expect more than that haha

[Quarryman]

Have to echo the others here, this was a great quest. Great sets, great setting, great NPCs. First time I've been angry with an NPC, so good job on that. And the amount of battles was about right as well, not too few, not too many.

A couple of questions that I have a feeling you won't answer; what would have happened if we had accepted Ororo's offer? And what if we hadn't told the Oracle about the 1500 gold we found, would it have mattered?

[Sandy]

A couple of questions that I have a feeling you won't answer; what would have happened if we had accepted Ororo's offer? And what if we hadn't told the Oracle about the 1500 gold we found, would it have mattered?

Do you mean if you would have let Ororo live? Well, she would have lived to see another quest, simple as that.

As for the gold, it was yours to keep no matter what. I just wanted to throw one last moral challenge to you guys, as a final treat.