Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[Capt.JohnPaul]

Your quest is far more different then Brickdoctor's, in my opinion. They share a core concept, but 37 involves an entire city, not a single fort.

One of my main differences and the one I like the most is that you heroes got to fight in it. I was slightly disappointed in Quest 31 that our characters couldn't participate in the epic battles.

Nah, I'm fine with it. I would have used hexes instead of squares for that map, though.

I always prefer squares, like my D&D map. And hexes look kind of funny. Maybe it's just me.

[Endgame]

I loved Quest 36! Normally I have little interest in LDD pictures, and it puts me off the quest. But your LDD models were good, and weren't too bad to view. The Death Progg final battle was interesting. Combrys was a great weapon, shame it had to go to its grave with Daxus.

Overall: Great Quest 9/10

With POVray, I canow make my quests look much, much better! I felt some of my LDD models were unclear (For example, arches being mistaken for doors and columns for chimneys), so that is a point I'd like to improve on.

Combrys will never be obtainable for another hero again, but it'll serve as a major plot point in Q36's followup.

Hope you all liked the cliffhanger, by the way: the Death Progg isn't dead. Not yet.

[Capt.JohnPaul]

With POVray, I canow make my quests look much, much better! I felt some of my LDD models were unclear (For example, arches being mistaken for doors and columns for chimneys), so that is a point I'd like to improve on.

Combrys will never be obtainable for another hero again, but it'll serve as a major plot point in Q36's followup.

Hope you all liked the cliffhanger, by the way: the Death Progg isn't dead. Not yet.

Ahh!!! Spoiler! Great quest BTW, one of the best yet.

[Brickdoctor]

One of my main differences and the one I like the most is that you heroes got to fight in it. I was slightly disappointed in Quest 31 that our characters couldn't participate in the epic battles.

The reason I didn't let you do that was because I wanted the numbers of NPCs on the map to represent their Health, so I set the Health of all the basic units to 10/10 and balanced their defensive strength by increasing or decreasing SP instead. I couldn't do that with the heroes, so it was simpler just to leave you out and have you in a commanding role instead of a fighting one. If I had left you in with your normal stats, your Power would've been so much higher than the enemies' Health that it would have been to hard to balance realistically, especially with you having that armor-piercing sword.

[Flipz]

One of my main differences and the one I like the most is that you heroes got to fight in it. I was slightly disappointed in Quest 31 that our characters couldn't participate in the epic battles.

I always prefer squares, like my D&D map. And hexes look kind of funny. Maybe it's just me.

I used to hate hexes for wargames, I always got confused when trying to plan strategy. Thanks to Doc, though, I love them now--well, for medieval (D&D, Heroica, etc.) settings; I still can't stand 'em in sci-fi.

Really, though, this makes a lot of sense--hexagons are rather organic shapes, being found everywhere from beehives to snowflakes to molecular structures, which is perfect for a setting in which almost everything is handmade or organic. In contrast, sci-fi consists primarily of artificial, man-made environments, so the cold, artificial square suits it well.

I may be overthinking this, though.

[Endgame]

Things missed:

-Checking behind the two abstract portraits would reveal cave-man esque drawings - one of a small progg with explosions surrounding him, and the other of the a large Progg emitting wind. (Punii's bombs and the Death Progg's insanity gas, respectively.)

-If you had asked the Death Progg what his rule was like on his homeisland, he would've casually mentioned his real name is "Rhodus".

Also, Player anaylysis because why the heck not:

Monk Pretzel/Palathadric

Monk Pretzel was a blast to host for. His constant ramblings were enjoyable to read and made some interesting cannon fodder for when the Progg's spoke. You didn't get knocked out at all - where you compensating for Quest 24? You were pretty active despite some internet problems along the way.

Erik/Myrrdn

Your constant attempts at diplomacy gave Proggs more life then I could've alone, and for that you get a big ol' ! It also allowed me to give you Proggsbane, thus justifying the Death Progg's heinously high SP.

Daxus/LEGOMan273

You contributed a ton and was very active... before you got banned.

Mizuki/Zakura

Your posts were a bit bare and you were somewhat inactive, but some of your ideas were great. You solved the trading puzzle and came up with the idea of locking the Toxiproggs up like birds if they doublecrossed you, so overall you weren't a bad player at all. I saw you on a lot but many times you didn't post, which is a bit frustrating for an impatient QM like me.

[Brickdoctor]

I may be overthinking this, though.

You are. I prefer hexes simply because the distance between each hex is always the same, and all hexes adjacent to each other share edges instead of vertices, so you can't squeeze through enemies moving diagonally as you can on a map using squares. This actually makes strategy easier, since it can take fewer units to block enemies when using a curving or diagonal line formation.

[Zepher]

When it comes to stories, Zeph is so much better than I am. His stories are actually planned more than a week or so before he sends the pitch to Sandy.

...months. Months and months ahead of time.

Now, for Q36. I told you to MAKE SURE that I commented at the end, and here is why: I loved it. I didn't read it post for post, but I plan to at some point.

Here's what I loved: THE PROGGS! You successfully fully and truly created an entire race of peoples with their own rules and societies and life cycles. We know where the Proggs come from, how they grow up, how they mature, how they interact, what their thoughts are, etc. It is awesome. If we ever run into another Progg, we will know literally so much about them. It is like you took a long textbook passage on the Proggs and expanded it into a quest with an interesting story.

[JimBee]

I really liked Quest 36 as well. LDD models usually disinterest me, but you did a great job at keeping them simple while offering a lot of room for exploration. All of the battles were memorable, and the specials were really neat and well-thought out. I liked the additional puzzles, such as the fake Death Progg giveaways and the arcane unit. I think that there was the right amount of loot (just goes to show that one does not have to invent 10 new unique artifacts/weapons for a quest), and the story was entertaining.

Overall, excellent job, Endgame, especially for your first time. I know you have other quests planned, and I look forward to them.

[Waterbrick Down]

DarkDragon, wonderful job with your quest. The sets were quite amazing and I enjoyed the epicness of the entire adventure. I know how hard it can be to come up with a satisfying ending, but you took a really good crack at it and I think most of us were distracted by your enormous collection of gems anyways. My favorite character was the lizard woman in the market place and I look forward to any quests that you'll spin off of your other NPC's.

Endgame, fantastic job for your first quest, especially after your own PC quest experience. You did a very good job of making a dungeon crawl interesting, you added a good amount of puzzles (my personal favorites) and you did very well with creating good battles and a fair amount of loot. The Proggs were well developed and I am interested to see where you will go with them.

[Tachyon]

Mizuki/Zakura

Your posts were a bit bare and you were somewhat inactive, but some of your ideas were great. You solved the trading puzzle and came up with the idea of locking the Toxiproggs up like birds if they doublecrossed you, so overall you weren't a bad player at all. I saw you on a lot but many times you didn't post, which is a bit frustrating for an impatient QM like me.

What trading puzzle ?

[Myrddyn]

Endgame: I loved the quest. I'll be short here, because everything has been said by other people:

A balanced amount of loot - I'm sure Erik will get good use out of his new sword. Now, where's Syntax gone?

engaging puzzles,

pretty pictures - (the Death Progg going blurry was clever),

tough-but-not-impossible battles,

and the characters all seemed alive with their unique personalities.

[Endgame]

@ Zepher

Funnily enough, I DID write an entire word document, with a one to two paragraph explanation detailing their biology for each species. (Excluding Juggernaut, he is just an Artillery Progg further in it's life cycle.) You'll probbaly see it when I do the entire behind-the-scenes-thingy.

@ Waterbrick Down

Thanks! I was worried I gave too much loot, but I suppose since they exhausted it all to kill the Death Progg...

@ JimButcher

The battles are what I worried about most. I tried hard to give each battle a unique spin. Battle 1 was first contact, optional battle was esentially a ticking time bommb, battle 3 had several living status buffs, 4 had the Toxiproggs deal combo attacks, 5 had the possibility to spawn mmore enemies, 6 was a bookend of sorts: It was meant to be a harder mirror of Battle 1, and 7 is self-explanatory.

I thought the quiz, in retrospect, was a bit farfetched, but it seemd to do it's job. :shrug:

@ Zakura:

Where you had to switch items on the podium.

@ Erik

The Death Progg going fuzzy was just a spur-of-the-moment thing with me playing around with the effects category in Paint.net. I have to say though, writing for the Death Progg was really fun!

Be on the lookout for my next quest (for advanced classes!):

Product Testing!

/shamelessplug

No Proggs this time around, unfortunately, but it'll serve as a bridge between the next Progg quest.

Keep in mind that the Proggs fought in 36 were a devolved splinter group. When you see proggs next, they may have some... interesting attributes. Proggs with wings, anyone?

I'll do another write-up later today with a behind the scenes.

[Sandy]

Great job, both darkdragon and Endgame! I would be happy to have you hosting quests again.

You two are prime examples of how differently a quest can be created and managed, and still make it successful. You both deserve all the praise you're getting in this topic, but don't forget to take in all the constructive criticism as well.

[Palathadric]

Monk Pretzel/Palathadric

Monk Pretzel was a blast to host for. His constant ramblings were enjoyable to read and made some interesting cannon fodder for when the Progg's spoke. You didn't get knocked out at all - where you compensating for Quest 24? You were pretty active despite some internet problems along the way.

Erik/Myrrdn

Your constant attempts at diplomacy gave Proggs more life then I could've alone, and for that you get a big ol' ! It also allowed me to give you Proggsbane, thus justifying the Death Progg's heinously high SP.

Daxus/LEGOMan273

You contributed a ton and was very active... before you got banned.

Mizuki/Zakura

Your posts were a bit bare and you were somewhat inactive, but some of your ideas were great. You solved the trading puzzle and came up with the idea of locking the Toxiproggs up like birds if they doublecrossed you, so overall you weren't a bad player at all. I saw you on a lot but many times you didn't post, which is a bit frustrating for an impatient QM like me.

Thanks, Endgame. It was a great quest and was just going over it again. One thing I was wondering about was the Venus Flytrap. I can't remember if there was anything to it, and if we just forgot about it, or what? I hope I can get into any future quests of yours. Do we get a special "Great Reputation with Proggs?" or something. Oh, and I'm sure glad that I made up for Quest #24 this time around. Although, I have the feeling that I will still have to go on another two quests before I can become Level 15. I suppose it's my own fault for allowing myself to become KO'ed so many times in Quest #24 and, thereby, missing out on a whole lot of XP.

My own player evaluation:

Myrrdyn (Erik): Great playing with you. You were a great help at the end especially and really took over when LEGOman left us. Your diplomacy with the proggs was great, and you really deserve a "Defender of Progg Rights" title or something. Sorry that you had to get KO'ed a couple of times...or was it just once. The quest would have moved along much slower at the end if you hadn't been there to counsel me on the battle targets, etc at the end, especially since I couldn't get online as much as usual.

Zakura (Mizuki): Quiet, as usual. Short, sweet, and to the point. I like how Mizuki seems to have an obsession for snacks and the like. It's great fun. Wish you had been a bit more active though. You were incredibly lucky in the fights and I don't think we could have won several of them without your (rather frequent) mugs.

LEGOman273: Was great and acted easily as the party leader in my absence, and often thought more intelligently than myself. Really disappointed in his being banned. Him and I dominated the thread in the beginning, but thankfully Erik stepped up more a little later on.

I would have appreciated a little more eagerness to roleplay amongst ourselves, as you fellows seemed more content with talking to the proggs, but at least it didn't make me more stressed when I had internet and computer problems.

All-in-all, great quest everyone. Was surprised that we took it up to 70 pages, and I hope we didn't bore any followers with too many out of character comments.

[Endgame]

Thanks, Endgame. It was a great quest and was just going over it again. One thing I was wondering about was the Venus Flytrap. I can't remember if there was anything to it, and if we just forgot about it, or what? I hope I can get into any future quests of yours. Do we get a special "Great Reputation with Proggs?" or something. Oh, and I'm sure glad that I made up for Quest #24 this time around. Although, I have the feeling that I will still have to go on another two quests before I can become Level 15. I suppose it's my own fault for allowing myself to become KO'ed so many times in Quest #24 and, thereby, missing out on a whole lot of XP.

My own player evaluation:

Myrrdyn (Erik): Great playing with you. You were a great help at the end especially and really took over when LEGOman left us. Your diplomacy with the proggs was great, and you really deserve a "Defender of Progg Rights" title or something. Sorry that you had to get KO'ed a couple of times...or was it just once. The quest would have moved along much slower at the end if you hadn't been there to counsel me on the battle targets, etc at the end, especially since I couldn't get online as much as usual.

Zakura (Mizuki): Quiet, as usual. Short, sweet, and to the point. I like how Mizuki seems to have an obsession for snacks and the like. It's great fun. Wish you had been a bit more active though. You were incredibly lucky in the fights and I don't think we could have won several of them without your (rather frequent) mugs.

LEGOman273: Was great and acted easily as the party leader in my absence, and often thought more intelligently than myself. Really disappointed in his being banned. Him and I dominated the thread in the beginning, but thankfully Erik stepped up more a little later on.

I would have appreciated a little more eagerness to roleplay amongst ourselves, as you fellows seemed more content with talking to the proggs, but at least it didn't make me more stressed when I had internet and computer problems.

All-in-all, great quest everyone. Was surprised that we took it up to 70 pages, and I hope we didn't bore any followers with too many out of character comments.

The Venus Flytrap was just a piece of scenery. had you decided to cut him down, you would've gotten a few remedies. If anything, you deserve "Kill on Sight" status with the Proggs. If you ever meet the Death Progg again (I can confirm right now you'll be seeing him again later) he'll probably have some... harsh words... to share with you. To say the least.

[Palathadric]

That's too unfair. You say that we cannot raise Daxus from the dead, and then you work your necromancy on the Death Progg. Cheater! I call!

[Endgame]

That's too unfair. You say that we cannot raise Daxus from the dead, and then you work your necromancy on the Death Progg. Cheater! I call!

I am training in the arts of necromancy, after all.

Yeah, I can't wait for Pretzel's IC response when he learns the "demon" who killed his friend still walks this earth.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Endgame

[Capt.JohnPaul]

I am training in the arts of necromancy, after all.

Yeah, I can't wait for Pretzel's IC response when he learns the "demon" who killed his friend still walks this earth.

But you said your self! It's spiked tail was in his skull/forehead and.....

[Endgame]

But you said your self! It's spiked tail was in his skull/forehead and.....

...Aaaaaaand?

Whose to say the Death Progg didn't purposely missed his vitals?

[Palathadric]

You're a devil, I tell you!

[Khorne]

Since it's tradition to comment on past quest, I'll do so as well for #27. Overall, I found it to be a good quest. The pictures and backdrops were really nice and it was great fun to see some recurring characters. I admit there wasn't much interaction with these recurring characters (like Cinna and Sorrow), because mainly I thought they were just eye candy, easter eggs. I didn't really feel the need to talk to them, since In Character Eric barely knows these people. So why bother? Also, didn't most likely wouldn't have had any information related to the Quest, so from a purely gaming perspective there was no real need to talk to them either.

I have to agree with another point of criticism that has been given here in this thread: the lack of player activity/interaction. Sometimes I really felt kind of lost at what to do in the Quest. Moments that have been designated as RP moments now kind of felt like waiting time for some event to be unveiled. So, I mostly decided to just wait and post nothing, because I didn't really know what else to do. Nearing the end of the Quest, my posting activity went way down. I have to day that has nothing to do with the Quest, but with my personal life. I started working near the end of the Quest and had little free time, so I choose to spend my free time out with friends than sitting at home at my computer. I thought I would've been able to post more, but I was seemingly wrong .

The loot was really good, though. Probably the best I've ever received during a Quest (oh yeah Silverfish Wings and Boots of Evasion ).

I don't really have a lot to say about the story. Overall, I liked it, even though I felt really lost at some times. I didn't really get Favarious' intentions and the end was kind of weird somehow. But still, it was good overall . Thanks for hosting, darkdragon!

[TheBoyWonder]

Whats a good level for a Level 1 Quest Boss? The quest would have 3 members.

[Zepher]

Q41 - Response and Critique

I had a ton of fun with this quest. Thanks for playing Adam and Siercon. I think you're ready to swim with the big fishies now. I'd recommend you to any other QM. You are both very good role-players, and you've got a nice grasp for the rules. Fair warning, they get more complicated, but if you keep reading older quests, and educating yourselves, you should be fine.

Now, the question on everyone's minds - why? Yes, I know this was a short quest. A super short quest.

I thought it would be funny. Maybe it's just me, but I think that we've had such a crazy increase in EPIC quests. Which is awesome, and epic, and I created a number of them. But I also wanted to do the ol' switcharoo. I thought it would be hysterical if, in the midst of Dastan and Proggs, a Crab and Pig asked heroes to help them find a Dog and Frog. It is probably the most common-place, smallest task I could think of. It was originally going to only have one battle (the final one) but when I changed it to a lvl 1 quest, I decided to change it to two, or else I thought I'd feel guilty for not actually welcoming the heroes to the mechanics enough.

It also gave me a chance to intro some fun NPCs, and revisit the Frog Paladins, who are one of my favorite super secret organizations of the game. Who knew that Skrall interacting with that last minute set-piece in Q19 would spawn a whole organization. I think we may see Pylon some day somewhere.

Anyway, I had a hoot with it. It was super short, super sweet, super fun. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Sorry if people thought it was going somewhere, but that was just part of the joke.

[Scubacarrot]

It was fun to read, the players kept it moving along nicely and did great. I did not expect it to be QUITE as short as this, but yeah, it's good. More of this for level 1 players.