Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[swils]

Everybody break out the shirtless torsos!

Oh sure, Thormy puts some proper clothes on just as everyone decides that shirtless is the new hip thing! Typical.

In other news, I was reading back through the early pages of this thread to try and find some battle-balancing tips, when I stumbled upon these two old post/reply sets. My, how the times have changed!

2) With the addition of the "Lullaby Wand" from the Missing Matriarch quest (and other unique weapons that I may not have seen from the other two), are you going to keep a publicly accessible table/database of all such unique weapons, for reference when hosting? Just so that the signatures don't get cluttered with weapon text, and QMs don't have to dig through old quests' threads to find weapon info (or blindly trust the members to recall the stats/effects correctly)

I have no such plans, because these special equipment should be rare. And I trust people will sell their low-level equipment instead of hoarding them in their inventory.

Upgrade to Poison Blade: A seedy individual will permanently instill a poison effect onto an individual’s weapon. Costs 35 Gold and 1 Venom.

I don't really like the second service, since it negates the need to buy Venoms anymore.

[PsyKater]

I was actually looking for a list of unique items. Does it exist now?

[CMP]

I was actually looking for a list of unique items. Does it exist now?

Yes.

[Flare]

EDIT: Never mind, I should've asked in the Rules & Discussion thread.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Flare

[Flipz]

"This is the Sporecelius Mycelium, one of the rarest of all Mushrooms. It wanes for most of a year, only waxing, raising its cap, and puffing out a spore a week every one year. Due to such a short cycle, this thing has become coveted... so coveted, in fact, it is now endangered. Poor thing...

You know, statements like this, and the Power Trees in Q42, and characters like Jensen, and the crew of the Magpie--little details that help build the world--always intrigue me. In a lot of D&D campaigns I've read about, sometimes while the majority of the party is off dealing with ogres and orc invasions and liches breaking free from the seals that had once sealed them within their phylactery, one or two of the party members decide to take a break and clear up some of the smaller problems of the common folk, like a young student who forgot to return an ordinary library book, or a farmer whose sheep have escaped their pen, or a merchant whose cart has broken, and he doesn't have the money to get it fixed; simple, mundane, but rewarding stuff.. I'd love to see a Quest that's focused on things like that, something where everyone is welcome to join (like Quest 44), and then they can all go off wherever they please in Uland, doing small tasks for just petty change and a fuzzy feeling in their hearts. (I'd really love to participate in such a Quest, actually, so this is just throwing an idea out there for others to pick up. )

Quest ??- The Little Things

"Amidst all the turmoil this city has faced in recent months, we Veterans have noticed that Heroica has become more and more involved with the great affairs of powerful beings and epic battles against tremendous foes, at the expense of the common folk on Uland. To correct this, we are sponsoring a *insert time period here* of peace, in which participating Heroes may seek the common good of the people in less perilous and less violent matters. Those who devote their time to the little things in life will be rewarded in ways that most beings cannot understand."

[Endgame]

Such a thing would be incredilby difficult to pull off, though, without feeling like you are wasting someone's time. The writing and plot would have to be superb, and you'd have to make mundane chores enjoyable.

Though, I do think we should downscale a tad, in terms of direness - not every quest needs to be an amazing blockbusters that decide the fate of Olegaia - though such things do make spectacular ending for series, the stakes don't always need to be so high.

[CMP]

I've had a concept for an Unlimited Quest in mind, where heroes are pretty much dropped into some country (I've considered Babeleth or even Baltarok) and are given complete free roam, but ultimately are expected to fix problems large and small pretty much everywhere. So small stuff like that and overarching sidequests within it would make up the entire region, with a drop-in/drop-out function pretty much identical to the Fields of Glory.

But as of right now and probably for a long time, it's still just a vague idea.

Edited January 19, 2013 by CallMePie

[Flipz]

Such a thing would be incredilby difficult to pull off, though, without feeling like you are wasting someone's time. The writing and plot would have to be superb, and you'd have to make mundane chores enjoyable.

Though, I do think we should downscale a tad, in terms of direness - not every quest needs to be an amazing blockbusters that decide the fate of Olegaia - though such things do make spectacular ending for series, the stakes don't always need to be so high.

Well, that's the thing, I think--we all could use a Breather Episode after all these "epic finales" we've been having. In this case, it's not so much about "plot" so much as character interactions--bringing back characters who would otherwise have no reason to appear in any other Quests. In this case, it's the mundane chores that would MAKE it enjoyable. In-character, you're not doing it for bags of gold or for faction reputation or an exclusive Expert Class, you're helping for the sake of helping, and if you end up 2 Gold and a Potion richer at the end of the month, then that's fine.

I think it'd be a good Brickdoctor-style Quest, just with fewer photos; after all, it's about the people, so the "profile" images would really be all that's necessary.

[Endgame]

I had a similar-ish idea, CMP: Basically, you are given a bloody massive map to roam, and you have an overarching objective to complete. Here is the thing: one party of heroes doesn't have top do it. In fact, it is expected that 3-4 parties go in before that objective is cleared, each one continuing where the last one left off.

Funky idea and a complete nightmare to host, but I entertain the notion still...

[Brickdoctor]

I think it'd be a good Brickdoctor-style Quest, just with fewer photos; after all, it's about the people, so the "profile" images would really be all that's necessary.

I've actually had since August plans for an open-world quest dealing with the aftermath of Lord Keveak's occupation of R'kilf. (it does have the traditional sort of plot and goal, so it's not exactly what you're describing; but it would allow it, having a similar setting and being open-world)

[Sandy]

If someone has the time and the energy to host an "open world" quest, I welcome him or her to try.

I still stick to the notion that this game is run by humans, not computers, so creating a totally free region for the players to roam in without a clear goal is highly time consuming, and while it may be fun for a while, I suspect both the host and the players would grow tired of the pointless wandering and just quit at some point. When you think of it, even the Fields of Glory has a goal in it: to defeat increasingly difficult monsters in order to gain GP.

But I do love the "little details" that build the world in quests as well, and will continue to add them into mine.

[swils]

Short version, posting from phone. I would love to host /participate in an open world quest. But its just too... Open. Jpw do you reward it? In a small group, tabletop setting , you can grant rewards of xp for roleplaying, decision making, etc, and all within the space. Of a few minutes. For a setting such as heroica, without handpicking your group based on timezone, so that you can all be active at the same time, skiuch decision mang would take close to a day on average. For such an open world, thats a huuuge time commitment to a non-battle missiokn. goal. How dp you reward that? Logic puZles and time traps might not pose the same quest-ending potenential to a hero, but should they still reward experience? Would rogues be deterred from such a quest, since. They can earn gold arguably more. Effkcieny in a typical battle. Scenario? Would mages be preferred for their elemental prowess?

Spelling errors to be fixed next time i get on a computer, but the point remains--who could truly handle such qn unndertaking in the environment that heroica provides, hero or host?

[Brickdoctor]

I think the quest would need some sort of traditional goal for the heroes to shoot for. (and if I host this open-world quest I'm planning, it definitely will have that goal) Then they're free to run around the open world and do whatever they want, and it may or may not get them closer to the goal.

And in regards to reward, you don't have to give out huge rewards for what the party does. They'll keep exploring the open world because they have to in order to reach the goal that you've set, but with the lesser rewards for anything they do to help people that doesn't get them closer to the goal, they won't want to just do nothing but the small tasks that have nothing to do with the goal.

[Scubacarrot]

A way how this could potentially work is just set up a map with a grid, and have tasks and little stuff scattered around.

[Rumble Strike]

I also think that it's the season for some of the QM's storylines and Quests to reach their conclusions. So things are currently slightly more Epic than usual.

[Tachyon]

Hey Sandy, if I was to make a quest entirely from LDD, would it be accepted ?

[Flipz]

Hey Sandy, if I was to make a quest entirely from LDD, would it be accepted ?

All of Endgame's Quests are fully LDD, and look how they've turned out.

No, seriously, take a look; it's really the baseline standard for how a LDD-build Quest should be done.

[Sandy]

Hey Sandy, if I was to make a quest entirely from LDD, would it be accepted ?

Like Flipz said, it is allowed, but with some reservation. You would need to be able to take good shots of your LDD-creations, and prepare a few in advance for me to see before I approve the quest.

[Sandy]

The first post of this topic has been slightly updated to reflect all the changes that this game has gone through over this 1,5 years.

The most important change is that you must always send your quest pitches to me via PM if you want to get them reviewed for approval. You are still free to bounce off raw ideas here in the public, though.

[Scubacarrot]

Again, thank you very much, Rumble, for hosting.

I had a lot of fun, I really liked going on one of your quests again, as 13 was fantastic of course. The story continued, and it really ended now, which is kind of sad. It could continue with the Seamonster, and the Maginstrabanana and his order, and Hlin of course, but the story of Sorona, Haroka and the Darkstar is defenitely over (Or is it? Dun dun dun). The party was great, especially from a roleplaying perspective, Sorrow, Maurice and Nagure are all characters Guts hadn´t met, and I am glad he has now. Even though Guts was too powerful and made the battles hard to balance. The pictures were also great, I really like how you adapted to things we did on the fly, that was really cool. The Inquisitors were very well made as well, I thought. There were a lot of battles, and the puzzle was very cool also.

I do have two points though.

I think we missed stuff? We never went to the bridge. Was there a way to meet the other two inquisitors before the final battle?

This might be a personal thing, but I felt the Darkstar thing wasn´t handled very well. There´s one thing you got to learn about your players, they are all paranoid, some more than others, but still. What that means is that if you want your players to do certain things, make that really clear, and let there be no room for error. Like, You got an apple, you can either give it to the red man, or the blue man. If you put the same person in a room, with an apple, and two men, they will probably eat the apple, or try to kill the men with the apple, know what I mean? Also, wouldn´t it be a great roleplay/story continuity if we did get that other reward as well?

[Palathadric]

Only thoughts on 52: "Great, Greedy Guts!"

No, more seriously...another awesome quest Rumble. Good role-playing from the party and I loved seeing more of those great NPCs as well. The battles were significantly more difficult this time around than in your other quests, but you had Guts to deal with, so...

Great quest. Good loot too. All around I had a great time following it.

[Rumble Strike]

Thank you for the kind words, both.

You could have met the other two Inquisitors during the search for the 3 amulets - Blaohoel was at the beach and Wither was by the bridge. As you found out though, once the 3 pieces had been located, they went back to reinforce Haroka in the Tower, as did Floodgate. Sorona would have been there too, but you'd already killed her by then.

I will probably follow up with more thoughts tomorrow (hopefully) but I just want to say thank you to those who played, and hope you (and the people following it) enjoyed it.

[Endgame]

Sorona would have been there too, but you'd already killed her by then.

So was there a way of getting the third amulet without having to fight the Sisterhood?

Overall a very enjoyable quest, Rumble! The photography was crisp and the sets you built were great. The difficulty curve seemed to have spiked in the middle, but after that you handled the last fights of the quest nicely - especially since we had Guts.

I sort of wish the town was expanded a bit more to seem like a town - a simple commoner's quarter or a shop would've done wonders (And no, not because I wanted to use the consumables strategy - I would've settled for an abandoned marketplace! ). As it stands right now, the town felt more like a military outpost.

That and the difficulty are really my only two problems with the quest - excellent otherwise, Rumble!

Edited January 31, 2013 by Endgame

[Rumble Strike]

You would still have had to fight the Sisterhood, but Sorona would have fled the battle at the end and appeared in the final battle. The "military compund" thing is interesting because at that point, that's pretty much what Miranda was. The only occupied safe haven was the kitchens, and you managed to get that set on fire.

I had lots of aims when creating this Quest and generally I am happy with the way it turned out. I wanted to give the Quest#13ers a chance at a resolution of their decision to let Haroka and Sorona go. I wanted to bring in some of the characters and concepts I introduced in Quest#32 (the Maginastra, the council of the Watchful Eye, the Guardians) and mix those in with Haroka and Sorona. The idea of the Inquisitors and the Sisterhood was that in the Dastan Quests, there were many recurring enemies and I wanted to give the Quest a similar feel. I also had some advice from Zepher about battles and balancing, which was appreciated.

The amulets were: a fight, an investigation, and a puzzle. That all 3 devolved into battles wasn't really my fault! I really liked doing the Sorona face puzzle.

The battle balancing was skewed heavily towards Guts and his damage output, simply because if it was not, most of those battles (especially against humanoids) would have lasted a single round, perhaps two. However I tried to bring in conditions and effects that made you guys think a bit more tactically, and for the most part it worked.

The second fight against the Guardsmen was deliberately hard, and at the time the Sisterhood battle was a struggle without Maurice and his Guardian Angel. It meant that you had to remember the other part of the mission and rescue Hlin.

I tried really hard with the sets and characters, I build the majority of the sets beforehand because I was giving you a choice in where you wanted to go. I was most proud of the Tower itself, and the kitchen. The kitchen was the single biggest MOC I had ever done and I think it came out really well.

This was my first experience of QMing for Advanced Classes and I have to say it became more and more like a job rather than a fun thing to do, especially the battle calculations which would routinely take me half an hour or more to calculate and write up (and even then I'd miss stuff). Because of that I think it's been a difficult 10 weeks or so, but I am glad I had the opportunity to tell my story and see some great roleplaying from you guys too.

[PsyKater]

Thanks for hosting this awesome quest, CaptnJohnPaul! I had a good time and learned a lot.

More later.