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General Discussion / Re: Should Quest Areas Be Opened
« on: October 30, 2019, 08:33:24 am »
Some things that are coming in and will slowly be rolled out as time permits. These things will be added to existing quests and exploration areas as well as the new ones.
-Movement skills for traversing difficult areas (think climb checks, balance checks, jump checks, escape checks (for getting through tight spots)) We have some now, but there is an extensive update to add that will add a lot more interesting functionality)
- Descriptive Skill Trigger. These are invisible triggers that can roll any skill check, any ability check rolled blind so the player does not know the DC. (If you fail a check, you do not even know that a check occurred) On a success, they can either give a descriptive text (detail depending on what you rolled), reveal an object, item or creature as well as give out XP.
-The new rnd loot generation system will let us add a chance of a 'boss' creature spawning. These bosses will have a rnd chance to spawn a special magical item on death. These will only appear in exploration areas or overland areas.
In regards to something that caught my eye here:
I'm not sure exactly what you want. You don't want to wander around and kill things for fun, but opening up quest areas will let you in to kill stuff... Also, you said that you don't want to go out and kill goblins just because they are there, but you want to go in and kill wasps because they are there.
Is what you want an NPC to go and tell you do things? That is, if an NPC directs you to an exploration area and tells you to kill things, then you will do it? Because we can definitely aid NPCs that ask you to go do things that are not part of the quest system.
Overall, the quest system is designed to be the way it is to control the story and make sure that it is a challenge for the level of the players. It is there as a means to replicate the DnD feel of a DM run story. To have people in it that are outside the level range enter defeats the purpose of the system. To put this into PnP confines, as a DM you are not going to try and run an adventure for your 1st level players that are made for levels 10 - 16 and your not going to run an adventure for your players who are level 10+ that is made for level 1s. It would not be fun for the players.
So to compensate for this we add in areas for you to make up your own stories about (exploration areas) where you can gather your friends and go and see if you can find the 'Lost Sword of Destiny!' even if you know there is no such thing. You never know, a DM might take notice and actually create more of a story for you while you are doing it.
When I jump on to DM (and do not have a specific quest to run) the first thing I do is jump to players out and about to see what they are up to. Then into quest areas that have players in them and then finally to people in player hub areas to hand out RP XP. If you are out and about then there is more of a chance that I will run something off the cuff that could lead to something much more involved down the track.
Anyway, I will end this with my personal opinion (which may or may not be that of other team members): Scripted quests should remain as they are for the reasons I stated above but also because it will take a lot of time and effort to change it. Time and effort that would be better spent working on new and fun things for players.
-Movement skills for traversing difficult areas (think climb checks, balance checks, jump checks, escape checks (for getting through tight spots)) We have some now, but there is an extensive update to add that will add a lot more interesting functionality)
- Descriptive Skill Trigger. These are invisible triggers that can roll any skill check, any ability check rolled blind so the player does not know the DC. (If you fail a check, you do not even know that a check occurred) On a success, they can either give a descriptive text (detail depending on what you rolled), reveal an object, item or creature as well as give out XP.
-The new rnd loot generation system will let us add a chance of a 'boss' creature spawning. These bosses will have a rnd chance to spawn a special magical item on death. These will only appear in exploration areas or overland areas.
In regards to something that caught my eye here:
Quote
Posted by: Briar_Rose
you'd like to continue your story by fighting undead in a crypt.... oh, but look, I can't because some random NPC says he doesn't need my help. Why would that stop me from destroying undead though? Then again, life is just hard for a PC that doesn't want to wander around and kill things for fun.
I'm not sure exactly what you want. You don't want to wander around and kill things for fun, but opening up quest areas will let you in to kill stuff... Also, you said that you don't want to go out and kill goblins just because they are there, but you want to go in and kill wasps because they are there.
Is what you want an NPC to go and tell you do things? That is, if an NPC directs you to an exploration area and tells you to kill things, then you will do it? Because we can definitely aid NPCs that ask you to go do things that are not part of the quest system.
Overall, the quest system is designed to be the way it is to control the story and make sure that it is a challenge for the level of the players. It is there as a means to replicate the DnD feel of a DM run story. To have people in it that are outside the level range enter defeats the purpose of the system. To put this into PnP confines, as a DM you are not going to try and run an adventure for your 1st level players that are made for levels 10 - 16 and your not going to run an adventure for your players who are level 10+ that is made for level 1s. It would not be fun for the players.
So to compensate for this we add in areas for you to make up your own stories about (exploration areas) where you can gather your friends and go and see if you can find the 'Lost Sword of Destiny!' even if you know there is no such thing. You never know, a DM might take notice and actually create more of a story for you while you are doing it.
When I jump on to DM (and do not have a specific quest to run) the first thing I do is jump to players out and about to see what they are up to. Then into quest areas that have players in them and then finally to people in player hub areas to hand out RP XP. If you are out and about then there is more of a chance that I will run something off the cuff that could lead to something much more involved down the track.
Anyway, I will end this with my personal opinion (which may or may not be that of other team members): Scripted quests should remain as they are for the reasons I stated above but also because it will take a lot of time and effort to change it. Time and effort that would be better spent working on new and fun things for players.