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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</A></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 16:21:50 -0500</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
Raph writes:
>Most quest engines rely on basic plot elements
>that are combined and recombined in interesting
>ways. The strength of them is that you can build
>an easily extendable database to generate a TON
>of unique quests.
>The weakness--quests can seem rote or repetitious
>or simplistic, and the work involved in making
>the database large enough to prevent this problem
>is very large.
>
>Basic premise: most quests are actually broken
>into discrete individual actions. For example:
>
>- give Item A to mobile B.
>- destroy Item A.
>- kill mobile B.
>etc
>
>For example, the entirety of Lord of the Rings
>can be seen as "take this item to this location
>and drop it."
>
>Interesting quests can then be made by linking
>together basic elements.
Here's an interesting idea: What if your quest
engine generated not only quests, but "counter-
quests", where a different person/group is given
a quest that involves some of the same elements
as the first, but in a combination such that both
quest conditions cannot be fulfilled at the same
time?
If a primary quest of "take object A to mobile B"
is created, a counter-quest could be to "destroy
object A before it reaches mobile B". Using your
LOTR analogy, the entire trilogy could be termed
as exactly that: a counter-quest to "destroy object
ONE_RING before it reaches mobile SAURON". For
each quest you generate with your system, a number
of conditions could arise that would make it's
completion impossible - any of these could become
a counter-quest.
The point of such a system would be to partially
remove the burden of providing unique challenges
to the questors from the shoulders of the game designers.
Instead, players would be given a reason to have
conflict with one another, and these conflicts would
have discrete goals rather than being just open
warfare.
I have been thinking through a similar scenario
with my wife. We called it the "Spooky/Peaceful
Forest" scenario. We were speculating that a persistent
object A, when placed in location B, would cause
the spirits of the dead to rise and haunt a specific
area. If the object is instead placed in location
C, the spirits would be allowed to rest. If we
provided organization D, with a vested interest
in keeping the area peaceful, and organization E,
with a vested interest in keeping it haunted (perhaps
they operate a toll road that a journey through
the haunted woods would bypass?), then the two
organizations would maintain a constant state of
quest, as minions of the two groups tried to steal
the object from each other or keep it from being
stolen.
</PRE>
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<li><strong><A NAME="00095" HREF="msg00095.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Hal Black <hal#moos,ml.org></li></ul>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: simulation vs. storytelling is a fallacious distinction</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00065" HREF="msg00065.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: simulation vs. storytelling is a fallacious distinction</A></strong>,
ApplePiMan <a href="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">ApplePiMan#aol,com</a>, Sun 04 Oct 1998, 05:08 GMT
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</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00059" HREF="msg00059.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [Off-Topic] Patents (Was Re: Storytelling vs. Simulationist)</A></strong>,
ApplePiMan <a href="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">ApplePiMan#aol,com</a>, Sun 04 Oct 1998, 00:14 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00050" HREF="msg00050.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</A></strong>,
Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Sat 03 Oct 1998, 18:06 GMT
<UL>
<li><Possible follow-up(s)><br>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00061" HREF="msg00061.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</A></strong>,
ApplePiMan <a href="mailto:ApplePiMan#aol,com">ApplePiMan#aol,com</a>, Sun 04 Oct 1998, 02:23 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00089" HREF="msg00089.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</A></strong>,
Michael.Willey <a href="mailto:Michael.Willey#abnamro,com">Michael.Willey#abnamro,com</a>, Mon 05 Oct 1998, 20:19 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00095" HREF="msg00095.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Quest engines</A></strong>,
Hal Black <a href="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org">hal#moos,ml.org</a>, Mon 05 Oct 1998, 23:47 GMT
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</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00049" HREF="msg00049.html">[MUD-Dev] simulation vs. storytelling is a fallacious distinction</A></strong>,
James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Sat 03 Oct 1998, 17:50 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="00043" HREF="msg00043.html">[MUD-Dev] [DESIGN] To kill or not to kill? (non-violent conflict)</A></strong>,
The Wildman <a href="mailto:wildman#microserve,net">wildman#microserve,net</a>, Sat 03 Oct 1998, 15:36 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="00046" HREF="msg00046.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [DESIGN] To kill or not to kill? (non-violent conflict)</A></strong>,
Richard Woolcock <a href="mailto:KaVir#dial,pipex.com">KaVir#dial,pipex.com</a>, Sat 03 Oct 1998, 16:16 GMT
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</UL>
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</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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