The main reasons I avoid doing this is are (1) Permanancy, (2) Quest length, and (3) Reward shortage.Interkarma wrote: ↑Sat Sep 01, 2018 10:13 pmOne member is secretly organising a coup against the DB leadership. Our character has the option to assist or put down the usurpers. What does this splinter faction want and are their complaints justified?
(1) One of my FG quests, before I rewrote it, had a killing scheme where a false client leads FG members into a death trap and collects their bodies for pay. When you come back to the guild hall the QG is understandably very surprised. However, if you take the same quest again, the same thing will happen, and he'll be just as surprised. No matter how many times you do it, he never learns One of the qualities I've tried to ensure in all my quests is repeatability, meaning the ability for the game world to offer the same quest multiple times without the narrative fabric getting worn. To meet the same kind of faction again with the same complaints seems like it comes close to the point. With City under Siege I'm actually able to randomize the knightly faction's name so as to make clear it isn't the same group returning once and again.
(2) I feel like the expectation most characters have with DF quests is something lasting about 3 to 10 minutes. When length goes beyond that and we're stuck in a Lord K'avar-esque quest with no end in sight, we sort of start to wonder when we can come back to the game we started playing. Does anyone else feel this complaint? If it isn't relevant I'll ignore it.
(3) One of the reasons I've tried to keep away from the huge, multi-part quests that I've previously planned (see JHMG00X) is because I don't believe I can properly deliver a conclusion that will make the journey feel like it was merited. I think this can be added later on with some additions to the item system. But, whether it's tossing 25,000 gold at the PC or giving an artifact or a big faction increase, there aren't many options to use for now. If I had some assurance players are content to play merely for the roleplaying experience and not, say, for powergaming or accumulation, I could proceed in this road for a good amount of time.
These three relate most to my concerns about a large branch-off quest.
Heh heh, sounds like a reverse Godfather III I hadn't considered this since I figured DB members all tried to keep anonymous and stay out of personal lives; otherwise it would hard to be a homicidal maniac from 8 to 4 and come home to play catch at 5:30 The quest length might be something to consider, but I'll see how much of this I can easily put to use.A lifetime member has found a more peaceful religion and risks exposing the local chapter. But this person is connected to one of the higher ups and they expressly forbid you to kill them. Instead, you need to find the cause of their fall into grace, and help them remember how to be a killer again.
This is mostly a matter of quest length, and I've only known demonic possession to be Daedric in DF. Ghosts come to haunt people but they do in their own forms. Daedra can also take the form of inanimate objects, like a candlestick.It's hard to poison people when certain ingredients run out. One particularly rare ingredient can only be produced by a monk living in a solitary shack out in the wilderness. He's started losing his mind though and rambles more than Nulfaga these days. Turns out he's been possessed by a demon trying to reconnect to an old flame in the guild. When the player arrives, this demon possesses the player instead and starts speaking to them. What starts as a simple fetch quest ends with the player trying to re-unite a demon with their former lover, and uncovering what drove them apart in the first place. Perhaps some target escaped them in the past, and they blamed each other. The three of you can team up to remove that target once and for all, and heal old wounds along the way. With two virtual NPCs along for the ride, and them having a past relationship, there's an opportunity for snarky/witty/fond exchanges between them as the quest unfolds.
Dialogue is also a matter which touches on repeatability. I hope I can be witty enough to write 3 or 4 versions of a very good conversation to make it last. I feel I got lucky with the marriage counseling quest I did recently, since alcoholic, overspending husbands and bitter, disappointed wives are fairly common sights in the human experience, so I've allowed a little leeway there for repeatability.
I guess I've been worried about trying to step outside of DF "canon" in my quests. I can try to be a little ambitious, and based on feedback, tune back some of the weirder things I come up withI think anything suitably dark would fit within the DB style. I imagine the guild would be filled with some interesting fictional archetypes to explore in between a light bit of assassination.
EDIT: I just now thought of a completely new way to introduce a quest without monopolizing the questgiver. I think this can lead into some new and interesting things. It could make two of the quests you talked about possibilities.