Circular quests
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 8:25 am
Hey everyone, this is something I've been working over in my mind, and as far as I can tell, Daggerfall has the capability for it.
Keep in mind this won't be functionally operative until at least 0.5, and more likely quite a bit after that (maybe 0.7). But I want to keep this idea written down for later.
The idea is that this would be an entirely new system of quests in Daggerfall. Random quests can't link to random quests, but we could set up a system of background quests that could check against each other and provide underlying conditions for more complex systems to act.
For example: A questgiver offers a "quest" by saying, "Hey there PC. I'm about to send out a letter on behalf of some of the members of the guild looking for particularly lucrative work. Do you want me to put your name on it and see what comes back for you?" This triggers a timer and a multiple choice action DFU decides, which would branch out into one of multiple scenarios. For example, for the Fighters Guild:
Scenario A could be a civil uprising against the Dark Brotherhood in a particularly oppressed part of the current region.
Scenario B could be a campaign to slay or unmask a group of false "knights" who are attempting to gain legitimacy in the region but are just savage criminals.
Scenario C could be a protection campaign for the regional ruler's family. Strict protection could be more lucrative, but finding the culprits and making them pay could offer other kinds of rewards.
Scenario D could be a survival tournament of some kind against monsters or buffed human opponents. Chulmore Quill and Quill Circus, perhaps?
Scenario E could be a request from a poor rural farmer who's been robbed of everything he has and needs your help in tracking down the outlaws who ruined his life. And if you find out it's actually one of his errant sons and find out why, perhaps there's a greater decision to be made...
After a timer of a few days expires, the PC could receive a letter about one of these quests, with a timed request to meet in person to begin it. Allowing any offer to expire would have no consequences. The trigger to end the "init" quest could occur 30 days or so down the road, so spamming this quest wouldn't be an option. This would probably require the use of a linking intermediary quest, where the questgiver gives you a "quest" that starts the init quest, which then looks for the scenario it'll throw at you. This would prevent the questgiver from staying silent during the 30 days.
Each branch could have multiple choices within them to allow the player to really determine what happens; in scenario A, the player could choose between an offensive or defensive campaign, gaining the Brotherhood's ire or focusing on defensive missions. In scenario B, publicly exposing the false order and killing them all would be two entirely different paths. This would require a lot of effort to write up the branching paths, but hey, writing quests in DFU is not intensive work.
If we patterned it on the Main Quest backbone, we could create a system of complex, semi-linear quests that could provide substantive gameplay and scenarios. New factions, even? Or at least pseudo-factions? Each guild could make this offer when reputation is above 80 or so, and each could lead to entirely different branching options.
I really see this as a way of breaking out of Daggerfall's naturally self-contained quest cycles. I'll probably add more to this idea as time goes on, but there's no way of implementing it for a long time in real terms. Just another thing for the backburner for now.
Mages CQs:
A. A lich has appeared in the region with the ability to return itself to life again and again, striking in villages through the use of teleportation magic. The PC must destroy its ability to revive or fulfill its demands.
B. An ancient volume of powerful magic has been uncovered. The Order of the Lamp wants it, but the King of Worms wants it more. Just imagine if a ghost were capable of stealing it right out from your pack...
C. A wizard is starting a rival organization to the Mages Guild. The PC must decide whether to work to persuade him/her to assimilate into the guild or slay him/her.
D. Something to do with spriggans or giants or centaurs or something else losing their habitat and needing a human ally to transfer to another location or fight the cause. The Tongues spell will be required casting at each encounter with the creature. Could use The Fey.
E. Plague of some sort, such as spider or scorpion infestation throughout the region. The PC must find and combat the cause of it.
F. The Acolyte quest.
G. The Archmagister quest.
H. A group of criminals are looking for a utility mage for a job they're doing, which will require the use of spells such as Paralysis and Charm Mortal.
Knight CQs:
A. Dragonlings are becoming extinct in the current region, and the ruler considers it a duty to preserve them. The PC is given a large sack of dragon eggs and instructions to a wildlife expert who can determine how to best provide a habitat for them.
B. Rumors abound of an illusionist who wants to take the ruler's throne. The PC must find the head of this conspiracy and put it to an end before the plan is executed.
C. Crime is skyrocketing throughout the region, with random thuggery occurring at all hours and all places above ground. The PC is recruited into a larger campaign to find the roots of the problem and resolve them.
D. A noble has begun to suffer a series of assassination attempts. The PC must stay with the noble under a variety of circumstances and move him/her from place to place as occasion requires. Each assassination attempt will have a built-in timer of about 20 to 40 seconds, and if the PC fails to kill all intruders before the timer runs out, the noble dies and the campaign fails.
E. Quest involving The Great Knight, preventing overthrow of Emperor. Illusionist trying to kill his children and take their places?
F. Lord Kain, attempting a hostile takeover of Lainlyn. Request to train knights, lead expeditions into dungeons, raid cities, and prepare for war. Past a certain point reputation with Lainlyn will drop by 200 points. Alternatively, turn against Lord Kain right before a tipping point and receive a reward from Baron Shrike.
Thief CQs:
A. Some of the expert members of the guild ask for your help in abducting and keeping safe a noble's family member for a ransom. You'll have to take the noble to a safe house, and thereafter move him/her around to other locations, as well as doing intimidation tasks. Otherwise, rebel against the members, suffer a hit to Thieves Guild reputation, get a reward from the family, and deal with ambushes for a time.
B. You're invited to take part in a criminal drug ring. Harassment by authorities and some rivals add some difficulty to the work. Or take over the ring by eliminating its current operators.
C. Be informed regarding a kidnapping ring, which you can infiltrate or sabotage through the use of evidence.
D. The Crow needs your help burying a bit of the past. His presence is outlawed in some city where some recently uncovered evidence against him is being held. The PC is told to find out who has the evidence, get it from them, and then go into a dungeon and kill a specific monster and stuff the evidence into its corpse to ensure decomposition.
E. Thaik and the court of Sentinel.
F. Thyr Topfield
G. Whitka
H. The Squid quest in Daggerfll
Dark Brotherhood CQs:
A. Two outlaw bands in the region are warring so violently that they've begun to affect otherwise quiet cities and farms. You must find a way to neutralize both bands so neither gains power.
B. A wizard has begun a cult that teaches its members to call summoned monsters into civilized areas to wreak havoc. You must find this wizard and anyone else who could take his/her place to end this threat. Monsters will be randomly summoned in civilized areas until this matter is finished, or one year has passed to expire it.
C. A daedra, in illusion as a human being, is attempting to stir up a civil war in the current region to weaken it. You must find who this person is, under what disguise, and how to locate him/her to end the plot.
Temple CQs:
A. The King of Worms has begun wreaking havoc and raising the dead in graveyards and cities. The PC must meet the King of Worms in person, who will explain that he wishes merely to watch a contest of strength against some of his most powerful servants, which will take place in various locations in the region on a strict time limit.
B. A person claiming to be the avatar of a deity has arrived in the region, bearing the ability to revive him/herself repeatedly, among other effects. The PC must embark on a campaign regarding this person's background and motives before finding how to end his/her power, or help him/her achieve a certain goal alternatively.
C. Lord Flyte's incurable illness
Miscellaneous people to offer quests in their respective regions:
Baron Shrike (Lainlyn)
Baroness Dh'emka (Lainlyn)
Farrington (Anticlere)
Lord Coulder, Temple of Kynareth (Daggerfall, Lainlyn)
Lady Flyte, Knights of the Flame, Thieves Guild (Anticlere)
Lord Flyte (Ruler of Anticlere, dying)
Lord Harth, Host of the True Horn (Dragontail Mountains)
Lord Kilbar, Dark Brotherhood (Breton)
Lord Quistley, Benevolence of Mara (Anticlere)
Lord Perwright (Anticlere)
Lord Plessington, Order of the Cup (Ykalon, Kairou)
Lord Spode, Thieves Guild (Glenpoint)
Keep in mind this won't be functionally operative until at least 0.5, and more likely quite a bit after that (maybe 0.7). But I want to keep this idea written down for later.
The idea is that this would be an entirely new system of quests in Daggerfall. Random quests can't link to random quests, but we could set up a system of background quests that could check against each other and provide underlying conditions for more complex systems to act.
For example: A questgiver offers a "quest" by saying, "Hey there PC. I'm about to send out a letter on behalf of some of the members of the guild looking for particularly lucrative work. Do you want me to put your name on it and see what comes back for you?" This triggers a timer and a multiple choice action DFU decides, which would branch out into one of multiple scenarios. For example, for the Fighters Guild:
Scenario A could be a civil uprising against the Dark Brotherhood in a particularly oppressed part of the current region.
Scenario B could be a campaign to slay or unmask a group of false "knights" who are attempting to gain legitimacy in the region but are just savage criminals.
Scenario C could be a protection campaign for the regional ruler's family. Strict protection could be more lucrative, but finding the culprits and making them pay could offer other kinds of rewards.
Scenario D could be a survival tournament of some kind against monsters or buffed human opponents. Chulmore Quill and Quill Circus, perhaps?
Scenario E could be a request from a poor rural farmer who's been robbed of everything he has and needs your help in tracking down the outlaws who ruined his life. And if you find out it's actually one of his errant sons and find out why, perhaps there's a greater decision to be made...
After a timer of a few days expires, the PC could receive a letter about one of these quests, with a timed request to meet in person to begin it. Allowing any offer to expire would have no consequences. The trigger to end the "init" quest could occur 30 days or so down the road, so spamming this quest wouldn't be an option. This would probably require the use of a linking intermediary quest, where the questgiver gives you a "quest" that starts the init quest, which then looks for the scenario it'll throw at you. This would prevent the questgiver from staying silent during the 30 days.
Each branch could have multiple choices within them to allow the player to really determine what happens; in scenario A, the player could choose between an offensive or defensive campaign, gaining the Brotherhood's ire or focusing on defensive missions. In scenario B, publicly exposing the false order and killing them all would be two entirely different paths. This would require a lot of effort to write up the branching paths, but hey, writing quests in DFU is not intensive work.
If we patterned it on the Main Quest backbone, we could create a system of complex, semi-linear quests that could provide substantive gameplay and scenarios. New factions, even? Or at least pseudo-factions? Each guild could make this offer when reputation is above 80 or so, and each could lead to entirely different branching options.
I really see this as a way of breaking out of Daggerfall's naturally self-contained quest cycles. I'll probably add more to this idea as time goes on, but there's no way of implementing it for a long time in real terms. Just another thing for the backburner for now.
Mages CQs:
A. A lich has appeared in the region with the ability to return itself to life again and again, striking in villages through the use of teleportation magic. The PC must destroy its ability to revive or fulfill its demands.
B. An ancient volume of powerful magic has been uncovered. The Order of the Lamp wants it, but the King of Worms wants it more. Just imagine if a ghost were capable of stealing it right out from your pack...
C. A wizard is starting a rival organization to the Mages Guild. The PC must decide whether to work to persuade him/her to assimilate into the guild or slay him/her.
D. Something to do with spriggans or giants or centaurs or something else losing their habitat and needing a human ally to transfer to another location or fight the cause. The Tongues spell will be required casting at each encounter with the creature. Could use The Fey.
E. Plague of some sort, such as spider or scorpion infestation throughout the region. The PC must find and combat the cause of it.
F. The Acolyte quest.
G. The Archmagister quest.
H. A group of criminals are looking for a utility mage for a job they're doing, which will require the use of spells such as Paralysis and Charm Mortal.
Knight CQs:
A. Dragonlings are becoming extinct in the current region, and the ruler considers it a duty to preserve them. The PC is given a large sack of dragon eggs and instructions to a wildlife expert who can determine how to best provide a habitat for them.
B. Rumors abound of an illusionist who wants to take the ruler's throne. The PC must find the head of this conspiracy and put it to an end before the plan is executed.
C. Crime is skyrocketing throughout the region, with random thuggery occurring at all hours and all places above ground. The PC is recruited into a larger campaign to find the roots of the problem and resolve them.
D. A noble has begun to suffer a series of assassination attempts. The PC must stay with the noble under a variety of circumstances and move him/her from place to place as occasion requires. Each assassination attempt will have a built-in timer of about 20 to 40 seconds, and if the PC fails to kill all intruders before the timer runs out, the noble dies and the campaign fails.
E. Quest involving The Great Knight, preventing overthrow of Emperor. Illusionist trying to kill his children and take their places?
F. Lord Kain, attempting a hostile takeover of Lainlyn. Request to train knights, lead expeditions into dungeons, raid cities, and prepare for war. Past a certain point reputation with Lainlyn will drop by 200 points. Alternatively, turn against Lord Kain right before a tipping point and receive a reward from Baron Shrike.
Thief CQs:
A. Some of the expert members of the guild ask for your help in abducting and keeping safe a noble's family member for a ransom. You'll have to take the noble to a safe house, and thereafter move him/her around to other locations, as well as doing intimidation tasks. Otherwise, rebel against the members, suffer a hit to Thieves Guild reputation, get a reward from the family, and deal with ambushes for a time.
B. You're invited to take part in a criminal drug ring. Harassment by authorities and some rivals add some difficulty to the work. Or take over the ring by eliminating its current operators.
C. Be informed regarding a kidnapping ring, which you can infiltrate or sabotage through the use of evidence.
D. The Crow needs your help burying a bit of the past. His presence is outlawed in some city where some recently uncovered evidence against him is being held. The PC is told to find out who has the evidence, get it from them, and then go into a dungeon and kill a specific monster and stuff the evidence into its corpse to ensure decomposition.
E. Thaik and the court of Sentinel.
F. Thyr Topfield
G. Whitka
H. The Squid quest in Daggerfll
Dark Brotherhood CQs:
A. Two outlaw bands in the region are warring so violently that they've begun to affect otherwise quiet cities and farms. You must find a way to neutralize both bands so neither gains power.
B. A wizard has begun a cult that teaches its members to call summoned monsters into civilized areas to wreak havoc. You must find this wizard and anyone else who could take his/her place to end this threat. Monsters will be randomly summoned in civilized areas until this matter is finished, or one year has passed to expire it.
C. A daedra, in illusion as a human being, is attempting to stir up a civil war in the current region to weaken it. You must find who this person is, under what disguise, and how to locate him/her to end the plot.
Temple CQs:
A. The King of Worms has begun wreaking havoc and raising the dead in graveyards and cities. The PC must meet the King of Worms in person, who will explain that he wishes merely to watch a contest of strength against some of his most powerful servants, which will take place in various locations in the region on a strict time limit.
B. A person claiming to be the avatar of a deity has arrived in the region, bearing the ability to revive him/herself repeatedly, among other effects. The PC must embark on a campaign regarding this person's background and motives before finding how to end his/her power, or help him/her achieve a certain goal alternatively.
C. Lord Flyte's incurable illness
Miscellaneous people to offer quests in their respective regions:
Baron Shrike (Lainlyn)
Baroness Dh'emka (Lainlyn)
Farrington (Anticlere)
Lord Coulder, Temple of Kynareth (Daggerfall, Lainlyn)
Lady Flyte, Knights of the Flame, Thieves Guild (Anticlere)
Lord Flyte (Ruler of Anticlere, dying)
Lord Harth, Host of the True Horn (Dragontail Mountains)
Lord Kilbar, Dark Brotherhood (Breton)
Lord Quistley, Benevolence of Mara (Anticlere)
Lord Perwright (Anticlere)
Lord Plessington, Order of the Cup (Ykalon, Kairou)
Lord Spode, Thieves Guild (Glenpoint)