Main Line Quest Ideas

Thothie

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
MSC Archivist
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
Messages
16,342
Reaction score
326
Location
lost
I shouldn't be coming up with new epic plans before I get my hand over to that back burner, but I suppose this might be one of the simpler ones with a fairly large positive impact, and one that could use some community input...

The idea is to provide a sense of continuity and to encourage the players to visit all the low end maps, before the out level them, by providing a lengthy series of continuing quests, starting in Edana, and eventually branching out across the world, covering various bits of lore in the process. (I suppose it'll also give the high end characters something to do.)

Some stages of the quest will be quite lengthy, a continuing sorta thing that you'd complete through normal progression (eg. kill 100 orcs), and others may open up sub quests.

We'd probably start out by tracking down where that letter to the mayor came from (via Edrin), which will probably take you though the sewers to Chapel, Isle, and a few other low end maps. Eventually working our way up to Clarian, Keledros, Maldora, Shadahar, and the various other high end plots.

So what I'm asking for is quest ideas! They can be quite simple, such as kill boss X on map X, or more complex round robin adventures. Only request is that I'd like to avoid cluttering the players with inventory items, but we can track unique quest items with quest data, instead of by inventory.

I really need to get to making that dynamic quest system (since I assume the scripter in training who was on that vanished - was a bit much to ask from a nub scripter in anycase), but wow, that back burner is just piled up with crap. :\


TL;DR: Ideas for never ending quest series that takes you all over the MSC world from Edana on, go!
 

zeus9860

Active Adventurer
The True Followers of the Lost
Crusaders
Blades of Urdual
Alpha Tester
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
2,581
Reaction score
37
Age
31
Location
lolwut
ATT: This might be a very confusing post, i got confused while writing it and mixed some stuff, also too lazy/sleepy to fix it, so yeah... :roll:


Types of Quests:

-Npc trainers, make each town have a trainer that has a set of small tasks to send the player to nearby areas or further into dangerous areas (if higher level towns) randomly. Like send the player to clean the edanasewers (kill X enemies within the map and return for xp bonus rewards in order to give players a reason to play solo or in group still). Trainers should be specific to a certain level range, a trainer in edana would give quests for level 1-15, so only maps of that range should be listed there. A trainer in Helena would give tasks of level range 10-25, and so on up to the current cap.

-Item forging/enchanting, yes it has been mentioned before already but items should be powerless when found in chests, like having a rusty shortsword and you upgrade it to the wolves bane by slaying 10 wolves with the sword while carrying a soul trap scroll with you, while in quest (for example). Rusty dagger (quest item) is a good example how items should be obtained. If it's a greatsword, fine it's acceptable that the item drops in good condition, it's not magical or anything. But items that drop specifically from chests should be forged or enchanted to their prime condition.

-Alchemy and merchanting, we got the stores already, would be nice to sell everything in stores and the items sold in it would remain there, like a bank chest, so anyone could buy the items, for a nice price of course. We got 1 alchemist should be the main focus for making potions, grab ingredients (stackable like arrows) and create potions (they should be stackable/doses in order to work best, otherwise overflow issues), have mages around towns create potions based on the town's access difficulty, harder to access towns should have the strongest potions in the lore.

-Character class system as you know it! This would be the best addition for questing in my opinion, have npcs in certain maps that offer training towards a certain path for the player to follow, THIS is the most important thing that could ever be added to ms:c, most likely to be a PITA to achieve like the spellcasting revamp...



Quest "items":

-Could always go with a quest book item/data that writes down progress of future lore quests as you get further in questing, easy to track progress of where to go next... Then you could always make an additional quest farming option once certain quests are done in order to be redone with extra difficulty and more reasonable rewards. It's like how borderlands works, we have the normal vault hunter mode, then we get the real deal and the ultimate deal, give the players the option to repeat the quests whenever they want and with extra difficulty options. Like send a player to kill a frost giant with normal difficulty (base), hard difficulty (20% tougher by applying a damage nerf on the player towards that specific enemy), insane difficulty (40% damage nerf sameway), hardcore (60% damage nerf vs the specific enemy).
This would go well with the trainer task system aswell perhaps.




There's more things i could mention and i know you want "lore" quests more specifically in order to inform players and whatnot. Those would require alot more effort and thought in order to accomplish. If you want me to, i could try and write down specific quests for each magical item in the game so far on how to obtain them via forge/enchantment, same with potions, i might have the time for that.
Could also try make a list of "trainer tasks" based on the concept map we have right now and the knowledge i have of the maps released to date, each safe zone would be a settlement to start the tasks, each zone would have their ups and downs (eg: orc villa, harder access, more reliable for higher level characters and much better rewards in exchange).
 

Hush

Adventurer
MSC Developer
Alpha Tester
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Messages
118
Reaction score
12
StPancratius_necro2.png


Thothie said:
by Thothie on Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:15 am

Yeah I know, this is quite a necropost here, but I somehow got the feeling, that this thread didn't get the attention it deserves.
So, here is my attempt to add a few ideas for some low level quests around edana and beyond to (maybe) encourage some exploration:

dirty little apple thieves
- Bryan the grocer is missing his last delivery of delicious apples (the ones which keep giant insects away :wink: ) and asks the players to help him.
- there will be an apple trail which spawns on a random low level map, which the players have to follow
- at the end of the trail they can meet 1) a goblin mother, who stole the delivery for her hungry family or 2) an aggressive pack of orc thieves or 3) a troll who "accidentally" slayed the delivery guy, took the apples but will not part with them for free
- after getting the apple delivery back to Bryan the players will be rewarded with a delicious apple, which heals some hp, and keeps the giant insects away for a few minutes


dwarfish steel for helena
- Dorfgan needs some new dwarven steel to strengthen the weapon supply of helena, but neither he or the guards are able to leave the town, so he asks the players for help to get some steel from gatecity
- if the players agree, they will get a letter for Roland the smith of gatecity
- on their way back the helena they are ambushed by highwayman, who offer them some gold for the steel - now it's up for the players if they take the gold or bring the steel to dorfgan
- if they bring the steel back to dorfgan they get a reward (???) and he tells the players about some stranges sounds below the inn of helena --> this may lead up to the first quest in a "Khaz line"


a new mayor for edana
- after the evidence is presented to Edrin he tells the players a little later, that edana needs a new mayor and that the king of deralia has to be informed about that
- at deralia the lord of the land will not let the players inside the halls of deralia, because they are not worthy. They either need to get them a crest of deralia or need to do some dirty work by slaying a powerful orc shaman in the daragoth orc camp
- inside the halls of deralia they king has no time for that edana-mayor-thing, he first wants the players to lift a curse, which was cast by a dread knight --> this leads to the world walker series
- back from ww3d the king got a new problem with his daughter and the jester --> looks like the new mayor for edana has to wait....


the disappeared brother
- after holden joined the players in the thornlands he mentions his brother, who got missing some time ago. He wanted to join the guards in helena, but now is gone for a while. He asks the players, if they can help finding him
- the players track him down by asking around in helena (which leads to deralia), in deralia (which leads to gertenheld cape) and in gertenheld cape and will find him in the gertenheld forest, where he is fighting wolfes


these books are people!
- Hartold in edana tells the players, that he could offer some more low level spells (like poison or frostbolt) in his mage shop, but he needs an old tome, which a "certain guy" from the thornland owns
- certainly Olof won't give the book to the players because "it's a living person", so they players either have to trick him (with another book they found in the thornlands an some distraction) or have to take a long argue with him (by finding out the correct keywords in the chat)
- after they brought the book to Hartold, thay can buy some more low level spells from him
--> this quest may lead up to a more high level one called: "Oh crap, the books are actually people!" :wink:


the bear problem
- Foglund asks the players, after they reached a certain level, if they willing to join with him for some bear hunting in the lowlands
- if the players accept, he will tell them the route to his hunting lodge in the lowlands --> which starts the bear-gods-quest"
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #4

Thothie

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
MSC Archivist
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
Messages
16,342
Reaction score
326
Location
lost
Should point out that, part of what I was looking for, was a consecutive line of quests that is on-going, though I suppose we can hack in ways to tie these all together.
 

Hush

Adventurer
MSC Developer
Alpha Tester
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Messages
118
Reaction score
12
by Thothie on Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:15 am
TL;DR: Ideas for never ending quest series that takes you all over the MSC world from Edana on, go!
Should point out that, part of what I was looking for, was a consecutive line of quests that is on-going, though I suppose we can hack in ways to tie these all together.

Hmm.. you pointed it out well enough, it seems like I just overlooked it, sorry.
I thought about this quest line you are looking for and came for me to the conclusion, that it might be not that easy to put them all on a "single pearl necklace" or strain, because some of the maps have such a different theme.
Maybe it is more feasible to let the quest / the soryline run on some paralell strains, which intersects /overlaps from time to time.

Just an example:
There could be three different "culture questlines" as well as three "god-orientated questlines" and some "friend-and-foe-lines between" them.

Culture questlines for humans, dwarfs and elves would be mostly connected to their unique culture. Well, yeah atm a lot of the current maps might be "human-orientated" I guess.

The "god questlines" are more to connected to the features of the respective gods like:
- Felewyn: Enhance the order in daragoth and punish them who left the sacred way
- Urdual : Fortify the balance in the world, protect the weak and run rings around the strong (and slay a lot undead ;) )
- Torkalath: prove your strength to the god by overcoming strong creatures and .. do whatever the Torkie wants...

Examples for the "friends-and-foe-line"
Maldora - learn about the plans and encounter that wizard, which forments different parties on daragoth and accumulates more and more power
Khaz - find out about that secret dragon-worshipping-cult, foil their plans and confront the great red dragon in the end
Shad - learn about the once great, now dead wizard shaddahar and his fortress now claimed by the shaddahar orcs - and maybe find new allies on the way

I began to ilustrate what I mean, but I fear it more or less ended up as a mess, unfortunately.
I will try to elaborate it a little more as soon as I have some spare time, maybe after that it will make a little more sence.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #6

Thothie

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
MSC Archivist
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
Messages
16,342
Reaction score
326
Location
lost
Yeah, more along the lines of what I was after... As I think I've explained elsewhere, one series of quest arcs was supposed to involve quests given out by the (pending) priests of Torkalath and Felewyn in Edana, as well as those of Urdual, and elsewhere, creating a faction system where the more distant ends of those quest lines would be mutually exclusive, and open up exclusive shops/reward systems. The other quest arc ideas, involving the adventurer's forgotten past coming back to haunt him, generated based on skill sets, are also a thing to think on, but I've not cemented the potential Apostle-in-training amnesia as lore yet. There was also to be a quest series for a Khaz cultist faction and Title line.

But yes, the main quest line was to start with the Edana mayor's betrayal and build up to Maldora and the like. Crow's original idea involved Maldora popping up in the Hall of Deralia, threatening the king, leading to a quest series from World Walker->Wicard Oven->Lodagond (though World Walker was also to be expanded to include two more scroll fragment quests). Ideally, there'd be a main line quest that'd take you to near every map multiple times, to give you something else to work towards while you grind.

Greatguys is still working on the quest dwarfs for Oyster's map, that'll form the template for the dynamic quest system, which basically just sends you to random places to do random stuff for random rewards generated based on your max hitpoints, a few times per day.
 

Hush

Adventurer
MSC Developer
Alpha Tester
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Messages
118
Reaction score
12
I updated the lines with a more quest-like rather than a map-like approach, I guess this makes more sense.
You can take a look over here. Yeah, maybe i took myself a little too much liberties with that quest names, but they (and all the other stuff i am putting in here) are just suggestions, so... :wink:

Crow's original idea involved Maldora popping up in the Hall of Deralia, threatening the king, leading to a quest series from World Walker->Wicard Oven->Lodagond....

Changed that from my original quest idea -->my appraoch was that it wasn't Foglund, who enraged the bear gods, but maldora (which will be revealed after you finished skycastle). I guess I will let this in the lines aswell, maybe the idea is of some use.

Greatguys is still working on the quest dwarfs for Oyster's map, that'll form the template for the dynamic quest system, which basically just sends you to random places to do random stuff for random rewards generated based on your max hitpoints, a few times per day.

You are making me curious - would you post a little teaser what one of these "random rewards" might be or a little screeny from the underkeep, please? :)



Well, I guess I have to fill these quest names with life now - remember, I don't know nothing (or next to nothing) about the plans you might have with the upcoming maps like fyrefall, desert_temple or underkeep, so I am just doing some guesswork. If the ideas don't fit the theme of the maps, just scrap them.


TL;DR ---> just some random quest ideas, which might collide with the actual lore or the current ideas of the devs



human line


beginner quests
- just your regular beginner quests in edana and deralia (cider quest, book quest, slinker quest, rats in cellar of the inn etc.)

a traitor in edana
- basically the mayor quest, just highlighted it because it's "the beginning of something big"

dwarfish steel for helena
- Dorfgan needs some new dwarven steel to strengthen the weapon supply of helena, but neither he or the guards are able to leave the town, so he asks the players for help to get some steel from gatecity
- if the players agree, they will get a letter for Roland the smith of gatecity
- on their way back the helena they are ambushed by highwayman, who offer them some gold for the steel - now it's up for the players if they take the gold or bring the steel to dorfgan
- if they bring the steel back to dorfgan they get a reward (???) and he tells the players about some stranges sounds below the inn of helena --> this may lead up to the first quest in a "Khaz line"

the missing brother
- after holden joined the players in the thornlands he mentions his brother, who got missing some time ago. He wanted to join the guards in helena, but now is gone for a while. He asks the players, if they can help finding him
- the players track him down by asking around in helena (which leads to deralia), in deralia (which leads to gertenheld cape) and in gertenheld cape and will find him in the gertenheld forest, where he is fighting wolfes

the ring bearer
- starts with olof sending you to the haunted forest to look for his lost ring
- continues with the "bloodstone ring quest"
- may lead up to a quest where you find out more about olofs past and the source of his madness

erkolds family
- Erkold in helena asks you to find his wife an daughter, which are captured by orcs
- you can rescue one of both in a orc camp nearby, but it seems the orcs sold the other one to a sorcerer not too far away

up for some bear hunting?
- Foglund asks the players, after they reached a certain level, if they willing to join with him for some bear hunting in the lowlands
- if the players accept, he will tell them the route to his hunting lodge in the lowlands --> which starts the bear-gods-quest

a new mayor for edana
- after the evidence is presented to Edrin he tells the players a little later, that edana needs a new mayor and that the king of deralia has to be informed about that
- at deralia the lord of the land will not let the players inside the halls of deralia, because they are not worthy. They either need to get them a crest of deralia or need to do some dirty work by slaying a powerful orc shaman in the daragoth orc camp
- inside the halls of deralia, during their audience with the kind maldora appears and threatens the king --> leads to World Walker Series
- back from ww3d the king got a new problem with his daughter and the jester --> looks like the new mayor for edana has to wait....

the fabric of magic and time
- after the players met torwhodoc in helena and save old_helena with his help (again) he tells them that there are some more places in this world, where time and magic are getting out of hand and sends them a a enigmatic temple in the desert he calls aleyesu

troubled times
- during their stay in the halls of deralia the players are asked by a person in charge (kings advisor, general of the guards etc) to assist and visit some of the outposts, towns and expeditions which they haven't been heard of for a while...

familiy matters
- after meeting sylphiel in edana, helping her to brew her soup on m2_quest their is now her grannys hideout to explore, but what will be there to find?


elven line

they are rarely seen these days
-placeholder quest for the first encounter with an elf

a snake lord and his master
- basically the bloodrose map quest, but connected to the felewyn line due to the priestress on this map --> maybe this will lead up to more felewyn quests?

through the dark into the light
- the players way through the Melanion Ruins to Kray Eldorad --> not sure if another way through Eswen Sylen is planned

elfish pride
- an important elf (name and rank pending) is asking the player to negotiate with the Eshu-elfs, because the might need them as allies / want to resolve some differences
- the eshu are not that cordially to the players and tell them, that they first want a magical jewel, which the elves from kray took away from them and used to create the giant in thanatos
- will the eshu be more friendly and helpful after they got their jewel?

a dragons favor
- after the players prove worthy, they get access to the felewyn temple where Aeldorandorat is residing
- he tells the player the heard stories about other dragons here in daragoth and asks them to do some inventigation

nameless wall quest
- no ideas yet, sorry

dwarf line

a wee task to prove your worth
- the guard at the entrance to gatecity tells you to meet their mayor, because he needs some help with that goblin problem
- also the mayor sends you to kendra, which asks you to find her missing husband
- back with the rescued husband and the goblin chiefs head the players are ased by the mayor to get rid of that undead dwarven problem downstairs --> leads to "an axe made of gold"

an axe made of gold
- well, the golden axe quest, no spoilers here

a maverick in the cold
- the barkeeper Stein tells you about a dwarf who left gatecity and now might be somewhere on a snowy summit
- the players meet forsuth at ms_snow and aid him
- after the players dealt wih the ice bone lady, forsuth teels them about an old cursed dwarven mine not far from there (tundra)
- and maybe.... just maybe the players will meet forsuth again for one or two times...

deep into the mountains
- quests for the underkeep and the new mine maps go here
- also, if fyrefall is somewhere over there, this might be the connection of the dwarf and the Khaz line (if what i heard is true, and fyrefall has some cultists in there)

behold that dwarven craftmenship
- well, quests that are related to the temple series by Regorty might end up here


Maldora line

the evil mind behind this
- after the player encountered Maldora in the halls of deralia or get aware of his name and whereabouts at skycastle, to search him out at wicardoven

traces of a mad wizard
- the images of Maldora are gone, but what is it all about?
- the players are gathering informations about him and learn about his flying fortress Lodagond, the allies he tries to gather (the dragoons for example) and get (or forge) an magical items, which allows them to eter his flying fortress

meet me in my flying fortress
- basically the lodagond map series
- connects to the Shad line thanks to Voldar

a magical crash site
- inspired by the "Beta Worldmap thread"
The Ruins of Lodagond (not on map): This is the resulting crash site of the Lodagond fortress. Intention was to take bits of Lodagond1-4, and scatter them across a map made up of burning crevices. Lots of surviving beasts crawl out of the ruins, and possibly from the mountain it smashed into as well, and are in need of a clean up crew (namely, the players).


Khaz cult line

a strange cult
- after dorfgan sends the player down under the town of helena, the player encounter a strange cult which consists of crazed robe wearing humans and some really scary monsters. what is it all about and do they really worship a long forgotten dragon?

they are everywhere
- placeholder for a quest where the player encounter the cult more regularly and learn more about it --> connects to the next quest in the line

a cult on the rise
- well, if fyrefall is really about khaz cult, then this map goes here

it get's hotter, we are getting closer
- the players are aware of a fortress inhabited by the Khaz cult
- after clearing it they step down the stairs into a dragon lair --> but is the red dragon really down there or will the players need to face one of his "latest attempts on immortality" first?


Shad Line

a once great mage (quest might be too hard for the first in the shad line)
- after the players restored the urdual title ring (see "are you the fool?") they encounter the remains of the once great wizard shaddahar in the nearby caves
- after dealt with his dry bones a passage to a opens to his legendary palace in the desert
- will this really be the last time they face that once so great wizard?

a vigorous orc tribe
- after getting deeper into that fallen urdual temple, the player encounter a mysterious orc tribe, with extensive magic skills and battle force - what are they all about? where do they came from?

an unusual ally
- starts after the players rescued Voldar from Maldora, leads to the Shaddahar orcs "palace hideout" in the desert and into their village around that old palace (if the players will choose to act friendly)

friends with tusks
- down in sorc_villa there are some tasks the players can assist the Shad orcs with:
- the crystal skull quest
- looking for an orcish expedition in the bloodshrine
- helping Thuldhar with exploring that desert temple


Felewyn line

restore it with order!
- there is an old abandoned chapel near edana - use the power of Felewyn to consecrate it in her name!

the missing priestress
- some time ago there was a priestress of felewyn heading out to a settlement in the bloodrose valley. she newer came back so it's up to the player to look for her --> connects to "a snakelord and his master"

an ancient evil
- basically the symbol quest around the fshard, maybe with a felewyn priest sending the players to the haunted forest

a great disturbance in the order
- there is a rumour that some of the blackhand orcs are desperate enough to make demon pacts to enhance their might
- the priest sends you to a nearby forest, but maybe this one shamane is not the only one who deals with the devils?


Urdual line

are you the fool?
- the players found an old urdual title ring with the name xyphemox on it - maybe an urdual priest knows more about that?
- leads to the (quite harder) quest "a once great mage"

the fallen temple
- the priest in the gatecity urdual temple tells the players about a fallen temple in the north
- as always the players don't hesitate to find out more abot that
- connects to "a vigorous tribe"

a great unbalance in the forest
- there once was a extraordinary figther for the balance, who built his castle in a nearby forest, but the forest got corrupted and so did the remains of this great person...

the remains of an Apostle
Idemark, once an Apostle to Pathos now vanished got a tower in parts. Because of all the free energy and magic around it is possible, that this place is now a host to great unbalance, so the preist asks the players to look around and, if needed, clear this place


Torkalath line

restore it with strength!
there is a fallen chapel nearby, restore it in the name of Torkalath! (counterpart to the first Felewyn quest, not sure if it is possible to create a different outcome for the players)

put an end to his reign!
- Deep inside the haunted forest are the ruins of the Lord Calrian. Pay him and his brother a visit.
- Lord Cal seems to get away in his ghost form, so we might see him again later?

the three dead giants
There are three undead giants allocated somewhere in daragoth. To prove your strength it is time to crush their undead remains and bring prove to the tork church

face your nightmares
- do you really think you stand a chance against all the evil in the world? look what the world will become if all of you will fail!
- maybe it is possible to hand over the player a certain items, which they can use to enter the nighmarish counterpart of the respective maps?

rewarding strength
- to create an mighty artifact of Torkalath the preist sends the players out to gather some ingredients on various high level maps consecutively
- what they dont know is, that one of the maps is actually more like a trap to test their might (nash), then a actual spot for finding ingredients


So far, so good. Yeah I know, some of these quest ideas are really "half-assed" (as thothie might call it), but maybe there are some who might prove useful. :)
 
Top