Ramdom Quest like in DaggerFall

Old and generally outdated discussions, with the rare hidden gem. Enter at your own risk.

Moderators: Haplo, Lead Developers

Locked
Rubacant
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:26 pm

Ramdom Quest like in DaggerFall

Post by Rubacant »

This is a Kinda good idea.

Like in DaggerFall Dialogue you can ask people about work and they would tell you a Ramdom Npc that needs work or give you work.

Like Example Joe said Bob at the goat and sheep Inn has work or Joe could have work to.

We Could use about 70 Differnt Random Quest that are pertty small depending where you are City/Place.


Examples Transporting a Npc, Delvering Items, Finding Ingredients for a npc, Protecting a Npc from Thieves Burglars and Assassins, Saveing a Npc from Ransom, or just Cureing some one.


With this you will all ways have something to do or a
Basic level.
User avatar
Majra
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 1871
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2004 3:23 am
Location: Darvulk Haven Elsweyr
Contact:

Post by Majra »

I already sorta have incorporated something like that into the telvanni house. Basically, the trick around the logistics is to make little menial quest tasks that can be repeated with no specifics. IE, go find some ingredient X, or guard person B, etc.
R:6 I:22 N:30
Screw it, I'm back for sweet sweet TR

Uldar Gerzae: Expect no dodgeballs out of my arse. Though if something were to shoot out of me nether regions it mgiht be wise to dodge it all the same
Rubacant
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:26 pm

Cool

Post by Rubacant »

I like this idea. DaggerFall Was a very Deep game.

I want to add this to all the Npcs in morrowind to Give Work or to tell where to find it.
User avatar
Sload
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 6358
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:16 pm

Post by Sload »

I think that random quests should be used to an absolute minimum. I find that the "quest" part of the quest is far less important than the "background" part of it, and random quests don't have much background. For example, everyone seemed to have their own idea of what the "Malshok Bal" quest meant when it was in the ideas forum. It's really nothing more than "N says to go to A to retrieve X. X isn't there, so N kills you for not getting it." Is that much of a quest? No. But put into the "background" this quest is quite memorable. Another example is "The Dellusional Dunmer." "Take X to Y where X attacks you, when X is at 20% health, X forfeits." The background of this, however, makes taking X to Y into "Taking a dellusional Dunmer out of town so that you can enslave her for Master Mithras."

A random quest of "X says to get Y in Z time." is "Joe says he wants a skull from the Anderson Tomb within the next 5 days." A handmade quest of "X says to get Y in Z time." is "The megalomaniac incharge of Tel Uber demands that you get the skull of the long dead 'Master Kazam' from deep within the Anderson Tomb. If you don't do it within 5 days he will send his henchmen after you who will take you to Tel Uber and lock you on top of it unless you pay him 100 gold."

This isn't really a rant against random quests as much as it is a rant about the importance of background when making a quest.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabO_UXb6MM]This is not my life[/url]
Rubacant
Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:26 pm

Post by Rubacant »

Sload Lord like the idea. We should add ramdom quest like that. Have you ever played Daggerfall
Xui'al
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:21 pm
Location: Wastelands of Canada.

Post by Xui'al »

I love the idea, but the only issue I have is why would NPC's give menial tasks to the Nerevarine?? I can see this before the player fights Dagoth Ur or kills Almalexia, but after the player is the all pwowerful Nerevarine, are NPC's really going to ask him/her/it to go and gather herbs? If there is going to be any misc. quests, it should be faction specific, like going to heal suckers for the Temple, or gathering herbs for the Cult, or whacking bad guys/good guys for the Morag Tong etc...
'What if man is not really a scoundrel - man in general, I mean, the whole race of mankind - then all the rest is prejudice, simply artificial terrors and there are no barriers and it's all as it should be.'
User avatar
Sload
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 6358
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:16 pm

Post by Sload »

Rubacant wrote:Sload Lord like the idea. We should add ramdom quest like that. Have you ever played Daggerfall
Did you even listen to what I said? You simply can't make random quests with a memorable background. All you end up with are things like "Bill says to get him 5 sload soap."
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabO_UXb6MM]This is not my life[/url]
Saibot
Developer
Posts: 0
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:05 am
Location: Utah

Post by Saibot »

I don't like this idea. Sure you would always have something to do, but these quests would get old fast.
User avatar
presh
Developer
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2004 3:22 am
Contact:

Post by presh »

I agree, while I did enjoy Daggerfall the quests were often mindless. That is a strength of Morrowind, the ability to add incredible back stories. So I don't think random quests is such a good idea.
"Poverty is the worst form of violence."
-- M. Ghandi
User avatar
Nemon
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 2459
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: Bergen

Post by Nemon »

Eh, if we can add random quests as well as ordinary quests, then go for it. If some low level Dunmer asked me if I could do him a favor, even if it only was going next-door to buy some ingredients, then at least this Dunmer has more to him/her than the simple "Hello %PCName, how are you?".
SIGILLVM COMMVNITATIS DE CIVITATE BERGENSI
Assassinace
Developer
Posts: 811
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 10:56 am
Location: Dreamland

Post by Assassinace »

Actually a better way to do random quests is to set up a few conversation topics and if you meet requirements (person likes you x amount ect) then you can get a random quest from that person a few times. (Same with corrupt gaurds in x city) if the gaurds in some cities dislike you enough they will force you to do a menial quest or two and next time they see you if you don't have it done they arrest you. I think that sort of thing could add a little flavor to the game.
Basically dialogue random quest can be activated with a few parameters and then a random number picks which small quest you need to do. Do it by area and you could even link around small random quests.
User avatar
Garriath
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 402
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 1:34 am

Post by Garriath »

Also, guys, are you really telling me you thought that most quests in Morrowind were any more interesting or had a deeper backstory than a "Go get me 5 sload soap?"
User avatar
Sload
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 6358
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:16 pm

Post by Sload »

Who's side are you supporting, Garriath?

If you think that is a reason that our quests should be bad, listen to this. I assume you are familiar with our interior review process. Take a look at Balmora, Guild of Mages. Galbedir's desk has two "major" bleeders. There are three common chests which are the only non-Dunmeri things in the cell, and should be made Dunmeri. There is rich furniture used in one part with poor in the rest. I personally would've requested that the candle be moved out of the trees, as it looks like a fire hazard. There are some serious floaters in the lower room. While I admit this would get a good review, it would still need to be fixed before finally approved.

What's my point? Our work (with one major exception) goes through better quality check than Bethesda's. Therefore, we have no reason to have as low quality of quests.

I am, however, making some simple "Get this; take this." for map one as we speak. I am not, however, counting them in my list of what area needs quests, because they aren't quests. They're below quests, they're chores.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabO_UXb6MM]This is not my life[/url]
Vegor
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 2040
Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2004 4:11 pm
Location: No

Post by Vegor »

Actually, common furniture is perfectly fine because it's the Mages' Guild which is an Imperial guild and uses common furniture as well as Dunmer furniture, if in a Dunmer city.

A lot of NPCs on Vvardenfell have no background other than 'I am %Name, %Class'. I don't see how these random quests would hurt those characters. They are fill up to make it look like there's much more to do and it should give the player the impression that he's always able to find something to do somewhere. Of course, the major quests will not be quests like this and that's why people would play TR. The random quests are nice fillers, although there shouldn't be too locations where you can get them.
ThorFluff
Member
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: Ravaging through CS

Post by ThorFluff »

yes many small "random" quests are good, even if they'r just chores
but NO random generated quests or i will hang myself!
after 3 quests you see the pattern, it gets tiresome and COMPLETLY breaks the immersion
Works in Progress:
i4-17-Red ; The Fine Clothiere
i4-16-Red ; The Bachelor Pad
Finnished:
Ironbane ; The disintegrate armor spellbook
User avatar
Lud
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 2050
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:24 pm
Location: Ireland

Post by Lud »

I would kinda like this, but only on the condition that these chores are kept completly seperate from real quests. I don't think that these chores should cause a diary entry at all. It should simply be something like some druggy saying "i sure would love some skooma", and if you give him some he gives you money/item/dispositon increase, etc
"It’s all been such a mistake. We were once little shrew-like animals. That would be so much better."
-Ophelia Benson
User avatar
The_Warder
Developer
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2005 2:57 am
Location: Arizona
Contact:

Post by The_Warder »

I like this idea people always have something that needs to be done.But do not have people just come and ask you for help have a topic like ''work'' to click on that way
it is your choice.and maybe they wont trust you with it depending on the disposition of that npc.
User avatar
Gez
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 3020
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:40 pm

Post by Gez »

While I don't think you should get random quests over and over in the same party, I think that randomized quests (not that hard to do with the random100 function in dialogues) could make the game even more interesting for replays.

To take the Balmora Mages Guild as an example again, Ajira has only one dialogue where she asks you to bring samples of four flowers (gold kanet, stoneflower, willow anther, heather) to her. What if she had instead five different dialogues in which each time she wanted a different list of flowers? And then, upon starting a new game, you'd discover that this time she asks you to bring her black anthers and bittergreen petals instead of gold kanet and heather. (You'd have to use different journal entries, and different endquest dialogues, too, but that's minimal a hassle.)

Then you can be more ambitious. You could have someone who asks you to go fetch him some trinket (like a dwemer puzzle box) that can be in different dungeons (once again, it's chosen by random dialogues -- they all start disabled, and then each of the random dialogue options enables one of them). Maybe each of the trinkets is of a different sort, the questgiver may need the heart of a specific winged twilight, a very rare potion of vampire blood, and a few other similar ingredients for some sort of foul sorcery, and he already have them all save one. The thing is, each time the player accepts this quest, the one missing ingredient isn't the same. And you can imagine that the ways to obtain each of these ingredients would be different -- different places, different people to negociate with or fight, and so on.

Comparatively to fully random quests, those would blend more seamlessly with the rest of Morrowind, yet offer a different storyline for each game.
User avatar
Sload
Developer Emeritus
Posts: 6358
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:16 pm

Post by Sload »

That's actually a lot more complicated than you think, Gez. It can get really confusing in the dialogue editor, too.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nabO_UXb6MM]This is not my life[/url]
User avatar
DarkQuiksilver
Member
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:56 am

Post by DarkQuiksilver »

There was a mod released like this a while ago called CM_Minor Quests on Morrowind Summit. It adds quests like exterminating. Simple, but effective. You could ask the author if you could use that.
Why do our noses run and our feet smell?
Locked