Types of Quest
Go to Location
● Reach specific location
● Bring something to a specific location
● Complete an obstacle course
● Reach location while under negative status effect
● Get to location without taking damage
● Do any of the above before timer runs out
● Do any of the above first, among numerous competitors
Collect Items
● Find hidden object
● Find all X items in a set
● Catch a moving object
● Complete a shopping list
● Do any of the above before timer runs out
● Do any of the above first, among numerous competitors
Kill Monsters
● Kill X things before timer runs out
● Kill the most things
● Survive until timer runs out
● Survive the longest
● Protect object from monsters
Misc
● Take Damage from X source (to infuse a crystal with its energy, let me study its bite, etc)
● Toy Interaction (fire yourself from a cannon, play whack-a-mole, etc)
Quest Stages
Ways to start quests:
● In town, talking to NPCs
● In town, reading an email
● In the wilds, talking to NPCs
● At any time, from carrying particular items
● Always on, found inside of a journal (sorta like achievements)
What happens while quest is active (these can be removed if you abandon the quest):
● More/Less enemies spawn
● Specific enemies spawn
● You have a status effect of some kind (constantly take damage,
● Events are triggered in the world
Ways to turn in a quest:
● Automatic turn-in based on completing its requirements
Quest do’s and don’ts
1. The basic building block of a quest. This is only interesting as motivation to explore a new space. The same goes for “kill 10 rats” quests, which are only interesting as a way to learn to fight rats, or “collect 10 dandelions” as a way to learn how dandelions look.
2. To expand this idea into something more interesting, don’t add a new step to the quest chain. Instead, just add obstacles.
3. And keep doing that
4. You can add any number of mechanic types
5. While never altering the quest’s goal
6. DO NOT mix quest mechanics. Kill quests are not Collection quests. If you change mechanics, instead end the quest and make it a quest chain. Maybe offer a reward for each quest in the chain to keep players motivated, but allow a renegotiation of terms before you change a quest type entirely.
7. It is ok to require multiple goals within the same quest, though, as long as the goals are the same mechanic (killing a monster, for instance)
8. But DO NOT chain goals any more than 2 at a time. If you have 3 or more goals for a quest, allow players to reach goals in whatever order they like.
And if any of this sounds familiar, well…
