This is a thread created for the discussion of Quest threads, as well as sharing of advice and guidance for aspiring or current QMs.
Please do not shitpost, and please report any shit posters attempting to derail discussion or cause strife. This means avoiding tripfag drama or discussion about subjects such as 'make a board for quests'.
Useful links: http://pastebin.com/b5cN2RkK
This link contains numerous writing guides, as well as the addresses of quest related IRC channels.
https://twitter.com/Eisenstern/lists/quest-runner-directory
This is a directory containing the tweets of most current QMs. While a twitter is by no means mandatory, it is a useful tool for both you and your players. If you aren't on the list, post your twitter here and someone will make sure it gets added eventually.
>QM Question
Why did you start QMing?
>Player Question
Why did you start reading quests and what do you enjoy the most about them?
>>46272291
>QM Question
Why did you start QMing?
I browsed some shifty fanfic quest and hated so much that I thought I could do better.I then realized that I was worse at QM'ing and couldn't keep up with the update schedule I wanted to have because life is a bitch.
Hey, for anyone who's read Exorcism Quest, would you guys be potentially interested in a thread where I discuss the setting in a bit more detail? I've given some hints, but I figure I could at least explain the non-spoilery bits of the setting.
>>46272291
>Player question
A friend of mine was into MGNQ and wanted someone to talk about it with. I love reading and had been kind of short on material, so he linked me the ebooks and I binged it in a couple days, then from there got hooked on RE: Spider and Ryukuza, both of which got binged in a couple days, and finally started following a lot of different quests that had been currently running at the time. This was all about a year ago, but I figured if I was following a variety of quests then I'd always have something to occupy my time reading.
I was wrong, which led me to...
>QM question
Whenever I get frustrated with other people doing things, I decide I'll just do it myself. While I loved the quests I was reading, the update schedule left me wanting more, and since I also enjoyed writing, I figured I'd give it a shot. Worst case scenario, I'd still have something to occupy my time between following the quests I liked.
One year later, here I am.
>>46272291
>Player Question
Stumbled across Valkyrian Merc Quest while looking for VC stuff on suptg. Read the first thread, got excited, began reading quests.
What I love most is the combo of story and discussion. If I wanted to just read a story, I'd go read an actual book.
For those interested, an update on the Paladin of Avalon is up.
http://anonkun.com/stories/the-paladin-of-avalon/-JRvxJl3loGBg9Bo64XE/25-seekers/7nJaEpe86aer5Sn74
>>46272291
>why did you start reading quests
I'm into tabletop, and I enjoyed this dorf's adventures.
>what do you enjoy the most about them?
They provide some of the enjoyment of tabletop, but have an incredibly lower logistical overheead and general required time investment. Also you can drop out for a session or two without anyone noticing.
They're basically the only thing I can play while on-call.
>>46272291
>>Player Question
I was dicking around on /eagg/ on /vg/ and someone there was talking about Three Kingdoms Quest that had just started up. I decided to check it out on a whim and really enjoyed participating, getting me into quests.
>>46272291
>Why did you start QMing?
A quest of similar content that I was interesting in died an early death. I decided I could pull it off better and did so.
>Why did you start reading quests and what do you enjoy the most about them?
Bored one night and came across Game of Thrones quest, the first one. Ever since then I've been fan, and followed various other quests and archive binged on the 'all time greats'.
Review Anon WHEN!??
>>46272686
They're dead anon, let it go.
>>46272291
>QM Question
I moved away from my home town and dnd group. I was always into the story telling aspect of table top games and Quests seemed like they'd help fill that void.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to to muster up the courage to run the kind of quest I want to. I come here and pitch quest ideas and ask tons of questions, but still haven't really done anything with them.
>>46272718
;________;
But why? WHY?
Beleaguered Prince Quest is on again:
>>46272730
>>46272291
Shameless pandering for the end of my two shot quest.
>>46270130
Give it a read, it wont take long, I need to votes and you can tell me I am shit.
Well here's the Q&A thread because I don't have the time for a full out quest!
>>46272786
Learn more about the backstory and setting of Exorcism Quest!
Would anyone be interested in an international auxiliary language quest?
>>46268717
We're running mates, come give a look.
>>46272397
>A friend of mine was into MGNQ and wanted someone to talk about it with
Did you put your friend out of his misery due to his case of universally shit taste
>>46274097
He's australian, anon. Not even death could help him now.
How do i do DC whats the best way to do it like average of the three or best one of three ?
I miss Zodiac Knight Quest. Anyone seen the guy?
>>46274630
Highest of first three rolls.
Can anyone recommend a fun ongoing quest?
I'm not too into harem stuff or fanfic quests, I'm more just looking for an entertaining or even funny adventure.
>>46275309
Hyperdimension Dwarf Fortress is running right now. It has fun and adventure.
>>46275309
Have you been following Manticore? I'm a fan of that. Any of the RE: Monster Quests are pretty good, though I haven't checked out centipede.
If monster girls aren't your thing Overpowered Magic Quest can be very funny, if you manage to make it to one of the threads while they're going on.
>>46275557
>Overpowered Magic Quest can be very funny, if you manage to make it to one of the threads while they're going on.
Oh I'm always on time for those consideringI QM them
Monster girls aren't really my thing though, thanks anyways.
>>46275536
I'll check it out.
>>46275557
>monster girls
>good
>>46272291
> Why did you start QMing?
Curiosity rooted in the next answer.
> Why did you start reading quests
Hunter Command broke into my house, slammed my face against a desk, and went "READ MEGAMANS". I tried to protest, but after being tased for the sixth time I finally read the archive in like two, three days and now I writefag Megaman stuff and I've barely even played the games.
Months later, Nakaposter did more or less the same thing, except with pineapples in places where pineapples ought not go, and now I'm writing fuckin' fanfic for /that/ quest too.
> what do you enjoy the most about them?
Watching the writing and setting react to unexpected choices.
>>46275536
Why would you recommend that here, I don't want QTG shitposters.
>>46275649
>having a problem with monster girls
We doing this again?
>>46275672
Does QTG really bring in a lot of shit posters to quests? People always complain but I feel like people who like quests will find yours regardless of whether or not you post it here.
>>46275672
>>46275803
Arc finale of Valen Quest is up for any of my (four) players!
Your are an AI who house a small family in events of apocalyptic crisis.
The main goal is to keep the family alive for 1 year.
>>46275878
>>46275878
>>46275878
How important would you say character art is in a quest?
>>46276186
completely unimportant.
>>46275309
I only started playing recently, but I've been enjoying WrestleQuest. Usually runs weekday afternoons.Pic related, my face when I was reading the archive to catch up and some anons in a thread mentioned my old quest in a positive light.
>>46272291
>Why did you start reading quests and what do you enjoy the most about them?
Non mainstream RPG discussion was at a low and most other things were circlejerks or spam.
I enjoy the critical element of quests. The QM must keep things moving most updates and reveal enough cues to discern where the decisions go. For this, I'm not much inclined to improv sandboxes or SoL.
>>46274630
Highest of X rolls
Successes in X rolls
>>46276124
Death Among the Stars 40 is up!
Time to deal with some lizards that may or may not be the QMC's "cousins"
Speaking of dice, would people be interested in 'first three rolls' instead of highest of the first three?
As in like, the players roll d6 and the first 3 results form a 3d6 roll. It would have all the probability ramifications of 3d6 vs d20 of course, you'd need to tailor your DCs to suit, but how does that ~feel~ to you as a gut reaction?
>Player Question
Why did you start reading quests and what do you enjoy the most about them?
Zeonquest, Voidquest, Zergquest.
What did I enjoy? Players panicking and bickering as well as autisming and theorycrafting about the setting or certain plot points. Also autisming for solutions to problems and autisming over upgrades.
>>46275179
>>46277362
what is are the DC range if the quest is using d100
Pandora Quest 28 is up! Come on in and raise your robot daughter! >>46277753
(You are the head researcher at a government facility. Your sole responsibility is to teach the world's first autonomous AI, nicknamed Pandora, about life, the world and her existence.)
>>46277883
Whatever you feel is fair. Rolls will average around 75 if you take best of three, so base it around that.
>>46277801
I've seen it done where it's 3d10 added up for a dc of usually 15 and up and one where it was the average of 3d20.
Both felt alright and people were generally ok with it unless they were complaining that it wasn't the way other quests were doing it.
Which is a shitty complaint. While there are some standards to be met, those should only be for the quality of the writing as well as making it easier to know when things are being run/reading the archive.
>>46275730
Not really, no. If people wanted to shitpost quests they'd just search "quest" in /qtg/ and pick whichever one calls to them.
For those of you who remember HPQuest, I'm him. And, guess what? I'm running a campaign with my friends continuing the story twenty years after the events we quested here on /tg/.
Lot of shits going down in the quest. Just an update for those who enjoyed it. The characters are alive and having adventures!
>>46279559
Shit, man. If you decided to do a writeup of it and dump that shit I'd probably get around to finishing off the archives and then read it.Didn't stop because of drama bullshit, just sorta drifted off due to classes and then never picked it back up.
>>46279559
Is that the one that made a lot of people mad when the QMC was mindcontrolled or something? Good job at that.
>>46272291
So since /wqdt/ is taking place during the week these days, why not straight up bring back /qtg/?
>>46279616
I never actually followed the quest but I did follow vintage QTG drama.
HPQ was the one where the the protag had photographic memory but for some reason didn't recognize her own sister's handwriting. Later on the sister being the villain was the big TWEEEEEST and people got mad because the mc would have noticed it really early on.
So people got assmad and the QM came into QTG and made a two sentence long post more or less telling people to fuck themselves. It then got screencapped and turned into one of the first QTG memes.
>>46279667
It'll probably happen sometime this week.
>>46279730
Yeah, I remember the Donte the Questmaster thing, I just couldn't remember the circumstances that had led to it.
>>46279730
Speaking of QTG shitstorms, I miss when ego was on here passing people off in mass via his railroady retardation, and he simply couldn'the learn after a trillion quests.
>>46279730
You have the screencap? I'm curious.
Would /tg/ be interested in a quest where you hunt exotic magical creatures so that their body parts can be used to make magic items?
>>46279866
Literally Totemist Quest.
So yeah probably.
>>46279875
I need to read that one of these days.
>>46279866
There have been several very popular quests with that, or something similar, as a main feature.
What do you think?
>>46279875
Oh, is it?
Fuck well I don't want to overlap with an existing quest. I'll wait until it ends.
>>46279947
Totemist Quest has run on and off for the past three years. Just run your quest.
>>46279936
Well what I THOUGHT was that /tg/ in general would be uncomfortable with hunting creatures that might be dubiously sapient.
>>46280000
Why would you think that?
>>46280000
Unless they are also waifus, don't expect anything that complex from your players. They'll just disappoint you.
>>46280016
Well, look at that blood-magic quest for one.
>>46280033
I dunno. I've seen /tg/ grapple with moral questions with shocking maturity.
>>46280079
Such things may happen, but if you go into a quest assuming it'll happen, they will disappoint you every time. Just be happy if it happens.
>>46280033
HUNT WAIFUS.
MAKE THEM INTO ARMOR.
CREATE SENTIENT ARMOR COMPOSITE ARMOR SUIT OF EVERY WAIFU.
FORGE YOUR IDEAL WAIFU FROM THE TROPHIES OF YOUR JOURNEY.
USE IT TO DO BATTLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S WAIFU ARMOR.
PROVE ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT YOUR WAIFU IS OBJECTIVELY THE BEST.
>>46280053
Ok yeah good point.
>>46280079
Depends on who you get for your playerbase honestly. Which depends on the subject matter too.
>>46280107
>We're a waifu
>In a world of waifu hunting
>We must become the apex waifu
>>46280107
Someone please run this.
>>46280107
>>46280252
>>46280260
I was planning on making a bit more subtle by throwing in some non-humanoid things to hunt, but if that's what you guys REALLY want...
>>46280107
S-stupid Onii-chan! It's not like I w-WANTED to save you from that hydra! She was just getting too close...and ran into my blade! Dummy!
>>46280289
I want sentient waifu armor adventures.
I want them as soon as humanly possible.
>>46280112
Face it, /tg/ has a tendency to avoid fights and try to diplomance their way through everything.
>>46280363
Tendency yes, but not always.
>>46279995
Real talk. Totemist is not going to be done any time soon. Run your quest.
>>46280557
Honestly, I appreciate the support but I'm not even close to ready to run yet.
>>46280363
for the vast majority of characters, trying to talk about things before you try to kill things is usually a pretty sane stance, though.
I mean, it's just pragmatic in getting through the day.
>>46280973
This. A lot of the time I vote diplomancer not because I'm conflict shy, but because I'm weighing the risk/reward of talking the situation down, and usually I come to the conclusion it would pay off better. Short term enjoyment sacrificed for potential long term gain.
>Check out quest
>See that someone modeled the mc in Blender
I like it even if it is incredibly unsettling.
>>46280557
>fourth anniversary of Totemist Quest
>a thread appears titled END OF THE PROLOGUE
>>46280973
>>46281129
So you're saying you'd be perfectly fine playing hunter who hunts creatures that are probably sentient and just can't speak English?
>>46281217
If that's the way society is in that setting and as a 'hunter' that's my job then yes I would be perfectly fine with it.
I don't self insert anon, I try to roleplay the character in the setting he is in.
>>46281217
really depends on degrees and reasons.
If they're huge dicks, then sure, I'll kill some orks.
>>46281217
I don't actually see what this has to do with the general statement that it is pragmatic to try to talk to things before trying to kill them.
>>46281210
It looks like it has downs.
>>46281217
I'm >>46281129
And to that, depends. I'd have to feel the quest out a bit first. I'm not the type that bitches about a quest I'm not into, I just don't play that quest. I DID like Attack on Pokemon Hunter Quest before it went to shit, and I was a fan/played of Orc Warlord for a good while, so it depends.
>>46281301
They're not especially dicks.
You just need their skin to make magic armor.
I need to be in a particular mood to do super vile stuff in a campaign (relative to my own usual morals), but I'm not gonna knock anyone who likes it. It's all just playing pretend.
>>46281497
Look, you're not going to be raping them, you're just going to be skinning them.
As a human god has given you dominion over all animals, even if those animals have languages of their own.
>>46281467
Well, that would make US the dicks, wouldn't it?
>>46281557
yeah, like the other guy says, you have to be in a certain mood to play an evil campaign.
You might get a few bites regardless, though. Statistically, SOME people have to be in that mood at any given time.
>>46281642
Nah
You're just claiming your god-given birthright.
>>46281682
well, see
>>46281674
Only sometimes do I want to play raider-quest.
>>46281712
This is much closer to the response I expected in the first place.
>>46280000
I don't understand why this seems so difficult to you. Just make the creatures HATE humans. Like, they are clearly intelligent, but their intelligence is used solely to inflict pain.
For instance, one titanic beast will wait for a dying mother to try and crawl over to her child before crushing her baby, so that she'll die know her kid suffered.
Or point out that they attack human settlements not because they can't survive elsewhere, but because they enjoy eating and killing humans.
It's like the cockroaches of Terra Formars. Those creatures are highly intelligent, but they hate humanity the way we hate roaches.
>>46281765
yeah.
If you're going to write it as us clubbing some guys who didn't do anything like baby seals, then the appeal is going to be understandably a lot smaller.
>>46281814
Alternatively, make it all part of the spectacle. Like, if you're a big-game hunter, part of the appeal is getting through darkest africa to hunt the Great White Tiger. You have to deal with the superstitious and untrustworthy natives, the White Tiger Cult, and those strange ruins that moan with the voices of the damned at night.
Fortunately, you brought plenty of tea.
>>46281765
No offence, but that's way too clean cut. No species universally hates another species.
I want the things you hunt to be, on average, no more malicious than you are.
Which, to be fair, you ARE hunting them for supplies.
>>46281959
I'm personally fine with that - After all, we kill plenty of relatively harmless prey animals, like buffalo. I don't think there's any moral ambiguity involved either way.
Would anyone be interested in a Translator Quest?
>>46281959
like, okay.
What magical power do other creatures get for killing and skinning a human?
>>46282049
They would acquire the human's appearance and memories, becoming like a doppelganger.
>>46282108
And I assume they do this practice to other types of creatures as well?
>>46282033
I dunno, how do you plan on making it work mechanically?
>>46282049
In this setting, humans have no magic of their own, so usually they're just dinner.
>>46282033
See
>>46282168
/tg/ likes to flex its true brainpower once in a blue moon, and those can be really cool moments, but most of the time...eh. You're gonna have to keep the baseline stuff relatively simple.
>>46282168
>>46282232
I'm not sure yet. I was just wondering if the general concept had any interest.
>>46280000
Depends on whether you attract the HFY shitters.
>>46280107
This has been a concept for as long as QTG
We need a Lord Inglip Quest!
>>46282033
No.
It will be super fucking boring if the MC just translates shit.
>>46282429
Vaporwave Magical Lord Inglip Girl of Everyday Monsters Quest?
>>46282269
It would depend a lot on the setting. Are we part of a merchant house, wheeling and dealing? A minor official in a royal court who exploits the possibilities of slight changes or ambiguities in translations to push his agenda and advance his career? A monk good with languages and no other skills hired to follow an adventuring party and interpret for them as they ride to fight an ancient doom? These would all be very different yet could all conceivably bear the same title.
>>46282567
Being a scheming translator for corrupt nobles is fun.
>>46282581
Monstrous Musical Magician Quest?
>>46282613
Possibly the second.
>>46280079
There's an equal chance that they'll take the mature themes and turn it into a sufferingfest where half the playerbase is actively playing to lose and the other half is swanning around about how they are doomed to fail.
See: Joker Quest.
>>46283151
I don't want to make a quest about suffering, I want to make a quest about a non-magical human finding new magical creatures and killing them.
Is that too much to ask?
>>46283151
...Wat.
>>46272291
I'm just starting as a DM and came up with a list of possible ideas, http://pastebin.com/iPpN6CcW are these too generic or need to be expanded upon.
>>46283178
Not really. Just saying, don't make any assumptions about the playerbase, and if you really want to reinforce [thing] you need to be good at baiting the hook so that /tg/ thinks it was their idea to make the quest about [thing] in the first place.
Basically, odds are good that they'll default to either murderhobo or paladinfag unless you specifically lure them away from either option.
>>46283266
These are
um
Well, they're really good, but they're actual quests, like the sort you'd make for your party in an RPG.
This general is about Quest threads, which are group-controlled choose-your-own adventure games with a GM instead of a book.
>>46283249
Joker Quest gonna Joker Quest.
It's edgy as fuck, but I say that in the nicest of ways.
>>46283309
This is what happens when people take the "this thread isn't for tabletop games" part of the OP paste.
>>46283309
Alright, thanks. From your experience is having a player controlled/driven quest line a better DM style?
How does /tg/ feel about quests blatantly copying concepts from established IPs and using them as core mechanics for an otherwise original setting?
>>46283463
Definitely not at the start where people are trying to get the feel of their character. After that, it depends on your players. Unless they are very innovative and enjoy being active more than reactive, the GM should drive the plot.
You can give the players a chance to take control, just be ready with a clear plot hook if they start to flounder.
>>46283559
For the most part no one cares. Some autist may throw a fit, but if you ignore them they'll shut up pretty quick.
>>46283559
Do you mean something like "these are robots that can turn into vehicles" but for an original setting, or more like "this is a light key sword chainsaw that kills xenos and the darkness monsters and is wielded by space templar"?
>>46283561
Alright thanks man. I'll do that.
>>46283599
Two quests I want to run are in the former (NotZoids in a mech quests and basically Stands in a comatose/dream quest respectively), while the third is effective the Holy Grail War system stripped of everything Nasuverse that isn't absolutely required to keep everything together.
>>46283711
Not-Zoids sounds cool. Lemme hear a pitch on that.
I'm not a quest fag, and I only showed up here because quest wasn't in the subject line so it was auto-hidden.
But I gotta say...
I really miss Cultist Quest.
>>46282700
Demolish My Heart! Magical Girl Bulldozer Quest?
>>46280079
[Citation Needed]
>>46283151
Hell, even in less serious quests like Hero Quest Rena they STILL fuck it up.
>hey, here's a girl who's had her eyes ripped out by our alternate dimension evil twin and was possibly also raped by her
>LETS GIVE HER A BIG OL HUG AND TELL HER IN THE VOICE OF HER TORMENTOR HOW EVERYTHING IS OKAY
>>46283725
In a post modern world VR technology has given birth to the MARS ARENA video game, a thinly veiled mech training program featuring robotic vehicles of varying shapes and sizes, spawning an international contest of skill. The PC, a random neckbeard who practically lived at his local arcade, is invited to join the tournament to represent Seattle, WA with the choice of one of four MARS:
>Human like Mech type
>Wolf like Beast type
>Tank like Artillery type
>Jet like Flight type
Note: MARS stands for Mechanical Armament Robotics Suit
>>46283850
DLQ's dealt with relationship problems, grappled with the right to die, dealt in vengeance, justice, and forgiveness, and the right to choose vs. one's duties and family, all with a fairly minimum amount of shitstorming and stupidity.
Hell, the first person we really spared got into it knowing This Is Not An Exit and realizing that part of her punishment for being a bad person is having to live with it when she's become a better one.
>>46283875
That's hilarious.
>>46283875
Though in that case, Rena actually is a moron in-universe.
>>46283151
>where half the playerbase is actively playing to lose
L&M. Nobody in the Quest is actively trying to lose. The players are just idiots and the setting is unforgiving, making sure that all of their fuck-ups come back to bite them on the ass.
Snakecatcher is like Little Shop of Horrors
Except Seymore fucks the plant
This is my opinion as an archive spelunker.
>>46284946
Half of the players don't even know how half of the guns work.
Also
>JokerQuestOP @JokerQuestOP
>Jesus Christ, I cannot believe this. My sincerest apologies, but a relative has been involved in a car accident.
How often does this shit happen to him?
>>46282567
>>46282668
Actually, maybe you could use Dan Abnett's word magic, which crops up in Ravenor, Pariah and so on. Enuncia will fuck you up.
So i caught up to Shinigami Quest yesterday and asked myself why there were so few players even thought the writing is fantastic.
Then i realized that the MC is always going to be an irrelevant weak shit because of how the universe works, and it's even worse now that we've acquired a "sister" that's basically us+10 and will make us totally useless, since she also in all probability possesses the same skill that makes us useful to the universe.
Like right now we're getting attacked/invaded by amenos grandeand we can't do shit since our Reiatsu is basically on mook level, and we can't make it any better.
>>46286430
Sounds interesting.
A protagonist who cant git gud in a git gud world.
Gonna give it a look.
>>46286450
I would not call it interesting, merely frustrating. If we ever get into a fight against someone with the same stats but just one level higher reiatsu, that person has double our everything since in quest reiatsu acts like a multiplier.
The little "sister" just makes it worse. It's literally like "Oh we sealed her power cause her IMMENSE POWERS would harm you even thought she's like 10 and you're a trained shinigami yeah that's how much better then you she is lol get rekt. Oh and don't use your full shikai around others or you might get rekt by soul society good luck lol."Fuck i'm salty, but it's so sad that a good written quest makes it impossible to ever impact the major overhanging plot cause of our weakness. If we ever get into a large fight against a major enemy we'd just get rekt by spiritual pressure alone. And training in the quest takes literal years to advance 1/3'rd of a level.
>>46285536
That is...remarkably accurate.
>>46286506
Feed me, Cennen
>>46286503
That's actually pretty accurate to Bleach. I mean, it's also why Bleach is awful but you can't fault a fanfic Quest for hewing to its source material.
>>46286503
The MC may be weak, but his Shikai is practically made for playing it smart. Like, he has a power that shoots his attack strength up to eleven, a power that lets him spam Kido without risk, a sniping power, and a power that lets him pretend to be a mini-Magneto. He's not exactly great, but he's not that bad, either.
>>46286533
Except that we get tired after like five minutes of fighting. And we can't do shit about it cause our reiatsu is so shit.
>>46286514
Cennen is both Seymour and that guy who wants to take clippings of the plant and spread it everywhere.
>>46286430
>>46286450
s it being run by the idiot who ran Princcess Guard Quest?
>>46286819
No idea, who ran Princess Guard Quest?
Mushroom runs Shinigami Quest.
>>46286819
...Why would you even assume that?
>>46286851
Low-power MC in a high-power setting was probably the single worst part about PGQ. Not that guy, but I guess I can see the comparison.
>>46286903
I'd not mind the low-power MC in a high power setting, but the fact is that we keep getting into fights. If we'd just investigate shit it would be alright, but every mini-arc we get in to a fight and always resort to "lol just snipe em" or "lol just rely on current-arc-ally."
>>46286942
If that ever led to a sound loss I might have a problem with it, but it doesn't. We typically scrape by at very worst.
It's not exactly my speed, but the low power doesn't really strike me as a problem.
>>46286851
Because it's the same scenario as PGQ. A 10 year old girl has more magical power than the MC and he gets his ass kicked by everyone, making him the most worthless guard ever.
>>46287008
What was the deal with PGQ anyway? I know it had a lot of drama about a duel but what else was it's deal? I've tried archive-binging it but it's not easy.
Since I'm going to run a quest in a relatively high-powered setting with a low-powered but capable MC, are there any incredible pitfalls I should avoid at all costs?
For further reference the MC isn't powerless, they just don't have incredible wizardly might to rely on in a the period of history where the setting is experiencing the side effects of high octane magical politics.
>>46287141
Glacial pacing, an MC who was literally useless next to the rest of the cast, lots of waifu shitstorms, and a rival who literally was not allowed to lose and who had one of the most overpowered weapons in the setting dropped into his lap.
It was pure pain to play, so I stopped.
>>46287408
Very simply, don't make the villains stupid. Make them smart.
You know how the pilots in Heavy Object are dumb, and a lot of villains in Rationalist fanfics or LNs are really fucking stupid? Don't make them stupid.
The Smilers in Joker Quest are an example of a smart villainous faction. Technically, all of Academia City is one in that Academia City Quest we had. Don't play down their intelligence.
>>46286430
>>46286503
Thank you for reading and for the feedback! I understand where you're coming from and I'll try to address your concerns in the near future!
>>46287619
Don't forget the style of the quest itself and how choices were portrayed and carried out.
That through me for a loop when archelon clarified them, in a "that seems very counter-intuitive to the sort of setting you're running!" way.
I got out early though, so I'm ignorant of what happened in the last 2/3rds of the quest.
>>46287689
Mushroom, I don't dislike your quest or anything, but I'm going to steal the way you talk to your players for a pragmatic type villain in the quest I'll run. Nothing personal, just inspiration.
>>46287689
Like, i find your writing phenomenal but it's just so sad being entirely powerless when it comes to anything that matters. Our pitiful reiatsu means that as soon as we go up against someone that's not shit-for-brains we'll just have to chase them leading to us getting tired and then getting rekt.
Thread in 40 minutes. Picking up my parents at the airport mid thread, so there's going to be a break in the middle there
>>46287736
I understand! I'm really grateful to you for speaking up about the things you dislike. The stakes will be steadily climbing up from here on out, and Ryouta will have to keep up! Again, thanks for reading!
>>46287722
I don't understand!
>>46287807Will there be some kind of "The One" subplot where we gain power by killing our clones?
>>46287807
>I don't understand!
Alright, I can attempt to clarify.
I had this vision for a villainous magic user who attained their status among peers by being gracious and kind to hide his intentions to gain the utmost powers and the support to design the framework for his rise to power. However, even after building what he wanted and all the betrayals that followed to retain what he built all for himself and stealing the power of others he still retained his manner of behavior and speaking. Unfortunately I didn't quite know how he would speak, I had rough drafts but nothing solid and no particularly great references to draw from.
But now your speech is his, thank you.
>>46287141
The QM had very specific ideas about what he wanted the quest to be, and the setting was pre-established in something else he made and so wasn't really designed around /tg/ being able to get hold of it.
End result was this high fantasy setting with interesting nations and plenty of opportunity for exploration and experience... That the MC wasn't allowed to touch, because he had to play the role of pet to a bunch of superpowered princesses.
It sort of alleviated towards the end when the MC did actually become sort of a badass, but most of the players had already left by that point.
The midpoint was the duel and it was the biggest clusterfuck imaginable, where all of these problems came to light. The MC's rival, who up until now had basically been portrayed as an arrogant tosser who didn't have a chance in hell against the MC pulled a god-weapon literally out of his ass that essentially ensured he absolutely couldn't lose, even though /tg/ went on to pick most of the right options and roll incredibly well for the majority of the fight.
But the real kicker was that the QM had previously stated that there was absolutely no chance of the MC ever obtaining such a weapon, and kept going to great lengths to tell everyone how half the NPCs he met could squash him with a thought.
>>46287688
The Smilers are a mixed bag.
On one hand you have Bell Zypher and Rust Kaiser who are both fucking retarded, butWhite Jokerand Pazazu were both playing the long game and pretty much succeeded in all their plans because the MC couldn't work out what was happening.
>>46287956
>On one hand you have Bell Zypher and Rust Kaiser who are both fucking retarded*wereBell Zypher's death was one of the edgiest things to happen in questing, prove me wrong.
>>46287881
Well, I'm glad to be of help! I guess!
Do you know what your Quest is going to be called? I want to root for that Mushroom Wizard.
>>46287870
Are there other clones around? I wonder!
>>46287978
There was that character that cut the world around him with his very own edginess. Does he count? His name was something of moons and blood.
>>46287956
>The Smilers are a mixed bag.
That has less to do with intelligence and more with most of their strongest members not even wanting to be part of the faction, but being forced to out of necessity or helplessness.
>>46287990
I'll know one day, maybe.
>>46287141
Don't know about you guys, but thread 35 of that was amazing.
reminder that https://warosu.org/tg/ exists, and you don't need to flood the archive with shitty threads (which now seems to be growing by one page every TWO DAYS)
>>46288198
Cause you really need to archive your 'That Guy' threads and '40k Scenario, What do?' threads huh?
>>46287774
>>46288201
And we are live
Gah, sometimes I hate that I'm a grammar Nazi. Tried to read through the archives of your quest and had a hard time dealing with the errors.
>>46288470
You get a superpower unlock if you read enough of any specific QM's threads for long while though.
You get to identify where else they post on the very particular grammatical mistakes they make that don't happen to be common with many other posters.
It doesn't always work, but it's neat when it does.
>>46287688
>. Don't play down their intelligence
But it leads to a constant Frodo moment where we go, "Why don't the villains obliterate everything and us off the bat" or, "Can't we coke the fuck up on every upgrade everywhere forever and be godlike?"
How do I deal with that problem, and what other quests have smart villains?
>>46288790
Make the villans plan not being destroying everything? Maybe the villan wants control over the market in the capitol and uses underhanded means to get it. Boom, you can make your villan intelligent.
>>46287956
Those two had NO plans. They were dumb muscle with useful powers.
>>46288809
"Why haven't x villains taken over y incompetent weak faction yet, or utterly destroyed them?"
"Why havent so and so powerful people and factions obliterated said villains yet?"
>>46287978
It was hilarious. It's just such a dick move.
>>46288846
What happened to the dude?
>>46288822
Make them unable to? I mean, just because a villan is smart does not mean they do not have flaws. Say there are two villans with territory next to each other. The SMART thing would probably be to ally and claim more territory together, but because they're both smart and prideful assholes, they won't. Think Twyin Lannister from GoT.
>>46287688
>The Smilers in Joker Quest are an example of a smart villainous faction.
Except for pillar bow guy.
He's not smart. Very not smart.
His character arc is that his best buddy got killed, but his attempts at vengeance are so pitiful that the MC (and the players) constantly forget why the fuck he even hates them. Note that said friend was a major villain in the story.
Joker tried at least twice or thrice the same scheme of "we don't have to fight! I'm not a bad guy! What did I ever do to you?" because he constantly forgot.
It's kind of depressing, but also fucking hilarious.
Oh, right, his name was Calcite Arrow.
>>46288872
It was a girl with a brother.
Said brother was an unstoppable juggernaut of hatred, transformed into an inhuman raging mess by the villain faction. Basically, the epitome of dumb muscle.
She was the only thing keeping him sane and all she cared about was him. Killing him would have been a mercy and otherwise she was an amicable person (aside from stealing our wallet once), but this topic caused her to be our enemy.
So, fast forward to one of the latest fights, she and her brother were opposing us. Joker gained a shiny new ability of "switch places with any person in the room".
First thing we do with the ability? Bait her brother into doing an obliterating strike on us. Then switching places with his sister.
tl;dr we made the most important person in her life, the guy for whom she was the only thing he cared about, kill her. Oh and absorb her soul, because that's how kills in the setting work.
Then we needed to euthanize him with a black hole, because he kinda hulked out and became invulnerable.
>>46289347
Christ. That's pretty fucked up.
>>46289373
To be fair, our tactical options were kind of limited and they were fighting on the side of people who had just abducted our girlfriend and made her a host for an eldritch abomination.
And stolen our best piece of gear. Fuck the White Joker.
>>46288790
>>46288822
Although I asked the high powered setting question I know how to avoid this sort of thing with villains in PnP campaigns.
Don't just have villains, have fleshed out characters vying for different aspects of the world with different means and methods, different motivations and different reasons and desires. Even if all the possible antagonists are underhanded in some way they're not all underhanded in equal measures, they're also not fighting in the same ways. Some will use popular support, some juice their soldiers with magic water & gin, some manipulate their allies, some have a hard on for realpolitik and happen to be good at it, some keep trying but only fail but fail in ways that make stopping them from trying a very good idea.
The idea is that the systems and the world itself are uneven, imperfect, and that people can't get anywhere close to absolute power over anything without also gaining some serious flaws.
Most of the villains players have liked have a mix, so make any probably antagonists have variation in their personalities and methods. And also make them strong, detailed characters. Antagonists don't necessarily auto-succeed if no hero is around to stop them, either.
Keep in mind though that not all antagonists are necessarily that way from the beginning. A choice can lose you an ally that comes up later on the enemies' side. Helping someone who intends to betray you might change their mind, and vice versa.
Maybe your players will agree with someone's POV who was going to be an antagonist and operate as though they're acting for the greater good and work with who might have been their worst enemy. If you've got the prep for it you'll just need to pit them against the goal the antag was going for.
Either try writing up a bunch to find what kind of antagonists you like or look at antags that you already like. And if you feel really creatively strapped,Skeletor is always an option.
>>46288790
Give them limits, duh.
>>46288790
Hive Queen Quest has some very smart villains.
One of them nearly tricked the playerbase into taking an action that would have enabled them to take one HUGE step towards succeeding in their political goals, and just a couple anons caught on quick enough to point out how the best choice was doing nothing at all.
If you wanna know more about it read the quest.
>>46289616
>One of them nearly tricked the playerbase into taking an action that would have enabled them to take one HUGE step towards succeeding in their political goals, and just a couple anons caught on quick enough to point out how the best choice was doing nothing at all.
God I remember that. Once they pointed it out I couldn't 'second' their vote fast enough. It was close.
>>46289616
>read a dead quest
No thanks.
>>46289636
Most of the quests you read will be dead one day.
If something was good there ain't no reason to learn from it's successes for inspiration, especially if you wanna run a quest. Most of the good quests that have run ARE dead.
But if you were looking for something with smart villains to participate in I understand, you will have to look elsewhere.
>>46283876
>Zoids anon never replied
Did I fuck up the pitch, or am I just being an impatient newfag?
>>46288822
Don't make allies weak and incompetent, either. Disadvantaged, sure, but no one wants to babysit retards
>>46289811
> Disadvantaged, sure, but no one wants to babysit retards
Lemmings Quest when?
>>46289837
Isn't that essentially Joker Quest, but with more Jokers?
>>46289837
Lemmings Quest would be trying not to jump off a cliff while other characters are herding you towards the cliff
>>46289837
Princess Guard Quest
This time you're an overpowered princess trying to stop your pet Reinholio from killing himself.
>>46290090
>'No Reinholio, you can't fight that man. He has a sentient sword.'
>>46289918
I meant more in the vein of the Lemmings videogame from back in the day.
>>46288790
Banished Quests' villain is an insane mage just going around fucking up as much shit as possible.
The world is ramping up to destroy itself as a direct result of his actions and he's totally unrepentant in this.
He's a manipulative fucker too, and borderline sociopathic in his lack of empathy.
>>46290135
>That 10 year old would slaughter you, Reinholio, please go back to your corner.
>I'll even set up some relationship flags for you to play with if you're a good boy.
>>46290477
>No Reinholio, this time your backstory doesn't have some contrived PTSD towards contact with woman due to a random critfail, you can actually use those flags I gave you.
>>46290509
>"But the flags are on the landmines, princess."
>>46290315
Just pretend I had a gif of a little :^) slowly growing larger forever to bless this post with.
>>46290597
Okay he's a good dad, I'll give him that.
>>46287008
>making him the most worthless guard ever.
That's literally the role of guards in every fantasy setting. A guard QMC that did more would be weird.
>>46290690
It's interesting to think about how in Quests that lack a clear antagonist often have the most likely antagonist be the MC or someone close to them.
>>46290885
So if I want to run a villain protagonist quest all I have to do is give my players freedom and no true antagonist?
>>46291350
What if the enemy were Freedom, Justice and the American Way?
>>46291367
In that case just have something bad happen once because an NPC didn't do what the players said and watch them go full dictator. Works every time.
>>46291395
Playing a tyrant with too many enemies to handle could be fun. Everyone would be restricted in how openly they could move, because they don't want to set off a civil war without knowing that they have the majority support. Until some crazed ideologue son of a bitch comes in and just starts wrecking everything.
If I were to make a Valkyria Chronicles Quest which game would you prefer it be more like?
>>46291846
First or third. Both are similar enough, and the first was the original deal for why anybody liked VC in the first place
>>46291846
1 or 3. Fuck the setting hits all the right points for me, wish we'd get something in the Empire or Federation.
>>46291886
>Empire squad
>Every character has 'Darcsen Hater' potential
>>46291846
First.
Second is outright cancer
Third tried to fix it but it was infected by the stupidity of the second, hence all the stupid sword crap.
>>46291916
>Fictional Jew Remover Quest
>>46292155
>Get beaten by Calamity Raven
>>46291846
I've never played these games or know anything at all about them but even to me that second pic looks hideous compared to the others.
>>46292812
Good. It means you recognize evil when you see it.
>>46292812
Turn-based strategy game where you control each soldier individually in third person during each turn and manually aim at targets and shit.
>>46292914
Also, dieselpunky WW2-ish JRPG
>>46292812
The first and third are set in Not-WWII about a ragtag band of soldiers coming together to defend their homeland from an invading empire.
The middle one is basically a high school anime.
>>46292927
You can't really call it a JRPG. More like it has RPG elements.
I hate JRPGs and liked this game. Even if I didn't get far with it because it was borrowed.
>>46288536
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Who am I?
>>46290885
I like quests with morally ambiguous antagonistic villains. Not like Hollow Quest where the MC was just blatantly evil, but like Banished and Joker where the MC just does their own thing and somehow ends up at the top of everyone's shit list.
>>46292993
I totally have no idea, and you can trust me when I say that.
>>46292952
>The middle one is basically a high school anime.
complete with obligatory swimsuit episode
It sold so poor SEGA didn't bother porting the third to US/Europe
PSP really isn't a good choice of medium outside of nippon either
>>46292972
Maybe not truly RPG, but it does have a lot of the trappings and design choices.
>Enemy soldier faces are all covered
>Heroes don't wear helmets
>Customized clothing
>Extremely unsubtle 'war is hell' theme
>Anime character archetypes
>Evil overlord with powerful female subordinate
>Beach episode
>Infantry armor even in WW2
>No uniforms have practical colors
>>46293043
No I can't. I'm going to imitate you now.
:^)
>>46293074
And now they're making a sequel, which seems to have been drinking a bit too much of FF15
I was going to post that if I was ever going to run a quest about Valkyria Chronicles I'd make it about Radi Jaeger post-VC1 because doing a liberation from occupation quest as a badass tank dude would be fun, but I think he's in VC3 so, lol, there goes that idea.
>>46293078
That's more anime than JRPG.
For me, JRPGs tend to be recognizable because they tend to have incredibly impractical game mechanics.
Just look at the shitshow that is FF8 - A game with random encounters where you mustn't level if you want to play it properly. Naturally, the devs apparently never realized the fact that their levelling mechanic is broken.
And really, your first three points could just as well be anything else.
>>46293246
You know VC3 happened at the same time as VC1 right? Like, exactly the same time. Squad 7 and Squad 422 even work alongside each other.
>>46293218
>>46293119
>>46293074
Case in point.
>>46293267
Oh snap, I sort of did but I think it also explores Jaeger's liberating his home country in DLC or sommething
>>46293300
I sense the downfall of a once great franchise.
>>46293300
Why does that bitch have a lightsaber?
>>46293332
Two lightsabers in reverse grip.
It's maximum chuuni.
