/qsg/ - Quest Thread General
You are currently reading a thread in /qst/ - Quests
This is a thread created for the discussion of Quest threads, as well as sharing of advice and guidance for aspiring or current QM's.
Older thread: >>73200
Useful links: http://pastebin.com/x6BqaJ7r
This link contains numerous writing guides, general advice, and various quest tools and communities.
https://twitter.com/Eisenstern/lists/quest-runner-directory
This is a directory containing the tweets of most current QM's. While a twitter is by no means mandatory, it is a useful tool for both you and your players. If you are a QM, simply post your Twitter here to have it added to the directory. Spamming your quest twitter with non-quest related tweets may result in its removal from the directory.
IRC Channels (half-dead):
[The Cabal] #QMC @ Rizon.net (slightly related to quests; enjoys worldbuilding, mechanics and politics)
[Hugbox] #ques/tg/enerals @ Rizon.net (barely related to quests; enjoys Larro quests and anime)
Discord server (going well so far):
https://discord.gg/0zE5SDpEB4RQRNyY
>QM question:
What do you if monkeys spoil your quests?
>Player question:
What is the worst quest you played so far?
The quality of quests so far dont are cool.
>>106218
>Time to shill
Genocide quest >>93296
A quest about the harsh realities of war, and one man's plight to deal with them.
About to engage in a massive conflict with the last update, feedback, suggestions, contribution all greatly appreciated.
>player question
Donut quest. Funny at first, but honestly terrible.
>QM question
can you rephrase the question? Spoil as in make filthy, or spoil as in reveal future events. Although iv experienced neither, but most likely would just ignore?
Sorry for being a faggot, but meta-threads are against the rules according to sticky.
>>106282
Someone said something similar before. Nothing happened. Also, the "test thread" still exists.
I'm looking to start a quest sometime soon, and I was hoping for some feedback on the idea.
My idea is sort of a mythological Norse quest, with the protagonist being from the modern era. He/She tries fighting back against a mugger, and ends up getting stabbed. Due to having technically died fighting, this makes them eligible for entering Valhalla.
Upon waking up there, they're surrounded by legendary Norse heroes, all training to one day fight in Ragnarok. The structure of the quest would fluctuate between trying to get the protagonist to not suck in combat quite so much, and training up a warband of sorts to go on merry adventures with.
So, does that sound like something that anyone would be interested in?
>>106282
>I'm one of the idiots who wanted you on this board and I want to make it impossible for you guys to keep this board alive so quests can be banned on /tg/ and here.
Get out.
>>106314
The premise sounds solid, but personally id wait until you posted it and a few responses to jump in.
Someone should make a quest based on this picture.
>>106324
That's fair, yeah.
>>106314
Deepnds on if the character goes to Odin or to Freya.
>>106314
I vaguely recall some pseudo-Ragnarok happening in a different quest, and the MC realizes he's the reincarnation of Odin or some shit.
This sounds better structured.
>>106218
Let the previous thread die before creating a new one.
>A faggot
Oh.
I miss Richard and his Cultural Evo Civ
Also the guy from the Jojo quest where we fought a bird and our stand was Hurricane something
Also the one where we were a penis shaped god creating the universo.
Also the post apocalíptic one whre you choose a class and we were once a pacewalker bugman and a spaceman and other things.
The only really good quest that survived this long as far as I remember/know is the date one (check it, is pretty cool)
>>106376
Fate one*
>>106336
Well, that would probably depend on whether the protagonist wants to be sneaky and magical, or buff and smashy. Being in Valhalla means being allied with Odin, at least initially, but that's not to say you couldn't leave and switch sides.
>>106247
With spoil i mean ruin the thread, sorry for my bad
english.
>>106412
in that case, yeah i just haven't been doing QM's enough to experience the situation.
so uh
I'm kinda afraid to ask but
is Crusty dead
>>106416
Hey you nigger, get back on that genocide shit
>>106433
I'm just over here during the voting periods.
generally takes 5 minutes for the first vote to pop after i drop an update.
>>106424
Everyone is dead, even if it is only on the inside.
>>106218
what are some of the best ways to have players choose between options? I've seen
>first to vote
>highest roll (of arbitrary number of rolls)
>first to a sum of rolls
>first to number of votes
Are there any more, and which works best?
>>106610
I use a selection of options, with Write Ins takign precedence and being accepted always. I tally the votes, and with certain smarter MCs allow the players to combine two choices or, in one exceptional case, as many as they deem needful).
I've always found rolling for options to be awfully arbitrary, and it really only works well in quests where the options are inherently not dangerous.
>>106646
If you use option selection with write-ins, then how do setbacks and failures occur? Without a rolling system, can there be an element of risk?
I have think, why the fucking hell this board is a creative board? dont suppose to be other?
>>106651
As the author the control is ultimately yours. You don't have to act strictly based on rolls. you can present people with less than favourable options that seem good on paper, but backfire in your update.
It really depends on the problem, and the options given to resolve it. Just think about your day to day life. Not all of your plans always work out how you imagine them right? is your main character smart enough to adapt on the fly? there's really to many variables to give a good answer.
You don't have to tie yourself down to any one thing. just be open to feedback and experiment,
>>106610
majority votes. always majority votes.
literally anything else is invariably shit.
>>106664
I was thinking of a system where you present a bunch of options, but with target numbers to beat, like this:
-------------
Violence (50)
Subterfuge (30)
Diplomacy (70)
Opt out
Other/write in
-------
Players pick one, I roll for it. Over time, "xp" would just be getting simple +1 or +3 bonuses to different rolls. So characters that like to use violence a lot would get lower targets for those options.
Is that too complex you think?
>>106651
The same way that they do in any RPG. The QM has to decide what and where and when they would be appropriate and how they works, and make it clear in their writing that such things can happen.In other words, invisible railroads.
In all truth, it's a style that only works in a quest where things are not cut and dried and easily defined mechanics. You can lay out simple, basic, 'follow this path to success' but ultimately those kinds of choice setups can be very boring. Sandbox style votes are harder to do well, but if you can do them, the players tend to be filtered down to the sort who can take a kick or a punch or even a failure and still move forward.
It is worth noting most successful quests run off of either a silk based rolling setup, or a sandbox style vote setup.
>>106681
presenting DCs beforehand encourages rollplaying and discourages independent thought. you'd basically be telling them the easy path to take by default.
I want to make my quest somewhat difficult, but don't want to include permadeath of the MC. My quest will be in more of an episodic format with MC going around and going something every once in a while.
Is there a good way to do this? Perhaps introducing a stat/level based system where you can't do certain quests unless you're above x level, and upon death you drop back to level 1? Or would that be really annoying to players?
>>106703
Crippling injury that can only be healed by giving up one of their next level up points or some kind of story element.
>>106703
Players take losses really hard. Certain playersVaelyswill shitpost in your quest and downvote the archives with bots if you allow the MC to fail or suffer consequences that aren't explicitly spelled out (which means the "correct" choices must be spelled out).
You have to decide how much abuse you're willing to weather until your players get the hang of how you run your game.
Just like TTRPGs really.
>>106703
The best thing I can think of (besides story reasons) to introduce a level of difficulty is if failure results in losing an item or tool. This means that every object the player can pick up has to have a high level of importance.
So instead of something like
>This sword deals 2 more damage than that sword
You'll need to make them interesting like
>This sword can set things on fire
>This spear can paralyze people
what happened to that /a/ quest where you stay with your aunt and her autistic daughter. It was getting good when MC brought a delinquent girl to a home dinner
So... status update? Is the board already dying? Has anyone heard whether quests are finally going to get pushed here from /tg/?
I'm sure I can make do, it's the not knowing that's irritating.
>>108146
As of yet, the board is clinging to a semblance of life, and quests are not getting shoved out of /tg/.Player base still sucks ass.
>>106703
Prosthetics are extremely common, and after each episode MC spends mula to get bits replaced. Skill/stats related to a limb get decreased and severely limited in growth.
You go through a lot of MCs.
You go through a lot of NPCs.
You go through a lot of mons.
MC has a strict number of lives that never increases.
>>106610
The most common choice is as >>106666 said, majority wins. It's got its downsides (for example, /tg/ often saw escalating attempts at samefag votes during particularly active threads), but it helps all the participants to feel like they're contributing.
First to X methods can discourage reading the whole update before voting. Highest roll can lead some to try to samefag in an attempt to vote again. First to roll within X range can lead to the results feeling very random; not necessarily a problem, especially for one-shot quests, but it can really start standing out the longer the quest goes on.
>>106692
>>106699
Well, the easiest path isn't necessarily the most ideal. For example, maybe negotiating with or bribing some thugs is easier than fighting them, but that could lead to them being a continued nuisance for the MC or allies in the future.
>>108209
I've been considering a dice voting system focused around doubles.
Roll 2d3
double 2s count as 2 votes
double 3s count as 3 votes
all others count as 1 votes
votes are additive
not really seriously tipping the balance, just a quirky thing to take passive amusement on.
>>108241
What's the actual purpose of your dice rolling system?
>>108259
what?
make a vote sometimes more than 1 vote. Some people just like rolling dice, so even the voting process will be entertaining for them, even if it's shallow. Don't tip things too far such that people stop wanting to vote once a high number is rolled.Encourage people to stop and read other people's write-ins since they're waiting for roll results before voting.
>>108241
This sounds retarded so it's perfect the quality of quests on this board.
>>108310
hold on there
> It's even worse when the determining factor is as arbitrary as dice
as opposed to...? First to X? Was there another method I didn't know about?
>>108330
I meant the determining factor for how much a vote is worth.
Imagine if you had to vote for a new President or whatever, and you were told afterwards that Billy McFuckingidiot with an IQ of 2, who had voted for a candidate other than yours, had his vote count as 20 people because he rolled a "Yes" on a Magic 8-ball while your vote counted as half a person because you got a "No".
>>108330
>as opposed to...? First to X? Was there another method I didn't know about?
First vote whose post number end in X, or whose roll is X, decides what happens next.
Here's an example:
>>43457
Why are you guys doing voting systems that aren't 'Majority within a time limit'?
Are you bored with it or want to be a special snowflake or what?
>>108386
Because they're crazy anon
Because they're crazy
>>108310
>>108364
wait, you're telling me that timing your post in a general attempt to get it to end on a specific post number is BETTER than arbitrary dice?
Okay, I'll take that in advisement.
>>108359
the average vote has a value of....4/3. Hmm. I suppose that IS a tad high when most only get a value of 1.
>>106218
update "Useful links" pastebin please.
>FAQ
>> /qu/ on 4chan when?
>Never.
>[How to Start a Quest]
Doesn't tell to say: how you choose votes, your timezone/how often you plan to update
>>108465
Give me links to add and i update.
>>108465
/qu/ still hasn't happened, why would it need to be updated?
>>108453
>wait, you're telling me that timing your post in a general attempt to get it to end on a specific post number is BETTER than arbitrary dice?
I was just trying to answer the question about there being another method.
But that said, yeah, it's worse. Mostly because it's a compromise between two diametrically opposed options, performing a democratic process and resulting in a non-democratic result.
>It takes around 2 days to get to page 11
This board is fucking dead.
>Tfw quests died with /qst/.
>Tfw I love writing stories, with or without anons, and I can't stop.
>Tfw I've lowered myself to writing stories on /r/HFY just to stratch my writing itch.
Sometimes I cry myself to sleep.
>>108990
Despite what people say, you can stil post quests on /tg/.
>>109018
We're too divided.
>>108961
Maybe there just aren't enough "That Guy" and "Elf slave wat do" shitpost threads on /qst/ to make it seem active.
>>108386
New QMs discovering the format.
>>109062
D E A D
E
A
D
>>108209
It's sounding to me like the consensus is the less structured, the better. I can get behind that, I am just concerned that if I wanted players to occasionally fail, suffer losses, etc, they would feel cheated if I just said that's what happened with no roll to accompany it.
>>109062
dude, don't bother. these people will always say that a new board is dead if it doesn't have like a hundred thousand posters in 30 minutes, or some ridiculous shit like that. Honestly, i'm enjoying alot of the threads/quest posted here, mainly Towergirls, The Digimon one, and the one with the mutated waifu dolls. I Just which there were more that were D&D type stuff, with multiple anons being different characters with various races/stats and abilities. the only ones that are like that are the pineapple man one, and another one that's happening right now, but their slots are closed, and the pineapple man one doesn't start till the fucking weekend (According to OP).
>>87864
Cyberpunk Detective is back in the same thread once again if anyone's interested. Fairly certain it's in autosage though, since it's been on page 4 all day.
>>109171
>I Just which there were more that were D&D type stuff, with multiple anons being different characters with various races/stats and abilities.
That's not a quest though...
>>109214
excuse me?
what the fuck counts as a quest then?
>>109221
Many people controlling a single character.
You know the common point between all quests.
>>109171
>I Just which there were more that were D&D type stuff, with multiple anons being different characters with various races/stats and abilities.
That's just online tabletop.
>>109221
This is a actual rpg anon playthrough, not quest.
Quest is one character with is controled by multiple anons, by rol and etc.
Homever, semeone could start a RPG playthrough, but nobody do.
>>109221
>>109221
If I remember correctly, on /tg/ the things you're talking abut were called Skirmishes.
>>109289
>we
The opportunity lies before you, anon.
>>109289
And then give them their own board! NOTHING COULD GO WRONG!
>>109289
Why YOU dont do this?
>>109302
I'm already working on a skirmishy game, but I can add in cultural and biological evolution if people want.
>>109347
Well, it's not something I'm overly interested in. Sounds kinda cool, but I have other things I'm more into.
Alright people. What are the typical features of an Anime quest?
>>109417
Taking place in an anime preestablished setting.
>>109417
At least one Hot-Blooded character.
And images of characters from many different shows being renamed and reused for your characters.
s
And a tsundere.
And Waifu Wars.
I know that not every quest is a "legit" quest, but damn it sucks when the QM just ups and disappears. Do they crack under pressure after realizing that people are waiting for them to make progress?
>>109457
I know I would.
Responsibility is fucking scary, and if it isn't necessary to your continued life, why bother. That's why it's important to respect your QM's while you have them.
>>109471
>That's why it's important to respect your QM's while you have them.
Countless QM's have left because players treated them poorly or their threads were dead silent between updates and votes. It saddens me to know that so many players doesn't know this and there's a lot who knows it, but takes it for granted.
Having a good quest to play and follow isn't a right, it's a privilege.
>>109457
This is exactly why I'm taking my time to figure out the best way to approach things. ATM it seems like my schedule best allows for running something on Mondays or Tuesdays, but I haven't gotten a good feel for how long I need to be available for, or how focused I need to be on the thread and how consistent that focus needs to be.
>>109496
roll20 is a good place to start. You can also ask /tg/ about it, but it might get deleted.
>>109471
I mean I wouldn't start unless I had some sort of plan, but if I really wanted to quit I think It would be nice to just say your are abandoning ship.
>>109487
Dead air can happen between updates, but a QM could maybe try to get something going with a short post to the players.
>>109489
Well good luck with your quest. If you plan too much stuff do you think you can handle when players take things in unexpected directions?
>>109536
>but a QM could maybe try to get something going with a short post to the players.
If they're not putting in effort or interest to discuss something between updates, they sure as hell won't do it with the help of a meta post from the QM in the middle of his quest.
>>109536
I'm actually not worried about the content side of things - it's mostly the time commitment part I'm trying to plan for. I've been playing tabletops for long enough to know how to handle unexpected happenings.
>>106746
Vaelys still quests? What happened to the other notable readers? NiceDaemonette? LolWut? Who am I forgetting.
>>110087
I remember this one guy who kept namefagging as Sleepyanon and I think a tripfag called Clowny something
I haven't seen any of those people in /qst/ yet though
>>110111
>Sleepyanon
He's cool. Seen him around in /qst/, but not as often as I used to see him in /tg/.
I still hate Vaelys.
>>110111
Sleepyanon never actually tripped and gave thoughtful write-ins so he's cool in my book
>>110087
they can all fuck off and die. namefags are the worst.
What are some of the most typical and cliché companions you could find in an anime quest?
>>110596
Chicks with big tits. like extremely huge.
Has anyone ever (successfully) done a fanquest? Y'know, using an existing IP and running a quest with its setting?I'm planning on ripping off the setting of something I saw
>>110636
Well, duh, of course. Welcome to questing, newfriend.
>>110636
Shinigami Savant is pretty good, if somewhat railroaded.
>>110636
>I'm planning on ripping off the setting of something I saw
Stop planning stuff and read some quests instead.
Well didn't get it started some time ago like I wanted too, but I will starting the first run of Champion's Quest tomorrow.
My twitter in case you want to catch it: https://twitter.com/_CQM_
I probably will be starting around 4-5pm -7 PDT.
>>109132
The trick here is that players should fail on their own merits, and feel as if something they're experiencing is a result of their actions. You don't necessarily "want" your players to fail or suffer a loss, but if you give them control of their own fate, inevitably they will in some way. Depending on the theme and tone of your quest, they may find failure a lot more often than you're comfortable with as a QM... But it always needs to be something they bring upon themselves.
For good examples of this done right, check out some of Riz's stuff like Valen Quest, or FoxFire.
For good examples of this done wrong, check out the Zoe incident from Crusader Quest. I think it's archived in Reviewanon's review of it in decent detail.
>>110730
The Zoe incident, as you say, was only a shitstorm because of the hot button nature of the consequence, and admittedly, of the way it was presented.
And frankly, I disagree with the premise. No player will outright choose a choice labeled as failure (discounting /b/tards here). They will make a choice that the QM will then interpret, I don't find that more interesting or "fair" than a bad dice roll.
>>110753
A good QM drops tidbits (or pageloads, with some) of information, which the players have to pay attention to. Remember Nuking the Void in Banished? That was probably my favorite instance of player failure.
People already knew void entities ate vys, and decided to blast a fuckhuge portal spewing legions of horrorterrors with ungodly amounts of pure vys. The result made everything worse in terms of the battle, but prevented a shitstorm by being intensely interesting, transforming the landscape into an anisotropic hellscape and spawning forth more bizarre shit for the protagonist to slay while riding his draconic son.
Anyone got any good suggestions for a power a young shonen protagonist could have or strive to obtain?
>>110790
can't go wrong with punching. or magic. or punching with magic.
>>110790
>>110819
How about the power to "stop"?
It's vague enough that you can do a lot with it at higher levels and simple enough that it has obvious applications at lower levels eg freezing shit.
>>110832
>Yfw it turns into a smut quest at a super high level when the MC can stop time and fuck someone that can't resist it.
>>110838
Sure, or if you like for the final page the hero could level up high enough to "stop" his adventure.
>>110819
yup. nothing wrong with a tried and true concept, since we already see both tired cliches and outlandish concepts done both really good and really poorly all the time. in the end, it all depends on the execution; the key difference is that with things that are done more often, you can easily pinpoint what tends to go right and what doesn't, making it far easier for a fledgling writer to pull it off.
so unless you're a literary celebrity or have a really good idea you're attached to, my advice is to stick with the straightforward option. take it or leave it. no skin off my back.
>>110841
A young boy destined (read: forced) to go on a Grand adventure alongside selective companions that will change the world, and fight evil with his fists and follow his heroic principle all while complaining that he really just wants to go home. He's collecting magic from items used by Evil Masters and storing it within him to be able to use the only "power" he was born with:
The power to Stop his adventure.
>>110860
Hey, I'd gladly participate
>>110859
I guess I could change magic to something more tangible, like elements?
>>110866
no. you may not. I won't allow it.why the fuck are you asking for permission
>>109439
>At least one Hot-Blooded character.
Not all anime characters are hot blooded, anon.Mahouka quest when.
>>110871
>Mahouka quest
railroaded by the protag
would be a trainwreck
>>110870
Less asking for permission and more throwing the suggestion out there.
>>110871
>MC has 5 main high-tier spells
>MC has 20 different variations that you don't know about.
>Everyone has 40 more
>initiative is everything
>modifiers only affect initiative
Try not to die
>>110875
I wasn't actually serious about it, but I think it could work if done by a good QM. Could be far better than the anime.
>>106610
>and which works best?
Majority vote, please. Don't do anything else.
Oh! How about the Shonen MC is living in a world where everyone has powers but him (and possibly a few others) and through HARD WORK, the support of his FRIENDS, and his DREAM, he will work his way up from an average human with better-than-average stamina/physical attributes to near One-Punch Man status?
>>110937
You mean Princess Guard Quest where Rhineholdt actually succeeds at being worthwhile?
>>110937
I don't recall OPM getting his strength from Friednship or Aspirations.
>>110937
What is your favorite theme of quests on /qst/ ?
>>111603
Those quests with a wacky and "out of the box" premise and storytelling.
>>111603
The one's with talented artists.
>>106218
I'm the OP of the Jara and the Valley of Secrets quest, I've set up a Twitter here if you want to add it to the list: @qm_guy
>>109171
What's this I hear about mutated waifu dolls?
>>111603
Genuinely good writing. Y'know, like Crusty.life is pain
>>111887
For some godforsaken reason that thumbnail kind of looks like the dog is dressed up like a train that has smoke coming out of its stack.
If someone would add me to the twitter directory
@Cowboy_Sue
Currently the Melancholic Quest qm
Anyone from the Godgame threads know when the next will be up?
I thought today but apparently I was wrong
>>111603
spook
>>110881
>THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE
>>110942
>I don't recall OPM getting his strength from Friednship or Aspirations.
What if his power is "ALL YOUR POWERS COMBINED!" so all his friends merge into him temporarily, plus a huge stat stack/leap?
How anthro is too anthro of a MC for Global Rule #3? Monstergirls seem fine, seeing as they're not banned on other boards, but what about an english-speaking twin-tailed fox in a Shrine Quest, as a poorly-thought-out example?
>>113156
Are you trying to diss Foxfire?
>>113096
>>110937
Less literal on the combining, it could be that the MC's power is to be voluntarily given stat bonuses by others.
But they'd be zero-sum. In order for the MC to lift an extra 50lbs, one of his friends has to give up that much lifting strength (or something like 5 different friends give up 10lbs each). Same goes for agility, acrobatics, stamina, eyesight, and so on.
That means, in order to get stronger, MC has to befriend lots of people and rally them up such that they're willing to temporarily gimp themselves to boost him.
It'd also open the door for him to fuck up and lose followers; some people get disenfranchised when he fails, and stop lending him any of their strength.
>>113175
...shit, that's a real quest? No, I was just trying to come up with a name for "quest based around a kitsune that doesn't spend every waking hour as a monstergirl" and figured Shrine would do well.
>>113156
As long as it dosn't look like it came strait off of deviantart you should be fine.
Though it would probably be a good idea to post an image of it here first so that we could give you a better answer.
Is there anything called "ghoul quest" running at the moment? If so, what is it about?
>>106681
>>106692
This kind of depends on your players; I've seen quests run (admittedly, on SB) where this was the way it worked, and they didn't always just pick the easiest option, probably in part because there were no actual stats.
>>113197
That turns into a whole "Lend me your strength!" bullshit so fast.
>>113219
I really did ask that for the "where is the furry line" thing. I'm not currently planning on a kitsune quest, I just want to know if I could find out if a quest would get me b& before posting it.
Obviously, "you're an anthro girl, in an anthro world" would likely get banhammered, but that seems like an extreme case. Although, Newt seemed to stay up for a bit before moving herself back to /trash/.
>>113278
It's funny (not the "haha" kind, the other one) to see these new QMs doing every fucking mistake they can make over and over and over. In your case, what's interesting or compelling in choosing random unexplained cardinal directions? Wouldn't it be more interesting to have the MC ask directions and then choose a striking district? Like, I don't know, the docks, the market, the red light district? Somewhere she might find informations about that griffin?
Gah, this is fucking frustrating.
>>113337
Exactly, three of the four offered choices in the very first post are meaningless. And even though someone voted on the one option that actually mattered, the guy quit in a tantrum because his first shitty opening only got one vote within ten minutes which is more than he fucking deserves
>>113374
All the choices were meaningless. Unless this is a trap-filled dungeon with a time limit, why the fuck would the MC not examine her surroundings?
>>113391
I'm just saying the fact that the guy had even one person interested is something he should have cherished and instead he just quit.
Count your blessings, know what I'm saying
>>113337
Maybe we should use the bingo chart for the OP pic. Just invert the color so it has the white text on black background that we all know and love, then maybe make the central free space say QTG.
>>113403
I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was just saying that it was even more boring than both our initial assessments.
And now, for positive criticism, how about starting in media res with said MC already hurt by the legendary griffin or another "mid-level boss" with some organic character generation (like what kind of weapons she mainly uses—a hunter generally goes with either bow or spear, for example) and/or a tactical choice on how to continue the hunt?
Pic related, now how's that for a first OP?
>>113405
Do you have it? Can't find it here.
Anyone know where I can store a old quest ? I found one on /co/'s fireden archive and want to Save it.
>>113462
>Bingo chart
Here you go.
>>113574
Well, I think we need to remove or rewrite some of these.
>Character Generation
You can have it, just not "Alright, first let's choose your race, then your gender, then your class, then [...]". It's gotta be weaved in the narrative.
>Fanfic Quests
Remove that.
>No tripcode
Seems like less of a problem here.
>>113602
We're not changing it.
>>113602
Also the one about d20s. Crit successes and fails can be incredibly fun.
>>113623
At least make it d100 or something if you're gonna do crits/crit fails. They should be fairly rare if you ask me, but then I'm not an experienced QM at all so maybe I'm just a tard.
>>113673
The most optimal dice for crits iswhatever you want it to be. Quests have varying mechanics and levels of dice rolling, so advocating one system for all is pointless and backwards. Maybe the QM likes crits, maybe crits are pointless, etc. It all depends on what the QM wants to do.
>>113574
This is great.
Do I really need a twitter though?
>>113955
Depends what you're doing, but it will help if you intend on running a long-running regular quest.
>>113955
In the long run, it helps retain readers by allowing them to know when your threads are up, so that they can come in and participate.
If you really get into questing and have multiple quests, you'll get readers that will follow you across all of them because they can stay informed of the stuff you do.
Without it, you'd have to start out with a mostly new crowd each time you make a new thread, which would be detrimental to quest longevity.
>>113958
I plan on doing it as long as I can to get experience QMing, but what if people aren't invested? Just don't bother?
>>113985
>what if people aren't invested?
Analyze what you did wrong, think about it, do it again until you get it right enough for people to be invested. There's no gate you have to cross.
>>113985
It's not exactly hard.
>make twitter
>announce threads "ETA 4 hours, etc"
>post thread link when running
>close tab
>tweet when you're running again, especially if the thread is in autosage
>follow other QMs
Check out this new idea I'm trying.
>>114001
>>114002
>>follow other QMs
lol
>>114014
the only thing you get for having multiple failed quests but still trying is respect.Well okay, sometimes people laugh at funky fetishes, but if you're just a faggot in general it'd be easy enough to pick you out now that we have User IDs. Twitter wouldn't change squat.
Okay, question for players. WHat's your favorite things about quests?
The storytelling, The prose (i.e funny, serious, sets tone), The character involvment. The gameplay, the strategy, the freedom...etc?
>>114107
The interaction. There ain't nothing better than people actually talking and posting.
>>114137
Very much agree.Even if there is a lack of players.
>>114137
This. Discussion between players make and break quests.
>>106424
Crusty has a unique gastro intestinal condition that has him going in and out of the hospital. I think, based on some comments on his twitter from other peeps he's been dealing with that shit again. No estimate on when he'll run again
Malroy quest tomorrow, super hype. Dad was pretty demoralized when this board was made, glad to see he's going to ru
N
>>113197
I like the base idea of a quest where befriending people increases your growth, but not the 'your friends become weaker' caveat. Who would stay friends with a guy that steals their strength? Better to leave it fairly vanilla
>>114107
Well written combat scenes.
I haven't found a quest with gripping fights yet, though. None of them capture the feeling of adrenaline where every fight is a struggle to keep something important. Mostly because I haven't yet found a QM with the balls to write about crippling failure.
>>114409
So they actually have a reason to say no.
IIRC there was some fantasy novel series that used that kind of premise. People in the royal family were voluntarily loaned powers from their citizenry in a similar manner so they could fight for them like superhumans.
>>114468
>I haven't yet found a QM with the balls to write about crippling failure
Have you tried Planefag?
>>113747
This, family, to be honest
>>114468
>>114477
Which QM had Patchouli die of an asthma attack because the players tried to use a wind spell to clean the library? Was that planefag?
>>114468
>Mostly because I haven't yet found a QM with the balls to write about crippling failure.
Because the ones who do before the end or without the zealous fanbase to back them up, get shitposted to death and written off from anyone's memory.
>>106218
How hard is it to QM? Is it something I could jump in and just do, if I have mild success at DMing that way? I'm looking to make a quest, but I am mildly anxious if it.
To explain, I'm feeling the kind of anxious one gets before public speaking, even if they're good at it.
>>114569
>How hard is it to QM
Very.
>Is it something I could jump in and just do
In theory yes. In practice it should have a lot more thought put into it. Know the characters you're writing and their habits/characteristics. Decide on a tone and keep to it. Have plot hooks in mind.
Unlike with DMing there's no sunk cost. If people get bored or never get invested they don't have to stick around through the session. So do everything within your power to prevent that from happening.
>>114477
I've stayed away from Planefag's stuff. Mostly because it's fanfic, and I tend to dislike the /a/ things that go on in those.
Things like replacing actual character with things like "awawa~ so kyoot~" or requiring foreknowledge of the series to actually be connected to the characters.Also, I've heard that he's a little bitch when it comes to criticism.
Am I wrong in assuming these things?
More importantly, is his writing and storytelling actually good enough that I can ignore it if they're true?
>>114611
I should claim a trip soon, what with how close I am to making a quest. Thank you for the help! I have more questions, though.
If a quest centers on a character, is a statblock necessary? Or should a QM try to avoid that? And from there, how open-ended should a quest be? I have a book I have all but written, and was hoping to take a group of anons through it as a quest to see what parts of it hold up, and what parts of the story I need to make more robust. The world is full and robust, and the storyline is an outline with a lot of scenes waiting to just be written out; I'm just needing some kind of push to get shit written.
>>114667
>Things like replacing actual character with things like "awawa~ so kyoot~" or requiring foreknowledge of the series to actually be connected to the characters.
He actually works off of the anime-ness to give the characters more depth, at least to some degree. And I think, at least with his latest quest, you SHOULD be able to get the gist of it without needing too much knowledge beforehand. Knowing before would, of course, be helpful though.
>is his writing and storytelling actually good enough that I can ignore it if they're true
I...think? Writing-wise, his work is actually pretty enjoyable by itself, or at least Kant-O-Celle is. Just be prepared for feeling like it takes forever for the overarching plot to move along as character shenanigans happen. And for possibly needing to read the supplementary work by the writefags to get all the details of what's going on.
If nothing else, he can at least write funny character shenanigans. Mostly by juxtaposing the anime personalities of the original characters with the more down-to-earth personalities of the OCs.
>>114713
Some QMs use stats, some don't. It's more common that QMs forego stats and just handwave the success or failure of the MC based on what everyone knows the character should or shouldn't be able to do.
Both ways have worked. Just do what you're comfortable with and you'll be fine, but don't bog yourself down in the mechanics of a system, or you'll take too long to actually write.
In a lot of ways, QMs have more freedom than a DM because the QM gets more time to think out the response and adapt accordingly. Besides, if you have an entire world written out already, then you're good to go. Just avoid railroading too hard.
>>114804
And, of course,you can always lie about stats and rolls if you aren't keeping them in the thread.
Have any good 40k quests started/moved to /qst/ yet? I saw Chaos Quest but it wasn't my cup of tea.
>>114804
I see. Makes me second-guess rolling out the protagonist's statline and such, save for when he shows up in the tabletop I run in the same setting. Though that might be a little ways down the road. Speaking of, is the idea of "setting the tracks in front of them" a valid approach? The quest I have in mind has a pretty defined route, as it's a journey across known spaceto see a long-distance loverthat is more like an old-school game with stages than it is a freeform Skyrim roam. I don't plan to go "No you can't go there!" as much as I plan to put a very specific goal in front of the players that there will be a clear route to. Well, mostly clear, by nature of chasing spaceport departure times and getting into trouble between.
>>114822
I will neither confirm nor deny that I've done that.I totally have done that at the table, when a "I shoot the guy" moment interrupts a narrative spiel.
>>110730
Joker Quest is also famous for this. One disastrous decision only came back to bite the player several months later. At the time, there was no inkling it would ever surface. The PC just knew that he'd done a Bad Thing.
>>110937
High school LN battle harem, with misery and NTR.
>>114846
>good
>40K
Pick one.
>>114878
Unless you're doing a sandbox deal like Banished, quests by nature have limited time and run on invisible rails towards a goal set by the QM.
Also, you pitched this several weeks ago right? This is a comedic road trip type deal that takes place in a larger setting, where the other quest pitches included a psychic and something about revolution?
>>114878
>long distance...
Yeah, this was back in tg right?
>>114920
>>114938
Yes! The road-trip was me! Shit, didn't think anyone would remember. Making me grin like a big doofus; made my night, Anons.
But yea, the idea I'm settling on is the road-trip, Local Man Visits Earth. The other two were pretty sandbox-y with no real plots in mind, with the psychic one basically being a psyker in this setting, and the other was being a front-line fighter in a war that was going to drastically change human-controlled-space, and being one of the few who were remotely aware it was brewing before everything went to shit.
LMVE is the basis of a book I have tried to finish for two NaNoWriMos, and I may or may not be looking to use a quest to get through my recent case of writer's block. I mean, running an IRL campaign in the setting has done wonders in making me flesh the world out, so a quest is likely to do similar. The dawn of /qst/ has made me want to jump in head-first.
Mostly just shaking the nerves, desu.
>>114718
I've started reading Kant-O-Celle quest on suptg. It's too slow for my liking, but I'll stick with it for a little while longer I guess.
>>114878
>setting the tracks in front of them
Yeah it'll work. Quest players are still roleplayers at their core, so they'll respect the character's personality and goals for the most part.
I have a suggestion for you. If you're doing it in stages, you could give the character some reason to be unable to leave the station rather than just a time limit.
For example, one station has all outgoing flights closed off for some reason, and the MC has to fix said reason to leave. Next station has a different problem that also denies the MC from leaving. That way, the ultimate goal is still to get to the character's destination, but you'll still give them issues to solve that don't detract too much from the main focus. It'll be episodic, but with an overarching story to give it purpose.
>>114979
>reading Kant-O-Celle quest
It's only slow because of the unholy hurricane of anons that surround Planefag. You'll have a better time with the pacing if you just read it by itself. Some anon compiled most of it into 2 PDFs, uploading now.
How difficult would it be to do a JoJo quest with a totally original cast if I can't drawfag for shit? I feel confident in my ability to describe what a character looks like, and even what poses they strike, but I feel like a JoJo quest without unique visuals might not grab interest.
>>110087
Wrenloft
>>114979
>give the character some reason to be unable to leave the station rather than just a time limit.
That's brilliant, and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. The first actual leg of his journey actually has a good excuse to keep him on station, all it'd take is a pretty safe step in logic to complete. This also gives me something to sprinkle in for the book itself, which I can't thank you enough for. But, the book can wait.
Now that I think about it, the story starts falling into place more and more. Are quests a Sandlot kinda deal, where you build it and they'll come? Because if so, I may have my Sunday dedicated to starting this up.
>>>/tg/47209041
Use this for worldbuilding.
>>114995
I fucking LOVE Jojo and I'm available often, daily. I'm totally up for drawing fabulous motherfuckers for your quest. If you'd like, send me a message on Twitter at @Valencia_QM and let's see what we can arrange.
>>115072
Make it about trying to prevent the assassination of David Bowie and Prince by the Pillar Men.
>>106218
I've been trying to make a new /qst/ but I have the three active thread limits, even though one of them is 4 days old and getting autosaged to hell, it's still not archived. Maybe I'm just retarded or something but I mean c'mon
>>115122
What if it's about a setting where, instead of Kennedy getting shot by a bullet, he got hit by an Arrow?
There are three mercenary quests running all at the same time.
sthap.
>>115135
YES.
Hell, set it in the leadup to the assasination itself. The Mob, secret agents, the Communists all battling to get the Arrow.
Ultimately the PC steals it and uses it to shoot JFK.
>>115133
slow down there sanic
>>115162
can't stop won't stop going fast
One of my threads just kinda never took off, the other got derailed and the other dwindled down and I wrote myself into a corner.
I just want to know when I can expect all three to be archived so I can start working on new ones.
>>114994
>>115006
Thanks, this is much easier to read. I still do think his pacing is slow, though. He just uses way too much detail for simple actions.
I really don't need, or want to know exactly how someone wiggles their finger "like a sword."
>>115030
Glad to help. There are always some people in a quest. It helps if you have a Twitter to keep the guys who want to stay for the long run.
>>115072
That'd be pretty neat, actually. I'd be basing the story off of an idea that I had several months back browsing a /tg/ JoJo thread, so I have the main cast, villain, basic plot, and some secondary characters, all with stands, and most with a good idea of how they look. This would be my first time writing something like a Quest, though, so I'd need to do some research in regards to format, systems, etc. on top of formulating a loose arc to follow without railroading. I also don't have a non-personal Twitter account, but I suppose that that would be one of the first things to do once I get my shit together more concretely.
For the record I just checked your Twitter and one of your quests and I do like your art style.
>>115122
>>115135
The premise is that in the 70s, drug running starts getting out of hand, as the mobs and cartels are hiring stand users as hired muscle. In response, the Speedwagon Foundation puts together a team of stand users from across various government institutions, with the MC being a Half-Japanese Half-Irish Second-Generation Immigrant who's an NYPD officer. His crew features an FBI Agent, a Firefighter, an Army Sargeant, and an Air Force Pilot. All of their stands are named after singles by The Police.
>>115172
Should it be a new Twitter specifically for the quest, or would a current Twitter suffice?
I have the one I've been using for my forays into social media, but if there's an unspoken rule of "new twitters for quests" I'd rather not break it.
>>115184
If you want it in the QM directory, make a new one. People don't take kindly to seeing your shitty social media twitters cluttering a directory where they just want to see when their favorite QM is running next.
>>115184
New Twitter. Put "QM" somewhere in the name too.
>>115184
As long as it's dedicated to the quest, I wouldn't care. If I were you, though, I'd make sure whatever I used wasn't connected to my normal online or IRL personas. Too much potential shit to deal with if the wrong person on either side put things together, be they an over-aggressive SJW who knows nothing about 4chan except the death threats, or a kid with too much time on his hands that decides to doxx you or something.
Making a new one is easy enough I can't see why you wouldn't, unless your current one isn't connected to you at all.
What is the best time of day to conduct quest threads?
>>113574
Regarding "making intentions clear" for smut level, should that just be upfront in the first post, like an X/10 smut rating or something? I ask only because I've also been told not to waste space on an introduction/exposition, but to just jump into it.
Also, is character generation really so bad? Wouldn't it be worse to decide for players?
>>115204
>>115203
>>115196
Sweet, thanks for the heads-ups! I'll likely make one for the quest, probably naming it after the protagonist unless "The Black Scribe" doesn't initiate some form of shitstorm. Throw in some flavorful tweets for when sessions start and the such, post in-character jazz.
I'll probably do the grunt-work after work tomorrow.
>>115211
>character generation really so bad? Wouldn't it be worse to decide for players?
It can lead to lots of practically filler time, loads of salt and loss of viewershipespecially with gender rolls.As said by anons above, better to work it in organically or already have some of the character written beforehand with the players filling in blank spots, whether at the start or through actions and interactions that happen in the quest.
>>115211
Also, now that I think about it, do you have to manually archive your own threads? I have no idea how that works.
>>115211
>Regarding "making intentions clear" for smut level, should that just be upfront in the first post, like an X/10 smut rating or something? I ask only because I've also been told not to waste space on an introduction/exposition, but to just jump into it.
Don't jump between smut and not doing smut, is all it says. You can't write one scene as smut and then when it happens again you go "Fade to black" or the reverse happens; For 20+ threads romantic things happen, but no smut is introduced and suddenly you're dropping a long smut scene on your players.
>Also, is character generation really so bad? Wouldn't it be worse to decide for players?
You have more control over the MC if you pre-gen it yourself, but if you truly want a character generation, don't do the typical one where the players pick name, race, sex etc.
Give them a name and sex to start with and then do a narrative character generation where the players make choices that affect the story at the same time as it creates their character.
>>115229
>manually archive your own threads
Go to suptg. Archival instructions are pretty clear.
>>115235
Why does there seem to be hostility for this board? It seems like a good idea to me, since /tg/ is frequently flooded with quest threads.
>>115260
>/tg/ is frequently flooded with quest threads
Oh god not this shit again.
>>115260
oh shit here we go again
some people don't think that /qst/ can survive without the playerbase that /tg/ could provide
as the fate of quests are linked to the fate of /qst/, some believe that the containment of quests will only kill them off
that pic was back when people were still mad that a small amount of people were responsible for getting the mods to make /qst/
Given that magic is a little irritating to track, I'm thinking of making the protagonist of Solo Dungeoneering Quest a multiclassed (ie advancing both classes at once) Fighter/Thief.
Right now, I'm cooking up a world and some dungeons. The D-series (Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of Kuo-Toa, Vault of the Drow) is definitely an influence. The Conan story Red Nails is also getting the creative juices flowing
>>106610
Majority vote over X time works best, I find. I'm sure other stuff could work, but I have yet to see it done
>>106610
Not him, but I'd like to ask what would be recommended when starting out and there's only few players trickling in slowly. Should I just choose favorites instead?
>>114468
Double Cross Quest had good action that didn't waste your time with flowery prose. It's a shame the quest died when the OP managed to play a Double Cross game and now spends the majority of his time just playing japanese rpgs with his group
Ok, guys, I think I've got everything together to start a thread. I'll boot it up tomorrow morning after breakfast.
Thanks for all your input.
>>113202
>Shit, that's a real quest?
Sort of! The MC for FoxFire is a twin tailed fox that can speak. As they're based off of classical mythology, rather than modern media, they do indeed spend almost all of their time as a fox.Save for recently, since the players chose to adopt a child by posing as its mother
You wander a world of dwindling Faith, whose twilight hours have already come and gone long before you awoke. All that remains in these final, sleepy moments, is the stubborn drive of humanity to stay alive.
In the name of survival.
In the name of greed.
In the name of love and family.
In the name of not leaving any regrets behind.
You experience a large range of both the terrible, and beautiful, things which are still left in the world.
There's a bit more to it, but that starts to get into spoilery territories, and we're only two threads in. Check it out the first two threads in the archive if it seems like something that might catch your interest; The third thread will be running sometime tomorrow.
>>113320
As for the answer to this, my advice is to pay more attention to the theme of your quest. As noted, monstergirls seem fine regardless; I think being fully animal is also fine. Even blurring the line a bit between the two is perhaps still fine to a point?
That point, I believe, is ultimately the feeling and atmosphere of your quest. If you're not going all out "look at my anthrofurries!" and the importance lies elsewhere, then I'd wager you're probably fine. In my mind, the bannable content criteria is composed more of that, than anything else.
IE: I theoretically COULD have a talking horse quest. The horse could even be magical, because there is plenty of classical mythology which would lend itself to that sort of thing!
Whether the theoretical magical talking horse quest would be considered /mlp/ and banned or not, I believe, would depend entirely on where the intent and atmosphere of the quest lay, rather than the checklist composing the individual parts of the whole.
Essentially, refer to Godard's quote: "It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
Which ties in nicely to the oft' recited koan that "There is no such thing as originality, only authenticity."
So, at the end of the day, how you handle your subject material, I believe, will matter more than any proverbial sliding scale of "when does this become too furry", or indeed, any other similar question of "When does X become too Y?".
>>115135
Only if you call his StandDead Kennedys
>>115185
The entirety of Questy's pokemon quest is on his site
>>113574
>tfw I made a twitter and asked the twitter guy to add it, and it got ignored by everyone.
bato.to/random
Click the link. Write a quest pitch based off of the result. Make your own call on how much it matches the source material.
>>115553
>A Log Horizon spinoff of some sort
You get stuck in the world of an MMORPG...except it's a really shitty MMORPG. Low poly models that looked old in 2005, small landmass, few quests, F2P bullshit, etc. All while obviously ripping off all of its characters and lore from more successful MMOs.
>>114468
Totemist and Joker have good combat.
>>108151
Oh god fucking tell me about it. People are still saying 'rape it', 'flop your cock out', 'jizz on it', 'sodomise it', even when the QM quietly makes it clear that those options will never be picked
>updated shilling
Genocide quest reaches its second thread after a good 400 some replies in the first.
>>115647
feedback/ contributions/ suggestions all very welcome and appreciated.
>>115553
>Flying Witch
Alright...
For 10 years you've studied under a Grand Sorcerer to eventually replace him in his duties to protect countless separate realms of existence in the nether from all kinds of horrors.
However, once you turned 15-16, your teacher deemed it necessary to send you back to your own home realm to experience a normal life for a few years. "So you don't become like my teacher." He said.
Suddenly you find yourself living in your old hometown, and the Grand Sorcerer has enrolled you in the local High school. Wait, what?!
Follow the SoL life of a would-be future Grand Sorcerer, one of the strongest being in all of existence, as he tries to make it through High School without using too much magic, knowing full well he'll probably fail with the latter.
>>115553
>Touhou
No thanks.
