Realm Speak Quests
Book of Quests - Quest Cards
This is a page to assemble ideas on how to implement some version of Jay's Book of Quests concept in Realm Speak. Currently, the Quest Cards variation by Steve, seems to be the most feasible at this time, because it modularizes the quests a bit, which makes sense from programmer's perspective.
(Note - I'm avoiding last names, due to the public nature of this wiki, but if you (Jay or Steve) feel that you want your last name here, feel free to add it!)
Steve's Quest Cards are available here:
Note: I modified the table in this document by adding a card ID number to each quest. This will enable us to reference quests by number in our notes.
Robin's initial thoughts:
- Need to have a "Quest Builder" tool, so that I don't have to enter every quest (and leaves open the opportunity for adding new ones!) Per Robin, there IS a full featured quest builder already written for realmspeak. (He) just needs to make the quests you build available ingame.
- Quest cards would be saved as individual XML files (perhaps zipped and renamed extension like the rschar files) in a Quests folder
- All quests would be loaded from the folder at game start
- Using quests would be another play variant option - need to decide how many *ways* there are to play the quest cards
- There should be a separate file for maintaining card inventory (# of each type of card). That way the balance could be tweaked without changing the quest files themselves. Ultimately, I would envision quest "decks" that could be distributed as people experiment with new combinations. Of course, there would always be the official "Steve Deck"! :-)
Realm Speak Design Notes
At this time, I feel that each quest card will be represented by an object in memory, which in turn will be derived from an XML file. Each quest will have some general info, a list of specific requirements that must be met to achieve victory, and a set of additional rewards. Here I'll list what I think the components are for each section, as I think will be necessary to implement the quests as Jay/Steve have them. I'll also list some of the minor character abilities that need to be supported.
General Info:
Additional Reward Order (identical numbers indicate non-ordered) Requires rules: list of optional/advanced/house rules that MUST be in play for this quest to be visible Character exclusions: MAGIC users
Specific Requirements:
Cumulative Fame, Notoriety, Gold, Great Treasures, Spells 1st discovery (sites, and Lost City/Castle) Any discovery (sites, and Lost City/Castle) - list discoveries that count All discoveries - list ALL discoveries that must be found (this will automatically multiply for multiple boards!) travel specific path (list of clearings) Arrive at dwelling Kill site guard (list of possible sites: hoard and lair, for example) and loot 1 treasure Rescue from empty site (list of possible sites) Deliver rescued person to dwelling Target Monster Fame/Not (list of monsters to include) Recover a TWT Treasure Meet a Visitor (Warlock, Shaman, Crone, or Scholar) Deliver conditional fame treasure to native group (cannot buy conditional fame item from group first!) Hold a Great Treasures (list it twice if you intend 2) Hold an Artifact Hold a specific item (list of possible items) Hold a Book Loot a site (or Lost City/Castle) Spend 1 turn in a clearing (list possible clearings)
Additional Reward:
Companion joins you Companion leaves you Pick up a Minor Character chit (visitor) Drop a Minor Character chit 10 gold payment or pay 10 gold to receive 1 level friendliness from all dwelling natives Take a treasure from Minor Character Learn a spell from Minor Character
Minor Character effects:
No horse/fly/woods movement Extra REST phase - no MAGIC rest!! Relationship change (list specific group - native or visitor or monster type - and friendliness) Immune to curses No sunlight phases
Difficult to implement quests (so far...)
46 - The Would-Be Enchanter 54 - Travels of the Healer - last part (mercy) is tricky 55 - Sword of Terror 56 - The Zoological Specimen
The Quest
This is a preamble to the actual Quest object that I envision will be necessary. This object will be serializable into XML. Multiple quests as files will be placed into a "Quests" folder, and Realm Speak will be able to read them at launch time. This encourages people to share quests, and/or make quest packs. Oh, maybe a zip file of quests would allow a quest pack to be used as a whole, excluding other quests, like if one person wanted to define the pack that should be used.
Quest
Name Description Required Optional/Advanced/Other Rules List (If required rules are not in play, the quest is unavailable) Character Exclusions/Inclusions (i.e., Magic users, Black Knight) List of all Quest Steps
Quest Locations
Location Name Location Choices (can be one or many) - Tile Coordinate (AV-4) or chit name (Howl 4, Lost City, Hamlet, Vault) Many-handling: CHOICE - player must choose from list at start of quest ANY - any of the locations in the list are valid RANDOM - the computer chooses a specific location from the list LOCKONUSE - any of the locations in the list are valid, until the player uses one to complete a requirement, at which time the location is locked to the specific one
Quest Step
Description (tells player what they need to do next) Identify Quest Steps that are required before this step can be started Identify Quest Steps that once started (complete?), prevent this quest step from being possible. Requirements for completion Fame/Notoriety - Total - Overall Gain (from start of quest) - Limit to list of monsters/natives Gold/GT/Spells - Total - Overall Gain (from start of quest) Gain a number of: - Small/Large/Great/TWT - Artifact - Book - Specific Item Location Action - (uses Quest Locations above) - Type of Action - Occupy (0-n turns) - Occupy (0-n turns) when no monsters - Discover - Hire/Kill X inhabitants - Loot/Buy X treasure/counters Rewards for Step Completion Report information (a text string that describes the step completion in a dialog box) Give/Remove Item Hireling/Companion/Minor Character Gold Notoriety/Fame Advantage/Disadvantage Spell Action Chit Move to location Gain/Lose Friendliness Quest Complete (all quests must have a path to this reward)
Other Notes
- To give a character something at the start of the quest, add a quest step with no requirements, and a reward.
- Possible to have multiple separate steps that must be completed before another step can be completed.
- Possible to have optional steps that allow bonus rewards for extra work
Quest Persistence
this
name description requiredrules excludedchars [List of Strings] includedchars [List of Strings] locationnames [List of Strings]
loc_<name> choices (list of coordinates or chit names)
handling (one of CHOICE, ANY, RANDOM, LOCK)
step<#> name
description prerequisitesteps [List of integers] preemptingsteps [List of integers]
step<#>rq<#> type (from an enum)
amount locationname (only for location actions) list
step<#>rw<#> type (from an enum)
information (text string to show to character) objectname (when appropriate) locationname (when appropriate) amount list