Fedex Quests

[LordYabo]

I hate fedex quests. You hate fedex quests. In Witcher 3 the lead quest designer put down a rule of NO FEDEX QUESTS. They had to have some kind of "twist" to them to make them interesting.

OK so here's the thing: As a designer i like fedex quests.

• Simple to understand, test, and do.
  
• Having a person go from A to B forces them to explore an aspect of the world they may never have gone to before. Early on, this is very valuable.
  
• When the player first starts the game, they may not be able to do ANY of the quests because they are too weak or missing vital spells (remember, this is a generated world without hand holding). A fedex quest is exactly the kind of grunt work one can do to get some pocket change and start becoming awesome.
  
  So what is ONE thing I can do to make a Fedex quest not a boring fedex quest?
  

[orvarth5]

early fedex qest could help the player to discover where the big city and important people are .

like where is the conclave , main merchants etc...

in lots of crpg the early quests help the player to get is bearings .

i think it's a good thing to have a few old classic quest like the rats tavern elimination quest .

[drow28]

- Those quests can maybe be used to teach a player about the game mechanics early on. If done right they cannot be boring.

- include snippets of lore, so they player can have a bigger picture of the world, but not necessarily lose vital info if the quest is not done.

- easy money... :-D

[Dhuran]

Also, when it comes down to it, most quests are Fedex quests anyways (even in the Witcher 3). You just have to fool the player into thinking that it's they're choice where to go next since they figured it out.

In the Witcher 3 it was done a lot with his Witcher senses (tracking monsters, picking up on sounds, general clue following), rather than a character just outright telling you where/what to do. It turns into a find out as you go.

You already have an element of that in with the searching for lairs.

If you want to be blunt about it, grunt/mundane job type work is a good way to have it in. It's introductory early on, and always available if the player falls on hard luck.

[orvarth5]

i think the fedex quest must have a goal ; in tabletop the players don't ask a merchant a mission to go from a to b just for a few coins , they do that for higher purpose (informations , introduction to important noble or just a DM's trick to show the player where important place or people are )

[LordYabo]

Originally posted by orvarth5:

i think the fedex quest must have a goal ; in tabletop the players don't ask a merchant a mission to go from a to b just for a few coins , they do that for higher purpose (informations , introduction to important noble or just a DM's trick to show the player where important place or people are )

Hmmm, good point. I'll think about that.

[azaca]

What if the probability of any given fedex quest spawning is based on player interests as a tool to draw the player to a place they would find interesting based on past behavior?

The system would track undiscovered potential nexi of interests and the greater the association of a particular nexus with the interest of the player based on skill levels the more probability there is to spawn an appopriate fedex quest to get the player to a location that might interest them.

So for example, if I spend a lot of time working on my fire magic skill reflected in the skill level I've achieved and there is a nearby town with a mage shop with a bunch of fire magic related books, there is a chance that a fedex quest spawns to get me to discover that town.

Add in a variable that somehow measures player interest in fedex quests. So every time I turn down a fedex quest, the system tracks that and reduces the probability that one will spawn in the future. Every time I accept a fedex quest, the value rises (up to a maximum possible value) with a greater chance of future fedex quests spawning.

This way the simulation tracks the things that interest me as a player, and responds like a DM to take me to those things that interest me.

[LordYabo]

This is brilliant stuff azaca. Maybe even a little too smart for me!
I like how you tied it in to what at GM is (or should be) doing.

I think i'd have to be very close to finished the game before attempting to implement something like this. But I think you have a great idea on how to use analytics/metrics to drive player enjoyment, something rarely done.