One of the things that breaks my immersion in a RP game is the level caps in statics. There is nothing more frustrating, than meeting a player, RPing a great interest in skinning kobolds or saving the kings prize duck or whatever the static dictates.... only to rock up with 5 people and only 2 can enter. IC your like "but I want to save the Kings Duck, water birds are very important to me". Well tough, your lvl 7 so you cant.

This is the nature of statics, but coming from an older server, where anyone and everyone knows the lvls, it is pretty easy to RP around it. "Sorry I like waterfowl, and love my king, but my own pet vulture has given me wild bird flu, and I cannot risk the royal ducks health...". It’s sometimes a bit forced, but it’s the better of two worlds.

What I propose here is simply a list of the statics by name, and their lvl and size caps. This offers an easy reference tool for RPing statics. Yes it does mean a little bit of OOC information regarding the statics that are available. But the title "The king, the quack and the mysterious stranger" does not give too much away. At worse it means people go out of there way to do the statics they have never seen... is that such a bad thing?

On the other hand, I'd say, is that when you look at such a list of available quests, you note that there's quests you can, or can not do, and that there's quests that are within, or out of, your level range. Even so it makes it easy to look for these quests, since you still know there are a few available.

In my opinion, this completely destroys the player's initiative, and that's what makes this server so great. I was completely amazed that I overlooked the Red Smiles quest at a certain place, never even having considered taking my avatar there myself. But, I know from experience, if I'd have seen a 'Red Smiles' quest on a list, I'd have sent a couple of people a tell, asking if they ever did the quest before. And next, I'd like to see the quest. That way you can easely find all the quests there are, and even the hidden ones won't be a big secret anymore.

Just keep it as it is. Kktnx.

8) I second Guest. His arguments rock. I love that guy!

I am undecided about this.

A thing I mind more is the utter lack of quest sendings - and when they come at last, they usually lack the level range in brackets at the end of the sendings.

If the players start using the sendings more often and do them as informative as possible (regarding the levels), it would make it much easier to socialize.

Nowadays I see already formed groups that quest regularly and a bunch of clueless newbies wandering around alone. More sendings would be an awesome way to intertwine the IC social relations.

Playing an experimental, non-proactive and low charisma character makes the play boring most often than not - especially since you cannot just follow a group into the questing areas (which my current character would do most often because of his FOIG reasons) due to the very OOC level restrictions - and also does provide a great reflection of the server playerbase's potential weaknesses.

Please do be more proactive, folks - make more sendings and don't forget putting the level caps into brackets - you will get more people on quests and will get many new potential allies and buds beyond your already established questing group.

As for scrappayeti's suggestion - I'm all for soft quest cap (despite the very real danger of fun-killing exploits which though I think could be overcome through sophisticated coding and some mulling over) - quest-giver NPCs eyeing the too-low-levels critically and warning them, low level PCs getting ominous feeling upon entering an area that is too dangerous for them - but them being able to enter it nonetheless.

The idea is a tempting one in my mind, and was equally so when I DM'ed on other servers.

Part of the joy of a module is watching people experience your quests, and knowing they can find and enjoy them. Rarely would any DM design a quest that was purposefully difficult to find or form a party to enjoy and complete the quest.

I've noticed that many quests in the module however, do already have in character hints to direct you were to find them. What I'd suggest is that any quest that is "advertised" in the module can easily have its requirements posted on the forums as well. Quests that are specifically designed to be unknown, or infrequently completed, or mysterious in nature can be left off the list.

The Seekers advertise they want a group to eliminate a goblin fortress, so it can't hurt to post on the forums or the website what levels and party size the quest is geared for. While the priests of the Tentacle God are hardly making it widely known they're hiring adventurers to locate the Godsdoom to destroy the world and require adventurers of level 59 to complete the task-so that could be left out of public domain.

Then a small effort can be made to continue to allow adventurers to hear about quests that it makes sense for them to hear about and let the players know if they can do the quest or not. Ideally, this could be managed around an 'adventurers guild' even which advertises jobs and missions and bounties in Sanctuary and even acts as a political force defending adventurers rights and needs (Hell no, you can't make the Sandy Caves illegal to visit, how will we kill illithids now?).

Basically, I think it's bad to have a list over all available quests.

But I can understand that it can be difficult to locate the "right" quests for certain lvls and char types.

I like that I don't know all the quests and where to get them. Getting a complete list would take some of the "magic" away.

And I love Sendings, keep 'em comming.

I'm really mixed on this overall.

We actually do have at least one quest that is very difficult to find, and that is purposely. I would be against a listing of all quests.

I might be willing to comprimise and do a listing of SOME low level quests. I think if you hit level 5 and still don't know where any quests are, you might be doing something wrong.

The DM's will have to think this over.

I know little about this, but offer a suggestion anyways. Would an OOC insertion into a questgiver NPC's dialogue be the solution? That way a PC can both check to see if the quest is available (open for questing) as well as see up front the requirements for the quest. Not posting them anywhere else would mean no list to powergame from and cut that out up front. For example, on speaking to the questgiver NPC I thought it might look like this:

NPC: Hey there, you look like a strapping adventurer, you interested in some work?

PC: Yes.

NPC: ((OOC: quest party size 2-6, levels 2-5))

you know...I lost my sword of uber glowing down the sewer grate when I was drunk the other night. You think you could just slip down there and grab it for me?

1. Sure thing, we'll get to it now. 2. Let me get some back up. 3. Go fetch your own sword you drunk lush.

Eraamion, if your character wants to follow people into a quest area: just send a polite Tell to the party organizer. He'll probably invite you and let you sneak in behind them all IC by using some OOC reactions to handle the situation.

I know little about this, but offer a suggestion anyways. Would an OOC insertion into a questgiver NPC's dialogue be the solution?

Well, that is what happens now. When you go through a quest giver's dialogue, you get an OOC message telling you if it's taken and what the limits are (party size and character level).

I'm thinking sticking the OOC information on the bulletin board in the town hall for some of the more well advertised quests may be the best solution, as well as putting some more quests on that board.

I like The Begger's idea of more OOC information when you meet a quest giver. If you rock up solo to a quest, all you know about it is you are elegiblble if you bring more people (a message about minimun 3 required or whatever). It doesnt give you any idea about the kind of talent you are searching for to fill the other two slots. So you return to the boring.... "oh wait, I left the kettle on.... better not kill bugbears today" type last minute pull outs from people of the wrong lvl.

Regarding Thrawns call on not knowing where quests are, my main has made it to lvl 6, and I have only been on 6 or 7 of the forty scrillion static quests (or whatever) available. And if you asked me to list the lvl requirements of any of those 7, I honestly couldnt tell you. I am probably doing something(s) wrong.

As regards to poor sendings, I am totally to blame from sendings lacking levels.. but as I just noted, this isnt willfull, I actually don't know them.

In regards to a loss of 'magic' or 'initiative' I guess you folks might be right. Keep in mind i'm only suggesting a name and levels, no more detail than that. Maybe the names could be changed to be more cryptic, giving no clue as to the location?

Oroborous Eraamion, if your character wants to follow people into a quest area: just send a polite Tell to the party organizer. He'll probably invite you and let you sneak in behind them all IC by using some OOC reactions to handle the situation.

Wouldn't not having the quest in the journal prevent entering the area?

Yeah; but as Oro said, you get the invite the quest taker gets the quest (which you also get, as you're in the same party) and everyone's happy.

Unless of course you mean walking in after they've already started..

No, I mean following on a quest that its minimum level requirements would not normally allow me to. If I join the party, the quest taker will not be able to take the quest.

Why not just have some smarmy and helpful bard-ish NPC act as a sort of "employment officer" and charge some nominal fee to inform you of work he knows you might be suited for?

Idea. Put the requirements in the biography of the Quest Giver. This way no OOC information would flow around, and it's still easely available.

If it was placed in biography you could tell a qeust npc simply by examining it, which is kinda bad imho.

You can already tell a quest giver. They're named NPCs 10 times out 10. They stick out like sore thumbs. You talk to them, its obvious because they say "I have a quest!"

I talk to far more named NPCs than I do examine them. Not a bad idea in all.

I went around to a few quest givers today, and confrimed all you get is the minimum number, no the soft cap. I struck another problem, which is they often tell you nothing. Fro example neither Adell or the Tigereyes captain give a hint about what they will hire you for if you go and a ssemble a team, and not having done either static before its a bit awkward hiring people. Sending: "seeking a few brave.... err.... people (i imagine) for a task of great (or small) personal threat, you may (or may not) be greatly rewarded. Details unknown. Bring a friend (or dont)."

I went around to a few quest givers today, and confrimed all you get is the minimum number, no the soft cap. I struck another problem, which is they often tell you nothing. Fro example neither Adell or the Tigereyes captain give a hint about what they will hire you for if you go and a ssemble a team, and not having done either static before its a bit awkward hiring people. Sending: "seeking a few brave.... err.... people (i imagine) for a task of great (or small) personal threat, you may (or may not) be greatly rewarded. Details unknown. Bring a friend (or dont)."

That is usually being overcome by pretending you have already talked to the quest giver and know what is the quest going to be about; that is, unless the quest isn't by nature secretive. There is really a lot of ways to variate the quest - you can hire people for your own goals and only pretend helping the quest giver, you can take the quest and then take the others, telling them something completely else (on the quests where such is possible) etc. - repeating the quests in all the same way ("Hi! Ettercaps plague the area, come and destroy them!") would quickly grow boring. Although, I imagine, there are some that have different notions of fun.

A jobs list would be a real help to me as I forget much about the quests I encounter.

Maybe some quests/jobs should stay in your journal once you complete them, especially the endlessly repeatable job types? I know most quests are repeatable. What I mean are the ones specified or implied as such, examples, rats for goblins to eat, hunt rothe for the butcher, raid goblin slaversfor the seekers.

Guest, I know it would be convenient, but you can just type it in yourself in your journal and make note of other useful info to help you remember what and where. I'm starting to do that now...

1) The journal has only one page you can write in and mine is very packed.

2) The quest journal entries are already written. All I'm asking is that some of them persistantly stay in our journals. That is not too much too ask for, nor unreasonable, especially for logically repeatable quests like rat hunting.