NPC quest givers, better than placeables

[djspectre]

So being among the lucky group of EFU1 vets, I remember bumping into the occasional NPC who would engage you in a conversation then suddenly *poof* you stumbled into a quest giver!

You'd get a little bit of lore, some recent history, maybe even a sappy story that would segue into a reason to take a quest.

This was the STANDARD way of acquiring quests in EFU1 and EFUA.


What happened?


Now it's a bunch of sterile glowing placeables that everyone discovers by spamming the tab key.


The original Goblin Fortress quest was given by a Seeker NPC in town, but you had to go out and find the Quest area....half the fun was being forced to explore the dangerous parts of the Underdark. All in the name of freeing slaves that you just found out were being held somewhere. Just to find a quest that was exceptionally difficult, but at the same time rewarding for several reasons when you completed it. Also, RP became a bit better. When you learned the fate of the slaves you went to save, you had a reason to react a certain way. Why? Because an NPC gave you a reason to give a shit about this mission you accepted.


I think that's missing. The flavor of quest taking has been diluted.

Why isn't the Umberhulk quest handed out by the Society? Or the kobold quest handed out by a scrapper who frequents the mines?


Bring back the NPC quest givers and get rid of the placeables. Give us our lore. Give us our sappy story, give us our forced exploration again...in short...give us our glorious QUEST!
 

*Note: to address a question I was asked, no, not all NPC questgivers in EFU1 were in town, there were lots that were at Fort Mur and other places in the underdark. So even druids or exiles had access to them.

[Random_White_Guy]

Personally I was never a fan of NPC questgivers. I dislike the idea I can't do a fun quest in the wilds because I"m a monster PC or a rival of that faction who has no IC reason to pursue a quest.

Questing can be fun, conflict can be fun, I shouldn't be hamstrung because of such.

In town quest givers for in town quests, sure. But the Non-NPC placables work fine.

[MrGrendel]

You don't have to have the NPC actually giving the quest... you can have Jon Questman talking about his lost stud rothe in the tavern, but the quest is still given by the boulder outside of the actual cave the quest is in.

[djspectre]

Personally I was never a fan of NPC questgivers. I dislike the idea I can't do a fun quest in the wilds because I"m a monster PC or a rival of that faction who has no IC reason to pursue a quest.

Questing can be fun, conflict can be fun, I shouldn't be hamstrung because of such.

In town quest givers for in town quests, sure. But the Non-NPC placables work fine.

Thats why there used to be lots of quest-givers outside of the city. It was perfectly possible to quest without any of the city based quests. We had a very famous Drow named Zau that quested almost entirely outside of sanctuary (IIRC) and drow were banned from entering the city, just like any other monster PC.

So I don't see how NPC's would hinder such.

[Inquisitor]

Personally I was never a fan of NPC questgivers. I dislike the idea I can't do a fun quest in the wilds because I"m a monster PC or a rival of that faction who has no IC reason to pursue a quest.

Questing can be fun, conflict can be fun, I shouldn't be hamstrung because of such.

In town quest givers for in town quests, sure. But the Non-NPC placables work fine.

As said, It's good there aren't specific NPCs as it lets you tailor the reasons your PC might be interested in doing the quest. For example, some CE asshole isn't going to do a quest if it involves helping out an orphan/etc/whatever.

[djspectre]

As said, It's good there aren't specific NPCs as it lets you tailor the reasons your PC might be interested in doing the quest. For example, some CE asshole isn't going to do a quest if it involves helping out an orphan/etc/whatever.

That was the beauty of those sorts of quests. you had the option to kill the orphans if you wanted or whatever. The old portal quest giver was an asshole, and you had the option of turning him in, letting him go, or killing him.

Plus some quests even had alignment restrictions. The Old society questgiver was a paladin and only allowed non-evil characters to take the quest.

This seems like a one-dimensional argument when the solution just involves some creative writing on the NPC's part. (not trying to sound condescending, sorry!)

[Inquisitor]

More options like that would be cool, but it doesn't require NPC quest givers.

[Lira]

Just to find a quest that was exceptionally difficult, but at the same time rewarding for several reasons when you completed it.

Ah yes, because that's what EFU needs: to be even more difficult.

[djspectre]

EFU was never about being an easy setting. The difficulty enhanced the fact that when some people did epic-seeming things, they actually felt epic when they accomplished it.

Adding NPC's as quest givers don't really increase the challenge a whole lot and certainly not enough to make the setting feel overly brutal or punishing.

[Paha]

Some quests are fitting to have NPC, some are areas, or locations that you can approach, as a quest. Monster camps, fortresses, caves, what ever.

We'll surely use appropriate means to present quests, if one invents and creates such quest where they feel it best presented through such means.

[djspectre]

I guess that it just feels so sterile to have nearly every quest except the delivery ones utilize the placeable method.

[Big Orc Man]

These arise out of two issues.
 
First, the notion of an NPC just sitting in the wilderness waiting to give out a quest might make sense on the surface, in the form of an Orderman on a tower, but it's silly in an apocalyptic Underdark world to have an overabundance of these folks.
 
That means we either need glowing placeables, or NPCs in town.

The problem with the NPCs in town route is that it means those who avoid town, are exiled, or simply just prefer being druidic cannot access quests they absolutely should be able to.