Holding Quests

Gizmo Quest FAQ
v1.0 by Dionysus


I. So you want to run a quest?

Good! Great! Exceptional! We want you to run a quest. As many as you possibly can, as a matter of fact. Quests are wonderful things that help spark player's interests, and break the monotony they experience after mindless hours of exp'ing. But first we want to make sure we're all on the same page, so that some of us aren't giving out 10 damage rings for a five minute trivia quest, while others are giving out a snowy for a three hour quest wherein all of your players die.

II. What do I do to get started?

Depending on the complexity of your quest, you have two main options. If you just want to run a small, locate item type quest, with a potion or two as a prize, you might want to just look around for a high level God, and ask him or her for permission. For little quests like this, that's often all that's needed, and they have a really fun, spontaneous feel to them.

Two warnings about these spontaneous sort of quests though: First of all, often your work will go unappreciated. People have become very used to (some would say spoiled) getting "quest" prizes when they play a quest. If they put in their hour or two of playtime, and wind up winning a couple of Frosty potions, they might be very bitter, note how much experience they could have gained during that time, and storm out of the room furious. On the other hand, most people really do enjoy quests, whether they win or lose, and whether the prize is great or not. The other thing to watch out for is sloppiness. Since a lot of these small quests are done off-the-cuff, the God(s) running them don't pay much attention to detail in their rush to get the quest going. I hazard strongly against this. If you've just thrown together something, without giving thought to plot, asthetics or groups, it will tend to look that way to those who play in it, and they'll think less of you for it.

With that said, some of the best quests I've ever run, and played in, have been completely spontaneous, with ten minutes preperation. So it can work. Just be sure you're ready to handle it when you announce over gossip, "Quest in twenty minutes!" Because if you don't... well, the mob can be a vicious thing to have turn against you.

If you're interested in running a longer, more complex, more thought out quest, the best way to go about preparing it is to draft a proposal and mail it to one or all of the quest gods.

III. What should be in my proposal?

Excellent question! Here's what we'd really like from you:
* A storyline or plot description (as detailed as you'd like)
* What sort of quest it is (find objects? lots of killing? riddle-based?)
* The difficulty of the mobs in it
* Whether you'll be restringing mobs already in the game, or making your own
* What sort of group structure there will be
* Limitations (rules), such as whether etheral passage/summoning is allowed
* What kind of prize you're considering
* Contact information for you
* The date you'd like to run it
* Include your quest sponsor!

IMPORTANT: ALL quests need a sponsor! If you can't find one, most likely either myself (Dionysus), or Conundrum will be willing to sponsor you. A sponsor is responsible for what goes on during your quest, so be good, not only for yourself, but for them as well!

IV. How do I string things for a quest?

String is a wonderful command, if used properly. If not, it has a lot of potential to mess things up, and confuse the heck out of mortals and immortals alike. The first rule of stringing is: Make SURE you are stringing what you THINK you are stringing. Do not just assume that the postcard you have in your inventory is going to be 1.postcard, and haphazardly change it's name. This will cause immense confusion to the person who just wanted to write a letter, and now finds themselves putting pen to A Giant Iguana Dropping.

The format for stringing (and indeed, most of what you need to know) can be found merely by typing "wizcmd string" (assuming you're an immortal, which I am). So I'm not going to go into much detail about how to do it, I'm just going to reiterate the fact that you need to pay very close attention when you're stringing things for your quest. I usually do all of my strings in Notepad before a big quest, check to make sure everything is what and where I think it is, and then copy and paste them. Not only does this get it done quickly once I've decided to run the quest, but if the Mud crashes, it makes it easy for me to restart the quest.

V. The biggie: What kind of prizes should I give?

If you have mortals, anything of theirs you want! But if you mean what kind of prizes can you load or have loaded to give as prizes, the following is a pretty good guideline. No matter what though, always check with a higher-level God before giving out prizes.

* SOS'd Items:

The big'uns. These are the notorious "quest" items, an item which was already in the game, and has had its stats increased by a Pri+. Don't give these out unless your quest has a fairly high mortality expectency, and takes some time. You'll have to find a Pri+ to do it anyway, and they'll probably quiz you to make sure your quest has what it takes.

* Unique Items:

These can only really be given out for quests planned long in advance, since they require that a line be added to a .obj file. These should be properly discussed with the Quest Gods, who will in turn properly discuss them with the Big Ol' Gods.

* Clonable Items:

These are the really big guys! I don't even like the idea of giving them out, because they'll go into a clone-pool and be worth as much as twenty regular quest items. But they can be given out under extreme circumstances, meaning long "campaign" quests (series' of 5-10 difficult quests). These will have to be discussed with the proper authorities. It is my opinion that if you can get around giving these out, you should do so.

* Loading Gear:

There are two tiers of loading gear: "Great" loading gear, and the other stuff. Great loading gear is basically gear worth more than 500 fame (Dweller gear and up). The other stuff is anything not in that category. Great loading gear may only be given out for quests which take over an hour, and you should definitely get the okay from a higher-up before giving it out. The other stuff can be given out for lesser quests, but we don't want to flood the game with gear which should be semi-difficult to pop, so use your discretion, and if you have any doubt, consult someone higher than you.

* Fun Stuff:

This category includes the manual of health (adds 1 hp to a char), the arcane codes (adds 1 mana), ambrosia (removes 3-5 years of age), cheese cake of the gods (adds 2-7 mana) and divine brownies (adds 2-7 hp). Only a Sup+ can load these items, but they make great prizes for little quests (in moderation, as always).

* One-Time-Use:

Under this category falls decaying gear, potions, scrolls and the like. These can be given out as prizes for little things like recall tag, or in slightly greater quantity (we're not talking 40 frosty's though, okay?) for bigger quests. As always, before you load any of this, ask a higher up God. If nothing else, it takes you off of the hook :-)

VI: Summation

So, that's about it. If you have any more questions, ask me (Dionysus) or Conundrum, or someone you think might have the answer. Thanks for reading this far, I hope it proved somewhat helpful, and I hope you're as eager as I am to run some quests!

I'm sure you've had fun playing them in the past, but trust me, there's nothing more exciting than running one. And wait until you get your first kill!

Contact Information:

Dionysus - kalisti@mailexcite.com
Conundrum - coder3@gizmo2.camalott.com