So lets talk about Questing, or Writs, or Missions or whatever you want to call it when an NPC send you on a job. Ill just refer to this as Writs going forward, too many years on Arelith to think of them in any other way. These are a really important mechanism for a server. The reason being not all players are natural explorers so out of the way things don’t always catch their attention. A writ is a great excuse to encourage people to explore the server. Its also vital for driving gameplay. I logged in I want to “do” something, and usually not just anything I want to “do” something heroic.
However there is literal zero agreement about how to build a good writ. Opinions range from well it needs to be like dark souls where one mistake and you lose all your stuff, your character is deleted, and your put on an international terror watchlist... to… hey why cant I complete this writ with a level 1 wizard who I tanked his CON for my roleplay so I only have 2hp?!? I should be able to kill these thirty kobolds solo!
So rather than simply talk about writs being too easy, or too hard or finding that magical goldilocks zone of sublime perfection lets have a talk about writ categories. I am firmly of the opinion a server needs to offer a verity of “adventure” experiences to the players.
Single vs. Multiplayer Writs
I’m a big believer in both. Its foolish to think all writs have to be one or the other. In fact there needs to be single player writs on a small server because at 3am with only a handful of people online people want to do things and they don’t always want to do them with someone. But that said rewards need to scale with accomplishment. A writ designed for multi-player could also be seen as a very difficult single player writ. So the more complex the writ, or the more people involved it needs to reward accordingly.
I do want to make a quick case for single player writs. On a small server its not always possible to find a good party at 3am. Its also time consuming. It takes an hour to roleplay with everyone and get headed in the same direction. If I only have thirty minuets to play. I still want to do something!
Repeatable
Some writs, though not all, need to be repeatable. There are some problems that just keep coming back. Rats are in the grain house again. Barroom fight has broken out again and the guards need backup but don’t kill anyone fists only! Etc… there are always writs that should represent repeatable jobs that by their nature keep having to be done. This could be especially true for new player areas.
Of course some writs are one and done. They represent a problem that when solved is solved.
Number of Players
I’m going to be honest, on a small server I don’t think more than three should be required. Couple of reasons. First its a small server and getting four people every time is… hard sometimes. Secondly and I think this is also important there is not enough room in many of these locations for four players. The sewers pretty much let two people lead. If all four are fighters its very crowded. Three is a good number for design. With more being an option not a necessity.
Types of Writs
Writs don’t just have to be about combat. Instead of thinking of them as combat missions, think of them as a problem. Someone has a problem and they need a Pathfinder to solve that problem for them. Now that problem “could” have multiple solutions. It also “could” have multiple endings. This is something that’s almost never seen on servers. But there is no reason a writ has to have a universal outcome or a universal reward. So when I talk about types understand I’m talking about different skills needed to solve a problem.
Yes, its even possible for a single writ to contain multiple types in it. This is actually idea for multi-player writs where the goal is to bring a collection of skills together to solve a problem. A great example of this is pretty much every “heist” movie ever made! The hardest writs should require multiple classes to complete them.
However there is literal zero agreement about how to build a good writ. Opinions range from well it needs to be like dark souls where one mistake and you lose all your stuff, your character is deleted, and your put on an international terror watchlist... to… hey why cant I complete this writ with a level 1 wizard who I tanked his CON for my roleplay so I only have 2hp?!? I should be able to kill these thirty kobolds solo!
So rather than simply talk about writs being too easy, or too hard or finding that magical goldilocks zone of sublime perfection lets have a talk about writ categories. I am firmly of the opinion a server needs to offer a verity of “adventure” experiences to the players.
Single vs. Multiplayer Writs
I’m a big believer in both. Its foolish to think all writs have to be one or the other. In fact there needs to be single player writs on a small server because at 3am with only a handful of people online people want to do things and they don’t always want to do them with someone. But that said rewards need to scale with accomplishment. A writ designed for multi-player could also be seen as a very difficult single player writ. So the more complex the writ, or the more people involved it needs to reward accordingly.
I do want to make a quick case for single player writs. On a small server its not always possible to find a good party at 3am. Its also time consuming. It takes an hour to roleplay with everyone and get headed in the same direction. If I only have thirty minuets to play. I still want to do something!
Repeatable
Some writs, though not all, need to be repeatable. There are some problems that just keep coming back. Rats are in the grain house again. Barroom fight has broken out again and the guards need backup but don’t kill anyone fists only! Etc… there are always writs that should represent repeatable jobs that by their nature keep having to be done. This could be especially true for new player areas.
Of course some writs are one and done. They represent a problem that when solved is solved.
Number of Players
I’m going to be honest, on a small server I don’t think more than three should be required. Couple of reasons. First its a small server and getting four people every time is… hard sometimes. Secondly and I think this is also important there is not enough room in many of these locations for four players. The sewers pretty much let two people lead. If all four are fighters its very crowded. Three is a good number for design. With more being an option not a necessity.
Types of Writs
Writs don’t just have to be about combat. Instead of thinking of them as combat missions, think of them as a problem. Someone has a problem and they need a Pathfinder to solve that problem for them. Now that problem “could” have multiple solutions. It also “could” have multiple endings. This is something that’s almost never seen on servers. But there is no reason a writ has to have a universal outcome or a universal reward. So when I talk about types understand I’m talking about different skills needed to solve a problem.
Yes, its even possible for a single writ to contain multiple types in it. This is actually idea for multi-player writs where the goal is to bring a collection of skills together to solve a problem. A great example of this is pretty much every “heist” movie ever made! The hardest writs should require multiple classes to complete them.