The NPC quests

The NPC quests are a new range of quests, in which the player takes on the role of an NPC during the quest, using their skills, their assets and their knowledge to complete the quest.

Unlike traditional quests, the player needs no items of their own to complete the quest as most items will be available within the quest itself. Money needn't be required either to acquire items within the quest the protagonist doesn't have, as simple trading of goods will get you what you need.

Like traditional quests, the player will need to complete a set of requirements to play the quest. This is simply so the player can understand the context of what the NPC is explaining (for instance, a player will need a cooking requirement to understand an NPC talking about cooking). It will also result in a reward of some kind as well, for the player will have learnt from this experience. Items or knowledge of new locations may too be unlocked as well, depending on whether the quest has relevance to that information or items.

Sounds simple!

So it's like the Daemonheim Sagas.

Quite rightly, except it follows other characters stories. And it means you can do a lot more to discover their origins or their adventures. Like Zanik, for instance.

I may regret saying this, given how busy we all are and how far from completion any current project is, but...

I see the potential for this to be a large group project (Morbius permitting), with each of us contributing one or more quests to a large collection.

Feel free to slap me (metaphorically) and insist HA and Pallis get finished first

Sounds like a fun idea, I guess.

I called them NPQs (non-player quests) when I suggested them ages back. The Daemonheim Sagas are in the TST's spoils of war. It'd be nice to see us actually write some quests rather than merely propose the concept though.

Where did I put my blueprints for "The Snowglobe" and "Prologue: Crin"?

It certainly gives us a lot more freedom in our storylines. When writing what I shall now call a player quest, we can't kill off the lead character, we have to keep the personality generic, we can't have a backstory, there can be no serious alterations to their body (ie, we can't turn them into a Vyre or a Werewolf or anything) and they always have to be able to stop the quest and do something else if they want to (the one flaw I found in the Chosen Commander was that you could just say "sorry, gotta do something else" and leave Zanik hanging over a cliff for a year if you wanted to).

NPQs have the potential to be better than ordinary quests. I certainly enjoyed all 3 of the Fremmenik Sagas much more than many quests...

They also allow you to use characters out of context with their "real life", including deceased or future characters. And can also be entirely fictional, even within the realms of fiction.

In my suggestion I created RuneScape's version of Shakespeare, Billy Shakespeare, whom was a renown "playmaker". He would create living fantasies (NPQs), including stories like Romeo and Juliet. This was before Romeo and Juliet was removed, but that was coincidentally awesome.

The best means to be able to just "walk away" is to have the story being told by someone else, by means of a conversation or by reading a book. That way, you can put it down and come back to it without just leaving it.

There are plenty of underused libraries around RuneScape that could be the start point NPQs...

Though the odds of it coming to fruition are unlikely, I have decided to attempt a NPQ series set in the Second Age (since it's my favorite age).

It'll be set around a street urchin from Sennestein who's on the run from Zarosian forces, particularly the Mahjarrat. It'll probably lead up to Zamorak's ascension as its finale, unless someone else really wanted to do an NPQ on that...

I want to do a quest about Zaros, Zaros as the main character, yes only the good things that zaros did

I think that rules of standard quests should apply to NPQs... no gods.

I think if tastefully done, we could have some Gods feature slightly whilst still maintaining their mystery - in my series, I wouldn't let anyone get more than a slight glimpse of Zaros, Zamorak would still be mortal (does that count as breaking the rules?) and used sparingly regardless, and the rest of the Gods wouldn't appear at all - given that it's set in the Second Age where the Gods could freely roam Gielinor, I don't think that's too bad.

Besides, if I really wanted to, I could argue that your rule doesn't apply to standard quests, 3mpty.

I would say this to you, Dusk. The game developers have worked really really hard to make Zaros the most mysterious God of all. I think I'm going to have to make a pretty big effort to keep him mysterious in my quests where he hardly features - are you sure you can keep him mysterious in yours?

then I'll just portray as zamorak killing kids and raping womans, yes I hate Zamorak

...or just leave physical manifestations of gods out and merely talk about them

EDIT: THat, however is the safest route, but if you're feeling it, do it by all means.

I was more talking to Dusk, Slayer. Portraying Zamorak in his mortal form isn't so bad.

Voices only would be the most tasteful way to do it.

In that case, 3mpty, I shall get started with my saga...

In deed.

The only problem with the concept is the lore. How does this Saga exist in the world? How does it make any sense for us to suddenly be someone else? Daemonheim has a really well-designed piece of lore for it to fit into, but this one doesn't seem to at all! Skuldrun was cursed to remember everything, and actually just tells us a really good story, using the magic (literally) of his voice. What's the backstory for this then?

After finishing Return to Canifis the other day, I was just thinking that one of the characters within the written novels who feature in the game could have notes on the characters exclusive to the stories. Then the quests could feature around the gaps in the narrative.

For instance, between Betrayal at Falador and Return to Canifis, three of the protagonists spent some time in the Wilderness and in the memory of one of them, decided to publish their diaries of their time there. This could be an ideal starting point.

Amascut wrote:The only problem with the concept is the lore. How does this Saga exist in the world? How does it make any sense for us to suddenly be someone else? Daemonheim has a really well-designed piece of lore for it to fit into, but this one doesn't seem to at all! Skuldrun was cursed to remember everything, and actually just tells us a really good story, using the magic (literally) of his voice. What's the backstory for this then?

NPQs could fall under many categories. You could have fiction, that are just stories and fables written by NPC Authors. The ability to "consume" yourself within a book could just be how story-books work in RuneScape (pop-up books ), a spell, or they could be something other than books. I used the term "playmaker" on the previous page; someone who can manifest fictional worlds and then simply lock them within a container (such as a book, or souvenir). This could be similar tech to how the Runecrafters created the Runecrafting guild, I suppose, only more artistic.

Or they could be biographies or memories, but otherwise everything else I said above.

Our avatar becomes an actor/character within this fiction. Pretending to be these other characters.

There's a mod for MineCraft at the moment where you can build computers, and you can right-click on them to play on the computer. On the computer someone has made MineCraft. He can play MineCraft while playing MineCraft.

I do quite like ComputerCraft But yeah, I do see whatcha mean there Thanks!