Re: My take on the Unique Quests/Castle in Scorn thing

[Tom Barnes-Lawrence <ug97tbl@cs.bham.ac.uk>]

On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Peter Mardahl wrote:

> > so, I noticed PeterM had already implemented something with the Scorn
> > Castle that would probably be similar- but then I figured I'd just send
> 
> Sort of similar, but not exactly analogous.  Thus far, I've implemented

   Yeah, it sounds like you've got a set of standard quests that consist
of finishing random maps. As my main experience of the random maps is the
one next to the Jones' House, I don't know *that* much about them. Do I
take it you get the code to place specific items somewhere in the random
maps, to finish the quests?
  I mainly wrote because I felt my idea had some merits, and I wanted
it to have some chance before your version was all done and established
(does that sound nasty? not meant to), such that either my (imaginary)
code could go into the game and your new maps could use it, or perhaps
some of my ideas could get incorporated into your mapset in some way. Or
something.

> The intention is that a player can only have one Noble Rank at a time,
> but I know this can be circumvented.  However, a player must have
> advanced rank by rank:  i.e., he cannot go from Knight to Archduke without
> fulfilling all the intermediate quests/ranks.
  Are the ranks implemented by placing special invisible rank items in
the player inventory, or by other, new means? Do you have some way (like
check-inv tiles) to only allow entry to players who've been given quests,
and block those who've finished them? Or are the quests open to all?

> I intend to have some privileges in Scorn for those having attained
> Noble Ranks, such as having the gates open for them, and feasts laid
> out for them when they show up at court, being admitted to see Their
> Majesties, etc.
  This is similar to what I had in mind for my system; I've been starting
on an engineers guild, and was designing fancy weaponry that could be
created (with lots of effort and expensive/rare items, using alchemy),
after gaining access to certain rooms of the guild. Access to other parts
could lead to libraries of books describing how to make subcomponents of
the weapons, and the ammunition (not available in shops, expensive,
difficult and awkward to make, but powerful). Quests for high priests
might result in getting very unusual blessings from gods.

> Sometime after completing the Noble Rank stuff I was going to
> start doing some more random quests for powerful spells which can presently
> be found in shops, including: <snip>
> and removing them from the shops.  I had envisaged a room in the castle
  This sounds like a good idea. Too easy to get high level things from
shops right now.


> There's a lot more room in Scorn Castle for other people's ideas too, though.
> To me what it looks like you want to do is implement a random quest which
> would create an exit to a random map which would allow completing the
> quest.

  Kind of. The main point of my suggestion was that the system be
handled in a generic way, actual details of the quest were random but
then have some vague lasting effect (you generally can't do same quest
twice, if you do it changes slightly-but other people can do quests you've
done, after they get assigned them), though the maps are "random", they're
mostly set out according to the details of the quest, and the
exit/entrance to the random quest map is placed when the quest is
assigned, visible mainly to the player it's *assigned* to, and is removed
some time after it is completed.


> The granting of other titles than Noble Ranks is no big deal and
> no conflict.
> 
> "Welcome Slayer of Worms, Noble Duke of Scorn, Hero of the Abyss, XXXX!!!"
  Certainly, that's what I figured.


> I wrote the random map part.  :)  How about you write the rest?  :P

  Yeah, obviously if I want it, it's right and fair I should write it...
I was kind of hoping everyone else would want it ;) Apart from that, I'm
not going to start applying effort to this if everyone says it's no good
or that they prefer your implementation. And finally, I haven't written
any proper code for some time now, my C skills are kind of ropey, and
I don't know the CF code enough (ie-at all) to know where to put the new
necessary bits.
 But if there's a vague show of interest (and someone's willing to give me
a few hints and pointers thru the code), I'll start setting out something
more solid. In the meantime, I'm mainly making maps and playing with
making new alchemy formulae. I'll probably post a question on that
tomorrow- but now I'm off home because it's 1am, I'm tired and I haven't
eaten. Bye!

Tom Barnes-Lawrence (aka Tomble)
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