Day Four Addendum: The Quest for For (Four) Fish

[pyat]

Before bed, I fired up Conan one more time, and took on an additional quest. I went back to where I'd found the tailor and blacksmith who'd given me the dead-simple quests. There was a fisherman, and he was starving to death. He'd been chased away from his fishing gear and catch by pirates. His quest?

Bring him four fish, so he could eat.

I had food on me. Specically, bananas, dead rats, and a piece of carrot cake(?!). The game did not provide the option of giving him food, or money to buy food. He didn't ask me to retrieve his fishing rod, or his nets. He wanted me to go to a basket of fish he'd abandoned days ago, and bring back four of them.

I agreed to this rather short-sighted request, and ambled over to the lighthouse. There, I was horribly slaughtered by the band of 10th level Pirates who were guarding the fish. Maybe they had another reason for being there, but they were also attacking me for approaching the fish.


I came back and tried to sneak up on the basket of fish, using an Apocalypse Now-style approach, and sneaking up under the docks. I crouched low and hugged shadows, and came in sight of the fish... and got shot dead by a dozen arrows. At that point, I decided the fisherman could just jolly well starve to death.

Also, consider the moral implications. He wanted me to go and kill six or seven men, in order that he could have breakfast. I suspect the fisherman was actually evil. I should go back and preach at him. Seriously, though, if that scenario arose in a tabletop RPG, players would walk away from the game

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

It's the nature of roleplaying games to produce absurd quests especially at lower levels (it's not just that Elminster is a powerful mage and you'd think getting rid of x problem wouldn't take too much time from his big schedule, but he's lived for centuries as a result has dozens of fairly powerful lovers and former apprentices; they can't all be busier than the no-name PCs, can they?).

It's the nature of an inflexible medium to produce absurdity.

Therefore, an inflexible roleplaying game at low levels will produce stuff that Salvador Dali would consider incoherent.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I never sat through a fetch quest Back In The Day. Never played one, never GM'ed one. Low-level characters would meet in a tavern, yeah, but for the most part, they didn't have patrons, or get missions from more powerful NPCs -- they picked up rumors about still-unlooted tombs, and the like.

[paka.livejournal.com]

... additionally, if that scenario arose in a tabletop RPG, the players wouldn't walk away from the game. The first time they found themselves in combat with a lot of pirates, the players would assume there was more going on than just four rotting fish, figure they were being had by the fisherman and either 1) figure out another assault on the pirates to see what they're really guarding or 2) assume that they were being used as a distraction, that whatever the pirates were guarding had already been stolen by the "fisherman" during the combat, and zip back to his place to interrogate or possibly kill him.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

That much is very true. But of course, in this game, everything is exactly as it appears. The fisherman is just a fisherman, and the pirates really are standing around, guarding a basket of fish.

If it turns out not to be true, I'd be quite happy.

[relee.livejournal.com]

This game would fail the Darth Vader test SO HARD. XD

[pyat.livejournal.com]

What's the Darth Vader test?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is pretty lame quest writing! It'd have been understandable if the fisherman had asked for help getting his boat back from the pirates or something.

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

This is a big part of why I don't touch games like this: the players often turn out to be far more intelligent than anything the programmers can put into them. In the end, they're just fancier versions of Choose Your Own Adventure. At least those didn't require an Internet connection.

[elvishefer.livejournal.com]

I think you're expecting to much traditional RP from your G.

The point of the quests isn't to create a free action world where anything goes and the game will respond accordingly.

The point is to create a time sink where you will get experience points and loot that will make you stronger and better than other players.

Do the quests -> make your character better.

Conan on the wheel -> Conan stronger.

If I remember correctly the AoC end game is PvP - crush your enemies, see them driven before you, etc.

It is conceivable that the difference between you fighting and living, and you fighting and dieing, is determined by that quest for four fish. Or one of its many dozens of quest cousins.

The RP is a dirtier, simpler and more practical manifestation where you taking a role in a group to achieve a virtual goal.

There should come a point in the game where it is absolutely impossible for you to kill the pirates for the four fish by yourself. You will have to seek out a group, and socialize enough to get the job done.

As you kill the pirates with your group as priest (and, since I've never played AoC, I'm taking a wild guess here), your role will be to keep the rest of your group alive. Or cast a damage shield at the right time. Or whatever a priest does.

I think it's a mistake to do a direct comparison between a good RPG session and a good MMORPG session; they are two entirely different experiences, each with its own kind of fun.

However, like anything else, you get out what you put in. Sometimes watching someone preaching for converts at the gates of a city adds more to the MMO experience than finding a good ae grind camp does, or getting a rare drop, or whatever you come to value as rewarding in the game world.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I know I'm going into it with the wrong expectations. But I do think that a well-designed scenario in any game should, ideally, involve a little less suspension of logic and disbelief.

(http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/photo/PhyRd0v9vHtxFSEoMFAvUQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCO_u07PZzLj-pQE&feat=embedwebsite)
For example, my starving fisherman was standing next to this table.

I recognize the "grinding" aspect and the need to team up at some point. I also think quests like, "Hey, those 20 pirates killed my daughter. Avenge me and I'll reward you!" would at least make sense in the context of the world, and give the player a sense of motivation and involvement in the game beyond "I can sell this fillet knife for 5 tin pieces."

[acegreco.livejournal.com]

In order to not reiterate what's already been said (and I wholeheartedly agree with), I'll just mention this common anecdote which the game disregards completely.

"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish (or provide him with the means to do so), and he'll eat for the rest of his lifetime."

Of course, this doesn't take into account the prevalence of pirates on all accessible shores. Global warming must be so far in reverse in this world, that it will soon incite another Ice Age. :D