Tackling the new quests & maps for ADOM

[adom-admin]

Here's a link to the blog post about adding new maps and quests to ADOM: http://www.ancientdomainsofmystery.c...-for-adom.html

Please use this thread for extended discussions as I will follow it closely while I start to work on the new additions.

[adom-admin]

As a reminder of myself: This already has been discussed at one time: http://www.adom.de/forums/showthread...here-be-choice

[mrrstark]

A range I often get stuck on with not enough to do at my level but grind is like the high teens, 15 - 21, prepping to do ToEF, but done most of what I can handle in CoC, overworld locations, but dont have gear or level enough to take on ToEF.

[boat]

A range I often get stuck on with not enough to do at my level but grind is like the high teens, 15 - 21, prepping to do ToEF, but done most of what I can handle in CoC, overworld locations, but dont have gear or level enough to take on ToEF.

I also agree with this, and perhaps a reward or item during that quest would grant a chance for a ring of ice or fireproof blanket (probably not both)

[Tannis]

In my opinion, the quests are needed to fill out levels 24 to late 30s. The early game quests get you to 10ish easily, and the DT quests + Pyramid, ToTHK, and DF get you to high teens low twenties pretty easily. The end game dive (deeper temples, BDC possibly) get you to the low to mid 40s, and d50 usually does the rest. But that zone between levels 24ish to early 40s... don't like it. I'd like to see more quests here.

Quest Idea: Reclaim the Dwarven Halls.

I always got the impression that dwarftown is the dwarves in exile, and they had been booted out from someplace greater. I also feel like that's a great untold story about how \he dwarves lost their halls. At level 25-30 or so, Thundarr can offer you one last quest - reclaim the halls. Accepting it causes a second downstairs on DH2 to generate. This leads to DH3-5.

DH 3-4 would be basically like DH1-2: Highly corrupting and dangerous. DH5 would be a special fixed level: Throneroom of the Dwarf King. This level should be non-teleport, and should have "mithril walls" so it's undiggable. Unlike the other DH levels, would are just random rooms connected by halls, this levels should be more linear. At the end of it is the throne room, which reveals the forces that drove the dwarves from the halls. The easy answer would be a balor, but that's a) too much of a tolkien rip off even for me, and b) lessens the impact of d50.

Instead, the boss should be a pack of titans led by a high level named greater titan, Thraindarr's Bane. This name tells you the story without laying it out - Thraindarr obviously being implied to be Thrundarr's ancestor. The nice thing about titans as the boss is that you rarely see em, they would pose a good threat both at range in melee, and i love the idea of dwarf warriors fighting a losing battle against titans only to flee into exile.

Reward: Not sure. Maybe heaps of scrolls of melee damage, accuracy, protection and defense; maybe glod increases the pv and damage of a weapon and armor of your choice by 2d4; maybe glod can forge you a random weapon, with a high chance of being adamantium or eternium and high chance of having an ego; maybe a new dwarven artefact (helm or gauntlets).

[Efed]

-I would like to see a Drakeling village. Perhaps in the middle of that rather large body of water on the map. Or perhaps at the base of (or in) the upcoming volcano.

-The Drakelings have a natural hot spring that sustains them through the cold of winter. The spring has stopped flowing. They beg you to find out why before they freeze.

-Once a year, when the stars are bright and the mists come down from the mountains, the mist elves can be heard at play. If the PC approaches they are startled and run away, but not before they leave something behind by mistake.

-An insane Gnome begs you to bring the sacred stones of the pantheon to him. These stones can only be found by smashing one altar of each alignment. What is the reward for this sacrilige? The gnome swears with the powers of these gems he can make a weapon to slay even Gods.

-The ship of the Dread Pirate Mazridal has been seen moored in a hidden cove on the shores of the lake. His coffers are bursting and his men are drunk on wine and pillage. (This would kind of make sense as a Quest from the Sheriff).

-The Silver Star Rapier, used in the graduation ceremony of each battle cadre of Ratling Duelists has been stolen! The gray whiskered Ratling Duelist Master of the Martial Academy begs you to find it and return it to its rightful place. You could do that, if you can even find it, but will you?

-One quiet evening the sky is lit by a flash and a terrible boom is heard. In the morning a column of smoke can be seen from afar. Something has fallen from the heavens, but what could it be? (It would be awesome if it was something a little different each time. Sometimes a powerful monster, sometimes an item of at least moderate power)

[Stingray1]

There has also been quite some suggestions within RFEs as "off-topic" posts within those RFEs, but to find them will be job in its own. There has also been some suggestions as to how to improve the character leveling issue in RFEs, which I'm not so certain extra quests will solve much as there are issues with the leveling mechanic itself.

[JellySlayer]

A few thoughts:

I feel that overall the game is a bit lacking in good chaotic quests. There's basically four chaotic quests: Kill Jharod, kill Tywat Pare, kill Thrundarr, kill Guth'Alak. Of these, the middle two are basically never done simply because the rewards (amulet of chaos and amulet of raw steel) don't really justify the effort in attempting them. The other two quests are interesting for some cases, but are still rarely done overall compared to the lawful quests. For players roleplaying chaotic or for Chaos Knights, there is a relative lack of things to do, particularly in the midgame.

What I'd like to see:
-A chaotic quest aimed for characters around level 15. I'd suggest making this quest mutually exclusive with the Griffyard quest, and of similar difficulty. Perhaps the PC could be required to steal something from a village of mist elves, say. There could be two possible routes--a stealth route, where the PC must pickpocket a particular key off of one of the elves in order to access the item, then sneak away steathily, or a fighting route where you just kill everything. I think lore-wise, it would make sense to have the mist elves be predominately caster-types of various sorts (not summoners), but, of course, have few HP. Rewards might be things of interest to a chaotic character and similar power to Griffyard, depending on whether the stealthy or violent method were completed. In the former case, perhaps a ring of invisibility, wand of poison and a pair of seven league boots would be appropriate; in the latter case, perhaps a vampiric eternium weapon (or artifact equivalent), a ring of slaying, and wand of death.

-A quest where wilderness is heavily featured. I've described a possible idea for it here.

-A mid-level (pre-ToEF) quest where the PC must align with one of two mutually exclusive factions. Here's one such option.

-An endgame-level quest suited for characters level 30-40 (perhaps even only available at those levels). Something like the "reclaim the Dwarven Halls" quest above might be nice. A possible reward that might be very nice for a PC at this level would be something that would, let's say, halve the background corruption in the CoC (but not in other areas like the scintillating cave). This might make endgame areas like greater vaults or BDC more amenable to non-ultras without huge stashes of SoCR.

[grobblewobble]

providing more in game information about actions that todays usually require external spoilers (at east according to common opinion)

The ultra finishes are number one in this category. For example, an unspoiled player is very unlikely to chat to the assassin prince at character level 45. (Also related to the strange experience curve, because in a normal game levels 25 to 45 are not gained before you kill the balors on level 50).

As discussed before, it would be great if there was a way to defeat Andor Drakon while being N or L from start to finish..

[grobblewobble]

Are there any in game story topics / legends that you would like to see covered in more detail?

There are several storylines that I would like to know more about or to see covered in more detail:

1. The weird tome. Maybe this can already be read or used in some way that no one discovered yet. But maybe not. If not, I would love it if it really had some kind of obscure use.
2. Kherab's third quest. There are rumors that he may have one, with a "spear of raw steel" as reward. This is another potential unsolved mystery, but it would be cool in any case. Maybe the third quest could be to slay Khelavaster in Terinyo, after you saved him?
3. The demented ratling says that the ancient stone circle was originally built for all three alignments.. it sounds like a possible plot development.
4. Why does the mad minstrel want you to kill Filk? Maybe Filk could help you to learn how to read or use the weird tome, if you decide to let him live (and perhaps kill the mad minstrel instead)?
5. (I hope I don't get a lynch mob after me for suggesting this..) If you 'h'andle a tree in the wilderness, some dead leaves drop. Perhaps there could be a small chance that it drops a quest item instead? (Maybe this should only work for one specific tree.)