let's think about quests

[Lasher]

So, I have an idea for a quest!

After closing the gate I felt that was unsatisfying as a finish. So a quest after for the people who didn't get the super ending!

Basically the Druid in Terinyo says, Great Job, btw, mind cleaning up some lingering chaos? And by cleaning up I mean smashing the Orb Altars or if you're feeling Ballsy, converting them.

And when you do, Andor Drakon, since he's super pissed at you for closing his gate, summons buddies of his to attack. Either random tough monsters, or, some kind of reborn and revamped up version of the boss that was supposed to be there.

The Reward? Whatever you find afterwards, and a slightly different ending. Something like, "Closed the gate and purified the Drakalor Chain."

Just something I was thinking about. Always thought I should do something about those altars.

[FantomFang]

Well, you can convert the altars at anytime as long as you're a crowned champion of X. Fallen champions or uncrowned characters cant convert them.

[Spellweaver]

* A quest for which you must be Neutral, and for which the resulting reward is highly valuable to Neutrals specifically.

That would be good to have, as neutrality is the hardest alignment to mantain and be crowned with, but it does not give any great benefit.

[TheViscount]

I had my an idea for a quest involving the Old Barbarian:

Chatting with the Old Barbarian whilst you are not chaotic and have completed his courage quest will yield the following:
"Well met. You certainly show more promise than my last apprentice. He too had potential, yet he had not the patience necessary to be a great warrior. He turned to the forces of ChAoS for strength. He now resides in the abandoned mine in the mountains."

Upon receiving this message, the PC is now able to access the Chaos Mines (CM) located 4 spaces above the Gremlin Caves. The mines themselves feature 5 cavernous levels, with exorbitant amounts of rocks and ores cluttering the floor. Enemies generated in this level would include chaos rats, WMoPCs, ghosts, and dwarven chaos knights. The main feature of the level would be the presence of the Chaos Barbarian himself on the fifth level. He himself would not be that incredibly strong, the real threat he poses would be his ability to summon many WMoPCs (being part of the whole, using ChAoS in the place of actually improving your own physical ability theme the Old Barbarian mentioned).

There would actually be two ways to finish this quest;
-Normal Way: Simply kill the Chaos Barbarian. Speaking to the Old Barbarian afterwards would have him thank you for killing him, and as a reward, he teaches the PC "Find Weakness" if he doesn't have it already. The quest would also give a small lawful boost.
-Lawful Way: On CM: 5, there would be several chaotic altars. Destroy or convert these altars, and then throw a blessed PoCC at a critically wounded Chaos Barbarian. This would turn him into a regular barbarian who would fight against the hoards of chaos creatures inhabiting the level. They would eventually overpower and kill him. After talking to the Old Barbarian again, he would thank you for allowing him to die free. The reward for this version of the quest would be a higher start to "Find Weakness" and a higher lawful boost.

[grobblewobble]

throw a blessed PoCC at a critically wounded Chaos Barbarian. This would turn him into a regular barbarian who would fight against the hoards of chaos creatures inhabiting the level. They would eventually overpower and kill him.

Since many of the enemies he would be fighting have corrupting attacks, I wonder: what if he turns into a WMoPC in that fight?

@Lasher: it's an interesting thought to give some reward to someone who actually bothers with the elemental altars. As it stands you can convert them, but it's risky and hard work to do and there is no reward for it.

edit:

A while back I was thinking it might be interesting to find a quest giver on say the 2nd level or 3rd level of ToEF. It might be useful to tie a quest giver in the tower with the volcano quest line.

What sort of NPC did you have in mind?

[Deg]

What sort of NPC did you have in mind?

Well the original concept was a NPC fire giant in the tower offering a quest to some place out side the tower to retrieve a much needed item. If I recall I think it was to give another reason to go into the Rift to retrieve something to bring back to him. But with the addition of the volcano it could be something like...

The Fire Giant is seeking information on his family living deep within the volcano(s) who he hasn't heard from in a long time. Quest is to find out what has happened to his family. This would tie into the overall volcano quest where the fire giant village his family lives in is wiped out and you find other quests in the village to continue the story.

Basically I like the concept of several reasons to visit locations. ToEF is just for the Fire Orb however it is such a unique place I think it deserves a 2nd or even a 3rd reason to enter.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Basically I like the concept of several reasons to visit locations. ToEF is just for the Fire Orb however it is such a unique place I think it deserves a 2nd or even a 3rd reason to enter.

I think it would be nice to have quests that require going to places that are optional, like the Minotaur Maze, the Rift, the Quickling Tree, and maybe the TotHK. Every player who wants to win the game already has to go to the ToEF, so a quest there wouldn't have much impact in most people's decisions and game planning. Not saying that that's necessarily a bad thing if the quest is interesting, of course. But providing incentives to visit seldom-visited places like the Minotaur Maze or Quickling Tree should be top priority IMO.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Companions are another rather underused feature in ADOM. A good way to use this feature would be to include some escort quests, where you would have to go somewhere with a companion. For example, Guth'Alak might want to speak to the Oracle in the HMV. Or the dwarven elder might want to pay a tribute to his ancestors in a guaranteed lawful altar in DH:2. Or Bart might want to gamble in the Casino. In some escort quests, the companions could be competent and helpful in combat (like Guth'Alak), while in others they could be weak and need a lot of protection. The quests with competent companions should restrict the locations where you can go, i.e., if you have promised to take Guth'Alak to the HMV, he would complain if you try to enter any location different from Terinyo, SMC, UD, HMV or the wilderness, and insisting on doing so would result in Guth'Alak abandoning you and the quest being cancelled.

I don't know how difficult it would be to code this, but since the companion mechanic is in place, I suppose not too much; and these quests would add variety.

[szopin]

Not sure if it fits (no idea about the backstory), but how about a quest with reclaiming DH? Bit like Middle Earth's Moria, getting a group of dwarves from Dwarftown to clear DH of the evil spirits that currently dwell within it. Maybe warriors that help with fighting + some priests who bless cleared areas making DH friendly once again bit by bit (I assume it was, like I said no idea what the back story is here). Then a chasm, fight with Balrogish demon and another use of our beloved bridge building Maybe an artifact from a different location would be required to get the help from the animated trees (stepping again on Tolkien's country) in clearing DH2? Then each 2-3000 turn some more dwarves would settle, opening shops and other useful avenues making it a dynamicly developing friendly location.
Sadly it would be hard to do this keeping the old quest of getting past it, also are a bit close to each other.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Sadly it would be hard to do this keeping the old quest of getting past it, also are a bit close to each other.

Both my DH quest an yours can be compatible with the current quest of getting past DH. It makes sense that Thrundarr sends you first on a scouting mission to see what's below, and once he has that information (and maybe information from other scouts too), he makes the decision to either go pay tribute to his ancestors (my quest) or reclaim DH (yours). These quests could be assigned a number of turns after you complete the normal AF/DH quests, so that Thrundarr has time to make the decision. In fact, typically they would be completed much later, since normally characters complete the traditional AF/DH quests in the early midgame, when they aren't strong enough to actually fight the monsters in DH. Maybe they could have a minimum level as well.

However, simulating dwarves gradually settling DH and a dynamically growing settlement sounds like the kind of thing that it's not trivial to code, and TB would rather do for ADOM II.