Hey folks, I have another question for you that came to mind while replying to
my previous thread.
Diversity of content will be very widespread when dealing with UGC (user generated content) and I wanted to get a general idea of what you as players enjoy the most from previous experiences with PnP adventures or other RPG video games.
So what type(s) of adventures do you enjoy the most or have enjoyed in the past?
Dungeon Crawl? Lots of Dialog? Hack and slash? Heavy story? Funny? Non Combat? Thought provoking? Lots of puzzles? Lots of lore? Something other? All the above? etc...
Also, how much time would you generally prefer to spend in a single UGC adventure?
Lastly, what is your favorite monster to fight against? Feel free to be specific or just in general.
I want to create content that not only I would enjoy playing but that I want the largest average of players would also enjoy to see/play.
So let's hear your thoughts (or read them rather).
There is a rumor floating around that I am working on a new foundry quest. It was started by me.
Comments
The next one will be a campaign, most likely about 3-4 hours in length, but broken into 1-hour "legs" that players can do as they wish. One story will lead to the next, but I'm not going to make a player sit through all of that in one shot. It will be dungeon-crawl, but lore-based (should you care to read stuff or descriptions), but you can also select dialog options to just get to the meat of the adventure quickly. There will be little side-things to do - but are more like "if you want to explore every tunnel" type thing rather than "you just did all of this, and now have to go back out because you went down the wrong tunnel".
I wouldn't say this campaign is exactly hack and slash (go through the dungeon), as some parts of it will have four objectives before returning, then having another leg spawn from that once you get a key to the next area. Granted, the quest objectives available to us do usually involve killing something or defeating foes, so... This will be a mix of overland and dungeon. Overland to the quest location, dungeon crawl to get to the objective, return to surface, one more interior adventure, return to surface, done kind of thing.
As to what I enjoyed in the past, there's a good mix of adventures from Dragon! magazine, old-school "Keep on the Borderlands" style adventures, and on up to the boxed sets like "Ruins of Myth Drannor" and so forth.
Honestly, for content, as long as it's engaging, I don't care. I don't see how one can get engaged in less than half an hour or so, preferably an hour. That's quite a bit of content, mind you, on the hour mark. I doubt I'll see many that long. I'm expecting lots of 10-15 minute adventures. The average on beta lasts about 2-5 minutes, and that's just too short.
Well I plan on implementing riddles (already working on some), traps, false walls, secret doors, ambushes... Of course this all depends on how much control and creativity the Foundry will allow.
Great openning setting (Hoth) with excellent characters and scenes (Taun Tauns/Luke captured), empirial conflict and struggle, introducing important characters (Yoda, Lando, and Sidius), Jedi training, diversity in yet more settings (Cloud City, Dagobah), huge plot twist, ending on a definite cliffhanger to the next movie.............
I don't know if you can make UGC that lasts for more than two hours and keep people interested, but as far as quality storytelling with relevent battles, that's an inspiration for me.
I like to have memorable NPCs, almost more than the hero you're supposed to be playing. And the biggest question to everything you do when making UGC is "why?". Why would there be a trap here, why do I need this thing, why did this happen as a result, why am I fighting these things, etc.
My adventures normally involved excessive.
Story driven content.
Detailed settings.
Even more detailed npc's.
Emotional roller coasters
Moral and immoral choices.
High adventure/ intrigue/ politics.
Epic and meaningful combat scenarios.
And heroic/monstrous endings that actually have consequences for good or ill.
So for myself any adventure that follows some of the above will be the ones I will play the most.
My hope is that with the Foundry I and fellow users of the same mind will be able to replicate some if not all of this and more.
My fear is that it will only be able to churn out diablo-esque hack and slash missions.
Don't get me wrong these can be perfectly good fun for passing a few minutes and there is nothing wrong with that.
But for me D&D was all about the story's places and people you, hear, see, meet, slay, rescue, trick, investigate, explore etc.
It may not be to the average grind players taste but hey ho.
"Warriors about to die!"
"Don't drink the potion!"
"Elf needs food badly!"
P.S Has anybody seen my luggage?
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- W.E.H.