Failed Story Objective

holthar1st · June 2013

What should the "Failed Story Objective" color be set to, Orange or white?

I've seen some Foundry Quests where they were either or and some where they were both (both meaning in one quest where one would be white and the next dialogue it would be orange).

Also...should EVERY dialogue have a failed story objective or just at the beginning of the quest where you decide to take the quest or decline it?

redneckronin · June 2013

I use Yellow for "choices" and Orange for "objectives / last comment".

I've never yet used a "Failed Story Objective".

If I were to use one I would use Orange and have (This Fails The Quest) at the end of the choice, especially if it were more than a few minutes in. Players hate having their time wasted by taking a "fail option" that they weren't able to avoid.

All The Best

zbkolde · June 2013

I use orange for the responses that continue the quest, and white for optional responses that may give more side information. I also use white for the "Failed Story Objective," since it doesn't continue the quest.

The "Failed Story Objective" doesn't fail the quest, at least not that i've seen. It's basically the same as clicking "Done." It just leaves the conversation, but the objective is still there, and you can talk to that NPC again. It's not needed for every dialog. As you said, i used them in the beginning, but once the player got involved in the quest they were no longer an option.

Having said that, it's really your choice, just be sure to stay consistent throughout your quest.

gemstrike · June 2013

The failed objective isn't a true failure point. It just simply means "The quest line does not advance if you reach here." For those that remember, it was like the "Do you love me" question from Dragon Warrior. You *had* to answer yes to continue. As far as color, that's largely a personal choice, though I tend to make quest advancing choices orange and non-advancing choices something else.

guitarzan698 · June 2013

I remember reading a post about using failed story objectives as a form of DM text. Does anyone remember the specifics of that post?

zahinder · June 2013

I don't know, but Bonderleaf's Thorough Aggregator made a lot of good use of fail messages as popups.

I found it very inspiring.

gemstrike · June 2013

Those fail messages were most likely item interaction fails. Conversation fails don't pop up anything.

lolsorhand · June 2013

You can do some useful things with Quest fail, like a story explanation from a character. If you have a party with you, people does not need to fear to click the npc away by reading the further explanation/dialogue.

Failed Story Objective

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