Help Improving "fetch" quests

[Omegaxicor]

I am designing a quest that requires the party gather the items needed for a ritual, at large I haven't decided on the ingredients because they are going to be "go and get the seeds from this tree guarded by X monster" but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas how to make them less routine and less, well MMO fetch and carry quests

I was thinking a seed, a fang/fur, a wing/beak, a scale/tail...sort of Plant, Beast, Bird, Fish but I haven't thought about it so better ideas than the basic trope of MMOs would be appreciated, the party are level 1-2.

I sometimes get set in my thinking and new ideas don't come easily so thanks in advance to anyone willing to help

 

[DMZ2112]

I am designing a quest that requires the party gather the items needed for a ritual, at large I haven't decided on the ingredients because they are going to be "go and get the seeds from this tree guarded by X monster" but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas how to make them less routine and less, well MMO fetch and carry quests

I was thinking a seed, a fang/fur, a wing/beak, a scale/tail...sort of Plant, Beast, Bird, Fish but I haven't thought about it so better ideas than the basic trope of MMOs would be appreciated, the party are level 1-2.

I sometimes get set in my thinking and new ideas don't come easily so thanks in advance to anyone willing to help

Really, as long as it is not as simple as "find the source, harvest the source, return to origin," you're probably okay. Most quests are about retrieving something, if they're not about killing something.

Reverse engineer from the item in question. The seed grows on a plant, so where does the plant grow? Undoubtedly someplace unpleasant. Perhaps the harvesting of the seed isn't as simple as just picking the fruit, a la the mandrake root. Perhaps special tools are required. These will have to be crafted or purchased. Maybe the party has to hire the services of a master druid herbalist to perform a complex ritual, and must protect him as they travel through a corrupted wilderness that knows him as an enemy. Any of these could be adapted to the four quests.

Consider also that others might be in pursuit of the rare ingredients, or that sometimes preserving a fragile item overland can be more challenging than finding the item in the first place.

The trick is to use detours, but to use different types each time and to (usually) make sure they are relevant to the task. A bad video game habit to fall into is the quest interrupted by another, unrelated quest -- generally you always want your players to feel like they're moving more forward than sideways, and never backward. Sometimes a big irrelevant detour can help with telling a larger story, but even then the detour should turn out to be relevant to /something/ later on.

And then, of course, once you think you understand all of these rules you can feel free to break them -- it's all about moderation.

 

[nomotog]

An idea might be to vary the way your players can obtain the items. Maybe one can simply be bought at a uncommon storefront that requires you players to do some gather information checks to find.

What if you put one of the items inside a trap like in the gearing and timing of it. That could be kind of neat. It has the players looking at a trap in a new way. Now it's something your looking for rather then avoiding.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I'll just leave these links here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otAkP5VjIv8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur6GQp5mCYs

 

[Omegaxicor]

@nomotog wow, I hadn't thought of that, I don't know that hiding the ingredient in the gears of a trap will end up as a success, I imagine my players wandering around looking for it...FOREVER

@ MichealSomething the second link seems a bit redundant, since it appears in the video, but that is great, I might borrow that quest for the future.

@DMZ2112 I like those ideas, particularly being attacked by other people who want the item, I think I need to decide on the ingredients to decide what else I can add around them

Thanks everyone, I'll have a think and hopefully come up with a good idea

EDIT: I have tried everything to get "MichealSomething" to link but it doesn't

 

[MarkB]

I'd suggest mixing things up a little. Rather than providing the party with a list of ingredients and saying, effectively, "you'll be doing fetch-quests as your next half-dozen activities", have whoever is organising the ritual be in the process of researching where to find each item, so that at some point he'll find out where one is and send the PCs after it, but in between those quests they have other things to do, such as securing the ritual site, or going after a group of bad guys who are in the process of obtaining a means to disrupt the ritual.

And maybe, on some of these other quests, they'll come across one or two of the items they need, or clues as to where they can be obtained.

 

[Storminator]

I'd suggest limiting the number of such quests. Your game can get repetitive. Three is the max I would do.

I'd also keep the basics in your mind. You want good NPCs/villains, good locations, interesting encounters, etc. The competing group is a good source of recurring NPCs. If your PCs don't kill them all they can show up in multiple quests.

Also make sure the ritual is something the players care about, and have the effects of the ritual tied to the components gathered. The post ritual world should turn into a number of related adventures.

PS

 

[Kinak]

To avoid being like an MMO, play to tabletop's strengths.

Provide problems, not solutions - They need to harvest the seeds from a tree that a sleeping dragon is wrapped around. How? That's their problem, let them come up with something.
Engage Roleplaying - Maybe the bird will give up its feathers if they successfully appeal to its vanity or a troll will let them pass if bribed.
Dynamic Enemies - A rival group seeks to complete the ritual first or complete a counter ritual. Both groups can buy more time by disrupting the other.
Terrain as an enemy - Especially at low-levels, a swamp or river can be a serious obstacle.

I'm sure there are more, but the real trick is to let player ingenuity and skills bear as much of the weight as combat abilities. MMOs almost all focus on the combat, so the less you're leaning on combat, the less you'll look like an MMO.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Omegaxicor]

To avoid being like an MMO, play to tabletop's strengths.

Provide problems, not solutions - They need to harvest the seeds from a tree that a sleeping dragon is wrapped around. How? That's their problem, let them come up with something.
Engage Roleplaying - Maybe the bird will give up its feathers if they successfully appeal to its vanity or a troll will let them pass if bribed.
Dynamic Enemies - A rival group seeks to complete the ritual first or complete a counter ritual. Both groups can buy more time by disrupting the other.
Terrain as an enemy - Especially at low-levels, a swamp or river can be a serious obstacle.

I'm sure there are more, but the real trick is to let player ingenuity and skills bear as much of the weight as combat abilities. MMOs almost all focus on the combat, so the less you're leaning on combat, the less you'll look like an MMO.

Cheers!
Kinak

That relies on the players to be ingenious I like the idea of disrupting the rivals rather than just killing them, which is difficult since they are essentially equal to the party, one lucky shot could result in them being beaten and being unable to complete the ritual.

Providing problems means thinking up solutions and making sure you're ready for the players to come up with new ones but it is important to have a solution otherwise you might create an unsolvable problem, at least that has always been my way of doing it.

I understand the need to have a "story" to the quest but at the end of the day it needs to be more interesting than just "Fetch and Carry", but I have several ideas now and I will have a think about it

 

[Quentin3212]

Once you have decided what these items are flesh them out a bit. Why are they important? What else are they used for?

Too much exposition can be bad, but having some readily on hand if they ask or for npcs to casually mention will make your world feel more alive.