Pathfinder 1E Quests of all kinds - help needed!

[Kawiie]

Hello tharr!

I've been working on a campaign for a few days now, and I have the campaign world just about done, but I need to ready a lot of possible quests for the players to take. I've tried being unprepared before and I would rather not be so again xD

What I need is both generic side quests and quests that tie into some of the main quests of the game. The story so far is that the land of Daarun faces a threat from creatures known as Firstborn. However, the kingdom is nowhere near in shape to fight off this threat as it is. The reason for this is a civil war on the horizon, as after the king's mysterious death, the Queen, the Church (of Abadar) and the Duke of the nearby duchy all fight for the throne for different reasons and with different plans on how to use the power attained by this.

The players then get the choice of aligning with one of the three (or possible two or all in order to mess things up or instate someone completely different on the throne) and help them gain the respect and loyalty of the people.

What I really need is quests that tie into this. Specific quests that would influence loyalty towards one or more factions. An example I have works with both the church and duchy, whoever they decide to do it for:

"A settlement cut off from the rest of the kingdom by a murky swamphas seen a bad harvest, and the local Lord's people are starving. The duke (or church) asks you to escort a wagon filled with supplies through the swamp and to the settlement.

Depending on who they do it for, they will get the loyalty of the local lord.

However, small generic quests are also welcome :3

A note: The players would like me to focus on roleplaying rather than combat. A few combat quests are fine, but I would love anything that would allow for character development for my players ^^

Sorry for the long post, I'm done now xD

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6761914]kawlie[/MENTION]
Welcome to ENWorld

I've done something similar before. My suggestion is to be organized and concise. Come up with a "Trust Track of Quests" for each of your three contenders to the throne. PCs must start with Quest A (or one of several Quest A options) before the NPC will be open to/bring up Quest B, and so on. I don't know your NPCs or the campaign, but for example...

Head of the Church
Quest A - Silence rival cleric preaching violence against faith without killing him
Quest B - Find evidence of mass graves and return bodies home for burial
Quest C - Help the Head of Church thru dark night of the soul and join theocratic revolt

The idea is that the PCs can play several sides with Quest A, but with Quest B it should be harder because of the nature of what's being asked or because of competing quests, and finally Quest C is when the PCs throw their lot in completely with one side.

 

[Kawiie]

Many thanks for the welcome! :3

And yeah, I agree on that. I did also have some quests in mind for at least the queen that would require deep trust from her side, so they would be very late quests in the Big main one.

Your ideas aren't half bad either xD I'll see how I might be able to use it :3

Thanks again~

 

[Quickleaf]

Many thanks for the welcome! :3

And yeah, I agree on that. I did also have some quests in mind for at least the queen that would require deep trust from her side, so they would be very late quests in the Big main one.

Your ideas aren't half bad either xD I'll see how I might be able to use it :3

Thanks again~

Cool. Here's some ideas based on the Lord Marshal (human male, grizzled ex-warlord, LN) from my game, sort of a Stannis Baratheon type, who might be an approximation to your Duke...

The Duke
Quest A - Lure out assassins during payment to mercenaries and/or thieves' guild
Quest B - "Accidentally" kill traitor knight during tournament (or other public venue...to send a message)
Quest C - Bring him either the stolen crown or throne (...as symbol of his right to rule)

Also, if you are going for the more sandboxy "many quests" style of game, you might find it useful to create a Master List of Quests, at least to start off with. For example, in addition to the Kingmaker Quests (the type that you're asking for), I also had quests associated with various sub-plots or overarching themes, like this...

Campaign Quest - Succession Crisis
The ailing King dies. The Senechal will hold things together for as long as he can, but the kingdom can only function so long without a ruler.
Quest A -"Bastard Heir", learn about the King's bastard heir who is a potential claimant to the throne, and decide whether to help bastard escape or turn bastard over to one of the main power groups.
Quest B - "War of the Peryton Banner", find a resolution to the land/honor dispute that has the power groups at each other's throats and is causing refugees to flee kingdom and monsters to stalk war-torn wastes.
Quest C - "Resolving the succession", see a worthy monarch put upon the throne, whether it's one of the pretenders, the bastard, or one of PCs.

 

[BlackSeed_Vash]

Personally I would present the players with a few multifaceted quests. Such as an NPC of an unaligned group seems to be in possession of information. The Duke might fear this supposed information from becoming public and so ask the players to kill the NPC. The Church quietly asks the players acquire the information for them, but they do not care what happens to the NPC afterwards. (Players can kill the NPC in attempt to look like they are working for the Duke). Last but not least, the Queen wants the information all to herself, but also desires to protect the NPC. (The players could acquire the information, share it with the Church, fake the NPCs death and deliver the NPC to the Queen. As long as the Duke believes the NPC is dead and the information unknown he would favor the players. As long as the Queen believes that only she and her cronies know the information, she would favor the players. Ultimately, only the Church would continue to favor the players should the truth about their deception come to light.)

I would also provide the players a few quests that fall into one of three categories:
1) Quest does not increase favor with any faction. (EX. Helping out a minor noble with a problem, but said noble is not aligned with any of the factions [though he approcade the players as if he was a member of the faction they are helping].)
2) Quest provides a very minor increase to favor with all factions. (Ex. Removing an inefficient/unmotivated clerk who is slowing down some minor part of each factions plans.)
3) Quest is designed to help a faction other than the one they intend. (Ex. A spy for the Queen disguised himself as an agent of the Duke's. The task given helps the Queen and/or hinders the Duke.)

I agree with A, B, C quest categories. And while cliche, keeping a reputation bar for each of the factions would definitely be useful.

 

[Kawiie]

You guys are awesome! This has my brain working again! :3

And I actually think a like the one with the bastard heir. Why I hadn't thought of such is beyond me xD But having a sort of "hidden" fourth possible outcome might be interesting.

I also like the idea of the multifaceted quests, that seems very interesting and like something we could find very fun, as it gives a chance for a lot of roleplaying (having to make sure everyone believes the NPC is dead and stuff like that)

Oh! Maybe I should take the bastard heir and mix it with the multifaceted quest idea! I think that would work well with my ideas! xD