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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5679838" data-attributes="member: 54707"> You don't hav'ta completely agree of course. I'm listing elements that I consider essential but some of these elements can  be considered "situational" and dependent upon the exact nature of the Quest.  Some Quests might have different expectations dependent upon the nature of the  culture or setting they are involved with, and so certain elements I listed are  altered in some way. Or may not appear at all.  Others I didn't list may appear. Like 1d12 brought  up a good point about the Questors not being the only ones to resolve the Quest.  I didn't mention it because I like unique situations but some Quests may be  "cyclical." That is they may need to be solved every so often or once a century  to maintain peace in the Kingdom, just as one example. So that kinda Quest would  require different Questors at different times to resolve it, or may even require  different solutions at different times.   (A good Quest I can think of in this regard would  be players who have studied the long historical background of a Quest, decide to  go resolve it at the proper time, prepare everything as needed, and then  discover the Quest has changed on them. Surprise...)  These elements are also taken from elements  necessary to solve real life quests, literary quests, gaming quests, etc.  They're kinda all mixed together. There are some elements I consider absolutely  fundamental, but others that are situational.  I also suspect, and have seen this myself, that  different players in the same party (or different characters in the same  Romance) may have entirely different views upon what the Quest really means, how  important it is to them, or even what the real objective of the Quest might  actually be.     I think a lot depends upon these 5 basic things:  1) Giving the player a particular and unique Fate (or Doom to use an old Nordic  term) that only he can fulfill, and that makes him feel both entirely special (I  hate to use that term as I believe no one is really special, but there it is for  lack of a better one), and that makes him feel responsible. (He feels  responsible for fulfilling the Quest.) The same can be true of parties in  general although someone in the party always feels the "weight" of the Quest  more powerfully than others, and are more determined about it. Of course that  happens with everything in life. 2) Giving them unique items or devices that  connect them to the history of their Quest. Arthur's Sword Caliburn, for  example. 3) Connecting them to the places and events that are related to the  history of the Quest or that are vital to the fulfillment of the Quest. 4)  Giving the Quest a "real stake" in the World, and setting. (Without a good, well  developed milieu and World I don't think you can have a good game or literary or  any kind of Quest because you can't really put anything in real danger. The  World won't suffer if the Quest fails. It won't prosper or improve if it  succeeds.) So Quests aren't dungeon hopping ventures in "worldless game." They  are things that need to happen in developed worlds. And, 5) Giving the Questor a  "real stake" in changing both himself and the World for the better if he  succeeds in the Quest, or suffering the consequences of failure if he fails in  his Quest.   Not every Quest I've ever designed, or played has  been great, but those that included the components above were Great in game and  play terms. However you can't force a Quest on someone, they have to want to  take it on. A forced Quest is not a Quest, Quests are internally motivated. When  it comes to game matters a DM provides good opportunities for interesting  personalized Quests that will self-motivate the player. You lay it out and then  let it begin to develop over time. It's not scripted like a series of Dungeon  Room Exploration encounters. Fewer things are pre-set and far more is open to  wider exploration because Quests are about changing both the world and the  character. And you can't script that kinda change (except with a character in a  book or film) but you can allow it to evolve over time as the Quest  unfolds.   Anyway I hope that helped and gave you some ideas  to work with.   I don't wanna recreate a post I've already written  but here is a post I made about a Sword and the Paladin who used it that was  part of a much larger, on-going Quest that ran for years - decades in game time,  almost the entire lifespan of the Paladin, but also for years in real play  time.  It was one of the best Quests I ever created and  add all of the five components I listed above. 1d12 also had some good points  about this. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/309953-your-favorite-sword-d-d-lore.html#post5650341" target="_blank">Wrothcholire and the Restoration of  Pesh</a></blockquote>

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