New AoD article

[Gwendo]

Q: How do they know it's me?

A: Sometimes they don't, sometimes they do. When they don't, they come after your guild. So, if you come "home" one day and everyone's dead (that actually happened to one of the play testers), it's not a glitch; it's something you did.

Just curious; how's the process? Is this something scripted? Or will people from one guild go to the other and fight? And the result will be the fight's outcome, or what is scripted (i mean, both sides can win, it depends how the combat goes)? Would it be possible for the player return to that place earlier and have the chance to participate in the fight?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Everything is scripted. For example, in that quest mentioned above, the thieves guild is commissioned to steal a certain object, without being explained what it is. Nothing ancient and creepy, it's a secret agreement between two factions, a war sponsorship, basically, that should remain a secret. Obviously, there are many powerful parties involved and they won't let someone to get away with the theft. IF you realized what you stole, you have a few options to handle it. If not, the thieves guild will be attacked and if you are not there, it will be completely wiped out (in that town). If you are there, you may have a small chance to defend the guild, but most likely you will have to get the fuck out in a hurry.

Edit: Overall, this quest puzzled way too many people, so I'm considering changing it, which is why I posted the details here for some feedback.

 

[Claw]

Meh, since when are puzzled players a negative?

 

[galsiah]

It's a negative when half of those puzzled players are going to think the puzzling situation is some kind of bug. It's also a negative for any player to remain puzzled for a very long time - it's just not entertaining (unless you're aiming for Kafka: The Game).

There's no need for dumbing down, but don't let's pretend that we're all superlative geniuses who are only rarely puzzled, and always relish the challenge of such a situation. Not knowing what the hell is going on for a long time is not entertaining. So long as VD is testing the game with players who like old-school RPGs, then there's no need to worry about dumbing down. If many of them are puzzled, there are probably potential design improvements.

Changes don't need to mean simplification / dumbing down. There can be more background, more clues to find (they needn't be obvious - just relatively numerous), more evidence after the fact - e.g. evidence indicating the reasons behind the attack on the guild.

The player should usually have an idea about things most of the way through the quest. That might be the wrong idea, but any idea is better than none. In particular, I think it's important that the player get an explanation for the guild attack. This doesn't have to be the true explanation - just something for the player to believe to stop him thinking "What the hell!?? Is this some kind of bug?!".
For example, the attackers could intentionally leave evidence pointing to another faction/motive. The player could take this at face value, or see through it. Either way he has an explanation.

 

[Claw]

Well.. the way I see it, it's a single, not game-stopping instance of being puzzled. If the player remains puzzled for a long time, he's at least thinking about it.

It's not like you burned the spiders eggs and now die whenever you enter a dungeon and can't figure out if it's a bug or Mactans' curse, or worse don't even know how Mactans is.

Of course, it might help to make clear that it's a desired effect, by commenting on the puzzling situation in the message box when the player finds the guild wiped out, for instance, or leaving hints in the town.

I don't know what exactly VD meant by "changing it" but it sounds more like changing the outcome than leaving hints to help the player figure out what happened.

 

[whatusername]

Maybe you can add in a survivor who escapes and tells you what happened if you come across him?

 

[Joff1981]

If it's only happening to a guild hall in one town, as long as you leave the bodies there (so that the player knows they're dead and not just missing) then it should just be a case of adding dialog to similar guilds in other towns to alert the player to the fact that it was something that he did that caused it.

 

[suibhne]

Edit: Overall, this quest puzzled way too many people, so I'm considering changing it, which is why I posted the details here for some feedback.

Nothing wrong with the quest - it sounds great. If people are confused, you may need to drop some clues (at the crime scene or in some other way) which could point toward the whys and wherefores. This could basically add another quest of figuring out what happened and why.