[MUD-Dev] re: Questing Systems

[Raph Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> John Hopson
> Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2000 5:08 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: [MUD-Dev] re: Questing Systems
>
> 	Yup!  I use a system that I think is a bit more
> flexible than the one
> you're describing.  Each player has a text field on them that
> starts out
> empty.  To this field, any number of one word questflags can
> be added and
> removed, such as "Baker_quest_step_1" and so on.  Mobs can
> check to see if
> you have a flag and respond accordingly.  They can also add and remove
> flags as needed.  Players can't see what flags they have.
>
> A player's questflag field  might look like:
>
> 	Baker_quest_step_1 Dragonslayer_completed Thieves_guild_member
> Pond_quest_trying

LegendMUD (http://www.legendmud.org) has had this since launch in '92. Flags
are not, however, stored as text, but as an index into a table with the text
names. There's a few additional refinements that are quite nice:

- You can specify the nature of the flags (permanent, wipe at death, wipe at
equipment loss). This allows you to use them for quests that can be repeated
only if you die in between, or if you lose the special quest reward, etc.

- The flags are of course, fully checkable and modifiable via scripting. I
implemented a game of blackjack done entirely with these flags...

- Flags can have two additional strings associated with them, at builder's
discretion. One gives a "pretitle" that shows in front of the player's name
(for things like "Lord" or "Sir") if the flag is present; the other adds a
"whois" string. This is a part of the character's profile that provides a
permanent record of accomplishments. For example, if you do a given quest, a
player can type WHOIS BUFFY and find out that Buffy once slew the golden
dragon.

On Legend the whois strings in particular have become an alternate
advancement ladder, as players struggle to acquire all the quest completions
they can.

They also get used for things like "reached 100 million XP" or "won best
roleplayer on the mud in 1998."

-Raph




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