I really like your idea about quest related items (beholder shield) and think that is an avenue worth persuing. How about a particular item relating to each dungeon, with mini quests to complete the larger quest of obtaining that particular item needed to vanquish the boss. For those interested in RP maybe add a twist of that in to these quests also. For those not interested, they can still grind out the lvs needed to prevail. Either way a little RP goes a long way towards adding some uniqueness to a situation that is at the same time similar yet different (due to individual perspectives and interpretations) for each player. Just a thought ,hope you like it

I for one like the idea of RP and think it will add a little spice to gaming. I also just like to go out and kill stuff after having a bad day. I like the guest/items added to the game and think that other players will enjoy them also. Thank you.

Quests are very difficult to set up. Each step has to be set up, so that the NPCs, triggers, monsters, etc you interact with know where you are in the quest and act appropriately. Even something as simple as the doll quest took about 4 hours of work to set up and debug.

Now this doesn't mean I won't do quests. I would love to add more complexity, but I need details. I think I mentioned that somewhere else. The idea is only the starting point.

Beholder Item Quest
Step 0 - Quest not started
Step 1 - NPC asks for help (accept or decline). If declined, go to step 8.
Step 2 - Monster killed, item found, etc.
Step 3 - NPC rewards first piece of two part beholder item. Refers to next NPC in quest.
Step 4 - NPC 2 gives second task.
Step 5 - Second task completed.
Step 6 - NPC 2 give reward (second part of beholder item). Tells you to talk to Darla.
Step 7 - Darla combines items to make the beholder immunity item. Quest completed
Step 8 - Quest declined at any point...failure step.

This is just an example, and I left a lot of specifics out. Let's say you're at step 1. I would need to set up triggers to spawn monsters, create placeables, whatever at the appropriate points so that you can get the first items. One of the subquests may be to find an injured person in the dungeon and heal them.

Anyway, that's the kind of detailed information I need to set up a quest. So, if you have step by step concepts for something you want to see in the module, post them here.

is it possible to make the needed quest item a creature drop? like killing a beholder and retrieving its skull? that would be cool. then obtaining a magic scroll from somewhere in the dungeon, and lastly giving those pieces and an item you could buy (maybe "stone to flesh" stone from marty) to Darla. Voila. Beholder shield.

Like I said, i don't even know if that's possible, but hey, you asked for ideas. Feel free to do with it what you will.

I can program the module to do pretty much anything so long as I use existing models. So, yes, I could have a monster drop a specific item. There's an issue with doing that. Grak proved that. When I first made Grak, only the person who killed him got the plot complete flag. Grak only spawned when someone at the right point in the plot moved into the area. The problems come from having players in a party that are at different stages in the quest. Do you give them all credit and special items if just one of the party members kill Grak? Do you only give credit to those who are in the immediate area? Do you only give credit to those in the immediate area who are at the right plot point? See, with a PW you get some unexpected issues with plots. Of course I want the module to play consistently for each character. I don't really want one character to see and do stuff plot-wise that they aren't at the right point to see, see?

BTW, KTII solved some of these issues by making Grak and the farmer persistent characters who are always in the areas. They will only give you the plot bonuses if you are at the right points in the plot when you talk to them (or kill them in the case of Grak). So it could be something along those lines for the beholder. Put the creature you need to kill in the area, make it persistent (always automatically respawning). If you kill it and you aren't on the quest, you get nothing beyond the normal loot. If, on the other hand, you kill it at the right point in the plot, you get the beholder item. Thoughts?

That sounds reasonable to me.

Personally, I think that anyone who is at the right point in the quest and in the immediate area of the kill should get the credit (much like killing a boss and everyone in the battle getting the key). If there are people there that haven't done the quest up to that point, they can go back and redo it. making the characters or monsters persistent seems like the best way to me.

just my thoughts.

Persistent monsters do seem to be the best solution. When the farmer used to spawn only when someone at the right point entered the area, many people would complain they couldn't find him. They either weren't at the right point or class level (there were level requirements, too). Now he's there all the time, so it doesn't matter. You'll only get the appropriate quest text from him, however, if you're at the right point.

The NPC's in the INN with the new quest will not talk to you unless your toon was made after quest was added ? so if you have a level 1 and can't talk to them does this mean you have to remake to just do the quest ?

Thank you

Ok Just went in with my level 56 and got the quest and went to the old woman and she wouldn't talk to me, but some of the lower toons aren't getting it, can you please explain more on how this works please.

Sorry, Dark, but I think that particular coding is working OK. They haven't met a precondition.

I'm still trying to finish the coding which could require two extra steps to actually get the Beholder's Eye in a form that will work.

The Beholder's Eye quest is finished (took about 8 more hours of scripting/testing to finish it). I can't guarantee it will work for anyone who has already obtained the gem. It should work fine for those who haven't started the quest, yet.

You should not be able to drop any of the plot components. I tested the final product (Necklace of the Beholder), and it worked pretty well. A beholder could still kill me, but I had a much better chance of survival. The Necklace of the Beholder is not a plot item and can be traded or sold whenever you want. However, a character can only do the quest once.

Please report any problems.

The beholder's quest works great or did for gramma and I, some are still telling me that the quest isn't working for them and they made new characters. Can't wait to see more good quest like this one, it was really fun.