How to Quest For It
Implementing DCC's classic mantra
The phrase “quest for it” gets thrown around a lot in the DCC community. It’s vague term that is generally the answer to questions like “The fighter in my game wants to raise his strength. How can he do that?” or “The wizard is my game wants to create a spell that does X. How can she do that?” But just saying “quest for it” can feel a lot like “git gud” does to someone who’s playing a Dark Souls game for the first time. So let’s spend a while talking about ways to actually implement “quest for it”.
If you’ve been questing on a budget, check out the new DCC/MCC Megabundle! There’s an enormous amount of material in there and you also get a 20% off coupon to the Goodman Games store!
First let’s identify when this situation arises and the general steps to follow:
Player Indicates Desire
Judge included in-world ways for the PCs to learn more
PCs follow up (or maybe not!)
In ongoing campaigns, I find it can be helpful to steer the campaign path towards the players’ desires. At the end of each session, ask the PCs questions like
What are y’all interested in doing next session?
Are y’all interested in a dungeon crawl style adventure or something more investigative focused?
What do y’all plan to do with that thing you found or that NPC that you met?
Alright, onto more actionable advice.
Using Published Adventures
Wikipedia is actually a great resource for finding level appropriate adventure modules. Check out this list of 1st party modules by Goodman Games. When a player expresses interest in acquiring some kind of magic item or power, you can often tweak an existing adventure to fulfill that desire. In a episodic campaign, you may simply say “You heard a rumor from a sage about a magical sword, once forgotten but now remembered. You’ve quested to the lands of X and now…” and then you run whatever module you want. Alternatively, you may draw out this quest a bit more. True effort, time commitment, or gold may be required to learn of where a goal can be quested for.
One solid piece of advice, though its also solidly just my personal opinion, is to never give the players exactly what they want. Having a twist is fun. This may be a twist is what is required to get it or some undesirable side-effect of achieving the quest. This can be an excellent way of seeding future adventures.
Using Patrons, Deities, and Other Powerful NPCs
Patrons and Deities can be excellent ways to implement “quest for it”. The PC may have to consult higher sages or make offerings/favors to their patron/deity in order to receive a reward or receive knowledge of where their desire can be found. Often, this can lead into an adventure in its own right, whether homebrewed or using a published one. For example, The Three Fates may require that a certain relic be brought back to a temple, only then revealing that the desired magic item can only now be taken from an entirely different temple while also keeping the balance of neutrality.
You can also simply use dreams, premonitions, or maddened street preachers who yell at the PCs. While this can be fun, these methods have been used a little to often in my own games and published adventures that I’ve read, so I try to steer clear of them when I can come up with something better.
Another method of introducing quests can be through powerful NPCs or influential factions. Maybe the PCs can only get the information about their desires from the Thieves Guild, but must promise to also steal another object while they raid the wizard’s tower for that magic sword. Or perhaps the PCs have gotten in trouble with the law and are now being given missions where they must exterminate cults within the city.
Useful Tables
For crafting your own adventures, rumors and more, DCC has quite a wealth of inspirational tables that you can use. Here’s a few that are primarily found in either DCC RPG or the DCC Annual:
Where is the spell knowledge found?
DCC RPG, p. 315 (Table 7-1)
Deity Requests
DCC RPG, p. 357 (Table 7-7)
Creator of a Magic Item
DCC RPG, p. 375 (Table 8-13)
Interesting Occurrences In-Between Adventures
DCC Annual, p. 40
Strange Substances, Fell Forces, and Weird Working (in regards to making magic rings)
DCC Annual, p. 122-123 (Tables 8-15 - 8-19)
Curse Removal
DCC Annual, p. 131 (Table 8-28)
Books Found on the Back of a Random Book Bearer
DCC Annual, p. 135 (Table 8-29)
Random Adventure Generator
Empire of the East (second printing), p. 90-92
Consequences of Action
Players wants the world to react to their actions and also move on without them. This is what makes the world feel alive. The judge needs to think about what happens in response them achieving their quest. When the PCs achieve their quest by slaying the giga-duck and using its heart in a foul ritual, does the giga-duck’s mate seek revenge? When they retrieve the Sword of Noble Slaying, does the ruling king put a bounty on them? When they get a bunch of gold for their plans to cast the sword magic spell, do thieves/bandits try to steal from the PCs?
What do you think about being told “quest for it”? And what’s the best quest you went on to achieve a goal?
What else is going on?
DCC/MCC Humble Bundle
Any level get you some sweet PDFs and a 20% off coupon for the Goodman Games store. The $25 level gets you 79 books, including some of my products. And the $40 level even gets you a physical copy of Mutant Crawl Classics!
Big Trouble For A Little Blood
I’m keeping it weird! Two new level 2 and level 3 new adventures for Weird Frontiers, and a new zine for Weird Heroes of Public Access (WHPA13).
Jair’s Home
Jair's Home is a village built amongst the remains of a massive robot. Inhabited by mutant possums with psychic powers and led by the charismatic Jair. Compatible with Mutant Crawl Classics.
