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Haldir
2017-07-22, 04:30 PM
System agnostic, question is exactly as advertised on the tin- how many items is too many items to gather to complete a quest?

More specifically, my adventure requires machine pieces to reactivate a lift to escape the dungeon. Right now upwards of 10 pieces are missing, though some are multiples of yhe same piece.

What do you think? How would you as a player react to gathering parts in a dungeon and how long before it becomes unfun?

TheYell
2017-07-22, 04:55 PM
It depends entirely on the GM, I'm afraid. If he can tell ten different stories of recovery, and make it interesting, then he's made quite a work of fiction.

Anxe
2017-07-22, 05:07 PM
Fetch quests are fine, but I think there need to be incremental rewards of a sort. In the example, maybe a few gears are enough to open the basement door so the party can proceed. Unfortunately that didn't actuate the pumps so the basement is underwater. Progress is more clear. And the party COULD go forward at a disadvantage if they wanted to.

jayem
2017-07-22, 06:03 PM
Seems like a case for following the 'rule of 3.' or something close to that.
You can nest a fair bit, so that easily gives 7 and probably 16-20 without pushing the boat very far.

For example:
4 short/easy quests each giving around 3-5 pieces.
3 Long (multipart) quests in the city/country/xxxx
The boss quest

Although rearranging the other way, would also work as well

FreddyNoNose
2017-07-22, 06:06 PM
It depends entirely on the GM, I'm afraid. If he can tell ten different stories of recovery, and make it interesting, then he's made quite a work of fiction.

So it can't be simple hard work towards a goal. It has to be crack-coked up so everyone has a fun high time?!

FreddyNoNose
2017-07-22, 06:15 PM
System agnostic, question is exactly as advertised on the tin- how many items is too many items to gather to complete a quest?

More specifically, my adventure requires machine pieces to reactivate a lift to escape the dungeon. Right now upwards of 10 pieces are missing, though some are multiples of yhe same piece.

What do you think? How would you as a player react to gathering parts in a dungeon and how long before it becomes unfun?

Too vague imo. Are you giving this "quest" because hey you want to give a collection quest? Or is there some other reason going on?

As to fun, it is like favorite flavors of ice cream. One person likes a flavor, another one hates it and a third is meh. So fun isn't exact and we can't tell you how other people will reaction especially a group of people each of whom can have a different reaction.

Time length. Is this something you want to run in half a session? A full session? N number of session? Or is this the underlying goal of the entire "campaign"? You are the DM, you have to know the purpose or goal of what you want to do. The longer the time length, the better the payoff should be (idiots will read this as "rewards" like money/magic).

Is it simple gather 10 items or do they have to do research which might entail other "quests" like find the book of X to learn the process to make one specific part out of 10. Then gather materials and find an expert to make it.

It can be tedious. What is your concept?

To answer your question: one could be too many.

GungHo
2017-07-24, 10:30 AM
This is one of those things that works fine in a CRPG but not so much in an TTRPG. The only way it really works in a TTRPG is when "find the parts" leads toward something that is a reward in and of itself... like finding the hilt, blade, pommel, and scabbard of Excalibur gets you Excalibur or finding the Infinity Gems for the Infinity Gauntlet is your ticket to apotheosis. If it's "gather 20 bear asses" to give to Jeorgios Geffersian so that he will do the King's dry cleaning as though it's some fantastical barter system, that doesn't work so well.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-07-24, 11:29 AM
3 is generally a good number for any repeating thing. The first time people get used to it, the second time they can feel good at it, and with the pattern established the third time around you can pull some sort of surprise.

So say you're in an action heavy campaign and you want to have a puzzle part: the door needs three cogs to open. The first one is in a room with a puzzle that allows things like retrying parts, so they can get used to how to tackle this kind of puzzles. The second part ups the stakes a bit, putting the characters in danger, giving them a ticking clock to outrun, stuff like that, the third time is when just as the rogue is jumping to the platform with the cog the bad guys drop down from the ceiling and try to rob her of the two pieces he already has (if she has them, adjust plan accordingly).

It's relatively easy to make something not repetitive if it comes in threes.

An alternative can be something like "as many as there are characters". Design one fetch with each character in mind, allowing them to be the main character for that bit. Or maybe there's some thematic division you can use. Four elements, five allied nations. But in general, three is always good.

Plus everything the rest said.

daniel_ream
2017-08-05, 12:42 AM
"Collect the n parts of the magic mcguffin" was the go-to plot for every Saturday morning animated adventure show for decades.

The size of n usually had more to do with the number of episodes the network had pre-ordered, admittedly, but your rule of thumb should be when you run out of ideas for unique things each part can do, and unique plotlines around retrieving that part, your n is big enough.

And I think both of those matter. If the individual parts don't do anything, then they're a literal mcguffin - they do nothing but drive the plot. If each part does something different but each plotline is the same, then you're got boring repetition.

Slipperychicken
2017-08-05, 12:46 AM
What do you think? How would you as a player react to gathering parts in a dungeon and how long before it becomes unfun?

If it's literally the same task repeated 10 times, I'd likely get bored of it.

I think it could work if you change up the terrain and enemies, and perhaps put in some environmental storytelling that helps set up themes in the campaign.