This gave me ideas, I'll spit-ball something going off this, and using Spellhold as an example.Planehopper wrote: ↑Sat Dec 12, 2020 3:45 pm I really like the idea of requiring item(s) to start a (party) quest that opens access.
The quest piece would ensure that access wasn't restricted by crash or reset. The quest could end when the final area is exited.
The items piece would low for those of us not interested in 30+ content to still be engaged in the content via skill checks and RP. It could be various lore checks, spellcraft, a craft x skill, or anything really.
The items themselves could be more solo-friendly areas. Say, a room off of a existing area that require a tumble check to avoid a trap or hazard of some sort to acquire a piece (like some mushroom or something). Or an old library in an existing dungeon that requires a lore x skill to acquire information. Or a survival check to find something.
Gather it all up, bring it to a mage or something, he trades items to start the quest/allow access.
All of the items should only be able to be gathered once per reset per CD key and have a very high skill check to obtain.
- Rather than taking a quest to get there, make it a flat gold sum to pay for passage there, let's say 3000gp (gold sinks anyone?). This at least gives everyone a chance to see it, whether they've found a group or not (no gold charge to return to the mainland).
- The exterior is fully explorable, has spawns, and has a few containers for characters to make a bit of gold back in case they're unable to find adventuring friends, or no-one else comes to visit the area during their play time(so non-peak hours players have something to do/see, at least).
- A quest NPC can randomly spawn in a number of locations, or even be a wanderer, throughout the exterior. The quest given will allow access to the interior.
- The puzzle quest to gain interior access can be 5 parts, each based off 5 classic class archetypes, Wizard/Sorcerer, Fighter, Bard, Rogue, Cleric/Druid, with each part requiring a randomized skill/stat roll needing to be made by its respective class(and trying not to have overlapping skills):
Wizard/Sorcerer - Spellcraft, INT, Lore Arcana, etc.
Fighter - STR, CON, fort save, etc
Bard - Perform, concentration, CHA, etc
Rogue - Tumble, DEX, disable device, open locks, etc
Cleric/Druid - Lore religion, WIS, heal, etc.
- Once all party members' quest is complete(... I think quest progression for these types works across party? Like the Durlags puzzle quest), they're each given a token/key that allows them to use the transition inside.
- From there... uhh, I hadn't thought that far, but another quest NPC, or even several, can be found inside, and the quests will require them to travel the entire scope of the (multi-level?) dungeon to complete all the quests, with scaling difficulty the deeper they travel. Maybe only one of these quests should be required to do in order to exit, being not insanely difficult, just in case players have to log, or the party is getting their butts handed to them.
That's all I've got, feel free to spit-ball on my spit-balling.