>>141915
What Zealot said. Breaks are okay, good luck with your work, and see you around!

Silly Zealot 2024/04/20(Sat)23:05 No. 142059 ID: b2fb15
File 171367953058.png - (767.03KB , 2724x1824 , Last Tracing 1.png )

There we go; only needed 'bout 20 days to get around to it!

So they idea would be something inspired both the suggestions above as well as Mnemosyne utilitarian armor and colour scheme.

The headpiece could have a shark teeth decal, because hey, it is potentially in character, as well as either being a metal mask held on by straps on the back the head, as seen on the front and back paperdolls, or a full helmet with detachable mouth and ear pieces, as seen on the profiled paperdoll. I'm partial towards the full helmet, even though the mask is more fashionable.

There is also a final detachable armour piece to protect the base of the tail. However, this design is not nearly as appealing to me...

Silly Zealot 2024/04/20(Sat)23:08 No. 142060 ID: b2fb15
File 171367970223.png - (851.66KB , 2724x1824 , Last Tracing Improvement.png )

...As this.

If Cross actually wants to let Argine choose to do this in the quest and not playing it for laughs, I'm completely on board with it.

Hey, for those who haven't caught it on Discord - Last Trace will be going on Hiatus for at least the next six months.

The writing was on the wall for a long time, considering the increasingly long spans of time in between updates - even after the month break I took in April to sort out things in my life. At the rate I was going, I wasn't even going to finish LT Chapter 4 before the end of the year.

With my day job and the game that I'm trying to make also on the line, I have to put Last Trace on the backburner for now so that I can focus on my project properly.
I'd rather update Last Trace consistently, ensuring my readers can actually enjoy the story and plot without having to constantly remind themselves of what's going on every few months.

Of course, I have zero intention of abandoning Last Trace either. I'll return to it once everything's ready. I still have arrangements made with a close friend and editor, so things will continue smoothly once I return to writing it.

Thank you for supporting me - and I'm going to work as hard as I can to finish my other projects so that I can return with full force.

>>142202
Cheers to hear from you, and best of luck with what’s going on. Will be waiting.

I'd like a list of spells that Percy and Don can teach, please.

I just wanted to drop by and say that this is one of my favorite quests. It's in that sweet spot of being just sandboxy enough without feeling directionless. It's silly without being too ludicrous to ever take seriously. And the "gameplay" is really fun. 10/10 quest.

>>98324
Thank you so much! PDDCASTP isn't the biggest quest out there, so that really is meaningful to me.

What ever happened to this quest? I miss it.

I hold out hope for this quest to return still

>>141880
Oh, that one, right!
Definitely a very interesting read! I'll tell you right now that you're definitely going off a much more hard-sci-fi approach than I'm using, so that might lead you astray in solving the mystery.

But I do genuinely appreciate the amount of thought you put into it. I suppose it means the mystery is compelling!

>>141880
Oh, that one, right!
Definitely a very interesting read! I'll tell you right now that you're definitely going off a much more hard-sci-fi approach than I'm using, so that might lead you astray in solving the mystery.

But I do genuinely appreciate the amount of thought you put into it. I suppose it means the mystery is compelling!

>>141891

Well, that's kind of my thing. Does it at least inform some of the language or concerns that need to be addressed, and does it not limit or mess with you too much?

I mean even hard sci fi has a few allowances for unscientific stuff, as a concession to, 'yea, without this, no story would happen' sorts of things.

>>141897
Well I think the best most honest way I can put this is: I threw the mystery together over a fairly short amount of time and while there is some wiggle room here and there, the basic shape of it is what it is and while the technical theorycrafting is very entertaining, you shouldn't expect the answers to adhere too close to scientific viability and rather trust the clues given in the quest.
Because my knowledge of astrophysics and whatnot is simply fairly limited and I cannot spare the time to do the sort of research a novelist might.

Sorry Kome I had to react to your post about the TVs in a way I felt was plausible for the character.

>>142119

But the floral patterns are not in alignment with the wall all rumpled up like this. It could cause a tear in the fabric of space if we don't make the bed! Don't let your fear of an Anti-house blind you to the scientific evidence!

what is the anti house

Some thoughts on the echo chamber.
If it works like I suspect then this would be very useful in the kitchen. Put rotten food in, get fresh food back. Put bones in, get meat back. Put eggshell in, get egg back or even the whole chicken.
Also useful for repairing broken objects.

>>142144

Are you sure the chicken came before the egg?

>>142147
Having issues with embed so... https://youtube.com/watch?v=3-bbE4F8x34

>>142109
>>142110
>>142111
>>142114
>>142115
>>142117

amazing.
14/10.
This seriously made my weekend. Thank you <3

LW 2024/04/28(Sun)20:21 No. 142122 ID: 0d1c28
File 171436087003.png - (3.56MB , 1600x1200 , SuYeong01.png )

Su-Yeong from S.I.R.E.N.

Spriter 2024/04/29(Mon)11:27 No. 142126 ID: 8bf61e
File 171441525041.png - (3.99KB , 178x303 , guardenf.png )

The lizard guard (Slime Quest) stands watch, no matter the circumstance.

Old image I never really posted anywhere else. There will be new ones, hopefully.

Obviously this isn't a perfect metaphor, given how different this is from a pen and paper tabletop RPG, but let's say a level 9 warrior have 100 health- a critical hit guarantees you do damage, but 2d8+2 still isn't that much off the top as compared to say, 1d8+2. Clearly this is still a social encounter, and the dice system works a bit differently, but it makes sense to me that a single crit doesn't instantly solve everything- just diffuses the results of Vos fumbling a roll, and putting cap on edge. Maru is currently waiting on Viste to make the decisions as to how to proceed; if she were in charge she probably would have tried to cut off his leg so he can't run away anymore, and hauled him back to the ship to get locked in a dark box where no one can see or talk to him. Her little speech was really more for herself, and everyone else than for cap- even if you don't like what's going on, trust that the boss- Davina, and Viste as an extension of Davina's will, are handling the situation, and don't make any stupid decisions, no matter how much you want to kill the guy in front of you and wipe your hands of this whole mess. She's telling herself and Vos that they should trust Viste, and telling Viste that she's upset, but she's doing her best to keep it in check and let her handle it instead of subverting her authority and forcing her to manage cap and 3 other people.

>>116079
He asked what you want. Maybe try telling him what you want, at least with regard to his own immediate behavior?

>Maru is currently waiting on Viste to make the decisions as to how to proceed
>Maybe try telling him what you want
Ah. Clear, detailed, non-cryptic orders.

The enemy of taciturn, enigmatic alter egos the world over.

>>116124
I don't know about Davina/Viste, but Maru wants him dead. Hence her waiting for orders.

I would imagine we want him to come back to the ship peacefully, but honestly? It doesn't seem like a good idea to keep carrying him around, too much risk compared to the reward. We've seen the captain would be capable, under the right circumstances, of executing everyone on the ship and stealing it. The sorceress, if given the choice, would probably not be sentimental enough to turn down such an opportunity. Not sure what the boss thinks but Maru is skeptical that there's something worthwhile to risk keeping him around

>>116076
https://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/116125

Baron 2022/08/15(Mon)00:11 No. 137907 ID: fd2dfa
File 166054751617.png - (594.50KB , 1857x1681 , Norberg.png )

Norberg - Daoine monk turned fighter. Even by Daoine standards he is short tempered. Once, he was part of the Holy Order Quadranate and was a disciple of the Four Truths. He could never follow the 2nd one about acts of unnecessary violence. Because of this he was eventually ousted from the order when he had bludgeoned to death all the Gormoamhi raiding the abbey. His strength is more balanced between axe and shield. But when angered, he'll pulverize his enemies with the shield.

Baron 2022/08/15(Mon)00:12 No. 137908 ID: fd2dfa
File 166054757588.png - (1.02MB , 2241x2225 , Balboran.png )

Balboran-Daoine healer. He doesn't do magic, but everyone thinks it’s magic. It’s actually drugs. Really powerful drugs that send you to another world while he re-attaches your limbs and shoves those organs back inside where they belong. Unlike other Daoine whose rage turns them into a berserker bunny, Balboran’s rage gives him a panic attack. It might have something to do with all the drugs.

Was looking back at the civquest archives. At some point we lost Sarcra? We got Sarcra in the marriage and it was in our holdings but the next turn it was gone.
Thought I'd ask what happened. Was there a mistake or a mix-up?

>>139040
No I think it was a typo in my own saved spreadsheet. Let me look into that.

So I've recently gotten into the 'extras' of the quest, I like the nsfw but with plot themes. I'm not sure I want to go back and read the mainline quests, the art style of the older ones is a bit hard to look at. Can anyone give me a bit of context for things?

It's cool that you're still thinking about it. Usually I suggest continuation over a reboot, but if it's been this long and the setting's drifted a lot maybe that does work better.

Cool lore dump. Imo, a reboot may work out better, but you could incorporate elements from what occurred in the previous thread to lead into the fresh start.

So, being as demons are a creation of negative emotions and obsessions, does the setting have the reverse occur where sustained positive emotions and convictions create proto-whatevers of a different makeup?

Like a rarer reverse-demon configuration (i.e. spirit or 'angel'), where a mortal with their mind set to it - or perhaps accidentally through their personality and life - cultivates something that then somehow subsumes a soul (say on the mortal's death) and becomes a permanent entity?

Consider zealots, monks, ascetics, fighters for a cause - or just someone with an upbeat personality, a work ethic, or the fortune to not have life's little miseries and temptuous foibles bring them out of their decent groove for long enough.

I imagine interesting things might also be happening with religions here and communally created entities. Gonna bet there's some fucked-up looking angels out there. Or maybe deamons masquerading as 'em, pending on the sincerity and positivity of worship, I suppose.

I may not really know the context, but an insanity demon dying from doing something mildly well-adjusted is really funny and I am glad to have come across the idea.

It's been a while since I came back here, sorry!

>>139701

Not particularly, the creation of daemons (or familiars, as they were called in the primordial days before any of them were severed) is generally a result of mental illness or severe trauma in one way or another. People don't tend to dwell on positive emotions to quite the same extent as they do negative ones.

People identified specific dangerous emotional states, and put words to them, without giving them a religious significance as 'sins'. And it's easy to write in those seven for readers to understand without having to make up new words. Imagine if I decided to call wrath "enragedfulness" or perhaps even "dwamolsi", some total nonsense word that doesn't exist and causes the reader to stop mid sentence and wonder what the fuck dwamolsi is. It's distracting, and cultural concepts in the real world are easier to adapt.

Anyway, my point in this ramble is that while there definitely have been cults, religions, and zealots, the kind of people that would form a protodaemon out of them are more likely to be obsessed, hateful, fixated on some wrong they perceive in the world. You don't manifest a daemon on good vibes.

I suppose, however, that good things could hypothetically come from someone creating a daemon. If someone was angry enough about, say, the poor going hungry that it became an obsession to fix it, and it went on long enough, they might form a daemon that could help them feed the hungry, but bear in mind the amount of mental anguish they would need to undergo to form such a daemon would probably mean that by that point, they were not mentally stable. Their modus operandi would probably be blasting their way into food stashes to ste

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Anonymous 2017/01/28(Sat)01:17 No. 108155 ID: 036280
File 148559506203.png - (94.02KB , 500x500 , ibetthescientistdidthis.png )

>>102439
sort of thread necromancy. couldn't resist

Anonymous 2017/01/28(Sat)06:29 No. 108160 ID: 14f8aa
File 148561373772.png - (114.41KB , 640x480 , cryotube.png )

>>102439

Thank you, notrip, for the amazing link.
http://gizoogle.net/tranzizzle.php?search=http%3A%2F%2Ftgchan.org%2Fkusaba%2Fquest%2Fres%2F664639.html&se=Go+G
it+Dis+Shiznit

This has a very SS13-y vibe

>>109282
That is beautiful.

Roaway 2024/04/02(Tue)12:25 No. 141974 ID: 9d12b8
File 171208591197.png - (791.49KB , 1631x1632 , Illustration1.png )

The only characters I have with legs (that people would wanna see anyway)
haven't been active lately so I figured I'd contribute 1(one) thing

>The only characters I have with legs (that people would wanna see anyway)
Are you sure about that?

I have enjoyed all the cool art and thigh highs this thread has produced thus far.

Sarcopholacooda 2024/04/06(Sat)15:35 No. 141986 ID: 2eb1da
File 171244295865.png - (30.55KB , 800x691 , ash-thigh.png )

Ash Altarf from self-titled Ash Quest: https://questden.org/wiki/Ash_Quest

>>141986
Wow, that's a callback!

>>141947

Ah, they Were seeded there by interstellar Genesis Probes of some sort, then

>>141948

This quest is secretly a sequel to >>/quest/993309

>>141951
Very amusing joke, got a good laugh so thanks. However if you're familiar with Jumble's other stuff (system boot zero, date-a-robogirl quest whose title has slipped my mind...) you're probably aware humanoid machines are generally his wheelhouse. Just his muse's thing.

>>141947
Okay, time for ideas! I'll start by assuming that, since the robots built their civilization on a planet full of life, they make use of organic components in some of their systems.

Now here I go! Let's see how many answers I can come up with.

The original robots were programmed with sexual feelings by their creators, as a precaution against a rogue AI singularity. They're attracted to certain body types so they won't go too crazy with self-upgrading and their evolving programs will remain at least somewhat relatable if they ever meet their makers.

Physical contact is a sort of system diagnostic routine for their biological (or bio-mimetic) parts. They touch and grope each other to to confirm that their tactile sensors and connected systems are still functional, until their instinctive subroutines give them an "all good" feeling. They are designed with a desire to do this that gradually grows the longer they wait between tests, to make sure their organs don't become numb, atrophied, or otherwise nonfunctional.

The robots' primary sex organs collect genetic and hormonal data markers from their other organs, which can be extracted and analyzed as a way to measure their general health. Male organs send their data in a chemical medium, while females produce eggs with a similar function.

Female sex organs can be used to grow new organic parts. They can replicate any organs included in their own design, and males have the genomes for their own components, which they can deliver to a female for reproduction and later installation. They were designed this way to make it easier for the population to support itself without needing the infrastructure to grow organs in mass quantities. They've calculated

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>>141954
>Male organs send their data in a chemical medium, while females produce eggs with a similar function.
I meant to say "milk" here. I was thinking about cyberboobs. The females collect biodata in their chests and store it with synthesized biofuel. The organs are attached to their upper bodies so they don't interfere with the functions of their lower parts, and large sizes are considered attractive because they indicate that a person's organic systems are in good health and operating productively.

Innkeeper!!Z0Mwx3ZJZj 2021/01/27(Wed)07:05 No. 134767 ID: 07ed53
File 161175995929.jpg - (187.11KB , 1000x750 , gobling.jpg )

Nude colored goblin

>>134767
I never thought I'd find myself saying now that's one sexy goblin.

>>>988046
Now this, this is how to run a Neutral character that has to deal in murder.

Evil characters don't have to give any f'ks, or look like they do.

Good characters should feel at least uncomfortable with it, but would often weigh it along the lines of a greater Good.

Neutral characters have no such comfort, so would deal with it like an average person would. Props to the QM for showing that.

>>134839
Thanks!
I appreciate that the players have been cognizant of it too.

I miss bread.

Geez, I’ve forgotten to answer these.

>Imagine if, rather than having this being an accurate record of the time before mortals, each race had their own version of the creation myth associated to their sense of being or identity.
There’s a reason why it says “as told by Pesi the Skull” at the start, just saying :V

>If I may, can I know the reason why the main NSFW quest is on break?
At the start, I just felt like working on something else. Recently it was because I wanted to finish Passage first. Right now I’m actually planning on updating it again soon, though I might do a few more updates to Scion and Leaves first.
>Maybe it's just me, but maybe you should bite the bullet and start a new thread for it.
Wait, are you talking about the main LL quest or just the quest discussion thread? If the former, the current thread is almost done, I just need to find the drive to finish it off. If it is the second, the whole reason why I merged all the dis threads was because they barely saw any use in the first place and I didn’t want to clog down the dis page too much. Might be prudent to split it into themes, though. One for the lewd vore fantasy, one for the lewd space stuff and one for the non-lewd stuff. I’ll consider it.

>The gods are seasons, Ptamet is Fall, Wjares is Winter, Volek is Spring (obviously), that makes Talos Summer. Wouldn't Talos make a nice summer god?
They are already themed by seasons, just not the four we’re used to. Instead, they are based on the three seasons used by ancient Egypt, with Volek being Emergence (When the ground is fertile and the seeds are planted), Ptamet being Harvest (self-explanatory) and finally Wjares being Inudation (When the Nile floods the plains and destroy everything in its path, but leaving fertile s

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'S OK. It's not like I'm fast to form replies, either. The relevant bit of Egyptian trivia IS appreciated.

>are you talking about the main LL quest or just the quest discussion thread?
It's the latter, and I do think you can pick up where you left off. To be honest, though, I was hoping for a place to discuss possible fetishes without it being weird, as well as a repository for possibly lewd fan art.
Flockload has great fanart. I'm just saying, Lord Triti.

>Talos will take the domains that his worshipers bestow upon him. Pesi even tried to suggest rebirth, but the suggesters chose being diplomatic instead.
Everyone wants the harem route, but tis' a path one must really, really, really, really, REALLY commit to. I guess that makes Talos a god of Love and Passion? Technically, that means we have to empathize with Neferi's perspective, assuming we can convince her to not walk over us (unless we want to) and make a convert out of her. She does seem to have a Predator mentality, after all. If Sebak has Prey mentality, they'd almost be a perfect match.

>the next one will probably not be based on Fire Emblem.
Disappointed we won't have characters sharing rings with each other to connect with the spirits/AI of past heroes. But seriously, I meant something like bonuses (or penalties) with certain characters working together. I do like having my characters bond and develop into closer relationships with each other. The power of shipping compells me.

I've take it you've played fear and hunger recently.... mixed in with a bit of system shock 2 if I'm not mistaken.

Recently? No. But it is definitely inspired by F&H, yes.
And while you did get the System shock reference, you missed the Theif one :V

Just to geek out for a moment, the "tarot" was originally a playing card game, but it wasn't poker. It was a game in Italy in the 14th century with rules similar to Bridge, and Mamluk cards from Turkey. The very artsy cards commissioned by Italian aristocracy did quickly inspire people to use them for storytelling purposes, in a game known as “tarocchi appropriati,” where they would draw random cards, and write poetry about the other players, based on what they drew. Eventually that morphed into the fortune telling we know today.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/71927/tarot-mythology-surprising-origins-worlds-most-misunderstood-cards
http://mamluk.spiorad.net/topkapi.htm

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/03/02(Sat)01:14 No. 141796 ID: 08b744
File 170937085809.jpg - (138.89KB , 414x254 , Core 114.jpg )

Abdle: "You know when you are getting to know someone better I would suggest trying to avoid telling them that I was helping you with conversation. It is such a humiliating thing to admit."

Bobbie: "Well the Lesser Demons weren't here to help so I kinda had to rely on your advice."

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/03/02(Sat)01:15 No. 141797 ID: 08b744
File 170937095025.jpg - (107.00KB , 316x233 , Core 115.jpg )

Abdle: "Oh no it is almost midnight, we need to go or we will be stuck here forever."

Bobbie: "Yeah I see Nalthar openiung a portal."

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/03/02(Sat)01:17 No. 141798 ID: 08b744
File 170937107427.jpg - (91.39KB , 276x360 , Core 116.jpg )

Bobbie: "Well Mirrak, this is my time to leave..."

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/03/02(Sat)01:19 No. 141799 ID: 08b744
File 170937115243.jpg - (321.17KB , 582x525 , Core 117.jpg )

Bobbie: "I had such a blast dancing with you and I hope that you accomplish your romantic goal in your own world! I hope we meet again some other time until then farewell!"

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/03/02(Sat)01:20 No. 141800 ID: 08b744
File 170937120312.jpg - (80.98KB , 248x506 , Core 118.jpg )

With that said Abdle, Bobbie, and Nalthar leave this celebration.

This is both the main character and a support character, so Coordinator would be best fit for a secondary class to opt into.
Nothing else really fits unless you go Wizard for the armour passive and not cast of its spells to save on AP (outside of emergencies)... but it's both not anywhere as good as Coordinator's bonuses and you can't trust the players to conserve AP.

Being a discussion thread...
I was expecting this secondary ability list to be different from the primary list, focusing more on bonuses that would synergise with the selected primary class and be more 'secondary' in nature. Choices kindaaa feel limited, and we're all agreeing on the same one... but may we be looking at it from the wrong perspective? Hm

>>141775
well, the class system is just picking two classes from the class list and getting access to the abilities of both. The Primary just lets you pick an ability from the class' list at the start. Kosroh's starting ability from Apothecary is the Healing Salve ability

Additionally, as a character levels up, they'll be able to gain additional abilities from both classes

Coordinator synergize but he will be very limited if left alone or with uncooperative company. I we get a guarantee obedient animal companion that can be healed I would prefer Dragoon or Hunter.

hunter

I am not going to provide a map, but

>>126015
This is correct so far!

Anonymous 2019/12/14(Sat)19:16 No. 131661 ID: b1b4f3
File 157637979580.jpg - (50.85KB , 1000x800 , labyrinthmap.jpg )

Alright here's an updated, clean map.

Anonymous 2019/12/15(Sun)17:08 No. 131668 ID: b1b4f3
File 157645853121.jpg - (66.10KB , 1500x800 , labyrinthmap.jpg )

Whoops I forgot we went down the right passage already.
...the kobolds didn't say how the turns went to get to the sock hole, this is the best I can do.

>>131668
yeah that's correct, pretty much. They are at the ? now though

I hope this isnt considered necromancy, but it didnt seem too near the bottom of the catelogue so...

Just finished reading through and wanted to say thanks.
It was clear a lot of effort went into this and even as a non participating reader it was engaging and enjoyable.

Orro finally got that hug he needed from Yaku! I'm sure Kuvusha is happy they're happy, wherever she is.

tippler 2024/01/25(Thu)18:42 No. 141603 ID: 9ea24b
File 170623693570.png - (13.74KB , 500x500 , a61.png )

sibling hug

Absurdity DeVoid 2024/01/27(Sat)09:02 No. 141607 ID: dc13c4
File 170637497118.jpg - (110.53KB , 426x411 , poklon 11.jpg )

A present that hugs the recipient.

Silly Zealot 2024/01/27(Sat)17:36 No. 141608 ID: f6204d
File 170640576691.png - (92.54KB , 660x600 , Halp.png )

>>141593

Halp!

Silly Zealot 2024/02/24(Sat)14:01 No. 141749 ID: f7d131
File 170881209155.jpg - (67.12KB , 727x718 , Tridetired.jpg )

Hug Day came and went, but the joy that closeness has brought us will last forever.

>>139053
Tobaks usually strike me as optimistic, capable of finding meaning and joy in a less than optimal dark place subjected to machinations outside their control. Not Aynsel, from his point of view the world is gloomy even with darkvision.

>>139055
Allegory of the Cave, except the cave is a large systems of interconnected caverns in an under-explored part of civilised space hosting sapient life. Sucks to have knowledge, don't it, Aynsel?

Let's hope things improve for him in future then.

Donut 2023/02/22(Wed)23:40 No. 139173 ID: 3a877e
File 167713803910.png - (14.79KB , 500x339 , Nashi1.png )

Well, well, well. Nice to meat you in person, Nashi. Karma has a weird way of balancing things out, doesn't it?

>>137595
Is there some crazy species of bird people you got going on in your bird quest? Like that one type of bird that lays its eggs in the nest of other birds, but the chick pushes the other eggs and chicks out of the nests? What about those weird blood vultures that color their feathers in the blood of the dead? Sparrows? Teats? Boobies? (Ha ha funny birb names)

Anonymous 2024/02/21(Wed)17:31 No. 141727 ID: 443b73
File 170856549727.png - (693.00KB , 800x805 , prelude close.png )

I was saving this for the next time Coil meet Rilda. Some teasing thoughts for her intrusion:
You can already feel her warm breath washing over you, heart pounding in anticipation. Blue and pink go so well together...

Well we gotta know how magic works in this setting. With deduction it seems there are schools/domains/types but what underlying rules do we (in character) know? Do we have MP, do we generate it over time or other ways? Does every spell belong to a domain or are cross-domain spells a thing? What about mages cooperating on a spell? Stuff of that type.

>>32

What you describe is certainly reasonable; the only problem lies in how one is to define a railroad. For example, the train analogy considers point A as the beginning and B as the destination. Whilst the train may stop to take on more passengers on the way, change the scenery surrounding the trip, or create a social environment for the passengers, the destination remains the same. Meaning, it is impossible to move in any direction other than forward by virtue of the railroad. Further, I, as the passenger, can suggest to the conductor how fast or slow the train is to move; I cannot make the train move unless I am the conductor.

However, that is a pretty rigid analogy. Basically, if I, as the conductor, can make the train move in any direction I desire based on the pre-existing rail system, the train will make its way to point B eventually; however, I can also take it to any other point, C, D, E, and such, within the context of where I would like to travel. Essentially, I can still make the train go slower, faster, or stop entirely as the conductor based on what others tell me. If I am biased, I can pick or ignore what the passengers tell me because I am the one that moves the train. If I am biased and particularly experienced, they won't even know that I am doing it. As such, the train will continue moving in the direction I desire short of someone else hijacking it.

That is basic approach I take in regard to the topic – there is a lot more to it and the above analogy probably falls short of properly explaining the concept – but I digress.

I think some degree of railroading is necessary for good narrative. Free form roleplaying is the counterpoint; because there is lack of power balance, there is also a lack of structure. Such games usually do not have a good narrative because no-one is able to control the action of the players other than the

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I think the issue with quests is that they are not well defined. They're a very new artform, and I don't believe a general consensus of what makes up a quest has been agreed upon.

First-off: Are we the 'players'? Surely we make suggestions for what the characters do, but rarely are they not their own person! DiveQuest is by far and large the most obvious example of this, but even more 'freeform' quests, such as Kara, have established personalities. Think of it this way: >/quest/ is an indirect player character!

Is this a form of railroading? Perhaps. Not having control over your character is truly the only thing that *can* be definitively defined as railroading, but are they truly /your/ characters? No! Did you go through character creation, defining their backstory, traits, personality? Even if you did, you would still have to share them with the rest of the board, thus preventing a character from ever having a specific player.

So, a quest does not have players. Likewise, it does not have a GM. It has an *Author*. That's right, someone very defined by writing the story! It's the author's role to create the world and characters of the quest, to show it to us, and to choose the suggestions that create what happens next. And of course the author needs to choose suggestions! If they didn't, we wouldn't need them at all! We could simply read the suggestions, and have them happen as fact. But that isn't what a quest is. A quest is more like a collaborative writing project than a roleplaying game. An author writes a story, shaped by the comments and suggestions of his co-writers, who are also the audience.

There, that's my interpretation of a quest, from someone who's never run, or honestly, even made a suggestion in one! Quests may be railroaded depending on your definition of it, but it's not because the the quest runner is d

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I was rereading Ruby Quest and in the middle of John Quest (the parody Weaver did in the middle of a discussion thread) John found the Orb of Infinite Psyche.

Why the hell does it keep popping up?
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/3354728/images/1231499725197.gif

>>1044
Because Weaver is the one who invented the orb of infinite psyche, and John Quest was done by Weaver. It was him foreshadowing Dive.

>>72
As a questrunner myself, I'd say that an overarching storyline does not make a game incredibly linear. In mine, I never expected to create Ziz or the zerkerthumpers, for instance.