Quest Digest 24/12/95

From: ">>-Josh->" <J.P.Gallagher@durham.ac.uk>

Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995 00:00:00 +0000

___         _
  / _ \       | |            Christmas Eve Edition
 | |_| |UEST__| |IGEST
  \__  |   / _  |
     | |_ | |_| |  An e-mail discussion forum for the fantasy
     |_ /  \___/   play by mail game;  "Quest".  Compiled  by=20
                   Josh Gallagher. J.P.Gallagher@durham.ac.uk

o  This isn't one of those automatic list thingies, so could all=20
   articles be sent clearly marked with paragraphs initalled to me.

o  If you want off the list, just say!  No hassle, no pressure.

o  All material here is the exclusive property of the author and may
   not be used elsewhere without their permission.

o  For answers to specific Quest-related questions, you may want to get in
   touch with the Quest Helpline; queries sent to quest-help@kokodan.vivi.c=
om
   will be sent to a panel of experienced Quest players, who will endeavour
   to answer your problems quickly. Thanks to Bruce Cota for his help.

___
 / _ \          Christmas greetings to all Digest readers!=20
|  __/DITORIAL  I decided not to do a digest on Christmas day, as I'll be t=
oo
 \___|          busy with food and presents and things, so this is the=20
                official Christams edition.  Thank you to all those that se=
nt
Christmas greetings - much appreciated. :)  Thanks also for all the=20
articles for this edition... it's quite a big issue today, be warned!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 1995 01:12:28 GMT
From: Larkin <colm@internet-eireann.ie>

>          JIM - A long time ago, I stole a skull off of some group,
>          and have been unable to find a use for it. Does anybody know
>          what I can do with it, or is just another (mirror type)
>          useless item? I can't recall seeing one for sale, so I dont
>          know how much its worth either.

JL>Yes, I have seen them, they cost one or two gps, and... they do absolutl=
y
nothing!!! The only reason they are in the game is for crappy quests that
you do when you first start playing quest and then realise it wasn't worth
the 200 gp! Same as glass orbs and so on. Do religious books actually do
anything? Do you think they are worth the 4000gp?

>AH> Well they've only just appeared in the shops in Blockboro in G3. Mind=
=20
>you in G3 I have not seen anywhere that sells scalemail or platemail=20
>either. I havent seen all the shop lists but I've visited at least 13 of=
=20
>the cities with no sign of them.

JL>Well I can tell you that scalemail does exist, but it isn't worth the
600gp as they weigh a ton, five of my men got it ages ago and were sufferin=
g
from over 20% encumbrance with very little else.I have also seen platemail,
it is quite expensive though, your best bet is to buy magic armour.

>PN> Indeed, I've just started up an evil alliance in G16 which is enemy of=
=20
>everyone, attack innocent groups? well they had warnings, I have repaetedl=
y
put=20
>in the paper & rumours don't come to Fentham or you die, but still players=
 of=20
>no renown turn up, and are battered beyond recognition. A prime example is=
 the=20
>group outside town that I wiped out, also a group just turned up in town a=
nd=20
>was found on a late turn, they also will not have a group by the end of th=
e=20
>turn. If the warning ain't enough then they deserve a kicking just to show
them=20
>we're serious.

JL>I want to join it, (S&M), I don't know if i will have mailed you by now,
if not drop me a line.

>PN> If you ask me I reckon it would be alright if the alliance money=20
>dissapeared if there was either no initial cost to put up or if you need o=
nly=20
>do it once or if you didn't have to paly a turn fee for the skill. Remembe=
r=20
>that 30k is alot of money for a new official alliance (unless your in an=
=20
>oldgame and have an old group) if you have to put another 20k for strength
it's=20
>a bit much not to see any of it returned. Plus whats this 50k for a new HQ=
?=20
>Surely once established a new HQ should be cheaper than the original rathe=
r=20
>than more?!=20

JL>Sounds good to me, as does free strenght training (apart from the initia=
l
entrance fee).

>PN> I just got the battle reports from game one back, it seems two groups=
=20
>fought monks, Phyloqure and Fleyshur. Both lost the battle with 9 and 8
wounded=20
>to none of the monks wounded. Plus weapons the order of the day for sure. =
By=20
>the way did anyone know that you can get weapon skill over 100%? You can I
have=20
>seen 2 examples of such skills.

JL>Try 'enchant weapons III' it works a treat!

>I ressurected the dead priest this turn. Two turns after being killed. It =
cost
>8028 gold to have 50KV shoved up his arse, 2000 gp less than what was retu=
rned
>from investigating the char. But on that turn he had rotted slightly losin=
g
>3 Sk, 4 To, 2 Aw and 3 Ch. Time is definately not on your side.

JL>that sounds quite expensive which is how it should be! what were your
characters original skills? Thats good as I just killed 5 of 'Swords of
Destiny' (in game six) so it won't be too easy for him to ressurect them...
                                  Keep the swods sharp,
                                                       =20
                                                        John Larkin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 1995 02:52:51 +0100 (MET)
From: Stefan Andersson <t94stean@und.ida.liu.se>

SA> SPOILER WARNING! Below is the complete (?) list of the new
monsters. Jump some lines if you don't want to know about them.

893 Whompers            894 Gatherers           895 Nimrods
896 Katrims             897 Leprechauns         898 Wall Dwellers
899 Sky-Rays            900 Mist Reavers        901 Knight-Lores
902 Xoroas              903 Bandits             904 Farmers
905 Monks of Baldor     906 Monks of Garthrana  907 Monks of Sundonak
908 Monks of Fleyshur   909 Monks of Ythcal     910 Monks of Molwanh
911 Monks of Phyloqure  912 NO MONSTER!         913-> ???

SA> Found a dwarven fighter with skill 60 and toughness 82, guess=20
the skill is rather unbeatable, or...? And due to an input error=20
by someone at KJC I almost missed it, my fifteenth character's
name was misspellt in the xpel order so I never recruited the DF,
but they corrected their error...=20

SA> I just want to express my anger over groups who challenge other
groups with this type of challenge:
"Name a place and we meet you there with 100% flee factor, with or
without deathspells". Ok, if they are tired of playing their groups,
that's fine, but at least I don't want to throw away four years of=20
playing in a stupid fight! And to all of you who make these challenges,
dont you DARE call anyone turning such a challenge down a coward!

SA> I totally agree with Paul Noble in his points about the game being
unbalanced. To deal with the "death"-spells it should be enough making
Deflect Magic 3 stronger or implement a new Deflect Magic-type of spell
working against Voids, Globes and Total Deaths. Maybe a resurrection spell,
to be cast at the end of the magic phase, resurrecting any eventual deaths
that might have happened. And the protection against death-magic should
only be available for highly skilled mages, the groups between the beginner=
s
and very old SHOULD fear the veteran groups, period! The improvement of
the fighter is very welcome, making them now ages better than the priests
in fighting.=20

SA> MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!!=20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 1995 9:50:36 GMT
From: I wanna live like common ppl <roger.littlefair@unn.ac.uk>

RoJ>=09Res costs a character stats?  Wonder how long you can go before
=09ressurection doesn`t work.  Is there a chance of seeing negative
=09charisma?  It`s a Greg campaign all over again!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Jonas Nelson, KTH" <NELSON@l.kth.se>
Date:          Mon, 18 Dec 1995 09:59:48 +0100

From: "Jonas Nelson" <NELSON@l.kth.se>
> PN> Indeed, I've just started up an evil alliance in G16 which is enemy o=
f=20
> everyone, attack innocent groups? well they had warnings, I have repaeted=
ly put=20
> in the paper & rumours don't come to Fentham or you die, but still player=
s of=20
> no renown turn up, and are battered beyond recognition. A prime example i=
s the=20
> group outside town that I wiped out, also a group just turned up in town =
and=20
> was found on a late turn, they also will not have a group by the end of t=
he=20
> turn. If the warning ain't enough then they deserve a kicking just to sho=
w them=20
> we're serious.

JN> I'm getting more and more convinced that the NA option was a good
move by KJC in order to keep new groups alive and the new players
happy. I'm NOT saying that it's good for the game,
but as long as you and your likes set the Kharne rules, KJC
has to adapt the Quest rules to keep attracting new customers
(i.e. new money).  If every city had its own"town bully" that excelled in
killing off new and weaker groups, then how much fun would these
newcomers get out of the game? (We all know that the road to fortune=20
lies in the cities, don't we?)

> > PJC> Which powerful groups enjoy running around and killing brand new p=
arties?
> CMD> I ain't naming names, but there are people like that in this world..=
. :-(
Yep - and the last Digest just proved it (and gave you some names=20
too...)=20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jens Loesel <jl@solid.anorg.chemie.uni-frankfurt.de>
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 12:03:07 -0800

JL: The price of a skull in shops is 1 !! gold. You get them (very
seldom) in temples of Baldor. There are quests out, to buy them
and dilever them somewhere else. I don't think, they have any use.

> One small problem. I tried to pay tithe to a Baldor Temple, they took my
> 72 gold but I have got nothing in return, what is the use of this tithe??

JL: If you have a priest below skill 50 and P 0 doesn't work, a tithe
starts your skill going up again. Above skill 50 it may increase your
chance of fgoing up in skill. Also if you tithe, your allignment
goes in the direction of the god you tithe for. This is everything you
can use tithe for.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: list_s@svhdev.bt.co.uk (Stuart List, PST PP201, Tel. Ipswich 293433)
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 11:47:42 +0000

Roy Thomas passes the digest on to me. I have a party in game 10 (any other=
s
out there?) which I'm ok with. They've gone NA to prevent re-occurence of a
previous incident in which they were attacked for no reason by another part=
y
(who came off worse, but that's another story!). I would suggest that parti=
es
should only be able to go NA if their alignment is neutral, or at least
certainly not evil. This might go a long way to satisfying some of the
disatisfied.=20

Stu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 1995 17:12:59 -0600
From: Erling Solheim <solheim@james.avh.unit.no>

This is a respond to Paul Noble, about our (lack of) conversation in game 1=
4.=20
I hope we solve everything out with this, and I hope we might have many
interesting debates in the future.

PN>But I received a letter apologising for the attack and asking for=20
>information. Perhaps I was foolish to accept his offer of friendship for=
=20
>despite sending two letters over about 4 months  I still did not receive a=
=20
>reply, not even a rumour of message in the newspaper.

ES>Well, I want to close this "debate" once and for all, and tell you what
happened, from my point of view. Having played as a GM in D&D for several
years, without having played any charactres myself as my friends were quite
egoistic ( we did the same campaigne all the time), I really looked forward
to play a PBM like Quest. Now I had the chance of playing RPGs myslef. I se=
t
myself the goal of getting a tough and highskilled group, and I wanted to
stay away from battles. But as Quest has far too few monsters wandering in
the wilderness, and I didn't wanna spend orders on E-orders, a hostile
attitude suited my group well. So I wanted to have lots of battles but at
the same time build up my party. I've never attacked any party on purpose,
but I've had some meetings, and I must admit that those fights are the best
ones, as they were the only "risky" and long-lasting fights. But I tried to
stay away from them, avoiding getting slayed myself. Unfortunately I bumped
into your group by accident, and I hit you quite well. I sent you an
apologise, and at that time I hadn't had contact with any players for quite
some time, in fact I have written to several players, but only a couple hav=
e
answered my letters over the years. So, why didn't I respond to you? Well,
as we all know, things actually happen in the real world too, and last
autumn/winter, at the time you wrote, my girlfriend broke up and left our
apartment, having lived together for years. Playing PBM didn't have top
priority at that time. So I got about 15 weeks behind in the game, and only
sent in a turn now and then to keep the position alive. Thats the reason,
and I do really not have so much more to say. Then some months passed, and =
I
started playing the position again.
=20
PN>would deal with any other group in G14 as they had the Fools (new name
for my=20
>group).=20

ES> My message meant "stay away", or I would completely destroy your group.
Having read you "war-pact" in the newsletter, I decided, for the first time=
,
to attack an other group, as I in a kind of way enjoyed your anger upon me.
I found your group first, and I attacked you through a stealing-order. I
hope you understand that I might have exterminated your whole group at that
point, and perhaps I should have done so, but I thought this attack should
be enough. I then went dungeoneering again, and then this NA-order came,
which suited MY (certainly not yours) gaming objectivities. I'm still
hostile and like fighting, but unfortunately I don't take part in
Kharne-politics.
=20
I really don't think we have any problem at all, it's just that we enjoy
different aspects of the game, and I think the problem about the NA-order
and group vs. group-fighting is that KJC haven't programmed the game so tha=
t
it suits any kind of player, whatever kind of aspect of the game the player
focus upon. You seem to PRIMARILY enjoy group vs. group warfare and
alliance-diplomacy, while I tend to favour exploration, dungeoneering and
building up a group over years. But I do think you are somewhat "blind" whe=
n
it comes to understanding some of the other players' view about the game, a=
s
you from my point of view seem to interpret things only according to the wa=
y
you understand the game objectives.
To end this debate about what happened in our groups meetings; what can
happen due to lack of correspondance; and the problem about NA vs.
alliance-wars, I would like to say that I hope things are ok between us now=
,
and that there is place enough for any kind of player in this game that we
all enjoy, in one way or another.
=20
I saw one article written by you at "Dynamic games". I really liked it, mor=
e
of that!
All the best, Erling the Berserker.
Erling Solheim
Student at the University of Trondheim, Norway
E-mail:solheim@james.avh.unit.no
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995 16:34:30 +0000 (GMT)
From: Allan Hooper <A.O.Hooper@herts.ac.uk>

> PN> I heard of some talk about being able to hit NA parties with spells=
=20
> is this true?

AH> I too have heard rumours that NA groups can be attacked in some way and=
=20
apparently some players have got nasty letters from KJC about them doing so=
.

> PN> Indeed, I've just started up an evil alliance in G16 which is enemy o=
f=20
> everyone, attack innocent groups?

AH> Has any experianced player ever started a good alliance? ;). Surely=20
it would be more of a challenge? Yeah originally having an evil group was=
=20
harder as no-one would like you and thus be less likely to share info=20
with you. But now all the vital info is well documented most experainced=20
players seem to play evil groups. Imagine actually having your group=20
<gulp> _liked_ as well as feared! Then again my two groups are both evil=20
so I'm not one to talk, but if I started a new group... ;).

JPG> Good alliances just don't seem to have a _purpose_ unless there is=20
an evil alliance for them to fight against.  Speaking from the stand=20
point of running (kinda) a good alliance here...

> PN> It gets me that not only have they inputted resurrection, depetrify (=
if=20
> petrification wasn't useless with that power drain, it is now!)

AH> Its 500 for depetrify but 1000+ for ressurection, hmmm. So if you kill=
=20
someone with petrify you _SAVE_ them money overall? Interesting idea=20
that. If they had pertified Daves priest it would have saved him over=20
7500gp's? Damn good spell that petrify.

> CMD> I think that a no NA game for war hungry players is a good idea.
> Personally I think the idea of a closed-ended Quest game (50 or 100 parti=
es
> to start with, specific victory conditions to aim for, both for players a=
nd
> alliances, once all these victory conditions have been achieved, the game
> reverts to normal open-ended Quest, possibly with transport to another
> "finished" closed-ended game) is ideal.

AH> A sort of Quest "Gang V's Gang"? Yeah why not, it wouldnt take too=20
much effort. But I'd rather see the effort invested into making Quest=20
more _open ended_ than into more of a war game. Some things to make=20
quest more open ended:
Dont flog everything of value in cities. Perhaps plus gear mainly=20
found in dungeons? NPC's offering training/quests? Penalties on thieving
and TQ less well paid. Quests that require more time/effort than TQ's.
Only simple spells learned by knowing the spell number. High powered=20
spells have to be found/researched individually by each group. Perhaps=20
learn/buy spells off NPC's or found again deep in dungeons. Mages tomes=20
store these high power spells but the tome can be stolen, burnt, etc.
Weird/rare components like unicorn horns, giant toads eyes, etc. for=20
powerfull spells (it might even start a player operated market). Learn to=
=20
use crystal balls for scrying, mages prisms for storing magic points,=20
skulls for voodo, etc. Invest shed loads of cash on one super mage or=20
several goodish ones.=20
Basically anything to get groups off their arses and give them something
to do other than hang around cities killing each other. Anyway I seem=20
to have gone ranting about my ideal game (Neil Benson are you listening?!).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Bent C Dalager <bcd@pvv.unit.no>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 06:02:11 +0100 (MET)

here is the form I use to send EMail turns to KJC. You may wish to put it
in the next digest, will probably be useful for people. Do note that I have
used ASCII characters other than those that KJC said we should. Those extra=
s
that I have used are standard ASCII, and should cause no trouble. At least,
they didn't complain about the turn I mailed them earlier. Also note that t=
he
form is 39 characters wide, so you could fit in two side-by-side and save
KJC some paper if you send in several turns at once.

--------------------------------------
           QUEST Turn Card
---------------------------------BcD95

Party Name ___________________________

Your Name  __________________ Game#___

Party No   ____  /-------------------\
                 |   New Address:    |
Account No ____  |                   |
                 |                   |
/---------------\|                   |
|Special Orders ||                   |
|               ||                   |
|               |\-------------------/
|               | 8 1 2 /------------\
|               |  \|/  |Money Incl.:|
|               | 7-+-3 |            |
|               |  /|\  |            |
\---------------/ 6 5 4 \------------/

Order # 1>=20
Order # 2>=20
Order # 3>=20
Order # 4>=20
Order # 5>=20
Order # 6>=20
Order # 7>=20
Order # 8>=20
Order # 9>=20
Order #10>=20
Order #11>=20
Order #12>=20
Order #13>=20
Order #14>=20
Order #15>=20

Chat list> _____________ _____________
           _____________ _____________
--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 09:33:57 -0600
From: Erling Solheim <solheim@james.avh.unit.no>

Hello Josh! I send you something that I planned to send to KJC, about
upgrades/ the future developments in Quest. Do you think it's ok?

JPG> Included below for comments, Erling... :)

I cna also tell that on my last turn I ws offered 1800 per character for
defeating 5 monks of Sundonak 10 sectors away. That would give me 27000 if =
I
make it! Has anyone met Sundonak monks this far? And do you think I can kil=
l
them by casting wraths? I hope so.

JPG> Hmm... If you have Enchant Weapons III, lots of health and very good=
=20
fighters, you might be alright...

Can anyone tell me why teleportation doesn't work from settlements? Is
teleport only for the use of getting away in battles, and as battles with
spellcasting isn't an option anymore in settlements, teleport won't have
it's function in settlements? Does it only work in wilderness and when you
escape from fights?

What I would like to see programmed into the game of Quest:

1) Mixed monstergroups. A balrog together with orcs, a few trolls together
with some kobolds etc. This would give the game more of a traditional
RPG-feeling.

2) Catacombs under the cities and some towns. One entrance into the catacom=
b
from each suburb to avoid parties staying in one place and killing parties
that go down. The catacombs should be filled with thieves, murderers, sick
citizens, rats, snakes, undeads etc.

3) Leaders of monstergroups  and npc-parties should be named. In quests you
should be told something like =ABFind the murderer =ABThor the strangler=BB=
 and
kill him. He is said to be the leader of monstergroup 3456. This group of
thieves and murderers is said to be hiding deep down in the catacombs=BB.

4) New house in settlements: Arena. This building should offer combats that
would suit every kind of party (The computer would have to estimate a fair
opponent for the party). The party would decide if they would take on fight=
s
that =ABgo to the deaths of one side=BB or just =ABto win=BB (different =AB=
buying=BB).
Each party would be allowed one battle each turn. These battles wouldn't
give the party much gold, but they might get some experience and finding
some monsters to fight wouldn't be any problem for the player, as I've know=
n
many players that have dropped playing due to not finding any monsters to
fight. But the main purpose with this arena would be to balance the fightin=
g
environment for groups that would like to fight each other. I'm tired of
hearing about parties that group together and kill other parties, ambushing
the other duelist that come to the sector the combatants have agreed to
fight at etc. Too many parties are being whiped out due to unfair playing,
so my idea to solve this is this arena. Here parties could meat each other
in an environment that is familiar to the old arenas in ancient Rome. The
order would be as follows: B  99 shopnumber party . If the other party has
issued the same order on their turn, the two duelants would meet in a duel
in the arena, fighting to their set flee-factor. To avoid =ABkilling=BB the
other contestant with spells before or after the match, this must be solved
in a way that the =ABwaiting party=BB (the party that is fighting between t=
urns)
is protected by the arenaguards and is not affected by spells. This means
that some sneaky players would misuse this option to stay =ABspell-protecte=
d=BB
in settlements through dueling parties that are fictive, but there must be
some solution to this problem. But I think this arene-solution would be
better than how the situation is like today even without this
spellprotection for the waiting party. Parties should also have the
oportunity to meet =ABanyone=BB between turns, or to meet anyone from a
mentioned alliance. (B 99 shopnumber 0, or B 99 shopnumber 113). With
=ABanyone=BB I mean that you should chance to see what opponent you might m=
eet
if anyone else give the same =ABanyone=BB order during their turn. If no on=
e
show up, you should start your turn with a battle against a monstergroup
that is moderated to your partys abilities by the computer. One last thing
that might be difficult to program is to let single characters from parties
fight each other or a monster or monstergroup (B characternumber shopnumber
partynumber/0/alliance/monsterduel). You would only fight the other party i=
f
this other party specify a single character.

Graveyard: Would give meaning to most questplayers' question about where al=
l
those slayed characters usually end up (there should be some 1000s of
corpses I believe after all these years). Should be input if you take a loo=
k
at =ABsugested miracles=BB somewhere later in this article.

5) New spells: Locate dungeon. Would show caves, dungeons and lairs on your
map. Radius covered by the spell would  be a result of the mages skill.
Regeneration I, II and III: Would need 45, 60 or 80 in skill, would affect =
a
single character, some characters or the whole party. Imagine the experienc=
e
from these battles! I think it's important that this spell is not a miracle=
,
as it should benefit those groups who have weak characters (mages).

6) New miracles: I've been thinking about how I would have liked these to
be, and here are some sugestions:
#1: Resurrection: Just like what a temple might offer you. But this spell
should also be possible to cast at other parties. This way alliances might
back up their weaker groups, or accidents like =ABbumped into a young party
and killed 3 of their members=BB would be easy to do well again, offering
resurrection to the dead characters.
#2: This one is worse. What about =ABGarthranas armour=BB, meaning that oth=
er
parties need +weapons or other magic to hit your members.
#3: Sundonaks hammmer: This would be similar to the viking god Thors hammer=
,
if he threw it against an opponent it would allways hit the enemy, and it
would allways come back to his hand afterwards. This weapon would last only
for this single battle, and it could be used both in the missile and melee
phase.
#4: Demon: The caster of this miracle would turn himself into a demon.
Depending upon the skill of the caster, the demon would get more abilities,
as multiple attacks each turn and regeneration.
#5: Create undead: If you loose or win a battle doesn't matter. If you have
a dead body you should be able to create an undead that would be part of th=
e
party or come with the party as some kind of follower. This undead characte=
r
would not be able to carry any gold or items, but should help the party in
battles. I think these undeads should be added to the normal 15 members, an=
d
that each priest in the party should be allowed to control only one undead.
The caster shouldn't move to far away from Ythcal before he looses control
of the undead who will then leave the party (and might perhaps even attack
his creator). The kind of undead the character turn out to be depend upon
the priests skill. A lowskilled priest would create a skeleton, while a
highskilled priest would be allowed to create a lich out of a dead mages
body. A body should also be possible to find on a graveyard. This =ABshop=
=BB in
settlement could be added, and parties doing a W order might find/steal a
dead body, or perhaps they will find something else? I don't think this
miracle should be able to cast at an other party, as some players (the usua=
l
ones) might cast it at younger parties to avoid them getting back into the
game. But against veteran groups this might have added the possibility of
not making it possible for your enemy to resurrect his dead characters.
#6: Pest: This miracle would make the victims very sick, making chaos in th=
e
civilized settlements, etc. My idea is that this spell might also be cast a=
t
parties, parties that you don't want to stay in the settlement. The affecte=
d
party will be thrown out of the settlement if it doesn't get rid of the
sickness during the turn they find out that they desperately need some
healing. This spell should not be a combat miracle, and it kills very
slowly, but the affected party will be abandoned from the settlement if it'=
s
not cured. Players who discovers that their party is affected will most
probably be thrown out of town during one of the next turns, but the pest
can be healed through normal healing. But usually the citizens won't believ=
e
that they really are cured, and they must usually wait for some time outsid=
e
the settlement or wander to an other settlement. The spell shouldn't allway=
s
work, and it might also turn back at the caster if it's used too often.
#7: Novalas secret: Would give the party some hints about where wealth can
be found. This could be information about which shops might be easy to rob,
wealthy parties, buried treasures etc. The information might not allways be
true, and Novala might sometimes trick you and lead you into a trap of some
kind.
#8: Wisdom: This miracle would give you information about something that yo=
u
have put on your chatlist. I often find it difficult to get such
information, and this could be the solution to find out more about named
things in the game, as map-locations, settlements, new spells, etc.

#0: The neutral miracle should allow parties to move to places where
immortals live/ mega-dungeons etc. More of that later.

7) As not all players (like me) has had too much contact with official
alliances, and don't like the in game politics between players, there shoul=
d
be an alternative alliance-form, that should be run by the computer. These
should be religious alliances, representing the conflict between the temple=
s
and religions. Parties could choose between 8 different religious alliances=
.
The rules for being part of one alliance should follow some of the routines
like those for becomming NA. Parties would first have to be close to the Go=
d
they want to follow for some turns, and then they will be tested, having to
fullfill some quests for the temple aligned to the God. Then the party will
be offered status as an member of the alliance. This contract can be broken
both by the player and the computer/alliance, if the party don't follow =AB=
the
right path=BB. Parties should be allowed to have a neutral alignment
afterwards, but must not get too close to any other God (going over the
borders for getting close to a God). If a player leave the alliance, he wil=
l
not be offered to enter an other alliance for a while. A player should not
have the possibility of both being a member of a normal official alliance
and a religious alliance. When you become a member of the religious allianc=
e
you will be offered more quests and might get extra bonuses (on buying
equipment/skill etc.) from the temple, just like for the official alliances
today, where players joining them get huge benefits over those not joining
these allainces. Parties might go up in status in the alliance depending
upon how much they serve the alliance (doing quests etc.) and how long they
have been a member. These different statuses could be shown on your printou=
t
and told to other players when they meet your party. Like =ABBerserks of
Nidaros (1020), acolytes of Sundonak=BB. Through these alliances you might
also be offered high-level quests, like finding artifacts, killing monsters
found in the =ABGods world=BB etc.

8) Instead of introducing this often discussed =ABopen portal=BB etc. that =
would
allow the party to move to an other game, you should introduce a =ABWorld
where the Gods live=BB, where parties might meet named immortal monsters/np=
c's
and demons/angels etc. Parties might travel to this world through a neutral
miracle requiring 50 points. This world would be different from the normal
Kharne, with different and more powerful monsters, that fight each other in
the gods war between evil and good. Parties might join this battle, and
might get quests/rewards from either these npc-immortals which they meet or
through the religious alliances that they belong to. But in this world it
shouldn't be so simple about whom you attack. On Kharne you can attack
everything, but here your attacks should make you either a friend or an
enemy to the other side, and ravaging around and fighting everything would
be not too smart if you want to survive. It should also be possible to figh=
t
the immortals (off course not easy), but without killing them entirely.
Defeating an immortal could be the ultimate quest offered.
This neutral miracle might also take you to some large dungeons not found o=
n
the surface of Kharne, which might be the target for some highlevel-quests,
exploring them and tracing a object like a monster or an item. I see two
possibilities when it comes to these quests. Either that the computer creat=
e
a random small dungeon for the party when offering a quest, or that you
create some huge dungeons where players might continue exploring and
monsterkilling until their quest is finished , or .... as long as they want=
 to!=20

9) Quests should include hunting murderers etc. in the catacombs, defeating
other parties that have attacked a party in your religios alliance, finding
lost artifacts (combining locating the dungeon and exploring/fighting), kil=
l
powerful leader-npcs, rescue someone, clear a named lair for monsters, etc.
(Dungeons might also be inside pyramids in the desert etc.) And the
settlements officials/elders should also offer rewards for capturing/killin=
g
criminals.

10) Several orders should be reprogrammed, as the I order. Using several
orders each turn in dungeons on inspecting bags of gold is no fun. You
should do something with this, as I don't want to use the 15 orders on doin=
g
things that might have been done in a single order, if it would be necesarr=
y
to do an order at all. Why have you put these bags of gold into the game? D=
o
you think it's very exciting to find out how high amount of gold there is i=
n
the bag on the following turn? Well, I don't find all these I orders
exciting at all. Insted you should make orders like I 474 99, I 474 0, I 47=
4
12, meaning that all members would inspect their bag of gold if they have
one, that all bags in the party is inspected or that character number 12s
bag is inspected. Or you might simply tell on the printout that a bag of
gold was found and then tell the player the amount of gold that was in it.

11) Wilderness travelling is too slow. More movementpoints. And the
transportation-system is pure fantasy compared to the movementpoints that a
party has available. If you  introduce horses, I hope you find a solution
about what happens when the party goes down a dungeon. I've read sometimes
that the horses will be lost when the party goes underground. This is so fa=
r
out that it can't be true. You should avoid this =ABproblem=BB too, as it
shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

This should be most of what I think should be put into the game. I hope for
comments, and I hope you will tell KJC about it if you enjoyed any of the
sugestions.
Erling.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

JPG> Some very interesting ideas there, Erling... I might be mistaken,=20
but I thought that the 50 point miracles were being worked on already... =
=20
Also, the world where the immortals live, or whatever the name for such a=
=20
place would be, should not be reached that easily!  Any priest with over=20
50 skill who hasn't cast anything for a while could send the party=20
there.  In my opinion the idea of using mages and priests in unison to=20
cast such a spell is a better idea.  Anyway, I'd be interested to hear=20
what people's opinions are.
JPG> We all know that Quest has undergone some much needed improvements=20
over the last few months, and this is a good thing.  However, there will=20
always be other things we want to see added to the game, and no=20
programmer is going to be fast enough to keep up with our ideas!
JPG> Many may remember the vote that was made earlier this year on the=20
improvements we wanted to see made.  There were criticisms that it was=20
too complex an operation with too many points on it, etc.  Perhaps a=20
better thing to do would be to come up with a top 5 improvements, say=20
every 2 months, and get people to write in to KJC (snail mail) with this=20
top 5.  That way they would receive demands for the same proposals from=20
many different people and would be more likely to implement them.
JPG> Digest readers could print out an email, newsletter readers could=20
send off a slip from the bottom of their newsletter...

JPG> Anyway, I guess you've read enough for now.  Have a good Christmas=20
and remember that there is no such thing as over indulgence. :)

>>-Josh->
          "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for..." - U2