Huzzah!

Okay, so we're actually really slow in announcing this, but we have official word from the MMO track that QuestGivers is an official part of the track. Our party will be on the schedule and we'll have official swag and lots of other shiny stuff.

So...

Who's in?

If you want to participate, please send an email to dc.questgivers@gmail.com with the following information:

Name (can be your badge name)
Game(s)
Costume(s)
Bringing Quest/Want One Of Ours

One thing to keep in mind, we will approve all quests just to make sure that they don't break any rules of the con/hotels, so if you want to bring your own, be sure to get them approved.

In the coming days/weeks, we'll be posting "Here's what you need to know" entries, listing costume ideas, quest ideas, etc.

We're also looking for more artists and vendors who would in some way like to get involved - if we can have people come to you as part of quests, if you want to donate swag, etc.

It's about that time of year...yes, time to start planning for this year's D*C!

Some of you may have already started costumes and programming plans, some of you may not even be considering preparations yet, but either way we'd like to kickstart Questgivers! This post is going to be all about quests, and I'd like to update it with everyone's ideas and suggestions. Here we go!


( Format of Quests )


( Quest Rewards )


( Quest Content )

I think that's it for now...suggestions, comments, questions etc. can be dropped in the comments or emailed to us. I'll update this post as necessary.

We aren't ready to start writing the quests themselves yet, but we wanted your ideas on workable "types" of quests.

Here's what we've come up with so far:

• Photo scavenger hunts: Does what it says on the tin. The Questor will be asked to photograph certain people, places, or items. For instance, "Photograph a Klingon doing the hula."
  
  
• Regular scavenger hunts: A little harder to make workable. We discussed collecting business cards of certain dealers, but we'd want to check with them first--wouldn't want to waste all their promo materials!
  
  Another thought is to have Questors collect author autographs (which are generally free).
  
  Any ideas on other things that would be collectible without making nuisances of our Questors?
  
  
• Question quests: Questor will need to investigate and answer a series of questions. This is probably best for newbie quests.
  
  
• "Code word" quests: Questor will need to seek out a certain person and get a "code word" from them. This does not actually have to be a code word, but the general idea is we send the Questor to ask a question, and return with the response. This requires some setup, as we need to either place a Questgiver with the answer, or get someone else who'll be mostly staying put (artists, dealers, information volunteers) to play along and give a proscribed answer.
  

Any other ideas, for quest types, or ways to make the aforementioned doable? Please keep in mind that first and foremost we do not want to harass con staff, hotel staff, or innocent passerby, nor do we want to encourage any kind of vandalism to hotel or con property. (Should be obvious, but want to make sure it's said!)

For anyone who's considering joining us as a Questgiver, we'd appreciate if you'd fill this out in comments. Thanks! Your answers don't have to be 100% definite, we're just trying to gauge interest and see what kind of mix we'll have. You can always change your mind and do a different game or character later.

1. Would you be interested in participating if it was free?

2. Would you still be interested in participating if there was a required $1 donation (for your Questgiver pin)?

3. What game would you represent? What race, creature, or person from the game?
3a. If that game does not use the yellow exclamation point, how does it denote a person has a quest for the player?

4. Would you prefer to write your own quests (with some limits, for consistency), or be given a pre-written quest to give out?

Okay, so what is this whole thing about?

At Dragon*Con 2006 and 2007, I saw several costumes that involved the yellow exclamation point over the head. You know, the one that says to my WoW-soaked brain, Quest! I commented to a friend that I wanted to ask them what their quests were, and how much XP I'd get for completing them, which started the idea rolling.

What if we gathered a large group of people to hand out quests, and then rewarded people for completing them? As the director of the MMO track suggested, it could be open to all MMOs, not just WoW!

Questgivers would wear their MMO costume (with exclamation point!) at some point during the weekend--Friday, Saturday, or Sunday--and give out their quests. On Sunday afternoon (so as not to compete with Sunday night programming), we'll have a party where Questgivers can meet and greet, and people can turn in their completed quests for rewards.

We've got tons of ideas about how to do this, which we'll be working on and pinning down as the year goes on. Some of our thoughts:

• Newbie quests that help new or forgetful D*C attendees learn their way around and figure out how to use their programming schedules
  
• General quests such as photo scavenger hunts, collection scavenger hunts, questions to be answered, etc.
  
• XP stickers that list the quest completed and how much XP or faction rep was gained.
  
• Questgiver pins that identify us, so that there's no mix-up with people who just had the same costume idea and don't have quests to offer! (If we go this way, it may require a $1 donation to participate, which would pay for your pin. Still need to check with the powers that be at D*C and see if this is allowable.)
  
• Quest reward pins for when D*C folks have completed a certain number of quests--so they have something permanent to show off!

We're trying to make this part of the MMO track for next year, and the director of the MMO track sounds very interested. Once planning begins for D*C 2008, we'll have a better idea of what kind of quest rewards we'll have to offer (ideally, some official swag!), as well as a better idea of timing and location.

Feel free to join the community for updates--right now only the maintainers, myself and peppervl, can post, but we may open it up once we've figured out some of the details.