Search This Blog

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Version 1.1.0.0 Released

At long last, an update to the core RealmSpeak game is here.  As I've been promising for the last year, and really in the last several months, a version of RealmSpeak with Steve Schacher's "Questing the Realm" variant implemented.  Questing the Realm is itself a variant of the original Book of Quests published by Jay Richardson et. al.

What is Questing the Realm?  Let me quote from the Users Guide:
Elements of the Book of Quests have been isolated into a set of Quest Cards that can be played during a game of Magic Realm to dynamically generate goals for players in a way that replaces the standard victory conditions.
Quest Cards depict daily life, travels, dealing with natives, fighting monsters, completing missions, and earning fame and fortune. Quest cards will combine to allow the player to tell a unique story for each play of Magic Realm.
Essentially, you play the game not with a single quest, but smaller quest pieces (though some can be quite complex) that earn victory points.  Rather than scoring by collecting GTs, Gold, Notoriety, etc, you score by completing quests.  As it turns out, this is really quite a fun twist to the base game.

With this update, you'll get 100 quest types in a deck of over 300 cards to draw from.  Each player get's a number of cards equal to their level plus one (so a typical non-development character gets 5), and uses these to guide them through the realm, and earn points.  The users guide contains information about how this variant is setup, and played in RealmSpeak, so I suggest you read that first.  For your first game, I suggest choosing the Questing the Realm variant on the options page, along with Sudden Death set to 15 VPs.

Of course, this version of RealmSpeak also supports the Book of Quests variant.  There are two BoQ quests provided that will let you try that variant, if you like.  If you want more quests, you may want to invest some time looking at the new quest builder.  You were introduced to this new tool in version 1.0.24.0, but it's undergone a lot of changes.  Lots of bugs were fixed, lots of features were added, and most importantly, all the requirements and rewards are working.  Oh, and there's a full featured quest tester in there too.

Before you dive into making any quests, I recommend first playing the game.  Then when you have become familiar with a few of the quests, open them up in the quest builder, and see how they were implemented.  I'm going to avoid going into a lengthy discussion on the tool itself, until I know people are interested.  If there is enough feedback, I may even put together some (gasp) documentation for it.

One more thing - this release would NOT have been possible if it weren't for all the hard work Steve Schacher put into developing, testing, and chasing bugs for me.  He put up with all kinds of random issues along the way, and helped me get the code into shape for this release.  Of course, there's the 100 quests he designed, which I can tell you was no easy feat.  Thanks Steve!!!!

Ok, that's a lot to digest.  Here's what's new:

QUEST UPDATE:
  • Preempt quest step works
  • New quest step logic to allow ANY required step as opposed to EVERY required step
  • Adjustments to quest view to make it fit the screen better
  • "Questing the Realm" (Quest Cards) logic is implemented
    • A deck of quest cards is shuffled at the start of the game
    • Each character draws a number of cards equal to their starting level plus one
    • Quests must be activated
    • ALL PLAY Quest cards allow the first player to achieve the requirements to earn VPs.
    • Discard and redraw unstarted quests at any dwelling or Lost City/Castle chit
  • Changed the in-game quest panel to be a bit easier to look at (no more quest diagram - that will only be for the editor)
  • Finished SearchResult requirement
  • Finished MissionCampaign requirement for testing when a mission/campaign is picked up, abandoned, or dropped off
  • Added quest debugging option
  • Lots of new rewards and requirements
NEW FEATURES:
  • "Show Card" button on character frame shows the whole spy window now
  • Full Featured "Quest Tester" so you can try out your quests without having to play the game.
  • New "OnFail" quest step behavior, so you can implement actions when requirements are NOT met.
  • Better Quest Deck viewer
  • Fixed a problem with companion editor in character builder
BUGS/ISSUES:
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the generated map to be the same every time when quests were active
  • Fixed the behavior of quest points
  • Fixed a bug that wasn't removing the effect of a mission/campaign when the chit was abandoned.
  • Fixed many issues around how Minor Characters worked
  • [1793] - Endless Option should be endless now.
  • [1781] - Fixed some issues with sound errors.

42 comments:

Trev said...

Awesome. Quick question? Where do we report bugs (found a very minor one with Elemental Spirit I think).

Also a big thanks for writing this code - I own MR but never got past 3rd or 4th encounter until now.

T

DewKid said...

There's a link on the blog page on the right hand column under "Report Bugs". Or, you can just go here. :-)

Trev said...

Lol. Yeah figured it out after a minute after I posted and couldn't change the comment ;-) With the quest addon is there anyway to mix up VPs that is select Quest VPs along with regulat (Fame, etc) VPs? Or is it either-or: Quest or Regulat not both?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

There are "You Are..." quests that reward the original victory points, but you have to draw them first and then play them. So, if you accumulated 20 Notoriety and wanted 1 victory point for it, you would have to go to a dwelling and hang out for awhile swapping tales, and discard and draw new quest cards each Birdsong until you get a "You Are Notorious" card.

Steve S

Anonymous said...

This is really a great job! Much appreciated!

trev said...

Steve,

I'll play the pure quest variant for a while - so you and DewKid can take the following with a grain of salt as it's only been few games... but my feeling playing so far is that I want an option for Quest VP to be integrated with other VP - that is I want to be able to choose 5 QVP, 3 Fam, 3 NotVP for a 2 month game instead of either 11QVP or 11 StandardVP. It may not be possible because you'd have to find a way to minus out any Fame or Notoriety arising from the Quest to avoid duplicate rewards(maybe no F/N from killing quest related monsters or from quest related objects?). I really like some of the quests and the ability to do the quests (so again be thanks to y'all), but I also want to be able to mix up and if I - for example - happen upon a treasure site while questing I want to be able to explore the site fully without feeling I've got to get onto my next quest.

Anonymous said...

Awesome, Robin and Steve! I'm on my Android now, but can't wait to download and give it a go.

You rock!!!
Mike

Anonymous said...

Trev,

Thanks for trying out the questing variant, and for the feedback. It is much appreciated.

We didn't consider combining the two because we were responding to the feeling that the original victory point scheme didn't allow the game to flourish. It turned the game into a dungeon hack to beat the clock, which diminished the RPG experience. To win, you either had to rush to find treasure locations and then loot them, or you waited for others to do that and then killed them for their points.

We wanted to put some meaning to the mayhem. We wanted to turn the Realm into a more dynamic place to play. There are several topics at BoardGameGeek.com where this was discussed over the past few years, and we designed the questing game to address those desires.

We hoped that we satisfied the RPG needs with the questing game, because there are many ways to earn points in ways that tell good stories. And, the random nature of the card draws would make each game different. You would have to change your play style away from the dungeon hack and towards living in the valleys, because the pressure of the clock is removed. You can stay at a dwelling until you get the card you want, or an enemy native chases you away. You get the idea.

I can't speak for Robin, but I doubt that he'd easily be able to combine the two scoring schemes after we spent all this time separating them.

Try it some more. Read the guide at the link. Find some companions. Try starting with a level 1 character.

Steve

DewKid said...

Yeah, Steve and I went back and forth about this a lot, and I'm actually quite happy where it is. Questing the Realm is about getting away from the standard VP system, and putting it all into quests. As Steve mentioned, you still get a chance at the other VPs through the "You Are..." quests, so its not like they are gone. Besides, I'm not sure 1 VP in the old scoring is necessarily equivalent to 1 VP in the Quest Cards, so it may be hard to balance the two.

Trev said...

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time out to comment. I think I understand the purpose a better and it makes more sense as-is. I will try the development/quest variant - I suspect that'll be interesting. About the only remaining issue and I think I might put this in as a feature request ;-) Is to allow the sharing of quests (at least I didn't see any options in-game for this but then again I was only trading with native leaders) - so you and a buddy can collectively go on the same quest without one or the other having to cycle through cards.

Best,

Trev

trev said...

And just to be clear - I mean the ability to share the big 5 point quests - not every quest. Obviously that doesn't make a lot of sense. Played around with it for the last few hours and definately meatier as part of the development game.

Cheers

T

Anonymous said...

Trev,

What you want is closer to the original Book of Quests game. That version is intended for each player to choose one quest, and the first player to complete their quest wins. Still, I don't think that version was intended for common play, even if each character chooses the same quest.

I haven't written up any standalone BoQ quests yet, so there are just a few that Robin wrote so far. Maybe I'll get around to scripting some one day.

Steve

DewKid said...

I don't have the Book of Quests in front of me, but I think there were a couple of cooperative quests in there. That's part of what makes the Book of Quests so hard to implement, and the reason you'll never see a complete Book of Quests in RealmSpeak.

DewKid said...

Found a bug with the "Eerie Light" quest card. It appears to never end once it is activated. This bug may affect ALL of the timed quest cards, though I'm not sure about that. I know we tested this quest before and it was fine, so I'm not sure why it isn't working just now.

Trev said...

Okay, so no quest sharing ;-) I'll try to test some timed quests and bug them if they have the same problem (haven't had any so far).

The only other thing that would be nice to add for the Quest game is static quests available from Native Leaders. Maybe it is because I played WoW/EQ too much but it seems like that in addition to the random card quests and available to all quests there should be static quests available from the leaders (maybe purchasable for 0 gold via the trade interface?)

Anyway no big deal - certainly very, very enjoyable as-is maybe some future 2.0 release ;-)

Thanks again for a great game and hope y'all have a great weekend!

Cheers

Trev said...

Nevermind - I realize you do have static quests with the all-play cards. I hadn't read through them all ;-) Mea Culpa

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Trey,

You have a good idea with All-Play quests tied to natives. I have some that are tied to treasures, as well as the Mapmaker quests from the BoQ.

There is the All-Play Haunted Hero quest that is tied to the Ghosts, and some non-point event cards tied to natives or dwellings, that give you companions as rewards.

Maybe someone will create a story tied to a native group that can be converted into a quest?

Regarding timed quests, there aren't any point-quests that have time limits. Only some of the event cards are timed, such as Easy Roads giving you extra movement for a day, or Eerie Lights giving you extra cave phases for two days. The quests tied to missions/campaigns are not timed via the quest, but are timed via the mission or campaign rules, so they wouldn't be impacted by the bug.

Steve

Trev said...

Hi Steve,
I thinking specifically of the ones tied to visitors as being already in game but there's actually a bunch. I looked at little bit at the QuestBuilder app and didn't see an easy way to design a quest that starts with a Native Leader (maybe via the Trade function?).

Also I have a quick and probably dumb question - for the All-Play mission quests (e.g. Food/Ale) am I correct that you just have to do the quests and you'll get the VP? I didn't see an activate option on the Food/Ale All-Play.

Best,

Trev

Anonymous said...

Trev,

Yes, the mission/campaign quests will automatically activate when you complete the quest.

You can test when you're in a clearing with a native if you want to trigger a quest. You have to create a location that defines the native. Here's how:

1. Go to the Locations tab and press the +Add button.
2. Give the location a name, like SoldierHQ.
3. In the Location(s) box, enter Soldier HQ. It will autocomplete for Soldier 1, but replace the 1 with HQ, and press OK.
4. To test for it, go to Step Requirements and press +Add.
5. Choose the button for OccupyLocation and select SoldierHQ.

That's it. Now, whenever your character is in a clearing with the Soldier HQ, this step will trigger, and execute the step rewards. of course, you can add more step requirements that have to be true, or you can create several where any one can be true (usually, this is when joining several prior paths).

Hope this helps,

Steve

trev said...

Awesome thanks! T

Trev said...

A couple more questions on QuestBuilder.

1. Can you use the RS ID to identify specific items - e.g. is the Pony bracket 123 close bracket which I believe is the L2 Pony identifiable in QB with the following sentencee in the loot field: Pony backslash bracket 123 backslash bracket. I'm pretty sure you have to escape the brackets.

2. What does the Reward Group A,B,C Mean?

2. Is there a place to submit quests once I finish a couple?

I'd like to do a few native quests and a few Pruitt monster quests.

Trev
T


Anonymous said...

Trev,

Read down a few blog posts to see Robin's description of reward groups.

Steve

Anonymous said...

Regarding Ponies, I think you're hitting on one area where the quest builder is weak, that is, horses. This is likely because I didn't do anything with them other then use them in rewards.

Horses are the only items that have different kinds, and we're not distinguishing the kinds of horses like we do natives and monsters. It's probably because they're treated as counters like weapons, and all weapons of the same type have the same attributes.

If you offer a horse as a reward, a chooser will open up to select which kind you want. You can separate ponies from horses from warhorses, but not the specific attributed horses, hence your request to be ID-specific.

Steve

DewKid said...

Yeah, I could probably fairly easily make horse rewards be more specific. I'll add an issue into Mantis so I can remember that for next time around.

matt w said...

This looks so awesome, Robin. Thanks for all the work you've put in on RealmSpeak.

matt w said...

Erm, I seem to have downloaded version 1.0.24 of MacRealmSpeak -- have I done something wrong, or is the Mac package not fully up to date?

Anonymous said...

Matt,

Do you see the large buttons for Questing the Realm and Sudden Death games?

When started, do you see a shield icon? Does it open up a tab with quest cards? Is there an All Play button that opens a window with lots of cards with green plus signs on them?

I don't have a Mac, but I wonder if just the version number wasn't changed.

Steve

matt w said...

Steve -- I completely deleted my old RealmSpeak folder and redownloaded the new one, including the Resource Pack, and it looks to be working now. So I guess I somehow kept one of the old files lying around the wrong place.

Sorry for bothering you!

DewKid said...

The Mac version is identical to the PC version. I'm glad you figured out what was wrong!

Anonymous said...

I've been having some weird bugs with the Studies of the Shaman quest. Sometimes running away from battle causes the Shaman to get left behind. Sometimes it doesn't, and I can't tell what the difference is. I'm not using a any special chits like horses or what have you, just normal move chits.

Worse, when I return to reclaim the Shaman and restart the quest, he gives me the 20 gold starting fee again. I racked up 60 gold in one week doing this, and unintentionally too.

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I can see how that could happen.

Perhaps I will make it that once the quest is taken and abandoned, it's gone forever?

Steve

trev said...

Two Quick Things.

-AFAICT, there's no way to make one of the treasures within treasures a quest reward - is that correct?

-Having some issues with testing - which I am sure is due to the fact I don't understand the questbuilder/questtester enough - is there somewhere other than this blog (a forum somewhere) that I can post questions since I don't want to choad up the comments with what might be dumb questions.

Thanks

Trev

DewKid said...

I would use the RealmSpeak mailing list. You can find details of it here if you aren't already registered.

Anonymous said...

Trev,

If you want, you can PM me at BGG. I sent you a message. Or, as Robin suggests, you can use the mailing list and everyone can learn.

Your choice.

Steve

Anonymous said...

yay! thank you so much. this sounds so cool, can't wait to try it out.
dance!

Antifringe said...

I've been horsing around with the xlm and was delighted to discover that Realm Speak is very moddable. I've been having fun doing crazy things, like making new development rules that let you accrue chits and advantages beyond 4th level, or combining Pruitt's monsters with the expansion. I appreciate you having the foresight to make so much of the program data driven.

My latest obsession has been to play the expansion with multiple boards, something normally not allowed. Looking at the xml makes me think that this might be possible, but my first few attempts have ended in failure. So, my question to you is "Can I rig Realmspeak to run a multiple board expansion game by modding the xml alone?" I'm not asking for directions or anything, I just want to know if I'm on a wild goose chase.

DewKid said...

The RealmSpeak code wont allow multiple board option with the expansion active. I suppose you could fool RealmSpeak by tagging all the expansion objects with the "original_game" tag - but no, I don't think that would work either because the setup is unique for the expansion. The reason I made multiple boards impossible with the expansion, was that there were some major issues in the code that would prevent it. At least I THINK that's why I did that. ;-)

DewKid said...

BTW: I'm a bit surprised you've been able to do what you said. I mean, I believe you, I'm just surprised RealmSpeak allowed that! :-)

DewKid said...

Ok, just for fun, I turned on the multi-board to work with the expansion. It seems to work, so I don't remember what issues there were, or if I was just paranoid. I'll release the next version with this option enabled, and you can try it out and see if there are any major issues. :-)

Antifringe said...

Oh yes, Realm Speak has let me do all kinds of ill-advised things. I figured out how to rig the setup so that all three monster generators spawn in one game. With the tomb, pond, and hive all churning out wandering monsters and with Pruitt's monsters artlessly crammed into the setup with all the rest, I have a totally InSaNe game running right now. I only wish I had more tiles so I had somewhere to run to.

I have a few brute force ideas about how to make a multiple expansion game work. In the meantime, consider this my official feature request for multi-boarded expansion games :p

Antifringe said...

whoa, ninja'ed. That's awesome news! You will not believe that kind of chaos that I can create with that setup. Now to play year-long development game where I start at level 1. By the time the year is up, I might, maybe have the resources needed to stem the chaos that my early explorations stirred up.

Antifringe said...

Just so you know, I figured out how to make it work via html alone. I added the original_game="" tag to all of the assets, and then swapped the labels on the rw_expansion_1_setup and the standard_game GameSetups. Thsi tricked Realm Speak into run an expanded game under the standard game menu and gave me access to the multiple boards controls. In spite of the total hackishness of the trick, it works fine. At this point, I am pretty sure that the end user can do some incredible retrofitting from the data file alone.