I''m not sure if this should go into Game Design or Game Writing, but I think it has a bit more to do with writing... (it''s not about the game "Rent a Hero", I haven''t even played that) In most RPG''s it is typical that the hero (the player and possibly his party) is a solution to every NPC''s tiny little problems. You are a hero about to save the world, but you will gladly run errands for even the least important person in the world. Let''s make up a scenario and examine how it would work in most (not all I guess) current RPG''s: Say your party is marching through a big area to slay the nasty dragon that harasses the neighbourhood. Village A and B will be on your way there. You arrive at village A and "John the Blacksmith" will tell you: "Hi! So you''re the famous X, huh? BTW. Can you get me a new hammer from Village B?". His neighbour, the woodcutter will tell you that he can give you a mighty sword to slay the dragon, but first you''ll have to get rid of the rat infestation in his basement. When you''ve run all such errands in Village A, you proceed to Village B and repeat. This is stupid! The hero is on a journey to save all those people from danger, but they have the nerve to ask him to fix all their meaningless problems (meaningless compared to the hero''s quest). This never happens in fantasy books (to my knowledge). For example "The Hobbit". On their journey, the characters often get into trouble. And getting out of those troubles could easily be transfered to quests in an RPG. But do they ever run errands for the people they meet on the way? NO! I don''t mean to say that this kind of errand-boy quests should be totally ignored. But in a situation where the people giving those quests KNOW that the hero is the one who is going to save them, AND that the hero is in a hurry to do it / has a specific goal in mind, it''s just stupid. But this is how most RPG games are done currently and have always been done. I am certain there are alternatives out there. I just don''t know why nobody uses them. I will try to stay clear of designing this kind of quests myself.

Now that you mention it, that probably was the thing that kept me from playing "Baldur''s Gate" longer than two hours.

Ok, I have to admit that I''m a fan of Japanese RPGs, but in these such things are almost everytime completely optional.
Exactly this really gets on my nerves in Final Fantasy X.
I''m a player that likes to play through the game quite fast in the first run, and if it''s fun enough, I''ll play another time to max out the stats and collect all the items.
But in FFX I''m suddenly *forced* to various sidequests, there''s no other way to beat a certain boss.

I think it''s a lot of fun to actually do these errands, _if I don''t have to_. I might miss the opportunity to get a Hackmaster+12 or something like that, ok.

But how are the ''times of peace'' - often the calm before the storm - managed in most of these games?
People don''t come to me and need anything done for them, most of the time they come and tell me that something awful/terrible has happened.
And solving that problem isn''t just for their sake but also for mine, perhaps I need a boat but there''s a big monster in the sea (ok, stupid example) and no seaman wants to go outside.

To make a long story short: I can''t recall any meaningless errands in my quite beloved Japanese RPGs. If there were any, they were optional in most cases.

(I forgot to say that I haven't played many Japanese RPG's so I only speak about western ones)

quote: Original post by TechnoGoth
Isn't it the job of a hero to help the helpless?

Yes, it is.

quote: Original post by TechnoGoth
So you might as well help other along the way since most hero just wander around all day anyway going from town to town.

You're right, this happens IN GAMES. But take any fantasy book or movie. The heroes have some kind of goal ahead and are usually in a hurry to get there. Do they get distracted by other people's problems, unless those problems are somehow related to their own? NO.

Perhaps I am not very good at wording my thoughts (because English is not my natural language), but I'll try again:

The errand boy quests are ok if the hero is "on vacation" i.e. not pressed to go on with his quest. That means there's no time-limit in the game or in the story. The story would say that you have all the time you need to go to Mordor and throw the "One Ring" into Orodruin. But if the story says that with every minute wasted Sauron becomes more powerful and is gathering vast armies to attack the good guys, you can't possibly think of doing Galadriel's laundry while you're staying in Lo(thlo?)rien.
Instead, everyone who knows about your quest, understands it's importance and agrees with it, is helping you instead, not asking for help.

[edited by - Erkki on August 20, 2003 9:16:06 AM]

I say if your writing a fantasy RPG... goto a local gameshop and buy(if u have money) Dungeons and Dragons rule books(i perfer version 3.0) and after u learn the rules.. get some modules.. some of them are quite nice.. some of them suck.. if you have money you should also get other D&D books... this is a really good game.. and you can take/remake parts of the rules and put them into your game.. and a really good part of a FUN game is adding actual science or facts.. or something believable so its not all fantasy.. and if you make an RPG then make a world builder(like what neverwinter nights has) and take from your favorite books... build a world then history.. then a believable background of the main character... set a time(century) and research that period of time and have NPCs act like they are from that period in time.. make the player feel like this is real.. at finishing time have hours upon hours of in depth research on every part of your game... from the names.. to the weather.. to the languages.. to all aspects of your game.. i''d say try to ur fullest extent(and still keeping the game fun) to keep characters away from town... now if they want to goto town let them.. unless it was destroyed.. or something is stopping the PC.. but have as much of the surroundings feel real.. and as if it is as random as nature.. every "major" NPC has its own set program.. try not to have a billion of these guys.. a billion of those guys.. a billion of them.. and so on.. make the NPCs random and not the same people over and over again..
sry if there are mispelt words... english isnt my native language(computers is)