rolled 8, 8 = 16

---

1. Diplomacy roll (autofail)
2. Enemy attack roll

rolled 2, 9, 8 = 19

---

1. Moulder's attack.
2+3. Enemy's attack.

rolled 8 = 8

---

1. Enemy perception roll.

rolled 7 = 7

---

Moulder's perception roll.

rolled 1, 5 = 6

---

1. Moulder's perception roll.
2. Enemy perception roll.

rolled 6, 5 = 11

---

1. Moulder's agility roll.
2. Moulder's attack roll.

rolled 10 - 5 = 5

---

1. Alien's adjusted strength roll.

rolled 9 - 4 = 5

---

2. Moulder's adjusted strength roll.

So, I've figured out by now that high rolls = bad.

That said, the melee combat about to occur is going to be pretty amusing, isn't it?

rolled 6, 6 = 12

---

1+2. Enemy perception roll.

rolled 1 - 5 = -4

---

1. Enemy adjusted strength roll.
2. Moulder's adjusted strength roll.

rolled 9 - 4 = 5

---

2. Moulder's adjusted strength roll.

rolled 2 = 2

---

1. Moulder's agility roll.

rolled 5, 4, 8, 3 = 20

---

1-2. Enemy attack rolls.

Moulder, weak, can't backstab people... but at least she dodges well and can shoot.

rolled [2] [10] [7] [10] [1]

---

1-4. Enemy attack rolls.
5. Moulder's attack roll.

*blink* Go Moulder!

rolled [3] [5]

---

Well, anyway, that was a wholly preventable death and a fun experimental quest. I snuck back in to wrap it up once I realized I had forgotten to. The only suggestion was "die," anyway.

Lessons learned:
1. /quest/ is bad at inventories. Really bad.
2. /quest/ will always broach diplomacy first even when it's an obviously bad idea. Better safe than sorry, right?
3. Simplistic art is fun.

/quest/ is slow. you want more suggestions, you gotta wait a bit.

>>73178
Did you even see the date on the last suggestion?

>>73181

no. holy shit that's horrible.

If we want to do a post mortem... I felt kind of frustrated when this quest was running. Wasn't sure what to do, it seemed like we had very few options, and what decisions we made only made the situation worse.

Didn't help that the character had zero agency of her own. When we were busy being idiots, she didn't complain "no that's stupid" she just went and did it.

>>73190
I seem to have lost the map I whipped up when I was running the quest, or I'd post that. Basically, you guys got to the third room out of... fifteen or twenty.

The rooms had extra supplies scattered around them for the keen eye. You were supposed to equip the silencer to be more stealthy, and use the combatatives if your health got low enough that you were in danger of dying; then, on a severe time limit, you would have to rush through the remaining levels. Once Moulder lost health, it was gone.

The last room was a platform with the gate on it and some sort of end boss. If I recall correctly, there was some sort of crystal there that powered the gate, and a grenade lying on the platform. The solution wasn't hard, but there was either a couple of strong enemies on the platform or a final boss monster.

Here's the stats file I kept:
Moulder's Stats:
HP:2/5
Strength [4]
Perception [6]
Endurance [6]
Charisma [3]
Intelligence [5]
Agility [5]
Luck [4]

Inv:
SI Pistolx1
Silencerx1 (muffles direction of shot)
Explosive Bulletx5 DAM: 2
Combatativesx2 (+4HP for 3 updates)
Knifex1 DAM: 1

Pistol: Shoot [5]
Knife: Stab [6]

Stabber Alien Stats:
HP:2
Strength [5]
Perception [3]
Endurance [4]
Charisma [0]
Intelligence [4]
Agility [1]
Luck [5]

Inv:
Needlesx4 DAM: 1
Scythesx2 DAM: 4

Scythes: Stab [4]
Needles: Shoot [6]x2

Charger Alien Stats:
HP: 8
Strength [8]
Perception [2]
Endurance [7]
Charisma [0]
Intelligence [2]
Agility [3]
Luck [4]

Inv:
Fistsx2 DAM: 2
Vomit DAM: 1-1-1

Fists: Bash [5]
Vomit: Spew [3]

Scorpion Alien Stats:
HP: 1
Strength [3]
Perception [6]
Endurance [3]
Charisma [0]
Intelligence [5]
Agility [6]
Luck [4]

Inv:
Stinger (poisons, no immediate effect)
Claw DAM: 3

Stinger: Sting [4]
Claw: Slash [6]
-----------------------
The stats were for miscellaneous rolls that didn't involve an item.

The "stabber" alien was most common. It preferred to engage Moulder from a distance and fire spines at her, because its unwieldy claws made it difficult to hit her. It could fire two spines at once and had eight of them; once it had fired those, it would have to engage in close combat.

The "charger" alien was big and brutish. It was death in close quarters, so Moulder would have to either sneak around it or engage it at a distance or risk getting clobbered. There were only a few of these on the map.

The "scorpion" alien was like a headcrab or facehugger. It would skitter around at high speeds and try and close in on Moulder to sting or claw at her. The poison would make Moulder feel woozy, but wouldn't have any mechanical effect as the quest probably would be over too quickly for it to take effect. If she really took too long, she would weaken and die. The scorpion had very little health so it would be advisable to just stab them and not waste the bullet.

Moulder was part of a platoon that had been dispatched as the last defense against the alien threat that was invading Earth. She was wearing a custom-made armored spacesuit, with a radio antenna, speakers in the shape of a grin, and red lighted eyes. This was intended to make her feel as alien as her enemies, but she was a human. All of her comrades were slaughtered in a large confrontation with the enemy, and she was the sole survivor; thus, her lone journey to the portal was the focus of the quest. She (and the rest of the platoon) used explosive bullets because normal bullets would not penetrate the aliens' armor.

The quest was intended to seem confusing because that is how it would be from Moulder's perspective. She was unaware of the background of the attack, she was just a grunt. It was also a bit of a roguelike, because all actions were based on dice rolls (although I was transparent about them). All of this was intended to encourage creative problem-solving and thinking about the situation and the items at your disposal. Unfortunately, it seemed to actually result in people just giving up because they didn't know what to do. It's possible this was because Moulder seemed underpowered and hopeless.

>Combatatives
Those were hp ups? Huh, not what I thought for some reason. If she wanted to survive that last round, she should have used one of those and kept shooting.

>roguelike
Well, everyone's first play through any roguelike generally ends with attacking something you can't handle, or the wrong way, and getting swiftly killed. We got that part down, at least.

>>73199
Yes, she was supposed to use those, but nobody told her to. They never even bothered asking what they actually were. I mean, she knew all of her equipment.

>>73199
Also, they were temporary HP ups; adrenaline more than anything. She would still die if she dropped below zero HP when they ran out.

I'm reading a lot of "supposed" there, both explicitly stated and implicit. Supposed to find the supplies you've hidden (and to assume we'll be able to pick up more field supplies instead of having to make do with only six bullets for the whole quest), supposed to specify we wanted to put the silencer on instead of assuming its implicit use, supposed to ask what a particular item does, supposed to not attempt to engage in diplomacy, etc. In short, you failed to account for people not doing what they were "supposed" to do.

To run a quest, you need a little more flexibility and it helps greatly to filter suggestions through the character's knowledge. Lack of information tends to cause floundering around on the part of the suggestors. Explaining why something wouldn't work can help clarify the situation and give them some guidance. This doesn't mean that you have to completely hold their hands, mind, but do look at other quests for how they handle this type of thing.

>>/quest/516189 is a good example for a similar tactically focused quest, though the protagonist in it had more resources and was a little more than a regular grunt. Still, things like multiple available routes and rooms with furnishings rather than featureless blocks gave more options to work with, ways to sneak up on or trick enemies, etc. As is, there weren't many tactical options in this quest.

I did like your use of the suit to make your protagonist look less human than she was.

Wait; if we were only in 3 rooms total, and we searched the 2nd room(found nothing), did we actually miss any ammo/items for what we saw?

Also, I asked(in quest) if there were any places where we might be able to get extra ammo. The "search for it" option would be keep an eye out, maybe my allies dropped some/something more imaginative(since I suck at it). I took the sarcastic answer to mean that the only reasonable place to find ammo was on dead allies.

>>73217
>I'm reading a lot of "supposed" there, both explicitly stated and implicit. Supposed to find the supplies you've hidden (and to assume we'll be able to pick up more field supplies instead of having to make do with only six bullets for the whole quest), supposed to specify we wanted to put the silencer on instead of assuming its implicit use, supposed to ask what a particular item does, supposed to not attempt to engage in diplomacy, etc. In short, you failed to account for people not doing what they were "supposed" to do.
Incorrect. I made no bets on what people would do, period. I made a scenario in order to see what the reactions would be. You misunderstand my use of the word "supposed;" I knew full well that Moulder probably wouldn't make it through and there would be content unexplored. I knew that people would probably miss the pickups, and included them only as a bonus.

The silencer was explicitly off. The pictures in the quest showed it was not being used, and it was described as "non-Standard Issue." Much like the syrettes, it was up to the readers to use it, or not. The only penalty for not using it was that anybody you shot at and nearby aliens would be able to tell you were there. There weren't many situations where it was relevant anyway.

You were not "supposed to" not attempt to engage in alien diplomacy. That is why I allowed you to do so. It was a foolhardy attempt, considering she had just come from a scene of carnage in which bodies of her own kind and the alien she spotted laid after a battle, but it was not intended against. Moulder was simply lucky she suffered no consequences for doing it.

You were also not "supposed to" rely on the possibility of finding more field supplies. In fact, quite the opposite; Moulder ruled the possibility out unless she came across a friendly alien gun store, which was unlikely. Of course, she didn't know that there were indeed field supplies lying around.

Frankly, this sounds like a bit of a rant. It may be the use of the word "failed" that makes you seem more aggressive than you mean, but I suggest you calm down. It was an experimental quest; I am not blaming people for getting it wrong or dying.

>To run a quest, you need a little more flexibility and it helps greatly to filter suggestions through the character's knowledge. Lack of information tends to cause floundering around on the part of the suggestors. Explaining why something wouldn't work can help clarify the situation and give them some guidance. This doesn't mean that you have to completely hold their hands, mind, but do look at other quests for how they handle this type of thing.
Also, please don't patronize me. It's not my first quest, and I'm aware how video games work. I'm not really asking for feedback, just making comments on how the quest turned out. I'm not faulting /quest/ for floundering, but the options were definitely right there, and I referenced the inventory when people deliberately suggested to use things that weren't even in it. The quest was the utmost of flexibility: Any command would be at least considered as long as it were not impossible.

>>>/quest/516189 is a good example for a similar tactically focused quest, though the protagonist in it had more resources and was a little more than a regular grunt. Still, things like multiple available routes and rooms with furnishings rather than featureless blocks gave more options to work with, ways to sneak up on or trick enemies, etc. As is, there weren't many tactical options in this quest.
I'm not planning on running it again, so no thank you. It was not a tactical quest; it was a gauntlet. It was entirely based on dice rolls, and thus accepted that even the most sensible idea could fail and the most out-there succeed. Again, I'm not seeking critique; I'm just explaining the thoughts behind how the quest was run as a post-mortem, as requested.

>I did like your use of the suit to make your protagonist look less human than she was.
Thank you. I was curious what people would think of her when they saw her, since it was never more than hinted at that she was even from Earth.

>>73218
Nope; the rest were scattered in the corners of the upcoming rooms. It really was not a challenge to find them; you just had to be paying attention and looking at the images.

>>73219
Just a case of unreliable narrator. You guys did fine on that aspect, don't worry about it. The only problem was using the supplies you did have.

>>73222
Alright, so if we were never in a situation where there were bonus supplies, (which we didn't need because we had many bullets when we died) or in one with a real negative effect from not know that we had to use the silencer, and the combatatives would not have made us last more than 6 panels/turns at most, then we only screwed up in tactics or rolls.(and as you said, it is not a tactical quest, so we were screwed by rolls which really really sucks) The thing that screwed us over the most was the throw to the lower level.

>>73224
Seems that way. As you can see from the stat sheets, the stabbers are marginally stronger than Moulder, and they had the edge on her in that fight. The two on the lower level actually hadn't noticed her, if she hadn't failed that strength contest so badly she might have come out on top there.

That was an attempt to give honest criticism based upon a misunderstanding of your aims in this quest--given your actual aims, you handled it pretty much just fine. You told me to calm down, but I was perfectly calm when I wrote it. However, it looks like I wrote it in such a way that I came off too strongly. My apologies about that.

>>73233
And my apologies if I seemed defensive. Just a misunderstanding.

the thing about good design is that the creator has to do all the work, not the consumer (well, suggesters in this case). if nobody even saw the silencer not being attached, that's something you can't blame everybody else for- instead, you have to accept that it was not visible enough and make it more obvious the next time. I understand why the hidden supplies were hidden, and it makes sense for them to be difficult to be seen, but yeah, the things that are meant to be obvious need to be portrayed as obvious.

>>73235
That's kind of untrue by definition. If all of the work were on the creator, it would be a comic strip, not a quest. All of the work is most definitely not on the creator when you are making something interactive. Particularly, in quests, it is the job of the suggester to solve problems and puzzles.

and what I'm saying is you gotta make it interactive enough for people to interact correctly with it. otherwise it's like a video game you lose because of awkward controls or misleading graphics. or like in Castlevania 2 when you have to kneel in front of a wall for 10 seconds while you have a specific item selected to progress further and nobody tells you anything about that except for a couple of scrolls you only get to read once. you can't blame the players for that shit, it's the developers' fuckup. fuck Konami. fuck them up the ass with an acid-squirting dildo wrapped in barbed wire.

...man I fucking hate that game. ahem. I was gonna mention that with a quest, you only get to play the game once and then it's gone forever so there's the additional frustration brought on by that too, before getting kinda sidetracked there.

there's also the fact that people will only bother really getting creative and clever with suggestions once they're really into it- a quest that just started, unless it's authored by Jukashi or something, will usually get only half-assed, uninterested suggestions. not to mention very few suggestions so your chances of getting a clever suggestion won't be very high anyways.

and yes, once again, it is entirely up to the creator to get people interested, be it through quality exposition, captivating artwork, interesting designs, simply good humor or any other means, which is something that'll require more than a handful of updates. it's fine to kill the main character off in an experimental quest like this, but in a bigger quest, punishing the protag because of the above issues will probably be received as ill-conceived and unwarranted.

so yeah, sorry, but you should have seen this coming.

>>73246
We didn't even get to any parts that had a cheap trick. (other than the unreliable narrator part which was not great in that it made us try to use the knife in the first place) The encounters did ramp up in difficulty too fast (especially for a dice based combat system) which led to a quick downfall. If the "hidden" items were like the bullet at the end, then they weren't really hidden, just there for us to pick up. So we never encountered any bullshit mechanics. (other than the difficulty and the nature of dice)

Your statement about not starting off with a large amount of difficulty until there are enough people to process the problems is right. (making sure it is not just one guy trying to figure out a hard puzzle) Your comparison was correct too,(only some missable information was given to imply it and not outright stated) but not appropriate in that we didn't get to that section yet. (like if we died to a boss early game and complained that the kneel thing is bullshit)

Actually, if there was a flaw with the 'hidden' items (like the bullet) it was that we noticed them too early, and attached more importance to them than they were worth (we ignored enemies and dove through a hail of fire to revive a single bullet).

>>73246
With all due respect will you please shut up already I'm not interested in defending an 8+ month old quest

>>73253
Yeah, and apparently someone thought it was a grenade? That was silly.

The thing is that in a video game you cannot ask the game about its plot or try and get a hint to the puzzle where you have to stand against the wall with an item out or whatever. This is not a videogame. Not only is it controlled by another human being, you should pretty much be treating the protagonist as a person you're directing from outside, not someone you are controlling. You should ask them questions (and you did! Just not all of the important ones).

I will say that had you not dove for the single bullet, yeah, I think you might have been able to survive that encounter. The free hits really hurt.

fine. but it's not an experimental quest if you refuse to actually learn anything from it.

>>73272
First off, I'm perfectly capable of learning things on my own, and secondly, it was an experimental quest over half a year ago.