Dynamic Quests

Quests are by their very nature either complex beasts that consume much of the developer's mental bandwidth, or are simple excursions that provide little in the way of satisfying accomplishments, and become just another form of a grind.

I suggest another form of quest: the dynamic quest.

Imagine for a minute that our quiet little town in the forest is ready for expansion, and would like to become a thriving metropolis, or at least a bit more than a speed bump on a seldom-traveled trail. What might they need for this expansion?

* Surely, they'd need traffic. We're providing this as adventurers come through, buying goods, selling goods, and making the town their "home base."
* They'd need building supplies, like wood, stone, and mortar.
* There will be problems to solve, like beating back encroaching monsters or "convincing" a local despot to "forgive" the exorbitant taxes being levied.
* Children, pets, and items might get lost in the (now) unfamiliar surrounding woods.
* Certain materials related to people-expansion might be required, such as food and water supplies.

This all leads to the ability to implement a dynamic "needs" system, with varying rewards. If the townspeople are consuming wheat at a rate of 80 bushels per day, and they have 60 bushels left, they're obviously going to be willing to pay a higher price per bushel than if they have 1,600 bushels left. Same goes for weapons in shops, etc.

Some goods can "counter-balance" other goods, or even some towns may "counter-balance" other towns. Running wheat from town A to town B might be a great route one day, but might leave you in financial ruins the next.

Random "events" can pop up in town, with a limited number of "solvers" able to help before the quest is "closed," to reopen again at another random time.

The community can contribute to "shared" goals as well. For example, "There's an invasion! We need to beat back all 500 skeletons!" can turn into a chase to finish the quest as a group, with appropriate rewards for completion in a specific time frame, or penalties (the potion shop is temporarily destroyed) for failure.

Thoughts, suggestions, and improvements are welcome here!