Fetch Quest
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Basic Information

A fetch quest consists more or less entirely of an assignment to go and get something for someone and deliver it to somewhere. If you don't need to go and get it and "just" have to deliver it, then it's a Fedex Quest. This may be a search for a single unique item - such as the Holy Grail - or for a rare herb, or for something that needs to be hunted down1.

This is arguably one of the basic plots for most RPGs - and can easily be turned into a Fedex quest as well if that amuses the GM. Indeed a whole campaign can be made up of fetch quests for a series of plot coupons … this is actually pretty normal, especially for cRPGs.

Sources

Bibliography
1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

  • Probably won't involve an actual fetch - although players (if not PCs) can have significant angst inflicted on them if they discover that someone significant (like, say, the quest giver…) turns out to have been one. Just how much have they been played… and by whom?
  • There is also the subversion whereby the quest giver had the item all along - this doesn't count if the players already know this and are looking for something to trade for it, but applies in spades if a long search leads them to the door of the person who sent them after it in the first place. When this does apply the GM should have a good explanation ready - what we learned along the way is a good option (or, in gamist terms, the levels they gained on the quest), meaning that they are now ready to face the Big Bad.
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