We Want Your Mission Ideas

[Drool]

You got the force in star wars and it still considered science fiction.

Heh. There are plenty of hard sci-fi fans who would argue vehemently with this contention.

[Mandemon]

You got the force in star wars and it still considered science fiction.

Heh. There are plenty of hard sci-fi fans who would argue vehemently with this contention.

Yeah, Star Wars is a lot more like space fantasy than "science fiction"...

[Ronin73]

If it ain't Science, it's Magic. And in my mind, there's no place for Magic in a Science Fiction game.

Except for a angry wizard inside a crystal ball right?

[CaptainPatch]

You got the force in star wars and it still considered science fiction.

Heh. There are plenty of hard sci-fi fans who would argue vehemently with this contention.

Not arguing with anyone here; just offering an opinion.

The Force is about as Techno as you can get without being an actual religion. That is, it isn't attributed to any deity as its source. It's _literally_ a force, as in "force of Nature". It's like a Science that no one has figured out yet; they just know that it IS. Like Clarke's Third Law suggests, it's just a Science that they are still sorting out as to why it works. The reverence towards the Force is less about worship and more about getting one's mind and body attuned to the Force's "frequency".

Almost invariably in SciFi, focusing on a religion ends up with the upper echelon being charlatans and frauds preying on the superstitions of the weak-minded and gullible True Believers. Or else just an affirmation about the strength of faith -- while pointedly NOT proving the veracity of that faith. Making the Faith functional moves the subject matter towards Fantasy.

[Hasenklein]

Every being has power simply defined as the ability "to do a thing". In our all day experience, that's not surprising.

Consequently, what Lucas did or achieved, consciously or unconsciously, is to create an abstraction of this concept, the Force, and to introduce it as an additional source of power. This way (= limiting the scope of view of what power is while expanding the scope of what can be achieved by using the Force), he made it explicit and available to direct observation, and thus he was able to create and explore a couple of very interesting dilemmas, starting with A New Hope and continuing to do so in The Clone Wars.

As for the view that Star Wars is science fiction, I think that Stephen King was the first one who argued as early as 1981 in „Danse Macabre“ that Star Wars is fantasy, not science fiction.

[Thrin]

I haven't read any of the posts yet. I'm sorry if a similar idea has come up!

Mission: Remove Gang Threat

Plot Background:

An ambitious “entrepreneur” named Tobanis has taken on the initiative to sell food to the surviving wasteland denizens. His source of food is anything he can find / steal / shoot including human meat. He keeps his sources secret and passes off his wares as clean and good for you food.

He comes across as a stalwart bastion of humanity and organization. He purposefully goes out of his way to help the communities he services so that they respect him and believe in him.

In the plot that the PC gets invited to participate, Tobanis is under threat from some “do-gooders” who have discovered his secret source. In their case, Tobanis had hired a professional to bring back some human meat to restock his soup. This professional left a trail and the meat source’s friends discovered what was going on.

They took action and killed the professional and are now seeking to find a way to get revenge on Tobanis.

Tobanis is aware that his professional hunter is dead and that this group is after him. His solution is to canvas the town’s inhabitants and let them know that he’s looking for help against a “band of thieves” who are stealing from him. In the meantime, he’s upping his prices (which were already high) and claiming a food shortage due to the thieves.

Initial Plot Goal:

To have the players help Tobanis without being aware of what is going on.

Primary NPC details

Name: Tobanis Smith
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Class: Stealthy Combat option (assassin, rogue, thief, sniper, black ops, whatever)
Skill Level: Skilled in stealthy attack type combat

Character Style / Guiding Behaviour:

Self-centered, egotistical, wealth driven, realist, con artist

Attribute Dominance: Intelligent and agile

NPC Background:

Tobanis was born in the wastes themselves. His mother died upon childbirth and Tobanis survived by pure luck. A stranger had offered to assist his mother in childbirth with the ultimate intention of robbing her of everything she had in her weakened state.

Then she died and he was left with a screaming baby. Life is cheap but life in the form of a baby is difficult to ignore so he took the baby. He traded Tobanis to a merchant caravan for a single bottle of clean water.

Tobanis grew up as a slave although he wasn’t termed such. He had no freedom. He had no ownership. He lived to serve and serve he did. The caravan masters used him as a scout and as a guard.

As it was, he grew up with no respect for anything but authority. At the age of twelve he killed his captors (as he saw them) and ran. Unfortunately, he quickly realized he couldn’t survive alone without anything. Struggling to find food he returned to where he killed the caravan and discovered it was looted. Starving and about to die himself, he found some bones of his former protectors and made soup.

He survived.

In time, he put his merchanting knowledge to good use combined with his proficiency to kill. Eventually, he arrived at a settlement and decided it was time for the good life. Instead of doing the gathering himself he hired others to bring him food of any kind. He realized that desperate people wouldn’t ask questions and if he acted kind then everyone would think that he was.

In the settlement he’s a well known and respected pillar of the community. He’s been asked to lead a few times but each time declines and, instead, supports others. This has made him appear to be un-ambitious and wanting to support the people of the community. Instead, he suggests ideas to those in power and, more often than not, get his way.

Plot Details

Apparent Objective to PC: Assist a merchant in removing a gang of thieves.

Plot Introduction to PC:

A villager / town member / council member lets the Player know that an upstanding member of the community is looking for help against a band of thieves.

Conversational text:

In a forum posting I found it really hard to find a method that tracks conversation flow easily. I hope this makes sense.

All player responses should be altered to fit whatever player response types the designers come up with. If there are mood, attitude, or alignment type flavours then these should continue.

Initial encounter with a settlement NPC. This could be tagged on after the successful completion of a different mission or upon arrival at the settlement.

<Player Name>, you should go talk to Tobanis. He needs help with some thieves.

Player Responses: Who is Tobanis?
- NPC: Tobanis is a food merchant. He usually brings us food at a good price but recently he’s charging more because thieves are stealing it.

-- Player: What thieves?
-- NPC: I don’t know, talk to Tobanis about it.

-- Player: Where is Tobanis?
-- NPC: I saw him over at the village center.

-- Player: What is he offering?
-- NPC: He said he’s offering food! Or, if you don’t want it, money.

Tobanis conversational text:

Tobanis: Good day! I’m Tobanis and who might you be?

Player: Standard player introduction phrases. IE,
I’m <Player Name>
How could you not have heard of me? I’m <Player Name>
My name isn’t important.

- Tobanis: Glad to meet you. Would you be interested in some work?

- Player: Tell me what you have.
- Player: Sure.
- Player: Am I ever!

Tobanis: I supply food to the settlement and my supplies are being stolen. A band of thieves is out in the wastelands murdering my hunters. I need someone to remove this threat.

Player: What’s the catch?

Tobanis: They are highly skilled and attack without warning. If you see them and have the jump, you should probably take it.

Player: I need more details.

Tobanis: I came to this settlement years ago and made this my home. I try my best to bring food in. Recently, a band of thieves interrupted my suppliers. They stole everything and killed my men.

Player: Okay.

Tobanis: The thieves were last seen just outside of X. I’ll mark it on your map. Be careful and watch your back. They are dangerous.

Plot Encounter:

Location details:

A camp site in the wastes.
A single tent that has three bedrolls.
A fireplace that is unlit during the day and lit during the night.
Three NPCs. NPC make-up: 2 females, 1 male. All are combat oriented NPCs.
NPC Names: Fiona, Zela, and Marcus

Quest items: A few packs on the ground filled with wrapped up meat
Meat description / details: Meat wrapped up in oilskin to protect it can keep it from spoiling.
Extra item: A bottle of water.

Encounter difficulty: Moderate. The player shouldn’t be overly challenged.

If the guard spots the players coming in then the guard has free attack that could be punishing. Beyond that initial round the encounter should run like a ‘normal’ fight. The NPCs have no special abilities or weapons.

Encounter flow:

If the campsite is approached at night, a single guard and two sleeping NPCs.

If the campsite is approached during the day all three NPCs will be awake. One will be on the watch as a guard.

Either way, the guard will spot the player unless the player successfully passes a stealth type role (if such a thing exists).

Spotted player flow:

Guard shouts to companions.
- GET UP! WE HAVE COMPANY.
Guard opens fire on party.
Companions get up / hurry to assist guard.

Results:

Combat ensues.
Or (if there are resources available and a desire to provide alternatives)
Retreat.

Alternative sneak entrance:

Player sneaks in:

Player has initiative.
Guard will attack if he notices the players at any time.

Results:

Combat ensues.
Or
Optional Retreat

Note: There is no option, at this point, to initiate conversation with the NPCs. They will attack on sight.

Combat Victory:

Loot table:

Appropriate loot for encounter difficulty.
A little extra loot in terms of the food listed above.
A possible extra weapon or armour from the loot of the thieves of original hunter.

Optional Plot Encounter

Retreat:

If the players retreat then the option to discover what Tobanis is up to will open itself up later. The NPCs will realize that the Party was not a threat and will approach it as they make their way back to the settlement in the form of an ambush encounter.

The encounter:

On the road / path / approach to the settlement (using existing assets and scene) the player party is ambushed by the three NPCs. They establish a firing zone around the player and yell out to them about their intentions.

The player would be presented with the opportunity to engage the NPCs or respond.

Should they respond the following is the conversation tree.


Fiona: Who are you and what do you want?

Player: I’m <player name>. Who are you?

Fiona: That doesn’t matter. Why did you come to our camp?

Player: Tobanis sent us.
- Fiona: Figured he’d try something.
- Player: What do you mean?
-- Fiona: You’re pretty stupid you know that?
- Player: Try something?
-- Fiona: Like sending armed thugs out to kill us.
- Player: You did kill his hunter. Of course he would.
-- Fiona: So why didn’t you?

To kill you.
- Fiona: Why didn’t you?
-- Player: Change of heart.
-- Fiona: You’re soft.
-- Player: I don’t know, you looked too pathetic maybe.
-- Player: There’s too much killing.

- Player: Why does he want you dead?
- Fiona: He doesn’t like us.
- <skill check success> Fiona: We killed Bram for “harvesting” our friend.

I got lost.
- Then get keep on getting lost. <end conversation>


Return to Tobanis:

Player: It is done.
Tobanis: Good, here’s your reward as promised. <gives the player money plus some fruit, I’d suggest ‘meat’ but some people might really freak out over that and I don’t know how far this game is going with the ‘edgy’ stuff>

What can be done with Tobanis is to have him give out a series of missions, each one getting a little more questionable as to what Tobanis is doing.

At some point, another faction could step in and try to bribe the player to betray Tobanis. Tobanis could use the players to clear out any other faction of the settlement.

Or, Tobanis could be left as he is and be just one more encounter for the players.

I wonder if I should have used a table. Anyway, I hope this helps in some way, shape, or form. I have a ton of ideas of what could be done with creating a full settlement with a social influence matrix between the residents but I figured that'd be a much.

[sparkee666]

Main Course Anti-Ranger

After the Nuclear Armageddon the consumption of humans can easily become the only means to guarantee a settlements prosperity, and may even become an integral part of its culture. Due to the stigma of this practice a cannibalistic group often has to hide its history when they start trading. If your ranger party encounters this type of community there are a number of solutions to help a tribe of cannibals conceal its past from others. The easiest solution is to convince everyone that eating people must come to an end for them to assimilate. An evil ranger can just start a war turning the once innocent man eaters into fearsome predators that are willing to revisit the dark times just after the nuclear war. The next option is to keep practicing the old world beliefs, but how can this practice still be observed without the consumption of the surrounding populous? Cooking a human substitute is the best idea, but you might need an extraordinarily high cooking skill and to partake in the practice of cannibalism. If you lack the culinary abilities to make a substitute there is a secret lab nearby that can make clones. The people in the surrounding area wouldn’t be the wiser of the flesh eaters and their customs would not be disturbed.

So suspicion of the cloning factory isn’t raised you’ll need to find a suitable subject to use for the process. Ultimately the decision to clone your ranger party has proven to be the only solution. If you choose to ignore the safety protocols the replication of the ranger party is seemingly flawless, but there is one thing in the cloning process that couldn’t be prevented; a fearsome sense of self preservation. Coupled with ranger skills and high technology it would be foolish to think that the replicants would go without a fight. Before you can escort the clones to the cannibals they escape and begin to create havoc in the wastes. What you ended up creating by not following protocol is an anti-ranger party who begin to either make a better place, or spread fear and destruction throughout the wasteland. If you let this problem go unresolved you may end up fighting for your survival in every town you come across, or watch as people wonder why you have decided to slaughter everyone in the area. As you progress in the game the anti-ranger party will develop with every level you go up as well so it will continue to be a challenge to fight them. You have to hunt down your clones and bring them back to the cannibalistic tribe, or fight them to the death. If you can’t be bothered to hunt the clones they will eventually hunt you down when a high enough level is reached ,they are getting mad that you are ruining thier reputation.

[Backblade]

First off, apologies if someone mentioned this already, but nine pages of replies are a lot to go through... even when you're slacking off from your day job

How about a mission inspired by Kickstarter itself?

Something along the lines of coming across a town in need of something... let's say... a new generator for power, or a pump for a new well. If you can get something in place, there's two possible payouts for you.

1. Appeal to a "well to do" character of means who'll put the equipment in for you, but you need to comply with a bunch of demands... killing other characters, robbing, etc. Which will have an effect on your karma and reputation in the Town and possibly closeby towns.

2. Try to use your skills of speech and persuasion on the townspeople to all chip in and contribute money and/or parts. This would require more sets of skills, and more time, but results in a bigger payout - karma, reputation, money, weapons, etc.

[Cirvis]

Apologies if someone already had a similar idea.

The Advanced Nanotechnology Research and Manufacturing plant aka ANRaM facility.

Background

In the late 1970s after the discovery of the electron microscope the US ministry of defense saw a huge potential in the research and development of nano robots and nano materials that could change the war if it ever came to it. At an undisclosed location beneath a mountain range that no nuclear blast could reach a gigantic plant was constructed between 1985 and 1997 fully staffed and provided for hundreds of years of independent operational capacity.

As the modern world ended they cut all communications and went underground with a staff of over two thousand people. Scientists, military personnel and their families. A city of advanced technology and brilliance waiting to be rediscovered.

Present day

While exploring the world rangers are hinted at the existence of this facility buried underground. As they gather information and instruments to find and rediscover the facility presumed to be unfinished or abandoned in a slaver town they find a rather strange prisoner.
He seems despaired but still insults his captors and calls them primitives and animals. The most interesting part are his clothes that seem to never get dirty and have no way of taking them off even after having endured abuse by the slavers.

Saving private "Shiny"

When you fight, sneak, talk, bribe or otherwise get close to him to have a conversation he reveals that he is on an important mission and needs someone to get him out and help him retrieve his equipment from the slaver leader's personal safe. No further information is given and this part may be a minor side quest in a major slaver outpost.

In search of rare fuel.

If you choose to get his stuff and actually return his Carbon Fiber armor, Rail Gun and supplies(May be some other advanced gear based on nanotechnology), talk him in , heal him, help him recover from hunger and dehydration. He decides he can trust you and tell you his story. The soldier is a private from a facility called ANRaM. His team's mission was to find the local nuclear power plant and retrieve all the fuel elements they could get there hands on. ANRaM was running out of fuel fast and they had to complete this mission or relocate. A time constraint of a year had been placed on his team to complete this mission. Time is running out.

Back to the past.

If you get the fuel or trick your new friend into showing you the location of the facility the welcome is not generous and you have to decide what to do with the remnants of the old world.

A shocking realization.

When you discover they are experimenting on local tribesman and wildlife to develop augmentations for their cybernetic idea of the future. The staff here turns out to be a cold and ruthless but fair society. They treat humans as machines and will go to all and any measures to develop the next best technology they dream up. Death from pain in test subjects is no exception.

For better tomorrow.

But the advanced nano-augmentations can make your rangers a lot stronger, the rail solar powered weaponry is effective, light and has large ammo capacity, ANRaM's Carbon Fiber armor is light, tough and provides radiation shielding. And all of that doesn't stand close to their advances in hydro-farming and food production using nano-robots.

A rock and a hard place.

Choose now to destroy the facility in a nuclear meltdown, gain the technology you understand and loose all the production power and military strength they provide. let morality triumph and lose one of the last bastions of science and technology.
Or build up the logistics and supply for their manufacturing plant to operate at full efficiency once again, gain a strong foothold in the region and advanced weaponry, ammo and armor. See the community prosper yet sacrifice teir humanity in the process blurring the line between man and machine.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Or find the path you wish to walk and change the views of generations of cyborgs that have operated the facility and make man and machine live in harmony yet separated by morality.


In Wasteland 2 You decide.

P.S.
i left out gaps and minor quests and character details for interpretation and change depending on your personal views and ideas. I hope some of it makes the final cut.
regards, Cirvis.

[Manbearpig]

Mission Idea #1
The ranger party arrives at a settlement and is greeted by a desperate woman that claims her husband has been falsely accused of murder and will be hung if the Rangers don't intervene. The town is run by an authoritarian styled leader that tries to do the best he can with the limited resources he has at his disposal. The "mayor" had an issue with a serial killer on the loose inside the town and the evidence pointed to two men and they couldn't figure out which was guilty so they arrested both. From his perspective the life of one innocent man is an acceptable cost to stop the rampant killings and its better for society as a whole to kill both men and play it safe. When the rangers talk to the prisoners they each claim to be innocent and insist the other man is guilty.

So the rangers have a few ways of resolving this problem. They can speech check the mayor and convince him that its important to hold to higher ideals of justice and to have absolute proof of guilt. That would free both men the innocent and the murderer. This would put a serial killer out in the world and later on in different areas NPCs that would have made completing other missions easier have been killed mysteriously. The non-serial killer would become an asset to the Rangers and help them out in other locations further on in the story as a friend in low places type of character. Obviously both of these guys would flee the area as quickly as possible in case the mayor changed his mind. On the upside both men would reward the Rangers for freeing them before they departed thus making this option advantageous in the short term.

Another option would be to play to your parties intelligence and perception and examine the evidence collected. A successful skill check on this would reveal the guilt and innocence of the two men. However, nothing is even this neat and tidy, it would also show that the "innocent" man is guilty of other serious crimes and just happens to be innocent of this one particular charge. So the question then becomes do you save the other man from dying for a crime he didn't commit even though he's getting what he deserves for past actions by being hung. The reward here for letting him hang would be the same as doing nothing, the mayor appreciates the Rangers not interfering in affairs they don't understand fully and your reputation in town increases. If you save him he becomes a friend in the criminal underworld of the wasteland that can offer you help on certain other missions.

The non skill option is to simply talk to various townspeople to gather secondary information that will help make a conclusion. The problem here is that the townspeople give conflicting stories. So the puzzle here is to figure out who do you believe with certain parts of the story. No one has a complete picture of the whole series of events so the Rangers have to figure out which rumors are the ones that can be trusted. Talking to the prisoners about their relationships with the townspeople can help rule out certain stories but the player wont be 100% sure that the prisoners aren't just lying about certain people being trustworthy because they know that person will lie on their behalf. Once the Rangers have heard enough of the rumors they can form a decision and convince the mayor to let one person go but its still unclear which one is the killer. This option suggests solutions but never confirms them. The potential outcome for this path are the same as the first option but obviously with only man released you get only the applicable half of the quest outcome.

The final option is a simple none of the above type approach. Both men die and the mayor appreciates that the Rangers respected his authority and sovereignty as leader. The mayor and the town warm up to the Rangers and offer them little benefits like better prices for goods and services in town.

Mission Idea #2
A community is terrified of a gang who claims to be their only protection from monstrous mutants; claiming the valuable service they provide entitles them to whatever or whomever they want in town. The townies have never seen hide nor hair of these muties though. The Rangers are approached by a vengeful townie's who's daughter has been traumatized by the attentions of the gangsters. He tells the Rangers that the town is prepared to give them steady tribute if they'll destroy the gang and take their place as more benign protectors.

If the Rangers do nothing, the town continues as normal: safe from marauders but it's shops have limited goods at higher prices, because the gang helps themselves to so much. The townies are also dejected and make for poor sources of information.

The Rangers can attack the gang head-on at any time of course. Alternately, they can ambush the gang while they celebrate a recent victory: some of them will be passed out and others will be less useful in a firefight on account of the carousing, making for an easier battle.

If they wipe out the gang, the townies are as good as their word: every week they leave a small cache of supplies at the local flophouse, where the Rangers are permitted to stay at no charge. However, next time the Rangers complete a major objective outside town and return, they find that it's been ravaged by horrible mutants. Most of the townsfolk are dead, with the few survivors barricaded in a single building. The gang was genuinely providing a service, one that the Rangers, as wandering adventurer types, were ill-equipped to perform.

Alternately, the Rangers can confront the gang and intimidate them into entering arbitration with the townies. If the Rangers are successful at this, the gang gets a set fee and free accommodations, and quit harassing and intimidating the townies (under the threat of the Rangers coming back and killing them). The town becomes more sedate, but still safe. Prices drop and more goods become available. However the service provided by the vengeful father is no longer available (he could be a doctor, mechanic, a skill trainer, whatever) as he moves out of town in disgust.

Finally, the Rangers could scour the area to find the hidden lair of the mutants, wipe them out at the source, and return to tell the tale. The gang is rowdy and thuggish, but they actually enjoyed the fighting as much as the "perks" they squeezed out of the townies. Deprived of their entertainment, they prepare to move on. The vengeful father accuses the Rangers of violating their deal and arranges it so the Rangers receive no reward or free accommodations from the townsfolk; but at least the shops and services normalize.

[Hell Razor]

Here's an outline I thought up while posting in the "no time-based quests" thread. The main point of this quest is to create a set of various, significant outcomes on the world map that result from decisions fairly early in the game.

There is a small agricultural village somewhere, like the Ag Center or Shady Sands. Upon visiting this town, some NPCs recognize you as rangers, or at least as capable people with gear and weapons, and ask you if you're "here to help" and direct you towards certain town leaders/elders.

Speaking to the leaders initiates a quest regarding a band of raiders. The town has had some regular trouble from groups of raiders in the past, but now they've recently learned that the raiders are forming up in a camp not far from town, and in a couple weeks they plan a full assault of the town.

While this quest should remain available at any time (I don't think it should necessarily disappear and become unavailable), once you speak to these elders and it is initiated, at that point a timer begins that leads up to the attack in two weeks. This timer should not be super obvious other than it being described to you in dialogue (i.e., no big timer at the top of the screen counting down).

Several options are available to the character once the quest is initiated, resulting in a few different possible game-world states afterwards.

• The party moves on and does not take any significant action in this quest for more than two game-weeks. If they return to the town after this time, the town will be significantly damaged, though still functioning. Stores will have less to offer, many NPCs will be dead and further quests unavailable, etc. Similarly, the nearby raider camp will be significantly enriched, with additional armor, weapons, defenses, recruits, etc. However, a new quest becomes available in this scenario, too. One of the town elder’s family members (wife/husband/son/daughter/whatever) was kidnapped by the raiders and is being held at their camp. You can initiate this quest to rescue the relative, resulting in 1) a small bonus to the party in some way (like reduced prices in town or an item or something) if you succeed, or, 2) you can again ignore this quest for a period of time, and the relative will perish, or perhaps becomes a willing member of the raiders’ camp and refuse to return. Rescuing the relative would involve a typical choice of storming the camp, bargaining, sneaking in and escorting her out, etc.
• The party returns right around two game-weeks later. In this scenario, which many players may never encounter, the party can return to find the camp actually being raided. This enables three possible paths: 1) Don’t get involved, which will have the same effect as if you hadn’t returned in time. 2) Get involved and help fight against the raiders. This will still result in similar effects as ignoring the quest (i.e., the town is damaged and people die); however, the relative will not be kidnapped. Instead, the town will thank you for returning and you will be given the same reward as above for rescuing the relative. 3) Fight with the raiders against the townies. You get no reward from the raiders for this, as they don’t really know you from Adam, however, it will result in the town being damaged as above but also the relative is simply killed and no new quest option becomes available. This would be one of the weaker results in terms of rewards or new content enabled. The party would just get loots drops from kills or something.
• Stop the raiders. This can be accomplished through a typical set of potential solutions. You can just go attack them, and wipe them all out. They will be less powerful in this scenario than they would be if you are attacking them in the “rescue the relative” scenario. Or if you talk to right people in town, you can learn enough to know to sneak in a certain area and assassinate a set of leaders (similar to a sneak-rescue in the other scenario). Or pay them a bunch of money. Or, accept a new quest from them to go find them a certain resource or item they need in order to convince them to move on (which perhaps adds another week to the attack time). If the raid is successfully prevented in time, the town will remain in good condition, and furthermore will be “upgraded” with several new NPC quest options. Party should receive a similar or better reward as described before. This result would be one of the better ones in terms of rewards and content enabled.
• Join in on the raid. Tell the raiders you want in on the fight. Attack the town with them. This results in the same outcome as #3 in the previous scenario, where the town is damaged and no rescue quest is available. However, you also receive a money/weapons bounty as your share. A small set of raider-themed quests becomes available at the raider camp.
• Help the raiders in an even worse way. If the party has sufficiently explored the town and explored dialogue options with NPCs in the town and in the raider’s camp, they might enable an option to help coordinate a surgical strike on the town. This could be initially enabled through convincing one of the town elders to betray the town, or exploring an underground tunnel system in the town, etc. Once the plan is laid out for the raiders and executed, the town undergoes a dramatic change and becomes a raider town. Most of the leaders and their relatives are gone, but the rest of the NPCs remain and the town is undamaged, though now under the angry rule of raiders. A different set of NPC quests and shops and items become available in this town, ones that reflect its new role as a base of raider operations. These quests would include the same ones enabled in the previous scenario at the raider camp, and additional ones with even greater rewards. Also, some of the quests that would have been available even if you never got involved would still be available. This result would also be one of the better ones in terms of more rewards and more content enabled, but also could be viewed as one of the more “evil” options to take. The raider camp is abandoned.

The characters involved should not automatically start treating the party as “bad” or good” in every scenario. For example, if you return after two weeks and didn’t do anything, the town shouldn’t treat you as some bad guy. However, if you fought against them, they would.

[simplycorrect]

The Demons

The Rangers are on a ridge, scouting out a huge, unexplored wetlands area below. They see structures and an artificial light in the distance and decide to check it out. The wetlands are difficult to travel in, with marshes, bogs and swamps hindering the Rangers progress.

The encroaching vegetation obscures the light but eventually, they find an old marker painted on a wooden board. Following the marker takes them to a crude network of marked paths that leads them to a tiny village. The residents of the village are filthy, uneducated and impoverished. They are also highly religious, wanting to know if the Rangers have heard of 'The Preacher' and 'The Book'. The villagers invite the Rangers to an evening meal, excited to share their beliefs with outsiders.

From what the Rangers are able to learn, the religion is based off a pre-war book that was found by a man known as the Preacher. It is written in a strange language called 'French' that only he can read. Over the past few years, he has traveled to and converted all three villages in the swamp network. The Preacher exhorts his followers to find and destroy the 'Demons' living amongst them. They speak of evil creatures changing form to resemble humans and carrying out unspeakable atrocities in the night.

The Rangers also learn that the main settlement that lies in the heart of the swamp has a pre-war power source. There is some sort of resource node there that the villagers all work, but they are forced to give it all to a powerful neighbor in exchange for their security. This arrangement has led directly to the impoverishment the villagers now suffer, but there is very little they can do. A large armed group arrives every month with a truck to take the resources away.

The next morning, the Rangers head towards the main settlement.

The main settlement consists of the same crude huts as before, but this time they are clustered around a tall, ugly building with some rusted ruins of other buildings around it. The main building has electric lights on it - the same ones the Ranger saw from far away. When the Rangers arrive, they are met with a terrible scene: a woman is tied to a stake with kindling beneath her. A mob encircles her, screaming and jeering, being led by a big fat man in a bizarre outfit.

The villagers are in a religious frenzy and cannot be reasoned with. If the Rangers want to stop the execution, they can fire some warning shots which gets everyones attention. The Preacher challenges them, but he will not use force against the Rangers.

If the Rangers free the woman, she escapes and runs off into the swamp. The crowd boos and screams at the Rangers, but the Preacher talks them down, saying that the strangers do not understand. The Preacher is not happy with the Rangers, but is willing to talk to them.

If they leave the woman to die she burns and her human appearance melts away - a Demon! Or a mutant, as it appears to the Rangers. The Preacher then delivers a fiery sermon to the crowd and thanks the Rangers for submitting to his divine will. The Preacher is happy with the Rangers and asks to speak with them alone.

As soon as they are alone the Preacher laughs and admits he doesn't speak French. He simply wants to unite the people here and hopes to stop the theft of their fuel by the neighboring faction. If the Rangers help him and his best men fight them off, he will supply Ranger HQ with the resources at a minimal cost.

The Preacher tells the Rangers that the 'Demons' inhabit the swamp and take human form to evade the hunters. They have a single meeting place where they must gather, but the locals have been unable to find it. If this lair is found, they can be all be killed at once. This will cement his position with the villagers and allow them to turn their attention fully to defense.

The climate in the settlement reeks of fear and paranoia. If the Preacher is not happy with the Rangers, the locals will be reluctant to talk or trade with them.

One of the locals changes her appearance right in front of the Rangers to get their attention (this will be the same mutant who escaped, or someone else if she was killed) who wants to tell the Rangers the mutants side of the story. She asks the Rangers to come to a meeting in the swamp to discuss further.

If the Rangers meet with the mutants, they see them in the natural form: Grey skinned humanoids with dark eyes, small tentacles around their mouths and soft, pliant bodies. If the Rangers saved the girl at the burning, the mutants are happy with them and will answer all the Rangers questions. For many years they lived in peace with the locals before the Preacher incited the villagers and quite literally demonized the mutants. The mutants want to end the hostilities, but there is no way to do that without eliminating the Preacher. If he is killed by mutants, they fear the violence against them will never end.

The Rangers can help the Preacher get rid of the mutants, or eliminate him and broker a peace between human and mutant.

If the Rangers kill the Preacher they may get their hands on his book, which is indeed written entirely in French. who speaks french? in fact, one of the Rangers might have the 'useless' skill of speaking French, and if he does, the book turns out to be of great value to the Rangers.

In order to free the colony from the control of its neighbor, the Rangers will need to provide arms to the villagers. They will have the help of a fanatical group of the Preachers best men, or an unknown number of shape-shifting mutants, depending on how they resolved the situation in town. The enemy convoy must be ambushed and defeated, and the three villages must be protected from a major retaliatory attack in which the Rangers have to split their forces.

Securing the resource node for Ranger HQ will provide raw material for critical upgrades. The consequences of the Rangers actions ripple outward: If the Preacher remains alive, his religion spreads to new areas. If the mutants and humans are united, mutant doppelgangers start showing up, perhaps at Ranger HQ. And the Rangers have made a serious enemy of the faction they have taken the resources from.

[burrahobbit]

Two short ideas. I'm sorry if someone already suggested something similar, I read some but don't have the time right now to wade thru the nine pages of (awesome) suggestions, and I don't want to pospone this and end up forgetting it.

Scenario I
a simpler one

Setting
You come across a group of religious fanatics in a small town, they've all been converted to a random new religion by a prophet who's brainwashed them. Not that it was hard, it's a small village of uncultured people that has raised on it's own in the years after the fallout, they never had any kind of education and are quite gullible, so converting them wasn't much of an issue for the guy.

Now, the prophet: he might either be an asshole taking advantage of these poor fellas to his advantage, a truly nutjob who actually believes all of what he's preaching, or a sociopath that simply enjoys manipulating the weaker of mind.

Problem
Case scenario 1, if the guy's mad or a sociopath: incoming mass suicide.
Case scenario 2, if the guy's an ass or mad (in a more barbaric way): he's about to rush them into attacking a town to take it over, loot everything, kill everyone, you know, the regular drill.

Outcomes
As usual, you can just let the river follow it's course while you step aside.

A character with enough charisma, speech and picking the right choices might be able to bring back some common sense into the people and make them realize the madness they're about to commit and leave them to their own, send them to a ranger center, what you will.
What about the leader? Perhaps they choose to hang him, maybe you feel pity because he's truly mad (or so you think) and let him go (which might affect you for good or bad in the future).

A character with enough charisma, speech and the right choices might be able to remove the prophet and takes it's place as a leader of the pack. From there on, the possibilities are many.

You kill the leader. Well, the zealots might not like this very much and attack you, or pick a new chosen one of their own and carry on with their actions.

____


Scenario II
a darker one

Setting
Middle of nowhere.
Nowhere; arid vast waste; middle of a desert; or sorrounded by a mountain range, you choose.
You find a small cottage/farm/house.
A grown man (on his 40s 'haps) lives there with about ten/fifteen children. How did they reach that place? Escaping from bandits? The man answers this very vaguely, and the kids aren't of much help.
Inside the house you find a basement, there's a well that provides safe (as safe as you can find in a nuclear waste, that's it) waters, buckets, and a small farm where they've been raising rabbits. There's also a small greenhouse where they grow their own food (vegetables and such) with a system of small holes in the roof that reach the ground above and allow for light to come in as well as air.

Problem
You find out the guy's a pederast. He's not forcibly raping the kids though, he's actually got them to believe it's completely natural and a labour of love. They aren't big enough to know better (the oldest be about ten years old) so it might have stricken them as odd at some point, but now they seem to go along with it.

Outcomes
If you kill the guy, the kids won't be able to sustain themselves on their own, they help a bit here and there, but have no idea of how everything works and won't be able to mantain their souce of food for long before they starve.
There's simply too many to take them with you; you don't have the resources, the nearest town/ranger center is too far away and besides it would be too dangerous to travel with them through the wastes. Even if you had enough food to last the journey and somehow were able to make them walk all the way, they'd probably end up dead caught by crossfire, sickness or kidnapped.

You could leave one of your characters with them though, but that means you'd be losing a companion. And there should be one willing to do this to begin with, so there's also that.
But then again, how would the children take the death or sudden dissappearance of their father (let's suppose that's how they call them)? What if they turn in against you or run away and you aren't able to get them all back? How do you explain what happened to all the rest?
There's really no good outcome for this one, but perhaps you can prove me wrong by thinking of another solution.

____

Sorry for the clumsy writing, would have liked to polish this, but gotta study

[Gurkog]

I would like to see a quest that involves the distribution of water from a watershed. The rangers can help stabilize and develop a community, but this results in less water for farmers so they have to rely more on trade for food. Improving agriculture in the region could deplete a town well so people either move away or die to dehydration. Heck you could encounter a town that prides itself on its well maintained parks/yards, but the town downstream suffers for it. Perhaps even have a Hatfield & McCoy type feud over water.

Yall can think of better ways to implement disputes over water rights. I just hope there is some conflict based on the idea!

[tuluse]

I would like to see a quest that involves the distribution of water from a watershed. The rangers can help stabilize and develop a community, but this results in less water for farmers so they have to rely more on trade for food. Improving agriculture in the region could deplete a town well so people either move away or die to dehydration. Heck you could encounter a town that prides itself on its well maintained parks/yards, but the town downstream suffers for it. Perhaps even have a Hatfield & McCoy type feud over water.

Yall can think of better ways to implement disputes over water rights. I just hope there is some conflict based on the idea!

A mission themed around an old style western with two communities fighting over water could be really awesome.

[max_writes]

Hello, Max Webber here.

I've been interested in helping to flesh out the world of Wasteland 2 for some time. That's why I've spent what time I have free from the stresses of pre-apocalyptic life developing this game, "Dome on the Range," in Twine.

You can play it here: http://www.maxwrit.es/games

I'd like everyone to play it and give me their feedback (this will be really helpful for future projects).

I give my permission for this story and characters to be used, as a whole or in part, in Wasteland 2, if I'm credited. I also would like to hear about how I can help create even more great stories and characters for the project.

Please drop me a line at max@maxwrit.es or get at me on Twitter: @max_writes

[agvkrioni]

Your standard, typical rescue fair, save, when you finally rescue the person, they end up showing signs of some kind of illness a few days later, dying a week or two later and ultimately putting your team at risk for exposure (catching said illness).

[Vervain]

I'm being lazy and not reading all the other posts here before posting this, but here's my idea. Basically, I've got a setup, a dilemma and decisions. It's not fully fleshed out, but hell it's definitely a moral dilemma.

The setup:

You hear rumours in a town about a gang of hooligans that have been hitting settlements, raiding their supplies, killing all the adults and teenagers, and taking the younger children who pose no real threat of resistance. After following up with other information sources, you find that the gang has a base out in an extremely remote part of the wasteland, far enough that you can just manage the weight of the supplies you'll need to keep yourselves alive for the trip there and back.

Upon arriving at the base you find that the children are being used as slaves, both for menial labour and sex. Their physical health has deteriorated badly, the gang members use them relentlessly and don't give them enough food or water to sustain them properly, and now have irreparable mental scarring.

You only have enough rations for yourselves, and due to the failing health of the children cannot take them with you and keep them alive.

You have the following options:

1) Confront the gang and leave them to their devices for a cut of their spoils.
2) Confront and kill the gang and proceed to leave the children to fend for themselves, almost certainly ensuring their deaths.
3) Confront and kill the gang and then kill the children instead of leaving them to a slow death.
4) Turn around, walk away, and pretend you never saw anything.

Basically, there is no way you can save the children themselves, although option three can still be seen as saving them, but you can stop it from happening to other children.

I would like to see option 1 or 2 continue with some of the children having escaped/survived and confronting you later in the game over your decision.

[nutmegaman]

I would like to see an artist's community of some kind.

I second this.

The idea I came to the thread with is similar, but far more sinister. It's very simple and perhaps not as involved as others on this thread, but it would be a terrific little side-quest.

A lone, half-crazed, monk-like figure inhabits an old chapel in the middle of nowhere. His obsession is to transform the chapel into an ossuary--at first to honor the victims of the wastes, but by the time you find him, the emphasis has clearly shifted to bone collecting for its own sake. He wants to create a monument to death, with human bones arranged in glorious, artful ways. The player's choice is either to help him achieve his dream and "harvest" human bones--their source is no concern--and watch as he creates chandeliers, statues, and other structures, or to simply put him out of his misery as a madman.

[allen_idaho]

The following was intended to be a list of fairly vague scenarios and their moral dilemmas which could work within the game. If nothing else, this was written as a series of themes to provide inspiration for scenarios which you, the game makers, can fully flesh out to fit the game world.

1. Ranger Center
The first rule of any sustained military operation is to keep you home base up and running. This means providing defense, power, food, water, ammunition, medical supplies and manpower to keep this facility up and running.

Let's look at power. In the world of Wasteland, this is most likely provided by solar panels, wind turbines and other basic sources. The moral dilemma in this is situation is where you get those power sources from. You could scavenge supplies and build your own if you know how. Or you can take these sources from neighboring villages. Doing so would, of course, hurt diplomatic relations with these villages. On the other hand, having plenty of power may make you more of a target by those who don't have it.

Let's look at food and water. In order to survive, you need to eat and drink. Scavenging for supplies is a temporary solution to a long term problem. In these villages, growing or raising their food supply is a way of life. The moral dilemma here is deciding what you would be willing to do in order to get that supply. Try to negotiate? Try to take it by force? What if negotiations fail? What if an attempted incursion brings down the wrath of some criminal group that had already claimed a portion of that food? There are several variables to look at in that situation.
You could always try to grow your own food. But that would take time, manpower and resources. Plus there is no guarantee that anything would grow.

2. Military Assets
If I were in charge of a military organization attempting to reclaim the wasteland, one of my first goals would be to venture out to former military installations. The reason being mainly for whatever I could scavenge, including:
- Former military survivors who may be willing to join the cause
- Any remaining vehicles which may be salvaged or scavenged for parts
- Any weapons, ammunition, explosives, body armor or other supplies left behind
- Any technical communication equipment or components that may still remain

The moral dilemma is this. What happens if you come to a military base that already has people laying claim to those supplies? Or what if you find something unbelievably dangerous? Like say an undetonated nuclear warhead. Do you leave it there to potentially be used against you? Do you take it with you, knowing that others may attempt to take it from you? Or knowing that it could be damaged and potentially kill you all?

3. Crime and Punishment
Let's say that your group, for whatever reason, has taken one or more people prisoner. They have been accused of theft or murder or both. The prisoners maintain their innocence. Some village leaders are calling for their deaths.
The moral dilemma is that it is up to you to exact judgement. You could execute the prisoners. Please some leaders but anger others. You could listen to the prisoners' side of the story. Maybe they didn't do it. You could sentence them to a life of slave labor or even set them free. But is any choice ever really going to please everybody? Of course not.

4. Triage
Let's say that your group comes across a remote village in which all of the inhabitants have been struck down by a mysterious disease. You don't know just how contagious it is. Only that it is a very lethal plague. The moral dilemma is how you handle the situation. Do you look for a cure, potentially allowing the disease to spread? Or do you kill everyone and cut your losses while potentially saving that many more lives?

5. Let's Make A Deal
Another scenario could be that you, the desert rangers, have been backed into a corner. Crippled by heavy losses and dwindling supplies, you are offered a deal with an unsavory bunch of characters to assist you if you agree to look the other way on another issue. The moral dilemma is that you know this group is going to do something very bad but you still need help out of this situation. What do you do? Go it alone or make a deal?

6. The Ambush
The next scenario is a little controversial and may not fit with the core game. But it would provide an interesting twist.
Far from Ranger Center, the Desert Rangers are led into an ambush where they are taken prisoner by bandits and stripped of your equipment and supplies. The bandit leader makes you a proposition. You and another member of your party will be allowed to leave if you choose two other characters that the bandits will execute (and probably eat). You may then attempt to walk back to Ranger Center, defenseless.
The moral dilemma is that you must choose who will live and who will die. Alternatively, you can refuse the deal and potentially all die.

7. A Lesson In Robotics
In this scenario, the Desert Rangers come across an old, disabled robot. It's still intact and could possibly be repaired. With a little reprogramming, it could be made to work for the Rangers. The moral dilemma is that you don't know if the reprogramming will work. You may use resources to bring this robot back to service only to find yourself fighting to keep it from destroying your squad and anybody else who crosses it's path.

8. The Gatekeeper
In this scenario, you and the Desert Rangers are exploring a cave with a local guide from a nearby village. Due to an unexpected cave-in, the local guide has become trapped by the rubble and the exit has been sealed. The guide has some dynamite which may be your only way out.
The moral dilemma is whether or not to use the dynamite. Using it will kill the guide but set you free. When you return without him, the villagers will no longer trust you.

9. The Price of Mercy
In this scenario, the Desert Rangers have been asked to help end a long standing territorial dispute. Two factions have waged a bloody war over the last five years which has only continued to escalate. In the wake of the latest battle, one side of the faction has gone into hiding while the other has been almost entirely wiped out. You have been tasked to track down this group and end the feud.
The moral dilemma comes in one of several ways. The first, dilemma is choosing a side in this fight. Or take no side.
The second moral dilemma comes into play when you find the hiding faction. Almost every member has been severely injured or killed. You are left with the decision of helping them, killing them, or leaving them alone. Alternatively, you can give away their location and let someone else wipe them out.
If you choose to help them, they may be willing to help you in the future. But the fighting may not end. If you kill them, the war will end but you will lose public respect by slaughtering a group of injured, defenseless civilians.

10. The Dying Men
In this scenario, the Desert Rangers are in pursuit of a group of bandits. While in pursuit, you come across some innocent farmers who have been mortally wounded by the fleeing bandits.
The moral dilemma is whether or not you stop to help. If you don't stop, the innocents may die but the bandits may get caught. If you help the farmers, the bandits will get away but the farmers may provide you with food or manpower. However, if you have nobody in the group with decent medical skills, they could die anyway.

11. The Cost Of Living
In this scenario, a group of thugs have taken control of a heavily used clean water source. They are now selling the water at a very steep price. Without cheap access to that water, crops may fail and hundreds of civilians may die.
The moral dilemma is how you choose to deal with the situation. You can do nothing, leading to a lot of death and destruction. You can kill the thugs, restoring access to the water. Or you can try to negotiate and lower the price.
Alternatively, you can kill the thugs and claim control for yourself, cutting out the civilians but supplying Ranger Center with fresh water.

12. Trust Versus Logic
In this scenario, a crazed villager has come to Ranger Center explaining that he has found something amazing in the wasteland. But he says he will only take one person with him to find it again.
The moral dilemma is whether or not to trust the villager. By sending one Ranger out with him, you could potentially be sending him/her into an ambush. But then again, the villager could be telling the truth.