Old School Runescape & Tabletop Quest Design

This is a very good read :)
Runescape was probably the most influential piece of media for me growing up, as well as Talisman 1E. I played as a kid before the Grand Exhange was introduced, and opted to play Ironman mode in Oldschool to rid myself of the temptation. I played without the Wiki, which encouraged me to ask other players for help/advice if I couldn't for the life of me figure it out myself!

Sorry for all that rambling, here are some of my design thoughts on Runescape:

Tools with Multiple Uses:
Runescape is fickle when it comes to this one. Some tools, like the Knife and Chisel, are used in a variety of different scenarios and activities which I like. However, the fact that Battleaxes cannot be used to cut down trees has always bugged me, and if more tools had the same variety that a Chisel did it would make planning out your equipment for a quest much more interesting. 

This is a lot easier to do in a tabletop game than in a virtual one. Giving players more versatile equipment that encourages them to think creatively with what they have can lead to many more interesting moments in your games.

NPCs as part of the World:
There are a *lot* of NPCs in Runescape. Many of them I don't interact with (or can't, really) once their quest is complete. Some NPCs are used in multiple quests, which can make dialogue options sometimes confusing but that's a limitation of the computer game. I always found it strange as a kid that once you've done a quest for a character all they can do is essentially say 'well done' and aren't part of the game anymore.

In my table games I always try and do the opposite. I'll always re-use NPCs where possible, as it not only saves time preparing a character, but also gives the players a familiar face, friendly or otherwise. Perhaps players need a potion for a quest, but the only brewer in the land is a druid they wronged in a previous adventure. This leads to players thinking more about the social consequences of their adventures and puts them more firmly in the world they're exploring. Do they now force the druid to brew them a potion, or try to right their previous wrongs? 

Food as Culture:
This is probably one of the biggest things I learnt from Runescape in terms of design, and links into my next point a bit. Different cultures/settlements/creatures will eat different types of food, usually determined by their environment. This sounds obvious when written, but probably not something many people think about too often. How many times in a tabletop tavern do your adventurers eat 'food' and drink 'ale'? 

In Runescape, the people of Lumbridge have a lot of cow and chicken farms, while the people of Karamja eat tropical fish, goblins eat cave-bats and toads, and so on. When players are eating in your tabletop game, think about where they are and what the local people have to hand. You could give food systemic properties (advantages/disadvantages) to influence players to interact with food more often, but even if it's just a 'cosmetic' change, it can still help immerse the players in whatever region of the world they're in. 

Crafting and Survival:

Many of the attributes you have in Runescape don't contribute to combat or magic at all, and yet they're often some of the most important (especially without the Grand Exchange!). These are your crafting and survival skills. These include things like Fishing, Firemaking, Herblore, and are essentially skills that enable you to make useful equipment/resources out of the natural environment. Although there's no hunger/survival systems in Runescape, you'll often need to eat to regain HP. Killing and cooking small creatures like Chickens yields few HP, but as you increase your relevant skills you can prepare more restorative foods and more powerful potions to aid you.

These mechanics are best utilised in Runescape 3's Dungeoneering minigame, which is essentially a rogue-like dungeon crawler built into Runescape. Pools in dungeon rooms can be fished in, vines on the walls cut down and campfires made from them, there may be geodes or ores in crumbling walls to make metals from and so on. It creates a really cool feeling that you're making the most out of scant resources, a lone adventurer in the depths of this sprawling dungeon. 

I do tend to use survival mechanics in table games. Players need to eat, sleep, drink, and not doing so comes with detriments. This makes wilderness travel all the more interesting - players want to reach their objective as quickly as possible, and different terrains come with different advantages/disadvantages. It makes the wildernesses of the world feel more real, and not just a literal walk in the park.

I realise I've rambled on quite a bit there, I just like Runescape a lot and over the years it's made me think more deeply about the fantasy worlds I create. 

Thank you for making this zine, it is very good :)

May thine sword be ever sharp, and thine cunning ever sharper!