A Dazzling Future Awaits Quest RPG from the Adventure Guild and You

The Adventure Guild, creators of Quest, made an announcement recently and I’m back to share the news along with another exciting aspect to the fun and forward thinking tabletop roleplaying game. Not only are the creators of this wonderful game expanding on the fantastic content they’ve already put out into the RPG space but there’s opportunities for you, too! So let’s get into it.

Future for Quest

In a post published on Medium, Quest creator and executive editor of The Verge TC Sottek announced The Adventure Guild’s plan for a second Kickstarter campaign to support their wonderful RPG. In February 2021 they’ll launch a fundraising campaign to product four new Quest products — two new books and two companion card decks.

Taking what they learned from the original Quest Kickstarter the announcement lays out how the new campaign aims to do things differently. For starters there won’t be any stretch goals. The reasoning behind this decision comes from The Adventure Guild’s desire to focus their efforts on a small number of products at a time to make sure they exceed all expectations. I totally understand this perspective as a frequent Kickstarter backer myself. When the project captures my interest, I’m not looking for even more on top — I’m backing them for what they present from the start. Good on The Adventure Guild and I can’t wait to support this campaign when it goes live.

Work on the project is already underway too, which is another goal for the next Kickstarter. The Adventure Guild wants to hit the ground running and put things into production as quickly as possible once the project is funded. This means backers ought to receive their rewards much more quickly since they can move into production right away. And backers can enjoy increased convenience through a new fulfillment process using a unique code in their store to receive their rewards.

The new books are a Character Catalog and Treasure Catalog, each with a tarot-sized card deck of 100 cards. Both book are 6×9″ hardcover editions, with the Character Catalog illustrated by Grim Wilkins, whose incredible art illustrates the Quest Game Book. Meanwhile the Treasure Catalog’s illustrator is Marianna Learmonth who illustrated the game’s original treasure catalog.

The announcement describes how each book aims to include 100 entries. Along with the original 22 characters the Character Catalog details 78 new characters with all of the entries including unique story backgrounds, stats, special features and descriptions to accompany the evocative character art. Some of these are monsters, others potential friends or adversaries running the gamut from creature archetypes to individual named characters to engage players in your Quest games.

Examples of these cards in the announcement show how they each include a colorful introductory scene, narrative elements and any special abilities they possess along with hit points and attack rating. The book expands on these super useful cards with additional details with tips and suggestions how to weave them into your story.

As for the Treasure Deck not only are there 100 new treasure items for Quest but it’ll also contain the original 100 treasure items. These slick cards feature black and white illustrations with a foil imprint and new lore to enhance their flavor. Inside the Treasure Book you’ll find even more detail for all 200 items including new art along with guidance for using the items effectively and how to creature your own magical treasures.

And there’s more! A surprise included with the announcement indicates The Adventure Guild has a second Kickstarter planned for 2021. Later in that year Quest’s first major expansion will undergo crowdfunding for the Cosmic Fantasy Edition. This science fiction and space fantasy themed project adds seven new roles, new role neutral abilities and starships to the game. This edition will use the same core rules and add a few new ones like a starship system.

Make Quest your own

As much as I love Quest and cannot wait to support these two upcoming Kickstarters for more, the most exciting development with the game is the Quest Creators Resource. Offered under a Creative Commons license this allows you to develop and market your own Quest content. You can get the Quest Community Creators License PDF here.

Similar to the Open Game License giving third party publishers the rights to create and market content for Fifth Edition the Quest Creators Resource allows you to use anything included in the document for your own purposes. You can make adventures, new roles and abilities, treasures or whatever you can imagine within the scope of the license. The 57 page document includes legalese of course but it also adds plain language to make it easier to understand.

The Creators Resource is a really terrific document. Not only does it include the mechanical components of Quest like the core mechanic, roles with abilities, treasure and so forth but also the creators’ design principles and gameplay guidance. And if you’re a layout and design nerd like me you’ll be excited to find a style guide as well. The end of the document details specific typographical elements for Quest along with layout style so your products can capture the same feel and presentation as the official material.

I’ve come across a few products made using the Creators Resource already, which I found over at itch.io. I’ve even got a project of my own I’m working on thanks to this awesome resource being available. If you’re creating Quest content or you’ve come across some out there in your internet travels please let me know! I’d love to see what else people are creating and putting out there. Quest impresses me across the board and I’m super excited to see the game continue to grow and expand. Two awesome Kickstarters coming in 2021 and the opportunity for myself and any other designer to create new material for this fantastic game keep Quest at the top of my favorite games list. Find out more about Quest and add it to your favorite games here.