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The Quest For Glory
What happens when you take the dour attitude and put-upon demeanor of an RPG NPC to the mean streets of ... Bath, England? Rock, Paper, Shotgun highlights John Walker's attempt to get the good citizens of Bath to do a quest for a kindly old wizard. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues. "In this time of rejection, I did learn a few useful things, however. Older people are much less likely to see the funny side of something, even when the safety of the universe is in the balance. Couples are far better at avoiding the magically hindered than individuals. Men with grey beards really don't like to be called, 'fellow wizard.' (Although, their wives are likely to find it funny.) And then, hope was restored in the form of a man in his 40s. His reaction was certainly the most peculiar of the day. He resigned himself to helping me as if he had to. Could this man have been a true adventurer? Someone who is aware of the demands of being a hero? Perhaps his acquiescent attitude was due to the low level of the quest, and the relatively poor reward for a man of such experience. But something about the simplicity of the task, and the accompanying XP, must have been enough."
LFM!
http://blog.heavensdomain.net
And if one thing should be taken from this experience, above anything else, should the fate of the universe ever be in your hands, only bother to seek the aid of girls under the age of 30.
Finally, an explanation for the convention of magical girls. The scientific process truly is amazing. After all, without experimenting such as this chap has, who would have believed all of the anime telling us that young women are the only ones capable of saving the universe?
I used to wonder why we have all these people standing around in adventure games, offering quests to anybody who asks for them. Now we know that those people are still standing there because nobody but you, dear player, is willing to do their quests. And if their lines seem repetetive and stale it's only because they have had to say them so many times to indifferent adventurers who do not want a quest. This is indeed surprising, considering the amount of experience points and valuable enchanted objects that can be obtained only that way.
I've booked a flight to Bath so I can farm this guy for chocolate coins.
Whenever I put on my robe and wizard hat, all the young girls run screaming.