Quests
Quests are actionable threads — the layer where lore becomes something players can pursue, where faction goals collide with player goals, and where the world’s dangerous sites get generated.
In engine terms, Quests is the opposite face of Lore. The two layers are inseparable: every quest needs lore to give it meaning, and lore only matters when it connects to something players can do. The constraint axiom — every quest node needs at least one lore post, every lore node is more valuable with at least one quest post — is what keeps generated content from feeling arbitrary.
This section covers two things that are really one thing: dungeons and quest prep. A dungeon is a quest node that happens to be a physical site. Quest prep is the procedure for generating quest nodes from player intent. Both are the same operation at different scales.
In This Folder
| File | What It Covers |
|---|---|
| Quest Prep | The full workflow from player intent to session-ready content |
| Dungeons | Generating dangerous sites from rumors — the rumor-first approach |
| Five Room Structure | The five-beat arc that structures any quest site |
| Expedition Types | Day trips, overnights, tier boundary quests |
The Core Workflow
Player declares intent. GM checks existing canon. Identifies gaps. Selects appropriate generation system. Generates content. Session runs. Discoveries become canon. Repeat.
The workflow is always the same whether the quest is a social investigation, a wilderness expedition, or a dungeon delve. What changes is which generation systems fill the gaps.
Dungeons as Quest Nodes
A dungeon doesn’t exist until players create a reason to go there. The rumor-first approach means every dangerous site starts as unreliable gossip — fragments of lore in the people and geography layers — and resolves into hard canon only when players engage.
This is why Dungeons and Quest Prep belong together. Both start with player intent and end with a session-ready site. The dungeon is just the specific case where that site is a dangerous location with internal logic, ecology, and treasures.
Where This Connects
Quest nodes are seeded by faction clock advancement, player goal declarations, discovered lore, and the Seeded Discovery Pool. The Five Room Structure applies to any quest site regardless of type. Dangerous sites found during geography traversal feed into this layer. Dungeon treasures and secrets become new lore nodes for future sessions.