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Questors Bold vs. ROC:S
By: Erin
There’s been a good deal of speculation in the ROC over the past weeks, and not a few people who accuse Questors Bold of being just like Redwall Survivor. While ROC:S was a great game, and I don't mind the comparision, I don't think that this viewpoint has as much basis as some think. I can’t be everywhere, nor on every message board so I would like to take this opportunity to illustrate the many ways in which Questors Bold differs from ROC:S.
Before the Beginning:
The 9 characters in ROCS were chosen by Roxie, coordinator of Redwall Survivor. While Terrouge did filter the applications we received for our 10 characters, we opted to have the final decision made by our readers.
Another change we made was to "balance" our characters. We did this by providing the gender, species, and alignment of the beasts to compete in our contest. This was done to create a wide variety of quality characters and make sure we didn’t start our with a paucity of either gender. ROC:S’s application process gave them three vixens and only two male characters, but as the applications were all on an identical subject(continuation of a story), they did have the assurance that they were getting the best writers out there. Their approach was probably more suitable than ours would have been for ROC:S, as Roxie’s game had a different format and less focus on a Redwall theme, just as ours worked out better for Questors Bold than their application process would have.
Starting the Story:
ROC: Survivor’s story, true to its name, was set on a somewhat inimical island. This isolated the characters very nicely (which prevented authors from having more than one char by giving their character a constant companion), but this wasn’t an option for us, since we wanted to keep the theme, and therefore the setting, very Redwallian. Questors Bold will be set in Mossflower country, with all its familiar landmarks and denizens. To prevent the multiple-character problem, beasts in Questors Bold may have as many NPCs (Non-Player-Characters) as they like, but such characters cannot remain in their company for more than one week.
Both stories are written in novel format on message boards.
Rules of the Road:
During the course of the story, ROC:S ran three Challenges—small contests for the reader—the winners of the first two challenges were posted on the site. Our Tourneys, while similar, are not exactly the same. To start, Tourneys will be run weekly, and will be based on writing ability. The winner and runners up of last week’s Tourney will be posted on the site, and the winner will win a pack of Redwall Trading Cards and a guest appearance in Questors Bold. We wanted to provide more opportunities for audience participation, and it seemed the ideal way to do that.
The voting for the main chars is also different. In ROC Survivor, the writer voted worst had to write the death of their character, making it an actual contest for survival, like the TV show. In Questors Bold, the writer voted worst gets a Disaster—an event that could be death, but doesn’t have to be. The writer that is voted best is rewarded. They are permitted to find the next Quest Point.
The formats of the games are another big difference. In ROC:S, all the characters began the game in the same spot, but in Questors Bold, no two Questors will begin the game together. They may meet up later, but must start separately. The central idea of Questors Bold—that is, the quest—is probably the largest difference from ROC Survivor. It gives the characters objectives to accomplish each week, an ultimate goal, and a way to pace the story. It also, true to the form of Redwall novels, sends our heroes(and villains) on a journey, giving them the opportunity to meet new beasts, discover new places, and perhaps return to some old ones.
Wrapping it up:
As you can see, Questors Bold and ROCS are similar, but not the same. Both are great games meant to give the Redwall Online Community an opportunity to flex their writing muscles, and most importantly, have fun.