need some in quest side quest ideas

[DullandRusty]

Hey all, my group has asked to come up with some side quests during quests they are on that dont need to have an impact on play. For example, escorting an NPC out of a dungeon or helping him by finding something for him in the dungeon, say a book in one of the book shelves.

The impact of the quests is that players spend more time in the dungeon and explore more albeit at the risk of potential peril by spending more time in the dungeon (which my group has a monster patrol mechanic to it where each round moves a spawn counter towards a patrol spawning).

They can also have impact on future quests if you have ideas like that as well (such as you help someone steal from another NPC, which in turn causes that second NPC to show up or hire assassins to chase you down that pop up in here and there in future quests). Any fun ideas for in quest side quests?

[mitchiemasha]

A good idea for this would be to use Advanced HeroQuest but with HeroQuest rules. The dungeon could self generate. This why you wouldn't need to have loads created.

I like the idea of going to town and there's HELP WANTED posters. Escort. Clear out infested caves. Etc. Roll on a table see what's available and the Group could pick.

[Anderas]

Something: A spell, a book, a potion, a weapon, an artifact, a person, a trinket, the holy grail, an Orc Boss or any other evildoer, or one of the "good ones"

1. Go find something and 1a destroy it 1b rescue it 1c activate it 1d trap and bury it 1e use it 1f clean it
2. Bring something savely inside then goto 1a-1f
3. Go to a place and 1a-1f

Never show your players this system. Never use generic objective markers or generic names. It destroys fun if is not Skulmar, but "that random pre boss from the list page three".

It works best when you combine two or more of them: find the spirit blade and kill the witch lord. Find the cultist circle symbols and occupy them at the same time.

Probably it is a good idea to add one or two or three mini-branches in the labyrinth for those mini tasks. Ideally with a creative group separating trap on the way.

Also a good one is to have a pre-boss before they see the real boss, to drain some potions and spells. That one can wonderfully be incorporated guarding the something. Or stealing the something, running away with it; or bringing it into an unusable state. That pesky guy who switches the portcullis lever back each time the heroes turn their back on him.

[Daedalus]

This topic has some ideas that might work. It's about failed objectives, but some can be converted to side Quest ideas, I think.

[mitchiemasha]

Yeah that's important... Give it theme. Never just random boss or pointless objective marker.