One of the things that I picked up on when I got the first print proof of the POD version of OpenQuest 3rd Edition was that on the title page, I missed out on the subtitle:

Fantasy Adventure Roleplaying Game

It’s been on every edition of OQ, so I put it back in, but I took some time out to think why this was important to me.

The short version.

Now that’s out of the way and everyone’s calmed down, I shall go into detail.

Sure, OQ has mythologies, settings with a sense of history and politics, creatures with history/background, but it’s all ingredients, fuel even, to get an entertaining adventure. You see, in OQ, the characters go on Quests, which are adventures. Not simulations or re-enactments of everyday life in some imagined fantasy Medieval/Dark Ages. The players want to feel the thrill of a sword connecting with an enemy, a spell making short work of a difficulty, or to see the results of a clever bit of conversation with a non-player character. Even seeing a character make a triumphant comeback after failing is all part of the expectation of a good adventure. It’s all about keeping things moving along at a quick pace (or as the Smart Party says, “You can never have enough pace”). And you don’t get that with overly complex fiddly rules or social structures in place in the game.

I bore this in mind as a primary design goal when I wrote the main rulebook, and I have kept it in mind as I finish the rules and articles in the OpenQuest Companion.

So that’s why OQ is a Fantasy Adventure Roleplaying Game, and it is important to state that upfront right at the beginning of the book on the title page.