View source for Main Quests

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''Quests whose completion provides the main winning condition of games.''

[[Main Quests]] are the ones that provide overarching goals for players in games structured around the fulfillment of quests. They are often tied to storylines in the games and provide a framework for smaller quests.

Note: ''[[Main Quests]] are in some cases used to refer to all quests necessary to complete in a game to finish it, or the one overarching quest that frames gameplay. This pattern adheres to the latter usage.''

=== Examples ===
[[Main Quests]] have most common in [[:Category:Computer-based Roleplaying Games|Computer-based Roleplaying Games]] but not so in [[:Category:Tabletop Roleplaying Games|Tabletop]] due to the often open-ended narratives. Likewise, overarching quests may be present as story-telling devices in [[:Category:Massively Multiplayer Online Games]] and large scale [[:Category:Live Action Roleplaying Games|LARPS]] but can often not be completed or do not have rewards on a gameplay level. Examples of [[Main Quests]] include saving the world of Tamriel in the [[Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]] by stop ''oblivion portals'' from opening<ref name="oblivion"/>, saving or diverting the intentions of ''project purity'' in [[Fallout 3]]<ref name="fallout3"/>, affect the outcome of the struggle between the mages and the templars in [[Dragon Age II]]<ref name="da2"/>, and choosing the path of non-humans, knights, or declaring neutrality in the [[Witcher]]<ref name="witcher"/>.

== Using the pattern ==
The design of [[Main Quests]] is similar to [[Quests]] in general but may actually not have a gameplay [[Rewards|Reward]] since the games may end by the completion of them. However, they practically always make use of other [[Quests]] to create [[Hierarchy of Goals]] and players are often given the option of additional gameplay through [[Sidequests]]. Since the [[Main Quests]] are the main drivers of how players explore and move through [[Game Worlds]] and interact with [[Non-Player Characters]], it is also common to make all important places, people, and [[Factions]] part of the [[Main Quests]] so that players have at least become aware of them through playing through the them.

Note that although completing some [[Main Quests]] may end games (as it does for example in [[Dragon Age II]] and the [[Fallout series]] with the exception of [[Fallout 3]] with the ''Broken Steel'' [[Expansions|Expansion]]), this is not a necessity. The [[Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]] is an example of this.

=== Can Be Modulated By ===

=== Interface Aspects ===
[[Main Quests]]do not  need to be present in interfaces in the same way as other [[Quests]] since they frame the whole gameplay and narrative experience.

=== Narrative Aspects ===
[[Main Quests]] are the main bearer of [[Predetermined Story Structures]] when they exist in games, so the pattern is an inherently narrative one.

== Consequences ==
[[Factions]]
[[Game Worlds]]

=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Anticipation]], 
[[Predetermined Story Structures]], 
[[Quests]]

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Massively Online Multiplayer Games]], 
[[Unwinnable Games]]

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Anticipation]], 
[[Predetermined Story Structures]], 
[[Quests]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Factions]], 
[[Game Worlds]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
-

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
[[Hierarchy of Goals]], 
[[Sidequests]]

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Massively Online Multiplayer Games]], 
[[Unwinnable Games]]

== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="oblivion">[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Main_Quest Entry] for the main quest in Oblivion at the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.</ref>
<ref name="fallout3">[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_quests Entry] for all quests in Fallout 3 at the Fallout wiki.</ref>
<ref name="da2">[http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Main_quests_(Dragon_Age_II) Entry] for the quests that make up the main quest in Dragon Age II at the Dragon Age wiki.</ref>
<ref name="witcher">[http://witcher.wikia.com/wiki/The_Witcher_storyline Entry] for the main storyline in the Witcher at the Witcher wiki.</ref>
</refereces>

== Acknowledgements ==
-