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Anatomy of a Side Quest: Beyond the Beef

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Game Maker's Toolkit10:10Open on YouTube
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The bottom line

Beyond the Beef lets players of any build act out their character, because one quest offers many ways to reach the same goal. That is the model for any designer who wants players to tell their own story.

Key takeaways

  • Fallout games lock many options behind the character you build. 0:58
    • Options depend on a stat, perk, community standing, faction alignment or moral reputation.
    • Lock picking, hacking, stealth and combat skills decide which choices and stories you find.
  • Beyond the Beef gives several routes to each goal, and each route suits a different kind of character. 7:54
    • To reach the kitchen you can pick a lock, pickpocket a key, work with Mortimer, pretend to work with him, or become an honorary White Glove member.
    • Some routes carry higher risks or costs than others.
  • Every build finds a way to play its role, and the player can still change course. 7:08
    • The sneaky build smuggles in a silenced pistol, the silver-tongued one talks Carlyle St. Clair into volunteering, and the boxer punches Mortimer to death.
    • You can improvise, such as killing a guard you can't talk past, and you are rarely locked into one decision.
  • Consequences are partly forecast and partly a surprise. 8:12
    • Mortimer warns of heavy security in Heck's penthouse, so you can plan for it or avoid it.
    • The goons and the assassin are not signposted, which makes them surprising.
  • Branching paths rejoin to keep the design workable, and the quest has flaws. 8:38
    • Several solutions pass through the kitchen or the steam room meeting with Chauncey, which cuts the number of permutations to build.
    • Heck and Mortimer pay the same reward, which makes the choice of who to help less exciting, and the quest is very buggy.

I think players should have the freedom to create their own destiny. What you should be giving them is a playground for them to roleplay their opportunities.

Chris Avellone, designer on Fallout 2

Chapter summaries

0:00 One hotel quest, five characters

Five builds, one quest, five different stories
StealthSilver-tongued villainBoxer
Sides withHeckMortimerHeck
Way into kitchenStealth boy, pickpocket keyMortimer's key, talk past goonHonorary White Glove member
Ted's fateFreed after drugged banquetSent off quietlyRevealed at banquet
EndingReunited with HeckCarlyle talked into replacing TedMortimer punched to death
Beyond the Beef has one premise and one location, yet each character build plays a different role in it, from rescuer to killer.

A single Fallout: New Vegas quest is a test of how much role-playing one story can hold.

  • Older Fallout games tell a personal story shaped by the character you build. 0:35
    • Fallout 4 is a poor guide to this tradition.
    • The same quest is played five times with five builds.
    • The quest, Beyond the Beef, is set in the Ultra-Luxe, the most elite hotel on the strip.
    • The hotel is home to roulette wheels, fine dining and the White Glove Society.

1:42 The stealth run

Each clue leads to the next until Mortimer's plot is exposed
The sneak build never needs to talk or fight its way through. Its skills let it slip past each obstacle on the trail.

A stealth character follows a trail of clues and passes every obstacle unseen.

  • Each clue leads to the next until the plot is exposed. 2:01
    • Brahmin baron Heck Gunderson has lost his son Ted in the hotel.
    • Marjorie, leader of the White Glove Society, mentions its cannibal past and a missing detective.
    • The dead detective's matchbook leads to Chauncey, who says Ted is meant to be the main course.
    • The stealth character uses a stealth boy and sneaks past the kitchen guard.
    • The freezer key is picked from the chef's pocket, and the chef's body is hidden in the pantry.

3:39 The villain and the boxer

A different build turns the same rescue into a different job.

  • Taking the job from Mortimer makes the goal a replacement victim instead of a rescue. 3:43
    • Mortimer hands over the basement key, and talk gets the player past the goon.
    • The boxer build works up fame on the strip, and Marjorie makes the player an honorary member on that reputation.
    • Mortimer is impressed: Of his own volition? My goodness, you are very professional, aren't you?
    • Violence against Carlyle St. Clair is an option, with a pistol whip or cattle prod, but talk is easier.

5:05 Three more builds, three more endings

Each build solves the quest in its own way, from a clever trap to a bloody rampage.

  • The honorary member turns the kitchen into a trap for Mortimer. 5:08
    • Bartering with the chef opens the oven.
    • A well-cooked steak fools Mortimer into thinking he is eating human meat.
    • Ted is let out and hides at the banquet. Mortimer announces that everyone ate Ted.
    • Ted appears, Mortimer's confession exposes him, and the player punches him to death.
  • The evil cannibal joins Mortimer and then frames Heck. 5:44
    • Admitting to a taste for human meat gets the player into the job.
    • The player kills Ted in the freezer and eats his remains.
    • Ted's blood is spilled in Heck's penthouse, and Heck is arrested for murdering his son.
    • The player locks the companion Boone in the fridge as a replacement meal for Mortimer.
  • The madman skips the clues and kills everyone in the way. 6:36
    • Telling Heck that the White Glove has Ted earns a shotgun.
    • Heck says you do what you gotta do to find him.
    • The player kills everyone between them and Ted.

7:06 The quest reads more than your stats

Five routes into the kitchen, each fitting a different character
Branches that rejoin at shared beats give players many choices while keeping the number of permutations the designers must write small.

Small details of who you are, not just your skills, change how the quest responds.

  • The quest reacts to perks, past deeds, companions and morality. 7:20
    • A niche perk like cannibalism opens its own route.
    • It reacts to what you did elsewhere on the Strip and notices a human companion.
    • A good player hears Mortimer say I don't think you'd have the stomach for it.
    • An evil player hears You strike me as just the sort of person who can help me.

9:01 Why the quest works beyond its own plot

The quest fits the game's theme and echoes through the rest of the world.

  • It fits the theme of greed and leaves marks beyond itself. 9:01
    • The premise fleshes out New Vegas and its view of greed as a savage force.
    • It offers moral grey areas between black and white extremes.
    • Other characters comment on your exploits, as when Yes Man says A cannibalism problem? Really? I'm so glad you weren't eaten!
    • The White Glove Society and the Gundersons tie into quests later in the game.

In the growth library

Mark Brown, creator of Game Maker's Toolkit. Shows how one RPG quest can support many character builds by gating options behind stats, perks, reputation and morality while still letting players improvise. The worked example is Obsidian's Beyond the Beef quest in Fallout: New Vegas, played five times with five different characters.

More from Game Maker's Toolkit · The whole library, and ask it anything

Transcript139 lines
0:08

This is Game Maker's Toolkit. I'm Mark Brown. Welcome to the Ultra-Luxe, the most elite hotel on the New Vegas strip. Home to roulette wheels, fine dining, the White Glove Society, and a dark, morbid secret. In this episode, we're going to break down a Fallout: New Vegas side-quest that takes place in this hotel, to see how developer Obsidian packed so many opportunities for role-playing into just one quest. Because, while you perhaps wouldn't know it to look at Fallout 4, these games have traditionally been about letting you tell a very personal story, based heavily on the character you build at the start of the game.

0:47

Chris Avellone, designer on Fallout 2, has said "I think players should have the freedom to create their own destiny. What you should be giving them is a playground for them to roleplay their opportunities". What this means in practice is that many options in the game are locked away from you unless you've got a certain stat, perk, standing in the community, alignment with a faction, or moral reputation. Plus, your lock picking, computer hacking, stealth, and combat skills will dictate the sorts of choices you can make and the stories you'll discover.

1:17

So, to see how that actually comes into play, we're going to do the same quest five times, with five different character builds, to see how a single quest can offer so many outcomes and chances to role play. The quest is called Beyond the Beef and, naturally, I'm going to be spoiling it. Like, all of it. You have been warned. The quest is about Heck Gunderson - a Brahmin baron who has come to the Ultra-Luxe to negotiate a beef deal. But his son Ted has gone missing somewhere in the hotel.

1:53

HECK: He was right here! I didn't leave him but a minute. Let's play as a stealth character, who wants to lend Heck a hand. We talk to the leader of The White Glove Society, Marjorie, who tells us two interesting things: that her group has a history of cannibalism - but has moved past it - and that another person has recently gone missing. MARJORIE: Two disappearances in my hotel? What will people say? An investigator was looking for them and hotel manager Mortimer can help you chat to the detective.

2:22

We ask Mortimer about it and get a key to the detective's room. Inside, yikes, the dude's dead! He's got a matchbook on his body but before we can read it, we get assaulted by these goons. Luckily, our high sneak stat let us smuggle some guns into the casino, and we take these thugs out with a silenced pistol. The matchbook tells us to meet someone in the steamroom at 4. Which we do. It's Chauncey: a White Glove lackey who spills the beans. Mortimer wants the society to return to cannibalism, he's got Ted Gunderson locked up in the meat freezer, and he's going to serve the poor kid as a meal at tonight's big bash.

2:59

Before we leave, an assassin ices Chauncey. Good job we've got that gun. To get to Ted in the kitchen we throw on a stealth boy, crack open the door behind the bar, and and sneak past this guard. We pick the key to the freezer from the chef's pocket, and then murder him and stash his body in the pantry. We drug the wine that the society will drink before their big meal, and get the head waiter to serve up dinner. We can then let Ted out with the key...

3:25

TED: My daddy's gonna kill all you bastards once he finds out what you done to me. ...and walk straight past the knocked out guards to reunite Heck with his son. HECK: You got me my boy back. I got not words. Okay this time we're going to play a villainous sort, with a silver tongue. And we're going to go straight to Mortimer and get the gig from him. Because from his perspective, this becomes a job of replacing Ted with a different human.

3:52

MORTIMER: I need a replacement. And I need the boy taken care of. Mort gives us the key to the basement, and we can talk our way past this goon. We open up the fridge... TED: My daddy's gonna kill all you bastards once he finds out what you done to me. ...and convince Ted to leave quietly. We now need his replacement. We travel to Carlyle St. Clair's house and while it would be fun to knock him out with a pistol whip or a cattle prod and throw him in a dumpster, we can just talk this poor chump into going to the Society.

4:20

We chat to Mortimer and finish the job. MORTIMER: Of his own volition? My goodness, you are very professional, aren't you? Let's be something a bit different. Let's pretend to be a famous boxer. The makers of Fallout often say that half the story happens in the player's head, after all. So we pump points into the unarmed skill, and we do some jobs on the strip to become famous around town. Back at the Ultra Luxe we take the job from Heck, chat to Marjorie, get the key from Mort, discover the body, and get jumped by thugs. This time, we kill 'em with our bare fists.

4:55

We meet up with Chauncey, and convince Marjorie to let us be an honorary member of the White Glove Society. MARJORIE: Given your deeds on the Strip alone, I can safely say that you would be a prized addition to our honorary ranks. Now we can waltz straight into the kitchen. We barter with the chef, which lets us get to the oven. And we use the chef's recipe to cook up a pretty good steak that will trick Mortimer into thinking he's chowing on human meat.

5:20

We let Ted out... TED: My daddy's gonna kill all you bastards once he finds out what you done to me. ...and hide in the back of the society's banquet. Mort tells everyone that they just ate Ted Gunderson but we appear, with Ted in tow. Mortimer's just admitted to everything, and we've exposed him. All that's left is to punch him. To death. Okay, this time we are a cannibal and pure evil. Like, sadistically so. We convince Mortimer to let us in on the job by revealing that we too, like eating human meat.

5:55

MORTIMER: Good! Then you know what it is to be discreet in matters of... nutrition. We go to the kitchen, open the freezer, and kill Ted. TED: My daddy's gonna kill- We grab a sample of his blood and then eat his remains. Up at Heck's penthouse suite we kill his guards and spill his son's blood on his sheets and in his sink, and then we get him, er, arrested for murdering his son. Finally, we finish things off by locking our companion character, Boone, in the fridge and offering him as a replacement to Mortimer. Yummy.

6:30

MORTIMER: I know what a terrible sacrifice this must've been for you. Or, we can just be a total madman. Following clues and tracking down hotel rooms sounds like a chore so we tell Heck that the White Glove has got Ted and he gives us a shotgun. HECK: Listen, you do what you gotta do to find him. We go on a murder rampage, killing everyone between us and Ted.

7:06

So what can we take from all this? Well, one: It doesn't matter what stats you picked at the start of the game. This quest has so many options that you'll find ways to make use of your chosen skills and play out the role you've picked. That even involves bringing in a niche perk like cannabalism, reacting to what you've achieved elsewhere on the strip, recognising that you have a human companion, and deciding whether you're a goody two shoes...

7:30

MORTIMER: I don't think you'd have the stomach for it ...or an evil arsehole. MORTIMER: You strike me as just the sort of person who can help me. Two: That being said, your story is not completely predestined by your stats because you can still make choices. You might have to improvise, of course, and kill a guard you can't talk your way past or swap your plan mid way through. But that's good, too: you rarely get locked into one decision so you can change your mind mid way through the quest.

7:54

Three: There are always multiple ways to achieve the same goal. To get to the kitchen you can pick a lock, pickpocket a key, work with Mortimer, pretend to work with Mortimer, or become an honorary member of the White Glove Society. Some have higher risks or costs than others, and they all speak to the type of character you are role-playing. Four: The consequences of your actions are often forecasted to you. Mortimer warns of the heavy resistance in the penthouse...

8:19

MORTIMER: I understand he's hired security, so be careful if you go up there. ...so you can plan accordingly or avoid that altogether if you're not playing as a talented killer. But not all outcomes are so transparent. You probably didn't foresee the goons and the assassin, but that's what makes them so surprising. It's a give and take, depending on the level of the challenge. And five: There are multiple choices, but the branching paths often come back together to reduce the number of permutations that the designers have to come up with. Multiple solutions involve sneaking into the kitchen, or meeting up with Chauncey in the steam room.

8:50

It's not perfect. The fact that both Heck and Mortimer give you the exact same reward makes the choice of who to help a bit less exciting. And yes, the whole quest is as buggy as hell. But overall, Beyond the Beef is a fantastic example of a role-playing quest. It has a brilliant premise and a surprising sequence of events. It fleshes out the fiction of New Vegas and speaks to the game's central theme of greed as a savage force.

9:15

It has huge opportunities for player expression, it has moral grey areas between its black and white extremes, and it will react to your choices in surprising ways. Even outside of the side-quest as other characters comment on your exploits in the Ultra-Luxe... YES MAN: A cannibalism problem? Really? I'm so glad you weren't eaten! ...and the White Glove Society and the Gundersons tie-in to other quests down the line.

9:38

So if you want to give your players a chance to tell their own story, no matter what they bring to the table, this is the sort of quality quest design you should be aiming for. Thank you so much for watching. I want to hear about your favourite quests in RPGs so let me know in the comments below. If you want to support the show you can subscribe on YouTube, tell a friend about it, or even pitch on Patreon where supporters get early access, a cool newsletter, and even bonus videos.