Questing is a big part of Maiden Desmodus, and we handle it in two ways...
Workhouse Tasks:
These are a linear series of 'quests' that bring the player into the basic backstory of the game and the game world. At present there are two major factions in MD, and each faction has their own line of workhouse tasks. The first few of these are designed to get the player familiarized with the system and basics of play with a 'fetch', 'goto <place>', and 'combat' task first on each side. From there on, the quests spin off on their own storyline. For example, in one task you are hired by the city workhouse to escort a diplomat into the city of the other faction. In a later quest, you find the negotiations didn't go so well and you now have to go break that diplomat out of the stockade and get him back home. By going through the series of workhouse tasks the player gets involved in the backstory of the game through IC play, rather than help files and background documents. The workhouse tasks also take into account a lot more than just go somewhere and kill something, even in the more combat-oriented ones. An example being at one point along the storyline you are sent to work with a few knights and send them into an enemy war camp to provide cover (and clear the way) for you to get to a siege engine and burn it down by lighting barrels of oil on fire around it.
Quests:
We handle quests much differently. A big part of Maiden Desmodus deals with talking to and interacting with the NPCs. There are conversational keywords to lead conversations, and NPCs usually know a lot of responses to subjects not directly pointed to in a conversation and might start new conversations if you bring up another NPCs name, some happening somewhere in the game, part of the NPCs own background, etc. Occasionally, talking about one of these conversational keywords will award a quest. The more you play the game and the more exposure you get to the game world, the more you'll have to talk to NPCs about.
The quests are optional and well varied with some being attainable at any level and others opening up only after a certain level is reached by the character. Gained experience also scales with the level of the character. You can see the steps needed to complete the quest, and if you mess it up too badly at any point you can abandon the quest and start it anew. Unwanted quests can be abandoned, and some quests are one-time quests while others can be repeated every game month (which is about a week, real-time).
Another aspect of quests in our system is that some are faction dependent. If the vassals of your kingdom have taken control of a village (through our mass warfare system), you'll be able to do some quests there that the other faction cannot, such as basic labouring quests which are a good way to earn gold in the game.
Our has a walk-through of the first few workhouse tasks and quests you're likely to encounter as a new character.
As for writing quests, I always work within the framework of the world. I don't add quests just for the sake of adding quests. I look at the game world as it is, the NPCs in it, recent events, and I put in new quests to fit in with all that. I think that is why players often comment that we have such an in-depth game world that feels authentic to our theme.
I'm often seen in-game asking players if there are any special types of quests they would like to see added to the game. Some of our bi-weekly events are created based upon player suggestions. We hold the events every other Sunday (the next being "Bank Robbery" on October 3rd) and during these events release new content to the players that always features new quests. We also turn on double xp and double training rates and provide a period of no-xp loss for defeat so players there for event day can go after the new quests without any knock-back.
Some quests remain available forever. Some like those for our "Northman Invasion" event are available for a week or so and are then replaced with changes to the game world to reflect the invasion (burned ships along the coast, etc).
We also have quests that are triggered now and then by the staff, such as "Eruption" which causes the volcano on The Isle to erupt and loads the game with NPCs that can thereafter issue quests related to the eruption to players who go up there. These sorts of events also change the game world by loading smoke and magma in that region, adding new environmental hazards that eventually cool off.
There are also quests that are triggered by player activities and choices. For example, by completing one workhouse task a certain way a player is able to obtain a rare "gas bomb". The player can then go get quests from a key NPC in their faction's city that will allow that bomb to be set off in any of the enemy cities in the game. The player sets off the bomb and a plague spreads through the city killing hundreds of NPCs and rats and leaving others dying. New quests mobs are loaded into place allowing players in that city to get new quests where they try to rescue those injured in the attack while burning the bodies of the dead citizens and rats before plague spreads through the city. (And yes, it's a real plague that has to be treated by player physicians able to deal with the disease).
I think my point in all this rambling is that we're proud of our quest design and the fact that from the feedback of the players that I hear, it all makes Maiden Desmodus seem truly immersive and less mechanical than a lot of other games out there.
Feel free to judge for yourself, and if you play a Thirian talk to the slavemaster near the beginning about 'bounty' or if you are Kneyan talk to the gangly sailor about 'visit' to start off on an early quest, which of course will lead to many others...
If you're interested in seeing our newest event quests, drop by the game on Sunday:
UPCOMING EVENT -- "Bank Robbery" The Bank of Johannasburg has been robbed and the culprits escaped with over 50 gold ingots worth of loot. Discover and follow clues to track down the network of thieves responsible for the robbery and choose to bring them to justice, or keep the booty for yourself. Join us on Sunday, October 3rd at 4pm EST/9pm BST for this exciting event. Double XP, Double Training Rate, and No XP Loss for Defeat will be in effect for the first two hours of this event.