The Escapist: Help out a fellow adventurer?

This week’s Escapist theme is RPGs. John Walker has decided to see if real-world people are anywhere near as helpful as us gamers need to be in your bog-standard RPG, what with all those world-saving tasks like carrying bread from the local baker’s to his daughter’s hungry husband and the field and so on. He tried asking passers-by in Bath to help him out with a quest, with the obligatory bag of gold as a reward, of course.

“I, the brave wizard, had transferred through a portal into this dimension, but could not leave the spot on which I stood. It was imperative to the survival of the universe that the magic spell I held (a rolled up scroll of paper, engagingly tied with a purple ribbon) be given to the girl in the red cloak and hood, waiting outside what you humans call “the shoe shop,” 300 yards down the road. Upon completion of this vital task, a bag of gold coins would be given as a reward. In my dimension, chocolate coins are of the very highest worth. “

After a day of this, he came to several conclusions, including this one:

“Men with grey beards really don’t like to be called, “fellow wizard.” (Although, their wives are likely to find it funny.)”

Wise words. Read the article for the rest – Quest for Glory by John Walker