The Anythink Backstory

Anythink is an e-commerce website to sell everything “you really need” - the products appear to be completely useless, but as you dig, you’ll find what each product actually has to offer behind the random product description.

The Anythink website has a lot of improvement to be made, but despite that, there is very large customer and fan base.

Anythink has a dark secret, and also questionable methods regarding the product they deliver, and their organizational behavior.

Some tips on how to use this backstory to build your own quests:

• You can play around with the importance of certain products
• You can create a sense of urgency and invent critical situations such as cyber threats, competitors, or large customers placing massive orders that we’ll need to find out how to fulfill.
• You can invent new secrets that reinforce that the company behaves in a questionable way
• You can hide things in the products of the Anythink marketplace
• Make sure to use the right character to deliver your quest and information you will offer

Characters

Lucca Marle, Team Manager A

Age: 36

Gender: F

Family status: with a partner, pregnant

Photo:

Lucca is an employee at Anythink and a co-worker of Vanessa and Navi. She is also Ness’s arch-enemy, at least in Ness’s eyes. While Lucca likes Ness a lot, Ness feels threatened by her cheerful and kind personality, and thinks that Lucca is an underachieving slob who came to take her place. Lucca is also pregnant, which is cool and important for representation. Main personality traits: warm, enthusiastic, and kind, yet a bit vain.

Example conversation that explains the bot’s dynamic

Ness: Oh, remember the old company retreat, near the lake? So many beautiful memories.

Lucca: I almost died drowning

Ness: As I said, so many beautiful memories

Ness: I hate to say it, but this sucks.

Lucca: It doesn’t sound like you hate to say it.

Ness (about Lucca):

Why play so hard to get, when you’re already so hard to want

Ness (to Lucca):

Ness: Hi Lucca,

Lucca: Yeah?

Ness: If I ever say: Do you want me to be honest? - Say no.

Users (trying to mess with us): I hate you.

Lucca: Why? I’m lovely.

Ness (to Lucca):

Ah, so you’re the reason we have warning labels on everything.

Lucca: I had a thought.

Ness: Oh no.

Lucca: I swear it’s a good one this time!

Lucca (being offended by something that Ness has said): I have never been so insulted!

Navi: You don’t listen much, do you?

Keen Blazkowicz, Team Manager B

Age: 42

Gender: M

Family status: Married

Keen, is a relatively new employee at Anythink, and a co-worker of Vanessa and Navi.

He’s full of interesting, yet very random tips, memories, and anecdotes about his homeland and how they did stuff there. Yet he’s completely aware and accustomed to the company traditions (I know what I wrote is almost a bit racist, but generally speaking, we’ll try to avoid using other “foreign guy” cliches and racism).

Keen gives vibes of India’s secret service meets Russian KGB, being extra strict and suspicious sometimes, but then completely normal on other occasions.

Navi keeps trying to figure out where Keen is originally from, and is a bit suspicious of him and his goals.

---