What You Earn
Every completed quest brings tangible progress. Watch your character grow with every victory.
Experience Points (XP)
Earn XP for every completed quest, scaled by difficulty. Level up your character as it adds up.
Embercoin
The one currency in MainQuest — earned from top-rated quests and habit check-ins. Spend it at the Shop or the rotating Wandering Merchant.
Achievements
Unlock badges automatically at real milestones. Some grant bonus XP, a title, or an item.
Streak Milestones
Keep a habit streak alive and hit 7, 14, 30, 100, or 365 days for a one-time XP bonus — not a running multiplier.
XP Scales with Difficulty
Every quest starts from a 10-XP base, multiplied by its difficulty tier. Harder quests pay more — there are no random item drops in the mix.
| Difficulty | Multiplier | Base XP |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 0.75× | +8 |
| Medium | 1× | +10 |
| Hard | 1.5× | +15 |
| Epic | 2× | +20 |
Streak buffs, quest wagers, and pet companion bonuses can push the final XP higher — this table is the base before any of those stack on top.
How the Reward → Consequence Loop Works
Every quest enters the same loop. There is no escape hatch — that is the point.
1. Commit. You schedule a quest with a difficulty rating and a deadline. The system locks the contract in.
2. Completion path. Finish on time and every completed quest pays out XP scaled by its difficulty. Rate it 5 stars and it also pays Embercoin, up to three times a day.
3. Miss path. Abandon the quest and the system applies a flat 10 HP of damage — the same hit whether it was Easy or Epic.
4. Lock path. If accumulated damage drives HP to zero, your hero locks — blocked from most actions, not deleted. No level, Embercoin, or item is lost.
5. Recovery path. A Health Potion heals a portion of your HP, a Second Chance Scroll revives a locked hero at 50 HP, and leveling up is the one thing that restores you all the way to full.
This is what economists call a closed economy — every resource has a faucet (where it comes from) and a sink (where it goes). Most productivity apps only ship faucets, which is why their rewards feel weightless after a week.
The Economics of Embercoin
Embercoin is MainQuest's one currency — earned a handful of real ways, spent on real things, never taxed or decayed.
Faucets (Sources)
- • 5-star quest rating: +10 Embercoin, capped 3/day
- • Habit check-in: +10 base, boosted by buffs and pets
- • Selling any owned item from your Vault or to the Wandering Merchant
- • One-time new-account grant: 150 Embercoin
Sinks (Outflows)
- • Shop purchases — potions, Second Chance Scrolls, gear
- • The rotating Wandering Merchant's rarer stock
Why It Matters
No decay, no daily tax, no random pulls — every reward in MainQuest is deterministic, so a purchase feels like something you actually earned, not a roll of the dice.
What You Risk
Rewards without risk are meaningless. MainQuest adds real consequences to create real accountability.
HP Damage
MediumAbandon a committed quest or habit and take a flat 10 HP hit — the same for any difficulty.
Hero Lock
HighHit 0 HP and your hero locks — blocked from most actions until you revive. No level lost, no Embercoin lost, no item destroyed.
Streak Reset
MediumMiss a habit check-in and that habit's streak resets to zero — you lose progress toward its next milestone, not an XP multiplier.
Quest History
LowAbandoned or missed quests stay visible in your history. Nothing is deleted or hidden — just there if you want to look back.
Hero Lock and Recovery
The single most-asked question about RPG productivity apps: what actually happens when I hit zero HP? Here are the exact numbers.
What Actually Happens at 0 HP
- Your hero locks. Most actions are blocked until you revive — it's a pause, not a wipe.
- No level lost. Your level and XP progress stay exactly where they were.
- No Embercoin lost. Nothing is deducted from your balance for hitting zero HP.
- No item destroyed. Your inventory is untouched either way.
Getting Back Up
- Second Chance Scroll — revives to 50 HP. Use your own, or a friend can spend theirs on you. Buy one from the Shop for 300 Embercoin before you need it.
- Health Potions — partial heals. A Medium Potion restores +30 HP, a Greater Potion +70 HP.
- Leveling up — the only full heal. Every level-up restores you straight to 100 HP, clearing a lock along the way.
- No passive regeneration. HP doesn't tick back up on its own — recovery is always a deliberate action.
Why Stakes Work
Research shows loss aversion is roughly twice as powerful as potential gains (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). We're more motivated to avoid losing something than to acquire something new — the same loss-aversion bias the APA documents in its dictionary of psychology.
- ✓HP loss creates urgency to complete tasks on time
- ✓A hero lock keeps procrastination in check without a permanent wipe
- ✓Rewards are deterministic, not random — progress feels earned, not handed to you
- ✓Dopamine hits are stronger when risks are real
It's Not Just a Game
MainQuest isn't about making productivity "fun" with stickers. It's about creating genuine stakes that mirror real-life consequences. Miss work deadlines in real life, and you face real problems. MainQuest brings that same energy to every task.
Frequently Asked Questions
What rewards can I earn?+
What happens if I miss a deadline?+
Can I really lose progress?+
Is this too punishing for ADHD?+
How do streaks work?+
Can I lose Embercoin I've already earned?+
What happens if my hero locks more than once?+
Sources & Further Reading
The psychology behind MainQuest's reward and consequence loop draws on peer-reviewed behavioral research. Primary references:
- Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–291. Full PDF (University of Zurich) · APA PsycNet record
- American Psychological Association. Loss aversion — formal definition and the basis for MainQuest's HP-damage design. APA Dictionary of Psychology
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