I've been searching around, and all I could see is that annexing Territories has benefits, which I knew already, but do all the other quests bring some kind of benefit or unlock things, apart from increasing the Kingdom aspects? Or is there some list somewhere?

I'm asking because I find the Quests kind of remote-controlled and I'm not sure I want to do them all...

Some of them give Legendary traits (besides the Fountain Quest) some have items you can only get through them (Or a hack) such as the Knight's Plate, from the Wargames quest. It gives a buff that allegedly "mitigates wounds taken by the wearer." edit: And after doublechecking, that is the name indeed. Unfortunately there is a "normal" type of armor with the same name IIRC.
The Gilded Guilds seem to give Profession specific items/benefits. Things like that.

All that said, you are indeed correct. Most quests can be stripped down to very simple archtypes, this is true of most computer RPGs due to the nature of the beast. The "good" ones do an excellent job of distracting the player with things to do as they go through the steps, side-quests being the most obvious.

If one could rig an Ambition to have an over-arching storyline, with the usual quests appearing as the side items you perform to achieve various goals that advance the ambition... *shrug* One might be able to create a similar effect if the second half of the Jacobian's Day Out quests have a general "Quest appears if..." flag, which could be used on other quests.

I'm not sure how the game figures out what quests you get, but I don't think it is entirely random (Annex quests aside).

Well you also receive RP of course, for creating new buildings (the better you do the more you get), and the Heroes who were part of the quest also get a fine chunk of XP toward their hero level (and of course getting Platinum nets you the most XP)

I know there are also some quests that have to be completed to get certain others to become available, such as "Jacobian's Day Out 2"

One of the quests unlocks some new foods available, that have high mood points and longer spoiling time. I think it's Meat Quest IV but only if you don't play the greedy way by selling to the monarch.

Erm, I thought it was the other way around? (Give the meat to the people.)

...man I hope they fix the chef in that one though. While it did help me get the Gruel Hoarding award... still very annoying to have to clean up.

There are also NPCs that appear in relation to quests, and some of em stay around.

My Witch got a nice elf lover through the Guilds quest

Yeah, that's what I meant. Fixed.

About the chef, I just put a cauldron downstairs by the stalls and place some crates around it so he'll at least put the plates where I can find them. Plus as a bonus, the customers will help themselves to the gruel, so there's less to clean up.

The thing is that I already have all the buildings since I play with the same Kingdom from one Ambition to the next one (there's no way I'm starting all over again), so I don't need to "earn" them anymore, and I also play Free Time in between quests, so my Heroes are earning XP doing their work more than completing Quests. I guess I'll do them (almost) all once to see what happens, some are more fun than others. I'm not sure bout the Legendary traits though, I like my Sims to have a flaw.

But isn't it boring to have all the buildings for sim-years and having all Heroes at level 10 already? Isn't it too easy to perform the quests?
I decided to begin a new kingdom with the new Ambition because of the challenge and need of development (and change).

Well, the thing is if I could start a new kingdom with a new terrain and different buildings I would still like it, but just the same all over again... I like my Kingdom so I play in Free Time. Once in a while a Hero dies so I get to raise the profession level of the new one. And I'm not crazy about the quests either, some seem to me more annoying than fun... I know, I'm playing in an unusual way, but that's how I like it!

Well, I don't know if this is an official benefit or a glitch, but I was playing the quest given to me after allying with Effonmont, and I married that countries prince. Of course we all know we're the ruler of our own land, but has anyone noticed we're not called king or queen? I have, and it's been bugging the hell out of me. So I did the quest, married the prince, came back after starting a new quest, since I'd finished that one and... surprise! I wasn't called Lady Elizabeth anymore! I was called Queen Elizabeth, and if that isn't an awesome benefit, I don't know what is, because I'm ecstatic. Princey was still called prince and that didn't surprise me at all. I'm the ruler after all, and I finally have the name to prove it. :lovestruc

Monarchs title changes depending on the number of annexed territories. It doesn't matter which one, it matters how many. If I'm not mistaken it goes like this: you start with Lord/Lady, after annexing 1 territory you become King/Queen, and after annexing 4 territories you become Emperor/Empress.

I had thought it was either with level or annexing it changed, never paid too much attention to when it actually happened. I'd always leaned more towards level, but have checked all my kingdoms just now, looking for one where no territories had been annexed, since all my Monarchs became King or Queen at some point. Every Kingdom has at least 1 annexed though. On the ones that had a good amount annexed they were Emperor/Empress like Lexy said they would be, so I'll agree with Lexy on how they get the title.

Also, good to know that this is what changes it, since my current Monarch is level 7 and still a Lord, have been waiting for it to change to King, but since I haven't bothered annexing anything in this Kingdom, then obviously it's not going to , and I do prefer the title 'King'. I was just beginning to mildly wonder about the title change when he hit 7 earlier this evening and was still a Lord, and then your post appeared. Good to know how to get the title for definite. Thank you =)

The epithet that comes after the title is determined by the level of the monarch. When you reach level 5 it's "The Great" and at level 10 it's "The Illustrious".

LOL I was actually just about to ask if anyone knew where these came from, so thank you again =D