quote:Original post by TechnoGoth
The play could award title and ranks to the npcs as they see fit. Titles and ranks would effect what their share of the loots is. Actully this could work, jobs with in the band such as quartermaster, and merchant could be titles the player assigns to the npcs they feel most qualified.

Could you also demote them? And might a promotion or demotion change their character to any signficant degree? Maybe you promote the drunkard character, and this influences his behavior to start shaping up?

There''s a whole untapped universe of non-prescripted character growth waiting in the wings with this concept, which is why I love it so much.

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The player character can''t translate the book, but an npc in your party grew up with the son of a famous linqust so they would probably be able to get the book translate, or the npc may be a skilled linqust themselves and simply need access to a library and several days to translate the book, which is something they could hardly to on the road.

This makes logical sense as well, as you normally don''t reveal your contacts for fear of being cut out of the middle.

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I was also thinking of including the fact that some npc can''t be trusted and so you give the jade orb you found to one of your npcs because they say they have contacts that will help uncover the orbs orgins, only to discover that when its time to depart the npc has vanished along with the orb.

Here you have to be careful. Loss is interesting only if you had clear warning and a clear strategic tradeoff, or if you have no warning but there is always a way of recovering. Any player who gives an invaluable item to an NPC they''ve just met is working off of old RPG stereotypes. So you''ll need to (gently) break them of this habit.

What if you had an information network where you could negotiate, cajole, threaten or bribe people into giving you the location or probable location of any NPC in the game world? Then you''d be able to let the NPC steal an item and have the player on a vengeful rampage after them (rather than being impotent and fairly whining about how the game is unfair).

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Yes, depending on events that occur while in town some npc may run into trouble or be delayed. For instance a thief may have be caught and arrested or a drunk could still be at the bar singing songs. The player would have to make a decisious on what do. They could attempt to free the thief, or fetch the drunk, then again the player could decided that neither is worth the trouble and simply depart or they could send word that those npcs services are no longer required.

The nice thing about this is that it again reveals character, and gives you some strategic tradeoffs in your party. Maybe you''ll want to make it so that the more eccentric characters are the more powerful or have the most potential. This would more sharply focus the personality aspects.



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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote:Original post by TechnoGoth
Yes I also like this by having an active changing world it means that npcs sometimes have otherthings that they have to deal with. Also the players reaction to the npcs needs could have a major impact on npc player relations. Such as the case with the loyal npcs home under attack the npcs could approach player asking that they take the band and immeditely head out to save the village. The players refusal could permently damage thei relationship with the npc, the npc may even depart or permently.

At the risk of complicating things, you may not want to make this a hard and fast rule (help or relations will be permanently damaged). You may want to consider some subtle factors, such as how important the NPC''s individual quest is versus the player''s quest as a whole. There''s too much complexity in determining WHY the player refused the NPC. Did they do it because they''re greedy? Did they do it because the NPC was needed to prevent more lives from being lost?

If you make this a hard and fast rule, I can see players thinking, "well screw you, jerk, I''m trying to save the whole continent right now, not just your damn town!"

You need some sort of a negotiation scheme if you want this level of veracity in the relationships between the player and NPC. Promising them something, or giving them something in exchange (like sending mercs), or even altering things so that the chance of such an interruption is minimal (like getting the king to garrison the town in advance) would be options that don''t just leave the player stuck with a binary choice-- either comply, or have a well developed relationship harmed.

(This situation reminds me, btw, of Episode II, where Obi Wan has to convince Skywalker to stay on mission and ignore the loss of Padme. He does this by asking Skywalker, "What would she do if things were reversed?" "She''d do her duty," Skywalker admits, then carries on.)

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As to hiring halls I wasn''t planning on having any. Instead each recruitable npc would be a uniquie character in the game, with thier own personality and past. The player has to treat them as such the death of an npc means the character is gone forever. There will be numerous npcs available in the game the ones the player will be able to meet and recruit will depend on the way the world develops, and players actions.

I see this as working just as well, but making the NPCs much more of a precious commodity. Have you considered repopulating the world after NPC loss, though? As a natural point of veracity, if you scoop up many of the characters in an area you''ll have either a vacuum that the game must fill, or unnatural ghost towns.

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I do like the idea of the gambler esspically how it relates to down time spent in settlements. What about if the gambler is also a cheat? And the player knows that if they stay to long in one place and give the gambler to much free time they could find themselves in real trouble. Ditching a npc when their in a pinch will effect the party based on their opinions of the npcs, some may be happy that you finally got ridden of them while others would become untrustful of you since you have already abadoned one party member who''s to say they won''t be next. A similar thing happens on the battle field npcs can be captured and the players response to this will effect the rest of the party.

Again, great for character growth. Would there be a way to make up for this, though? Let''s say you''re very injured, and you retreat, leaving a man on the field to be captured by orcs. Now if it just happens that their opinion goes down, then you have a game where losing an NPC may be equivalent to permanent loss.

But what if you could later mount a rescue of the NPC? This suggests that rather than a flag that gets tripped, the attitude of an NPC at the time of loss of a comrade is a state rather that a switch. As a state, it can have all sorts of negative effects (and even positive ones), but it''s not permanent. Only when too much time passes or rescue become impossible (the captured character has been hung) does the state become permanent.

This raises a larger issue, though: What incentive do players have to keep an imperfect party. I know you said that they can''t just hire everybody, but I imagine that it will take awhile to deplete the stock of available NPCs. If you have a party that hates you for leaving someone behind, what stops you from just getting a new party? It has to be worth it to continue even though relationships are bad.

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Chaperon thats sounds like it could be a duty to me. It could even have an effect on the npcs chaperoning the other one.

Again, great for character development, especially if the player can get an inkling that this might happen beforehand. (I say this because the changes for which the players have no control should not be their responsibility, and should therefore be a cutscene or clearly prescripted event).

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I''ve decided not to think in quests but events. So if 4 similutanious hurrying events occur... well the player may have to choose between them. Do you save the village under attack or do you follow up a recent lead to Moris''s lost son, or do you let the two depart and carry on with your own plans?

I like events alot better than prescripted quests as well, especially when they integrate fully into the game world.





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Just waiting for the mothership...