21. NPC's/CRITTERS

Will there be NPC's?

Yes. Monster types, NPC guards, NPC drovers, NPC merchants, etc. On NPC merchants- if a player rents more than one merchant, they can 'chain' them. To chain- take the merchant (we will call him merchant A) you want goods delivered to, create a reference of them and a reference of the good(s) you want brought to them. You give the reference of the merchant (merchant A) and the goods to another merchant (merchant B) and program in the price you wish to offer per trip and the time limit. Here is when it would be useful. Player walks up to merchant A who you have programmed to buy rough garnets (he is standing right next to a garnet mine). You try to sell him more (as he is offering a good price) but he says "I'm sorry, but I have too many already. I would be happy to buy these if you could do me a [favor]?" When the PC says 'what favor', merchant A gives him a closed bag and says "Could you please deliver these to merchant B and you will get X gold for your trouble? You have half an hour." To prevent heavy temptation from the PC's, the bag is closed, sealed and absolutely no use to anyone unless it is delivered to merchant B, at which point the player gets the promised reward. Until the bag is destroyed or the time runs out (causing the bag to disappear) etc, the merchant (A) merely gives the annoying message that they are closed for X (the minutes remaining for the UPS mission). After the bag is delivered, the merchant can buy stuff again. If the bag is destroyed, the rough garnets go back into merchant A's inventory and the whole thing is started over. If the PC has set the delivery charge too low, they are punished by the merchant filling up and not being able to buy more. Merchants fill up when they get a certain number of items and can only be programmed to buy stuff that the player has created a reference for.

It does seem to be a pain in the ass to track down NPC's yet they become rather lifeless when they sit around forever in one spot hoping someone will buy something from them. In a futuristic game, this is a 'no-brainer' - have vending machines (like AO). In a fantasy type game it gets a bit trickier. In real life, there is no question that the jewelry store might be only open during certain hours, in a game that's a pain. I think what I'd do is to let the players make the choice. Yes, I know that they'll fuck themselves 9 times in 10 and bitch about it, but I still enjoy the automated system of sadio-massichism. What I'd do is to have it so that the PC's can rent NPC's for a variable amount of hours per day. If they choose to only have an NPC available for one hour per day, that PC won't be making much money. The NPC's are happy to work for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week (if we have 7 day weeks) - they just charge more. Hence, it would be the PC's that make the choice. I'd also let them choose between wandering and non-wandering NPC's. Crier and non- NPC's. If they want an NPC that wanders around the town 24 hours per day saying 'Jewelry! Jewelry for sale!' he will cost more than one that sits quietly in a shop waiting for PC's to click on him.

Will there be any 'independent' NPC's? IE ones not set up/rented by NPC's?

Just critters - PC merchants will never have to compete with independent NPC merchants.

How many species of creatures inhabit the world?

Just 20, but we will give them different names! Just kidding. Hopefully a couple hundred different creatures.

What type of creatures will be found?

Who knows?

Will all the creatures encountered be dangerous?

Varies.

Can you kill NPC's?

All NPC's can be killed. There are no indestructible noob guards, etc. If a clan/city wants (for some reason) to have such a guard in the newbie area, that guard can still be killed by skilled PC's.

If an NPC dies, will another replace it, or will it just return?

I don't like static spawns. Not by a long shot. Encourages camping, kill stealing, etc. All NPC's will be spawned randomly. NPC's won't spawn within a certain radius (100'? More?) of the PC's. If the PC's want to clear out an entire area (say to put up a building), they will need to kill all of the monsters in the area and then stay relatively spread out to prevent respawning. For all static dungeons/caves/etc, I'd like to have it where when PC's are in them, there are NO respawns. After all of the PC's leave a dungeon, a timer begins. After anywhere from a minute to three hours (I'd have it be pretty random) then boom - everything spawns again. Being that I'd have no unique/rare/gotta kill only this monster to get it type crap, monsters would be 'harvested' as a resource. Either for the raw materials they are carrying or for practice in fighting/spell casting/healing, etc.

Will NPC's cast spells or buff themselves and their allies when they are not in combat?

Some, yes. I'd like to have NPC's that have better AI than a lot of the ones out there. I'd like to have them be approximately the same strength as the players. Possibly a lot more of them but I am sick of having the NPC's get much, much tougher at higher levels because they can't think of any other way to make it a challenge.

Can I hire an NPC to protect my belongings for me?

Yes. It is better to hire PC's as they are a lot smarter (and usually better equipped/deadlier) but you can hire NPC guards. If you attempt to hire NPC guards from a kingdom that you have killed NPC guards in the past, the rates will be much steeper - if they just don't try to KOS you. NPC's will only work for pay and will leave after the pay you gave them runs out. Prepaying is always an option. A player can pay to have the next six months or year worth of guard services. Unfortunately, if the guard you prepaid for six months gets killed on the first day of his job, you will have to start all over with a new guard. This is the tradeoff between the convenience of prepay and paying by the week. One week is the minimum time an NPC guards services can be rented for. Characters you have to figure out if you trust them and come up with your own arrangements. If the PC agrees to guard something for an hour and then wanders off with it, don't call us. I want to have wood and stone be big blocks that could be set up in a big pile and guarded by PC's or NPC's.

Will I be able to hire an NPC as a bodyguard?

Yes. Again, it is better to have intelligent PC's do this but you can hire body guards. Those are more expensive (since they may have to leave town) but you will know instantly when their pay runs out as they will all wander off. Hopefully, not in the middle of a fight!

What about NPC AI?

I have been continually stunned at just how bad monster AI is in MMOLG's. All monsters have to have a lot of choices in what they do - otherwise they become very predictable. In some games, if you shoot/boom a monster, it will chase you till it is dead. Why is this? How much of a change would there be in the way PC's hunted if shooting/booming a monster caused it to run around the area and collect up other monsters into a group to look for the offender? I don't believe that monsters should always know where you are. Games have shown us that line of sight can be programmed. If a monster looses line of sight (and is intelligent) it should either flee the area, gather up lots of other monsters and begin patrolling the area, etc. If a monster notices a buddy of his has disappeared, this may or may not raise the alarm. If a monster notices a quarter of his buddies have mysteriously disappeared, this should most certainly raise the alarm.

Do NPC's come with their own equipment?

I'd like the answer to be 'No, you have to buy it for them and outfit them'.