X-From_: tbenn@csus.com  Mon Mar 30 21:26:08 1998
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 21:30:13 -0800
Subject: Articles & Examples Submission
From: tbenn@csus.com (Tucker Bennett)
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Priority: normal
To: blades@spidweb.com
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Notes On Dialogue

Dialogue can add a lot to a scenario.  Although you can incorporate a fair
amount of text using special nodes, dialogue is what differentiates an
actual role-playing scenario from a hack-and-slash one.  Think about the
Exile trilogy.  What would it be like without the extensive discourses and
personalities of major NPCs like Erika, Linda, Rentar-Ihrno and Motrax? 
Innovative, perhaps, but not nearly as interesting.

How much dialog is enough?  Well, major NPCs make the biggest difference. 
Every friendly town deserves at least a few NPCs with a number of
conversation nodes beyond the standard look-name-job.  Dungeons don't need
this as much, but adding one or two friendly, talkative folk can really
spice it up - for example, the prisoners in a Nephil fort.  Don't forget
that conversation can serve most of the same functions as special nodes as
far as advancing the plot goes - they can reveal information, use
if/thens, change stuff done flags, and even call special nodes.

If a character does talk, try to give him or her at least 1 or 2
conversation nodes beyond look-name-job.  But not every character needs to
talk.  For example, having guards talk would be unnecessary, and tedious
for the scenario designer.  On the other hand, while having every single
villager talk might not seem important, having too many silent characters
can make a scenario seem somewhat flat.  Instead of leaving personality at
-1, consider a simple look-name-job setup, with perhaps 1 conversation
node and an "other" message something like "Can't you see I'm busy right
now?"

This method can also be used if you have a lot of sedate characters.  For
example, the serfs in the packaged scenario "A Small Rebellion" don't say
anything, but they could, for example, all have a similar look-name-job
and an "other" of "If I talk guards hit me" or something of the sort. 
There are plenty of examples of this in the Exile trilogy, such as the
Slith farmers in Gnass or a few bunches of the giant intelligent friendly
talking spiders.

Finally, a word ought to be said about calling special nodes, and special
conversation nodes, in dialogue.  A scenario I downloaded recently had a
really neat plot twist - some NPCs turn themselves into magic items so the
party can transport them.  The scenario accomplished this by calling a
special node within the dialogue, which also killed the creature. 
However, it did not force the dialogue to end, which allows resourceful
players to ask about it repeatedly and get many, many copies of the magic
items.  Be sure you test any nodes integrated into dialogue thoroughly.

Some other uses for dialogue node calls include: answering a yes or no
question, or any question requiring an immediate response, via a one time
display message special; buying certain item types from the PCs, checking
if the PCs have a certain special item, teaching the PCs a spell or recipe
they don't have to buy, some of which even have their own special node
types dedicated to them.

As far as the force conversation end conversation nodes go: they can be
very useful.  But make sure that you don't use a kill monster forced end
if you aren't absolutely sure the monster has given the player all the
information he or she needs.  And be very careful with town hostile forced
end.  If the monster is simply offended by what the PCs said, hostile
forced end is probably more appropriate, unless you are dealing with a
commanding character, like a dragon or major NPC.

One last note.  Spelling is especially important when you refer to an NPC
you didn't create.  If you want someone to talk about Rentar-Ihrno, for
example, look up the spelling of her name, don't guess (Rintarino? 
Rent-Arono?).  If you're not careful, she might just throw some quickfire
at you.

- <a href="mailto:tbenn@csus.com">Tucker Bennett</a> (tbenn@csus.com)
