Roleplay and world behavior.

[TheNewtInTheSuit]

As a long-time RP video game lover, and an avid tabletop RP gamer, I enjoy see the world as it applies to me affected by my behavior. To what degree will the game respond to my acts?

If I decide I want to play Samuel Puppy-slayer, he who commits the foulest of acts, leaving no tavern wench unbeaten and no street orphan un-murdered, will Samuel be hated? Will he be subject to outrageous merchant prices? Will mercenaries or assassins be sent after Samuel every time he kicks a nun? Will his home be robbed and burned for that time he insulted Madoc's personal hygiene?

On the other hand, if I play Jonathan the Ever-so-Kind, a man who donates the money he gains from adventuring to the homeless and helpless and refuses to kill, even in self defense, how will I gain a positive reputation? Will Jonathan be the go-to hero for the town? Will he be the one hired to bring Samuel Puppy-slayer to justice? Surely he'd be a prime target for bandits and necromancers across the land, but would taking it in stride and living up to the hero's name bring Jonathan the renown he deserves for being such a damn goody-two-shoes?

It's been a dream of mine to see a game that truly responds to what I do, and from what the devs have told us, it seems that this awesome project could well be the one to deliver. Bare Mettle devs: Will Sui Generis be the game that punishes me for my idiotic behavior, lets me survive solely on grit and determination, and revere me when I bring justice?

P.S. This is such an amazing project you have, and I'm glad I can be here to support it (here with input as well as with funding on Kickstarter). Best of luck to the team!

 

[calithlin]

My only fear is that things will be boiled down to such small levels of procedural behaviors etc, that the uniqueness and tailored feel of some characters might get lost.
I just need to see an example of the system they plan to use I suppose.

 

[Tony]

The thing is... I don't want NPC's reactions to be just good or bad, black or white. Depending on the NPC's own goals and motivations is how they should treat you; not based upon some reputation that everyone magically knows. It should be on a case by case basis, not just a general attitude that all NPC's share. One NPC might praise what you're doing while another hates you for it. And others yet might try and take advantage of you if they perceive your kindness as a weakness.

I want it to be unknown what reactions NPCs will have based upon my actions. This is a much more realistic approach than simply having all NPCs praising you for doing "good" and hating you for doing "bad".

 

[calithlin]

I think it's pretty easy to implement a system where each NPC has a different overall knowledge of your character actually. There might be a few world-altering events that everyone can know about via word of mouth, but every NPC could easily have a short array of information they know about the player based solely on personal experience.

Let's say I interact with NPC A all the time, I help them defeat monsters, and invest in their business, so they think I'm honorable, brave, and trustworthy.
However, I might have broken NPC B's window while chasing after some bandits completely innocently, but they've never met be before finding out I broke their window, so their personal feelings towards me are that I'm just some hooligan that they want to smack around.

I'd say such a system is entirely doable, however getting all the possible reactions for the NPCs based on all these various feelings towards the player seems daunting.

 

[JamesButlin]

I'd quite like to have your playable character given a in depth humanity/kindness system, every time you do a good deed there could be a percentage chance that an NPC might have heard about it (percentages change depending on how much social interaction they might be likely to have with rest of NPCs?), this could effect the NPC's judgement on you as a character/player, same would apply with negative deeds.

If you go into a village casting magic against all of the citizens and leave a few alive (there could even be a witness system that would go hand in hand with the viral percentage), then through this system there's a high chance that townsfolk would hear of your deeds or misdeeds (a comprehensive list of these to reference from) which would then cause them to make up their mind on you as a person.

Picture if you will walking up to an NPC, you ask him for help with something but he has heard about the time you burnt an elderly gentleman alive for betraying you, he might have a bad opinion about you for burning an elderly gentleman alive but understand that he betrayed you so have a conflicting opinion. I'd like this complexity of how the NPC's judge you!

Obviously this is a crude idea for a system but the functionality is there, associate every deed with a kindness/evilness rating, these are then references for or against you when you meet NPC's and they can make up their mind whether they like you or not.

Let's say I interact with NPC A all the time, I help them defeat monsters, and invest in their business, so they think I'm honorable, brave, and trustworthy.
However, I might have broken NPC B's window while chasing after some bandits completely innocently, but they've never met be before finding out I broke their window, so their personal feelings towards me are that I'm just some hooligan that they want to smack around.

I've only just read your post and it's pretty much same idea I had

 

[Mimel]

The Devs have stated that our actions will determine the reactions of the NPCs. I assume by this and other statements about realism, that it means NPCs will act independently based on what they know about us. I'm not sure how the Devs will implement such a procedure, but I'm sure it would be an individual based assessment.

I'm sure it is possible.