Open the PC graveyard?

Started by Freman Scum, October 16, 2002, 02:28:30 PM

We have all had a few well made PCs that for one reason or another were killed quickly before they ever really made any connections.

I was wondering if some of our more unknown dead characters might not be made into NPCs.   There are a wealth of characters saved on hard drives out there that just sit and collect dust, long dead and sorry to say, forgotten.

I'm currently on my 25th character, and while I would like to think that they all had an impact in some way or another, I know that I could drop at least ten of them into nak as NPCs and no one would know the difference.

So Imms, shall we open up the PC graveyard to help build up the current world?

Personally I would -love- to just happen across one of my old characters peddling trinkets in the bazaar or *striding off purposely here* kind of an immortality for the long lost children of our imagination.
For I have loved the stars too fondly to fear the night.~

Yeah, that would be pretty cool... but if you got in on Krrx's population project a while back you already get that feeling :D

Email in descriptions and such and I'll see what I can do. Please indicate what city as well.

Quote from: "Freman Scum"I was wondering if some of our more unknown dead characters might not be made into NPCs.
I personally think the Imms should be EXTREMELY picky about what descriptions they accept, and that only characters who never spoke or saw another PC should be accepted.

Why? Well, for the fact that there is probably a wealth of those anyway, and it will help cut back on the amount of descriptions the Imms get (which they might not want to happen, they might want an influx of descriptions) and also, it will help stop any confusion that may occur.

I don't like it, not a bit.

If you start pulling dead characters back to life just to save on having to write new NPCs, you're going to have to face the question of: "Well my PC died at 2.1 hours old and never talked to anyone. The concept was GREAT, can I get a res' and play it again?" sooner or later...

That aside, no one can be completely sure they had no interaction. When I has my last ranger I used to sit around watching the thieves and such shadow people around taverns and nine out of ten of those victims had no idea it was going on. Well, until I typed 'look shadow' and everyone bounded to their feet and began scanning and suddenly being all paranoid, heh.

Just a very bad idea. If we're so desperate for more NPCs, post a request on the GDB and I'm sure everyone would be willing to write up a fresh NPC or two to help out.
quote="Teleri"]I would highly reccomend some Russian mail-order bride thing.  I've looked it over, and it seems good.[/quote]

I made the offer not because we're "desperate for NPCs", but because a request was made on these grounds:

QuotePersonally I would -love- to just happen across one of my old characters peddling trinkets in the bazaar or *striding off purposely here* kind of an immortality for the long lost children of our imagination.

I don't have trouble with it, because I trust people to use their own judgement, and not send in characters that had much interaction with other PCs. If it's a character that died quickly, and someone put a lot of time into that description, it doesn't seem like a terrible idea to recycle the description, and to let the player add something to the game. Allanak has a population of some 500k. I'd expect a few people there to have significant resemblences to each other.

If people are fretting themselves about this aspect, though, let's add this rule. The characters have to appeared on the game at least - what, six months? a year? ago.

I think that all that would be required to prevent most of the recycled people from being recognised would be a small change to the sdesc.  I don't know about you, but mainly associate the sdesc with a character and rarely remember much of the main description of characters, not even the ones I've seen quite a bit.  I've seen characters make changes to their sdesc, even a simple thing like changing their hairstyle because their employer didn't want a "wild-haired" employee, and they have to reminde everyone who they are despite the fact that most of their description and equipment has stayed the same.

Turn your "tall, muscular man" into a "tall, beefy man" and chances are slim that he will be recognised.  NPCs have a little more latitude in their sdescs, so you could even make him a "tall, beefy mercenary" "tall, beefy soldier"  "tall, beefy outrider" or "tall, beefy nomad".  It doesn't take much to make an old character unrecognisable.

Angela Christine
Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with."     Henry S. Haskins

Well, it's not like having the same description is a big deal. In fact, I know that there was a PC who had the -exact- same short description as a character of mine who only died 6 months earlier. And since the equipment most likely won't be the same, most people won't recognize. Or they'll just see it as a striking similarity.

I personally don't think 'dead' pcs should be written in as npcs.  It is just a peeve I have.

Why don't we do this, but limit the npc-ing to retired/stored pcs?

That way, that Jul Tavarian merchant you stored because you decided you wanted to try your hand at running a templar could still be in the bazaar or somewhere in the game world, peddling her tribal beaded necklaces and moccasins, and it would be REALISTIC (tm) for her to be there.

There's already enough dead people wandering around Zalanthas for my tastes, thank you!   :twisted:
-Naatok the Naughty Monkey

My state of mind an inferno. This mind, which cannot comprehend. A torment to my conscience,
my objectives lost in frozen shades. Engraved, the scars of time, yet never healed.  But still, the spark of hope does never rest.