GregKerr.Net

[jennie]

MM270 - World Creation Assignment
Option #6 - Non-Player Characters
Jennie

There are a variety of non-player characters possible. Lots of non-Player people moving around in this world are there for direct support or to add challenge, but some are just part of the “furniture.”

One note – I have inferred that the loyalty points and the kudos are similar, and that they refer to karmic justice. Therefore, I’ve included a few interactions that would award these points. I’m not sure if the loyalty points COULD be awarded apart from directly interacting with dogs, but I was on a roll and I went with it.

***Edit to include – RATS! I wrote way too much. I sketched these characters and THEN fleshed them out… and went overboard. It was too much fun, and I wanted to post the whole thing. Greg, quit reading halfway through.
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Extras* (active and inactive):
Random-seeming strangers who *may* hold valuable shortcut** information or useful items. On screen, these characters will blend into the environment, or possibly resemble other Players to throw the real Players off. They do not interact unless double-clicked on. The only way a Player can tell if an Extra is active is to try clicking on each one. The Active Extras don’t appear very often, and they don’t tend to stay onscreen for long.

Active Extras may include the following:
- Scruffy-looking doctors or nurses scurrying past in the hallways of the hospital
- Hospital “patients” – including one in a body bag
- Farmworkers bent to their tasks
- Auction Block traders, messengers, venders… a woman chasing a goose, a man weighing grain, a drunk sleeping in a doorway
- Security checkpoint guard who take bribes and give advice (only the guard who is wearing a blue bar on his lapel)
- Employees working in PowerPlant, Distillery, Coal Mine, or Landfill areas
- Boat crew members hoisting sails and loading or unloading cargo
- Prisoners held alongside Players who have been taken

(*The concept of Extras is undisclosed in the game’s literature – finding them at all is accidental, or because a Player knows or has enough curiosity to double-click stuff.)
(**Short cuts could include maps through the Labyrinth/Sewers, or secret routes to (or from) PIS headquarters, routes to (or from) known NON encampments, extra food or weapon caches, or non-patrolled border regions. They could also include passwords for cooperation from boat captains, or to get discounts on food, weapons, or services at the Auction. They may provide extra health/medical benefits, as well.)


Inactive Extras would include many of the same characters, just not clickable for much of anything except their specific jobs/roles. This group includes:
- animals (as have been discussed by others – rabbits for hunting, horses for riding, dogs as pseudo-active partners… ) --- Also:
o vultures, hawks - circling in the sky will indicate a scavengeable area, good for food and/or weakened allies who need help, may help guide Players to roads connecting PIS and NON bases…
o deer, elk – they’re quick - good for food if you have the proper weapons and use them in time
o seagulls - if Player is elsewhere and needs to find the river, seagulls flying in the sky can be a guide. They also tend to hover around boats looking for food; feeding them grants kudos or loyalty points which may help with dog companion situations
o oxen – scruffy, lean, grumpy, stubborn – good for hauling anything

- Hospital patients – writhing, dying, getting taken away screaming
- Hospital guards – enforcing the removal of patients who cannot afford treatment
- Auction Block traders who do things in the background– a greasy fuel guy who looks like he sleeps with his tanks, a miller with a pretty wife, a miller’s pretty wife who disappears around the corner if you try to talk to her, a man who will broker Players who want to work in the fields, a farm owner who simply buys/hires Players and then carts them out to his farm, a sleazy drunken baker – he only gives you half of what he says he’s selling you – don’t buy from him.
- Workers – Distillery workers wear light blue and green. Power Plant workers wear dark green, white hard hats, and walkie-talkies. Railroad workers and workers in the Mines wear orange for visibility, and they’re almost completely covered in dirt/soot. (Spies into these areas will need to get dirty to fit in, or else they’ll get busted.)

There are endless other background people possible…

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EvilExtras
Bad luck. They blend in. You double-click on one of these and you unleash a spy from the other side. (This will vary, depending on which “side” the Player is on.) Now that this character has been exposed, he/she will try to kill you. Weapons are specific to the EvilExtra’s persona: farmers have pitchforks, coal miners have pickaxes, the drunk will break a bottle and use it to cut you, etc. Dogs can alert you to this danger and keep you from clicking. Weapons work well if you can use them in time.

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Other Non-Player Characters:

- Receptionist at the front desk of PIS – a pretty 30- year old brunette, dressed in a gray, professional-looking suit. If you work for the corporation, or if you appear to, she will offer you coffee and help you get where you’re going in the building. If you are clearly part of the NON group and you are a prisoner, she will ignore you. If you are clearly part of the NON group and you are on your own, she will back away from the desk in fear.
(Undisclosed – if you double click on her, her behavior will change – she is generally much more helpful. If you work for PIS headquarters in Richville, she knows how to help you achieve the next level (promotion). If you work for the NON side, regardless of your outward appearance, she will tell you how to secretly navigate your way around in – or to get out of - the building. She is secretly on the NON side, but is limited to helping in small ways.)

- Non-denominational nomadic/walking religious figures:
o Priest – Can help with all sorts of things (food, meds, allies, shelter), but not with weapons. (Undisclosed info: wears a necklace to show he’s trustworthy.)
o Nun – similar to Priest, more healing abilities, food, but less help finding allies
o Evil Priest – villain who turns you over to spies, will ALWAYS do the evil thing, can actually benefit you if you have a mission requiring a trip to the opposite side’s headquarters… if you can get free of the spies/guards, that is. (Undisclosed info: NO necklace! – He’s NOT trustworthy.)
o Destitute Monk – can help you find a way through the Labyrinth/Sewer/Railroad areas, needs food (Loyalty points/kudos if you feed him.)
o Crazy Holy Person – Gives tough riddles which can help Players to accomplish their missions if you can solve them… also, these CHP’s require initial donations of some kind (undisclosed info: don’t donate weapons, or they’ll turn on Player – after all, they are crazy!)

- Boat Captain (Captain Mike) – He is approximately 40 years old, he’s got red hair, he’s slightly barrel-shaped, and he’s dressed like a scruffy non-military captain (tan breeches, scuffed boots, blue undershirt, dirty blue shirt, and a black Greek sailor’s captain’s hat). He is typically uncooperative, a waste of time.
However, if you give Captain Mike a prime weapon (like a gun), you will have his loyalty for an hour of interaction with him (can be used now or later). If you give him a secondary weapon or ammunition (like a knife or some arrows), you can count on his loyalty for ten minutes of play - long enough to cross the river once (as long as there are no problems).

- Media members – Reporter – a 25 year old woman on a television screen who delivers information about the current situation in Richville. She is activated by players who want updates regarding power shifts within Richville’s elite, large criminal (i.e., NON) activities (either side may be victorious at that moment, but the Reporter is clearly biased towards PIS), and weather-related disasters and forecasts. PIS members have access to working televisions. She is also visible on two broken-looking tvs for the NONs to view; one screen is in the Safehouse, the other is hard to find in a small doorless room in the Labyrinth (near the edge of Richville).
(Undisclosed: the NON tvs must be double clicked to activate. ALSO - the power for these tvs comes from the Power Plant – both of the NON tvs are somehow pirating power, signifying that there are live power circuits running underground outside of Richville. This power is unrealized and untapped… but a resourceful Player might be able to figure out a way to use this… )

- Marauders – It’s possible for Players to become Marauders, and to join up with each other and become gangs. There are also Non-Player gangs and gang members who lie in wait for Players throughout the game, especially for those who are traveling between settlement areas. Marauders are chameleons, wearing whatever clothing best camouflages them. This will vary based on environment, but it’s usually a combination of rags, dirt, and non-shiny armor. One large Non-Player group of Marauders is impenetrable, killing whoever they encounter. They have no affiliation with any side, and they do not trade. The only way to survive is to drop everything and run. It’s bad luck if they come upon you when your settlement is small; they avoid settlements containing fifteen or more members.
Marauders are hard to see even if you know they’re there. They don’t move much… until the moment they attack. Players who have protection – body armor, shelter, dogs, etc. - or who can fight back will buy a little time.
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