the "Stalker"

[TheComet]

I was thinking that it could be cool if there was an NPC that wanders the maps of the game on certain event days. The character would be like an outlaw, about the strength of a puma but has 200 health. What type of outlaw could be randomly determined.

A warrior outlaw would be wearing metal armor and wield a longsword or other large weapon. Basically, attacks on site.

A(n) thief/agent outlaw would be wearing full black clothing, plus a balaclava style face mask (covers your entire head except for one opening on the front for your eyes) and have a dagger-like weapon, and he would also move at slow speeds while not in combat, with a bit of a stealth animation, and while in combat, walks. Only attacks a character that is in close proximity to it.

A mage outlaw would be wearing a cloak of some kind, loose-fitting clothing for a robe kinda look, and carry's a staff. This character could poison, harm occaisionally, and summon animals up to wolves. Will attack on site but not always.

and finally, a citizen outlaw would be wearing raggedy clothing and have gloves on. might have a crude weapon or maybe iron sword. This character will rarely engage combat and try to avoid players mostly, unless attacked.

 

These characters could be fought in multi-combat no matter what type of map it is. There can be up to 4 of these on a single map at a time, depending on the map size (WS would have 4, NC maybe 2, Grunabi would have 4 considering the danger level, Morcavian Marsh would have 3, ect). If one of these "Stalker" outlaws are killed, the next time they respawn, they will have a different type.

 

feedback? ideas?

[pennifuin]

i quite like it. The thoef outlaw could be dessed as a highway man.

[rickjameseq2]

nice ideas but what purpose do they serve?

[Fyvle]

I can see a potential in this for role playing. Have bounties place upon the outlaws head... perhaps have one or two on at a time and announce the bountie.

[Vanyel]

Make it gaining experience and leveling up After some time we will have uber villain.

Interesting idea, not sure if it is possible to make (this is the question to developers). I see the huge area of using such NPC in RPing, and.... actually nothing, but this (what doesn't make this useless or senseless).

[Roja]

Some good ideas for the future

[flinto]

Could we use one of the ants (or a slightly modified one as this villain?

[The_Piper]

That sounds like the pkable bot i once wanted to make.

 

It would run around, harvest veggies to make money, and when it dies, this gold is your loot.

 

Maybe ill give it a try again, of course only if this kind of bot would be accepted.

 

Piper

[sparhawk]

Sounds a bit like wandering fool

[TheComet]

I was thinking more along the lines of like fighting a monster, just a with a couple extra scripts to make them unique. That idea with the bounty is cool, maybe the person who kills them gets the bounty, IE, the bounty on the outlaw would be inside the bag when they die.

 

Now there can be a new class, Bounty Hunters

[trollson]

Just have, for example, Entropy make a few characters, set their attributes and equipment as required for the role, and then have cooperative and reliable persons roleplay them for specific scenarios.

 

No additional development work required, and you could actually have a meaningful conversation with them (if they are not just walking targets!).

 

If they need 'special powers', then there are mod-abilities which could be used. So long as the person role playing them follows the script.

 

Could be done today.

Edited January 25, 2006 by trollson

[TheComet]

Just have, for example, Entropy make a few characters, set their attributes and equipment as required for the role, and then have cooperative and reliable persons roleplay them for specific scenarios.

 

No additional development work required, and you could actually have a meaningful conversation with them (if they are not just walking targets!).

 

If they need 'special powers', then there are mod-abilities which could be used. So long as the person role playing them follows the script.

 

Could be done today.

 

You're right, that could be done until the developers create the character meshes or whatever. I know that the mods can make a character pkable, Mortos does it all the time in invasions XD

The special abilities though might need scripting, like the agent outlaw needs it's own animation for stealthy crouch-walking and such, along with some of the characters might look best with individualized combat animations such as the agent using more vitality shot-biased attacks such as stabbing and aiming for the neck, heart, and face, or the warrior taking strong swings or the civilian using a street fighting style of fistfighting.

[Vanyel]

For one of big contests I manage to convince developers to raise some stats of contest-chars. It worked perfectly.

Not sure how it might work for long term, though. I would really be afraid of giving any 'special powers' to such characters.

More preferably I would see it having just raised stats - then the fun would stay.

[TheComet]

The only thing I would think of as special abilities would be just animations and graphics (for their clothing)

[trollson]

Not sure how it might work for long term, though. I would really be afraid of giving any 'special powers' to such characters.

 

Why would giving special powers to such characters be a problem?

 

By special powers, beyond what you can do with stats and perks, I would just expect reuse of moderator type powers. Certainly it would only be exceptional characters (villans and heros) who would require more than what could be done within scope of normal character abilities, but it does open possibilities.

 

If the danger is abuse of power, then the players roleplaying the heros or villans need to be chosen more carefully. The player has nothing to gain, and if they abuse the power (not playing the character according to its description or the limtations given them in a briefing) then they wouldnt be allowed to play the part again.

 

In terms of resources available in this game; there is a lot of manpower but limited developers. All the above can be done with the former using the current game setup.

[Derin]

This is a good idea. We will use something similar in future quests and/or events.