I think it''s an okay idea. In RPGs I hate having to control more than 1 character. It would be interesting as long as the AI for them was good.

I''m a GameMaster since several years (about a decade), and I RARELY see players playing a role... so allowing a player to play several characters at the same time... biggest joke I''ve ever heard...

As a player I HATE to play more than A SINGLE character. I already have problems to play correctly a single character so don''t ask me for more.

Of course what I can understand is this :
RPG were Wargames... (AD&D IS a wargame)
In wargames you control an army, but since they tried to come closer to RPG than wargames, they manage to make you control only a small party.

This allow the player to have good strategy in battles...
But KILLS any roleplay.

IF I can create good strategy with the NPC, and they don''t do foolish things, I would like to have independant NPCs.

Alternatively I would like to be able to play the game with party members as real players through LAN or Internet.

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

On an almost unrelated note:
What if you designed a strategy game where you have only one unit? The command unit, that is...
Every other unit in the game would be controlled by the AI, and you simply issue orders, in the hope that they will hear them, and actually follow them correctly.

Wouldn''t that make for an interesting change of pace?


People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~

quote: Original post by Paul Cunningham

Why would you want this in a game?

Urggggh!?!?! Uh, Paul, were you not among the crowd (myself counted among them) that supported sleeping and eating as part of an RPG mechanic? Maybe I''ve got the wrong guy, but I thought you wanted fun realism!!!



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Just waiting for the mothership...

I was suprised that Paul said that as well...

Ingenu, I haven''t seen you around as much...speaking of which...where the heck has dwarfsoft been?

quote: Original post by Luxury

Ok...first off a question....
why do we control ALL of our party members? why not just "our" character, and the other party members do their own thing?

This is a sweet idea and I''m aiming for it in my current SF RPG design. The difficult thing, as others have noted, is getting their AI right. The shooting in the back crap in Fallout was egregious (was supposed to be fixed in Fallout2, but I''m not sure as I never finished)

quote:
ok...on that note...how about making other NPC''s with different motives. such as the direct you to another person in another village. then while they are talking to you, they decide to come with you. therefore you now have an NPC as a party member...but you can''t control them. maybe they want to go to the other village because they are scared of all of the monsters, and want to be escorted there.

Yes, this I''m trying to do some of, too. NPC''s have their own lives, man! Unless in your employ (and maybe even then, sometimes), they have things to do and places they want to go. (As others here would say, "they''re people too")

quote:
then you could have NPC''s as party members...that have feelings towards things. as in...the more trolls you kill...the less they respect you and feel that you are just a killer. therefore..they decide to leave your party. therefore...it makes it more like an rpg with almost a simulation mini-game of sorts...where you have to keep your NPC''s happy...or else they leave you, and won''t help you anymore.

Leaving your party is fine, as long as they warn you beforehand and you have a clear understanding as a player that this might happen. For instance, in my design there are combat loving NPCs and science and exploration loving NPCs. They don''t mix well, and the more you do of one type of activity the happier one side is while the other grows more disenchanted. From time to time they complain that there''s not enough action, or they want to see something new. Eventually, they give notice and leave; and you have to find replacements to man your ship.



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Just waiting for the mothership...