# VS NPCS

## Design Notes

- two main functions of NPCs:
- to be antagonists to unsettled players akin to wolves & bears
- to work with other NPCs be a (somewhat inefficient) "factory" for settled players willing to care for them within a town
- three "ages" of NPC development
- wanderer/nomadic
- stone tools, tattered clothing
- drifter-like appearance, erratic behaviors and general hostility
- time and the world has forgotten them, and they have forgotten the world before. It should show at a glance.
- Characteristics in the world should include
- evidence of corpses, annotated with similar notes from when drifters kill animals/eachother
- campsites, reed baskets, hay beds under sod lean-to, etc
- should be relatively unappealing to pilfer after any serious metalworking
- players should have to figure out how to interact with them in ways that don't involve blind right-click to talk.
- uneducated serfs
- chattel, beholden to the player
- once "socialized" by the players, becomes a bit more dynamic
- can be told where to live in a town
- can't really build for themselves, needs locations for supplies designated
- Can "watch" a player between dialog instances and remember where storage they should use is
- can perform basic tasks like guarding an area, hunting/gathering, pottery, logging, etc.
- can also act as a vendor in a shop for a player
- have basic needs that they telegraph to the player when talked to
- food consumption should be a (configurable) fraction of that of the player, so that a well provisioned NPC can last for IRL days at 30d:1d IG/IRL ratio without interactions.
- If a task they're assigned to cannot be completed, the NPC should try to seek out an notify the player if they're in a radius of the NPC.
- Maybe have a job board object you can assign tasks for groups of NPCs to pick up?
- Basic socialization between NPCs?
- rabbit hole feature, low priority.
- educated craftsmen
- requires some form of "education" to create
- maybe from a tome from a ruin?
- Xskills integration? once a profession has been learned, you could teach it to an NPC
- does one thing very well, like metalworking or cooking
- has "personal property" it doesn't like having disturbed
- allegeances are to player groups?
- might build their own structures?
- Millenaire did this well, might be worth replicating as part of the "education" process
- may migrate away if they are mistreated, underfed, or under utilized
- ...but will actively seek out vendor serfs to purchase what they need
- coinage integration
- should be able to configure what coins a vendor accepts and what ratios (thru RGs) they're valued at eachother.
- NOT chattel like pesantry.