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# System prepended metadata

title: VS NPCS

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# 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.