Eclipse Arc, or: I'm getting paid to be alone on a space station, so I'm playing VRMMOs

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[x] ... doing a lap around the village to see how the NPCs here live their life. Ask around for a Bhomon alchemist.

Yeah, this is my option, ish. I'd modify it slightly, but not enough for me to find it worthwhile to nominate an additional option. I'd want to try to see how the NPCs live their lives, but I'd be just as interested in exploring the village physically to see how every last bit of it looks. (Still, 'lap around the village' very much sounds like how I play.)

When I get to a new village in a game: I usually explore the entire thing, every last nook and cranny, first the entire outside, then inside every building I have access to. I'm not very goal-driven at that point, and in fact if I encounter anything that seems like it'll advance the story I usually avoid it because I don't want to change the world until I've seen its initial state, otherwise you miss stuff, like: What would X NPC have said before you hit Y trigger event? When I said I like to try to 'do and see everything', it's not much of an exaggeration. Anyway, as part of the above, I'd also talk to every NPC at least twice, trying to see all their dialogue options for all possible choices (while avoiding any with a ! above their head or similar, and also avoiding choices that would change their behavior / options/ act as world triggers). ... so yeah, doing stuff that would obviously advance the story is... I'd want to do something else until I'd had a really thorough look around, first, and just seen stuff and explored. Also, I'd deliberately avoid following up on any leads NPCs had given me of 'maybe do this', or advancing quests, until I was satisfied I'd seen and done everything. Of course, there are some limits: If I realized that every NPC has hours worth of unique dialogue, for instance, or if they're driven by an advanced AI that can essentially have endless conversations, I'd have to adapt my usual strategy a bit: I wouldn't spend hours talking to every single NPC. Though I might spend that long talking to some of them if I found them interesting enough, and I'd probably, sooner or later, or maybe as an over-time thing, at least twice try to 'exhaust' their dialogue even if all of them would talk to you for hours just for the sake of discovering their true limits or trying to fully explore a small number of them.
 
Jessie Rainbow said:
[x] ... doing a lap around the village to see how the NPCs here live their life. Ask around for a Bhomon alchemist.

Yeah, this is my option, ish. I'd modify it slightly, but not enough for me to find it worthwhile to nominate an additional option. I'd want to try to see how the NPCs live their lives, but I'd be just as interested in exploring the village physically to see how every last bit of it looks. (Still, 'lap around the village' very much sounds like how I play.)
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Dito on the close enough to not split the vote.
After accounting for the whole SciFi-AI orchestrating npc lives, rather than "prepared text plus triggers to change to different prepared texts" i'd go for a relaxed walk through the village, take in the general vibes and mentally note the P.O.I..
The usual "look at everything and talk to everyone" would probably creep the npc population out. Especially with how we seem to be unusual enough for
notthepenguins said:
People bustle back and forth, along the street and going into the myriad of other buildings and shops, but as they catch sight of you they almost invariably slow to a stop, panic, and then see the bag on your back and calm down. Maybe they've never seen a Felixar before?
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[X] ... doing a lap around the village to see how the NPCs here live their life. Ask around for a Bhomon alchemist.
[X] …intercepting the vaquero. That badge meant she must be a lawman, so she probably had a quest to give.
 
Toboe said:
After accounting for the whole SciFi-AI orchestrating npc lives, rather than "prepared text plus triggers to change to different prepared texts"
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It's somewhere in between; in general NPCs are handled by VIs with human interaction and personality software, with a few AIs tasked to full-time wrangling. That group works under the group designing story (quests, events, politics) and doing worldgen (mixed AIs and humans), to make sure everything stays consistent there, and the higher-level staff (AI and human both) check in when something trips flags or gets brought to their attention. It's generally unlikely for any given NPC to be manually run by an AI, but important NPCs or ones in important quest roles will have more scrutiny, and the system is designed for fairly seamless switches to manual control.

If you want a dev's attention, it's easy to get it, but as far as time paying attention goes, it was likely just two passes for Alisha: one when she first did chargen, and a second when she locked in the choice and they made the changes needed for the backstory quests etc.
 
notthepenguins said:
It's somewhere in between; in general NPCs are handled by VIs with human interaction and personality software, with a few AIs tasked to full-time wrangling. That group works under the group designing story (quests, events, politics) and doing worldgen (mixed AIs and humans), to make sure everything stays consistent there, and the higher-level staff (AI and human both) check in when something trips flags or gets brought to their attention. It's generally unlikely for any given NPC to be manually run by an AI, but important NPCs or ones in important quest roles will have more scrutiny, and the system is designed for fairly seamless switches to manual control.

If you want a dev's attention, it's easy to get it, but as far as time paying attention goes, it was likely just two passes for Alisha: one when she first did chargen, and a second when she locked in the choice and they made the changes needed for the backstory quests etc.
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So there is VI, which is essentially really really good bots. And above there are layers of AI and AI+Human who can seamlessly take over lower layers. (like taking direct control of a VI, or having the VI regenerated with new setting, or adding new story-threads [...])
The VI would probably realize we are being weird if we do stuff like "look at everything and try talking to literally everyone and try to follow every dialogue path", right?

Which would then probably lead to the npc treat us like we're being weird and maybe other npcs hearing about us being weird.
 
Toboe said:
So there is VI, which is essentially really really good bots. And above there are layers of AI and AI+Human who can seamlessly take over lower layers. (like taking direct control of a VI, or having the VI regenerated with new setting, or adding new story-threads [...])
The VI would probably realize we are being weird if we do stuff like "look at everything and try talking to literally everyone and try to follow every dialogue path", right?

Which would then probably lead to the npc treat us like we're being weird and maybe other npcs hearing about us being weird.
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Yeah. You can assume a given NPC will act mostly like a real person (though they do give a bit of extra leeway for PCs being weirdos, it's fairly mild and mostly takes the form of "those Eclipsed folks sure are eccentric").
 
[x] ... doing a lap around the village to see how the NPCs here live their life. Ask around for a Bhomon alchemist.
 
Yeah I always like to find out what's around the next corner in RPGs. Especially if there's no story-based reason to do so. Is this NPC up to anything other than standing around and adding 1 to the population? How many of these buildings can you enter and how many are just filler?

Though this is in opposition to quests, where I like equal amounts fluff and progress. So maybe we shouldn't spend so long on this.
 
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  • Voting
    • Adhoc vote count started by notthepenguins on Feb 27, 2023 at 1:43 PM, finished with 16 posts and 9 votes.
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    Vote closed.
     
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    • Lystining to the Alchemist
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    • You could try to pick up some sort of quest immediately… or you could scout the place out, and maybe work on your 'personal' quest. Is that even the right term? Well, it's personalized, so you'll go with that.

    You turn off the main road, making sure to stay on the sidewalk as you check the place out more thoroughy. The population seems to be mostly Hicys or what you think is some kind of dwarf, givern their short, muscular builds and penchant for hammers. You say "some kind," of course, because they don't have the classic barrel-like build or enormous beards, instead with hourglass-shaped figures and bare faces or neatly trimmed beards. Topping it off – and making you not quite sure they are dwarves at all – are the pair of crystalline horns of varying shapes each of them have. Maybe one in three people on the street isn't one of those two species, and a large portion of that last third is humans. Who, if the blurb you got at character generation is any guide, exist basically everywhere and are incorporated into other cultures rather than being their own distinct group. The remaining mix is eccentric, but mostly humanoid. Some are furry, some are scaly, and some are fleshy. You do spy one centaur, and a… floating polyhedron? You would have assumed the last of those wasn't a person at all, except it seems to be having some sort of disagreement with a small pixie carrying a spear.

    The town does not appear to be very large. The main cross street you have turned onto has a handful of buildings that appear to be craftsmen and general stores, a few you can't discern the purpose of, and an inn across the street from… you squint at the blurry sign and a window pops up.


    …huh. Well you can deal with that one later. You dismiss the notification and move on. A few more businesses, one which… you sniff. Many of the scents you've been able to pick up with your new senses have been alien to you, but that one is an unmistakably chemical scent. Solvents, maybe? That meant an alchemist or chemist, probably. You pad up to the door of the shop and open it with your tail.

    The interior of the shop is floored with clean gray stone, though the walls are wooden, and the room is lined with shelves, each of which supports several generously-spaced glass bottles. Each bottle is filled with liquids of varying colors, and has a neat paper card describing the potion's effects. The front counter is mostly wood, but the countertop is the same gray stone as the floor, and is surprisingly short, maybe 70, 75 centimeters – short enough, in fact, that you're taller than it. You shrug and reach up with one paw and ring the bell on the counter.

    A thump, followed by a yelp of surprise and string of muttered cursing comes from the back room, and before long the proprietor steps out of the curtains separating the front room from the back. She is, as it turns out, one of those maybe-dwarves who are common here, wearing a work apron over casual clothes. Short, with more muscle than you'd expect from an alchemist, and a rather generous figure, with amethyst horns that curl forward and then up.

    She starts as she sees you waiting patiently, apparently not expecting a canid that can make easy eye contact with her. It only takes her a moment, though, and she walks forward and inclines her head. "Do you have a note for me?" She asks, "I'm afraid I don't usually do pickups by familiar, but I can at least write a response explaining that."

    "Oh no, I'm not a familiar," you say – you have a somewhat deep, feminine voice, you note, and a surprisingly human one given your body type – and when she jerks this time you can hear the clonk of her kneeing – or maybe kicking – the counter. You wait politely.

    "I uh, sorry," she says once she recovers. "I've never seen uh… a person like you before." She shakes her head. "Sorry, that was rude of me. Lystin Goldrock, alchemist, at your service. How can I help you?"

    "Saphielle va'Tisharin," you say, tilting your head. "I'm actually here to ask a few questions, but I am an adventurer of sorts, so it's good to know you're here."

    She seems a bit confused by the clearly elven name, but doesn't let it slow her down. "Questions? Not exactly an information broker here. 'Less it's about alchemy, I probably don't know, and I do charge for people who want tutoring."

    Hm. Maybe she can teach the Alchemy skill? That'd be neat, useful for a starting village. Wouldn't want a crafter to have to get all the way to the hub to get started, after all. Still, that wasn't the point.

    "Actually, I'm here looking for a family friend, another alchemist. Bhomon guy, name of Bosrin. Last we heard he was here on Erini II, then stopped sending letters."

    "Bosrin, Bosrin…" she frowns, a hand rubbing at a horn in a thinking gesture. "Where do I know that name from… oh! Yeah, he came through here a month or so back. Kind of a weird guy, you'd think he was Eclipsed or something if you didn't know better, but knew his stuff. That one," she points at one of the shelves, "is actually his work. Still not sure how he got it to be that pretty color, but it's great for sales."

    "A month ago… do you know where he went after? You say 'came through,' so I assume he's not still here."

    "Hmm, can't say I know for sure. He did some work here for some cash, spent a lot of time over in the library and the tea house. I can't rightly say what he was looking for, but he asked me some questions about nearby ruins. I told him all the good ruins were down on the surface, but he didn't seem interested in listening."

    Down on the surface, and ruins? Is this not the surface? Weird, it looks surface-y. Probably a good idea to look into this place's backstory a bit more. "Are you sure that's all you know?" you ask.

    "Mm… all I got for you offhand, sorry. I'd have to start bugging the other folks he spent time with to get more."

    She considers you for a moment, arms crossing beneath her chest. It does… distracting things. You look back up when she talks again. "If you're an adventurer, though, I have some jobs I'd be happy to hire you for. Ingredients that are hard to get without risk, deliveries to my more… reclusive customers, so on. Interested?"

    [ ] Yeah, you're interested. (Take the quests, get some cash and experience).
    [ ] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    - [ ] You'd love some potions on the cheap.
    - [ ] You'd like some alchemy training.
    [ ] No, you'll pass. Got too many things to do to get bogged down here.
    [ ] Something else (write in; if you choose multiple options you'll be locked into working for her for longer, but it's doable)
     
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    • [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    [X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    Iris-Iven-Ibis threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: Why not? Total: 38
    38 38
     
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
     
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    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    -[X] Ask what local resources, especially Herbalism & Mining related, or from easy to pick up skills, are interesting to alchemists
    --[X] would she be interested in buying them? Or products made from them, if easy enough.

    Some fetch quests while we are here and searching for clues can't hurt.

    Clues so far:
    • Mostly spaceelves, maybedwarfs, and humans,
      • rest could be player characters
      • means our target would probably stand out
    • came through a month ago
    • excentric
    • skilled
    • spent time in the library & the tea house
    • asked about ruins
    • not interested in ruins "down on the surface"
    Excentric skilled alchemist that spend time in the library (searching for clues in the records?) and in a social hub of the village(searching for clues from the local rumor mill? Or trying to hire people?), also interested in ruins, but only those not on the surface.

    Sounds like he is on a mission to get some loot from some fabled dungeon (maybe rare potion ingredients? Or lost knowledge?).
     
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    -[X] Ask what local resources, especially Herbalism & Mining related, or from easy to pick up skills, are interesting to alchemists
    --[X] would she be interested in buying them? Or products made from them, if easy enough.

    If it's this easy to find training in common skills like alchemy, then player characters might all be a shotgun spread of odd skills they picked up along the way.

    notthepenguins said:
    "Bosrin, Bosrin…" she frowns, a hand rubbing at a horn in a thinking gesture. "Where do I know that name from… oh! Yeah, he came through here a month or so back. Kind of a weird guy, you'd think he was Eclipsed or something if you didn't know better, but knew his stuff.
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    Plot twist: Bosrin is a player eclipsed.
     
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    -[X] Ask what local resources, especially Herbalism & Mining related, or from easy to pick up skills, are interesting to alchemists
    --[X] would she be interested in buying them? Or products made from them, if easy enough.
     
    That obscured content though. Is it bad that I keep wanting to click 'do not show me this again -> confirm'?

    Also I'd be really interested in knowing what it gets replaced by if we choose replace.
     
    Curtains said:
    Also I'd be really interested in knowing what it gets replaced by if we choose replace.
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    Basically the content gets instanced out and replaced with something less sensitive - in this case, a brothel would likely become a motel or liquor store or gambling den or something, depending on what its purpose in the town narratively is. It's never going to be anything of major narrative import though (or if it is that element will be duplicated across both versions). The default setting for adults is "censor blur it out and ask," which is why you got that message.

    While I'm on the topic, the difference between display and enable is basically a "will it interact with you" setting, though there's a bit more to it than that. With "display" but not "enable" you could walk into the brothel and talk to people but no one would make a pass at you, for instance.

    Metarite said:
    I didn't even know you could set up a window like that in SV.
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    Two nested fieldsets, one 5px smaller than the other, with title=" " to make the title go away.
     
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    -[X] Ask what local resources, especially Herbalism & Mining related, or from easy to pick up skills, are interesting to alchemists
    --[X] would she be interested in buying them? Or products made from them, if easy enough.
     
    Hmm... I probably would have spent even more time looking around before going into the shop, but that was satisfying. It is a small town, and we had a pretty good look around!

    [ ] Yeah, you're interested. (Take the quests, get some cash and experience).
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    - [ ] You'd love some potions on the cheap.
    - [X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    [ ] No, you'll pass. Got too many things to do to get bogged down here.
    [ ] Something else (write in; if you choose multiple options you'll be locked into working for her for longer, but it's doable)

    And here... I'd probably be inclined to try to avoid starting work on a quest until we'd seen more of what everyone else has to say, but having had a quest *offered* to us, especially one that I want... I'm not going to turn it down, especially as - who knows how the world works? If we said no, we might not get it offered again. Besides, accepting the quest doesn't mean we necessarily have to start work on it immediately, and accepting this one probably won't change much else in the world, either.

    And I DO want this quest. A chance to learn a new non-combat skill? Count me in! The other rewards... cash, experience, potions, presumably there are lots of ways we could get those, let's not lock ourselves in to working to this person for too long before we've seen what else is out there. If we do some work for her and want to do more in the future for the other benefits, we can probably ask her about that later easily enough; we'll have a good working relationship with her by then (hopefully).
     
    Jessie Rainbow said:
    And I DO want this quest. A chance to learn a new non-combat skill? Count me in! The other rewards... cash, experience, potions, presumably there are lots of ways we could get those, let's not lock ourselves in to working to this person for too long before we've seen what else is out there. If we do some work for her and want to do more in the future for the other benefits, we can probably ask her about that later easily enough; we'll have a good working relationship with her by then (hopefully).
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    Especially with it being auch a staple skill.
    That should synergize well with herbalism, floramancy, and mining.
    That could be just useful (some restoring potions, some buffs, some money from sales) or may enable some fun shenanigans. (the main question probably being 'what shenanigans and combos with existing skills can we figure out with what the RNGoddess gives us')
     
    [X] Yeah, you're interested, but you'd prefer payment in kind.
    -[X] You'd like some alchemy training.
    -[X] Ask what local resources, especially Herbalism & Mining related, or from easy to pick up skills, are interesting to alchemists
    --[X] would she be interested in buying them? Or products made from them, if easy enough.

    Also, I'd say that content settings could be set to "Display Suggestive, obscure Explicit content unless engaged in intentionally"
     
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by notthepenguins on Feb 27, 2023 at 7:47 PM, finished with 14 posts and 9 votes.
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