What do you want to see NPCs doing?

[SrJoben]

Have you ever walked past an archery butt in town and thought "How come no one every uses that one?"

Or come upon a a bedroll that no one seems to ever sleep in?

Why aren't there more hunters in the woods? Or people harvesting ingredients?

 

If you can think of something that characters in Oblivion should be doing, post it up here.

 

I'm working on a mod that adds NPCs to the world and am trying to make them as interesting as possible. :)

[grmblf]

first basic needs and daily actions like eat, sleep, chat/wander, work (attend the shop, go hunting, some merchants could travel to other cities or nearby inns to supply them, etc, if you could add other stuff like extracting metals from caves or chopping that'd be great), and it would be nice if they had some other "special" actions they do once a while, like going to the chappel on sunday morning, or make a pilgrimage to a shrine once a month, stay until late in the inn on saturday's evening, etc.

[SrJoben]

That is indeed the kind of thing I'm including.

 

Example. This is Nicholas, he's a moderately rich man-about-town, and an adventurer in a casual sort of way.

 

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff79/SrJoben/forum%20post%20pics/oblivion/oops/ScreenShot41.jpg

 

He lives in Bruma and spends time there wandering the town, visiting the castle Hall, or hanging out at the bar.

He visits the chapel and gets a blessing from the altar every Sunday. He spends his nights in the larger Inn.

He eats breakfast, lunch and supper.

 

On Monday he takes a leasurely walk to Chydenhal doing some exploring along the way. At other points in the week he explores other places.

On Wednesday he meets a friend at the Inn of Ill Omen, spends time with her, then escorts her back to her home in Chorrol.

He also shows up for one of the battles towards the end of the main quest.

--------

 

This is Telindil and Arabhira

 

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff79/SrJoben/forum%20post%20pics/oblivion/oops/ScreenShot87.jpg

 

Telindil is an alchemist, Aribhira is his partner/guard, she protects him on one his journeys into the wilderness to find ingredients.

They share a room in the West Weald Inn and return there after every day's gathering.

[Tarm]

What about two villages that occasionally fight over a mine between them? Or something similar. I've always liked games where you can run into hot spots between two rivalling sides.

 

It doesn't have to be major, a couple adventurers from each village that clash from time to time and then go to their local inn and brag about their deeds against the other side is one example that would liven up that countryside and give it atmosphere.

[Vagrant0]

first basic needs and daily actions like eat, sleep, chat/wander, work (attend the shop, go hunting, some merchants could travel to other cities or nearby inns to supply them, etc, if you could add other stuff like extracting metals from caves or chopping that'd be great), and it would be nice if they had some other "special" actions they do once a while, like going to the chappel on sunday morning, or make a pilgrimage to a shrine once a month, stay until late in the inn on saturday's evening, etc.

You do know that NPCs already do this stuff in vanilla right?

[grmblf]

You do know that NPCs already do this stuff in vanilla right?

I assumed he was doing new NPC with new schedules so the least I'd like to see is this kind of basic stuff. Now that I think of it, maybe what I'd enjoy more than more complex scheduled activities would be some little dialogue about themselves and the other NPCs and not just the same line when someone is involved in a quest, so you could ask someone about someone else and he could tell you where to find him, if they're friends, mates, etc. If it's a small comunity what you're making that shouldn't be that hard and would give the impression they're more alive, not because of what you see they do but because of what you'd assume they do.

[JCP768]

How about something like this? ;D

 

The Chart there is for most of the NPCs in the town included in this mod

 

It doesn't even truly show off the greatness of those schedule because in that chart the animations they use aren't specified. Most of the time they won't just go to those places and blandly wander around discussing rumors with other people, but rather they'll:

 

Dance/eat at inns

Cook food if they're an inn keeper

Smith if they're a smith

jugggle out in market place

Visit shop keeper's houses after hours and eat with them

and not to mention many more situations custom suited to the person's personality and such.

 

If you want an easy to use animation resource here's one

[documn]

I'll copy Sulteric Drums here and say that NPCs should kiss, hug, and hold hands, at appropriate times and places.

[Ranokoa]

This is an interesting idea. Although the concept has been done, I'm sure, many times already, the fact is that you are adding storyline and a life behind each and every new NPC. Whilst I must agree with Vagrant that these types of things are already implemented inside the vanilla game, not every character there has a complete life story and or a schedule that tells you exactly what they are about and who they are. I am sure that this will be a very nice addition as the world of Cyrodiil was in fact very vacant compared to how it should be lore wise, as with the Imperial City being so large but with a small population, this could be a tremendous fix to fill up the all too empty world of Cyrodiil. I cheer you on your efforts.

 

Be well, sleep well, fight well, live long.

~Ranokoa

[Joben]

Soldin and Yazarr work for the fighter's guild and travel from city to city spending a week at each guildhall. Exactly what they do is obscure, they may be important, but they don't like to talk much about it lest they make themselves targets on the road.

 

http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/uploads/1261839818/gallery_1143_93_256477.jpg

Soldin is the Nord on the left, Yazarr is the orc on the right.

 

I'm writing their dialogue right now, it's provide a bit of backstory, and sometimes be different depending on whether or not they are together at the moment. Soldin's full name is Soldin the Orc, so you might find out about that, or learn more about their job and relationship. Maybe get a little fetch-quest or something.

 

They are going to have a really really extensive schedule with unique, possibly randomised, behaviour in every city.

 

They're a sorta test couple, trying to find the limits of the schedule system. There's some tricky stuff, complicated package conditions, moving people after an arbitrary number of days. coordinating the actions of two actors who are supposed to be partners but who don't spend 100% of their time together.. etc.

 

When they're finished I'll release them separately as a beta/preview.