Variable Driven Story: A Quest System

[Lud]

Ok, the basis of this idea is something that I came up with last year. (You can find my original posting in the "On Stirk" thread ) Just recently, myself, Groza and Crunch were discussing this on IRC, and it we came to the conclusion that such a system could be very viable for a series of quests in a Morrowind. The system would be relatively easy to implement, but would require advanced planning beforehand, so we need to discuss this right away. Here's a summary of how this system would work:

There would be a certain number of "story variables" which would be used as a summary of how certain things were progressing, how public opinion stands, what crime levels are at, etc, etc. These story variables would be affected by mnay different events in the game, the most important of which would be the completion of quests and how they were completed, but would also extend to other, non-quest events. The values of these variables would define whether the player could progress further, and in what direction they could progress, as well as haveing myriad small effects across the area.
This kind of system would allow us to have real dynamic effects on the gameworld, so that the player's actions really define the outcome. It also gives us a much easier way of creating non-linear stories, freeing us from having to think of every eventuality.

While talking about this recently, we discussed the possibility of adapting Starcrunch's "The Darconis Gambit" questline to this system. (You can read it [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=18126&start=0]here[/url]. )
In a nutshell, Darconis is a city that is split between a small Telvanni district and a larger and very run-down Imperial district. The Telvanni are ruled by an insane lord who is feared as a very powerful wizard. The imperials are ruled by a nepotistic, incompetent and corrupt lord. The player will be able to control who will end up in control of the entire city.
The way it works is as follows:

-We have five different story variables, defining:
-Crime levels
-Public respect for the player
-Public support for the imperials
-Public support for the Telvanni
-Power balance between the Telvanni and the Imperials
These will be affected by the following things:
-Quests: each quest will have an effect on these. If the player gets a quest to free people from an imperial prison but gets caught in the process, this will increase the crime levels, switch the power balance over towards the Telvanni but also cause respect for the player to drop.
-Various small events. An example would be to make it so that the death of each NPC affects the story variables.
-Things that are somewhere between the two. These would be semi-quests that would be ntohing more than actions suggested to the player to cause some effect.

In turn, the variables will define:
-Major events happening in the area. These would include things like being challenged to a duel by an NPC, the citizens rioting, etc.
-What quests are available to the player
-Nearly all of the dialogue in the area. (After all, many of these variables would be about public opinion)

The system would allow us a huge amount of freedom, and could be applied to many other locations across Morrowind. I daresay that such a system could also be used for Oblivion too, and could yield some extra possibilities when used in conjunction with RAI. Perhaps Dexter would like to weigh in on this subject as OB quest mod.

[Garif]

Sounds like an interesting idea . So basically it would be something like this?

PC has helped end corruption -

A variable is set and then the dialogue of the local people is changed based on what the PC has done praising him?

Yes, this sounds like an excellent idea. This could give towns and NPCs so much more feeling to them. Maybe a suggestion but have quests that open up as those story variables get higher opposing the opposite story variable?

[El Scumbago]

Which also means we'd have to do a bit of tweaking to the vanilla areas, but it's something we would do sooner or later. I'm all for it.

[Starcrunch]

As far as Darconis is concerned there is no need to tweak/touch any of vanilla Morrowind.

-Starcrunch

[Thrignar Fraxix]

as far as any of this is concerned I don't see a reason to touch vanilla morrowind

[CleverClothe]

I like the idea a lot. Lets keep developing it.

How much do you think it would increase the workload for NPC and quest creation?

[groza528]

We have a script on all map1 NPCs identifying them as map1 NPCs. For this, I suspect it would just be a matter of making that one script into a few scripts (based on whether they're Telvanni or Imperial, alternatively we could perhaps use scripting to determine whether they're in a faction) to add a line or three about what variable gets changed when they die.

For quests, it will put a few extra conditions into the dialogue. As long as the system is developed in advance it's not much work to implement.

[Lud]

I would even say that it could decrease the questmaking workload. With this system, we could have some quests that are simply suggested to players in one piece of dialogue and a journal entry. This way, you could make small quests. (Rob that house to increase crime levels, etc) in ten minutes or less.

We need some suggestions for action that would affect these variables. Come on people!

[Drak Blackhand]

Well, I'm brand new to this business and I'm sure I'll be unable to make any major graphical contributions, but I'd like to help w/ this project in any way I can. I'm sure my reaction to this topic is rather delayed, but this particular idea holds specific interest for me.

I think that if the player does and excess of robbery or murder then they would be contributing to crime rates (sorry if I seem like an idiot for suggesting what I'm sure everyone was already thinking). But there should be some means of implementing the concept of NPCs affecting the world and player more blatantly and intelligently. So if, perhaps, NPCs were to do a bit of robbing and murder of their own based on certain other variables, like the morale of the local law enforcement.

Some of the ideas I've long had swimming around in my head for
Morrowind have probably already been applied to Oblivion, but I'm currently unable to acquire such delightful entertainment. And while I'm unable to contribute in any memorable way, I'd at least like to lend some of my ideas to those who can.

On that note, I find the one disadvantage of designing a game as opposed to being a player completely new to the sanbox in front of you is that all the surprise has managed to die. So if I can get my ideas utilized w/out having to do design the things myself then I'll be able to experience them at or exceeding their full potential.

[Starcrunch]

@Lud: I am still working on developing the Darconis Gambit quest for this system, but have been way too busy on other aspects of TR lately. Sorry, development has been on my back burner for a while now .

@Drak: You understand perfectly the flavor of what we are trying to do here. Welcome to the project, and ideas are always welcome. About surprise, well in a way you're right, but design has it's own merits; playing is fun, exciting, and new but modding is an act of creation, which at least for me, is infinitely more fun than playing any game.

-Starcrunch

[Drak Blackhand]

It's not that I don't recognize any enjoyment in creating worlds (believe me, I do, I've just never been able to make very much progress any time I've ever tried), but my sentiment concerning fantasy and science fiction mythos was that you are trying to experience a life other than your own when reading/playing/watching them (which is exactly why the Elders Scrolls reigns over any MMO in my book, because MMOs are filled w/ players that aren't as interested in that). But playing the gods to your own fantasy world(s) can be equally if not more exciting as experiencing a fantasy world.

[Lud]

@Crunch: Looking forward to seeing waht you'll come up with.

[Theo]

I like the idea, but I would rather avoid using new global variables without good consideration. If you plan just to use more intensively those variables that are in Vanilla already (Faction reputation, crime level etc.) I am all for, but if you plan to introduce your new ones I think this would better be done when whole of Morrowind is finished, in final stage of adding main quest. These varaibles would reflect upon already made players action in most of the already made story carrying quests, rather then predict in what way player could alter the world. These spice adding quests would be secondary and have a function only to illustrate the result of the major quests.
We still do not have idea as what might player achieve by his actions on different maps.

[Starcrunch]

This idea cannot be done with global variables. Info is needed in way too many places to think of doing it in another way. There is absolutely no reason to wait for map 6 to be done so that we can use global variables that will only have meaning in the area around Darconis on Map 2. We don't want to use vanilla globals because they are general and function everywhere; we need globals defined locally that only have meaning in the local area we wish to use them, but need to be referred to by hundreds of dialog entries and dozens of scripts (although most of the scripts will be trivial).

There are several reasons for the old prohibition about not using globals, but none of them apply here.

-Starcrunch

[Lud]

This idea cannot be done with global variables. Info is needed in way too many places to think of doing it in another way. There is absolutely no reason to wait for map 6 to be done so that we can use global variables that will only have meaning in the area around Darconis on Map 2. We don't want to use vanilla globals because they are general and function everywhere; we need globals defined locally that only have meaning in the local area we wish to use them, but need to be referred to by hundreds of dialog entries and dozens of scripts (although most of the scripts will be trivial).

There are several reasons for the old prohibition about not using globals, but none of them apply here.

-Starcrunch

What he said

Theo, the variables will refer to such things as "how much crime Darconis has" and "How much the locals trust the Telvanni". They don't refer to anything outside our the area in which the quests operate. Though we can use Beth's globals to affect our own for added depth, we won't be going in the opposite direction.

[CaseyTucker]

I've been working on a mod where the player can start their own faction which can become a leading political party in Morrowind. (This is part of my enhanced crime mod, actually, where a player who's powerful enough to repel the legionaries and warriors of Imperial and Dunmer law can rally others to his "cause")

I have many theories and plans. Things such as dialogue, crime levels, wars and even taking territory and spawning troops from certain points. (Right now, it's a flag that you can set up in whatever you consider to be your headquarters)

Remember, scripts can be attached to NPCs through dialogue and voice entries, if you need particular reactions to the player's "political standing." With temporary script functions on generic NPCs, opportunities can seem limitless.

[sapien]

These ideas sound very interesting , i like the idea of being able to influence certain political, military aspects of the game. Crime rates would be a good thing as it would give a more rich and deeper feel to an area.

Depending on the number of gaurds posted in the town , this would set the morale of the town gaurd, also set the level of crime, when members of parties perform crimes , the number of gaurds may either rise or fall , depending on whether gaurds are killed and replaced.

If you get what i mean . obviously when crime takes over the number of gaurds will be decreased, and of course we could have corrupt officials and gaurds who themselves perform crimes for their own gain.