Npcs

Non-player characters (NPCs) are characters in the game world that are not played by any player. Occasionally, Storytellers will "puppet" them, meaning an NPC acts just like a player's character (PC). While not puppeted, most NPCs have lots of automatic responses if you talk to them. Talking to NPCs is a great way to learn new things about the town. To talk to an NPC, first you need to start a private conversation using TO. For example, if you want to talk discreetly with Jane, type: TO JANE Hello. You typically don't know characters' names if you haven't met them, so you'll instead see their nickname. For example: An average man is standing here. "Man" is the character's nickname, so type: TO MAN Hello. NPC's typically won't pay attention to you unless you're speak directly TO them. This is how you'll say things to an NPC. Notice that you can replace TO with a standard 'at' symbol (@) for speedier typing. Here are some suggestions: GREET Introducing yourself to characters will typically get a reaction. Almost all NPCs won't have much to say if they don't know your name. After greeting an NPC, you can start asking questions. Supposing the NPC's name is Jane, you can type: @MAN Who are you? This will typically get an NPC to GREET themself to you. Remember that you need to type GREET the first time you meet an NPC, or else they won't divulge this information. @Jane Where am I? This will make an NPC tell you about where you are, usually. They may also tell you how to get back to the Dreamless Hotel. @Jane What do you do? This will make an NPC tell you about their life, and some services they may provide. @Jane Can I work here? This will make an NPC consider you for a job, if one is available. Anything else! Say whatever you want to NPCs. A few of them have a wealth of knowledge. Any word they say in ALLCAPS is a keyword that you can use to continue a conversation. Treat NPCs as if they're real. They have names, hopes, dreams, fears, secrets and goals, just like any other character. Some are capable of lying to your character and exploiting them. Remember, anyone stuck in Silent Heaven has some serious issues they've never recovered from. If they did manage to recover, they wouldn't be here. Go chat with NPCs! HOSTILE NPCs Have you wandered far from home? Some NPCs in remote locations are hostile, and will attack most PCs who approach them. If you're exploring somewhere unfamiliar, you may want to look ahead to see if there's something dangerous in the next room. For example, if you want to see who's in the room to the north, you can type LOOK N. PUPPETED NPCs If you need to have a puppeted scene with an NPC, start talking to them with this line: @Jane I want to talk to you about ... Storytellers will look at your messages to see if the NPC needs to respond to your character. If you need this NPC to respond, you NEED TO INCLUDE a detailed reason to the NPC. The more detailed, the better. Your character must also have GREETed themself to the NPC. If you don't give the NPC enough information (especially about who you are), your message will likely be ignored by the NPC. Once you've sent your message telling the NPC everything they need to know, you should see a line that looks like this: [OOC] I've remembered what you said. ... That's your cue that your message has been saved. You can leave and continue on with your other roleplaying. Storytellers will get to you when they're available. This could take from 15 minutes to 2 days, depending on availability and how much discussion needs to happen behind the scenes. Your relationship to an NPC will factor into how willing certain NPCs are to speak at length with your character about sensitive topics. To remove your saved messages from this NPC's memory, type: @Jane Never mind. This is useful if you mistyped your message, or you changed your mind, or you don't need the NPC's attention any more. CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH STAFF MEMBERS There's a staff-side conflict-of-interest system that you can use, if needed. It allows you to choose which staff members you're comfortable with puppeting NPCs for you (and vice versa). In other words, you can make it so all the activity of your character is invisible to any staff member you'd like. The staff member won't see any messages from your character, and can't even see your character's scene requests. If they're a full-fledged Storyteller, they won't see your character's journals either. By default, any Helper or Storyteller can ST for you as long as there's not conflict of interest, but if you'd like to opt-out of someone in particular, please send a GM message requesting to opt out of a certain staff member, no questions asked. You can also contact Jumpscare on Discord and she'll get it done. STORY ACTIONS If you want to attempt to do something that isn't codedly possible, such as investigating something in a room description, or trying to dig a tunnel, or attempting to blow up a building, you need to first talk to an NPC who your character suspects might support this action. This gives storytellers an opportunity to review and prepare ahead of time for any potential story actions that may take place. Please keep in mind that the more your request could fundamentally change the town of Silent Heaven, the greater the difficulty it'll be for your character to garner the support of an NPC. Some story actions will be downright impossible or come with severe consequences, which the right NPC will let your character know of ahead of time. Before you propose a story action to an NPC, make sure you've thought of what your character will do in the event the action fails, and how you can make a failure fun. Story actions aren't required to access anything Silent Heaven has to offer. Story actions are for when you have a creative solution or harebrained plan that the game code doesn't support. Please limit yourself to no more than one story action request per month. Thank you! Category: HELP 4 (Communication) < Previous - Wind | Next - Inventory >