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Author Topic: Verbose position holders  (Read 751 times)

Blastbeard

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Verbose position holders
« on: January 03, 2016, 05:46:59 pm »

When asked about their profession, a noble usually just states their title and their former labor profession. When pressed further, you might learn when the position holder took up the title, or how long they worked their labor profession beforehand, but that's about it. That isn't enough information to properly define a character on its own, and unless you go dig the noble up in legends mode, that's all you get.

It would help if position holders stated their responsibilities when asked about their profession. A sheriff or guard captain should make a point of letting everyone know they enforce the law, and a monarch isn't going to let an opportunity to remind people that they lead an entire civilization slip by. It would also make sense for them to talk about important events they took part in. Beast hunters already do that with the wild animals they kill, I imagine certain nobles would have something similar to say about their job. A general would brag about how how many kills they made in battle, a hammerer would mention a notable execution they performed, that sort of thing.
If they can tell you what they're supposed to do and what they've dealt with pertaining to their position, you've got a far better picture of who you're talking to than just knowing they are lord and were a fishery working for twenty two years of their life.

This would really shine with generated positions that sport less than straightforward titles. I would appreciate the fact that Olith von Importantguy is First Seasons a little more if he told me what a First Seasons does. I'd appreciate him even more if he told me he once did something cool, such as personally slaying a hundred enemies while he led an attack on a dark fortress.
But because a I have no immediate way of knowing how important a First Seasons is, and he has no way of telling me what he's done as First Seasons, he's just another flashing U to me, when for all I know he could actually be the most interesting person in the world.
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2016, 10:24:47 am »

I don't always drink .xml files, but when I do, I drink Legends.
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peasant cretin

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2016, 02:46:52 pm »

Agreed. Even for titles that are self explanatory, additional info is more flavor which definitely fleshes out the narrative experience. Flavor makes a game more than a game.

One thing to add: some position holders may just be naturally private and taciturn. Instead of just saying "I'd rather not say" it'd be great if the verbosity for position holders, in such cases, led to some type of body language as well --- such as "Olith von Importantguy, First Seasons looks away from you." Or gazes at you intently.
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Blastbeard

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2016, 08:35:38 pm »

I don't always drink .xml files, but when I do, I drink Legends.
Legends doesn't tell you a position's responsibilities. It does tell you a position holder's entire life story, but getting specific information about any single facet of their lives, with the exception of their kill count, is a chore to say the least.
Going back and forth between gameplay and legends in the first place is impractical, and trying to make sense of it without another program to interpret it for you is a time-consuming ordeal. Legendsviewer is a great tool, but I shouldn't need to lean on it as much as I have to in order to understand a world's details. Having this information come up on its own or when asked for in a more fluid manner during gameplay would be a step in the right direction.

One thing to add: some position holders may just be naturally private and taciturn. Instead of just saying "I'd rather not say" it'd be great if the verbosity for position holders, in such cases, led to some type of body language as well --- such as "Olith von Importantguy, First Seasons looks away from you." Or gazes at you intently.
That sounds like it would be governed by the individual's personality more than their position, but I would love to see a relationship between personality facets and positions, the concept is worth a thread of its own.
Either way, certain position holders being less than forthcoming about their line of work makes sense. An executioner probably isn't going to want to recall the details unless they truly enjoy their job, and a lieutenant is probably going to want to forget about the battle their side lost during that war a few decades back.
The subject of body language in general is worth a thread in and of itself as well, but the extra detail would bring people to life in a number of ways, least of all being to suggest how important the person in question is. The guy in charge, be it the mayor of a hillock or the law-maker of an entire civilization, should carry themselves as such and present a noticeable air of authority.
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I don't know how it all works, I just throw molten science at the wall and see what ignites.

Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2016, 10:10:15 pm »

the most interesting person in the world.
Stay dwarfy, my friends.
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Quote from: King James Programming
...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
Quote from: Salvané Descocrates
The only difference between me and a fool is that I know that I know only that I think, therefore I am.
Sigtext!

Dirst

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2016, 11:48:17 am »

Either way, certain position holders being less than forthcoming about their line of work makes sense.
"I am an undercover saboteur.  When you don't see me in the tavern, I'm off looking for levers..."
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Salmeuk

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Re: Verbose position holders
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2016, 03:57:01 pm »

To go along with this, you could add proclamations to fortress mode. Instead of a one-line mandate announcement, your dwarf would find some podium or table in a busy place in your fortress and spout off random official-ish sentences about why we need to craft more armor stands. There could even be a specific labor for this, "Orate," which would have the noble writing down his proclamation and passing it off to the orator, who would then find some assigned podium and shout the proclamation. Dwarves could listen in, "Listening to Proclamation," and the orator would gain skill in the appropriate categories.

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