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Author Topic: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.  (Read 914 times)

Egan_BW

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Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« on: April 05, 2023, 12:00:23 pm »

Currently (or in the most recent version with adventure mode) when making an adventurer or party the player can define their character's personality. This involves a lot of scrolling and picking points on a slider for each facet, and it might be easy to lose track of what it all means for your adventurer.
One interesting idea to make this less tedious, or at least more fun, would be to have the player answer a series of questions, like "what would you do in this situation" which is then used to generate personality facets.
This should be optional of course if the player wants to just get into the game, and there should still be the option to see all the facets and adjust them how one likes.

This same system might be used to create an adventurer's actual life history at some point. Similar to the choose-your-own-adventure style questions when starting an LCS game.
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2023, 06:07:01 pm »

I enjoyed that in Ultima IV, would be nice.

Retrofitting world history after it's been created to fit your new character would be pretty tricky though.
Guess if it's below the level of usual worldgen events it should be OK. Everything leading up to you becoming a peasant who has just decided to be an adventurer.
But adding family members probably wouldn't work.
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Egan_BW

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2023, 06:55:05 pm »

Non-historical characters can already become historical in game play, right? It seems pretty workable to have parents, friends, exes and such generated along with your adventurer from dust. None of them would have done anything important or impactful on the world yet, of course.

Not that I have any idea how hard that would be. It just seems possible to me.
« Last Edit: April 05, 2023, 07:00:52 pm by Egan_BW »
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brewer bob

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2023, 07:45:50 pm »

+1

I enjoyed that in Ultima IV, would be nice.

Literally the same game came into my mind. The suggestion would be a nice nod in that direction.

Nordlicht

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2023, 02:23:19 pm »

Retrofitting world history after it's been created to fit your new character would be pretty tricky though.

Imho this would revolve the world around the player too much anyway. How about a search function for historical figures?
Instead of a "What Animal am I ?" Quiz, it's a "What historical figure am I ?" and the game gives you a list of a few npcs or monsters or whatever you can take over. Add a percentage score along the lines of "You align 77% with this dwarf / dragon / stone" and add a short bio of their life, family and relationships so far.
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Orange-of-Cthulhu

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2023, 05:17:46 pm »

+1

It's very sort of engineerish to make a character. It feels more like you're choosing specs for a vacuum cleaner than creating a person.
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PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2023, 06:19:58 pm »

+1

It's very sort of engineerish to make a character. It feels more like you're choosing specs for a vacuum cleaner than creating a person.

I feel like this is a problem with a lot of RPGs generally, which IMO DF can and should move past. +1 from me as well.
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brewer bob

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Re: Optional 'personality test' for adventurer generation.
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2023, 01:22:34 am »

I feel like this is a problem with a lot of RPGs generally

It's funny how crpgs from the 80s and early 90s were much more advanced in the role-playing part than more "modern" ones (particularly Ultima IV, which required you to role-play (albeit in a certain way) to finish the game -- the same hasn't been done since, afaik).