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[darkrider2]

@the subject of fear: In fortress mode, I think a system for dwarves getting scared is fine, as the player isn't in direct control of them and it becomes a challenge to get the dwarves to do something about whatever is going on.

In adventure mode, I don't think forcing fear onto the player's character is a good idea at all, it's the player that should be afraid, not his character. There are no vita-chambers in adventure mode, it's actually pretty hardcore, you have to start from the beginning all over again. Losing all that work I put into my character is fear enough for me.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Yeah, player fear of losing equates to adventurer fear of death, and that's really pretty effective. If a GCS shows up in adventure mode, the player him/herself is the one who goes "oh shit," and this transfers to the adventurer in the form of a different strategy than the usual killitkillitkillit (a more cautious fighting style and/or finding an opportunity to run like hell).

[Armok]

that give an idea, maybe the PLAYER could set a fear mode that makes some actions harder and some easier.

[ElthMysterius]

that give an idea, maybe the PLAYER could set a fear mode that makes some actions harder and some easier.

To be honest, that would prompt most players to use the fear mode (or whichever emotion) to get 'buffs', so to speak. It would turn the emotion system into a set of tools that characters can use to accomplish certain actions, instead of what should be a consequence of what's happening to them.

For exemple, an adventurer shouldn't be afraid because he needs to escape from a dragon. He should be afraid because there's a dragon on his heels, he lost his shield and his pants are on fire.

[Ethicalfive]

Yay! Thanks for releasing this talk.

Like atleast one other user mentions, I found the lack of depth in mechanics and correlation abit lackluster this time around. At one point the talk put me to sleep (litteraly) which has not happened to me in other talks i've enjoyed listening to.

Personally I think there was not much on novel interesting aspects covered this time around, some talk about the more subtle qualities going on and how they could be improved, so it really didn't grab my attention like normal. Maybe if theres a lack of idea's to cover, discussing some of the communities subjects from the forums(mods, suggestions etc) would be a decent alternative.

I enjoyed the Toady background story very much though!
Please, this isn't a flame, just some feedback that I felt I wanted to share.

[Armok]

But the REASON having your pants on fire is evolution and that often correlating with needing to run away. So such a mechanic would have roughly the right results.

[Deteramot]

It... doesn't seem to be on that page for me.... Following the link in the initial post leads to the DF Talk page, with no #11.

[Lac]

Deteramot:
I just re-tried the link in the first post and it's fine for me.  Under the first err.. mossy stone bar.. you should see:

Dwarf Fortress Talk #11 (posted Feb 22, 2011): Download (1:51:37, 25.5 MB), music by Ollieh

In this episode, Rainseeker, Capntastic and Toady One talk a little about personalities, answer questions, and ramble on at length about the upcoming releases.

With "Download" being the link.  Need to clear browser cache?

[Deteramot]

Yeah, that worked. I had tried that earlier, but no dice. Worked this time though.

[Yobgod]

Somewhat orthogonal, but I've put a lot of thought into implementing an underlying personality system for a personal project.
What I keep coming back to as a workable societal concept is hierarchical loyalties.
Scores go from 0 (will risk own life to kill) through 5 (don't care) to 10 (will risk own life to save). Then each character gets a score for every level of life... so, as a start:
Everything
All Life
Sentient Creatures
Own Race
Own Kingdom
Kingdom Rulership
Own Town
Local Rulership
Acquaintances
Close Friends
Family

By default, of course, everything is 5, but this allows for a lot of flexibility in creating interesting loyalties. For example:
Fanatic Local Guards - Mayor:10 Acquaintances:8 Friends:10 Kingdom:7
Elves: Plants:8 Non-sentient animals:8 Elves:8 Sentient creatures:4 [protect everything not smart enough to protect itself]

I'm not sure, but I get the feeling this ends up working better than a generic "empathy" score, because upbringing should (It seems) lead to people who are empathetic(or unempathetic) specifically to their own family/own kind/animals/sacred cats/king/hated foe. So far I haven't thought of a "personality system" this can't cover, and it seems to cover them efficiently.

[myrkul]

Elves: Plants:8 Non-sentient animals:8 Elves:8 Sentient creatures:4 [protect everything not smart enough to protect itself]

... which apparently includes Elves. Somehow, fitting.

[Yobgod]

Forgot to mention that order is relevant...
Rather than build weird trees of belonging, the first rule that fits applies.

Also considered weird averaging schemes, but they generally aren't worth it.
I do really like the emergent behaviour from this though. Worth sharing.

[jimi12]

Thanks for releasing this!

[Toady One]

The transcripts by mallocks have been posted, available at the DF Talk page or here: Transcript

[Capntastic]

Again, he's the real hero of the podcast.