Good read, you are the second person that has mentioned to me how great PoE is. This is now on my list of must play games.
That said these tips are great to any DM/GM as well at the Tabletop. When you make NPC’s that your players value they will grow to love the world around them as much as their own Character.
Making a player put value in an NPC good or bad. Makes every interaction with them that much better. This is a wonderful way to curb the much hated Murder Hobo groups that DM’s dread.
But much like any MMO. Not everyone needs a name. Suzy the barmaid only requires a name if she is addressed by the players and they engage her in conversation. Until that time she is just a Drone on auto pilot. This goes for any other NPC that is not a key character in your stories.
MMORPG published an article a few days ago: 5 Things MMOs Could Learn from Pillars of Eternity. It was good to see characters and story near the top of this list.
Some reader comments on the article are skeptical, suggesting that single player RPGs and MMOs are different categories, but no. Characters should be the #1 most important thing in anything fiction, and every video game is fiction.
No? When you think of Mortal Kombat, what comes to mind? The gameplay or the characters? What about driving games? GTA is the best-selling driving franchise of all time, edging out Mario Kart. And Mario Kart is called Mario Kart.
MMOs tend to overwhelm players with too many throw-away character names. Pillars of Eternity tries to avoid this trap. Instead of naming every villager, PoE just calls them villagers.
One of the companion NPCs in PoE, written by…
View original post 583 more words
Runkle Plays Games 