The Wiseman of the Wilds's page

Was thinking about ways that PFO can avoid the Kickstarter 'lull', The generally quite a long time between the end of the kickstarter, and the start of the alpha/beta/EE.

Competitions

I was thinking that these would be a great way to give those people who didn't get in on the kickstarter, an opportunity to pick up one (non-physical item) lesser perks (or an add-on that is less than $20), as a prize in a competition

There could be many different types, from original module creation, to artwork, to maybe even short stories about the River Kingdoms area. The community could then have the opportunity to shortlist each category, so that the devs are only needed to announce the final winners.

Arena Battles

Once a bit more of the infrastructure for the game is complete, maybe once monthly there could be a series of arena battles for the first 'X' amount of people to register, with similar prizes as the aforementioned competitions. Competitors would not be able to re-enter, and would give us a good look at how the game is progressing.

I figure whatever does happen, needs to not involve physical products or be a huge diversion to the dev team.

With the size and scope of the sandbox that is being attempted, and what people WANT to have in the game, i was wondering what customisations we REALISTICALLY would like to see in PFO.

These include things like:

Custom Weapons/Armour:

Not just custom enchantments. Imagine when you are crafting something special, that you can CHOOSE what the pommel will look like, or the way the blade will be shaped. You could CHOOSE whether you wanted stupid looking shoulder pads on your armour or not.

Housing:

Are houses going to be enterable/customisable or simply safe gold depositories? Can you buy furniture and trophy cases for it? Can I change the look of my house, will it have a standard door and windows?

Food and Drink Recipes:

IF food is included, I think it would be interesting to see whether recipes are known or have to be discovered.

These are just a few things off the top of my head, that I think could possibly be implemented at some point in the future, that would help enrich the non-combat experience in PFO.

The way things are shaping up with the different potential kingdoms/factions/alliances, it seems that being a spy would be a fun way to make a living (at least until your kidneys encounter something rather sharp).

But with the alignment restrictions that settlements can create, it might be hard for an evil-aligned character to gain entry, let alone get themselves involved in a good kingdoms affairs, even if the character has done nothing recognizably evil since character creation.

Which leads me to one of my favourite PF:RPG skills, Disguise. I would leave to see the ability for a skilled rogue or spellcaster the ability to use the disguise skill and nondetectable alignment/nondetection/misdirection spells to enter and investigate opposite aligned settlements.

This would give some use to the Divination school of magic, and add another level of intrigue to wars and kingdom relations.

Not sure if this is doable, but hopefully one day I can sneak myself into a city as a 'craftsman' and watch as my army marches through the open city gates, the slit throats of the watchmen there to greet them....

Few questions/ideas for the way farms/settlements are going to use NPCs. I apologise if some of these questions or ideas are elsewhere.

1. NPC generation

Are NPCs automatically created when a settlement is founded are must they be attracted to the settlement. For example we know that when a farm/mine is created most of the hard work is done by NPCs. Are there factors that influence how quickly they appear? Do you need to have a stable food/alcohol supply? Do they need housing or religious buildings? I know some of these questions border more on a Citysim game, but I am interested as it leads to...

2. NPC happiness

Are NPCs automatons or can they be influenced in certain ways. For example does NPC happiness influence production or quality levels from a farm or mine? Does giving them access to better clothing or tools make them produce more? Can NPCs become discontent with the leadership of a settlement if it strays from a particular alignment, or doesnt provide the basic necessities? Can evil aligned settlements push the commonfolk to work harder, providing more produce at a lower quality? Can NPCs be induced to riot making it easier to overthrow government or enable an easy siege?

I may be over exaggerating the impact NPCs that GW intend to have on the game, but nonetheless interested to know :)