Life is Feudal Official Forum

[Guest]

A thought has occured to me, from what I've read, LIF is feudal is planned to be almost entirely NPC free, this point is good and I support it. How then is the team supposed to implement Lore into the game with it still being immersive? This point was well pointed out in the http://lifeisfeudal.com/community/forum ... =6&id=2009 thread. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I personally enjoy lore but am not a die hard Role-player. So I am curious, What would be the best way to have an interesting story, keeping it as NPC free as possible?

[Bobik]

It won't be almost entirely NPC free. According to current plan, we gonna have following NPC types:
1) Newbie island mentors (some basic lore, basic learning quests (press W to move forward, press LMB to swing weapon et.c.)
2) NPC city governor(in the center of our map) - just some RP lore and maybe more advanced learning quests with minor rewards - it is mainland already
3) NPC server vendors in NPC city will buy and sell some stuff
4) Natives - aggressive NPCs in few (4-6) dungeons that will be scattered around the world. They will live in burrows/undeground mazes, will be mostly naked or in salvaged from other players equipment. Just more advanced combat training for you, minor PvE grind, and a reason for PvP over PvE spots.

5)maybe there will be NPC player vendors, but not at release date for sure.

It's true, that it's gonna be hard to "inject" prewritten lore into players, like it is done in most casual theme park MMOs (just read quest texts and some random letters and you know the whole story). It's sandbox MMORPG and players write their own lore during server conflicts or political intrigues and i personaly think it's way better and interesting.

[finalreview]

All the talk about player driven Lore has sounded really interesting to me. The basic lore explaining how the world came to be the way it was, then player driven lore afterwards such as battles/kingdoms rising and falling and such sounds interesting.

[Balariand]

Yeah, this will become quite amusing if it "works" and the players don't mess everything up

[Bobik]

It doesn't sound interesting it IS interesting as it is/was in current (DF, UO) or past (Shadowbane) MMOs.

[finalreview]

Yeah, this will become quite amusing if it "works" and the players don't mess everything up

Well I'm not an RPer, and I really could care less about Lore. Even if the majority of the players aren't into Lore the players who are will be provided with plenty of it from the general play of the server. If the most powerful kingdom is a troll guild they will still provide Lore through their actions. Players who are really into Lore and RP'ing will just have to stay on top of current events and record what happens, instead of having the developers decide what the lore is and provide it for them through NPCs.

[trashman]

In Wurm most of the lore is player made and I find it quite interesting. And even if the fantasy style lore doesn't suit you much, there is still the history of the game and kingdoms that gives you a good background into the game. I could tell stories for hours of the different kingdoms on the PvP server waging wars and about different battles where land was taken from each other or where strongholds fell. I find the shifting of power through out kingdoms and players very interesting and would love to make that a strong part of this game.

[Imperius]

Yeah i love player driven lore.. my brother is actually making a manga about what happend on mortal online xD. Like the evil theive/greifer guild that nearly destroyed the noobie town.. and events like that..

[Marl Mugshatter]

it's been years since I last played UO, but if I remember correctly NPC's hardly made any contribution to game lore... sure you had NPC's, but most were wandering idiots who only served to call the guards on you. Hardly any added roleplay value imo. Besides the butler heh, who responded (in your house) to pre-determined typed words.
If there's a dedicated player-base who like and maintain RP the lore will fix itself That is, if there's a dedicated player base who don't hate the other dedicated player base who go to war over interpretation of game lore.... ooooooh... potential there.

[larsiam]

MAN oyu make your own lore my friend you create your own path your own destiny your OWN LIFE. lore is about you your clan what you have done MAN LORE IS EVERYWHERE you just have to create it

[Sendrik]

Yea larsiam,i agree.
But creating lore as a non-guild player,like me,is pretty hard.
Im confident in my abbilitys,but i dont think that i would be able to raid a whole castle all by myselfxD

As for the lore in general,i hope there will be a lot(player driven lore,i mean.but some basic lore to begin with,would be fine).
Most of you surely know about mortal online.
It was very entertaining to talk with other players in meduli for example,about guild politics.
What guild owns what territory now,what tactic did guild a use against guild b lately,and so on.
Even if people didnt want to roleplay:
If you where going to buy a sword or similiar stuff,getting someone for a hunt,or,as i said,talk about guild politics,it sounded like roleplaying most of the times,because of the,,free''nature of the game.
That was my experience at least.

But mortal never managed it,to get,,more''out of the roleplaying aspect.
Taverns and co where requested multiple times,but nothing.

Would love to see tavern brawls,playing cards and so on,in LIF.

[Norman]

Will it be possible to have NPC mercenaries or NPC townsmen? It'd be nice to have NPC mercenaries, even for decoration along the walls of my castle. And cities will seem dead without NPC villagers.

[Bobik]

It is MMORPG you know, get more alive players in your village! Rather then sublime with NPCs one, which will generate just useless server lag.
There will be no NPC townsman or mercenaries - only real player ones.

[Keir]

Hey there, NPC-free roleplayers!

Just my add to this topic.
I'm a roleplayer in _SecondLife_ for about 9 years now... and I began online-rp when I had my first 2.4k-modem and joined those dialup bbs-boxes - no there wasn't internet yet!

All is possible... you need characters that are able to set up a story, and - maybe - have the talent to lead random roleplaysituations in directions. Actually I'm playing on a SecondLife-Sim that's crowded with about 30-40 characters. Many of tese more or less take part in a story that developed over years - let's say about 10 players take an ACTIVE part, the others are curios what happens and - at least - are influenced by the story, have that as a topic when having a chat at a tavern, when having to walk a way at night etc.

I must say - a player-driven lore is much more interesting when playing it as an open rp! You will experience changes in the story, noone would have been able to set up before. You will be able to take advantage of your self-given characteristics of your avatar, and you can advance a story beyond all written times.

Don't get me wrong, I also like settings and stories all those mmorpgs (or just rpgs) deliver, but I can't tell how much more fun that open rp without npc brings.

In SL the "localchat" (ranged to 10m radius, or 100m when shouting) is the RP-Chat (as it's real speech-distance), globalchats are for ooc, help, anouncements.


Not delivering a lore is GREAT. You are free to set what you like... why are we living there, having nothing at the beginning? Who are enemies and what do you fear? What are aims and goals? Why are there different factions, and why are some friend and some foe? There's so much more to make every single different, so please please please don't deliver a story/lore!


Concerning LiF-developement, I hope to see possibilities for special players (gamemasters, rp-initiators). Just like beeing able to set mapwide events, anouncements, maybe optical effects (a dragon flying around over the land, strange signs on the nightsky, an earthquake, a burning area ... wow there could be so much!). Would be very cool, and THAT could be a reason to move away from SL

[Khellus]

As long as a basic outline of how people came to find the mainland and traveled the rest of the world. The rest can be developed by the players by Rp sieges and alliances. Through diplomacy in game that the developers watch and take note of. This will allow the player base to be the first of the settlers and allow them, us. To write the continents history.

[Ontrose]

Well, i think some kind of pre-text would be lovely.
I dont think "the old world sank in chaos and ppl had to leave their homes to be able to stay alive" crap would suit this game.

Personally, i think it should be more like:
They heard rumors about an virgin land, untouched by humankind.
A retreat from servdom, from landhungry lords and Kings.
A new beginning across the ocean.
(Which could be used as an Intro-Video if some starts new)

Or somethin along such lines.
Which WOULD give th opportunity to some Kind of Events, like the old kings want dominion over the new world too, and the community has to fight them off or such (IF and only IF such things will be considered before the public release).

But i think, the lore will go on. There are bound to be ppl recording the major events, like wars etc.
I think pretty much every bigger guild will keep their own records in one or another way. But i think it would be a nice idea, to have some kind of library, (fixed building where can add Scrolls/Books when you got to status of a Kingdom//Town) which will get added to all other Librarys. So there is some kind of knowledgebase there, to share the historys of the guilds and kingdoms. And of course, share it for longer then the kingdom might be alive
(Might be able to get abused to simply transferring messanges, so might add a fee if you like that idea, [i already have in mind, that there will be a currency])

Anyway, after the initial "why did we go to that new continent" it should be as free from prewritten Lore as possible.
Maybe an event or two, that would be fine, always keeping the circumstances in mind.

Well, thats my 5 cent to this topic =)

[Kanzyman]

Well the idea is good and all but Lore, even player driven isn't worth much if its not written as it happens, having some sort of mechanic in game to at-least log guild war time and battles would help any would-be player historian to have some facts to base his/her creative lore writing on.

[Pherion]

I wouldnt want to have any NPCs at all as theye usually stay still lika zombie and break the imersion. As lif is a very realistic game I would like it to handle lore the same way. I would be awesome if the implement small things in the game to show previus populations (if their were any) like runes with some weird text. A statue in an overgrown forrest or to find chest with a book deep in the fround to help translate the runes you have found around the world. It doesnt give you mutch information but just enough to help you find out your own ideas of lore, and let the players build upon that:)

[Bernardwinston]

I am still newbie, I am interested to create one. Does anyone knows how to do it? Please help me.

[Deus-X-Incognita]

It doesn't sound interesting it IS interesting as it is/was in current (DF, UO) or past (Shadowbane) MMOs.

Of course UO had the very fleshed out background of the Ultima Series as Lore.
And even Darkfall had some fleshed out Lore, that was written down.

While that doesn't make a difference for many, it is something that shapes the ideas for some parts, and creates a common base.

It is MMORPG you know, get more alive players in your village! Rather then sublime with NPCs one, which will generate just useless server lag.
There will be no NPC townsman or mercenaries - only real player ones.

That didn't work out so well with large MMORPGS and their main cities - many of them were lifeless after some time.
Of course I can understand that it is wonderful if players are your decoration, but I bet its hard to find a player who is ready to stand his character on top of a palisade standing guard for 8 hours. That would generate more lag too I bet.

Since the "casual" jobs that NPCs fill in many MMORPGS are filled by the Players in LiF, and it also needs some time to do them, there will be life in that parts. There will be going around in cities, if there is workspace, and it also depends a bit of Organization in the City layout.
There will be nearly no people doing long lookouts to all sides over long times.
The battle systems in place won't do anything for it that it is necessary too. At least as far as I read it.
That is why it might be nice to have some NPCs filling that spot to look nice.

[Syrovatka.david]

You can have lore without NPC. For example Fallout did that quite well. All the lore is stored in terminals etc. So maybe we could just find some book or diary of a madmen that came here before us or something like that.