NPC death affects faction reputation

Each citizen belongs to a faction, and has a reputation. When that citizen dies, the corresponding faction blames your presence, and your reputation with that faction suffers by the reputation of the deceased.

For example:

The faction of Uriel is Haafinheim Partisan. The reputation of Uriel is 1. [These two sentences are actually code for the game. I love Inform 7.]

9:18 am >help rep
unemployed 0, mage 0, fighter 0, rogue 0, merchant 0, craftsman 0, undead 0, ruler 0, army guard 0, farmer 0.

unaligned 0, Eastmarch 0, Falkreath 0, Haafinheim 0, High Rock 0, Imperial 0, Northshore 0, Pale 0, Reach 0, Redoran 0, Rift 0, White Hold 0, Winter Hold 0.

Uriel just bleeds.

…

9:23 am >z
Time passes.

Uriel just bleeds.

Uriel dies.

9:24 am >help rep
unemployed 0, mage 0, fighter 0, rogue 0, merchant 0, craftsman 0, undead 0, ruler 0, army guard 0, farmer 0.

unaligned 0, Eastmarch 0, Falkreath 0, Haafinheim -1, High Rock 0, Imperial 0, Northshore 0, Pale 0, Reach 0, Redoran 0, Rift 0, White Hold 0, Winter Hold 0.

Added a repute command to report your reputation. In this example, I backstabbed, looted, bound, and killed someone in a faction, and shouted myself from a city to a village.

9:22 am >repute
Army guard.
Assassin.
Rogue.
Tongue.

Disliked in Haafinheim.

You have a reputation with each skill, group, or faction.

The 14 skills are unemployed [beggars], alchemist, army guard, assassin, craftsman, fighter, healer, mage, merchant, reader, rogue, ruler, tongue, and undead.

The 13 factions are unaligned [mediators], Eastmarch Partisan, Falkreath Partisan, Haafinheim Partisan, High Rock Partisan, Imperial Partisan, Northshore Partisan, Pale Partisan, Reach Partisan, Redoran Partisan, Rift Partisan, White Hold Partisan, and Winter Hold Partisan.

The 13 groups are ungrouped [negotiators], Mage’s Guild, Necromancers, Imperial Legion, Bandits, Dark Brotherhood, Morag Tong, Fighter’s Guild, Divine Clerics, Elder Council, College Faculty, Thieves’ Guild, and Greybeards.

tone in conversation

A definite step towards roleplaying.

9:17 am >help me
You can seek help about status, fame and infamy, chaos and order, good and evil, which directions to go, combat, commands, and tone in conversation.

For more information about the game, see http://spearthane.wordpress.com/

9:18 am >help tone
act … sets a tone to your part of conversations. The tones are dominant, actively submissive, passively submissive, angry, fearful, defensive, aggressive, suspicious, relaxed, tense, happy, hunting, and playful. Some people respond differently to certain tones, or only respond to a specific tone.

9:19 am >help act
act … sets a tone to your part of conversations. The tones are dominant, actively submissive, passively submissive, angry, fearful, defensive, aggressive, suspicious, relaxed, tense, happy, hunting, and playful. Some people respond differently to certain tones, or only respond to a specific tone.

9:20 am >act stupid
That’s not a tone you can put across to an animal. You’re currently relaxed.

9:21 am >ask jocien about me
The census-taker requests, “Please tell me your name, usual whereabouts, age, race, and trade.”

9:22 am >act fearful
Your tone is now fearful.

9:23 am >ask jocien about me
The census-taker explains, “Look, I’m not trying to draft you. I just need your name, usual whereabouts, age, race, and trade for the tally.”

I’m pretty proud of this: I feel it’s a definite step towards roleplaying, since you can set a general mood for your character, and people (that are coded to) will respond differently.

This is one of those features that takes a lot of work (to write out different responses to the same topics), but adds a lot of depth and replayability to the game.  For example, if you ask someone about the same thing in a different ways they might offer to help you, kill you, send you on a quest, offer you membership in their faction, or ignore you completely.

Each of these options may preclude the others, so this is another mechanism for branching storylines and (ir)revocable acts that help change how people perceive you, along with faction rep, alignment, and general fame and infamy.