Of course the "I" is me, not you the reader. As I prepare to expand the dialogue from "Generic request for sex" into something worth the time it takes to read (of course the "I" is not me, but rather my writers), I need to at least get some of the details for Agent's special dialogue variables written down. Since Agent will involve many missions over an extended period of time, mostly given out by the same NPC, it occurred to me that this NPC should become aware of your tendencies and abilities. In short, the plan is to allow Bryce to not only recognize your usual method of completing a mission but also your general abilities, allowing him to lean towards certain paths when the missions stat to get multiple entry points. When I talked about Feature Creep, this was what I was referring to.

In case you don't want to read the old post, I'll summarize it here: NPCs shouldn't be psychic. While your dialogue options and actions depend on your SPECIAL stats and other abilities, NPCs don't know what those values are. Instead, they have a value that they "believe" is correct, based on your actions around them. I'm not doing anything but SPECIAL to ensure I remain sane. In addition, Charisma is now part of this system because it can roll together basic Charisma (essentially physical attractiveness/presence) and speech/perk checks.

There are four major categories of variables. Obs(erved), Rep(utation), Int(erpreted), and Rel(ationship). Rel is the odd one out, with the other three forming the SPECIAL checks and therefore the core of the system. Here's how all this works: Obs, Rep, and Int all default to 0 and go from 0 to 10, with 0 signifying that the NPC has never seen this particular aspect of you. When you say something insightful (or incredibly stupid) the NPC has Observed you making an Intelligent (or otherwise) decision. Their ObsInt value is then set to a value based on what you said (if they've never observed that before) or the current value is adjusted if one already exists.

Every time an RS character goes off-duty their "social network" feature activates. This simulates communication between various individuals during free time (thus the slower your timescale, the less people talk to each other). As laid out before, each NPC has up to five other NPCs they can talk to, with the rule being that they value all other opinions more or less equally. Assuming the other NPCs actually have an Observed opinion of you, the average of all five becomes the Rep value for that stat, in other words your Reputation among the NPC's "network".

Once that is decided, there's one last step. The NPC takes their own observation of your skills, and combines it with that of their "network" (how much influence either has differs from NPC to NPC) to come up with their Interpreted value of your stat. Some NPCs may not factor in the Rep value at all and express your confusion with the Obs value doesn't match it. Oh, and romanceable NPCs have an eighth set of variables: ObsSex, RepSex, and IntSex. They work pretty much the same, except on a scale of 0 to 100 and if IntSex is quite a bit lower than ObsSex there might be trouble. I haven't determined the formula for this yet.

The forth category is more standard. I don't want to use the simple sliding scale so many games use where you go from "who are you?" to "I love you". While the system still needs to be simplistic (did I mention I like my sanity?) what I have should allow for various consistent PC "personalities". The variables are Res(pect), Trs (Trust), Gen(eral), Emo(tional), and Phy(sical), with the last two only used for potentially "romanceable" NPCs. These all go from -100 to 100 and default to 0.

Respect is a combination of an NPC's opinion of your reliability and straight-up skill. Trust is how likely the NPC is to believe something you say. General is the more standard "do they like you or not?" variable. These three can simulate various types of situations (though having them all at extremes is likely to screw things up) such as a grudging respect (high RelRes w/low RelGen) or you playing the court jester (high RelGen w/low RelTrs). Emotional and Physical refer to the (surprise!) emotional and physical aspects of a more "intimate" relationship. A high RelPhy and low RelEmo will lead to a friends-with-benefits situation, while vice-versa would make you more of a personal confidant.

Nothing using these variables is in yet, so discussion is possible. My apologies to my writers; I spend most of today deciding how complex I should let this get and didn't get around to getting back to you.