I am still thinking a lot of about Story Genies, and I began to wonder if they could do more than just behave as a walking sign post. What if – like the choices made within the CYOA books – the speech of the genie could change, based on interaction with other genies? For example, suppose I have two genies which I name Alpha and Beta. I tell Beta what to say, but then I also give it instructions on what to say to those players who have visited with Alpha. When I release Beta from the genie bottle, she says:
"There's money to be made at sea. A resourceful merchant could carry stone and wood to the builders on Gold Dust Island."But for those who have met Alpha, she instead says:
"Oh, so I suppose you've been listening to that fool Alpha and he's been filling your head with nonsense. He's nothing but a pirate, and a poor one at that. You'd do very well to stay away from him."What I love about this idea is that a story has the ability to morph, albeit in a limited way. I view this ability as an option to Story Genies, and it may be available to those players who desire a little more variety in their stories.
This idea is bubbling its way up On The List.
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lame...
ReplyDelete@Magnic: Why?
ReplyDeleteNot lame. Pretty neat in fact. I think, however, that this should probably be lower on the list than more basic tools like longer lasting chests, longer lasting droppable items generally, signs or (my favourite) written messages and perhaps markings on the ground as Xepel suggested. Connected with this (but not the sole reason for it) I should note that players using all of these basic tools can be given some plausible IC rationale, even if they are used poorly or abused. It makes IC sense that exiles can write notes or make marks even they write strange things that no right-minded exile can understand. The ability to effectively place NPCs however, is definitely a more GM-like power and the potential for inconsistency or immersion-breaking is rather higher, especially as an aberration could not be attributed to the insanity of any exile. (whatever else exiles can do, most of them cannot ICly summon all manner of beings)
ReplyDeleteStory Genies? i know some things in CL are "different" but seem that's a far stretch from different, also spamming will be a problem.
ReplyDelete