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The Dialogue Thread!

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tigersfan:
We've had a few complaints about the NPCs that all they ever do is gripe. It's time to fix that, but, I could use a little help. What would folks who were suddenly exposed to areas and people from other time periods say to one another? Ideally, a lot of the NPCs would say things that were specific to other NPCs of their time period. For reference, the possible time periods that NPCs can come from are:

Ice Age - This isn't like earth's Ice Age. These folks are a lot further along in terms of technology. All NPC other than skelebots are from their past.

Contemporary - This is basically like our time period now.

Industrial Revolution - Think turn of the century on Earth.

Pre Industrial

Medieval Era

Bronze Age

Time of Magic - This obviously doesn't relate to any earth based periods, but this is meant to be sort of like a time period from fantasy books.

So, if the community here has ideas for things that the NPCs can say that don't sound like they are always griping, I would really appreciate the help. They should be fairly short, one or two sentences, and try not to make any references specific to our culture (for example something like "I kinda miss McDonald's" wouldn't work), but other than that, it's pretty wide open.

lp0:
I imagine that if I was from another time period, I would be completely disoriented. It might not involve a specific brand reference, but certainly someone from modern day might wonder where the TV, microwave, refrigerator, or other modern appliance is.

Also, the 'Time of Magic' begs for a few humorous remarks - I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure they are in there somewhere.

Bluddy:
Dialog is a pain in the buttinsky -- I know that from modding Din's Curse. Anyway, here are some themes I'd expect from different ages:

Ice Age -
- What's the vibe here? Is it like fallout in the more distant future? So they became a super advanced society and then everything went nuclear?
- Should see their story-books and movies (or equivalent) come to life in the creatures they meet. But maybe it's remembering a distant memory since their society is now destroyed?
- With a lot of knowledge about the past as well as a survival-oriented nature, these guys should be handling the crisis pretty well. They should want to help the other people out the most, because they understand what happened.

Contemporary:
- I'm not sure where this is relative to the other time periods.
- Assuming it's after the others, they could be really fearful in the sense that they're not in shape -- they're used to living comfortable lives.

Industrial Revolution:
- View everything as a machine, magic included.
- Bewildered by what they meet, but they reduce everything to mechanical terms.
- "What marvelous machines those lightning-shooting marvels are. If only we had access to the innards of one, I'm sure we could use their machinations against them, eh?"
- "I see you've equipped yourself with all sorts of marvelous mechanical abilities. Would you mind showing me how to use a few?"

Pre Industrial:
- Hmm. Not much changes between the medieval and pre-industrial. I guess this is more post-Renaissance?
- In that case, these guys would be less fearful and more hopeful about this accident.
- "By the grace of the Lord, we shall overcome these foul beasts that plague us."

Medieval Era:
- Use Ye Olde talk to distinguish from other eras.
- View everything as a mix of the magical and godly.
- Could include references to anything dangerous as the work of the devil. The devil should feature very prominently.
- "I hope thou doth not practice the works of the devil, doth thee? Alas I see you have already partaken from the forbidden fruits of the evil one's magic. Purify thyself!"

Bronze Age:
- Would see almost all other people as gods.
- Bewildered by the world and by what's happened.
- Basic speech, Me Tarzan You Jane-like perhaps?
- "Me find great priest of moving sapphire stone in forest. Him very strong. Praise the lizard god for saving me from him."

Time of Magic:
- Not sure where this fits in -- how would magic have been here but possibly forgotten later on?
- If it's fantasy-like, it should be medieval, but if it just followed medieval, then why did the next time period not feature magic?

BobTheJanitor:
This just reminded me of something I noticed last night. Now that the NPCs say a few new things, trying to talk to them while they constantly run back and forth is a little difficult. It might also be that I'm using my original world which has something like 10 or 15 people running around in it and constantly overlapping each other. Maybe the new design is less likely to have that many people per settlement. But it might be nice to have the people just standing still instead. I don't know what they're constantly running back and forth for anyway, unless it's to shake off the cold.

zebramatt:
My Mantis issue on the subject of people belting it around your settlements like crazy people was recently set to Resolved but I've not had a chance to check whether they still do... It should be relatively easy to find and reopen!

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