X-From_: ig@solaris.kala.com  Tue Jun  9 13:20:08 1998
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 16:21:54 -0500
From: Ivan Godard <ig@solaris.kala.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: b l a d e s@ spiderwebsoftware . com (Note spaces added to thwart spammers. Remove spaces for valid email address.)
CC: wendyben@idt.net
Subject: When do npcs go away?

In some recent beta testing, I have several times hit situations where
the party leaves a town after every monster except the final big
encounter has been killed, but when the party returns the big
encounter is gone too, although the special that starts it still
fires.

BoE seems to recognize several different monster classes and handle them
differently. These are:
1) monsters summoned by spells
2) monsters placed explicitly in the scenario which have not yet moved
3) monsters placed explicitly which have moved
4) monsters which have taken damage
5) splits of Viscous Goos and other splitting monsters
6) monsters placed by a special
7) wandering monsters
8) dead monsters
9) charmed monsters

BoE also seems to recognize three different monster contexts:
A) exit and reentry
B) exit, reset town (by debug or visiting 4 towns) and reentry
C) 'abandoned' towns (those completely empty)

>From play I surmise the following:

a) 1A and 7A disappear
b) 5B disappears
c) 4A and 6A becomes 3 (i.e. healed)
d) 3B becomes 2 (i.e. repositioned)
e) 8B becomes 2 unless an SDF is used
f) 8C disappears
g) a town will not become 'abandoned' if it still contains a friendly
h) 6B disappears
i) A special will not place a new monster when triggered in an
abandoned town.
j) 9A becomes 3 (and stays friendly)
k) 9B becomes 2 (and becomes hostile)

Questions:

(Answers in parenthesis)

I) are the above surmises correct?

(Answer: Look good.)

II) What happens with 5A? Is there any distinction between the
'original' monster and the splits, or are they all the same?

(Answer: Only the original survives.)

III) When does a town become 'abandoned'? Only at B or also A?

(Answer: Both, but only if the given number of creatures to kill in the
town to empty it has been reached.)

IV) By implication of the above, a town which contains a friendly
(slave, prisoner, etc) will never become abandoned and all the
monsters will reset forever unless a SDF flag is used or the
party kills the friendlies. Yes? Can monsters share a SDF or
does each require their own?

(Answer: Not true. When a town empties, everything dies. Thus, putting
friendlies in an emptyable town is a dangerous thing to do.)

V) By implication, killing everything but 6 and then B will prevent
the party from killing the 6s and getting the plot advances that
that would cause, usually dead-ending the scenario. Yes? How to
write the scenario to avoid this?

(Answer: Don't put friendlies in emptyable towns.)

VI) Are there any other cases with special handling other than a-k
above?

(Answer: Looks remarkably complete.)

The V) case above is the one which prompted this note. It seems to
happen frequently, because often the party will work its way through
the town, trigger the final, realize that the final is too
tough, exit to reload (train, buy potions etc), and then find an
empty room on return. The design alternative of simply placing the
monsters of the final encounter prevents using a nasty trap where
the party doesn't get the fight unless it does something (desecrate
the alter for example). I've tried placing a single monster as an
anchor and having the special bring in the rest, but the firefight
has a way of killing off ther anchor and so the town goes abandoned
anyway. The only way I have though of to reliably avoid the bug is
to bury an anchor monster inside rock somewhere (so the town won't
go abandoned), put a SDF on all the regular monsters so they stay
killed, and put a special on killing the final which removes the
anchor so the town can be abandoned. That should work, but it's
a lot of programming and a kludge. Is there a better way?

Ivan