X-From_: danlewis@cy-net.net  Thu Dec 24 01:29:31 1998
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 03:35:30 +0000
From: Dan Lewis <danlewis@cy-net.net>
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.)
Subject: NPC Appearing/Disappearing

Making major NPCs appear and disappear seems to be a major source of
angst. On the scenario articles page I've seen quite a few innovative
but complex and awkward solutions to the problem, all because of one
apparently-overlooked trick.

When you have an NPC that's supposed to disappear after a certain point,
all you need to do is go to the "advanced" window under settings for the
individual NPC (when editing a town's terrain, not while editing monster
statistics), find the field that says "Stuff Done Flag monster's life is
linked to" or something of that nature, and enter a flag number. Then,
when you need the creature to disappear, you call a Set Flag special,
and set that flag to 1. The NPC is destroyed, immediately and
permanently. And if you ever need it back, you just set that flag back
to 0.

To make an NPC appear after a certain point, do the same as before with
the "SDF monster's life is linked to" field. At the beginning of the
scenario (or somewhere that the player has to go before meeting the NPC
you wish to have nonexistant until a certain point), call an SDF that
sets the flag to 1. Then when you need the NPC to appear, set that SDF
to 0. Again, immediate and permanent.

One thing to be careful of is that I haven't tried changing the SDF from
within the same town where the NPC in question is. I think it should
work, but I'm not sure. I guess that's what playtesting's for. :)

Also, note of course that if the player kills that NPC, the flag will be
flipped and the NPC will permanently cease to exist. This could
seriously screw up a plotline, but that's why we build in repercussions
for players who go around slaughtering important NPCs without a backup
save file.

Happy building,
-StoatGod

P.S. This e-mail was sent from my dad's account. My actual e-mail
address is stoatgod@hotmail.com.