Survivor NPCs

[TheCriscoKid]

Personally i think what's missing most is survivor NPCs. Some dude scared hiding in a toilet stall or closet you could escort home and recruit. Could start with just 1 function like adding a speed boost to a crafting station like a workbench or forge, and expand later to Gaurds, lumberjacks, farmers, hunters, miners, etc....but start small. Maybe 4 dialog options at first like "follow" , " stay" , "speed that up" or "gimme your wallet, punk" (in case you wanna be a dink, keep RP open I say, no pigeon holing. You wanna blow his head off, go for it) could add later a mechanic of 'chance he is infected', requiring need to quatantine temporarily. Most zombie stories have a plot point of finding other survivors, who may or may not be infected, who then collaborates in a plan to survive against zombies, who then either turns on the group through infection or betrayal or the new recruit dies in an act of heroism to save the party that didnt trust him in first place. (And, unlike traders, i think they should be totally mortal) It would be a feature, not too hard to implement at first with just those 4 functions, which could be expanded on later to infinite degrees, which could be a total game changer like minibikes were. And like minbikes opening doors to other vehicles, other NPC functions can be added later. Plus, from a story/RP point, kinda essential for zombie genre. The whole "he's just one of the waiting to happen" or "we need to trust him, we have no choice" scenario. After all, who else are those traders trading with? And who is gonna die heroically on blood moon so you can live on?

PS

forgot to mention it inadvertently also adds a much needed new quest type:

the escort mission.

[TheCriscoKid]

A game changer

 

Personally i think what's missing most is survivor NPCs. Some dude scared hiding in a toilet stall or closet you could escort home and recruit. Could start with just 1 function like adding a speed boost to a crafting station like a workbench or forge, and expand later to Gaurds, lumberjacks, farmers, hunters, miners, etc....but start small. Maybe 4 dialog options at first like "follow" , " stay" , "speed that up" or "gimme your wallet, punk" (in case you wanna be a dink, keep RP open I say, no pigeon holing. You wanna blow his head off, go for it) could add later a mechanic of 'chance he is infected', requiring need to quatantine temporarily. Most zombie stories have a plot point of finding other survivors, who may or may not be infected, who then collaborates in a plan to survive against zombies, who then either turns on the group through infection or betrayal or the new recruit dies in an act of heroism to save the party that didnt trust him in first place. (And, unlike traders, i think they should be totally mortal) It would be a feature, not too hard to implement at first with just those 4 functions, which could be expanded on later to infinite degrees, which could be a total game changer like minibikes were. And like minbikes opening doors to other vehicles, other NPC functions can be added later. Plus, from a story/RP point, kinda essential for zombie genre. The whole "he's just one of the waiting to happen" or "we need to trust him, we have no choice" scenario. After all, who else are those traders trading with? And who is gonna die heroically on blood moon so you can live on?

PS

forgot to mention it inadvertently also adds a much needed new quest type:

the escort mission.

[The Blue Fox]

I absolutely agree with this. I would love to see survivor NPCs that you caan recruit to help out around your base.

 

Guards to help kill any zombies that come near

 

Farmers to help tend to your crops and use harvested crops to feed other NPCs

 

Lumberjacks for wood obviously and maybe they can chop zombies too

 

Miners to dig up resources

 

Other general workers / engineers that can repair stuff.

 

And yeah, absolutely have the player be able to give them stuff to do with commands like; "Follow me" "Wait here" "Do that" (need to be aimed at a task the NPC can do) and so on.

 

And I totally agree traders need to be mortal. For them to be as useful as they are AND have indistructable bases? Yeah, that needs to change.

 

And I like how you tied it in to the whole storied thing. Could definitely add to the overall lore and interst of the game.