I am writing a story in which I am trying to have a character (Otis) either move WITH the player (Preferably) or move to a new location each time the player enters the room he is in so that the player is “following” him. Is there a way to do this?
I have looked at the persuasion rules 12.4 and Spontaneous actions by other people 12.6. Below I will put what I have as rules now. I have tried several variations of this such as trying to “ask” Otis to move when I move to “Just Outside the Cottage” for the first time. That doesn’t work either. Otis always stays put. Now, I CAN actually get Otis to move by actually asking him in game to move while having a persuasion rule that allows him to move when asked. However, I cannot get him to move automatically.
This is what I have as rules now:
After entering Just Outside the cottage for the first time: Try Otis going north.
Persuasion rule for Otis going : Persuasion succeeds.
This does NOT create an error when I try to run the story. Otis starts in a room named “The Cottage Kitchen” to the north of the cottage kitchen, through a door which is unlocked, is Just Outside the Cottage. Also, earlier I had a bit of trouble of Otis saying his line every time I went into "The Cottage Kitchen and fixed it by saying this:
After going to The Cottage kitchen for the first time, say “Otis says, ‘Aye, so yer awake are ye. laddie? Come with me as thar is somthin[apostrophe] sinsinster afoot in the night. We have a visitor, we do. A strange man clamin[apostrophe] he hails from the mainland. I thinks he’s fibbin[apostrophe], I does. What soul would be daft enough to travel all the way ou[apostrophe] here in the dead of the night? Nay, ah dinnae ken shake this [apostrophe]orrible feelin[apostrophe] that this man, if[apostrophe]ins that’s what he is, is harborin[apostrophe] malicious intentions.’”
Update I have even tried saying Persuasion Rule for Otis try going AND for Otis try going north. THOSE give me errors.
I somehow didn’t see that but I will try looking into that if I can’t get him to continuously follow me ((to a certain point.)) There are some other things I need to figure out like how to make the lantern object Otis is carrying visible to the player as there is death scene if the player tries to take his lantern three times. ((Loose reference to Last Half of Darkness)) Then later how to remove the lantern from Otis’ possession, having it now home to room when his character disappears. Also how to make Otis leave at a certain point and possibly bring him back if I decide to have him return. Those bridges though I will cross when I get to them.
For getting him to follow you continuously, this construction should work:
After going when Otis in the room gone from:
try Otis going the noun;
continue the action.
(“The noun” will usually be a direction, but it might be a door, for instance.)
Otis’s lantern should already be visible to the player (try typing EXAMINE LANTERN). It just isn’t mentioned anywhere yet. You can write about it in the description of Otis (putting the sentence inside an [if Otis carries the lantern] … [end if] condition so that it doesn’t fire once he’s given it up).
If for some reason the lantern isn’t visible to the player (because of some other rule you’ve written):
Rule for deciding the concealed possessions of Otis:
if the particular possession is the lantern, no.
But this shouldn’t be necessary unless Otis has other possessions that you do want to keep concealed, since other characters’ possessions are unconcealed by default.
Removing the lantern from Otis and putting it somewhere else, and having Otis leave and return, are both straightforward:
Now the lantern is in the lamp room.
Now Otis is off-stage.
Now Otis is in the location.