Suggestions for a Verb for Recalling Information

Authoring General Design Discussions
1

Hey All–

So I need the PC in my game to be able to call up information they possess on NPCs. If Ted is standing there, you should be able to recall that you hate Ted because he shot your brother in a duel.

I currently have REMEMBER, but I don’t like it. It seems weird to REMEMBER Ted while he’s right in front of you. THINK ABOUT TED is too much typing, although I could allow the player to T Ted as a shorthand.

Any suggestions for a good verb here? The time period is Elizabethan, if that helps (I guess I should say Elizabethan 1 now that we’ve just ended the Elizabethan 2 era).

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2

What about CONSIDER or PONDER?

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3

Oh, PONDER is good. P for short. Thanks!

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4

I would add all of these (and also RECALL) as synonyms.

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5

I think I want to restrict the player to just one verb with a sensible shorthand for this. Let players get too rowdy and they’ll start holding it against you that you don’t have every possible synonym, IMO.

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6

It should be an adjunct on look at ted or x ted. The relevant text would appear after the normal description.

7

For an Elizabethan game, it should totally be “perpend”. :grin:

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8

It may be quite a bit of backstory for some NPCs, so I want a new command for it. It will likely be the only “special” command in the game, so I can train the player to use it when they want to in the pre-game helpful information.

9

For flowery speech, there’s also DWELL UPON, BROOD OVER, and (less flowery) CONTEMPLATE.

None are fun to type, but do add an air of the dramatic.

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10

Zed, British Shakespearian English… beware the Rule 16… :wink:

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.

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11

I think RECALL is an obvious choice (it was even in your topic line and question!)

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12

Muse (upon), contemplate, ruminate or maybe review?

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13

What about instead of making it a verb, instead make it so if the player hangs about in Ted’s presence, they get some flavour text describing their emotions/memories? Would maybe make it feel more realistic?

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14

This is what i think too. Because a special verb is basically a horrible hack. The background information should be part of the character dialogue. If it’s something the player “remembers”, then it should be an append after the character’s response or even some info before you talk to them. Or bits in the description. Or, as you’ve said, after you hang around.

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