TALK
Keywords: TALK
=== USER MANUAL ===
Usage: talk <npc>
Description:
Start an interactive conversation with an NPC. The NPC speaks and
presents you with a numbered list of dialogue choices. Pick a number
to respond, and the conversation branches accordingly.
Conversation Flow:
When you talk to an NPC, their dialogue appears followed by
numbered options:
<NPC name> says:
Welcome to Camp Bravo, soldier. What can I do for you?
1) Tell me about the mission.
2) I need supplies.
Q) End conversation
Type a number to choose that option, or Q to leave at any time.
Dialogue Features:
Branching Each choice leads to a different node in the dialogue
tree. Conversations can loop, branch, or end depending
on how the NPC's dialogue was authored.
Conditions Some choices only appear when certain conditions are
met -- for example, a supply request might only show
after you've accepted a mission briefing.
Actions Choosing an option or reaching a node can set flags
on your character that other dialogues, scripts, and
game systems can check later.
Terminal When the NPC has nothing left to say (no choices),
the conversation ends automatically.
Answering In Your Own Words:
Some NPCs will take more than a menu choice. You can tell which, two
ways: the options end with a (or answer in your own words) line, and the
prompt reads Reply> rather than Choose>. Where you see those, type
whatever you want instead of a number and the NPC will answer it.
Those particular replies are improvised by an AI rather than written by
hand, and they are conversation only:
- Nothing said in a free reply changes the game. The NPC cannot give
you anything, open anything, take you anywhere, or start or finish a
quest by talking. Only the numbered choices do that.
- It does not know how the game works and is instructed never to
invent commands, items, places or rewards. If it strays into advice
anyway, don't act on it -- check a helpfile instead.
- Talking freely never moves you off the current node. Once the NPC
answers you get the same numbered choices back, so you can chat as
long as you like and still pick up the authored dialogue after.
- The NPC remembers the last few things said in this conversation and
forgets all of it once you leave.
- What you type is sent to an outside AI service to be answered, and
exchanges are kept in a log staff can review. Don't type anything you
wouldn't want a stranger to read -- no real names, addresses, or
passwords. Stay in character.
- Sometimes an NPC will lose the thread, trail off, or think better
of answering. That is normal. Ask again, or pick a numbered choice.
Notes:
- You must be standing and in the same room as the NPC.
- Only NPCs with authored dialogue trees respond to talk.
NPCs without dialogue will tell you they have nothing to say.
- If the NPC dies or leaves the room mid-conversation, the
dialogue ends immediately.
- While in a dialogue, your normal input is captured by the
conversation -- type numbers or Q, not regular commands. On a node
that takes free text, anything that isn't a number goes to the NPC
as speech.
- At a Choose> prompt, any word starting with Q ends the
conversation. At a Reply> prompt it takes exactly Q or quit, so
that asking something like "quick, where are they?" is heard as a
question rather than a goodbye.
- While an NPC is considering your words, anything you type except
Q is ignored until they answer. Q leaves without waiting.
- You can talk to the same NPC again to revisit their dialogue.
Conditions may produce different options based on earlier choices.
Related Helpfiles: TELL, SAY
=== END MANUAL ===