The Oblivion NPC Redesign Project is intended to update and improve the contents of the pages of NPCs in Oblivion.
In particular, the project will add consistent sections for:
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- Quest Involvement
- A short summary of the quests the character is involved in.
- Schedule
- What does the character do in a typical day, and at special times?
- Services
- What does the character offer and how does that fit into their schedule?
- Personal Inventory
- What items does the character hold? Are they leveled or fixed? Will they always hold the best items for the player's current level?
- House Contents
- What items can be found in the character's house (where applicable) that are of particular note?
- Unique Dialogue
- Does the character have anything special to say? When? Only when they like the character? Other times?
- Rumors
- Do other characters have things to say about this one? When?
- Faction Changes
- Does the NPC join any factions? Does their rank change at certain quest stages?
- Spells
- Does the NPC use any spells?
- Other
- Is there anything else that needs mentioning?
Quest Involvement
While most information about quests should remain on the specific quest pages, a short summary (one or two lines) about the character's involvement is desirable. Instead of a generic note, this information should be integrated into the character's description. No note is needed if a character is not involved in any quest (i.e. no "He is not involved in any quests.").
Schedules
Schedules are the most complex part of the whole project. A particularly difficult set of NPC schedules is described here.
Schedules will be presented as a narrative rather than as a table. In general they should take the form of a brief introduction and then a description of the schedule, as this gives a more natural flow to an NPC's narrative. For instance:
Adamus Phillida's Schedule
Adamus Phillida has two distinct schedules: one before the Permanent Retirement quest is initiated and one after. Before the quest he sleeps in the Imperial Legion Barracks from midnight to 6am then eats until midday in the Imperial Legion Offices. After lunch he wanders around the Prison District until 4pm and then patrols in the Market District until 8pm. He spends three hours from 8pm until 11pm investigating the Dark Brotherhood shrine in Claudius Arcadia's house. If he has time before bed, he will spend it relaxing in a chair in the Imperial Legion Offices.
After the Permanent Retirement quest is started, Phillida is transported to the Leyawiin City Watch Barracks and begins a new schedule. He sleeps in the barracks between 2am and 6am then breakfasts until 9am at the Three Sisters' Inn. He then wanders around the Coast Guard Station until 1pm when he heads off for his swim. After standing by the side of the lake for a couple of hours, he will swim until 8pm then get dressed and head for dinner in the City Watch Barracks, eating until 1am. A slight glitch in his scripting means he has nothing to do between 1am and 2am so will usually be found standing around in the Barracks.
Adosi Serethi's Schedule
Adosi has one of the simplest schedules of any NPC. Before the Zero Visibility quest she wanders around the Aleswell Inn, afterwards she will wander around the whole of Aleswell. She never sleeps or eats.
Adrian Decanius' Schedule
Adrian is very much a gentleman of leisure. He sleeps in his Elven Gardens District house between 10pm and 6am. He spends three hours wandering around the building before heading to the Arboretum at 9am and wandering there until 9pm, although he will take a break for two hours at 6pm to eat dinner at his house. He'll then head home and wander around it again before going back to bed. The exception to this schedule is during the Light the Dragonfires quest, when the Imperial City is under martial law and citizens are confined to their houses.
Services
These are almost all mentioned on the NPC pages already but need to be related to the schedules - not everybody offers services all the time. This section will need to mention any other requirements: are services only offered to certain faction members, or does the player need a certain disposition? No note is needed if a NPC does not offer any services (i.e. no "He does not offer any services.").
Personal Inventory
Discretion is useful here. If an NPC only carries a few items, they can all be mentioned. If they carry a large number of items, only list the important items.
House Content
Largely the same as the personal inventory. Also needs to include details of who owns items where applicable.
Unique Dialogue
Many NPCs have at least one unusual line of dialogue. This section needs to identify the ones that stand out and need reporting. Some data for this can be auto-generated for this section but will need substantial interpretation - is a given line important even if unique, for instance? Is a line shared by several NPCs still worthy of mention?
Rumors
NPCs in Oblivion often talk about one another, whether it be praising skill or making snide remarks. Who says what about whom and when? When using the Construction Set, rumors can be a bit tricky to find. You can use the Find Text function of the CS, and search for the name (or title) of the NPC in question. Don't forget to check NPCs that have a direct relation to the NPC in question, instead of the name they might refer to "my husband" (e.g.) in dialogue.
Another technique is to right-click on the NPC's name and use the Use Info option. Since most rumors about an NPC have a check to ensure NPCs don't tell rumors about themselves, and nobody says them to the NPC, all relevant rumors should show as INFO records in the use list.
Bugs
Any problems with the NPC's scripting.
Other
Any other things that need mentioning?
Adding Information
The categories below list the pages that need information added:
Checking Information
If you don't feel like adding content to a page, why not verify that what has been added is correct? List of pages that need checking are:
Project Members
Project Ribbon
Anyone taking an active part in the project may use the project {{Ribbon}}: