Multiromancing in the committed state?

[Kulyok]

Thanks god, someone understood my point.

 

This much was obvious, but the point is: while PC can be anyone - I can roleplay any character, I can be a loyal person, or a two-timing bastard, or whoever - the NPC's character(say, Anomen's character) is pretty much determined, so it very much depends on the NPC in question.

[Domi]

The NPC's character are not as strictly determined as that, really. Look, to steer away from arguing about Anomen, I can tell you that I would have never pinned Jordan's three women as the polygamy material, yet the *author* himself makes them enter such a relationship.

[Kulyok]

And another point is: even if an NPC has, well, a slutty character and is willing to go far with a committed man/woman(think Salvanas) - there is a matter of characters to whom PC is committed to. Which is where the fat is in the fire, and, I think, it very predictably comes to "What are you doing?" and SetGlobal("NPCRomanceActive","GLOBAL",3). Unless the NPC in question is all right with sharing, or his name is Weimerfain.

[Kulyok]

The NPC's character are not as strictly determined as that, really. Look, to steer away from arguing about Anomen, I can tell you that I would have never pinned Jordan's three women as the polygamy material, yet the *author* himself makes them enter such a relationship.

 

If Gaider/Compton/Domi showed openly his or her character was/was not polygamy material, yes. (I think Gaider showed quite well in his "I do not want to share you with this foul mage for longer than I have to" that Anomen is *not* polygamy material, but that's not the point - as you said, it's not Anomen - I certainly didn't intend this topic to be about Anomen). I agree in that it comes to how the author shows his/her NPC is like.

[Domi]

Well, all your male NPC choices are 'all right with sharing' seeing that they accept that the male sleeping with Phaere in the 'case of need'.

[berelinde]

No, I think we all understood it, but glossed over it as understood. No one is going to argue that the PC bears the majority of the blame for encouraging the attention of someone who isn't her committed partner.

 

Question becomes whether she is doing it because she has had a change of heart ("You rushed my decision to marry you, Gavin. Had I met Anomen first, I never would have agreed.") or whether she acts out of a desire to spite him for abandoning her for the months leading up to her capture or another reason known best to players of the mod ("How can you blame me for heeding the sweet words of other men. You abandoned me, Gavin. You said you'd be gone a week - a week! - and it was half a year, and I found you hundreds of miles from Baldur's Gate, no less.")

[Domi]

If Gaider/Compton/Domi showed openly his or her character was/was not polygamy material, yes. (I think Gaider showed quite well in his "I do not want to share you with this foul mage for longer than I have to" that Anomen is *not* polygamy material, but that's not the point - as you said, it's not Anomen - I certainly didn't intend this topic to be about Anomen). I agree in that it comes to how the author shows his/her NPC is like.

 

Unlike the prose author -and even that changes with the onset of fanfiction- a modder at release of his mod enters a partnership with the player, because player is completely responsible for how the NPC is treated in his or her particular game, including the player's interpretation of various aspects of NPC's sexuality. It's the reality. You can either go with the flow or try many prohibitive measures, but the more strictly you define the bounds of how your character should be treated by the player, the more imo it becomes something separate from the original game.

[Kulyok]

Well, all your male NPC choices are 'all right with sharing' seeing that they accept that the male sleeping with Phaere in the 'case of need'.

 

You mean homosexual NPC choices for male PC? I know Nathaniel romance breaks upon that at the Underdark exit.

 

And other male NPCs are not interested in male PC, I think, so there is no case for romance or jealousy here.

[Kulyok]

Unlike the prose author -and even that changes with the onset of fanfiction- a modder at release of his mod enters a partnership with the player, because player is completely responsible for how the NPC is treated in his or her particular game, including the player's interpretation of various aspects of NPC's sexuality. It's the reality. You can either go with the flow or try many prohibitive measures, but the more strictly you define the bounds of how your character should be treated by the player, the more imo it becomes something separate from the original game.

 

Um, what exactly do you mean? That, for example, a male elven player can go with Aerie and Viconia and fantasy about a threesome, while the designers made it obvious in the release that neither do these two females tolerate multiromancing, nor does Viconia like male elves? I don't quite see your point.

[berelinde]

I don't think Aerie does tolerate you sleeping with Phaerie, but I could be wrong. In any case, that hardly counts, because the party members' lives depend on maintaining Adalon's illusion.

 

So, flipping the tables, one must also consider whether Anomen would tolerate an NPC putting the moves on his committed partner. Not an issue for Ajantis, because of the way that romance played out in BG1, but it is an issue with Gavin. I'm planning to open the relationship to an NPC that never met Gavin before, or one who was previously unavailabe because of her alignment. Especially in the latter case, that is going to take quite some time to come to the commitment phase. And Gavin is pretty thick when it comes to observing the nuances of romantic attachment. His experience there has been kind of limited. The bit with the flower will sail cleanly over his head. It would be up to either the PC or Anomen to tell him the nature of the relationship had changed. And I'm not going to say anything more about that. It isn't that he'd continue to woo the PC intentionally, but I'd like to stay true to Gavin's character enough to allow one more conversation after that point.

 

So, now that the question has been raised: what about the ladies. If somebody wrote an NPC romance that had the possibility to start in a committed state, would Aerie, Jaheira, or Viconia pursue the PC even if he was attached to someone else?

 

Aerie would not, but she might sulk a bit. I could be persuaded either way about Jaheira. Like Anomen, the early part of her relationship is clearly theraputic in nature, helping her overcome her grief. Would that continue in the face of a committed relationship? Maybe. I could see either scenario. I think Viconia would welcome the challenge.

[Kulyok]

Question becomes whether she is doing it because she has had a change of heart ("You rushed my decision to marry you, Gavin. Had I met Anomen first, I never would have agreed.") or whether she acts out of a desire to spite him for abandoning her for the months leading up to her capture or another reason known best to players of the mod ("How can you blame me for heeding the sweet words of other men. You abandoned me, Gavin. You said you'd be gone a week - a week! - and it was half a year, and I found you hundreds of miles from Baldur's Gate, no less.")

 

If you put it like that, I can very well see it working - if PC does not immediately jump in bed with Gavin, but holds him at arm's length for the reasons you've described. This way, his romance is, in a way, at 1 again - "he is on trial" value - Anomen's is at 1, too, and, once again, "all is fair in love and war".

[Domi]

I meant male PC choices ie Aerie, Viconia and Jaheira, and yep, that's exactly what I meant.

 

That a player will go around the restriction if they don't suit their particular game design. That they will make ultimate descisions on the NPCs behavoir in their games. (Shrug.) While I can understand what Berelinde's trying to do with Anomen, and it is an interesting content, and I am sure people would play it, I just can't see that level of complexity integrated for every romantic rival routinely, which will stand out. All I feel I can do is to write something that will make the player to want to romance this character and this character only in this particular game, not mix and match it with three other romances. And if I fail to do it, all the coding controls are just globals to hack.

[Kulyok]

Well, yeah, but that's up to the player to hack the globals - if one wants to multiromance, he or she will, that's their game and their choice.

 

But I still think that I am responsible for providing more or less realistic behaviour to NPC I mod in the first place. Thus, I included Xan in Crossmod Pack/Romance Conflicts, and thus, his sulking when Xan sees Charname flirting with him and Kivan/his sarcasm when Xan sees Charname flirting with him and Anomen.

[Domi]

And I agree that this is good content etc, but I doubt it can be all inclusive and to be honest I think such content will actually encourage multiromancing, 'cause you know, one wants to see it.

[Kulyok]

Yes, that's one side of multiromancing: "want to see everything" reason.

 

As for real "two romances go side by side, one of them committed, and it all looks realistic and not seriously out of character for anyone" story, though... I don't know. Maybe I've yet to see it.