Chapter 7: Other Characters
§7.1. Getting Acquainted; §7.2. Liveliness; §7.3. Reactive Characters; §7.4. Barter and Exchange; §7.5. Combat and Death; §7.6. Getting Started with Conversation; §7.7. Saying Simple Things; §7.8. Saying Complicated Things; §7.9. The Flow of Conversation; §7.10. Character Emotion; §7.11. Character Knowledge and Reasoning; §7.12. Characters Following a Script; §7.13. Traveling Characters; §7.14. Obedient Characters; §7.15. Goal-Seeking Characters; §7.16. Social Groups
§7.1. Getting Acquainted
Talking about characters presents some special challenges. For one thing, some characters are referred to by a proper name, but others are not: so the story might want to talk about "Jack" but also about "the drunk pedestrian". In the absence of other information, Inform attempts to divine our intentions based on the words with which we defined a new character: but we can always override its guess with an explicit statement, such as
The Great Malefactor is proper-named.
Belfry demonstrates further how titles are set at the start of play.
The relation between the player and the other characters is not always static, however. Sometimes we want the player to learn a character's name part-way through play, and start referring to "the drunk pedestrian" as "Fernando". Similarly, the status of another character may change due to some twist of the plot. Gopher-wood shows how to change the name of a character mid-story, and Peers handles changing the character's rank.
Alternatively, of course, the player character may already know some of the other characters when the story begins, even if the player does not. In that case, we may want to add a tag-line or so of identification to a character's name when he first appears in the story. A Humble Wayside Flower shows one way of doing this.
Another occasional challenge is dealing with such commands as EXAMINE DR. THISBY. The problem here is that Inform by default will understand the full stop after "Dr" to be the end of one command and the beginning of another, and will try to interpret "Thisby" as a verb. If we do have a story populated by such formally-addressed characters, we may turn to Punctuation Removal, which provides a phrase to remove the full stops in standard titles before attempting to interpret the command.
Other characters have physical characteristics as well as names, of course, and Meet Market demonstrates one way of implementing people with notable features.
Finally, in some IF, the roles of characters may change from playing to playing. If we are writing a replayable murder mystery, we might want to select a new culprit each time the story starts; for this, see Clueless.
See The Human Body for more on body parts and physical description
See Memory and Knowledge for a way to refer to characters whom the player knows about but who aren't currently in the room
| ExampleBelfry You can see a bat, a bell, some woodworm, William Snelson, the sexton's wife, a bellringer and your local vicar here.
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| ExampleClueless A murderer for the mystery is selected randomly at the beginning of the game.
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| ExampleMeet Market A case in which relations give characters multiple values of the same kind.
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|  ExampleGopher-wood Changing the name of a character in the middle of play, removing the article.
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Almost all of this example is the flummery of pomp and circumstance: only the first two paragraphs really do anything.
"Peers" by Elizabeth II R
A title is a kind of value. The titles are Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess, Duke and Prince.
A peer is a kind of man. A peer has a title. A peer is usually a Baron. Before printing the name of a peer, say "[title] ". Understand the title property as describing a peer.
The House of Lords is a room. Maltravers, Pollifax, Omnium and St Vincent are peers in the House of Lords. Omnium is a Duke. St Vincent is an Earl.
Ennobling is an action applying to one thing and one title.
Check ennobling:
if the noun is the player, say "The Sovereign is the fountain of honour, and may not be ennobled." instead;
if the noun is not a peer, say "Commoners should remain so." instead;
if the title of the noun is the title understood, say "But that is his title already." instead;
if the title of the noun is greater than the title understood, say "As he is already of the rank of [title of the noun], any such letters patent are liable to be deemed invalid, following the precedent of the Buckhurst Peerage Case (1876). Best not." instead.
Carry out ennobling:
now the title of the noun is the title understood.
Report ennobling:
say "'Whereas Our Parliament for arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us the state and defence of Our United Kingdom and the Church is now met at Our City of Westminster We strictly enjoining Command you upon the faith and allegiance by which you are bound to Us that the weightness of the said affairs and imminent perils considered (waiving all excuses) you be at the said day and place personally present with Us and with the said Prelates Great Men and Peers to treat and give your counsel upon the affairs aforesaid And this as you regard Us and Our honour and the safety and defence of the said Kingdom and Church and dispatch of the said affairs in nowise do you omit Witness Ourself at Westminster the Fifth day of November in the 43rd year of Our Reign,' you say, with unpunctuated serenity. The new [noun] bows stiffly."
Understand "dub [someone] a/an [title]" as ennobling.
Test me with "dub st vincent a baron / dub maltravers a marquess / look / examine marquess".
|  ExamplePeers The peers of the English realm come in six flavours - Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess, Duke and Prince - and must always be addressed properly. While a peerage is for life, it may at the royal pleasure be promoted.
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Almost all of this example is the flummery of pomp and circumstance: only the first two paragraphs really do anything.
"Peers" by Elizabeth II R
A title is a kind of value. The titles are Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess, Duke and Prince.
A peer is a kind of man. A peer has a title. A peer is usually a Baron. Before printing the name of a peer, say "[title] ". Understand the title property as describing a peer.
The House of Lords is a room. Maltravers, Pollifax, Omnium and St Vincent are peers in the House of Lords. Omnium is a Duke. St Vincent is an Earl.
Ennobling is an action applying to one thing and one title.
Check ennobling:
if the noun is the player, say "The Sovereign is the fountain of honour, and may not be ennobled." instead;
if the noun is not a peer, say "Commoners should remain so." instead;
if the title of the noun is the title understood, say "But that is his title already." instead;
if the title of the noun is greater than the title understood, say "As he is already of the rank of [title of the noun], any such letters patent are liable to be deemed invalid, following the precedent of the Buckhurst Peerage Case (1876). Best not." instead.
Carry out ennobling:
now the title of the noun is the title understood.
Report ennobling:
say "'Whereas Our Parliament for arduous and urgent affairs concerning Us the state and defence of Our United Kingdom and the Church is now met at Our City of Westminster We strictly enjoining Command you upon the faith and allegiance by which you are bound to Us that the weightness of the said affairs and imminent perils considered (waiving all excuses) you be at the said day and place personally present with Us and with the said Prelates Great Men and Peers to treat and give your counsel upon the affairs aforesaid And this as you regard Us and Our honour and the safety and defence of the said Kingdom and Church and dispatch of the said affairs in nowise do you omit Witness Ourself at Westminster the Fifth day of November in the 43rd year of Our Reign,' you say, with unpunctuated serenity. The new [noun] bows stiffly."
Understand "dub [someone] a/an [title]" as ennobling.
Test me with "dub st vincent a baron / dub maltravers a marquess / look / examine marquess".
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