The secret life of bandits

[Tale]

I don't think there's been major recognition of the personal lives of our XP pinatas. It's something I would like to see explored. Despite their suicidal tendencies to rush at demi-gods in the hopes of obtaining pocket change, surely some of them must have loved ones. Wives and children. Parents. Maybe a few of them hung with the wrong crowd. Maybe they're poor and desperate. Could they be refugees of the war? Exiles with nowhere to go? It's not simply an idea to make them sympathetic, but to give them motivations and families is to better place them in the ecosystem and aid in bringing them to life before and after they are gibbed in a single critical hit.

 

Remember all those copper rings that were barely worth their weight that you've looted in games of the past? Maybe those rings have inscriptions. "To my dear husband, Reginald. From Patrice." Is the bandit Reginald, or did the bandit kill Reginald? And maybe Patrice would like to have the ring back to remember her husband by. Or quests could appear from the other angle. Patrice's husband has gone missing and she fears bandits have captured him. Little does she know the truth. Maybe the player will never really know.

 

Just how many bandits will we kill and what does that mean for the local populace to lose so many able men? What does it mean that so many felt compelled to banditry in the first place?

[incubus9]

Bandits aren't always necessarily evil or greedy, but desperate and driven. Maybe harsh treatment of certain classes or races of people has lead some to a life of banditry as a means of taking control of their lives. I'm not talking a noble Robin Hood type bandit, but somebody whom life has been cruel and unfair and has chosen a life of crime to survive. When you paint their history with more ambiguity than a simple bandit who likes to kill, rape, and pillage, you end up with a more morally complex story. What if instead of ridding the land of the cruel bandits, the hero instead rids the land of the despotic Baron? Would that then lessen the scourge of banditry on the land? I am all for more complex moral decisions where good and evil are not clearly defined.

[Rostere]

This is a perfect example of what I want this game to do. Take common, overused fantasy tropes and give them a deep, realistic explanation. What is the true impact upon society when you kill a bandit? And, what can change the nature of a bandit? That's what I want to know.

[rjshae]

Small groups of bandits probably wouldn't go after a party of adventurers; it's too risky and there's not enough reward. Better to ambush weakly guarded merchants. If it doesn't look profitable, the bandits should really scatter into the wilds. Tracking them down should be relatively difficult, and as often as not they'd get the drop on you and run you into some traps.

Edited September 22, 2012 by rjshae

[Aedelric]

I am no bandit, I am a currency re-distributor. Everybody knows the largest portion of wealth in the land is carried by adventurers taken mercilessly from the corpses of literally hundreds of people they slay without a second thought, or stolen from unlocked boxes in peoples homes, even looted from long undisturbed tombs, such disrespect!

 

In all honestly, if anyone deserves a name with negative connotations it is all those adventuring types.

[Nonek]

Yes this sounds reasonable, the spate of banditry arising during the early years of the Norman conquest of England, might have been born out of the harrying of the north. To those who don't know, this was an extremely brutal answer to the stubborn folk of northern England who refused to accept Norman rule, the Norman overlords basically commited genocide. After this the legend of many bandit leaders were born, among them Robin Hood.

 

Be nice if we were given the appellation of sellswords or mercenaries, instead of the usual and faintly cheesy adventurer.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Nonek

[Tauron]

I like this, not evry bandit should be your local thug stereotype.

[Malcador]

It'd be nice if the bandits were grey-ish and had a backstory - not every individual mook you kill, but would be nice to see some as people pushed too far or people that slid down into depravity. Seems something we could expect from Obsidian, regardless, I'd gamble.

[TCJ]

I would vote for some of the bandits having names like Freia Expee and Mora Lutte.

 

In all seriousness, moving away from stereotypes is something I have no problem with. I always did wonder why bandits would appear and attack someone who has more gear on than the entire army combined. Maybe once you get to a certain level, if bandits appeared, they'd drop their jaws once they got up close, then run away for fear of their lives. Or perhaps have a dialogue option so you can intimidate them or something. Just don't make them throw themselves upon the PC's sword because it's just what bandits do in fantasy games.

[Nonek]

I think that's always an interesting story, the noble intentioned idealist who forgets what he was even fighting for, and becomes that which he hates.

[TCJ]

Maybe Robin Hood could have a cameo in which he finds out that robbing from the rich isn't always so easy... at least not when they are PCs.

[Orogun01]

I'd be nice if I get to "console" Reginald's wife

 

I seriously don't need bandits to have depth, at least not that personally. If is done in a more generational manner, like let's say... the economy of a certain locations is bad and it shows through desperate men that turned to banditry. In that case I might be for it, since it paints a more realistic atmosphere for the in game universe rather than trying to make me show altruism for a pixelated piece of AI that was programmed to kill me.

 

Also, banditry is bad.

[hideo kuze]

Just how many bandits will we kill and what does that mean for the local populace to lose so many able men? What does it mean that so many felt compelled to banditry in the first place?

 

I think you're mixing two different things here.

 

One thing is a group of individuals that pillage, plunger and... ahem... force romance upon damsels, during their journeys.

 

Another thing are opposing factions. Where faction A tells B is bad, and faction B tells A is bad.

Now that is something that gives room for lot of good things in terms of gameplay, roleplay and replayability (winners write history, what is good and wrong, moral dilemmas, etc, etc).

[Rostere]

I think you're mixing two different things here.

 

One thing is a group of individuals that pillage, plunger and... ahem... force romance upon damsels, during their journeys.

 

Another thing are opposing factions. Where faction A tells B is bad, and faction B tells A is bad.

Now that is something that gives room for lot of good things in terms of gameplay, roleplay and replayability (winners write history, what is good and wrong, moral dilemmas, etc, etc).

 

What.

[hideo kuze]

I think you're mixing two different things here.

 

One thing is a group of individuals that pillage, plunger and... ahem... force romance upon damsels, during their journeys.

 

Another thing are opposing factions. Where faction A tells B is bad, and faction B tells A is bad.

Now that is something that gives room for lot of good things in terms of gameplay, roleplay and replayability (winners write history, what is good and wrong, moral dilemmas, etc, etc).

 

What.

 

What part didn't you understood?

 

One thing is a group of wild criminals that have abandoned everything and went on the ways of stealing.

 

Another thing is where you have opposing factions in conflict for resources.

[Tale]

 

What part didn't you understood?

 

One thing is a group of wild criminals that have abandoned everything and went on the ways of stealing.

 

Another thing is where you have opposing factions in conflict for resources.

No, I do not think I am confused. I'm not saying they're good guys from a different perspective. I'm asking what could have caused them to abandon everything? And did they truly abandon everything? What did they leave behind?

 

I'm looking for more than just an NPC with bandit over his head that yields 35 xp and 2 coins when his HP hits 0. I'm looking for a guy who had a name, had a history, some evidence that he existed as a character in this world with people who knew him. That there's more to his situation than stabs and loot.

[Shadenuat]

Made me remember "Ronja Rovardotter" - book and movie. Cringed at the idea that some party of do-gooders would wipe clean castle like in there but spare bandit daughter cause they are like "the good guys". When you think about it, games which promote idea that somebody could be born evil and only serve as XP bag is pretty sick. But that's just a universal problem of combat and violence oriented products. There's just too much murder in games. I am not a pacifist, but when violence just replaces every other aspect of game, it becomes boring.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Shadenuat