Dialog Class System

The dialog class system is the most defining feature I want to implement in American Hare. It forms the basis for everything, while still retaining a similarity to past RPGs, and is quite unique I think. As you are familiar, most RPGs give you some kind of morality meter that varies as you perform good or bad actions. This usually amounts to followers and NPCs doing an “alignment check” when you talk to them, and whether you get the “good” ending, the “bad” ending, or the “boring” ending where you’re persuaded to play a little more extreme with your morality next time.

Sometimes, you’re allowed to pick your ending at the very end of the game in spite of what your character has done for the past 40 hours or so. Your baby eating anarchist anti-hero can suddenly decide to save the universe, restore harmony, and return the king to the throne in the final level. This approach is most apparent in Bioware titles.

American Hare is different. If you play through the game as an abusive megalomaniac, your character will not be able to convince the people of the final area that true happiness in life is found through generosity and maintaining a balance with nature. Likewise, the main characters will grow along with you, and if they have been suspicious for most of the adventure, they will not suddenly place their life in your hands.

I believe the most beneficial way to maintain this is to present the dialog in what I like to call “arcs”. You won’t choose a response and have your alignment suddenly change. The game will calculate what happened during the conversation at the end of it, and you are adjusted accordingly. Good, bad, or crazy points will be awarded at the end of each arc. This is a hidden, behind-the-scenes, stat which is reflected in your dialog “class”.

Personalities are organized into several subgroups, each representing a combination of good, bad, and crazy. Each rank of every personality (the dialog class itself) requires a certain number of good, bad, or crazy points to achieve. Sometimes you can change classes between personality lines, sometimes you cannot. For example, it is entirely possible to go from being a Hustler to an Unsung Hero, or start out as a Good Boy and end up a Psychopath, but you cannot go from being a Martyr to the Devil Incarnate (yes, evil people can be martyrs, even your character, but every possible combination can be made from any personality type, and there has to be physical limitations somewhere).

There are over a hundred class names you can be awarded, indicating which direction your are taking, but only 18 are “milestones”. Only 18 have a profound impact on the way you perceive the world and the way the world perceives you. Different options become available, and are lost, when you reach a milestone. The four classes labeled in the below chart as “Beginning” set you off on an initial path during the very first part of the game when you are attempting to escape the priest’s house. Despite paving this first road, no matter which class you start out with, all are still open to you at the beginning point.

Do note that you will not be able to do really insane stuff, really evil stuff, or really heroic stuff until you reach the extremes of your personality types. There will, however, be those special moments where a certain special action can net you a massive amount of class points… or cause you to lose them…

Class Milestones:
Beginning: Bully, Ambivalent, Mad, Helpful
Good: Good Boy, Unsung Hero, Saint
Good/Bad: Vigilante, Ego Maniac, Anti Hero
Good/Crazy: Maverick, Martyr, Chosen One
Bad: Hustler, Cold Blooded, Devil Incarnate
Bad/Crazy: Miscreant, Maniacal, Psychopath
Crazy: Looney, Basket Case, Stark Raving Mad