Yes very interesting Phil. You could also have 2 different static characters. One alive (guard,character 1) and one dead.(dead guard,character 2, not created yet). When the player examines the guard type in your usual examine character message for character 1.
i.e You examine the guard and he grunts at you. He doesnt seem very helpful. Maybe You should try something else.
You can also talk to the guard with normal speech entries for characters.

i.e. say to guard, what do you want.

Maybe the guard wants an object or in your case you could have the character reply with 'I want nothing from you peasant except your blood!!!'

which maybe gives the character a clue so he thinks right ive gotta kill him.
You could even have a certain number of turns to kill him and if you dont kill him after 3 turns he gets angry and kills you.

What Now> Kill Guard with dagger.
You attack the guard with the dagger. He is now dead!!!(Destroy character 1 and create character 2:dead guard)


What Now>examine dead guard. set flag 1 to 1
You search the guard and find a key. (create key object in location.)

What Now>examine dead guard and if flag 1 is 1 print suitable cmess You examine the dead guard and find nothing more of interest.

There are several ways of doing this actually. Phils example is very good also. Its just finding out what better suits you.
Obviously you will need a flag. One to test if the user has typed examine dead guard twice. On the second time they search you will find nothing of interest.
Or maybe you want the guard to have 2 objects if examine dead guard is typed twice. Then you will need 2 flags.

What Now>examine dead guard. Set flag 1 to 1

You find a gold key. Well done!!!

What Now>examine dead guard and if flag 1=1 print cmess You search the guard again and find a map. Nice One!!! create object number 24(map) set flag 1 to 2

What Now> examine dead guard and if flag 1=2 print cmess You search the guard but he has nothing more of interest.

Anyway just an idea.

Cheers

Stants.

Good ideas, stants!
Another way could be to create 2 static characters like you said but have the 2nd character "a dead body"...
character noun = /body/

This would avoid any character noun conflict with /guard/

Phil.

My goodness! So many options! Thanks again to both of you. I'll have to think out the level of interactivity that I want the player to have with the NPC and then try out these approaches.

Cheers,
Cuthbertson

Okay, another question: Is there a way to change the static status of an object similar to how we can change the location of an object in game?

From what I have tested, the staticX is just read only for finding out if an object is static.

I'm hoping there is a command available for modifying this field. I have an object in the game that after a given result, I want to move the object back to a certain location and make it static so that it cannot be taken a 2nd time.

If this cannot be done, I am guessing I'd have to write a custom response and use a flag to deny the player from taking the object a 2nd time.

Cheers,
Cuthbertson

Cuthbertson wrote:

Okay, another question: Is there a way to change the static status of an object similar to how we can change the location of an object in game?

From what I have tested, the staticX is just read only for finding out if an object is static.

I'm hoping there is a command available for modifying this field. I have an object in the game that after a given result, I want to move the object back to a certain location and make it static so that it cannot be taken a 2nd time.

Hi cuthbertson,
A static object is also regarded as one that has a weight attribute of 500....
So you can use weight changing action:

weightobjn1=X
weightobjn2=X
and
weightX=Y

So you would move the object to the appropriate location THEN use action:

#weightX=500# action command to set it to static....

If you now try and take object X TAB will reply with the default system mesage:
"You can't take the XXXX."

Regards,
Phil.