Wow. It's been a while since I've done an Idea Time.
Many players, myself included have been wanting more NPCs decorating islands and outposts for a while now, and I feel like perhaps one reason why we haven't gotten this already is maybe Rare couldn't think of much for them to do, other than be aesthetic. Well, I think I've come up with a very nice solution, that helps solve problems for multiple groups of players. NPCs dotted around outposts and islands, would have different tasks and schedules of things they'd do, and different personalities and quirks, similar to the Shopkeepers. However, upon talking to these random NPCs, they'd have a chance to do different things, or simply just engage in conversation. Some of these things would be:
A: Give you something (Treasure or Supplies)
B: Send you on a short-distance fetch quest to earn something, probably on the same island you found them (Again, Treasure or Supplies)
C: Give you a map to a location that has a larger stash of something, on that island or an island nearby (You guessed it, Treasure or Supplies)
For players who want to be able to purchase supplies or storage crates, this would incentivize speaking to all the NPCs on the islands you visit, or when you spawn on an outpost, checking to see if they have any supplies to give you. Depending on where the NPC is and what they're doing, they could have different things they could do, so I came up with some different situations. Here are some examples for different NPC encounters:
An NPC is on an island digging for treasure, but failing to find it. Speaking to them, they could ask for your help in finding it in exchange for giving you whatever you find.
An NPC in the Devil's Roar could rarely give you a Box of Wondrous Secrets and claim they couldn't figure out what to do with it.
An NPC in the tavern could be too drunk to get up and do it themselves, so they ask you to order them a round of grogs in exchange for some money.
An NPC could be fishing, and upon talking to them, they'd give you some fish.
An NPC could have lost their belongings (Hat, Gloves, a random Equipment item or weapon) before setting sail, and ask you to search the outpost for it, rewarding you with a crate of assorted supplies.
An NPC could be washed up on a beach and explain to you that a skeleton ship sunk them, and ask you to avenge them, giving you a parchment to some coordinates where the skeleton ship and their shipwreck could be found.
And many more. These NPCs would keep the islands feeling lively, as some of them would run around islands, some would only be there on certain times of day, some would sit still, and generally spice up the experience of exploring islands. Adding these types of NPCs could pave the way for more types of NPCs to be added, such as NPC ships and enemies that aren't skeletons.
What do you think?
