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Rumor System

Rumors are pieces of game text, usually dialogue snippets, that can be spoken by various innkeepers or shopkeepers around the game world. They have a number of uses: they help steer players toward new content they may not have explored yet, they provide an easy way for the world to 'react' to player choices, and (especially more general quips) provide a little context for the game world.

Mods can add or present rumors as needed. Please note that the entirety of the rumor system is part of the Core module, meaning that if you are trying to make a 'total conversion'-style mod that does not depend on Core at all, these functions will be unavailable.

Usage Notes

Rumors are shuffled into a random order from which Rumor.Get and Rumor.Present will make selections. Once a particular rumor is shown, it will not be shown again until all other rumors have been exhausted; this helps keep the variety up.

Rumors have a relative weight factor, which represents the probability that that rumor will be chosen. It is relative to the weights of all other rumors, e.g. it represents a 'slice of the pie'. As an example, consider two rumors, one with a weight of 1 and another with a weight of 2, then the second rumor has a 66% probability of being selected. If you add a third rumor with a weight of 1, then the second rumor's selection probability drops to 50%, and the other two have 25% each.

note

When adding your own rumors, do so in a Script asset that calls Rumor.Add. Make sure your Script asset loads after the Script_RumorSystem script from the Core module; this will guarantee that the Rumor.Add function is actually available. You can do this by clicking the Load Order button in the top right of the script editor, and configuring it accordingly.

Reference

Rumor.Add

id = ...

text = ...

weight = ...

check = ...

id (string) - unique ID of the rumor; only used for Rumor.Remove
text (string) - string table key representing the rumor text
weight (number) - optional - relative selection weight; defaults to 1
check (function) - optional - eligibility check function; rumor is not shown if function returns false

Adds a new rumor to the table of rumors. Note that arguments are expected as named keys in a table. See Example section at the bottom of the page.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Rumor.Remove

name

name (string) - the ID of the rumor to delete, previously passed to Rumor.Add

Delete the rumor with the specified ID from the table of rumors.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Rumor.RemoveAll

Deletes all rumors from the rumor table.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Rumor.Shuffle

Re-shuffle all rumors, meaning ones that have just been shown could be shown again. This is primarily useful if you just added a new rumor during gameplay (as opposed to in a Script Asset), which will not be shuffled into the list of possible rumors until all other rumors have been exhausted.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Rumor.Get

(string) - string table key of the selected rumor

Selects a random, eligible rumor, makes it ineligible for selection until the next shuffle, and returns its string table key. You can pass this to Log() or similar, to display the rumor text on-screen.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Rumor.Present

mill

mill (Creature) - the value of the 'mill' grammar context; this is the creature speaking the rumor to the player

Utility function that assigns the rumor mill grammar context, selects a random rumor, and displays it.

This function is part of the Core module. (Hover for details)

Example

As a quick example, add a RUMOR_EXAMPLE_TEXT string table set to any string table, and enter this text. Note the use of the {mill} grammar context; please consult the section on Grammar & Contexts for information on how to use the grammar engine.

"I heard something incredible last week," {mill} {mill exclaim} eagerly. "I forgot what it was, though."

Then hook it up in script, like so. Don't forget to add a Load Order dependency to load after Script_RumorSystem, else the Rumor.Add function may not yet be loaded, leading to errors.

Rumor.Add {
    id      = "MyCustomRumor",          -- Internal ID; used only for Rumor.Remove
    text    = "RUMOR_EXAMPLE_TEXT",     -- The string table key that you just added
    weight  = 1,                        -- Relative weight: higher number = more likely to get picked
    
    -- Optional! You may add a 'check' function if you wish to restrict when the rumor may be shown.
    -- This is useful to, for instance, show a rumor only before, or after, a certain quest was completed.
    check   = function()
        return Storage.GetFlag("MY_QUEST_COMPLETED")
    end
}

This custom rumor will now be available at various shopkeeps and bartenders throughout the Finmer world. For total conversion mods, be sure to add a rumor mill somewhere, e.g. an NPC or similar that calls Rumor.Present (or Rumor.Get for advanced uses) to display the rumors.

Usage Notes
Reference
Example