Dialogue trees
Conversations present the player with response options that branch: some lines merely flavor the exchange, others open quests, alter relationships, or lock story paths. Dialogue trees are the RPG's core expressive interface — they let players perform a character rather than watch one. Design levers: paraphrase menus versus full-line display (paraphrases that mismatch the spoken line are a chronic trust-breaker), skill-gated options that pay off build choices in conversation, visible consequence hints versus honest ambiguity, and hub-and-spoke structure (returning to a question list) versus true branching — which multiplies writing cost geometrically; most 'branching' dialogue reconverges within a few lines, and the craft is hiding that. Tooling matters more than it seems: past a few hundred nodes, writers need graph editors, variable tracking, and path testing or the tree rots. Pitfall: options that all lead to the same response teach players their choices are cosmetic, and they stop reading.
- Dev effort: Medium
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: rpg, adventure