Reputation

No good/evil slider

Earlier Fable games had a morality slider. Do good things and your character grows a halo. Do bad things and you sprout devil horns. That system is gone.

Ralph Fulton was direct about this: "Our version of morality isn't a sliding scale." The new system is local and subjective. Different towns see you differently based on what happened there.

How it works

Your reputation is built from your actions, but only the ones that were witnessed by at least one other person. If nobody sees you do something, it does not affect your reputation. Steal from a shop in Bowerstone while nobody is looking and the people of Bowerstone are none the wiser.

Every NPC has their own worldview. They judge your actions through their own lens. What one NPC considers noble, another might see differently. Fulton described this as "entirely subjective" and "probably representative of how morality exists in the world that we live in today." Even kicking chickens is not objectively good or evil, he said, in a way everybody will agree on.

Reputation tags

Your actions generate reputation tags that form a "word cloud" in each settlement. These labels follow you around:

• Kick chickens in front of people and you become "Chicken Chaser" in that settlement

• Buy up property and you get tagged as "rich" or "tycoon"

• Perform heroic deeds and people call you a hero

These tags are local. Your reputation in Bowerstone can be completely different from your reputation in Bloodstone. The more people who witness a behavior, and the more often you do it, the more prominent that tag becomes.

Effects

Reputation has real gameplay consequences:

• NPC dialogue changes based on what they think of you

• Shop pricing can be affected by your standing in a settlement

• Some quests are only available depending on your reputation

• Romance and marriage eligibility can be affected

The town crier

You can bribe the town crier to modify your reputation. This gives you a way to shape public opinion beyond just doing good or bad deeds. The specifics of how bribery works (cost, limits, what can be changed) have not been detailed.

No character morphing

The old games changed your character's appearance based on morality. Evil characters grew horns and went bald. Good characters got a halo. This feature has been removed.

The decision has split fans. Playground Games made the call because they do not believe in objective moral judgment and did not want the game telling players they are objectively good or evil.

World consequences

Choices have permanent effects on the world. The most cited example: killing Dave the giant leaves his corpse in the landscape. House prices in that area permanently drop. NPCs reference it. See Property and economy for how the economic system ties in.

Whose opinion matters to you is part of the roleplaying. You decide which towns you care about and which ones you are willing to burn your reputation in.