Lo-Fi Games

Just recently came a cross a topic in Gameplay located here:
Missing Traders
that discusses potential solutions for missing NPCs in towns/outposts.
One of these potential solutions is a similar method to Skyrim which replaces missing/dead NPCs with either a new NPC, or a copy of the old one, that takes up residence in the previous char's stead.

Decided to make this topic since its not a currently implemented feature, but it would be an extreme comfort for the player to be able to wait around for an in-game day or so for missing traders to re-appear rather than having to import their save to a new game.
Not to mention the beauty of being able to sack a city, killing its residents, AND being able to sack it again! Maybe I'll take hostages next time

I think it'd be neat to have them migrate into the world as pilgrims.

These pilgrims would be spawned in random places, set to wander around from town to town. If a towns population dropped to a certain point, then a bunch of the wandering pilgrims would settle down in that area.

This could also allow for "word of mouth" type stuff, such as rumors or tidbits of information that would be useful to players.

Rikter wrote:..

I do like that method of spawning. Hadn't really thought of where would be ideal for them to spawn.
And the "word of mouth" mechanic could be used by a lot of different groups. Travelling trade caravans, monk missions, and so on. Could even use this mechanic to find wandering parties if there would be something akin to questing in the future. Kinda like the Tasks system in Mount & Blade when hunting for a specific group of bandits and wandering NPCs can tell you if they've been in visual range or not and how recently.