View source for Crafting Sanctuary Panel Blizzcon 2010

==Action Story Telling==

Kevin Martens discusses their methods of "action story telling."  Blizzard's motto is "play don't tell."  This wasn't done that well in Diablo II, with many long NPC speeches that players had to sit and listen to, rather than learning the story while playing. Diablo III lets you listen to NPC speeches while playing, and shares more of the story through the gameplay itself.

An example is shown, from a mini-quest in Act One, in which the player finds an NPC weapon maker who requests assistance.
::''"I will make an example of Dargon, that traitorous cur. Help me hunt him, and I will sell to you, instead of those Zealots."''

That's his entire speech, given quickly, and finished while running along beside the player, who is already in the process of carrying out the quest actions. The quest, as seen in the PvM demo at Blizzcon 2010, was very short, and after just a few minutes the player successfully caught up to Dargon. At that point he runs towards a Cultist leader and begs for assistance.

::[[Dargon]]: "Master, help me. The crazed weapon-maker wants my head!"
::''Cultist boss''': "What makes you think I care for your life? Kill them, my pets."

(The cultist boss was not named and didn't fight back in the demo, but you can be sure he'll be more of a challenge in the final game.)

After the battle with the cultist leader and his three [[Champion]] [[Berserker]]s, the player will naturally spend a moment looking over the items the monsters dropped. The NPC fills that time by giving a short speech that wraps up the quest:

::"Now that Dargon is dead, no one shall question my reputation or my resolve. Now for my goods. You'll find none better!"

As soon as he speaks, an NPC merchant interface opens up, giving the player an opportunity to buy and sell weapons and items. 

===Lore Books===

Lore books are described by Kevin Martens:

<blue>Lore books are items that fall as treasure. When you click on them they automatically start playing an audio file. In it you hear the narrator, the person who wrote the book that you found. They have a little bit of voice acting, they're interesting, and it takes no more time than clicking on it to pick it up. And you can keep running along killing monsters while you listen to it.</blue>

An example is shown, with King Leoric heard reading from hid diary while the player continues battling monsters:
::''"I am convinced that some malevolent being is attempting to wrest control of my thoughts away from me. I hear voices urging me to horrendous acts. There are times when I seem unable to control myself. Lazarus knows, I'm certain of this. ''