What's the best way to implement a recurring character?

[quixotecoyote]

I want to have a couple sidekicks that show up in a lot of rooms the player goes to.  I also want the villian to pop in and taunt occasionally.

I note that when I use the interaction menu to show messages  for the characters it sets to room message for the current room.  This is a problem as when I plunk them in new rooms they still look for the same message number. 

Is the best way to work with this to do a run script under each interaction, run Display commands and the like, and just start building a tree of If conditions as they start to not apply?

[RickJ]

I note that when I use the interaction menu to show messages  for the characters it sets to room message for the current room.  This is a problem as when I plunk them in new rooms they still look for the same message number.

Message numbers 500 and greater are global.  Message numbers less than 500 are local to the room.

I want to have a couple sidekicks that show up in a lot of rooms the player goes to.  I also want the villian to pop in and taunt occasionally.

Is the best way to work with this to do a run script under each interaction, run Display commands and the like, and just start building a tree of If conditions as they start to not apply?

If you are comfortable with scripting I would defintely recommend ditching the interaction editor.  But since I'm a programmer that is my obvious preference.  It depends on your comfort level I guess. 

When you say taunt do you mean that they just make random remarks or does the player character have to respond with dialog?  If it's the latter case you may want to look in to using the built in dialog system.  It may suit your needs better.