Bounties and Beyond — a content proposal

[Keign]

I'm inclined to agree, but unless I misread the blog, that is how the system is intended to work right now.

From the blog:

Quote:

Oh, and one more twist: Each time the bounty is paid, the victim has the option to issue it again. And again. A wealthy victim could maintain the price on the head of a murderer for a very long time—forever, if they like. Murder the wrong person, and you might find your character reduced to a life constantly on the run, or you may need to try to heal the breach via penance and apology (and likely restitution).

My suggestion for increasing shifts in alignment and increasing financial cost are intended to off-set this, as I agree that it seems like being able to renew bounties endlessly could easily be griefing in and of itself.

[Being]

I agree, and would argue that we should not recommend this course of action.

Ask your authors: What story has no conflict? If we do not have great villains we cannot have great heros. Persecute villains and they will indeed vanish eventually, save perhaps the very most stubborn of the hardcore. Eliminate evil and you give the good no foil, nothing to test themselves against.

"If you protect the world from foolishness, the result is a world ful of fools."

[Keign]

I admit I am concerned that playing a villainous character is beginning to look incredibly difficult. While I understand that this is because we are trying to prevent abusive players, it IS difficult to draw the line between preventing player abuse and preventing characters from being effectively evil.

A large part of this could be resolved by laws and criminal tags being regional - in an evil settlement, perhaps, murder isn't a crime. (Perhaps. That doesn't sound quite right, still.)

At least it seems that development in the area will affect whether or not it is criminal to kill. In the woods, killing someone can be dismissed as an accident - you don't get to put a bounty on them, you get to be more careful next time. In a town, there are witnesses and enforceable laws.

If this murder tag only affects people who are foolish enough to kill someone in the middle of a law-abiding city, perhaps they have earned the endless bounties they might receive upon their heads.

But then again, since it seems like it's not supposed to be easy for an evil character to enter a good settlement anyway, the point seems a bit moot.

[Being]

It should similarly be difficult for a good aligned character to enter an evil settlement, should it not?

[Keign]

It would seem so, yes, but I don't think anyone is worried about good-aligned characters randomly murdering people. (Though, I suppose if the alignment system doesn't account for wanton murder as long as the people/things you kill are 'evil' I can see how they might.)