The Land System – A Strait Talk Post

The land system has been a feature that a majority of the Knight Realms player base have been able to enjoy greatly! Some people however have had negative experiences with it, and I would like to speak on that topic in this post.

To start with some background, the land system is meant to fill a few desires that our players have. One of these is “feel as if their characters are truly participating and being productive in the game world in between the live events”. Another is “feel as if the game world outside the living game is a place that evolves, and allowing a players character to take part in that growth.” There are other things that players get out of the system as well, such as something further to role-play about at the events, and more opportunity to feel like a character has a purpose or has involvement in a land or in the world itself. Because of this the actions of the land system have to be cannon; if they were not, then there would be no point.

Now we went into this with a couple of concerns. Mostly involving PvP, but also involving being punished for not participating. Our original idea was that nothing negative that happened in the land system would be brought into the game to the detriment of a specific character. Over the course of some time, this issue got away from us a little. Not because of laziness or abuse, but rather because the system wasn’t adequately optimized for negative actions that targeted other PCs. In the past twelve months, these types of actions increased slightly, but just enough to become an issue, and the way they evolved strayed from our original intention. During this we recently realized that there would be no way that we could allow characters to perform negative actions targeting other PCs without allowing the targeted PCs a way or chance to find out or be given the fair chance to react appropriately. We had two choices; eliminate aggressive PC targeting actions all together or write a system for it. Our first choice before elimination will always be trying to make it work, so we went with designing a set of rules for it that are as fair as they could be. Those rules while published a month ago, where never particularly highlighted, and so I have placed them below this post so that people can be aware of them.

Land Marshals exist primarily to make the experience feel more specialized for the player. If a player says that they are guarding a bridge in between the events. A Land Marshal might simply indicate whether or not the bridge was successfully guarded, or they might get creative and write a small story on what happened when they were guarding the bridge. What a Land Marshal will not do from here on out, is involve themselves in the process of determining the outcome or advancement of a situation where a character is performing a cause mayhem PvP action, and other players are trying to investigate it. For this there is a simple formula and system that is now adhered to without interference. They will also not reference any part of your action in the response to another players action, unless it is obviously benign such as “While you are tending to the gardens, you notice that John the Priest is also popping in on occasion to help you with your work.” If you state in your actions that you are working in tandem with someone else, this counts as benign

On the topic of non-participation; if a land does not wish to be very active, or active at all, it will be considered that their lands do not degrade, but rather stays at a respectable but standard level of upkeep and condition. An individual player should never be punished in or out of character for not submitting land actions. If someone is violating the spirit of this rule to the point that it is negatively affecting your experience, inform the Development Officer, or a Land Marshal. That being said, the land system is a wonderful opportunity to feel like you are contributing to the lands growth and the game world itself in between events. We hope that you choose to enjoy it.

The Land System Development team is always looking for ways to improve and make the system more fun for the Knight Realms players. If you ever have any comments, suggestions or concerns feel free to bring them to the Development Officer, and they will be given genuine consideration and review. Thanks!

Cause Mayhem - PVE
Select this land action if you are causing mayhem for the sake of building your character’s background in the Knight Realms world. Your attempted mayhem can be descriptive or generalized, minor or major. You cannot seek to antagonize a specific player character or group of player characters with this action. There is zero chance that your characters actions can be discovered or proven. However, there is a chance based on a number of factors, including the Public Order of the settlement, that your mayhem will fail to proceed as you planned.

Cause Mayhem - PVP
Select this land action if you are causing mayhem for the purpose of antagonizing a player character or a group of player characters. If you perform this action there is a percentage chance that your action will be discovered. That percentage chance is outlined in the chart below and will be rolled by the Director. You may not perform a Mayhem action that would be suicidal to your character and it will always be assumed that you are taking every available precaution not to get caught regardless of the details you submit.

Base Discovery Chance depends on Public Order of the location in which you are performing your current land action.
Public Order of 70% or higher 5%
Public Order of 80% or higher 10%
Public Order of 90% or higher 15%

Modifiers -- each can only be added once
-If you performed Cause Mayhem - PVP in the same settlement within the last 3 months: +5%
-One or more Public Order actions by a Sentinel character in the location in which you are performing your current land action: +5%
-One or more Public Order actions by an Emerald Huntsman character in the location in which you are performing your current land action: +5%
-You have been named as a Specific Target to watch in a Public Order action in the location which you are performing your current land action: +20%
*No other action - RP related, plot related, skill related or otherwise - will effect this percentage.

Maximum Discovery Chance: 40%

Success in this die roll means that you succeeded at the land action, and you have done so in such a way that you either leave no evidence or tracks, or those that you have left behind have been tampered with or destroyed to the point of no possible use. The only way that this action could be used against you is if you purposefully bring evidence of any kind into the live events. In this case, if you are caught in the game and questioned about it, it can be found out.

Failure in the die roll means that you are discovered. It is always assumed that you were caught in the act of committing the crime and thus the bulk of the crime’s negative actions are foiled. You are brought to the Count who will dispense punishment for the specific crime that you were caught at and none other. Either side of the PvP may request this encounter be played out with the Count at the game, however this scene will under no circumstances meet with a greater or lesser outcome.