Clue management

[Potjeh]

Right now it seems that a lot of people feel unsafe and even a bit paranoid because they feel they can get hearth-summoned and killed for a non-crime by any overzealous ranger that happens to spot the clue.

So what am I proposing to bring some safety? Control over clues on claims by the claim owner or lawspeaker in case it's village claim.

How would this system work? Well, the claim owner must make a clue public before anyone but him can harvest it. What about clues that he can't see? A ranger that spots the clue should be able to place a request for the clue to be made public. This would reveal the clue to the claim owner so he can make it public, but wouldn't allow the claim owner to harvest it if he normally wouldn't be able to. Of course, requests should still be placeable even if the claim owner does see the clue.

With this system you could punish criminals on your property with impunity, and even killing one on public village ground would be safe as long as you explain to your lawspeaker what's that murder clue doing there. Committing crimes out in neutral area would still carry a significant risk, so if a thief makes it out of the village he can at least get his revenge if he gets caught and killed.

[theTrav]

interesting idea, I like it, but what about assault, battery and murder?
If I kill you on my claim, does that mean no-one can see the clue?

I don't even know if that's a good or a bad thing, I'm just thinking up questions

[Potjeh]

Yep, you could get away with murder on your claim. If your lawspeaker doesn't object, that is. The clues would be just unharvestable, not invisible, so he could see there was a murder. If he wants to punish you for it (most likely if you killed a fellow village member in cold blood), he could remove your claim to make the clue public.

[KoE]

Naturally Potjeh answered before I could.

The thing is, outside of town borders, this would make a perfect crime possible - just plop a claim on the scene of the crime and the poor sucker's dead and buried and nobody'll ever be the wiser. (Naturally this could only be done once per two weeks or however long the murder clues last - I forget.)

[Potjeh]

Good point. Maybe it should be so that the clue remains public if claim is placed over it after the crime.

[theTrav]

One thing worth mentioning is that a claim is different from village authority radius, and the game treats them differently too.

Currently I believe there's no trespass concept on village authority areas, but there is on claim areas.

[provo]

I dislike this idea.

The problem of over zealous rangers is a product of the game society. Its up too the society of H&H to solve this problem through social order, not demanding game mechanic changes. See the board of investigation topic in the tavern.

Clues are symbols of actual "evidence" from a crime. Any person with the skill should be able to look at a crime scene and begin the tracking process. Regardless of who committed it.

Also what happens if you murder someone one your own claim? You can stop other players from investigating you'?

[Potjeh]

Well, by overzealous rangers I mostly mean people that want you dead. Currently, it's quite easy to kill someone. First, move your main all the way towards tradition. Second, make an alt and provoke your target into killing him. Third, use the murder clue to force summon and kill him with your main. You lose nothing, and if your target isn't full tradition (and most people are full change), he loses a lot.

And yes, the general idea is that you're to king in your castle, so to speak. It gives a lot weight to your claim, and instils a certain sense of safety in your own home without actually making it thief-proof. It might seem harsh on the character to kill, but what the hell is he doing on your property in the first place?