Ranger's notebook and wanted posters

[Potjeh]

As Burg has pointed out, the improvements to walls have actually swung the pendulum towards the criminals, as they're at zero risk of getting summoned as long as they take proper precautions. I was thinking their profession could be made a bit more risky by making them recognizable for a significantly longer time, if not summonable. Mind you, this is not meant to be a complete solution of the issue, but just one small measure towards it. So, on to the idea:

- You can craft a ranger's notebook, which has a number of pages dependant on it's quality.
- With a scent you can open a case in the notebook, which consumes a number of pages.
- You can add scents to a case if they come from the same perpetrator.
- The more scents a case has, and the better they are (determined by ranger's per*exp and criminal's int*stealth, as well as age), the longer the case stays open; murder is worth more than theft etc.
- The number of pages that a scent takes to add depends on per*exp vs int*stealth as well.
- If you have a notebook in inventory, and you see a criminal whose case it contains, you get to make a per*exp check vs his int*stealth, if you pass the check you recognize him.
- Expired cases are closed and don't grant you checks; pages are not refunded.
- Scents can be copied between notebooks, and between a notebook and a wanted poster.
- Wanted posters can be built on village claim by authority figures, everyone within a certain radius gets a check to recognize the criminal if he enters this radius.
- To avoid inventory clutter, each piece of ranger gear should have a pocket that can hold one notebook (and notebook only).

The general idea is that criminals wouldn't be able to just wait for the scents to expire and then slip into anonymity. Somebody who robs and kills a whole village wouldn't be able to show his face in Constantinople for months, lest he be recognized and killed. Conversely, if somebody steals a single item his case wouldn't last much longer than the scent. If you spread your criminal activities around, rangers won't be likely to connect them to a single case. Rangers, on the other hand, could organize into an Interpol of sorts, exchanging notebooks to better curb crime in their area. Of course, you can't trust anyone's notebook, that random guy may be trying to paint a fellow ranger as a murderer without a cause.

[DatOneGuy]

As always, a great idea. Got nothing to add to it, it's well laid out and just thinking about it makes me giddy.

+1

[DDDsDD999]

I was thinking maybe you could add page numbers to the notebook with parchments? and maybe Higher quality parchments allow more to fit on to the page. And more high quality ink allows more to fit on to a page

[DatOneGuy]

I was thinking maybe you could add page numbers to the notebook with parchments? and maybe Higher quality parchments allow more to fit on to the page. And more high quality ink allows more to fit on to a page

This accounts for both of those things

- You can craft a ranger's notebook, which has a number of pages dependant on it's quality.

- The number of pages that a scent takes to add depends on per*exp vs int*stealth as well.

[Onionfighter]

A very interesting idea. I was thinking of some sort of bottle for holding scents. As it is, tracking can easily take up all a person's inventory. I also still wish scents could be named.

I'm not sure I like the idea of instant recognition. Usually it takes work to find the right person, and this would change that process for tracking people who are online.

[DatOneGuy]

A very interesting idea. I was thinking of some sort of bottle for holding scents. As it is, tracking can easily take up all a person's inventory. I also still wish scents could be named.

I'm not sure I like the idea of instant recognition. Usually it takes work to find the right person, and this would change that process for tracking people who are online.

Perhaps bandit masks, necro cloaks and other 'concealing' or negative-style gear can stop this in a similar way that bandit's masks do?

(Or just have bandit masks do it, whatever)

[Onionfighter]

That reminds me . . .

[loftar]

An interesting idea indeed; certainly worthy of consideration. I think I'll need to process it a while. A very positive aspect of it is, obviously, how criminals then get a strong motive for keeping the number of scents down -- stealing, raping and pillaging only as much as necessary, but no more.

I'm not sure I like the idea of instant recognition. Usually it takes work to find the right person, and this would change that process for tracking people who are online.

In a positive way though, I think. There's either the case where you use the notebook while actively tracking a perpetrator, in which case it is only a mild help anyway (you've basically already found him, and all it does is speed up the certain identification); or there's the case when you happen to pass him by (either completely unexpectedly, or when he comes back for more), and that is, from what I gather, the whole point of the idea -- it makes it generally dangerous for criminals to be out and about, since they've no idea where they might run into a ranger. I like that aspect very much.

[aso11]

Bump! Extreme want this =D

[Zamte]

Not sure what the consensus is on bounties, as I just can't be assed to search this late at night, but this system would lend itself well to a bounty system tied to the wanted poster. Perhaps allow somebody to "collect" a wanted poster by right clicking it? (They would work like crossroad signs do and allow anybody to interact with them, even on claims) Then the poster could be used on the dead body of it's intended target to "proof" it, and be turned in to a vending stall style structure for the bounty cost.

I love the idea of making people more aware of criminals, and making crime harder, but one of the major hurdles is that we have to also make ranging more attractive. Currently all rangers can look forward to beyond the thrill of getting to smash people, is whatever loot the person might have, which is totally hit or miss. Between this and a system for paying rangers, we could really get people interested in it as an overall profession of sorts.