Gondor - Proposal for a World Seven

[Yolan]

EDIT:

Thanks for the interest guys.

The next thing that needs to happen is that interested people PM me with some information about themselves.

In the event of a world reset, I can send out some group PMs and we can get the ball rolling.

Please remember that I am especially interested in hearing from people who want in on being early keep residents. I am going to be intentionally exclusive about this. I really want a list of strong players who can help keep everybody else alive. Who can quickly get out and about hunting, finding good Q material, building a brick wall etc. These are the people who get to live in the inner keep. I.E. If I wasn't the guy who had the idea in the first place I wouldn't even let my own self join, because I am a complete scrub. I can't fight and I don't know enough about various elements of the game (although I am learning).

**********


OK, so its not at all sure when, if ever, the world may be reset. However, I think we can all agree that the chances have improved markedly. Regardless, I just want to table a proposal that I have been thinking about for =if= the world is reset. Sorry about the wall of text, I have broken it down into sub headings to make it more accessible.

Preamble (can skip if you want)

Recently I had another crack at getting people to live in an open city, Brodgar. The result has been the best so far of the multiple attempts I've made over the years. I think the number of people with active characters (mains or alts) in the town is getting close to the hundred mark. Its no secret that the town has seen a lot of murder, theft and griefing. However I honestly don't see how you could get a town as large as this without it being open. The danger is part of the fun.

OK, but then what about world seven? We start a new Brodgar too? I'm sure a few people would like to. Only, the situation is different isn't it? In a new world we have a mad rush for good resources. We have lots more active players. We have more danger too, and less possible protectors. In such a situation would you really want to devote precious time living in an open slum when you could be out hunting for that high Q clay? Some will, but many will not. In world 3 we had a shot at it, and after a few days of hard work we were all slaughtered. The end. So, what are the alternatives?

Suggestion.

Put simply, I want to suggest a town that is a mixture of the traditional, and unorthodox (i.e. Brodgar) styles. I would like to see a town where -anybody- could make an alt and spawn at it right away, but -at the same time- has secure areas that are under the control of people who are known to be both strong and decent. Such a town, if it could be built, could also act as a focal point for protecting surrounding settlers and farmers from both lone thieves and evil factions.

So basically I'm suggesting a kind of Minas Tirith.

Towns have had this name before. (See viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10979)
The idea for my previous town, World's End, was also inspired by Minas Tirith (https://www.havenandhearth.com/forum/vi ... 40&start=0). However, that town failed (it did not attract enough support, and was relatively closed to new players, was built in a bad location, and basically only had a couple of experienced players. It also had no central guarded keep, but was comprised entirely of plots like Brodgar)

Just the Facts Ma'am

-We gather a number of experienced players together.
-We find a location (along the edge of the world?) with some reasonably good starting resources.
-A central keep and first ring are established. Village totem. brick walls.
The keep holds the homes of the town guardians, and storage for important items.
The first ring holds key industries for the future production of high quality equipment.
- A second ring is marked for high quality farming that supports the industry in the first ring.
- Subsequent rings are marked out, if possible with their own independent totems built for the purpose of village chat and claim management.
People living in the outer rings are not able to port into the keep. The keep guardians can however port to all rings via signposts by having a slice of claim running
along one side that covers each area.
- As the keep develops it will have items of better and better quality, yet at the same time it will be surrounded by more and more rings of brick walls and people.

More Details

The idea here is that the outer rings are open to anybody who will keep a moderately maintained plot of a designated size. Anybody can spawn alts there. Initially this will be a little chaotic and dangerous. As time goes by the plots are filled and a wall is put up. At this point, nobody can just walk in to the ring from outside. Residents inside use the signposts for that ring to port out. However, at the same time, a new ring goes up which is open to the public. The point is that at any time there are gradients of stability. Moving into the town is always an option for a new player, but your home is likely to be more exposed to danger. As you stay longer however, you are rewarded by slowly being enfolded into the towns defences. People can be jerks and live in the town. People can be untrustworthy and live in the town. However, they are excluded from access to the keep where the guardians live with their high q stuff. If we wish to expand the number of guardians or replace people who leave, we can choose those who have been around the longest from the closest rings. Likewise, if people abandon their homes in rings, those homes can be passed on to people in outer rings who are known to be decent. So, over time, you can slowly move your way towards the center. Please note, people living outside the keep would be living like they do in Brodgar, with their own designated plot, and nothing much in the way of shared resources. However, they have enough space for a bit of farming, crafting and trading. With lots of people around to trade with and do things with. It might be that you want to have one character in MT, and another living elsewhere nearby, allowing you to use the MT plot as a holding place for trade deals.

Why?

An open town like Brodgar can be big, but dangerous and underdeveloped. A typical closed off town can be secure and strong, but has a limited population and can lack energy. Over the years that Haven has existed, the orthodoxy for how things should be done has been developed and refined. But we must not forget that this orthodoxy was decided by us players, and while influenced by the reality of the game, how we play is itself part of that reality. We can change how things are done. I've been called an idiot on a few occasions for making the hearth open access to the current Brodgar. Well now its the largest town in the game and only a few weeks old. What other different things can we try that might open up a more interesting playing world? What I'm suggesting isn't even particularly strange. Many old medieval towns formed around a central castle or keep, were then surrounded by a wall, and then expanded beyond that wall again. Only, in H&H we typically only see what amounts to lone keeps standing over wilderness. If a stable, fun city could be created on this model, we might be a step closer to seeing a change in the meaning of the surrounding land also. We have seen it already in Brodgar in this world, but large towns require large roads for wood. Large roads near big towns are nice places for farms. Suddenly you have land which isn't exactly somebodys town, and isn't exactly wilderness, but countryside. If that countryside is managed and attended to (stumps cleared, trees planted, rubbish destroyed) you are looking at a very different game world than what we have now. If the model works, we may see it emulated in other parts of the world, with multiple real cities established.


OK - so what I would like are some concrete suggestions on feasibility, methodology, what have you. What kind of problems would you forsee?

Possible problem would be infiltration. People living in the outer ring planted by enemies, who then turn on the guardians (archers shooting inside the keep). Possible solution is that the second ring (the high q farms) is tended to by farm alts and not the main fighters. Hence it makes a nice buffer.

[Yolan]

KEY

Red - Keep, Guardian village influence
Orange - Second ring village influence
Yellow - Third Ring village influence
White - No village (future Fourth Ring)
Arrows - Illustration of directionality of crossroads. Of course there would be more, for the sake of showing the layer like design.

[virre111]

YOLAN PLZZZZ!!!!!

PS: I wannt this

[sparky855]

+1
Best reason ive heard for a new world in a while.

[Theos]

I would certainly enjoy this, but at the same time I hope infiltrators cause problems, to make it more interesting.

[Yolan]

I would certainly enjoy this, but at the same time I hope infiltrators cause problems, to make it more interesting.

What I'd rather see is somebody else make a Mordor, where the purpose is to train a giant ass army with open recruiting but with tiered design to protect assets. Giant siege for the win.

[_Gunnar]

This sounds really cool. I can even imagine class warfare between the rings happening (if the guardians don't share any hq resources enough, or something).

[krikke93]

Wow, you're one well organised lawspeaker haha, great idea! I'm all for it!
+1

[Vesanus]

I just... LOVE IT

[AstaUss]

This sounds really cool. I can even imagine class warfare between the rings happening (if the guardians don't share any hq resources enough, or something).

I can imagine the `guardians` walking through ring 2 village checking every crop to see if there are higher plants then theirs.
And surely u will be executed on a town square for hunting deers in a king forest.