Suggestion for Justice System Bounties to reward good thieves/assassins who don't get caught

Dusk_Coven

(1) Crimes are divided into three categories: Major (murder, and any crime against a noble), Minor (pretty much anything else), and Petty(e.g., trespassing, throwing mudballs at a guard during New Life). Whenever you are caught at a crime, the tally of the type of crime is increased. This tally is permanent for the lifetime of the character.

(2) The higher your net score of (Major + Minor) crimes, the slower your bounty goes down. This represents your notoriety -- the more notorious you are, the more wanted you are.

(3) When you are caught at a Major crime, various things immediately:

(3a) There is immediately Heat and *it does not go away* until your bounty is completely cleared. Therefore, you cannot pay off your bounty except at an Outlaw's Den or with Pardons -- i.e., you have bribed your way out of trouble.

(3b) Your bounty no longer decreases over time. Instead, it *increases* and this increase is accelerated by having a bigger Major Crimes score -- you are a dangerous outlaw, and the more people you murder and the longer you are at large, the more wanted you are. This stops only when you completely pay off your bounty.

(3c) Your Major crimes score increases the radius at which you are spotted by Guards while you have a bounty.

(4) When you are logged out, your Bounty and Heat no longer changes -- it neither decreases nor increases.

ADDENDUM:
(5) When Fencing goods, the more items you Fence (lifetime value fenced), the more money you get AND the more Fence uses per day. BUT the higher your Crimes score, the LESS money you get and the fewer Fencing uses per day because you are increasingly risky to work with. Careless thieves don't make good contacts.

(6) For better or worse, when you use a Name Change Token or Face Change Token on the character, all crime counters are reset.

EDITED: Petty Crime description

Elwendryll

Ok, sounds cool and everything. But. Is there anything that actually REWARDS being notorious?

This system should be associated with a bonus to loot chances and an increase in the gold you get from fences (On top of the passives). The higher your bounty is, the more gold you can make. So it's actually worth it not to clear a bounty, like Tel Var stones.

Otherwise I do not see the point of your proposition, if it only penalizes players.

EDIT: I get that it's supposed to penalize people who get caught. But why not encourage people to take risk and not clear their bounty instead? So bounty could be something to be proud of, and allow your character to effectively be a villain.

EDIT 2: Or what you call a tally, make that go up slowly as you commit crimes and increase your loot/value of the goods, and whenever you get a bounty, it's directly higher depending on your tally, and it gets consumed. So it rewards people that commit a lot of crime and penalizes them a lot if they get caught.

Dusk_Coven

Elwendryll wrote: »

EDIT: I get that it's supposed to penalize people who get caught. But why not encourage people to take risk and not clear their bounty instead? So bounty could be something to be proud of, and allow your character to effectively be a villain.

Your notoriety could be an Achievement if that's what you really want.

But penalizing Bounties is one way to make careful crime actually worthwhile doing and an achievement in itself. You make money by being careful and not having a bounty. Instead of logging out your character and going to sleep while your bounty ticks down.

Currently, the system is -- careless crime + run away + log out and play another character. This is faster than being careful and not getting caught, and I don't feel that is "working as intended". Look at the various literature and media about crime -- it all revolves around NOT getting caught. Even serial killer movies where they leave clues, it's still about evading capture. Not actually about getting caught in the act.

I added an edit, re: Fencing.