Horse Race For Saturday?

[Kiralynn]

A handful of people have expressed an interest in horse racing on Saturday. Most races are held on Wednesday nights, so overseas players have a difficult time attending. If there is enough interest and support in a race this Saturday, I will be happy to host one.

I believe that I can put together a horse race at 4pm on Saturday, if no one objects? We will need a few things...

* A race course. Does anyone have suggestions about where we should hold the race? Somewhere near a major city would probably be best. Frostbluff? What style of race should this be? Standard horses, fast horses, or perhaps war steeds?

* Prizes. If anyone out there has Perlino codes that you'd like to donate, now is the time. They all expire on December 31st. Gold, rare housing and cosmetic items are also welcome.

* Judges. I will need three volunteers who can be available at 4pm this Saturday. It's short notice, but are any of you available? Other volunteers are welcome as well, especially musicians, bookies and town criers.

* Other contests. Do we want to have a fashion contest and/or holiday trivia game as well?

* Participants. Would any of you like to attend? Even if you don't compete, you can cheer the racers and vote for the fashion contestants.

[Byrcha]

I would be able to assist with this, though I wonder if the following weekend might provide more lead-time as well as a larger crowd?

Re possible courses ... the new Bree would present an interesting challenge, with all those hedges and new buildings. Frostbluff would certainly be seasonal, and the inhabitants are now on-level so any ride into the woods could be perilous. For each, since this is essentially just for fun, I'd suggest just posting judges at the various checkpoints, make sure folks can see them on their maps, then turn the racers loose without a pace-lap. Half of the fun at least in New Bree would be how lost folks might get! Especially if warhorses or fast horses are allowed, I think the course needs to equalize speed a bit somehow.

[Kiralynn]

Byrcha, you're probably right about waiting until next weekend, but I don't know what my schedule will be like. I am usually busy on Saturdays. This weekend is an odd exception. Most people don't pay attention to event ads until the last few days, anyway, so perhaps we'd get a good turn-out.

A race course in Bree sounds like fun. I think the best way to even things out for war steeds is to have several jumps and numerous tight turns, where maneuverability serves better than raw speed. Not everyone has a war steed, but then, most races are for standard horses.


On a side note, Celestrata apologized for the glitch in the forums that prevented the "In-Game Player Events" posts from showing up in a timely manner. She is now checking and approving them by hand. She promises to keep an eye on it, even through Christmas, as best she can. They're still working a lot of OT at Turbine.

[Byrcha]

What is your time-window this Saturday then? Noonish is riding practice (if enough show up); 2:00 is RP at Harp & Dragon (again, if folks show up); and 3:00-5:00ish is Book Club. So we know Andeon will be available after 5:00 for racing

[Andeon]

Hey there Kira - it's true, I completely forgot that we've set some time aside for saturdays for the LMBbookclub, but you know what, I think I could convince people to push an hour ahead or an hour or two later for one saturday so I can manage to run a horse race :)

Just so you know, when I made my request, I wasn't necessarily pushing for a race *this* saturday - if you need more time, please, feel free to take it - I was just trying to express my desire to be able to attend a saturday race at some point in the future - as a *Christmas* wish, it didn't necessarily mean it had to happen on/near Christmas, in case that was the impression you were under


thank you, as always, Kiralynn, for listening, and for trying to meet the needs of so disparate a population - with so many different priorities, availabilities and mechanical limitations, you've done an admirable job of trying to make as many people happy as is humanly possible, and I always have, and always will, appreciate it.

[Kiralynn]

So... is 4:00pm /servertime good?
War steed race in and around Bree town?

[Andeon]

that oughta be interesting :) my warhorse may not be quite up to snuff, but I've made sure I've got at least a decent racing warhorse for just such an occasion :) we'll see how he performs!

[Lennidhren]

If 4pm this Saturday is set for this race, I'll stick a note in the kin newsletter on Friday :-)