thank you for your engagement. itâs much appreciated.
Look forward to the new content
When reading, it can be hard to detect tone. is the writer being sarcastic, snarky, sincere, etc?
Iâm being sincere in asking the following questions.
(Q1) What specifically makes the enhanced Rathaus home?
(A1) To use a frame of reference⌠in Agile software development thereâs a concept of developing around user stories. what are the âhomeâ user stories? For most players and people, basic homemaking tasks include bathing, setting out your next dayâs attire (eg putting your stuff on weapon & armor racks), doing laundry, repairing clothing and shoes, placing your books in bookshelves/cases, and adding a decoration or two. none of these features or user stories of home are enabled in ashes. that is why so many diehard KCD players find it hard to call Pribyslavitz home.
(Q2) what favorably distinguishes said home from Henryâs first place, Chez Peshek?
(A2) I can think of little to nothing. At Miller Peshekâs, Henry has his own chest and sleeps in a room with 3 beds. the enhanced Rathaus offers the same, but Henry sleeps with strangers (the guard and woman who sleep there are unnamed NPCs with whom he cannot engage in a dialog). In Pribyslavitz, Henry canât even ask many obvious named friends and neighbors to come to his home (eg. Theresa, Alex, Antonia, Beran). the enhanced Rathaus has a detached alchemy lab and herb garden but those arenât (near) universally accepted features of a home. they make a basal home better.
to me, the Locator is a master stroke but not the rest. the Rathaus doesnât look like any of the others. the others are offices. the enhanced Rathaus in Pribyslavitz has no desk. no bookcase/shelf, and no receiving area. the entrance foyer is a kitchen and it makes the ledger look like a cookbook.
Judgement is a nice mechanic. but, there are some fundamental aspects of bailiff that are missing. Henry doesnât get to initiate dialog with his ciitizens in order to get to know them better. he canât engage them at a table in drink and conversation (like the Skalitz bailiff). no occasional drinking-talking mini-game. no final call patrol (like Uzhitz bailiff).
some aspects of Judgment are a bit incongruous. one case involves crapping near the town stream, and yet the traderâs crapper effectively dumps into the stream. the judgment involving recruiting woodcutters and laborers for protection is fine conceptually. per the ashes poll though, itâs obvious that players donât want disembodied town protection decisions, they want an actual combat mechanic in defense or attack using the guards under the bailiffâs command. admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch feature but it would add immensely to the value of ashes as a home where Henry has a vested, first hand involvement in its development, maintenance and protection
speaking of command. a minor style point. in the hierarchical and deferential medieval era, citizens and direct reports (ie guards) calling the master bailiff by his given name (Hal/Henry) seems peculiar
WH ironically set the bar high with its own well crafted stories involving bailiffs. bailiffs matter. we want Henry to matter more.