Discussion Bounty Hunting - What makes it fun?

[Diamond Dog]

We've heard a lot of talk about the theory behind the system, and now that it's here, I want to talk about execution. The how's and what's of making a Bounty Hunt a cool and engaging experience.

I want to hear from both Hunters and Targets on what makes, or could make, a hunt fun for them. What makes a target worth pursuing? What are the expectations on both sides going into a hunt/being hunted? How can a hunt be made to feel worthwhile (for both) rather than a slog or nuisance?

Especially from folks averse to the idea of being hunted. We've heard about asking beforehand, but beyond that: how can a Bounty Hunter make a spontaneous drop-in interesting and engaging? What would make a spontaneous hunt fun? Under what circumstances can it occur?

Remember to stay on target, this isn't a discussion about whether Bounty Hunting is good or bad (the polls indicate most everyone's a fan) but rather about engaging with those mechanics from either side of the hunter/hunted dichotomy.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

HI I'M A TARGET SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The attention and surprise is super fun. Apparently I signed up for this when I was around last time (like 4 OOC years ago) and had completed forgotten about it until Lachadann came to collect in an open thread. I love trying to push the hunters to see what they're willing to take for some creds ♥

 

[Koda Fett]

I think it all starts with communication. You kind of have to know what each other want out of the engagement, because if you jump into a thread with the intent to initiate PvP when someone is not up for it, odds are that neither party will have a pleasant experience and the thread will likely have no fixed conclusion. The approach I've always taken is communicating with your intended target, asking them if they're up for you to jump into X thread, or even having a separate thread altogether. It just helps to not derail something that was planned in a more public thread, with whichever writers were interrupted needing to either off-screen or more or less redo it in another (likely now private) thread.

Sometimes being captured and having the bounty completed is something people want, maybe they want it to stick around a bit longer as a plot relevant thing, or are just not interested in telling that story at the moment. Best course of action is to just drop a quick message and hash out what you're both interested in storytelling-wise. As it's been said, a loss is still a story and can be just as rewarding as a success. Helps build character relations and whatnot.

I think with this new system, however, we're going to see a change. There's more of an opportunity for bounty hunters to dive into threads with those that have the toggle active, which means the people with it active are presumably expecting it and can account for it. I still recommend always reaching out, because it's always better to get an unnecessary a-okay than it is to unintentionally interrupt something the other writer would have preferred to see play out.

As someone that has written a bounty hunter since 2017 (with some spotty activity at times), I think this system opens doors to allow for bounties to be more commonplace and impactful. There's already been a lot of different types of bounties and it makes me excited to engage in the system some more. I always enjoyed the underworld scene in Star Wars and with this, it helps foster more of that and I think that's always fun. In the bounty hunter scene, on Chaos and in-canon, reputation is a big factor that plays out. It's been great to play with and I appreciate those that have helped me build up this character over the years. So what makes a target worth pursuing, as I've only done more and more hunts, is really about chasing that white whale of wanting to catch the biggest and baddest bounty.

 

[Vakhari Lutris]

I for once support changes to help hunters get more threads, Jedi and Sith aren't just the only fun things after all

Side note, I am sure Vakhari here is gonna have a bounty on her someday.. She makes war crimes as a hobby. So if that happens I look forward to see what interesting stories come out of that whole thing lol

 

[Valery Noble]

I have my toggle off for the sake of the upcoming invasion, but I've always had it on, and I'm not opposed to being hunted. I think almost any drop-in can be good, as long as the time/place isn't too weird. I'd feel less enthusiastic about being targeted if my character is surrounded by 10 other Jedi during a Jedi Council Meeting, for example. But getting suddenly targeted while she's in her ship, en route to a mission would be dope.

I also think frequency matters. It's fun to get hunted, but it'd be less interesting if you suddenly get attacked in every public thread you join. The toggle can obviously help prevent that, but I also think Koda Fett makes a good point. Some communication never hurts, even if it's not required by the rules when the toggle is on.

Lastly, I think part of the mindset behind the toggle is important. If you put on the toggle, you should not just be willing to be hunted, but you should also be willing to get captured, killed, or "lose" in some way, depending on the story. This might be an assumption on my part, but I don't think it's fun to be a bounty hunter if you always lose.

And you won't always lose if the people open to being hunted are also open to getting caught, if the story is fulfilling.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Things I've liked about being bounty hunted:

• No predetermined outcomes is exciting.
• The occasional jail or jailbreak or trial thread is exciting.
• Everyone likes being the center of attention once in a while, from a certain point of view.
• Most importantly, getting bountied and pursued is a big marker that hey, someone's reading what you write and your characters' actions have impact.

Things I've liked about bounty hunting:

• 'It's not personal' - your character's literally there on behalf of someone else's warrant or grudge or whatever. Their sense of purpose is separate from their emotions, which can honestly take pressure off a bounty confrontation, make it less likely, IMO, that the writers involved will get feelins.
• There's a bunch of ways to do it. It's not always 'suddenly, Mandos' though there's absolutely a place for that. If memory serves I've claimed two bounties over the years, one in a smash-through-walls parkour chase and one in kind of a persistence hunt with spaceships and ion cannons, and I think both were probably fun for all concerned.

Scherezade deWinter - oh that bounty was literally just flavor/hook/pocket change before the new system kicked in, I wasn't working off anything posted.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Jerec Asyr Well it worked really well ♥