This has probably been mentioned before and probably thought about many times by GM's. When I saw horse breeding as a planned career, I decided I'd finally post and throw this in now. Btw, I know very little about horse racing, therefore any mistakes in terms or in spellings are almost justified. :)

We need a horse track for racing. It would be pretty major to come up with a system for us to control the races, but for now I think a track with NPC races for Players to bet on would be useful. Some ideas for this.

1) Could initially have the race track open with just NPC entries from around Elanthia that are interested in starting their own Horse Stable. Opening night (or weekend) having several races fielding about 15 horses. No classes or ages for these fist races.

2) Then after 2 or 3 Elanthian Years have passed with these races being held (Elanthian Week) weekly, you could have a "company" form that starts having races for specific age groups. Maybe have 20 NPC Stables that developed from these first races that will all breed at least 1 horse for racing each year. Have a horse from no Stable show up some years.

3) Allow these horses to be used in racing for several years. For 8 Elanthian Years maybe.

4) Keep track of all horses wins and winnings while their careers are in progress. After their career is over, keep the "good" (all careers if memory allows) careers recorded in a record book somewhere (Maybe an on site records hall).

5) Have descriptions, records, jockey records (Maybe description..aka strategy normally used), and odds on the horses available to be viewed before the race so that you can make an educated bet.

When horse breeding is brought out, you could allow us to enter our bred horses into the races. (One day might could figure out a way for character jockeys)

1) Once we are able to enter our own horses..
A) You could have us in our own races apart from the NPC races
B) Enter our horses into the NPC races keeping at least 5 NPC horses entered and creating more races each night as needed.
C) Mix A and B ideas.
D) Other possibilities such as us holding our own races when we want with restrictions. One restriction could be a horse can not race more than once per Elanthian week or something along those lines. The only winnings on these races would be money put forth by PC's in bets.

2) Each account can only enter one horse into any single race.

3) Allow PC's to have a good idea (not perfect) of which of their horses that they personally own is their best overall horse. Since it isn't perfect, you wouldn't know for sure till you started racing. Probably would come into play in the breeding process.

4) Players could hirer jockeys (NPC's at first I guess) with different personalities (personality could be based off a statement by the jockey that might not always be accurate due to the personality) and could select the strategy they want their jockey to use. Chance jockey won't use this strategy due to changing race conditions, personality clashes with strategy, or something else happening during race (Sometimes good and sometimes bad when they don't listen to your instructions).

5) Could allow players to have their horses automatically entered even if they aren't in Elanthia as long as they play x amount of time that week. This would facilitate the possiblity of races not lining up with their schedule and keep people from earning money and never being in Elanthia. (I don't know what would be fair for time constraint on this)

Some Misc. Ideas on the track..

After the win..

1) Could have a winners circle where the jockey and owner will give out a few (5 to 10 maybe per race from NPC's..PC's give no more than 10 and it is random pick between those present on who gets them) autographed paintings of them and the horse. They could be held on to and could gain value based on how the horse does in it's career and what race the autograph was from.

2) Could use a reporter career of some sort that allows for the track to hire a PC (PCs maybe) to write up an article on the race. Sold by track for small amount when ready.

Thoughts on classes...

1) Beyond the age groups of races, could have races that allow only certain sizes of horses. Races that allow only certain race of jockey or allow any jockey. Races that don't keep the weights of the jockey equal and races that do (handicapping I think it is called in RL). These could just be special event races. Maybe just make this an option of player held races.

2) Could have different length races.

Thoughts on injuries..

1) Make it possible for horses to get injured (Any major injury that can't be fully healed by empaths fairly rare)

2) Jockeys can get hurt too. Especially PC jockeys.

3) Possible for horses to collide and fall which creates possiblities for injuries.

Thoughts on actual race..

1) Can watch the race as it progresses. You will get messaging that indicates what is happening. An announcer can be used to keep track of how large a lead a horse might have. The text could give you an idea of the length, but announcer will confirm basically.

2) Races fielding 15 horses sounds about right. Maybe have some special event races that don't have a limited number and are held at some place that can accomodate such a field.

Thoughts on Stables..

1) Be sure to allow players to have several horses.

2) Players should be allowed use their horses as studs after their careers like in RL.

3) Use the artistry skill and maybe some career to allow for a Stable's personalized Emblem and Colors.

Well, I think that is most everything I've been able to come up with. If the horse breeding career keeps in mind horses for racing, this could be a really nice system. I wanted to give as much detail as I could because GM's probably find it easier to code something with everything in mind rather than having to go back and try to plug something in.

On a side note. If Raenek is over here like I believe I remember him announcing to all of us Rangers, then horses are definitely in good hands. Have fun Raenek.

Zyrix S'thorn, Ranger

P.S. A friend wants elks as mounts. I told her I'd post it somewhere, so here you go. Elks are over by cougars if you think they aren't in Elanthia.