#rescue ranch

Rescue Ranch Overview

Every week the player is given a chance to take on a new rescue horse to the ranch. The player can care for up to 5 horses at a time. Horses are randomized but I imagine that some rescue cases are locked off to higher levels of the ranch and require more “experience” working there to rescue.

After “rescuing” a horse (which could involve simply accepting someone’s horse or going out to find a wild horse) the horse is kept in the pen at the ranch. Each horse’s status is tracked on the board and the player can pick who to work with from there. Depending on the reason the horse came to the ranch the player will need to tend to their needs. This may involve administering medicine, making sure the animal is fed and watered, tending to a wound, ect.

Potentially instead of a new horse for the player to take in they could have a random mission available during that week such as helping a pregnant mare deliver her foal. This would require the player to visit the location of the mare (either wild or domestic) and make sure that the foal is safely born.

Other interactions the player could have may involve crafting medicine and going through an investigation series to understand what is wrong with the horse and how to cure them.

The care skill would factor heavily into all of this, making it so the player can complete tasks quicker and have higher chances of success.

Potential Horses or Quests Available for Rescue

Wild Full Grown Horse (Injury or Sickness)

Wild Foal (Injury or Sickness)

Domestic Horse for Special Care (Injury or Sickness)

Help a Pregnant Mare Deliver

This might overlap with using the wild foal idea for rangers

But could also focus more on house calls for domestic horse care in Silverglade

Jorvik Rangers Overview

The idea of this is more in line with druid missions and soul riding but instead you rise through the ranks from an initiate ranger to a full fledged member. The missions are more ranger focused with a variety of far more casual themed tasks. These can be picked up at both the Mistfall and Firgrove ranger stations across Jorvik.

The player may initially start off with basic training which could even take place in the sandpit in Firgrove before they are allowed on more advanced tasks and then full missions.

The rangers idea has a lot of crossover with the rescue ranch idea in terms of helping horses mixed with several other gameplay features such as the Spirit quests to help wild animals, taking samples from nature like in Epona, moving Violet’s photography work into ranger missions and using quests like picking up trash in Valedale and Goldenhills or the chainsawing done previously in Mistfall. The player could also have to follow tracks to find missing horse, rider or animals again like Nic Stoneground’s quest in Dino Valley.

Much like the rescue ranch I think care can factor into this as well with the player being able to perform tasks more efficiently or having a higher chance of success such as with interacting with wild animals.

Rangers missions could be introduced as part of the opening of Northern Mistfall as perhaps the rangers are recruiting in order to connect with or explore the northern half.

Unique Missions/Tasks

Newborn Foal

Observe foal birth

Help foal feed

Water mother

Condition foal?

Trail Accident

Rider First Aid/Injury Check

Horse First Aid/Injury Check

Calm a Panicked or Runaway Horse

Herd Lost Animals Home

Andy’s animals have escaped their enclosure and need to be led back

Assist Wild Animals (Thinking of old spirit missions)

Return Lost Baby to Its Parent

Perform First Aid on Injured Animal

Clean Up

Remove Trash

Put out Fires

Unblock Trails (Chainsawing Logs/Thorns?)

Violet’s Photography/Surveying

Photograph Animals

Survey Water?

Survey Plants?

Photograph the Land?

I definitely think that we should see more partnering between Hugh and the Rangers as well, I think lore wise they’d do a great service to Jorvik working together. The rangers could help bring in or direct people to the ranch when they need care and Hugh could help assist in medical needs or training.

This ramble is one I think I will be returning to in the future as I would love to flesh out some deeper concepts on how the actual mission quests and gameplay aspects could work for both. I also would love to make some concept UI and such after my test for the Jorvik Divined Rune Bingo. 

Once again some of my ideas are inspired by Amelia and Leila’s interview so make sure to check that out if you haven’t already! I also must admit that Amelia’s discussion of how injuries could work in the game got me thinking about how I would approach horse injury in SSO. Also worth noting is her brief discussion of the rescue ranch which I took a glance at following my initial writing of this ramble. I’d also like to thank the folks on the Riders on Jorvik discord server as some discussion that came up earlier this year is what gave me the initial inspiration to write about the Jorvik Rangers idea!