Fox and Hounds is basically a game of hide and seek played in Second Life.
It can be enjoyed just as just a game or combined with role playing scenarios. The action is more like a Fugitive on the run from bounty Hunters, and those terms are
used to describe the roles.
The game can be played on any of the 'mainland' continents.
And there are also rules and features designed to make it a fair game fair for both Hunter and Fugitive.
Most importantly, it is intended to be as realistic as possible.
The Background Story
One person is the Fugitive and is can go about normal Second Life activities. But as as active Fugitive, they may be hunted at any time.
Up to three Hunters can select an active Fugitive from a list and start tracking them. In this game the Fugitive has been implanted with an old style radio beeper
like those collars that wild animals are fitted with. No GPS here, you can't go right to the place where the Fugitive is.
Hunters use a radio direction finder that shows strength of signal and bearing to the Fugitive.
Initially the signal may be so weak that an accurate bearing is not possible. So Hunters must use the strength of signal indicator to know if they are getting closer
or farther away from the Fugitive, (which may be as much as a kilometer away). When the Hunter gets closer, a stronger signal allows a pointer to the Fugitive to become active on the HUD.
But we also assume that the Hunters have brought dogs along to aid in the tracking when they get close. And so, when a Hunter does get close, the Fugitive will hear
the sound of barking dogs and know they need to be more careful about strangers approaching. This is the dividing line in the game between "tracking" the Fugitive and "pursuing" them.
(This is also the point at which game scoring starts).
Once the pursuit begins, the Hunter will win by simply bumping into the Fugitive. The Fugitive wins by evading the Hunter for 20 minutes.
(This time is configurable and may be changed to improve gameplay).
Rules to make the game fair and more Realistic
No super-hero skills such as flying, or jumping off of buildings or cliffs, or walking underwater.
No use of radar or maps to help locate a person.
No zooming your camera to see far away.
No teleporting.
The game is intended to be played while walking or running on the ground, however vehicles are allowed some situations.
When a player has RLV enabled for their viewer, these rules can be automatically enforced.
If RLV is not enabled then you are restricted to playing the game in "Friends" mode.
Learn more about rules, restrictions and penalties at the bottom of this page.
"It's the journey not the destination"
Before getting into too many of the details of the game, I'd like to suggest that there are two ways to view this game.
As a Hunter:
It's just a mad chase to catch the Fugitive. Trying to go in a straight line as fast as you can, back-tracking and going round obstacles only when necessary.
It's more like stalking your prey. You need to get closer, but are willing to take a slower, perhaps longer approach.
Remember the rules about no use of maps, radar and camera limits? This means the fugitive only has line-of-sight visibility of you.
So should you approach slowly, perhaps hiding behind buildings or natural terrain features, to get very close before running at them?
As a Fugitive:
Do you just pick random places to start the game?
Do you travel around the continents exploring and looking for the best hiding places? Do you choose an island, a mountain top or a busy urban area.
Is this a game of chase, tactics or strategy?
The Second Life Mainland regions are a vast space filled with many interesting and creative builds. Whether Fugitive or Hunter, you will discover new places that you might never
know about just by using Search to explore SL.
Friends vs Strangers
Normally a person registered as a Fugitive in the database can be hunted by anyone. All names are hidden and no one knows who they are hunting or who is hunting them.
This is the normal mode for the game, but requires that all participants have RLV enabled for their viewer.
But there is a "Friends" mode where the Fugitive selects one or more nearby avatars to be the Hunters. Any of these friends that does not have RLV enabled for their viewer
is "on their honor" not to look at radar or maps to help find the Fugitive. No scoring takes place in friends mode.
Random Strangers
Friends
Game Play
The primary way to play this game is with strangers. This is an open game where the Fugitive will not know who is hunting them.
When you start a game as a Fugitive, you are entered into a database as available to be hunted.
Hunters will then see your active status and select you to hunt. But they see only see a randomized name such as Fugitive #2.
Once they have selected you, they will receive a description of you such as might be on a 'wanted poster'
More than one Hunter can choose to pursue you at the same time.
In the Friends version of the game, the Fugitive selects the Hunters from nearby avatars. When the selection is complete, the Fugitive
will have a two minute head start. During this time, those friends will access the Fugitive database. They will see the normal listings of anonymous Fugitives,
but also the name of their friend, who can be selected as the Fugitive to hunt.
Once a "friend" Fugitive is selected, the Hunter's movement will be frozen for 2 minutes to give the Fugitive a head start.
After the head start period, the game is the same as for when hunting a stranger.
There is no scoring for Friends Games.
Phases of the Game
There are four distinct phases of game play.
Fugitive Not being Hunted
When a player first registers to be a Fugitive, they can go anywhere and do anything they wish in the Second Life World. But when the have been selected to be hunted,
the Fugitive will then have 90 seconds to move to ground level on one of the mainland continents. If they can't they are removed from the list of active Fugitives.
Tracking Phase
The tracking phase begins once a selected Fugitive has moved to a Mainland region.
The Hunter is then teleported to a random location about a kilometer away from the Fugitive to start their hunt.
For Hunters this phase of the game is about getting closer to the Fugitive and navigating obstacles in your path such as private parcels, rivers, and walls.
For Fugitives, there is no need to panic as the Hunter is initially several regions away.
You will usually have at least 5 minutes before the Hunter can get very close to you. And that is if the Hunter is able to move in a straight line toward you.
You can of course start running, but you may end up going toward the Hunter.
Pursuit Phase
The Pursuit phase starts when a Hunter is about (1 region), away from the Fugitive.
This begins the timed phase of the hunt and really when the chase starts. If the Fugitive can evade capture for 20 minutes, they win the game.
The Hunter wins by bumping into the Fugitive before the time limit.
Capture
Hunters win this game by bumping into the Fugitive. At that point scores (mostly based on how quickly the Fugitive was captured) are available.
But if the Fugitive's profile is configured for it, their movement is frozen for 45 seconds to allow time for role-playing a capture scene.
Hunters should read the Fugitive's SL Profile to see what types of capture role-play they are interested in.
Playing as a Fugitive
The first time you select the Fugitive role, you will be asked to complete a player profile on a web page.
This will include:
a physical description of your avatar such as a bounty Hunter might be given:
Gender
Height
Hair Length
Hair Color
Eye Color
your choice to include additional capture role-play if you are caught.
and if you might choose an adult rated region to hide in. (If you don't choose this option, don't hide out in Zindra).
You can now go and do anything you want in second life. You don't have to stay on a mainland region.
But when someone start to hunt you, you must then immediately move to a mainland region. It's a good idea to have a list of places on an mainland continent to hide so you can quickly teleport to one.
If you somehow manage to leave a mainland region, you will be prompted to return and then have 2 minutes to do so before you are automatically removed as an active Fugitive.
When a Hunter gets within 250 meters of you, you will see a message and hear dogs barking.
At this point the game moves to the "pursuit phase"
The Hunter wins by bumping into you. But if you can evade the Hunter for 20 minutes, you win the game.
If you lose, and have selected addition capture role play, your movements are frozen for 45 seconds giving the Hunter a chance to handcuff you and continue the capture role-play
Playing as a Hunter
Hunters start the game by also completing a player profile. This will include:
Physical characteristics
Option to indicate if you wish include additional capture role-play if you are caught when playing as a Fugitive.
When you select Hunter on the HUD a dialog will open that will take you to a webpage that will list Fugitives that are currently active.
You will be able to see their physical description to help you in identifying them. You can then select one of them to hunt. When you do that:
You will then be teleported to a starting location near, (about a kilometer away), from the Fugitive. This begins the tracking phase of the hunt.
Your HUD will help you to close in on the Fugitive's location based on strength of the signal from the Fugitive's tracking beacon.
The Tracking HUD display includes:
Signal Strength Indicator Bar
Signal Status Display
Compass like pointer to the Fugitive
When the Signal Strength Indicator Bar is barely showing you are a considerable distance away.
So far perhaps that it can be hard to tell if you are getting close or not by just using the display. This is where the Signal Status Display will be useful as it will show
"Fainter" or "Stronger" status.
At some point, you will get close enough for the pointer to start working. The Signal Strength Bar will continue to show how close you are getting to the Fugitive.
Note that the pointer the direction to the Fugitive based on the direction you are moving, NOT the direction your AO might have your
avatar facing when standing still.
As you continue to get closer, you move into the Pursuit phase of the hunt. This this point the Fugitive has heard your dogs barking and is likely running now.
There can also be a Status of "Above" or "Below" displayed as it is possible that the Fugitive could be on top of a cliff or in a tall building
If the Status Display shows "No Signal", the tracking beacon for the selected person is not being detected.
This happens for a few seconds at the beginning of the hunt before a signal is acquired, and also if the Fugitive leaves the game for any reason.
Hunters win the game by running into the Fugitive. If both have indicated that they wish to role-play a capture at this point, then
the Fugitive's movement will be frozen for 45 seconds so the Hunter can handcuff them to take them away to where-ever. Otherwise the game is over.
If the Fugitive can evade the Hunter for 20 minutes after the pursuit phase begins, they win the game.
Technical Details, Restrictions and Penalties
Locations of players are exchanged via an external server that initially update every minute, but will increase in frequency as Hunter and Fugitive get closer.
The barking of the dogs when the Hunter is close is generated by the HUD and only heard by the Fugitive.
If you have a RLV viewer or one with RLVa enabled, restrictions will be applied to make the hunt more fair and realistic. These are:
No flying.
No teleporting
No zooming the camera far away
No use of maps or radar
Avatar names will be hidden
There are also penalties for doing things that would be impossible or dangerous in real life,
or would make finding the Fugitive too easy. In addition to the restrictions listed above.
No one is allowed to leap off of cliffs or buildings at any time. You will need to find gently sloping paths to get down from high places.
No one can go into rivers or ocean water. You will need to use bridges and boats to get across water.
You can't use a vehicle that moves faster than an avatar can run ( 4.8 m/s). This is a slow speed for vehicles,
but can allow you go cross water or areas with a lot structures that make foot travel more difficult.
During the Tracking Phase of the game Hunters can ride in airplanes, cars or boats. Fugitives are limited to using boats.
During the Pursuit Phase Phase of the game the only vehicle that can be used is a boat.
Violating any of these rules will result in a time penalty where you will not be able to move for a minute. During the pursuit phase this can
affect the outcome of the game.
