General Information

Basic Expectations & Rules: By attending or facilitating RP associated with BCD, all players agree to engage with its law and economy systems, including the possibility of their character being fined, jailed, or affected by crimes (excluding permanent injury, murder, enslavement, or other prohibited crimes). Players who do not wish to engage with BCD’s systems should not attend RP associated with BCD; if they happen to be RPing in Bree during a Bree Commons Day, however, they will not be forced to engage with its systems. All participants must also follow initiative rules; failure to do so may result in removal from BCD.

How to Participate in BCD: There are many ways to participate in BCD. For most players, simply visiting Bree during a Bree Commons Day is sufficient to find RP that is happening throughout the city. Other players, however, may wish to get more involved in BCD by hosting events or having their characters open businesses & join or assist the Bree-watch; details for how they can do so can be found in the BCD Handbook. 

 BCD Handbook

All participants looking to get more involved in BCD should review the BCD Handbook for complete details on BCD’s law and economy systems, initiative rules, & more. A general overview of the law and economy systems, however, is provided below.

The Economy

BCD’s economy, in which characters can trade goods, services, and loans with each other, and pay criminal fines, is conducted entirely through the trade of in-game gold and in-game items (i.e. crafted potions, crafted food, etc.). 

How to Earn Gold

Characters can earn gold through LOTRO’s gameplay, but also during a Bree Commons Day by capturing bounties on outlaws (see below) and selling goods (crafted items, etc.) and services (music, etc.) to each other. Characters can also lend and borrow loans of in-game gold, giving poor characters a step-up and allowing rich lenders to get richer by way of interest!

What to Buy With Gold 

Characters can use gold to pay for goods, services, and loans from other players, but also to pay criminal fines, purchase licenses, rent property, and more.

Trade Licenses (or How to Run a Legal Business)

Characters looking to run a legal business—sell goods and services, and offer loans to other characters without being fined and jailed by a watcher—should purchase a trade license (10 gold) from the Merchant’s Guild. A trade license will also allow characters to rent a stall or storefront, better protecting their stock from potential robbers, for a small weekly fee.

Hor How to Pay in Gold When You Have No Gold or Own a F2P Account

Players who do not have in-game gold or have a free-to-play account, restricting them from trading or mailing gold, may purchase goods and services, and pay off loans and criminal fines via:

Promissory notes. In-character, promissory notes are the Breeish equivalent of an “IOU”, a note listing the amount of gold one character owes another. OOC, promissory notes are simply a promise to repay another player at a later date by buying an item from the auction house—posted by the player the note was given to—equal to the promissory note's listed value within one week. Watchers will always accept payment in promissory notes, other characters may refuse to do so. Please note that continuous failings to repay promissory notes may result in a warning from initiative organizers.

Bartering “junk items”. Characters looking to pay for something that can only be purchased with gold may also barter for it using in-game junk items (items that you sell to a vendor) of equal value to the thing they are looking to purchase. Watchers will always accept payment in junk items, other characters may refuse to do so.

Statute labour or drudgery (criminal fines only). Characters who cannot afford to pay criminal fines may work off those fines via statute labour.

What Happens to Gold Collected By the Town

All gold collected for the town by the Merchant’s Guild and the Watch will be returned to the community in the form of bounty rewards; the purchase, by the town, of special goods (i.e. weapons, arms, foodstuffs for the watch) and services (town criers); and town alms. Any leftover funds will be redistributed via a town lottery.

The Law

During BCD, a set of IC town laws (which can and should be broken by characters!) are active and enforced by player-controlled watchers.

Crime & Punishment (or What Happens When You Break the Law)

Characters witnessed, accused, or suspected of breaking a law (“wanted” characters) will be fined and jailed. Jail-time & fines are based on the nature of the offense, with repeat crimes resulting in harsher penalties. Characters who commit more than 15 major felonies or 35 petty felonies may be exiled from Bree.

Crimes may be pardoned (stricken from a character's criminal record) during the common pleas court held on the final BCD of each month at the Bree Jail. Exiles are permitted to attend.

Arrest, Evading Arrest, & Outlaws

Wanted characters cannot teleport from Bree but may flee by foot or horse. If they are not caught within 30-45 minutes, they become “outlaws” & a bounty is placed on their head. Bounties can be claimed by characters with special constable’s licenses, who may apprehend outlaws & return outlaws to Bree Jail for a reward.

Wanted characters or outlaws are "found" when they are visually sighted by a watcher or constable & invited to a fellowship; criminals can then choose to undergo or evade arrest. The success of any evasion is determined through the use of the in-game /roll command, which will produce a 100 sided die. If the wanted character rolls higher than the watcher or constable, they escape arrest. Ties are rerolled

Crime Rolls (or How to Commit a Crime Against Another Character)

The success or failure of crimes committed by one character against another are also resolved via /roll. If the criminal rolls higher than the victim, the crime succeeds. Ties are rerolled. The results of rolls must be respected.

Additional rules for "crime rolls" apply when: 1) there are multiple victims of a crime or allies to a victim, 2) a character commits a robbery (the roll determines the success of the robbery, whether or not it is noticed, and the amount of items (up to max of 5) robbed, 3) a crime is committed against a character operating a business out of a stall or storefront. Details about these additional rules can be found in the BCD Handbook. 

How to Report a Crime

Characters can report crimes they have witnessed by mailing an in-game letter to a watcher or by seeking them out at the Bree Jail. Reports should include: 1) details about the crime the criminal has committed, 2) the criminal’s name (if the witness has it), and 3) a physical description of the criminal. Reports over tells and DMs to watchers will be ignored.

How to Maintain Evidence

Players are encouraged to keep OOC evidence of interactions with other characters (trades, issuing of promissory notes, arrests, etc.) through screenshots. IC, these screenshots can be represented as records, diaries, or ledgers, which can be introduced as evidence when contesting charges or seeking a pardon from the Town Watch. OOC, these screenshots can be used to determine the fairness of character interactions, whether initiative rules were broken, and more.

How to Become a Special Constable (Bounty Hunter), Known/Notorious Criminal, & Watcher

See the BCD Handbook for details. Watchers, in particular, will be carefully vetted and should they violate any initiative rules or abuse their position, they will be stripped of their role and barred from BCD.