Rules update 2023
Overview
Every year we carry out a review of some part of the game looking to see what we improve. Although that process has been slowed this year, we've still been working on some important updates. This page summarizes and explains the changes so that players can identify and understand the changes easily. There were no updates in 2021, due to the pandemic.
We try to include a section after each update to explain the reasoning behind the change, as well as providing a in-character rationale for what has changed where appropriate.
Site Changes
Due to the growing popularity of Empire we are having to make some difficult choices about how we use the current site. These changes will affect the space allocated to tents for in-character camping as well as vehicle access to the site before and after the event. The changes are summarised below, along with the OOC reasoning for the update.
IC Camping
In 2023, camp planners will only be able to guarantee sleeping space on the IC field to people with accessibility or childcare needs.
- Our camp planners will be asking everyone who is bringing an IC tent to the event whether it is required or optional.
- "Required" tents include all tents for roleplaying in and any tents that need to be on the IC field for any accessibility reason (mobility, fatigue, childcare, etc).
- "Optional" tents include any tents that could move to an OC field if required because they are just used for sleeping or storing equipment and aren’t needed for any accessibility reason.
- You won’t be asked to justify or explain your choices - just mark your tent as optional or required with your camp planner.
- If we run out of space, camp planners will move some or all of the sleeping tents labelled as optional to the new overflow fields we have hired.
- The overflow fields are not in-character and don't form part of the Anvil game area, but they are adjacent to Anvil to keep walking distances to a minimum.
- If we only need to move a few tents, we will ensure we aren't moving the same tents each time.
Vehicle Access
You can drive into the IC area to set-up if conditions allow, but you must not set up quickly and then move your vehicle to the OOC camp as soon as you are done. On take-down you must take your tent down and have your kit ready to go before you bring your vehicle on, unless you need your vehicle for accessibility reasons during take-down.
- If you drive into the IC area at the start of the weekend, you must remove your car from the site as soon as you’ve unpacked and set up your tent.
- Unless you have specific accessbility requirements, you must pack up your camp at the end of the weekend before you bring your vehicle back into the IC area. Once everything is completely taken down and ready to be quickly packed away, you can bring your car onto site (assuming ground conditions are reasonable), collect your stuff and go.
- After 7pm on Sunday - all participants are free to drive onto site without needing to take their tents down first. We will actively review this deadline between events and move it earlier in the day if we are confident that we can do so without the site becoming deadlocked.
- We strongly recommend bringing a plastic sheet, tarpaulin or similar to protect your gear from any inclement weather - please remember that if the weather gets too bad, we won't be able to allow most vehicles on site at all!
Reasoning
We've started planning our events in 2023, and an important part of that is the need to reflect on the amount of field space we have available. We’ve had a really successful 2022 - our numbers across the year climbed by nearly 35%.
This is brilliant news, but by the end of the year we were absolutely at the limit of what the site could cope with. Camping space was at a premium, and quite a few participants had to camp in the OOC areas even if they had a suitable IC tent. During takedown, there were huge delays getting everyone on site to pack their cars, because there simply wasn't room for so many vehicles to come on site when the ground was so crowded with tents.
We've now concluded our negotiations with the landowner to make enough additional space for our use next year, but there are some major challenges. In theory, we could simply assign another field to Anvil, making the IC area 50% bigger - but that is not without drawbacks. Players in Dawn and Wintermark already face long walks to reach the camps at the other side of the site or to reach facilities like GOD, the Hall of Worlds or the regio. The distances everyone has to walk all weekend get worse as the site expands. The physical site is a challenge already for any player who has mobility or fatigue issues; we don't want to make that situation worse if we have any alternative.
After a lot of consideration, we decided to try a different approach for 2023. Before now, some IC tents in the in-character area were being used purely for sleeping or storage. Some of these absolutely need to be there, either because they are being used by groups to roleplay in or because the occupants need to have their sleeping tent nearby for accessibility or childcare reasons. In some cases, however, the IC tent is just to have a tent nearby for convenience. While we understand everyone wants their personal tent on hand, continuing with that approach would mean that next year *everyone* would have to walk much further throughout the event.
In an effort to keep Anvil as accessible as we can manage, this is a new approach we’ll put in place for the first event. It may be that we don't grow much next year and we don't have to ask anyone to move their tent to the overflow area. Equally, we may grow and find that we need to bite the bullet and expand Anvil to cover another field. We will adapt to the circumstances as we find them.
We have problems currently with vehicles blocking camping spots on the in-character field. We can deal with this relatively easily if the owners are present or nearby and are putting up their tent, but it is very difficult to deal with if the owners have simply parked up and abandoned the car, especially if they haven't prerecorded the vehicle registration number with us. Players must make sure they set up their camp as quickly as possible and then move their vehicle to the OOC camp so that other participants can use the space. You must not leave your vehicle overnight in the IC area under any circumstance.
There is not enough room for all participants to bring their vehicles into the IC area during take-down while all the tents are still up. There simply isn't enough space for the vehicles to pull up with so many tents everywhere. As a result the traffic backs up and completely locks up - this led to increasingly long queues for many participants in 2022, with some players having to queue in their vehicles for up to two hours waiting to get onto the site. If everyone takes their tent down first, this will create enough room to let people bring their vehicles on significantly reducing the queuing. If you need to have your vehicle present while you take your tent down for accessibility reasons, then that is fine, otherwise you must follow the new guidelines if you bring your car on before 7pm on Sunday.
At some point enough of the site will be clear that it is fine to let vehicles come on regardless of whether they packed down or not. We will review the 7pm deadline for bringing cars on before you've packed up after each event. If we're confident that we can move the deadline earlier without causing traffic jams and delays for everyone then we will update the time accordingly.
We know we will have to expand Anvil at some point, if Empire keeps growing. However, these two changes will help us delay that point as long as possible, and let us keep the physical size of Anvil to the smallest possible footprint which benefits everyone - especially the many players for whom the physical size of the IC site is a challenge already.