Barrel racing!

[Rias]

Per the announcement on ESP and post on the Shadgard town board, some barrels have been set up in a clearing south of the Shadgard farm stockade to be used in barrel racing! There's a sign at the clearing to read that explains barrel racing, but the reality is that one just needs to be on a (comfortable, non-workhorse) horse and use the RACE command to start it, and the rest happens automatically. Maybe one day it'll require extra command input, but for now it's just some automatic rolls based on one's Riding skill and the horse's affinity for barrel racing. The more barrel races a horse participates in, the more affinity it gets for barrel racing and the better times you'll be able to get while riding it!

[Firesong]

This is magical. Thank you. Can't wait to try it out.

[ThresherAle]

Already been fun racing and watching other people race! The message about your horse getting better is a nice touch.

[tulpa]

Wahey riding stuff. Thank you very much for this. It's *almost* a rodeo!

A way of seeing your horse's all-time highscore would be a nice bonus, if/when you make changes.

[Rias]

Per the changelog: If a character is currently riding a mount that has participated in a barrel race, the MOUNT command will now display that mount's best race time.

Sadly this only applies to races as of this update. Best times were not previously being recorded.

Also, completing a barrel race now says whether you set a new personal best, and how that race's time compares to your previous personal best.

[artus]

Guess gamblers have something to bet on again.

[Rias]

And per the changelog, we now have a Barrel Racing helpfile/wiki article. So people don't have to track down this BBS thread to get information. It includes some info about what affects race times.