RHN Sur7 Revival Initiative

This initiative was written on March 19th, 2026 by  Wanderer_06 with the goal to prompt a restructuring of RHN management.

The RHN Mission Statement, Expanded

As stated on the "Road and Horse Network" (RHN) wiki page, the RHN is a "group project focused on building and maintaining roads across the various worlds of the Dogcraft Server. The roads are the primary way to travel by horse, donkey, mule, foot or pig to visit all the connected cities, towns and player bases." (underlines added). As indicated by the underlining, there are four primary objectives in the RHN's mission statement to be addressed: the "group" aspect, the practical "building and maintenance" aspects (which could arguably be divided into two, but won't), the "primary way to travel by horse, etc." aspect, and the goal to "visit all the connected cities, towns, and player bases". These are four very different objectives, three of which are not being met by the mere construction of roads, and all of which my initiative could meet.

The RHN was founded on a joke, but as a dedicated pig-rider, I take the endeavor entirely seriously. Roads are a thoughtful form of travel, being popularized by immersive players such as BDoubleO100. I think Minecraft players are only getting more thoughtful in their approach to worldbuilding. The primary example is Hermitcraft Season 11, taking a turn for closer bases and more considerate terrain. I expect the DogCraft player base to inevitably follow suit to some degree. Not to the extent of the whole server looking like the Sur6 Retriever Spawn City, with rigorously sectioned plots and an eclectic-city feel, but rather like modern Hermitcraft, with unique bases joining only at the edges, seamlessly flowing together via collaborative terrain. What better way to connect our closer bases than roads? Even if players choose to fly everywhere, roads are still an effective guide to where they're going, and immerse players in the world instead of their coordinates HUD.

A Tangent on Teleporting

The Dogcraft server operates with /warp, /home, /phome and /tp commands. Some players blatantly discourage teleportation, refusing to place warps at their bases, upset that it obsolesces transportation networks. But others use them excessively and with great effect, teleporting to and from storage units, for example, to save time and build more. If we were to remove teleportation, players would almost certainly be incentivised to live closer to spawn, but they would also pay the price of time to find new resources in distant, unexplored biomes. That time comes at too high a cost for many players who have very little play time to begin with. Therefore I cannot argue for the removal of teleport commands, only for roads in lieu of this superpower. Of course, I would suggest moving down to one world and introducing a 3-month resetting "resource world," but that's another article.

1. Visit all the connections

As I will continue to point out, I love riding pigs. What does that prove? That I don't always prioritize logic. And that's why I will be addressing the four key objectives of the mission statement in reverse ("Dinnerbone style"). The first, in reverse, is the visitation aspect.

Why play on a server if you never leave your house? Okay, maybe the mall is all it takes to justify such a playstyle, but you're surely missing out if you don't visit other players' bases. You could teleport to them, sure, (if they have a /phome) but then you lose all of the context of location, and miss out on a potential dramatic reveal as you exit the dark and eerie woods into the magical clearing… *ahem*.

The existence of roads is one way to encourage visits, but as the SRN has proven, there is a much better way to initiate arrivals. The train nerds call them "line openings" but we could call them "slops and stops" (or not. pig puns don't work with everything.) Whatever they're called, the RHN is currently missing out on the event coordination aspect that the SRN abounds with. Hence why my first suggestion is to introduce an "Events Coordinator" position to the RHN management roles. Each position I suggest will be outlined more extensively later on in this initiative, but the general role of an Events Coordinator would be simple: ensure that there is at least one public RHN-specific or RHN-sponsored event each month. Only one! That's the minimum. The particular Events Coordinator could choose to also set regular pathing or termite sessions (tree chopping frenzies) on say, their Thursday evenings, but that's up to them. The main idea would be to host road openings, base tours, and races… to do what? that's right: to actually visit all the connections.

We could build the best roads ever and have horses to spare, but if there aren't any events happening that use those roads and ride those horses, what good are they? For example, Sur 6's Canine Kingdom hosted monthly game days: no planning, just a time to put in your calendar, show up, and play some games with other players that are already built in a lovely gaming district. Yes, those games are still available outside of the game days, and you could organize sessions with friends on your own, but many DogCraft players don't have the luxury of abundant social prowess required for event coordination. That's why groups like the RHN ought to host them ourselves. Of course, if a player has a base connected to the RHN they'd like to lead a tour for, they can let us know. And who better to let know then someone with the role of "Events Coordinator"?? It's like a big green light saying "tell me the idea, I'll make it happen!" Many players need such a green light in order to show off builds they're proud of to players they may not know. We play on a multiplayer server, we want to see what other people build! The RHN should be the great connector.

2. Primary way to travel by horse, foot, pig, etc.

While this may not seem like an objective at all, merely a statement of transportation method, that is merely an oversight. Perhaps I, as the operator of the Sur5's DCPS, and Sur7's DCPS Zoo (coming soon), have extra understanding of the difficulties of obtaining some saddleable mobs that prior RHN leaders do not, but I doubt it. Regardless, I suggest my second new role: the SMC, Saddleable Mobs Coordinator. Similar to the Events Coordinator position, it is seemingly minor. And by that, I mean it is not minor whatsoever. The SMC would be in charge of filling each RHN outpost with appropriate mobs, obtaining and maintaining those mobs, and equipping those mobs. That's to say, the SMC would be obtaining a lot of saddles, finding horse armor, brewing potions, and crafting carrot-on-a-sticks. It would be no small task.

Horses alone have extensive room for optimization, what with their variable speeds and numerous patterns. That's not even mentioning the new Zombie Horses, newish Camels, elusive skeleton horses, stubborn donkeys, genetically confusing mules, and perfect pigs. Oh, and multiply that by however many worlds we have.

Sure, we can't supply people feet, but the RHN could take a page from the SRN, NTN, and CSC's books by supplying transportation, just as the SRN supplies minecarts and the NTN and CSC supply boats. Except we get to have more fun with four-legged creatures, and that fun should be maximized by special care from a dedicated SMC.

3. Building and maintaining roads

Now, those who aren't reading or writing an extensive initiative such as this may falsely assume that all the RHN is, is roads. Well, as I've hoped to prove thus far, they shouldn't be the only thing, but roads are definitely important to the Road and Horse Network. That's why it will have the most coordination, functioning in world-specific pairs.

That's right: I'm suggesting the roles of "World Manager" and "Assistant World Manager" to be labeled per the Dog name each world will receive (ex. "Beagle RHN Manager" or "Sheltie RHN Assistant Manager" respectively). These are the most important roles, but that doesn't mean they're in charge of everything. In fact, the primary "Manager" would focus, primarily, on only their world's spawn. For example,  _Shako has done an incredible job with the Survival 6 Retriever spawn roads, making them all cohesive and truly, rather impressive. But if a manager focuses so entirely on perfecting the spawn-adjacent network as  _Shako has, they will likely not have the bandwidth to operate much further than that area. So that's where the Assistant (secondary) World Manager comes in. The Assistant's job is to focus on the roads connecting more distant regions to the spawn network. Say the Sur7 spawn is on a large island, for example: the Manager would focus on the island, while the Assistant would collaborate with the SRN to build paths connected to bridges the rail lines use to span across the oceans, then connect the path with bases on the other side of said ocean. In other words, the Manager is the web shooter, the Assistant is the webs.

But importantly, while the Manager may be understandably picky with the spawn path network, holding its direction more closely, the paths connecting to individual bases are not constructed solely by RHN management. That is why the Assistant will operate as yet another coordinator–this time with potential linkages. They will be the ones to reach out to say,  strawberrysham, who unexplainably decides to base a thousand blocks away from spawn in a shattered savannah (why??). The Assistant will say, in their least patronizing tone, "hey Sham, would you like to connect to the RHN?" and when Sham says yes, the Assistant will collaborate on who is making the swinging rope bridges up to the shattered savannah base, and how the path will look leading up to the rope bridges, and what point on the main path it will connect up to. The Managers will also field the standard questions from players like "How do I connect up to the RHN?" and not just answer, but follow-up with actionable plans and maps for connecting.

Building and maintaining roads could easily be held at a chokehold by an obsessive player or two, but it is incredibly important to involve the players building the bases for more than just claims reasons. It's because of number 4, a.k.a. the first and most important, overarching objective in the mission statement:

4. Group project

As a perfectionist myself, these words echoing in school always meant "great, now I'll have to do all the work to make sure it gets done right" but we can't allow that to be what it means for the RHN. Management's job is NOT to micromanage every little path, screaming "THAT CURVE ISN'T AN EXACT 45 DEGREEEES!!!" Management's job is to involve as many players as possible, in creative, potentially non-standardized ways. We can do that only if our job titles are narrowed, and we can direct inquiries to the proper places. If a player wants to get involved with hosting a race at their base, we send them to the Events Coordinator, NOT the World Manager. The World Manager should only need to worry about their spawn, connecting things with their spawn, and collaborating with their assistant on mapping, etc.. Likewise, the Assistant should only need to worry about logistical connections to bases, not how fast a horse is for an upcoming race–that's the SMC's role. Each of the four positions should work in tandem to work in tandem with the larger community. It is not an exclusive club for the in-the-knows to run, it is a group project that means everyone can (and should!) build a road, and we should make it as seamless as possible for them to do so.

Roles

Each of the following roles is a suggestion for how the RHN management team should be constructed. By outlining the roles more concretely, interested players can know exactly what they're signing up for, and HR can know exactly what metrics to hold the leaders to. No more of that wishy-washy "I held an event in January… I should be good" or "I donated a shulker of spruce, I'm contributing," now roles will have more direct, public expectations.

HR (Head Roadrunner)

Job Description

The HR's primary duty is to ensure that each member of the management team is fulfilling their duties. If they are, the HR is encouraged to thank them and keep them engaged. However, if a member of management is failing to uphold their responsibilities, the HR may step in to fulfill up to one month of said coordinator/manager's duties before finding a replacement for the position. This means the HR conducts necessary performance reviews, recruitment, and hiring/firing processing.

HR may be held in conjunction with up to one other role.

Required Skills: Friendliness, encouraging, good judge of character, organizational communication, dedication.

Events Coordinator

Job Description

The Events Coordinator's primary duty is to ensure at least one RHN-specific or RHN-sponsored event takes place each month, announced in the DogCraft Transportation Networks Discord at least one week prior to its occurrence. This directly involves the secondary duty, which is to operate as liaison between players and the RHN Management team in regards to any potential events, including but not limited to those outlined below (Road Openings, Races, Base Tours).

Required Skills: Discord competent, high responsivity, enthusiasm, and outgoingness.

Event Types

Road Openings: Road Openings will be an option once cleared with the respective World Manager. They will make sure all roads are up-to-scuff for showcase, and give the go-ahead for routes. Often, road openings will occur after a larger section has been completed, and will have some larger objective, such as a Race or a Base Tour, outlined below.

Races: Races can occur via a number of roads with any number of set conditions. Where is the finish line? Is corner cutting allowed? What about potions? Where is the finish line? Is everyone riding a pig? No, seriously, where is the finish line? I'm lost… anyways, races can have prizes such as diamonds, custom horse armors, or banners. That's up to you!

Jousting: Not available in Sur6, waiting for spear update.

Base Tours: Base tours aren't entirely uncommon… when there's a SRN station at the base. Otherwise, many smaller bases go unspotted and unrecognized. That's where the RHN should shine. Viewed on foot or saddle, these base tours could be led by players themselves who have reached out with interest to (or have been encouraged by) the Events Coordinator

SMC (Saddleable Mobs Coordinator)

Job Description

The SMC's primary duties are to obtain and maintain all saddleable (land) mobs and accessories. Current applicable mobs include: Horses (35 variants), Skeleton Horses, Zombie Horses, Donkeys, Mules, Camels, Striders, and Pinkalicious Pigs. Current applicable accessories include: saddles, horse armor(s), carrot/fungi-on-a-sticks, potions (healing, speed, slow-falling, etc.), and more. The SMC is responsible for filling RHN Outposts with the appropriate mobs (built by Assistant Managers), and should operate a RHN stables on each world to distribute and house players' prized mounts. The stables will also operate as the donation centers and RHN operations HQ.

Required Skills: No life (breeding horses and finding horse armor is insanely tedious, even compared to road building), shop management, mob management, item management.

RHN Stables/Ops HQ

This will take the place of the RHN donations center, and introduce a larger, more robust server stables for anybody interested in housing their prized steed.

World Manager

Job Description

The World Manager's primary duty is to their assigned spawn. Their job should be to make sure it is as well-connected to the outside world as possible. Everything starts at spawn, so it should be the best roads out there. The World Manager may choose their own spawn-specific palette, and have the strictest control of their road network. This is the only case where other contributors should expect to follow block-specific guidelines, mandated by the World Manager.

The World Manager's secondary duties are to collaborate with their Assistant Manager on other connections and mapping, etc.

Required Skills: Detail-oriented, grinder, visionary, organization enthusiast, efficiency-maxer.

Assistant World Manager (Donks)

Job Description

The Assistant World Manager's primary duty is to connect world-wide bases back to the world's spawn network. While the Manager is the one constructing the spawn network, the Assistant is the one contacting distant bases and encouraging players to connect to the network. They will be the primary marketing for logistics such as donation requests and road connections, as opposed to the Event Coordinator's marketing for utilization of the finished roads. An Assistant should be regularly finding and contacting new bases and players to get connected to the RHN. The Assistant will be the primary builder of RHN Outposts and POIs along the longer branch paths. The Assistant should be very familiar with server claims rules, so as to follow them.

Required Skills: Outgoing, well-connected, Discord competent, adventurous, organized, initiative-taker, talkative, promotional.

RHN Outposts

There is a well-established, spruce/stone-heavy template for these outposts (a.k.a. "shelters") and the amenities provided on the main RHN wiki page. The Assistant will be responsible for constructing adequate shelters according to the established guidelines. (Adequate meaning, if you can travel 10 minutes (half a Minecraft day) without a place to put your horse or sleep, there should be another shelter there).

POIs

POIs are a new concept that I would like to bring to the bland stretches of RHN connector roads. When a road is going for hundreds of blocks without any interesting terrain or bases, why not spice it up a bit? Some POIs (Points of Interest) could include little camping tents, logging operations, broken-down cars, traveling vendors, or fire-breathing dragons. Really, as long as it breaks up the boring landscape, it's a POI.

Application Process

Prior to any application processing, there needs to be appointed a Head Roadrunner (HR) to manage the positions. I, of course, being most familiar with the positions (because I just made them up) and also having the utmost respect for each existing member of the RHN leadership team, nominate myself for consideration. I also nominate myself for the secondary position of SMC, as I will be operating the DCPS Zoo in Sur7, collecting mobs aplenty anyways. The three leaders,  TyrantrumGOD,  _Shako, and  _edo would have first pick of the other positions, and then the application process would continue for each position as follows:

HR: Applicants for HR must be internal (following the initial HR), elected by the other members of management only when the HR fails to uphold their own duties (of ensuring everyone else is upholding theirs).

Events Coordinator: Applicants design a hypothetical RHN event and pitch it to the HR. During the process, they must also demonstrate a high level of discord competency, as the events coordinator will use discord as the primary method of communication.

SMC: Applicants demonstrate mob transportation skills to the HR, and showcase their hoarding abilities, alongside organizational skills.

World Manager: Applicants must be most dedicated and available in the first few months of a new Sur. The rate at which the spawn network can be decently established may directly correlate the RHN's usage in that world.

Assistant World Manager: Must be the most all-around applicants, as they will be doing a large amount of coordination and a large amount of building. Generally very active players, as while the Managers have the most pressure towards the beginning of a Sur, Assistants will directly manage more road construction over the following duration of a Sur.

Server Networks such as the RHN should be accessible to all players, and management positions be refilled with eager members when one member fails to uphold the expectations outlined above. The RHN understands things come up, and may therefore appoint temporary substitutes for up to 3 months to account for unforeseen (irl) circumstances, but will then need to fill the position more permanently. I've waited 6 years to get some form of leadership on DogCraft. I don't suggest making players wait that long if they want it: they might get desperate and  write a literal ten-page initiative…