RE: Server Usage Analysis
I am very much a newbie to this; lot of idea, no scripting ability, but working on it. I have been harboring this idea for a while, made an extensive wiki last year, and did a bit with POL, but ultimately did not find it to my liking. This is very much a work in progress, and it will be quite a while until I am ready/able to release it. I am in no hurry.
I am receiving a lot of help and encouragement from various members, darksun84 in particular. Also Mordaunt (great advice and I am using some of his amazing scripts), RanXerox (got me a lot more focused and organized), Rattlehead, pinku (invaluable help with multi creation and patching), amonvangrell (using his decoration script), and others, and wish to offer my humble thanks. Very helpful community.
Name: Undecided Yet (Something Ultima RP-ish)
Type: RP/PVE focus, voluntary PVP.
Staff Members: Me
Players: 0
General:
I am a big fan of the original pre-UO Ultima lore and games, and am creating a RP-enforced, but somewhat casual shard that emulates the general feel of Ulitma IV and V, taking place just after the events of Ultima V, with some of my own amendments and expansions to the lore thrown in. I have heard of a few similar Ultima-centric shards (namely Legacy and the Retelling), but all seem to be defunct. I want to include systems to encourage a sort of organic RP, build community, and make the world, and travel/exploration within in it as immersive as possible. A lot of stuff is purely for atmosphere and enhancing RP. But I want to the Ultima lore to be the glue that binds it all together.
Basics:
I am including a Skillclass system that implements the Eight Professions of the single player games, and also adding a few others. Human characters only. 700/225 caps. Same level of starting skills and gold as original, but character creation done in a slightly different way (after initial Character Creation that is). Simple T2A/UO:R style combat, or as close as I can get (not important if it is not exact). Maybe slightly increased Skill/Stat gains. Only pre-existing, lore-specific, town-specific, class-based guilds will exist, and will be tied to the Skillclass system. Townstones for each of the eight major towns, but with more limited functionality (no warring between towns).
Map:
Single facet Britannia map only, though customized to an extent. Adding places from Ultima lore, and changing a lot of underused civilized areas- Occlo, Nu‘jelom, etc- into dungeon/hostile areas or removing them. Adding more resources, possibly region specific.
Housing:
Probably only static housing, definitely no custom housing. All housing will be centered in or very near to the eight major towns. Players cannot place houses, though I am toying with allowing it in very specific areas in and around towns (probably not though). Will be using Mordaunt’s Hosing and Static Housing scripts.
PvP:
Voluntary PVP. Sort of flag system (maybe chosen during character creation), where those who do not want to PvP are exempt (might include Stealing with this as well). PVP will not play a big part and is mostly there for RP conflict resolution. No capture the flag/town, warring towns, raid, or arena style stuff. I have some ideas and may implement a true Faction(s) system later with some of these features. Stealing and Snooping may or may not be included on the shard, I am not yet certain.
Role-play:
I am adding a lot of custom features purely for RP purposes, including a calendar system with custom months/days created by me, and RP relevant holidays (not using real world holidays and such). Using Mordaunt’s environment script for this, but as he said I might need to troubleshoot it a bit and pare it down as it is a bit buggy. Will add some unique, lore-based, and somewhat more interactive NPCs. Livelier towns and NPCs in general. Sphere’s NPC A.I./Speech system seem quite robust and will work well for this. Lower treasure drops. Moving as far as possible away from a min/max, hoarding/collecting , “gamey,” rare/item based sort of play, to something more subtle (not that there is anything wrong with that sort of play, it is just not my taste). No quests of any kind, except maybe escort quests, though lots of stuff to be discovered via NPCs , books, experimentation, etc. Ideally, eventually, I want to include a much more detailed Virtue system, but something more subtle and pervasive than a mere set of buffs and such, and one that involves the shrines and meditation, and actually has an effect on players behavior to a degree, if they truly wish to follow the Virtues. I want it to truly effect the game world, if possible. I want to implement the Gypsy Card Reading as well, and have a RunUO script, but need to try to convert it, or create a new one.
Skills:
Quite a few new weapon skills, with many weapons put into separate categories. Some new custom skills (a few new magic systems, foraging, some others). Alter, expand, remove some existing skills. Add/change some purely to enhance RP, many of which will not be “useful.“ I might even change some "useful" skills to "useless" skills. Of course, nothing beyond the 57 limit. Remove all instant travel except Moongates and teleporters. Try to make the world interesting to explore; familiar, yet new at the same time.
Aesthetic:
Maintain “old school,” more “natural” aesthetic, and not use any graphics that do not fit or use gaudy/neon colors and such. Normal horses only as mounts, and no ethereals. Mostly only T2A era creatures and items (with some custom items and NPCs thrown in, beef up some existing monsters such as Ettins). I am removing quite a few items based solely on a certain, personal, subjective aesthetic, hard to describe exactly. Absolutely no elves (NPC or otherwise). Might use some custom graphics from a few sites.
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