Musings by Gideon Jura... a history of sorts. This one time a long time ago, some of the folks here probably remember it too. Back in the very early days of Renaissance there weren’t that many players around – maybe like 60 accounts online at a time and just a small group of adventurers. The trade forums were still pretty active and lively though. I remember during one of those early times that Shadow Jack sold a cool item called a composite bow to somebody else, I don’t remember who now. That was a cool item. One of the only true uniques to have existed or since exist on Renaissance. I remember the story of how Jack got it really well – he said he found a monster that had it equipped and managed to disarm it and steal it. Hah! I was blown away by that as I had never built a thief character let alone a disarm thief. I had certainly never considered the possibility of disarming a monster of a rare weapon – let alone a unique one! That was pretty darn awesome. That whole event was super sweet though. I think that was the housing event rush from back in August 2012. What a lifetime ago. At the time I hadn’t yet joined the Adventure Time guild. I was still hanging out with Wulver and the folks in Blackrock Knights (BK). I think Double Vision, Solar, and Zyler were also in BK. Those were really good times with those guys. Back in the early days everybody was really young, inexperienced, and at the mercy of the handful of PKs that kept the overworld pretty dangerous – Vagingo and a few others would also kill us all at Wrong Executioners and down in Ice Ogre Lords – everybody’s two favorite spots since basically everybody was a bard hehe. Anyway so me and Double Vision were doing the house rush event and we must have stayed up most of the entire event together killing the invading monsters and having the guards help us deal with them as we were both new and extremely weak. Wulver and Les Claypool were about the only two people I knew of who had tamers so occasionally we’d go with them and use their dragons as tanks. Man that event was super cool though. Double Vision and I worked super hard and each accumulated a pretty good stash of gold, rares like the green scout maps, and Wulver even made out with a few pieces of “deadwood” I think it was called. I also think a few players scored green golem statuettes. But Jack really made off with the prize of prizes in that composite bow, earning a pretty solid reputation for himself. Following the house rush we saw the opening up of land across parts of Britannia and many houses placed during those stressful moments still stand to this day. I was able to place my Keep north of Brit, a house spot I had dreamed of owning since first seeing it on the shard that shall not be named. Blaise was able to place the AT guildhall north of Minoc – probably the first fortress or one of the first. Amazing! And Les Claypool or Avery were able to place the houses around the Brit Gate – very hotly contested placement! Amazing to see them still standing today. It was really cool to see the bonds of friendship form in those early times, guilds like BK and AT form up, and land get settled in. Players made names for themselves – Darkwing the boat crafter, Blaise the Adventurer, Avery the Kindhearted, and Jack the Nefarious Rascal. Wulver and Les Claypool were leagues ahead of everybody, down in the bottom of dungeons on their tamers. Upgrayed ran everything like some kind of benevolent overlord. And of course, Mutombo, Double Vision, and Bart Simpson the enemies of all who walked in the light. Myself I was simply content selling BODs, collecting rares, and trying to eek out a small collection of décor. Each house décor contest I would pour my heart into trying to make my Keep as presentable as possible – scouring the land for ideas, scouring the forum for rares, and scouring the forums and every old forum imaginable for décor themes to borrow. Always, always, I came up short. But I was never let down, for the entries were all amazing. Quickly the seasons turned, leading to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course, the first Christmas. Our community steadily grew, guilds disbanded, others grew, and new ones came onto the scene. Loyalties were tested and trials were had. It was such an amazing time. It’s sad to look back and think about those players who adventured with us in those early times – both friend and foe – who are no longer with us. Caly of Yew and I spent much time trying to discover the secrets to rare timers. Markos and Mobolin were fellow Adventure Timers and amazing house decorators – definitely missed. Mutombo, Liberation, Double Vision, Solar, and Vagingo – definitely the most feared murderers in all of Sosaria circa 2012 are all missed too. They brought me many deaths but I learned much along the way and look back fondly on those times.
After the land rush event the first Halloween kicked off and it was such an amazing time! My only characters at the time were Gideon who was a weak provo mage struggling by with 90 or so magery and provo and like 80 healing (don’t ask). I was working on my Lumberjack, Garrett, and my miner of course, Perrin Aybara. I also was steadily working tailoring on nine characters.. which is a whole ‘nother story entirely but don’t worry, I have time so I’ll get into that. In the very beginning on Renaissance you could collect BODs on as many characters you wanted to, but we were limited to two accounts. There was much discussion on the two account limitation. Other, competing shards, pretty much universally allowed three accounts. So the population and staff was pretty split because they wanted a higher client count to encourage more users and some players wanted more flexibility in templates. Many players were more traditional, like myself, and wanted to keep the two account limitation. In time, staff decided three would be best. It has appeared to work out well and I have since relented and enjoy having three accounts. But one of the compromises put into place was to limit the number of BOD collections you could do to a single character per account. At the time, however, I had a newborn son and my life was pretty hectic so while I was playing UOR as often as possible, to be honest, the majority of my gametime was collecting BODs and spawning rares. I just really couldn’t do much more than that.. except mining and chopping trees of course! But man lumberjacking was hard to raise – you younglins truly have no idea. You could raise it to the mid 60s with sparring but you had to get out there and jack some trees to get to GM and man that was a rough road. I made it to about 91 before I simply gave up. It took me a whole year after that to finally GM the darn skill. So anyway, Halloween I was really limited on templates going into that thing and the point system was pretty rough (no offense staff!) – basically the only way you got points for a mob was to last hit it. So everybody figured this out pretty quick and started bringing provo mages, collecting regs, and waiting to explode/ebolt mobs at the last moment. It was pretty silly to be totally honest. You’d have a pack of 30 mobs in a pile all fighting each other and a group of players patiently waiting on the side to pick off the red lined ones with a combo. Ahh players, always figuring out shenanigans – oh which reminds me! I forgot where I was going with the account thing – So myself and Double Vision were really new and we basically watched in awe as Solar dominated all aspects of the game. The guy was pretty ridiculous at the time to be honest. Although in retrospect, Upgrayed, Les, Wulver, and I’m sure Descartes and Hatecrime were off doing stuff none of even could imagine. But this guy was constantly scheming one thing or another. If you look at some of the graphs – for example – fishing rope, that was all Solar. He was a fishing, tailoring, and Artic Ogre Lord killing machine. He had a house full of vanqs, sheep farms that rivaled Mutombos (just kidding, Mutombo took that to another level to be discussed later). Ah shoot, might as well discuss it now – I mean you know you’re hooked now, right? So Mutombo was basically defacto lord of the bugs, schemes, and of course, sheep. He was the snapdragon before snapdragon (no offense snapdragon). Anyway he also wrote some fabulous guides on taming and other things I suggest you read when you get a chance. But yeah so Mutombo famously (imfamously?), smuggled a rune to green acres out of who-knows-where and built a massive sheep farm – thousands of them – and was creating millions of yards of cloth which he’d convert to bandages and sell to vendors. This caused the server to crash because vendors would never reset their inventory. This all got patched but anyway, moral of that story is Mutombo is forever the sheep lord. Solar was a sheep prince maybe. But yes, back to Solar and Double Vision! Double Vision and I watched in awe as Solar quickly built 2 grandmaster tailors and in no time was doing both tailoring and blacksmithing BODs. The two of us were totally mindblown but like good Renaissance players, immediately hatched a plan – er, developed a non-exploitive strategy to maximize our gaming experience – yes that’s it. 9 tailors was really a thing. Double Vision and I put tailoring on every dude we could except our mains. And that was almost done too before staff stepped in and put a quick stop to all that monkey business. But man was that glorious! Every morning at 5am I’d wake up like a good crack monkey and run my first character from Nujelm Inn to the tailoring ship, buy a bunch of sewing kits, and start selling them as fast as I could spam my macro. Because, yeah, you had to sell things before they’d offer you up a BOD. Thank you staff for changing that, by the way, because that was a royal nightmare. Then I’d log in my next character – all nine of them! What a clever scheme! Quickly I became extremely wealthy as I was the main dealer in all of Renaissance for BODs. Shoot I even had four smiths! Unfortunately, one of them became useless post patch (shakes fist at staff) – but it was still worth it! Anyway, so here I was, 9 tailors and a busted provo heal mage (don’t ask) – and I was doing this Halloween event against all these guys and all of a sudden Caly of Yew starts feeding me bags of regs. It was mana from heaven! I still remember him (her?) saying “Gid! Win this thing! Here!” and they kept feeding me regs the entire time! I won! I still have that trophy at the Brit Keep if you want to check it out! It’s the one that matters most – 2012 Halloween Angel baby! All mine! That was really what got me hooked here. Man what a rush that whole first few months was. Waking up at 11pm just to snatch some BODs and check a quick spawning rare. Getting chastised by the wifey because she knew I was sneaking off to check of a rare was up. LOL! Anyway, I’ll skip forward a few months to the trial of sir Bartimus, the villain. Naw, that’s boring. I know! I’ll talk about Christmas! Christmas blew my mind! I wasn’t sure what to expect but after the instanced Halloween event which took place in a burning copy of Moonglow, I was excited! Christmas was the current Santa lair event minus the basement level. It was much like Night of Horrors is now – survival mode – except you came in with your spellbook. Man was it intense! Blade spirits were the best as they could take down enemy elves pretty easy but the deer were like tanks truckin through and destroying the masses of blade spirits. Players pretty quickly discovered that the strategy was simple: get regs, cast blade spirits, and use provo as fast as you possibly could. My heal mage template (don’t ask) proved to be godly! I could save mana, regs, and most importantly, valuable cast time by healing myself if needed with bandages, while using every last millisecond throwing down blade spirits and making sure to steal people’s hard work by last-second provoking red lined mobs (lol suckers). Man those events were fun! Players would quickly become overwhelmed as hordes of elves and deer got lured into the entrance. If you found a corner to yourself you were in top shape! Get a wall of blades going and pray you landed a provo on a deer – otherwise you were in a world of hurt haha. Santa would spawn pretty quick – sometimes you’d even have time for two or three Santas! He was always destroying players with Earth Quake and other shenanigans. Really, that guy was a little over the top, not even gonna lie. But he dropped big points and rares so players would work together and ebolt him down. Of course, Hatecrime was always up to something – him or Les or Upgrayed! Man those guys were really lightyears ahead. I dunno how, but they always got the kill on Santa. I’ll never forget, though, the hard mode Christmas event. I believe it was on New Years Eve 2012. I still remember that night very well even though it’s been almost four years! Crazy! It was a lot like tonight, cold but not too cold, house was quiet, but I was hyped! Oh wait, I’m always hyped. But anyway, nobody knew what to expect – HARD MODE! – what does it even mean!? Hard mode proved to be a little too hard. The deer and elves pretty much obliterated the contestants, trapping them at the spawn point. A firm wall of blades could never be established to hold them back and players ran out of resources quickly without taking down enemies. It was a rather miserable sight. Thankfully I was nowhere near it! I had escaped early somehow by traveling along the west wall. I was in the way back and all to myself on Santas island. It was glorious! I had a firm footing on the island, blades all around me, and was holding my own. Before I knew it, the messages started popping up on the bottom of my screen “Gideon Jura is in the lead with 89 points!” Man – I was gonna win the hard mode! No way! I was maximizing every timer, evading deer like some kind of ninja, and dropping blades and provos like a machine. Regs and bandies were stock, I was in the lead, there were only 15 minutes left! I was gonna do it! But then, I swear to this day, staff thought better of my shenanigans. Comet came right at me – controlled obviously by a GM! This reindeer would NOT let me go! I was runnin on foot, dodging blades and elves, but this deer chased me around that island without mercy! Before I could regain control of my island, two more deer locked their sights on me. It was too much. My bandage ticked, but they hit me with an ebolt or two – maybe some mistletoe – who knows. Those things are nasty. I was seeing grey. First death, 100 points, I could still win! But oh, I didn’t know what was happening at the ress station – a total bloodbath. I tried throwing in my blades with the others, but we were trapped. It was hopeless. I sniped a few kills but I knew my lead was shaky. Sure enough, next message “Les Claypool is in the lead with 105 points!” No!!!! Victory was out of my grasp! I managed to sneak out to the west again and re-build a blade wall. I even managed to regain the lead, but Les must have established a stronger foothold elsewhere. Back and forth we fought for what felt like an eternity! Elf bodies and Deer corpses littered the room in front of me but I had eyes only for the score board messages – would I win?!
Oops – didn’t mean to keep ya hangin’! Nope, didn’t win that event! Came in a close 2nd to the machine that is Les Claypool. But best 2nd place I’ve ever won! Nabbed a sweet pair of santa’s glasses too – didn’t even know there were sunglasses in the game! Hah! Speaking of Les Claypool, man that guy really is a monster! I remember back in the early times, when I was hanging out with BK still a little bit but was also starting to hang out with the Adventure Time folks quite a bit too. The first housing competition was in full swing and everybody was hustling rares and stealing ideas – it was awesome! This was around Halloween time, maybe shortly after, in 2012. Double Vision made a huge entry with his fortress – one of the only ones around at the time! He had a huge fish tank and everybody was blown away. But then some other big players started dropping entries – Markos and Mobolin and Les all dropped huge houses – Castles and Forts. Les blew everybody away by making his Fortress a gigantic lava house using the rare red hue bod cloth. Talk about setting the bar high! Ultimately I think Les or Upgrayed won that contest – my Tavern pulled in a 3rd place if I remember correct. Kali also helped many folks decorate their places up to get ready and I believe Mobolin made a hilarious entry with a small stone tower near Britain with a hot tub full of ladies on top. Man that was fun! Getting back to Les for a second tho – I’m going to shamelessly plug his Moonglow rune library house on the west side of the island. You can’t miss it – the large tower near the dueling pit. Probably one of the most iconic stops in all of Britannia! A heavy hitter in the yearly deco contests and one of the most impressively displays of wealth out there!
Thought I'd drop these here so people can read them. Not sure if they exist in game or not. ---------------------------------------- Title: Humble Beginnings Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Character History Date: 3/19/2017 As darkness griped the land and all hope seemed lost, a man, known only as The Stranger, emerged to challenge Mondain. In his lust for power, Mondain had transformed the Sun Ruby Gem into the Gem of Immortality. So the legends say, The Stranger defeated Mondain and shattered the Gem of Immortality. The consequences of this act would shatter the realm – sundering the four continents of Sosaria apart and splitting reality into the Shards of Old. Thus, our shard, UO:Renaissance came to be, and thus, Gideon Jura came to inhabit the lands of Sosaria. ~ Reputations are funny things that can often cause one to stop and wonder in retrospect at the road traveled to arrive at the current destination. I am well known in the lands of Sosaria but most don’t know all that much about me - not really. I began my journey here as most all do – picking cotton and fighting for scraps in the upper levels of Shame. I ventured throughout the lands and tried my hands at many professions – bard, healer, tailor, mage, and much later, animal tamer. I met many deaths by foes (some later to become friends) and monsters alike – often even at my own hands. I came to this realm very new to the workings of the world and razor. My style was always casual – despite the rumors and my reputation. I sought to make do with in-game macros or even skill and spell buttons as often as possible. Indeed, for the first many years, my only two hotkeys were recall and greater heal. PVP was unthinkable and PVM was clumsy but passable. Despite limited play opportunities, limited knowledge of the game, and even more limited understanding of mechanics and razor, I persevered. Indeed, perseverance is the skill I probably grandmastered first. My time here has most certainly not been endless victories. Indeed, it is scarred by many defeats. I have died at the hands of pks and monsters. I have logged out in frustration at having failed an event, lost an item, or even, a few times – been burgled. I have made poor investments and I have made bad sales. I have trusted those I shouldn’t have. But I have taken each hardship in stride. I have continued to set goals for myself and I have focused on the small victories rather than letting myself be consumed by the failures. Sometimes, you grab the surfer trophy instead of the mask dye. But you live and you learn and you continue to play. Because victory or defeat, the game - the story - is evolving, challenging, and fun. I hope that you enjoy your time in our world as much as I have and as much as I still do. Many probably wonder why I play – what drives me. The fact of the matter is I play here to see the evolving world – the new faces, their contributions, and sometimes, unfortunately, their passing. But each face leaves a mark on our world and I enjoy helping people along in any way I can. I hope that you enjoy your time here and I hope you also take time, like me, to stop and admire the view rather than worry about the next big thing to check off your bucket list. That list isn’t going anywhere, trust me. ---------------------------------------- Title: Plat Train Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guild History Date: 3/19/2017 Justice. The Stranger brought Mondain to justice, but in doing so, shattered the realm. Dark forces still laid waste to the lands and groups of brave warriors banded together to defeat them. It is appropriate that one such band, named Plat Train, should inhabit the Isle named Justice. For it is on the shores of the Great Lake Justice that The Stranger meditated at the shrine, taking a step along the path to Avatarhood. ~ I do not know how much freedom I have to divulge the inner workings of Plat Train but I am very proud of it, so I will speak on it as one would anything they are proud of. I have involved myself in many guilds throughout my decades spent gaming. In fact, I’d say that online communities and guilds specifically are the most compelling part of gaming to me. The challenges of membership, leadership, organization, strategy, communication, fairness, and ultimately, politics, are endlessly complicated and nuanced. They require careful consideration and a lot of learning. They challenge you continuously to rethink the ways in which you do things – systems, friendships, discipline, and much more. Plat Train represents a specific very successful guild system designed to overcome a particularly challenging game system. Champions on UO:Renaissance are extremely lucrative but extremely frustrating. I find this balance to be very compelling and thus, Plat Train was born. I won’t take the credit for the specific mechanics that make Plat Train successful, nor will I fully explain them. But I will give you the vision that led to Plat Train’s founding principles, from which you can likely infer many of its inner workings. Fundamentally, champ guilds in UO:Renaissance are all about trust. You must trust that others will rally to the active champ in a timely manner, they will work hard continuously to advance the champ, they will not betray your location to enemies, they will work to defend the champion from enemy attack, they will help each other when pets and characters die, and they will secure the loot and share in a way that rewards all involved. The vision of Plat Train was to devise a rule and point system that was fair and transparent to address all the before mentioned concerns. This was overwhelmingly successful. At peak, Plat Train operated on a roster of over three dozen active members and engaged in up to ten champ spawns per day. Harrowers were defeated with regularity and members were given their fair share of platinum. Never was there an issue of perceived unfairness. Democratic processes were in place to ensure open communication, changes to reward undesirable duties such as defending challenging champs or harrowers, cleaning up before a spawn, and more. I would encourage everybody to engage in the champion system on UO: Renaissance. It demands teamwork, vigilance, learning, and poses constant risk but incredible reward. You will grow to appreciate your teammates – who will soon become friends – in ways you can’t otherwise. As always, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Please see Markos’ amazing Champion and Harrower Guide in the Guide section of the UO:R Forums for more details! ---------------------------------------- Title: The Road Less Travelled Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guide - Early Ways to Make Money Date: 3/19/2017 In the histories, it is written that Lord Blackthorn perverted the Virtue of Humility to read, “Thou shalt humble thyself to thy superiors, or thou shalt suffer their wrath.” Time has shown Humility to remain the most difficult Virtue to understand – helped in no part by Blackthorn’s perversion. Today, one can travel by ship to the Island of Fire and meditate at the Shrine of Humility. There, one can reflect upon the image of the Shepherd’s Crook and the true meaning of Humility. In deep meditation one should direct their thoughts to those first moments in the land and their place in the world. For it is when returning to our most basic state that we can release the grip of Pride and embrace the path of Humility. ~ There are a lot of ways to get started in UO, and I’ve tried most all of them – cloth, mining, and lumberjacking. But those simply aren’t for me. Never have been. I’ve always wanted to get out into the world and fight it out. My fondest memories from many long years playing UO during many eras, still to this day, is a random day in 1999 or so, in the orc fort north of Delucia. Some random soul and I must have spent two or three hours together fighting orcs – perhaps longer. By the end, we were both greatly advanced in many skills – swordsmanship, tactics, healing, anatomy, and parrying. Our armor was breaking and our bags were packed full of loot. Most importantly, we had cleared the fort and we had learned the game. We had come to understand monster respawn, pathing, damage, magic (darn orcish mages!), bandage timers, and the power of coordinated advance coupled with timely retreat. That afternoon at the orc fort I learned much. I grew from a novice gamer into something more. I won’t say I became a power gamer, but I definitely took many steps in the right direction. There are many guides available that will go over the specifics of starting out and how to get your first few pay checks. I’d encourage you to read those guides but also take the road less traveled if it suits your fancy. Dive into a dungeon or partner up with another new player - explore a new area and defeat some new foes. You’ll have all the time in the world to chop trees but you only get to experience those first steps once. ---------------------------------------- Title: World Chat Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guide - IRC and Forums Date: 3/19/2017 No greater city exists in all of Sosaria than Britain, however, most fail to appreciate the true nature of that sprawling cityscape. The Britannys, for there are truly three, grew up around Castle British as the demands of the court grew. West, North, and South Britanny each grew into their own specialties which still influence the lay of the land to this day. West Britanny supplied the region with farming supplies such as livestock and produce. North Britanny became well known for its stables. East Britanny grew into a sprawling trade town renowned for its shipyards. Today, the distinction has faded and remaining is the vast heart of Britannia and the high seat of Lord British. ~ When I first got started on UO:Renaissance, I had never used IRC before. I often logged in with a default UORname and didn’t bother to change it to my character name. I’d get the usual heckling from veterans and I didn’t quite understand what the big deal was. Years later, I see IRC as a second window to my game window and the forums as the third window. UOR is a complex beast with a huge community, but there is no in-game world chat. For which, I am honestly, very thankful. When time calls for it, I close out IRC and the forums, and I enjoy the world as it existed in 1999 – quiet and lonely. In those moments you can remember how vast the landscape of Sosaria really is and even an hour can feel like an adventure again. Opening IRC and the Forums, to me, is akin to leaving that adventurous frontier and heading back into the city. You can update yourself on the latest news, upgrade your equipment, and make a few deals. Then it’s time to head back out again. Some might see it as a distraction or otherworldly, but in a way, the clunkiness and distinctness of the game and the portal into the community adds its own flavor and charm. I’d encourage you to engage yourself with the community - they are an absolutely incredible resource. But please also be aware that times change. This isn’t the wild west of 1999 anymore. The community is a thing grown from lessons learned and it has rules. Please respect that there could be children participating or others who shouldn’t have to endure ridiculous language or offensive topics. I’d like to give a quick shout-out to Darkwing and the rest of the Staff who have put up with my antics in the past – thank you for providing such a great place to enjoy our beloved wizard world! Keep up the great work! As always, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Please see Basoosh’s amazing All-In-One Guide in the Guide section of the UO:R Forums to find more guides on using IRC. ---------------------------------------- Title: Two, One, Drop Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Factions Date: 3/19/2017 The path of Humility is besieged on all sides, naturally. Thus, the legendary city of Magincia, the city of Humility, was also tested. In time, Magincia grew in fame and became the envy of all Britannia. The city’s vast gardens, marble palaces, and thriving merchant community would eventually fall to that which most opposes Humility – Pride. The fall of Magincia is a tragedy for all to remember for it is a lesson for each of us. Humility is the most elusive virtue. Even in understanding and practicing Humility, one risks destruction at every step. ~ Many returning to Ulima Online will remember the Order / Chaos system that existed at launch. The main problem with the OC system was that there simply wasn’t much to fight over and additionally, blues could cross heal into an OC fight and you couldn’t retaliate against them. Order / Chaos still exists, but the Faction system was introduced to fix those two problems. Within the faction system there are 4 factions and each has a base. Killing enemy factioners rewards points and silver, as does completing objectives like capturing and securing sigils. This can allow factions to control cities, place vendors, place traps, produce temporally blessed weapons, and more. Faction characters cannot be healed or buffed by characters outside their faction. Minax – Base: Dragonhame Mountains near Destard Shadowlords (SL) – Base: Eastern Yew Crypts Council of Mages (COM) – Base: Southeast Magincia True Britannians (TB) – Base: Lord Blackthorn’s Castle in Britain Chris and others have created extensive faction guides so I want to turn this to my personal faction experience. In my experience, faction activity will ebb and flow. At times it can seem boring but when a lot of players start to get really involved, it can engulf the entire server and you’ll see groups of 10 or more per faction fielding at a time. These are really exciting times on UO:R that rival the excitement brought by Shard Events like Halloween and Christmas. This is really saying a lot because most here know how exciting the events are and most players honestly live from event to event. While factions don’t always bring that kind of excitement, it is one of the few built in game systems that periodically generates massive player involvement and excitement. I would greatly encourage everybody to dive into factions and see what they are all about. There really is nothing quite like being in voice chat with many other players and trying to stage a defense or attack an enemy base. Or simply meeting another equally or greater sized force in the field and watching as friends and foes are destroyed. Importantly, factions will allow you to grow as a teammate and player. You’ll learn the mechanics of the main pvp builds, how to coordinate syncs, survive syncs, cross heal through syncs, move with a group, survive when outnumbered, tactically retreat, and more. These experiences will lend to a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses when outside of factions and you’ll find yourself a stronger and more competent player going forward. Perhaps most importantly, factions are one of the biggest forces that drive players to band together into like-minded groups. Many friendships and guilds on UO:R are formed on the battlefield – win or lose – and those battles will become tales of legend as they are recounted over the years. ---------------------------------------- Title: Fail2Prep, Prep2Fail Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Champion Spawns Date: 3/19/2017 The Companions of the Avatar accompanied the Stranger on his path to becoming the Avatar. The Eight Companions each exemplified one of the Eight Virtues. The sagas of these Companions continue today across the lands as Heroes rise to challenge the dark forces of the Harrower and his minions. Defeating each foe will require the talents of those legendary heroes of old. Learn their stories to learn their strengths. ~ Please consider reading my other book about Plat Train as well. It touches on the subject of Champion Spawns from an organizational standpoint. For this book, I want to focus on how to best prepare yourself for the challenges of Champing. First, you can do champions on many templates. I’ve seen bards and warriors defeat many of the available champs. I have even seen a person play 3 warriors at once with a good deal of success. That said, tamers are widely regarded as the best template. Be aware, however, that even tamers simply cannot be used on some champion tiers or bosses. A variety of characters you can switch between is the best approach. The common thing I’ve seen across hundreds, perhaps a thousand completed champs, is that those who prepare are successful, and those who don’t prepare are simply not successful. Here are the main steps to being well prepared to engage in champs: First, create runebooks for all your champion characters and all characters you might potentially use to rescue your champion characters in the event they die. This runebook should contain runes to all the champion alters in the main world and t2a. See Markos’ guide for details on their locations. It should also contain runes to enter/exit t2a and get to Delucia and Papau since a lot of champions take place in t2a. I keep a copy of this same runebook in each character’s bank box. Second, make sure all these champion characters have some backup equipment on hand – either at a house or banked - along with access to fresh mounts. Blessed runebooks, ethereals, bonded pets, potions, wands, and trapped pouches are especially important. You want to be extremely well stocked and you want to be able to restock any lost character at a moment’s notice. Corpse recovery at a champ can be difficult, especially if you are two or three boxing and lose two or more characters. Third, and perhaps most important, carry a player made wooden box that can be magic locked and unlocked. This should become common practice on all your characters. Make sure to put something in the box that weighs 10+ stones so thieves can’t steal the entire box. You should always load loot directly to this box so it cannot be stolen. Loot like platinum, rares, and champion skulls are prime targets for thieves and need to be secured into your box and deposited at the bank quickly. This should become second nature and compulsive habit. With all that said, treat each champ as a learning experience. You will want to learn the nature of the monsters that spawn at each tier, approximately how fast the tiers progress based on the rate at which monsters are dying, and how the boss mechanics work. When in doubt, ask questions! There is nothing worse than seeing somebody make a simple mistake like putting all their pets on Rikktor. Oh wait, being that person is certainly worse! I have been that person and I learned real fast – ask how each tier works and how the boss works! Your peers will help you out and you’ll learn quickly the best strategies to stay alive and secure the most loot. Good luck and have fun! As always, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Please see Markos’ amazing Champion and Harrower Guide in the Guide section of the UO:R Forums for more details! ---------------------------------------- Title: Platinum Dreamin’ Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guide – Platinum Reward System Date: 3/19/2017 Legend has it that during the sundering, as reality was torn and Mondain’s foul grip released the world, the precious substance known today as platinum came to be. Some propose that Mondain’s will had grown so great and his contempt so strong, that even in death he refused to release us from his darkness. Today, while platinum is exchanged easily from hand to hand, an uneasiness grips those who think on its true nature. Driven by desire, the virtues appear to be cast aside for this thirst… ~ Let’s be real, platinum is where it’s at on UO:R. Everybody is trying to get a big house and some sweet masks and sandals, maybe some sweet deco to fill their house with, but at the end of the day, after all that’s said and done – plat is the thing that keeps us coming back for more. Platinum is the white dandruff that keeps us hitting that button. Just one more champ; just one more treasure map; just one more AMIB. Platinum is how you’ll get blessed runebooks and ethereal mounts, lockdown and secure expansions for your house, and an endless array of amazing, must have, house deco items like bookshelves, carpet, and character statues. It is really platinum that takes your experience here to the next level. Once you realize the convenience associated with a blessed runebook, let alone an ethereal mount, you’ll very shortly be calculating the time it will take you to load out all of your favorite characters. And the train never stops. After you’ve met your quota on runebooks and ethys you’ll move on to house upgrades and decorations. You’ll run by a house and notice a new fountain or statuette and you’ll realize you really need to get back at it because you’re down to your last few plat. I say without doubt that, of all the game systems implemented on UO:R over the last 5 years, the Platinum system is the best and has had the most far reaching impact. So saddle up and lock yourself in, develop a game plan – BODs, Tmaps, Fishing, Champs – whatever it is, master it, and put it to work for you. The plat must flow. ---------------------------------------- Title: Patience and Profit Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Treasure Hunting / Tales of Adventure Date: 3/19/2017 The saga of Phoenix is one not known to most thieves in the land… Phoenix was a thief of exceptional skill and cunning, however, her success was too great and would lead not only to her downfall, but the downfall of the enormously powerful Guild of Thieves. Due to her immense success, Phoenix earned the ire of her master, Budo. While the Guild fell, like Phoenix, some whisper of a quiet rebirth… of orders in the shadows and of relics gone missing. ~ Spawning rares are a mysterious part of the game that I was fortunate to get involved in early on in my UO:R career. Back in that very early time I worked together with other long time veterans like Miller, ReZon, Infantry, Frenulum, and more to discover the secrets of the system and make it available to the players. Together, the community was able to narrow down the spawning locations of every last spawning rare on the server and also figure out their relative spawn times (most are somewhat random) and means of acquisition (most can simply be picked up but some require stealing). Rare hunting is a very fun aspect of UO:R because it requires a lot of effort but will surprise you when you least expect it. I’ve gone days or even weeks without finding anything and just when my moral was lowest, gotten lucky with a nice monthly rare like a standing candelabra or beaker. Those moments are exciting and you will look at your collection fondly as it grows week by week. I’d encourage all new and veteran players to engage in the rare hunt because it is an often ignored, but highly social part of the game. While you’d expect most rare hunters to be elusive and out for their own gain, there is a surprisingly helpful community hidden away in the shadows who will work to teach you. Some of the biggest names in rare hunting are ReZon, Larloch, and Azoth but I am sure there are others now as I’ve long retired from the hunt. I’d encourage you read over the community guide which is managed by ReZon and reach out to these players. There is something extremely rewarding about building your own rare collection – particularly the elusive alchemy set! ---------------------------------------- Title: You Spin Me Round Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Tailoring Date: 3/19/2017 Minoc, the city of Tinkers, is the heart-home of the crafters of Britannia. Here, the craftsman is both merchant and warrior, with strength and dexterity born of years of labor. ~ Tailoring was my first major power gaming endeavor on UO:Renaissance. I was still very new to the game and exploring game systems – my bard, warrior, lumberjack, and miner were all coming along nicely. I had yet to even dream of building a tamer. But I was noticing what other, more seasoned, players were doing, and was taking notes. My mentor at the time was a now long retired vet named Solar. He showed me how to build up a tailor to grandmaster and how to use that skill to generate gold. So take a seat, padawan, and I’ll give you some pointers. Firstly, you can simply buy cloth, work the skill, and reach grandmaster, but that is certainly not going to be very economical. Step one is to either purchase a runebook to all the flax, cotton, and sheep pens of the world, or create your own. Most runebook libraries will contain such a book so you can track down a comprehensive library and make a copy of their book. Step two will be to start looping through that book and gathering raw resources and returning the resources to your house where you can have a second character hard at work weaving and spinning them into cloth. You’ll become very efficient at this and you should figure out clever ways to increase your yield. For example, you can hop over to t2a Delucia and gather some flax there. Additionally, you can tame and release sheep in the pens of the world and new sheep will spawn. This will give you additional sheep to sheer on each rotation. Over time this can become quite a large number of animals. Once you’ve optimized your cloth farming game, you can set to work on training up your tailors – yep, tailors! You’ll want one tailor on each account so that they can each get a Bulk Order Deed every six hours – this is the money maker! As always, we’re simply standing on the shoulders of giants here. Wodan provided an optimized training system to get us to grandmaster in no time at a reasonable cost of about 25,000 cloth and 400 leather. 30 - 40 SHOWN SKILL = Short Pants 40 - 48 SHOWN SKILL = Fancy Shirts 48 - 53 SHOWN SKILL = Fancy Dress 53 - 74.6 SHOWN SKILL = Robes 74.6 - 99.6 SHOWN SKILL = Oil Cloths 99.6 - GM = Studded Leather Gorgets Once grandmaster, the fun beings. At grandmaster I was pulling BODs 2-4 times per day and I was also coupling tailoring with carpentry and smithing to produce house addons like spinning wheels and other goods that I sold on my player run vendor. Truly, this was my first step to wealth. Later I would engage in champs and other endeavors, but merchanting was my first step into the big leagues. BODs collected with your tailors can yield amazing rewards like clothing bless deeds, mask dyes, and black dye tubs. Or you can simply sell the BODs themselves to others. Ultimately, though, you will open up a lot of potential options by walking this path. More importantly, this gives you something to do that is a little less risky than trekking down to the bottom of a dungeon and risking life and limb. Some evenings you just might not be in the mood to slay monsters, you know? Learning the ins and outs of Cloth Weaving and Tailoring is a huge undertaking. Thankfully, many very impressive guides exist on the forums. Make sure to check them out! ---------------------------------------- Title: Hammertime Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Blacksmithy and Mining Date: 3/19/2017 Eight professions. Eight virtues. Eight companions. The great craftsmen of Britannia are renown for their Sacrifice. Julia of Minoc accompanied the Stranger in his ascent to Avatarhood. ~ Once I realized what a sweet deal tailoring was (see my tailoring book!), I was off to the races on Blacksmithing. Blacksmithing really opened up the wealth train another full step. It is a more costly investment, to be sure, but worth it! Reaching grandmaster blacksmith has been well researched. Again – all credit to the giants! In this case, Captain Morgan developed the following method in his excellent guide on blacksmithing (macros included!) found on the forums. Displayed skill Item to make NPC trained (~30) - 45 Mace 45 - 53 Maul 53 - 70 Kryss 70 - 86 Short Spear 86 - 95 Platemail Gorget 95 - GM Platemail Gloves This route can be further improved with clever stat manipulation as indicated in the guide. The final price tag works out to an “easy” 38,000 or so iron ingots per smith – and again, you want three of these badboys! You read that right, this will require either a lot of time spent mining or a down payment of just over 900,000 gold – but fret not! This is totally worth the time and money! Blacksmithing BODs provide some of the most elite rewards in the game – runic hammers, standing suits of armor, fortification powder, and much more. Learning the ins and outs of Mining and Blacksmithing is a huge undertaking. Thankfully, many very impressive guides exist on the forums: Mining: Markos, Gharik, Chris, and El Horno Blacksmithing: Captain Morgan BODs: Lyta, Gideon Jura, and Dalavar Battle Mining / Stonecrafting: Chris Best of luck! ---------------------------------------- Title: On Ballot Boxes and Staves Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Carpentry Date: 3/19/2017 Julia’s fiery temper was legendary, as were her finely crafted musical instruments… Her Sacrifices were numerous. Today, in the heart of every craftsman lies that same fire and sacrifice. Each of us is a child of Minoc; a Tinker; a child of Julia. ~ Carpentry is one of the most important merchant skills in the game! With carpentry at grandmaster you can craft nearly all the house addons as well as furniture and boats. You will want the associated synergy skills on the same character to make sure you can craft everything. My ideal carpenter would have blacksmithing, tailoring, tinkering, magery, and a bit of musicianship as well (40). Carpentry + Magery = Pentagram and Abattoir house addons. Carpentry + Tailoring = Spinning wheel and loom house addons. Carpentry + Blacksmithing = Forges and anvil addons. Carpentry + Tinkering = Cooking addons and lockable boxes. Carpentry + Tailoring + Tinkering = Boat Deeds. Carpentry + Musicianship = GM instruments. A lot of people make, what I consider at least, to be several big mistakes while working up a crafter and that is, they put skills on their crafter that are actually best suited on other templates. Inscription is best suited to a PVP or PVM template. It has no synergies with other skills so you don’t need it on your crafter character. Poisoning is best used on PVP or some niche PVM templates. Again, it has no synergies for crafting purposes and like Inscription, is useful in combat. Mining is best suited on a melee character as battle mining is a legitimate end game activity. It is handy for smelting on your main blacksmith but that is the only real utility to putting it on your primary crafter. Lumberjacking is also best suited on a melee character as it provides a substantial bonus to axe damage. Again, it’s handy to have it on your main crafter but I don’t advise it. Likewise, Alchemy has no synergies with any other skills. You should try to put alchemy on a character that doesn’t really have a use for the last 100 skill points. Same thing goes for Bowcraft/Fletching. There are no synergies so it doesn’t have to go on your main crafter. So with all that being said, my preferred build for a primary crafter would have access to all the essential skills to craft all addons, furniture, boxes, and boats: 100 Carpentry 100 Blacksmithing 100 Tailoring 100 Tinkering 100 Magery (75 is needed but GM is handy) 40 Musicianship This leaves you with 160 skill points to play with. Personally I’d just add GM Alchemy and 60 Bowcraft/Fletching and call it a day. The 40 Musicianship is a little awkward and will likely bother some folks with OCD but that’s just the way of things! At the moment, 60 Bowcraft/Fletching is enough to craft arrows and bolts so that’s all I feel a need for. That all being said, Crafting with this character and running your own vendor is enormously profitable. For about a year I ran a very successful carpentry shop selling everything you can imagine from house addons to boats to locked boxes and small tables. I even sold GM instruments. All of these items are in very high demand and I wouldn’t undercut yourself. Most players are more than willing to pay a fair premium for the convenience of having a well-stocked shop handy that they know will be carrying the item they are looking for. The way I ran my shop was pretty simple – I’d buy bulk resources off other players at the standard rates and then I’d convert those resources into finished goods. I had a simple spreadsheet that calculated the base cost of each item (taking into account success chance) and then I had a price for each item that left me, what I considered, a fair profit margin given the work required to acquire resources, produce the goods, stock the vendors, and advertise. I never lacked for customers, even when charging 2 or 3 times over resource cost. This is much like real life – you can be sure the retailer you visit to buy your groceries is marking up prices at least 100% to reap an appropriate profit on their investment, time, and work. You should, quite honestly, do the same. There are extensive guides available on the forums that will explain the steps to reaching grandmaster in all of these crafting skills, how to run player run vendors, and how to be a successful merchant. I would definitely advise you to read those guides and reach out to other successful merchants like Peace, ReZon, Avery, Boothby, myself, and many more. The world can always use another well stocked player establishment – particularly carpentry shops! ---------------------------------------- Title: Boom Goes the Dynamite Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Tinkering Date: 3/19/2017 Among the great works of Sosaria, none are more highly prized than those clocks crafted by Julia’s hand. Masterworks; timeless and unwavering in their precision. ~ Tinkering is an often overlooked crafting skill but it is essential for a full time merchant. I’d suggest you also read my carpentry, blacksmithing, and tailoring books because the true power of Tinkering lies in the synergies it has with those other skills. Tinkering can be useful on a mining character to produce shovels because you can continue your route and simply craft additional shovels from the ingots you’re producing. That said, I don’t particularly like this method. I find it to be a waste of ingots and valuable skill points. I prefer to have my mining characters built as warriors who can battle mine when required. Furthermore, shovels are very inexpensive at NPC tinkers. My personal recommendation when mining is to simply repeatedly buy out an NPC tinker of their shovels and keep a huge stock at your house. Your main crafter should probably have the skills listed in my carpentry guide. With those skills and Tinkering combined you can produce a wide variety of valuable goods that you can sell to other players on NPC vendors. The most valuable goods you’ll produce that involve tinkering will be house addons, like the stone oven, and boats. Boat deeds sell for a large margin and are in very high demand since fishing is so popular on UO:R. Any merchant worth their salt should keep a large supply of boat deeds for sale at their shop! Something that is often overlooked, however, is the popularity of Lockpicking for treasure hunting purposes. New treasure hunters are often in need of various levels of locked boxes produced by carpenters with varying levels of Tinkering. These are often referred to as 30/30 50/50 70/70 and GM/GM boxes. I would most highly suggest that you stop at each of these skill levels during your training process and produce a very large stock of these boxes. It might seem silly but you would be amazed at what these will sell for down the road. You can package one of each difficulty box together as a set (hopefully labeled with corresponding books so your clients know which are which) and sell them for a pretty good price – maybe as much as 5,000 or 10,000 gold per set! This might seem like a high price but most players are more than happy to pay for the luxury of owning a set and it is rare that a player has the foresight while training to stop and produce a large quantity of sets. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, never forget that Tinkering can be used to produce trapped boxes. I’ll never forget the time I casually opened one such box outside the Britain Alchemy shop. That was a lesson learned and not easily forgotten! Hopefully this is a helpful primer to Tinkering! Make sure you stop by the forums to read all the very helpful guides on the subject as there are many! ---------------------------------------- Title: Words of Power Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Inscription Date: 3/19/2017 Mariah’s long study at the Lycaeum, on Verity Island, no doubt lent to her abilities as a Mage. Her work in translating the Book of Prophecies was instrumental in the Avatar’s struggle. Today, Mariah’s name is synonymous with Honesty. ~ Savage has an absolutely amazing guide to raising Inscription on the forums! Make sure to check it out! I want to focus on the applications of Inscription in game as it is often a misunderstood skill. Inscription is often considered a bread and butter PVP skill because it improves the effectiveness of Reactive Armor, Magic Reflection, and Protection. In all three cases, GM Inscription is required to receive the bonus. The bonuses are indicated below: Reactive Armor Formula: Formula: Magery + Meditation + Inscription / 3. With a max damage absorption of 75 points. GM Magery, GM Meditation, and 0.0 Inscription: approximately 66 damage absorbed. GM Magery, GM Meditation, and GM Inscription: approximately 75 damage absorbed. Magic Reflection Formula: Formula: (Magery + Inscription) /200 * 7 + 8 = Circles of spells that can be reflected. GM Magery and 0.0 Inscription: approximately 1 level 7 spell. GM Magery and GM Inscription: approximately 2 level 6 spells. Protection Formula: Formula: Evaluating Intelligence + Meditation + Inscription /4. With a max duration of 75 seconds. GM Eval, GM Meditation, and 0.0 Inscription: 50% bonus to avoid spell interruption. GM Eval, GM Meditation, and GM Inscription: 75% bonus to avoid spell interruption. As can be seen, the skill provides a lot of bonuses depending on the situation. In PVP it is essential for many templates - particularly in dueling and fielding. The improvement to Reactive Armor can mean life or death when fighting a dexer in close combat. The additional reflect opportunity can mean the difference between surviving a synch and restocking. And protection can be key to getting off a spell to finish a combo or prevent one. However, the skill is also incredibly useful for many PVM templates – providing increased durability against both monsters and PKs that can give you the seconds needed to successfully escape. Perhaps most important to mention, the skill requires no other synergies and pays for itself if you sell the scrolls you make to other players. So your PVP or PVM character with inscription can double as a crafter and you can run a successful business selling scrolls, spellbooks, and runebooks to other players. Merchant scribes are in very high demand, particularly around new player towns like Ocllo where there are constantly new players needing their first spellbooks and scrolls. I would highly recommend pursuing this merchant opportunity as you’d be amazed at the amount of gold you can make with a simple 100 skill point investment and some learning. ---------------------------------------- Title: Absolute Power Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Magery, Arcane Lore, or Alchemy Date: 3/19/2017 Mariah would later aid in the defeat of the Guardian by traveling to Deceit to cleanse the corruption there. This prevented the catastrophic collision of the facets of Trammel and Felucca. Travelling to Dagger Island, one can stop outside Dungeon Deceit to meditate at Honesty Shrine. Meditate there on the Might of Mariah. ~ Magery is often criticized for being too powerful. Indeed, one could even argue that later eras introduced skills like Chivalry and Necromancy to balance out the power of Magery. Personally, I don’t see the power of Magery as a negative aspect of the game. While many see it as an essential skill choice and argue that it pigeonholes players at character creation, I don’t quite see it that same way. Players often make the same argument about Animal Taming as well and again, I don’t see it that way. Not all characters are necessarily improved with the addition of Magery, nor are they necessarily improved with the addition of Animal Taming. So rather than focus this book on what Magery can do, let’s focus on what it cannot do. Magery on its own is very useful but neutered in many respects in the Renaissance Era thanks to the changes that were made to Evaluate Intelligence and Meditation. Without grandmaster Evaluate Intelligence, a mage will not deal much damage with offensive spells like Explosion and Energy Bolt which are the bread and butter of a mage in both PVP and many PVM situations. Furthermore, without Meditation, a mage will very quickly run out of mana because the passive regeneration rate at 0 Meditation is appalling. So right off the bat, any template wishing to utilize Magery is really looking at a 200-300 skill point investment to have an effective mage. This greatly limits a character’s flexibility. Furthermore, that character should most definitely have a mana pool of at least 60, so you’re looking at a sizeable drop off in either dexterity or strength (likely dexterity), which will greatly limit offensive melee output. For the reasons above, I feel that Magery, while incredibly versatile and powerful, is appropriately limited by synergy restrictions in this era. I really enjoy the fact that one can certainly produce a “Jack of all Trades” style character with some kind of dexer-mage skill hybrid using some fighting skill and balanced stat loadout in combination with Magery and some combination of Eval and Meditation to produce a viable character that is very useful in a variety of scenarios. Most players, however, realize the weakness inherent to a Jack of all Trades style character. While we might find it appropriate to build one to have on hand for certain situations, most players prefer to use their character slots to optimize for specific tasks. The staff of UO:Renaissance have really done a superb job in system design with this goal in mind. Many activities on UO:R are simply not best accomplished by a character with Magery. Some examples are: Battle Mining, AMIB instances, and Christmas instances. I would advise you to seek out my guide on the forums regarding Character Archetypes as well as the many amazing guides on AMIBS and Christmas instances. These are but three clear examples of activities where non-mages thrive. I’d further encourage you to think carefully about each character you’re building and what that character will be doing. I find that players often overlook the potential to build nontraditional characters that can be extremely powerful, but it requires you to think outside the box! ---------------------------------------- Title: KGB Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Roguish Behavior Date: 3/19/2017 The Guild of Thieves had once existed as a mighty organization which spanned Britannia with many guild houses. The leader of The Guild was Budo, who had a long standing rivalry with another Guild member named Phoenix. Budo permitted the Avatar to join The Guild after the Avatar took Phoenix’s guild belt. Thus, the guild fell from prominence and to this day the Thieves Code – to never betray a fellow thief – is the unwritten law of the land. ~ Vigilance! This word cannot be expressed enough! I have played UO longer than any other game and the thing that keeps me coming back is the heightened awareness and vigilance one must always engage in, else you fall victim to another player. While PKs are the threat most feared by many as they take their first steps in the world, that threat quickly becomes overshadowed by a much more dangerous foe – the thief. UO:Renaissance is home to some of the most dangerous thieves I’ve ever encountered in online gaming. These players work alone but very often together to stalk their prey and liberate them of their hard earned pixels. That pray is you and me – us. Do not allow yourself to be a victim! Dying to a PK might lose you a loadout and some farming time – at most, 100,000 gold. A thief can steal an equivalent value of platinum (ten pieces) in a heartbeat due to a lack of proper judgement and a breach of protocol. Worse, a lax moment could lead to a house burglary with losses in the millions. The onus is on you and me to make sure these events do not occur. I do not hate the thief, let me be sure to make that clear. They are engaging in a legitimate part of the game – just like PKs. I am thankful for their contribution to the world. The constant threat they pose leads to vigilance. No other game can provide that same feature or experience. It is the true beauty of the sandbox and I love it – even when I am the victim. And that’s really the most important piece in all of this. Stay vigilant, exercise due diligence and protocol always, but when you fail – and it will happen – take your loss gracefully. Ultimately, each of us will be put down by a band of reds. Each of us will recall back to the bank, only to discover our valuable holiday coins or platinum somehow didn’t make it to the bank also. We’ll turn on our computer to discover we accidently left a character logged into the world and they are now dead and dry looted. Or worse, we’ll log in and many boxes will be empty and a forum post will exist describing the exact nature of the way in which we screwed up. Do not let pride get the best of you! Nobody will be perfect and everybody will make mistakes! And in those moments of weakness, somebody will be lurking to take advantage. Applaud them for their effort and take it on the chin! That is the way of our world and we know that when we step foot into it. I would like to applaud those thieves and rascals who have gotten one over on me – for it has happened many times. My first learning experience came at the hands of Double Vision who taught me a lesson I’d recently need to be reminded of by BlackEye: items that block pathing in houses can be destroyed by blade spirits if not locked down. Know your home and your items! Make sure blade spirits and other creatures can’t be used to destroy your valuables! I’d also like to recognize BlackEye (again) and the many other thieves (who I cannot name due to those darned disguise kits!) who have successfully lifted countless holiday coin and platinum from me over the years. I’ve tried my best to be vigilant and use locked boxes religiously, but you guys are darned persistent! My final recognition goes to a thief by the name of KGB who managed to catch me in the midst of a redecoration at Yew Bank several years ago. He successfully lifted a chest full of rare items. That was my largest loss to a thief and I am forever shamed! You managed to stealth in between reveals and snag that chest right off my porch – and get away with it too! Thankfully he had the courtesy to sell it back on the spot – very thankful for that! Thank you to the thieves of the world for keeping the game exciting and lively. Now get off my porch! ---------------------------------------- Title: Watchin’ the Clock Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guide – Holiday Events Date: 3/19/2017 While most Sosarians are familiar with the common Blue Moongates that allow for safe and easy travel across the lands, less known are the artificially created red, silver, and black gates. It is said that the phases of the moons control the function of the Moongates, although much knowledge has been lost in time. Rumors abound that many gates have recently begun to appear – red, white, green, and teal. None know quite where they lead… ~ This is a really special place and if you’re lucky enough to have found this old game, this private server, and somehow, this book, then you are indeed very fortunate. UO:Renaissance is truly a one of a kind world. The staff is outstanding and the player base is incredible. Rarely do you find a sandbox that has been so well tended by both creators and tenants. Most remember the Wild West of 1999, and while we look back fondly at that experience, there were parts that maybe weren’t the best for all involved. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way and we’ve taken the lessons learned and we’ve changed who we are and what we do. This book represents some of that change. Players running contests and events to encourage the growth and development of the community is why this book exists. Thank you to the players for making that possible. But also a huge thank you to the staff for their vision and how they’ve continued to engage the community with events to keep the world alive with activity year after year. This sandbox continues to thrive and grow because it is nurtured and the effort put in over the years has produced amazing content and experiences! The Holiday Events on UO:R are second to none. If you’ve been on the fence about joining in, get off that fence! The events are incredibly fun, build community, and are an opportunity to acquire unique items that represent pieces of the server’s history and story. Stop whatever it is you’re doing (indeed, put this book down!) and go online (right now!), to the forums and read my UO:R Events Guides! ---------------------------------------- Title: Order from Chaos Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: Guide - BoDs Date: 3/19/2017 Sacrifice by the few is the requirement for great change. This was true of the sacrifice of Julia, the Companions, and the Avatar. It is true of the Tinkers of today. ~ Bulk Order Deeds are perhaps one of the most easily misunderstood systems for a new player to Ultima Online. Essentially, however, a Bulk Order Deed is simply a crafter quest. You must gather the quest pieces (BODs) which demand that you create specific items to fill the BOD, and then return the filled BOD to the crafter for a reward. If that were the full extent of the system, however, BODs would be trivial. The difficulty comes with the many different types of BODs that can be acquired across the two crafting skills that currently have BODs (Tailoring and Blacksmithing). Some are very common, for example, iron armor or weapon BODs, and due to being common, their associated rewards aren’t worth much. Some BODs are extremely rare, for example, Spined Leather tailoring BODs. Their rewards can be very worthwhile – in fact, with luck, one can acquire a red special mask dye worth over a million gold. However, to add even more difficulty, is the fact that Large BODs require you to find 4 to 6 specific small BODS – a set – and fill them to complete the Large BOD. This is how the best rewards – clothing bless deeds, mask dyes, and runic hammers, are earned. It is this collecting and matching process required to produce sets that is where the learning, management, trading, buying, selling, and general difficulty associated with BODs comes from. Master BOD fillers are machines who know the ins and outs of the system and are able to identify the BODs they have and the BODs they need. They’ve developed, through long practice, systems to acquire BODs quickly that they need to turn a random pile of mismatched BODs into worthwhile rewards. Ultimately, BODs are one of the most lucrative endeavors in the game. I have seen players join UO:R and quickly rise the ranks to the elite through the BOD Game. I must tip my hat to them because they have stuck through the thick and thin – the struggle to build up their BOD collecting characters and the raw deal of rolling low quality BODs or rewards. Despite the challenges and setbacks, however, I am certain nothing can top the feeling of producing your very own Valorite Runic Hammer. And while I doubted very much it would ever be done, I have been amazed time and again as players set themselves on a mission and pull off what I once considered impossible. As always, any guide stands on the shoulders of giants and this guide is certainly only a primer on the BOD Game. I would urge you to search for other books I’ve written on tailoring and blacksmithing as well as guides written by myself, Lyta, Dalavar, Captain Morgan, and others. There is a huge wealth of knowledge available to you on the subject of Bulk Orders and as they say, knowledge is power. ---------------------------------------- Title: OoOo Ooo Author: Gideon Jura Forum/IRC Name: Gideon Jura Category: PvP Date: 3/19/2017 The Virtue Valor is founded on the Principle of Courage. Travel to the shrine of Valor on your way to the city of Jhelom – the city of Valor. There, enter the fighting pits. Blackthorn’s Law can still be seen etched into the walls of the pits: “Thou shalt fight to the death if challenged, or thou shalt be banished as a coward.” ~ The lighting wasn’t quite right and the space was cramped – tables and chairs and books everywhere and enemies all around. I could see the murderer across the room – he appeared to be assessing the situation before making any moves. Weren’t we all. Or at least, we were. My companion had taken an energy bolt to the face and was down and out. I needed to get him out of here – and myself too, before I met the same fate. I uttered the power words and a blue gate appeared before me. My friend was out of harms way. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. And I was feeling a little reckless. I felt a sudden compulsion to retrieve his belongings rather than leave them to this madman. I dashed across the room and that’s when everything slowed down – or maybe things sped up. Either way, it was trouble. Executioners all around us; we danced. Him, throwing spells; me, throwing heals. I managed to retrieve half of my friend's belongings but between the portal and heals, I was running low on mana. Surely he couldn’t keep up the assault, could he? Unfortunately, he could. An assault of mindblasts, harms, and executioner hits were too much. Or maybe it was that poison trap… My recklessness, as usual, would be my undoing. This time, the murderer would get two for the price of one.
Unused guide I found - Inscription, Scribe's Pen, Scrolls, Spellbooks, and Runebooks The Inscription Skill is useful as both a crafting skill and a combat skill. A Scribe can use a Scribe's Pen to craft Spell Scrolls for each of the 64 spells in the game as well as Runebooks. As a combat skill, Inscription empowers the Magic Reflect, Reactive Armor, and Protection spells. Training Inscription requires 8 steps: 1. Raise Magery and Meditation to Grandmaster. 2. Stockpile a very large quantity of reagents and blank scrolls. 3. Have a NPC Mage train your character to 30.0 real Inscription (approximately 300 gp). 4. Copy a book until 50.0 shown Inscription (described below). 5. Craft Mark scrolls until 85 shown Inscription. 6. Craft Gate scrolls until 90 shown Inscription. 7. Craft Resurrection scrolls until GM Inscription. 8. Sell the scrolls you made to other players! The Scribe's Pen can be used to craft Spell Scrolls and Runebooks as described below. Blank Scrolls can be purchased for 8 gp from an NPC mage. Spellbooks can contain spells which can be used with Magery, reagents, and mana by the character carrying the book. Spellbooks can be purchased from NPC mages and filled with spell scrolls. They are blessed by default. Casting Mark and targeting a rune will mark the rune with your current location. Double clicking the rune will allow you to name it. Casting Recall or Gate Travel and targeting a rune will take you to the location at which it was Marked. Runes can be purchased from NPC mages. Runebooks can contain runes which have been marked, allowing a player to travel to various locations in the world. Runebooks can also contain Recall and Gate charges. Runebooks can be crafted, as noted below. They can also be blessed with a Runebook Bless Deed or dyed with a Runebook Dye Tub. Runebook Bless Deeds can be purchased using Platinum. Runebook Dye Tubs can be purchased using Platinum. Books can be purchased from Provisioners. They can be named and written in which is useful for saving information or communicating with other players. Particularly useful is placing books on Player Vendors without a price. In this way, one can leave information for customers about particular items. Copying Books Copying books is an easy way to increase Inscription to 50.0. Simply write in a book and then close it. Click the blue button next to Inscription, target the book, and then target a second book. You can repeatedly copy the first book to the second, gaining skill without cost. Crafting Scrolls Using the Magery and Inscription skills (plus Meditation to regenerate mana), a Scribe can craft all 64 spell scrolls in the game. This is a very profitable profession as scrolls, full spellbooks, and runebooks are all extremely useful items. Magery + Inscription + Mana + Blank Scroll + Reagents = Spell Scroll 1st Circle Spells can be crafted with 0.0 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 2nd Circle Spells can be crafted with 0.0 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 3rd Circle Spells can be crafted with 3.5 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 4th Circle Spells can be crafted with 17.8 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magerya required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 5th Circle Spells can be crafted with 32.1 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 6th Circle Spells can be crafted with 46.4 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 7th Circle Spells can be crafted with 60.7 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. 8th Circle Spells can be crafted with 75.0 Inscription, a scribe's pen, the reagents / mana / Magery required to cast the spell, and a single blank scroll. Filling Spellbooks Dropping a spell scroll onto a spellbook that doesn't already contain the spell will cause the spell to be added to the book. Full spellbooks are very desirable - most characters will keep one in their backpack at all times. As a scribe, crafting scrolls and filling spellbooks will be a primary way to earn a living. Please note that filling spellbooks can be extremely tedious as all 64 spells must be added. Making use of a creative restock or organizing agent can be invaluable during this process. Crafting Runebooks Crafting Runebooks requires 45.0 Inscription, a Scribe's Pen, 8 blank scrolls, 1 Recall Scroll, 1 Gate Scroll, and 1 unmarked rune. There is a 50% chance at GM to create an exceptional Runebook with a maker's mark. Rare Inscription Related Items This unique hue 2219 Scribe's Pen was awarded to the winner of a guide writing contest. The Spell of True Love is a rare hue 319 spell scroll that dropped during Valentine's Day 2013 from rare monsters. The Spell of Jilted Love is a rare hue 338 spell scroll that dropped during Valentine's Day 2014 from rare monsters. A variety of special hued spellbooks exist with unique names. They were rare drops or rewards during various shard events. A variety of special hued runebooks exist which were dyed by players. A number also exist with unique names and hues which were rewards during various events. A variety of special hued books exist which were rewards during various events. These face down books are a server birth "unique" - only 3 exist. (here is the 3rd) These stacks of books are a server birth "unique" - only 3 exist (here is the 2nd, and this is the 3rd) These damaged books are a server birth "unique" - only 3 exist. These full book cases are a Platinum Reward. 6 types exist. Several unhued variations of this open book exist. 2 are unamed server birth "uniques". The rest were rare drops during Valentine's Day 2014. Santa's Nice List, Naughty List, and Master Plan were rare drops during Christmas 2012. This face down book is a server birth "unique" - 3 exist. These hue 50 runes are quite rare.
Unused guide I found: Bowcraft/Fletching, Fletcher's Tools, and Archery Items Bowcraft/Fletching is used to craft ammunition (arrows and bolts) and weapons (bows, crossbows, and heavy crossbows) for Archery. This skill is relatively inexpensive and easy to raise. Starting with skill points in Bowcraft/Fletching is not recommended. Training Bowcraft/Fletching requires 5 steps: 1. Have an NPC Bowyer train you in Bowcraft/Fletching (approximately 30.0 real skill for about 300 gp). 2. Acquire a large number of fletcher's tools and a very large number of boards. 3. Craft Bows (requires boards and fletcher's tools) repeatedly until 60.0 shown skill. 4. Craft Crossbows (requires boards and fletcher's tools) repeatedly until 80.0 shown skill. 5. Craft Heavy Crossbows (requires boards and fletcher's tools) repeatedly until GM. You can sell the items you make to NPC Bowyers, however, they will only buy so many at a time. It is recommended to mark runes at all the Bowyers and sell to each. They should be able to purchase more after about an hour has passed. Fletcher's tools are used to craft various archery supplies using the Bowcraft/Fletching skill. The tools can be crafted using Tinkering (35.0 skill and 3 iron ingots) or purchased for 2gp from a Bowyer (recommended!). Feathers can be gathered from birds and harpies by using a knife on a corpse or purchased for 2gp from a Bowyer (recommended! - repeatedly buying from the Bowyer will increase their stock, eventually to 999 feathers). Shafts can be purchased for 6gp from the Bowyer or crafted using fletcher's tools (recommended! - 0.0 Bowcraft/Fletching and 1 board required). Arrows are used while firing Bows (1 arrow per shot) or Orcish Bows (2 arrows per shot). Arrows can be purchased from the Bowyer for 8gp or crafted using fletcher's tools (recommended! - 0.0 Bowcraft/Fletching, 1 shaft, and 1 feather required). Bolts are used while firing Crossbows and Heavy Crossbows (1 bolt per shot). Bolts can be purchased from the Bowyer for 8gp or crafted using fletcher's tools (recommended! - 0.0 Bowcraft/Fletching, 1 shaft, and 1 feather required). Bows can be purchased from the Bowyer, found on monsters, or crafted using fletcher's tools (30.0 Bowcraft/Fletching and 7 boards required). Crossbows can be purchased from the Bowyer, found on monsters, or crafted using fletcher's tools (60.0 Bowcraft/Fletching and 7 boards required). Heavy Crossbows can be purchased from the Bowyer, found on monsters, or crafted using fletcher's tools (80.0 Bowcraft/Fletching and 10 boards required). Rare Archery Related Items There exist several types of rare archery related items, as noted below. These Turkey Feathers were dropped from wild turkeys during past Thanksgiving events. They come in a variety of hues. These Arrow Shafts are a semi rare obtainable with the stealing skill. See the Spawning Rares Guide for additional Information. These Stacked Arrow Shafts are a server birth "unique" - only two exist. Dropped during Valentine's Day by rare monsters, Cupid's Arrow are hue 25 and somewhat rare. Found in a container in the deamon room of ice dungeon, these Stacked Arrows are a spawning rare. Found in the same container as the Stacked Arrows, these Stacked Bolts are also a spawning rare. Also dropped during Valentine's Day by rare monsters, Cupid's Bow is hue 25 and somewhat rare. Awarded to Lia during the Archery Contest in January of 2015, this is a unique hue 2219 bow. This unique Composite Bow is one of a kind. During the Land Rush invasion event of 2012, Shadow Jack was able to disarm and steal this bow from an NPC. It's current location is unknown. This Dart Board w/ Knives is a server birth "unique" - only 3 exist. This Dart Board w/ Axe is a server birth "unique" - only 2 exist.
Unused guide I found: Potion Kegs Crafting Potion Kegs requires a combination of Tinkering and Carpentry. Once crafted, a potion keg can store 100 potions of the same type. To fill a keg, drop potions onto it. To fill bottles from a keg, double click the keg while holding empty bottles (note, the keg itself does not need to be in your backpack). Kegs can be dyed a variety of hues using a furniture dye tub. Step 1 - Craft the items below. The skill and resources required are noted. 2 Barrel Lids: Requires 11.0 Carpentry and 5 boards. Barrel Lid is located under the "Other" section of the Carpentry menu. 3 Barrel Staves: Requires 0.0 Carpentry and 5 boards. Barrel Staves are located under the "Other" section of the Carpentry menu. 1 Barrel Hoops: Requires 0.0 Tinkering and 5 iron ingots. Barrel Hoops are located under the "Parts" section of the Tinkering menu. 1 Barrel Tap: Requires 35.0 Tinkering and 2 iron ingots. Barrel Tap is located under the "Parts" section of the Tinkering menu. Step 2 - Purchase empty bottles. 10 Empty Bottles: Empty Bottles cost 6 gold each and are sold by Alchemists at Mage Shops around the world. They are very heavy. Step 3 - Craft a Keg. Keg: Requires 57.8 Carpentry, 3 Barrel Staves, 1 Barrel Hoops, and 1 Barrel Lid. Keg is located under the "Containers" section of the Carpentry menu. Step 4 - Craft a Potion Keg. Potion Keg: Requires 75.0 Tinkering, 1 Keg, 1 Barrel Lid, 1 Barrel Tap, and 10 Empty Bottles. Potion Keg is located under the "Assemblies" section of the Tinkering menu. Total Cost: 25 boards, 7 ingots, and 10 empty bottles (approximately 200 gold). Strategy to create many Empty Potion Kegs Crafting Empty Potion Kegs can be rather troublesome as it requires 2 professions and thus 2 different types of tools. Additionally, boards, ingots, and empty bottles are all required. This amounts to up to 10 steps per Keg! Not to mention how heavy everything is! To make this process easier, streamline the process: Step 1: Have a character with both 100.0 Tinkering and Carpentry. Additionally, stockpile a large quantity of boards, ingots, and bottles in a single locked down chest. Step 2: Create a macro to restock 100 boards, use a carpentry tool, craft barrel staves, and drop them into a locked down container. Run this macro until the container is full of barrel staves. Step 3: Repeat step 2 but for barrel lids, targeting a different container. Step 4: Repeat this process but restock ingots, use tinker tools, create barrel hoops, and fill a 3rd container. Step 5: Repeat this process for barrel taps. Phew! That's a lot of crafting but you now have a large supply of ingredients to craft kegs with. Step 6: Use a restock agent to restock enough ingredients to create 3 kegs (9 barrel staves, 6 barrel lids, 3 barrel hoops, 3 barrel taps, and 30 empty bottles). Restock from each box, craft 3 Kegs using a carpentry tool, then craft 3 Potion Kegs using tinker tools. Step 7: Put the 3 Potion Kegs in a locked down container (they are very heavy!). Step 8: Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you run out of ingredients and then restock your containers with steps 1 through 5 to get back to work!
Unused guide I found: Stone Statues Stone Statues have a rich history on UO:Renaissance and come in a variety of forms. Platinum Reward Stone Statues With the introduction of the Platinum Reward System, Stone Statues became obtainable in a variety of ways. For example, players can obtain these statues by: defeating special monsters during events, winning tournaments, reporting bugs, scoring well during events, completing challenging instance events solo, or even writing guides (like this one!). The statues come in the 6 types shown below. Each model corresponds to a different Platinum value. The statues can be exchanged for platinum by visiting the vendor at West Brit Bank. Dropping the statue onto the vendor will convert the statue into platinum pieces. Players often refer to these statues in the following way: Pegasus / Eagle / 10 Plat Angel / 8 Plat Bust / 6 Plat Square Base / 4 Plat Circle Base / 2 Plat Surfer / 1 Plat Typically all of the Stone Statues rewarded during a specific event - for example, "Leprechauns Attack 3-17-14" will be given said name and will all come in the same hue. Completing more difficult tasks during the event typically results in a higher level statue. For example, defeating a minor monster might have a chance to reward a Surfer Statue while a more difficult boss might drop a Pegasus Statue. Completing extremely difficult tasks such as Ironman events (soloing instance content) or winning overall in an event by points (such as a scavenger hunt) often rewards a Stone Statue with the character's name. During events it is advised to keep an eye on your backpack and also watch for notifications at the bottom of your screen. If a monster does "drop" a statue it is typically rewarded randomly to those who damaged it - with the highest damager having the highest probability of getting the statue. In these cases, the statue will go directly to the backpack and a notification will appear. Typically the statues weigh 10 stones which means they can be stolen. It is prudent to bank them as quickly as possible. As noted above, the statues can be converted directly into Platinum, however, it should be noted that they are highly desirable as decor by players. They often have unique names, hues, and act as a log of shard historical events. Here are a few examples of great looking Stone Statues from events of the past: St. Patrick's Day 2014 - "Leprechauns Attack <Date>" - (hue 273) Christmas 2014 - "<Character Name> Christmas Ironman Champion <Date>" - (hue 1153) Ratmen Stone Statues Not to be confused with Platinum Reward Stone Statues, there exist a small number of Stone Statues which pre-date the Platinum Reward System. These Stone Statues were a very rare drop from Ratmen in the very early days of UO:Renaissance. They are unhued, lack unique names, cannot be turned with an Interior Decorator, and cannot be redeemed for Platinum. They are exceedingly rare as they have not dropped since 2012. 6 in existence 11 in existence 13 in existence 9 in existence 10 in existence 10 in existence 12 in existence 9 in existence 19 in existence
Unused guide I found: Masks and Mask Dyes Masks: Perhaps some of the most sought after items in the game, player wearable masks come in the varieties shown above. All 8 types of masks - Bear Masks, Deer Masks, Horned Tribal Masks, Tribal Masks, Orc Masks, Bone Vanity Helms, Masks of Orcish Kin, and Maks of the Wilds - are similar in that they provide no armor rating and take the head slot on your character profile. All 8 types can be blessed using Clothing Bless Deeds. Additionally, masks take durability damage and can be destroyed in combat. While the masks cannot be repaired through traditional means, Powder of Fortification can be used to improve their current and max durability by 10 points per application up to a maximum of 255 / 255. Bear Masks, Deer Masks, Horned Tribal Masks, Tribal Masks, and Orc Masks provide no unique functionality other than aesthetics. The five masks can all be obtained in the same way - the Thief Guildmaster building in Buccaneer's Den has 3 chests which occasionally spawn masks as well as other items. If you repeatedly steal items from the chests, eventually a mask will spawn which can be stolen. The Mage building in Buccaneer's Den also contains a single chest which spawns masks. The masks obtained in this way are unhued and unblessed, however, they are quite popular with players as they can be dyed using a variety of Mask Dyes and blessed using clothing bless deeds. In the past, these masks have also occasionally been obtainable as rewards during server events - generally purchasable using currency like Holiday Coins. The masks would have a predetermined style, hue, name, and be initially unblessed. For example, during Christmas 2012, Green, Red, and White "reindeer masks" were available for purchase. Typically during more recent events, Mask Dyes are obtained rather than masks themselves. Bone Vanity Helms are similar to the five types of masks above in that they provide no unique functionality, are unhued but can be dyed, and are unblessed but can be blessed. However, the method by which they are obtained differs - they are a rare drop from undead monsters. Masks of Orcish Kin are rare loot drops from Orcish Mages and Savage Warriors. The mask provides unique functionality in that it causes Orc NPCs to ignore you. Please note that various actions can cause the mask to break, such as: attacking an Orc, equipping the mask while engaged in combat with an Orc, stealing from an Orc, or Polymorphing. These masks are hue 2212 and cannot be dyed. They are unblessed but may be blessed with a clothing bless deed. The Mask of the Wilds provides unique functionality in that it improves Animal Taming by 3.0 skill points when equipped. This is the only current method available to artificially improve a character's Animal Taming and can take a character's displayed Animal Taming to 103.0. Note, however that the mask only comes in two hues - 1845 and 2406 - and cannot be dyed but may be blessed with a clothing bless deed. The mask is a rare loot drop from two different boss monsters in the Taming Instance Event. The Beast Tamer and The Reptile Tamer both have a 10% chance to drop the mask. Mask Dyes Incredibly rare and valuable, Mask Dyes come in a variety of forms and grant a permanent change to a mask's hue - and in some cases, the mask's name as well. This consumes the Mask Dye upon use - making the Dyes that much more rare. Event Special Mask Dyes - These mask dyes are extremely rare and were obtained through special events in UO:R's past. A few examples are noted below. It is unknown if more Event Special Mask Dyes will be available in the future. Some of these change the name of a mask and some do not so it is advised to learn as much about a specific Dye before using it. Halloween 2014 Hue 43 2nd Anniversary 2014 Hue 1359 Special Mask Dyes - These mask dyes are obtained via the Tailoring Bulk Order Reward System. There are 7 available hues (1109,1208,2124,2130,1508,1157,1254). Special Mask Dyes do not change a mask's name. Ore Mask Dyes - These mask dyes are obtained via the Tailoring Bulk Order Reward System. There are 7 available hues (2424,2406,2413,2418,2213,2425,2207,2219). Ore Mask Dyes do not change a mask's name.
Our village historian will do his best to commit this and any tales from Wulver to his memory for the keepsake of this shard's early histories.
