• Carpet Salesman, Decorator and Decorative Blacksmith vendors added in each town. All sell new house add-on’s and decoration.

On our shard, Lord British lies on the brink of death, poisoned, sustained in this world only by the powerful magicks of his court mage, Nystul, and his brethren in the Council of Mages.  Powerful storms have shattered the land, submerging many towns and islands beneath the waves. The forces of darkness are gathering in the dark corners of our lands. Names long forgotten – Mondain, The Guardian, Minax, The Shadowlords – are whispered in taverns in every town. A real sense of foreboding has descended. Relvinian, the rogue wizard has returned, agenda unknown.

Into this setting step our players and guilds. Within the framework of structured staff-led stories and events, the future of the shard will be decided, it’s history written – by the players. An evolving story line, real heroes, real villains.

The Temple of Mondain – Led by Elswith. Agents can be seen throughout the land, promoting murder, destruction, and the overthrow of Lord British.  Known to worship both Mondain and Minax.

The Guardian’s Cabal – Dedicated to the return of the Guardian as the ‘rightful’ ruler of Sosaria. Known to worship at the abandoned temple close to Cove Graveyard.

The Followers of Armageddon – Sworn to promote chaos, disorder and the destruction of British’s rule. Linked to growing worship of both The Shadowlords and Guardian amongst outlying villages and settlements.

The Council of Mages – Nominally loyal to British but known to often promote their own agenda. Exact leadership unknown.

Paladins of Trinsic – Warrior guild dedicated to honour and loyalty.

The Order Guards – Loyal to British. Led by Dupre.

Britannian Loyalists – A newly formed group rallying to the cause of Lord British in these troubled times. Prominent members include the True Britannians guild. Centred upon the City of Britain.

Jelvarn – Previously served under General Keeonean in the army of Minax. Master tactician and feared warrior. Commands a growing band of mercenaries and bandits often sighted on the Britain-Skara-Yew road.

Gelrin Fain – Highest ranking known living member of the Followers of Armageddon.

Relvinian – Court wizard of renown. Seemingly gone from Sosaria for an age, recently sighted in both the Hidden Valley and Hedge Maze. His exact whereabouts and indeed the reason for his return are entirely unknown.

Lord British – The overlord and ruler of Britannia. Currently laid low, poisoned. Sustained only by the magicks of his Council of Mages.

Lord Aethan – Ruler of Trinsic & Lord British’s most loyal follower and ally.

Lord Nicolus – Ruler of Skara Brae. Loyalist of British.

Lord Dupre – Commander of The Order Guards, Champion of Lord British and Preceptor of the Paladins of Trinsic.

Finth Desryn – Captain of the Guards of Trinsic.

Gilforn – Senior Mage of the Council of Mages.

Nystul – Senior Mage of the Council of Mages and Court Mage to Lord British.

Elswith – Chief Priest of the Temple of Mondain.

Next patch will include:

• ‘Carpet salesman’ vendor, who will sell the carpets/rugs that were made available on OSI during the 8th or 9th anniversary. Another gold-sink.
• Fix for house roofs being unavailable for placement.
• ‘Bleach’ added in as an NPC purchase to remove hues from items and return them to a neutral colour.

AoS:R features the ‘town houses’ system – which enables certain NPC buildings to be purchasable or leased by players.

These houses will operate exactly as normal classic or custom housing. Vendors may be placed, secures and lock-downs will be available. Players may be banned. Access levels may be set.

Certain NPC vendor stores are available to rent as well. The NPC vendors remain, but the player leasing the shop has total control.

Metals:

• Dull Copper. Grants/adds only physical resist.  2 mods per item via runic tool.
• Shadow Iron. Grants/adds mostly physical resist. 2 mods per item via runic tool.
• Copper. Grants/adds mostly poison & energy resist. 2-3 mods per item via runic tool.
• Bronze. Grants/adds mostly cold resist. 3 mods per item via runic tool.
• Golden. Grants/adds an even spread of resists. 3-4 mods per item via runic tool.
• Agapite. Grants/adds mostly fire resist. 4 mods per item via runic tool.
• Verite. Grants/adds mostly poison resist. 4-5 mods per item via runic tool.
• Valorite. Grants/adds an even spread, with no fire resist. 4-5 mods per item via runic tool.

Leathers:

• Spined. Grants/adds only physical resist and luck. 2-4  mods per item.
• Horned. Grants/adds mostly fire and cold resists. 3-5 mods per item.
• Barbed. Grants/adds mostly poison and energy resists. 4-5 mods per item.

Woods:

• Oak. Grants/adds fire damage. 3 mods per item.
• Yew. Grants/adds poison & energy damage. 4 mods per item.
• Ash. Grants/adds cold damage. 4 mods per item.

Why? We want to encourage players to hold their own events. We want to see duel tournaments arranged, we want to see players turn up to ‘grief’ events, only to be beaten back by defenders. We want to encourage interactivity, random encounters and fun. Events that pull players from the main world, such as daily or weekly coded PvP tournaments discourage ‘world’ PvP and play, and end up sucking the life out of a shard.

Having said this, we do have many ideas for GM run non-coded events. My personal favourite involves a caravan transporting a precious cargo of gold and gems from Trinsic to Britain. Players can choose to either defend or attack the caravan. Defenders will be rewarded by Lord British personally if the caravan makes it. Attackers will get their pick of the loot from the caravan, presuming they manage to kill all the player and NPC defenders.

We also have planned story arcs to write into the shard history I intend to write for this website. The actions of players will have a real impact and will be written into the actual history of the shard. A guild leader that encourages his men to defend Yew against an attack by the minions of Minax will have his name recorded in the lore of the shard.

These are the kind of player events we would like to encourage, and feel would not take place if scripted events were active.

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/pictures/udlknight1.html

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/pictures/ishrob.html

and an example of a great GM led story-arc:

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/events/foa.htm

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/events/helpfoa.htm

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/events/zend1.htm

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/events/mart1.htm

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/events/FOAend1.htm

http://www.pusateri.org/blood/pictures/FOATrial.htm

One of the changes brought about to address this is the removal of the BOD (Bulk Order Deed) system. A very strange addition to the game in the first place, it encouraged the production of pointless items, and decreased interaction with players.

On AOS:R, Runic Tools, the main reward from BODs, are now available via NPC purchase, from the relevant shops.  This enables craftsmen to get on with what they should be doing; harvesting resources, making and repairing, running their shops and businesses.

The lower end hammers are cheap, and should enable crafters to get usable items onto their vendors and out to players quickly, and early in the life of the shard. The higher end hammers are prohibitively expensive, and have the lowest cost>value ratio, but offer the best chance to make ‘perfect’ items, for those whom money is no object. The actual costs are to be decided in testing, but currently, using Blacksmithing as an example, the cheapest runic tool (Dull Copper) costs 25,000. The most expensive (Valorite) costs 5,000,000.

Runic Tools are available for Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Tinkering(Rings & Bracelets) and Fletching.