Lord British Presents Shroud of the Avatar

[Andy Chalk]

Lord British Presents Shroud of the Avatar

Ultima creator Richard Garriott is returning to his roots with an all-new fantasy MMO, and a Kickstarter.

The "Lord British Presents" countdown has hit zero, and what has Lord British presented? Shroud of the Avatar, a new MMO that hearkens back to his early work on the classic Ultima series. It's not actually an Ultima game, but the connections are obvious, from the use of "Avatar" to the promise of meaningful choice and moral quandaries in a living, breathing world, and even the font used in the title. The map revealed earlier today on the "Ultimate RPG" Ultima III map [https://www.facebook.com/UltimateRPG].

Shroud of the Avatar will offer all the usual MMO amenities, including housing, crafting and PvP, but the intent is to give everything purpose and value while avoiding the pitfalls of conventional online games. The Kickstarter page doesn't go into detail but claims that the crafting system will avoid "busy work," and "an incentive-driven system will draw players into the challenge and intrigue of the PvP experience" while at the same time minimizing the hassles of griefing.

Kickstarter rewards range from $10, which gives you a chance to support development in order to make up for all those Ultima games you pirated when you were a kid, to $10,000, which earns you a guided tour of Britannia Manor, Garriott's crazy-cool home, and a rare, original copy of Akalabeth: World of Doom, the pre-Ultima game Garriott created while he was still a teenager.

Garriott is after a million bucks with the Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter, which will run for just 30 days and end on April 7. It's a bit of a crunch, but things are looking pretty good at this point: Less than an hour after it was revealed to the world, it's already attracted more than $100,000 in support. Shroud of the Avatar is being developed for Windows and Linux-based PCs, and Mac, and according to the estimated reward delivery date, will be in some state of readiness in late 2014. For more information, go to shroudoftheavatar.com [https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/].

Source: Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0?ref=live]


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[Callate]

I'm glad to see Garriott returning to something closer to the games that made him famous, but I have to wonder about the tenability of yet another MMO in a crowded market, even one with his name on it. Honestly, I'd have sooner seen a single-player game.

 

[Antari]

I will be watching this very closely. Lord British may actually be back.

 

[Falterfire]

As long as the player character doesn't ask "what's a shroud?"

Actually it tends to be 'Hexproof' these days.

Seriously though: This looks like the sort of MMO I'd actually enjoy. Of course, it's easy to make an MMO that SOUNDS good, it's another to actually build it and keep it profitable. I suppose I'll throw in a few dollars on the off chance it turns out alright. I still have a couple bucks marked 'throw into nearest open flame' so why not?

 

[therandombear]

As long as the player character doesn't ask "what's a shroud?"

What's a paladin?

That any better?

OT: We'll see how it goes, tis interesting though.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

As long as the player character doesn't ask "what's a shroud?"

What's a paladin? The Codex of Ultimate wisdom?

 

[antidonkey]

I seem to recall Garriot's last MMO failing spectacularly. I'm a fan of the old ultima games, hell 4 ate huge chunks of my childhood, but maybe it's time for him to hang up the crown. The MMO market is pretty crowded already.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Because the last time he tried an MMO, it went extremely well. I know this is more his style than Tabula Rasa was, but you would think the man would try to reestablish his name with a smash-hit single-player title before jumping on the MMO bandwagon again, familiar territory or not. I for one have to see that he's still able to craft anything worth playing before I'll agree to sink time and money into an MMO he's designing, much less support one through Kickstarter.

 

[Genocidicles]

To be honest I lost every ounce of interest at 'MMO'.

 

[Tiamat666]

Another medieval fantasy MMO... wow, thanks Richard! I was so hoping for another true Ultima experience, but I guess riding the MMO train offers the best financial outlook.

 

[Jorec]

Because the last time he tried an MMO, it went extremely well. I know this is more his style than Tabula Rasa was, but you would think the man would try to reestablish his name with a smash-hit single-player title before jumping on the MMO bandwagon again, familiar territory or not. I for one have to see that he's still able to craft anything worth playing before I'll agree to sink time and money into an MMO he's designing, much less support one through Kickstarter.

Did you forget about Ultima Online? That game was pretty successful in it's time. I mean yeah Tabula Rasa wasn't great but I don't think he was the only factor in that game's demise. Granted I never followed the game that deeply so if he was the reason that game sank, let me know.

The man has shown he can make good games in the past, sans the one's that were marred by executive oversight.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Because the last time he tried an MMO, it went extremely well. I know this is more his style than Tabula Rasa was, but you would think the man would try to reestablish his name with a smash-hit single-player title before jumping on the MMO bandwagon again, familiar territory or not. I for one have to see that he's still able to craft anything worth playing before I'll agree to sink time and money into an MMO he's designing, much less support one through Kickstarter.

Did you forget about Ultima Online? That game was pretty successful in it's time. I mean yeah Tabula Rasa wasn't great but I don't think he was the only factor in that game's demise. Granted I never followed the game that deeply so if he was the reason that game sank, let me know.

The man has shown he can make good games in the past, sans the one's that were marred by executive oversight.

Not only was he not the reason it failed, the game was actually doing pretty well. It was shut down by NCSoft to avoid giving him a windfall in stock options. In fact, his resignation letter was forged while he was on his trip up in space to promote the game. Needless to say, there was a lawsuit involved, with Garriott winning. http://www.gamespot.com/news/garriott-wins-28-million-in-ncsoft-suit-6271808

 

[mattaui]

I met him once, about twenty years ago, and I sure wish I'd gotten something signed then. It was back when he did his Britannia Manor Haunted House, so that was a pretty cool tour and I got to meet him and several of the folks behind the Ultima games at the time.

Ultima was a huge part of my introduction to gaming way back in the day, and even though I didn't start in until Ultima IV, I've played all of them by this point.

Hard to pass up just throwing down $25 for the 'first responder' option. Here's to hoping it turns out well!

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Because the last time he tried an MMO, it went extremely well. I know this is more his style than Tabula Rasa was, but you would think the man would try to reestablish his name with a smash-hit single-player title before jumping on the MMO bandwagon again, familiar territory or not. I for one have to see that he's still able to craft anything worth playing before I'll agree to sink time and money into an MMO he's designing, much less support one through Kickstarter.

Did you forget about Ultima Online? That game was pretty successful in it's time. I mean yeah Tabula Rasa wasn't great but I don't think he was the only factor in that game's demise. Granted I never followed the game that deeply so if he was the reason that game sank, let me know.

The man has shown he can make good games in the past, sans the one's that were marred by executive oversight.

I did forget about Ultima Online, actually. I was never interested in that one, and as such it never really registered with me. And, as far as I recall, Garriot didn't actually have all that much to do with the end of Tabula Rasa. So, maybe I was a little quick to decry his new one. However, it's still been a while since he's been behind the helm of a big project, so my opinion is still kind of valid: I want to see that he still has some chops before I jump into an MMO.

 

[Okysho]

Am I the only one who thinks that "Shroud of the Avatar" sounds almost like a synonym to "Shadow of the Colossus"? (in your definition of Avatar is a large legendary being) Also, the concept art in this article looks pretty similar to the Shadow of the colossus box art...

hmmmm.... Lord British wot on eath are you doing, good sir?

 

[Jorec]

Because the last time he tried an MMO, it went extremely well. I know this is more his style than Tabula Rasa was, but you would think the man would try to reestablish his name with a smash-hit single-player title before jumping on the MMO bandwagon again, familiar territory or not. I for one have to see that he's still able to craft anything worth playing before I'll agree to sink time and money into an MMO he's designing, much less support one through Kickstarter.

Did you forget about Ultima Online? That game was pretty successful in it's time. I mean yeah Tabula Rasa wasn't great but I don't think he was the only factor in that game's demise. Granted I never followed the game that deeply so if he was the reason that game sank, let me know.

The man has shown he can make good games in the past, sans the one's that were marred by executive oversight.

Not only was he not the reason it failed, the game was actually doing pretty well. It was shut down by NCSoft to avoid giving him a windfall in stock options. In fact, his resignation letter was forged while he was on his trip up in space to promote the game. Needless to say, there was a lawsuit involved, with Garriott winning. http://www.gamespot.com/news/garriott-wins-28-million-in-ncsoft-suit-6271808

Very interesting, and kind of a shame.