UO Nostalgia

[Ulor]

Who can remember your first moments in UO? I bought the game in 1998 and still remember my first few moments on the Great Lakes shard.

The first time I logged into UO, I started in Yew. I had no idea where I was, or what I was supposed to do. I had read the manual and figured out how to open my backpack, equip a sword, enter war mode, and tried fighting a rabbit that effectively beat me out of fifteen of my twenty hit points. Seeing deep red on my health bar, I high-tailed it away, wondering where I could get heal potions, and then I ran into a creature named Draco. It wore a blue robe and had a skull for a head, so I thought he was a skeleton and if I was getting killed by a rabbit, a skeleton would for sure take me down. I ran in the opposite direction: south.

"Hey wait!" Draco said.

I stopped. Skeletons don't talk. I stopped near a house, still in war mode from fighting the bunny. I put my cursor over Draco and he turned bright blue.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I am hunting," I told him.

"I will hunt with you," he said.

"Okay." I figured this was a good thing.

"What are you hunting?" Draco asked.

"Animals."

"Okay," he said. "Follow me."

Draco led me into the forest and found a deer, or a great hart as it was fancily called. "Kill it," he said.

"I can't. Rabbits kill me. I am new."

"I can heal you. You have to build your skills. Kill it."

I put my cursor over the hart and clicked on it.

"PHWEEEEOHHHH!" the hind cried and stuck its horns in my guts, shaving the remaining hit point off my health bar. The screen went black. Three words faded onto the screen.

You are dead.

The world reappeared, black and white. "You should have waited for me to heal you before attacking that deer. You were low on points."

"Oh," I said.

"Ami saka vosalova," said Draco.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You should have waited for me to heal you before attacking that deer. You were low on points," he repeated.

"Yeah, you said that," I retorted.

"I know,” said Draco. “Follow me."

We ran north, back into Yew, to a building called "Deep Forest Healing", and it was there that I first resurrected.

Since everything I had was blessed, I still had my cloths and sword, which I equipped.

"Stop attacking," Draco said, observing my crouched stance. I exited war mode, and dropped my sword to my hip.

"In Vas Mani," said Draco and healed me. "Well, I have to go."

"Okay. Thank you," I said and he exited the healer's house. I stayed and looked over the bloody bandages and bowls in the hospital, admiring the detail of the game, and then left to return to hunting something less powerful than a rabbit or deer.

On the ground outside the forest healer's dwelling, I saw a small purple dot on the ground. I picked it up and put it into my backpack, looking it over. I clicked on it. Black Pearl. Adrenaline surged through me. This was a rare jewel! Someone must want this strange gem! The pearl was purple, yet called black. I happily trotted through Yew looking for a buyer. I was disappointed to discover that no vendors were interested in the pearl. I consulted the game's cloth map and my eyes fell on a location far south of Yew: Britain. I would bear this magnificent, valuable treasure over the wilderness and find riches in Britain.

Running south along the road, I saw many rabbits, deer, bears, even wolves, but I didn't fight any of them. My sole focus was getting to Britain, not get killed by the forest's inhabitants. Along the way, a few people with blue names ran past on horses. I stayed to the road, never ceasing, not wanting anyone to know about the mysterious Black Pearl I had found in Yew.

After a long run, I crossed a bridge and froze. I could not move. To the east, many names painted the screen. Then, I began to move again, slowly, stopping many times as characters and animals of all kinds moved over the screen. Many shouted, "Bank! Guards!" I darted south, away from the crowd and was able to carry on faster. My heart thumped in my chest, chugging with the elated care in spiriting the Pearl to a buyer.

Who would buy this thing? I consulted the manual and found that there was a Jeweler near the Bank I'd just passed. I ran quickly to the shop and darted through the door. A few players ran in and out, some were milling around, saying "Vendor buy" and "Vendor sell". Sell. That's what I'd like to do.

"Vendor sell," I said.

"You have nothing that I would be interested in," he responded.

Not interested? How can a jeweler not be interested in a pearl? Crestfallen, I left the shop and tried a few more places, heading north and east through town until a I found a mage vendor who offered me two gold pieces for the gem. I refused the trade, not wanting to believe that my whole quest amounted to so little.

"Vendor buy," I said.

The vendor menu came up and there, at the top, the vendor was selling hundreds of Black Pearls for 4 gold apiece. Dejected, I sold the pearl and ventured through town, not sure of what to do next. I had wasted a good hour on the pearl sale. I only had 102 gold, and I couldn't even kill a rabbit. I would have to learn to heal myself if I was going to make it as a swordsman. I ran up to a player who was casting spells.

"How can I learn to heal?" I asked him.

"Bandages," he said.

"Where do I get those? I only have 100 gold."

"Buy a bolt of cloth and scissors at the tailor shop," he said.

Simple enough; just check the manual, find a tailor, and get a bolt of cloth and scissors. The tailor was south of the mage shop and I quickly reached the place, again finding many players doing their business.

"Vendor buy," I said to a shopkeeper in the corner. Next to him, a lady player named Honor stood next to a pile of animal skins. I perused the vendor’s menu and was saddened to find that bolts of cloth cost more than I had. I bought a pair of scissors, figuring when I had the gold for a bolt, I would come back. I needed to make money to buy bandages so that I could heal myself. This was all turning out to be a difficult time.

"Hail," said Honor, just as I turned to exit the shop.

"Hail," I responded, turning back.

"Will you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" I asked.

"Will you watch these skins for me until I get back? Pick them up but don’t drop them or try to walk. They are too heavy to carry away."

I lifted the pile of skins. "Like this?"

"Perfect," said Honor. "I'll be right back." She ran out of the shop and I stood there for a few minutes waiting for her return, which came shortly. I dropped the skins. "Here," said Honor and dropped 200 gold into a trade. I took it with many thanks.

"How do you make money?" I asked her.

"You can become a tailor like I am. You gather skins and make armor to sell."

"Good," I told her, “because I need gold to get bandages so that I don't die when I am hunting."

"That would be good." Honor smiled.

"Where can I find skins so that I can make armor to sell?" I asked, happy to have found someone so friendly and helpful.

"Kill great harts and hinds and loot their skins," she answered.

"I can't kill them," I told her. "I'm new."

"LOL!" she said.

I later joined Honor's guild and worked my way up to being a tailor/miner/swordsman/mage before dropping my crafting skills after being taught the concept of mule characters. I GM'ed Swordsmanship in Shame fighting Fire Elementals. Then, I had become able to cast Greater Heal, having sold mountains of ingots and a few leather armor, and practiced Magery through many Black Pearls.

The End

[BenBrawl]

i remember my first days, my first char was a fisher, and ill never forget when i fished in my first pair of boots. i tohught that had to be worth something. but sadly no luck hehe

i also remember trying to trade a invul plate helm for a full suit of ranger armour. man i was such a noob

[Ulor]

Oh man, I totally forgot about Ranger Armor. It was green.

[chumbucket]

The first thing I ever did in UO is try to call the guards on someone in Britain because he had no clothes on.

[Ulor]

The first thing I ever did in UO is try to call the guards on someone in Britain because he had no clothes on.

LOL! Chum, I'm a big fan of your work.

Once, I had an idea for a project called UOBewbs. The idea was to get female characters to take off their tops and then do a screenshot of them and their paperdolls. Sort of like a UO Playboy or something. Of course, you would only get to see their upper undergarment, but the idea was there. Getting people to participate was another story. A few "ladies" complied and then I got one who told me she'd report me for asking her character to remove her top. I decided to quit before suffering the legal repercussions that come with *ahem* questionable gameplay.

[Shane2]

My first UO moments were on Siege Perilous as a Bard, I did this at the recommendation of the friend who told me to get the game who said I could make money by causing monsters to attack each other, and it just so happened that my first day in UO was the second day of that server.

I started in Vesper, and spent about 5 minutes siccing dogs and cats on each other. Then I see a guy standing alone near a bridge in town. He has writing over his head that I did not understand above the name "Kainen" are the letters "UDL". I see a bear wandering nearby.

I little light goes "ding!" over my head!

Needless to say, Mr. Bear goes over to meet Mr. UDL. Mr. UDL is evidently very sleepy, as he does nothing to fight back but punch the bear rather ineffectively. When the bear is done, I walk over and click on the body.

Looting this body is a criminal act!

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound as they say.

You have commited a criminal act! Guards can now be called on you!

I remove what looks like some kind of really cool armor (bone chest piece) and some gold. Nobody else was on screen, so I thought it best to hide, which I accomplished by walking under a tree and standing very still, hoping to become one with the tree.
I notice my name has changed color and figure that its not good. My name changes back soon which I take to be a good sign, so I move onwards.

I enter a building with someone called "XXXX the healer". I couldn't distinguish between players and npc's very well yet. so I try to talk to him and get some sort of canned response about not understanding me. I step outside and just then a guy runs up nearby and I see some kind of message about poison over his head. He drops dead.

"Aha!" I think.

I click on his body and see a sword, several pieces of chain armor and some gold. I remove these to the safety of my pack and run like the wind to another of the small islands, where I once again enact my killer hiding strategy of pretending to be a tree. With the money and gear just gained, I find the various npc's, complete a suit of armor, and set out for adventure!

In my first 15 minutes of UO I town killed a guy destined to become one of the major pvp'ers of one of the top PK guilds on the server, and looted enough money and gear to launch myself.


Ahhhh. Good times, good times.

[Theograd]

I first started playing my Freshman year of college, so 1998. Another guy on our floor had been playing for a while and restarted his account. Since we then knew the game got past the firewall, my friend and I bought it and started on the same server as him. He immediately took us under his wing (slave labor), and set us off to mine the path SW of Brit. So here I am, hacking away at this mountain with a pile of ore at my feet. He'd told me that was the best way to do it. So I'm ore hopping down the mountain, when a demon shows up, heading right for me. I'd never fought anything before, but was pretty certain a demon was out of my league. But rather than just run, I start ore hopping down the mountain. I couldn't have had more than 2 dozen ore, but it's all I had in the world. The demon caught up to me and blocked my path. It then spoke, and I"ll never forget it.

"Would you like to have a tea party?"

At that point, the polymorph spell wore off, and there was my friend. Bastard.

We then spent the next hour pulling that same trick at the spawn point in Britain for new characters. Me running in terror, trying to get a train of other newbies to follow me.

[Downs]

First 10 mins in the game, some guys brought me to hythloth to hunt. It didn't end well for me & i had to make a new toon cause i couldnt figure out where i was or how to get back

[Mikel123]

I decided I wanted a super-speedy character, so I made 10 STR, 10 INT and 35 DEX. I also wanted to be an archer, so I gave myself 50 Lumberjacking and 50 Bowcraft. Make my own bows, save money, etc.

So I walk out north of Britain and start hacking away at some trees, probably within the guard line. Make some boards, try to make bows, etc. After an hour or so, I see a rabbit hopping around. What the hell, I say. I arm my dagger and do battle with him. He killed me (I probably had 12 STR by this time). First time I ever died in UO, and it was to a rabbit no less.

[Ulor]

Good stuff, everyone!

I was thinking on some other adventures that I had and remember the first time I was "sort of" scammed in UO.

I had somehow managed to sell enough ingots to buy a small house deed and was miraculously able to place a house very near my favorite mining spot, which was a cave somewhere north of Britain. For a good week, the house stayed up and I had friends stop over to admire my new pad. Well, I didn't realize it at the time, but housing on Great Lakes was so congested that it was nearly impossible to place a house - but somehow I had managed.

Anyway, I had the bright idea that I would like to move nearer to Minoc, where the mining was rumored to be better. So, I turned my house back into a deed and trucked up to Minoc, where I began to try placing a house with no luck whatsoever. While trying to place the house, a player approached me and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was trying to place a house and told him that I was having trouble. He told me he could show me a good spot, so I followed him to a place and tried my luck. Nothing happened.

"I'll place it for you," he said. "I have placed many houses."

Being completely naive and trusting, I handed over my deed to my new-found friend and he ran off the screen. I thought he was moving to another spot that he thought was better, so I followed...only to see him Kal Ort Por away with my hard-earned deed.

I remember being so extremely shocked/raging/embarrassed that it took me a couple days to tell my friends that I had been duped. We laugh about it now...but at the time it was just awful. haha

[BenBrawl]

i remember trying to wrestle a great heart and getting pwned by it!

i remember trading houses once, with a lil cash on my end. was dumb and transfered house and gold to him first. then never heard from him again

[uofuntime]

Oh what a great post. Nostalgic indeed.

[Lazarus]

My best friend IRL and I started playing summer of 98 on Chessy. We lived right across the street from each other and would often be running over to each other's houses to talk about the game etc. I forgot what I started off with but I remember the VERY FIRST HOUR of playing we decided we wanted to hit a dungeon.... LOL! I found a heavy xbow at brit bank and I forget what kind of weapon my friend had but there we went, up to Wrong wearing newbie clothes and shoes, not even thigh boots and my heavy xbow... with no bolts! and like 10 dex. LOL! I didnt know dex factored into how fast you swung or that I needed bolts for my heavy. We died.

We also ran from mongbats but fought orcs and thus died. Back then you could insta rez with penalties and one day near Trinsic we came across a band of orcs with an orc mage. We kept dying and insta-rezzing and the mage would kill us... man those were bad times. LOL!

[Pacifico]

I traded my new player ticket range armor to this guy for a chest of regular.. yes regular weapons. I had a rough EA/OSI experience because I played when I was in 5th to 6th grade. I also remember learning what an Ingot was in game, and then heard it in class and thought UO would teach me better than school.


Which it has, school never taught me how to PWN so much as Chumbucket and Associates has.

[Lazarus]

I traded my new player ticket range armor to this guy for a chest of regular.. yes regular weapons. I had a rough EA/OSI experience because I played when I was in 5th to 6th grade. I also remember learning what an Ingot was in game, and then heard it in class and thought UO would teach me better than school.


Which it has, school never taught me how to PWN so much as Chumbucket and Associates has.

LOL! Thats so funny. Dude you started playing in the 5-6th grade? Thats pretty good.