Tabula Rasa at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

Many of you know Richard "Lord British" Garriott as the man behind the incredibly successful Ultima series of games. Tabula Rasa is current project, set in an all-new fantasy universe that doesn't include Elves or Dwarves or Goblins.

Tabula Rasa's revamped look will combine a first person shooter look and feel with a persistent game world and an ongoing storyline. FPS meets MMORPG, kind of, maybe, well not really, but more on that later.

The umbrella story involves an alien race called the Bane who have decided to make Earth the next stop on their intergalactic carnage tour. It is up to you and a friendly alien race to send them packing. No refunds. Tour cancelled.

The interface resembles that found in most first person shooters. What immediately stikes the player is that your weapon locks on to enemies without needed to be aimed very accurately. If you come close to an enemy it auto-locks. There is still a targeting penalty for moving around, but it is handled quite differently than in any first person shooter you have ever played. Whether you hit the target or not, and how much damage you do will be decided by your skill level and abilities. Tabula Rasa is not a twitch game, though at first glance it appears to be so. If you stand still you will be a more accurate marksman, though it doesn't make you an easier target like it would in any first person shooter.

The concept of areas that always hold the same bad guys is being given a new twist. Areas of importance in Tabula Rasa will have variable mobs of variable levels. Each time you travel through an area it has the possibility of having different NPCs that may even be much higher or lower level than the last time you travelled through.

Teleportation travel will be part of the game with the player being required to find the teleport pad once after which they will be able to use it at will.

Control points will be a part of the game and holding them will give you bonuses. Some control points, if held long enough will receive NPC reinforcements allowing you to move forward capturing even more control points, and so on. Allowing the Bane to control these points may give them the means to drop an ever increasing number of troops into your mission.

Voice chat will be integrated into the game and will fire up automatically when you join a group, guild, etc.

An original language comprised of symbols has been created for the game. Players will learn the iconic language as they progress through the storyline. It was unclear whether knowledge of this language would bestow special abilities on the player.

There will be PvP and crafting in the game though neither is working at the current time.

There will be one playable race.

Character development will be story driven. As you complete more storyline quests/missions you will be able to develop your character. Players will be able to explore different character paths without starting from scratch. A player coming to a key choice in the storyline can save a template of their character and use it at a later time to create a new character that takes a different path.

Tabula Rasa looks promising for a game so early in development. It will be interesting to look back on these notes at E3 next year and see how much has changed.