UO Seasons Overview

UO Seasons Overview

UO Seasons is a classic Ultima Online shard based on the Publish 15 era, running under a Felucca ruleset, with a focus on fairness, accessibility, and repeatable opportunity.

While mechanically grounded in early Ultima Online, UO Seasons introduces a cyclical structure designed to prevent long-term accumulation of advantage. Every season begins from a clean state, restoring the early-game environment where progress is earned, competition is meaningful, and no player begins with a pre-established advantage.

Unlike Mortalis, UO Seasons does not emphasize permanent character identity. Players are free to experiment with different builds and playstyles within a season. However, character names remain unique, preserving recognition and continuity within the world.

Death follows the Angel Island model. Murderers who die may choose between accepting a 20% stat loss or being sent to Angel Island Prison. Choosing prison avoids the stat penalty, accelerates murder count decay, and introduces multiple paths to resolution, including time served, parole, bribery, or escape. A successful escape reduces murder counts below the red threshold and restores normal play.

At the end of each season, the world resets completely. Characters, items, gold, and housing do not persist. Instead, long-term progression is tracked through a seasonal point system, allowing players to build recognition over time without impacting game balance.

Core Rules

• 3 accounts per IP
• 5 characters per account
• 1 house per account
• 225 stat cap
• 700 skill cap
• Felucca ruleset (no Trammel)
• Publish 15 era (pre-Age of Shadows)
• Mounts enabled

Seasonal Structure

UO Seasons operates on a cyclical model, with each season lasting approximately three months and resetting on a fixed schedule aligned with the equinoxes and solstices.

At the conclusion of each season:

• All characters are reset
• All items and gold are removed
• All houses are cleared

Each new season begins from a clean state, ensuring equal opportunity for all players.

Name Reservation and Identity

Overview

Seasons enforces strict name ownership at the account level while maintaining a single persistent identity per account for seasonal scoring.

Name Reservation

All character names created on an account are reserved for that account for the duration of the season.

• No other account may use any name that exists on your account
• This applies to every character on the account

Seasonal Identity

Each account has a single Seasonal Identity, which represents that account on the Seasons leaderboard.

The Seasonal Identity is defined as:

The name of the first character created on the account during the season

This identity is fixed for the duration of the season and does not change if additional characters are created.

Cross-Season Identity

At the start of a new season, each account inherits a Reserved Identity from the previous season.

This is defined as:

The Seasonal Identity from the previous season

This reserved identity:

• Remains bound to the account
• Cannot be used by other accounts
• Allows players to reclaim their established identity across seasons

Example

Account characters:

• Bob (first character created → Seasonal Identity, reserved across seasons)
• Mary (reserved for this account during the current season)
• Fullerton (reserved for this account during the current season)

Result:

• No other account may use "Bob", "Mary", or "Fullerton" during the season
• "Bob" remains reserved to this account in future seasons
• "Mary" and "Fullerton" are only reserved for this account within the current season

Seasonal Points and Awards

UO Seasons uses a persistent point system to track long-term player achievement across seasons.

Points are earned through gameplay by generating gold within the world. Activities such as player-versus-monster combat, bulk order fulfillment, treasure hunting, and other forms of active participation contribute to point accumulation. Gold must be earned through gameplay systems; direct transfers between players do not contribute to point totals.

Point generation is not a direct 1:1 conversion from gold. A baseline rate is established (approximately 200 gold per point for PvM activities), with scaling applied across other professions to ensure fair and comparable point generation regardless of playstyle.

Points persist across seasons and accumulate over time. Points spent during a season are not lost; they are automatically re-credited in subsequent seasons. This allows players to participate in seasonal rewards without sacrificing long-term progression.

Seasonal rewards include statues, trophies, and other collectibles. These items do not persist across resets, but the points used to obtain them do, allowing players to reacquire rewards or progress toward higher-tier items in future seasons.

A persistent leaderboard tracks the top point earners across all seasons, providing long-term recognition without introducing gameplay advantages.

Custom Systems

UO Seasons is designed to closely reflect Publish 15-era Ultima Online behavior.

Creature placement has been carefully aligned with era-accurate locations, and loot tables have been reconstructed to match historical OSI behavior as closely as possible.

On top of this foundation, a limited number of quality-of-life enhancements have been introduced:

• Passive Animal Taming (see Skills)
• Adjusted champion spawn distribution to accommodate a Felucca-only world
• Additional champion encounters (e.g., Pirate, Azothu)

These changes are intentionally narrow in scope and are designed to enhance gameplay without altering the core experience.

Server Wars

UO Seasons hosts weekly Server Wars to provide a consistent opportunity for structured conflict and large-scale player interaction.

• Every Friday
• 7:00 PM CET
• 7:00 PM Pacific

Server Wars are a recurring event within each season and are not required for progression.

Staff-Hosted Events

UO Seasons emphasizes player-driven gameplay. Staff-hosted events are limited and are intended to support the world rather than drive progression.

Donations

The Angel Island family of shards does not accept donations, sell in-game items, or offer any form of pay-to-play or pay-to-win mechanics.

All shards are provided freely to players. Progress and success are determined entirely through gameplay.

Why Play on UO Seasons?

UO Seasons is designed for players who want a fair and competitive environment without long-term structural advantage.

Each season restores the early-game experience, where progress must be earned and no outcome is predetermined. At the same time, the seasonal point system ensures that player effort is recognized over time, providing continuity without compromising balance.

Players can experiment, compete, and refine their approach each season, while building a persistent record of achievement.

Differences Between OSI (Publish 15) and UO Seasons

Shard Rules Comparison

Feature	OSI (Publish 15)	UO Seasons
Accounts per IP	Paid / Unlimited	3
Characters per account	5	5
Houses per account	1	1
Stat cap	225	225
Skill cap	700	700
Facets	Felucca + Trammel	Felucca only
Mounts	Yes	Yes
Recall	Yes	Yes
Gate travel	Yes	Yes
Item insurance	No	No
Alignment / Factions	Classic factions	None
Resource drop rates	Normal	Normal
Skill & stat gains	Normal, difficulty-based	Normal, difficulty-based*
NPC skill training	Yes	Yes
Animal taming difficulty	Normal	Normal
Blade Spirits / Energy Vortex	Normal	Normal
Telekinesis on trapped chests	Yes	Yes
Item wear	Normal	Normal
NPC shopkeepers buy items	Yes	Yes**
NPC shopkeeper prices	Normal	Normal
NPC resource sales	Yes	Yes
Hireling fees	Normal	Normal
Housing prices	Normal	Normal
Murderers allowed in town	No	No
Healing murderers in town	Criminal flag + guards	Criminal flag + guards
Poisoned arrows	No	No
Thieves Guild murder restrictions	Standard	Standard
Stealth mechanics	Normal	Normal
Weapon enchantments	Yes	Yes
Permadeath	No	No
Seasonal resets	No	Yes
Persistent progression	Character-based	Point-based

Notes:

* Animal Taming additionally supports passive skill gain through active pet engagement.

** NPC shopkeepers do not purchase starting equipment.