NPC Guild System
In Ultima Online, players could join NPC guilds as members of a specific trade organization, such as miners or tailors, or simply for the purpose of role playing. The NPC guild system and membership was completely separate from and had no bearing on the player guild system.
The system included 10% discounts on goods sold by NPC vendors within a guild to the members. Guild insignia-specific house signs were created for town buildings as well as player homes to signify NPC guild membership. Guild halls to foster a sense of community within each guild were created in various towns as gathering spots and were often the location of the NPC guildmaster. The towns were selected for each guild to signify their thematic influence or presence, such as the Miner’s Guild being located in Minoc due to it’s close proximity to Mount Kendal.
Players can only become a member of one NPC Guild at a time. To join a different NPC guild, they must first resign from their prior membership. To join an NPC guild, a player must find the NPC guildmaster, request to join, and then pay a 500 gold membership fee. Note that in joining NPC guilds, only the Thieves Guild has a tangible effect on game play.
NPC guilds include:
- Guild of Arcane Arts – Alchemists and Mages
- Guild of Barbers – Barbers and Hairstylists
- Society of Clothiers – Tailors and Weavers
- Bardic Collegium – Bards, Musicians, Storytellers and Performers
- Society of Cooks and Chefs – Cooks and Chefs
- Order of Engineers – Tinker and Engineers
- Guild of Healers – Healers
- Maritime Guild – Fishers, Sailors, Mapmapers and Shipwrights
- Merchant’s Association – Merchants, Innkeepers, Tavernkeepers, Jewelers and Provisioners
- Mining Cooperative – Miners
- League of Rangers – Bowyers, Animal Trainers and Rangers
- Society of Smiths – Blacksmiths and Weaponsmiths
- Society of Thieves – Beggars, Thieves, Assassins and Brigands
- Warriors’ Guild – Mercenaries, Warriors, Weapon Trainers, Weaponsmiths, Soldiers, Guards and Paladins
Reputation System
In the spirit of the original NPC guilds, the reputation system was created. By completing quests and simply killing opposition creatures, you will advance in standing with reputation groups. Each reputation group will have a quest giver and a vendor. The quest giver will offer kill quests and, in most cases, crafting quests. For completing these quests, you will be given a reward bag and reputation points. As you advance in rank, the reputation group’s vendor will offer to sell you more and more items. Some of these items are used in crafting, some are decorative, and many are functional items.
The ranks and the points necessary to reach them are as follows:
- Neutral: 0,
- Friendly: 3000,
- Well-Known: 9000,
- Trusted: 21000,
- Member: 45000.
You are able to reach the trusted ranking simply by killing opposition creatures. To progress from trusted to member, you will need to complete the tasks given by the reputation group’s quest giver. If the particular quest offered is not of interest to you, you can try refusing it and getting a new one. Points can be purchased from the reputation vendor for 50 gold/point by dropping gold onto them.
Sample items from the reputation vendors: pack grizzly bear, magical weapon enamel (changes damage type), item to unlock the use tithing points in place of reagents, shirts with random creature protection, advanced training dummy, crafting recipes, crafting power scrolls, rename-able profession signs, and more.