Jonric: Let's begin with the basics of Tabula Rasa's character creation system. First. what were your primary considerations and objectives when designing it?

Carly Staehlin: Initial character creation for Tabula Rasa occurs just before you enter the gameworld. We've planned to keep this stage as simple as possible, allowing the player to enter the game without making personal choices in the absence of information related to those decisions. We would like players to make as few uninformed choices as possible - giving just enough options to let the player identify himself or herself in the gameworld, but not so much that the player feels that they need to read copious bulletin boards and help files before making their first character.

The remaining character creation features, such as in-depth personal customization, as well as ability selection and advancement, will occur within the gameworld, at the player's request. The manner of that request, exactly where it will be allowed and how it will function at launch, is still undergoing development. The system that makes it work, and a stubbed in front end are in place already.