Jack T. Lamplighter

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another wonderful story from Womby. It is entitled The Graveyard Background music by Smartsound In a quiet corner of Ardoris, mostly unnoticed by the residents, a tiny graveyard can be found. Apart from the occasional small child acting on a dare it is rarely visited, and it is a complete mystery who or what may be buried there. Rumor has it that the graveyard pre-dates Ardoris. In any case, the inscriptions became illegible a long time ago, and all that remains in the way of information is a strange tale that has been passed down for generations. Nobody believes it to be true, but it is nevertheless retold on stormy nights whenever strangers seek shelter in the local inn. According to the tale, the oldest grave is the resting place of an ancient and powerful creature. Many centuries ago after a prolonged and bloody battle, the creature was finally trapped and bound there by a powerful spell. It was not possible to kill the creature due to its immense power, however it was hoped that over the centuries its power would gradually drain away. A long time later when the battle was on the cusp of being forgotten from history, a mage was told of the creature and the nature of its entrapment. The mage gave it some thought, and decided that he could take advantage of the creature’s predicament. The grave that housed the creature was still in an open field at that time, and after travelling for two days accompanied by his faithful servant of many years, the mage arrived. After his servant had set up camp, the mage offered him a mug of ale that had been infused with a powerful drug. The servant fell asleep instantly, and the mage quickly positioned various artifacts and uttered numerous incantations. Finally the moment arrived and the ritual was completed. At first nothing appeared to happen, but then suddenly a deep and powerful voice was heard. “For what purpose do you disturb me, mortal?” Cautiously the mage replied, “Oh great and powerful one, I seek the gift of true wisdom. In exchange I offer you the life energy of a human.” The creature replied: “I shall grant you the gift of true wisdom, but only if you offer me the person that you hold most dear.” The mage could not think of anyone that he held dear, but his servant was the single person in the entire world that he despised the least, so he replied “Agreed. You may take the life energy of the person that I hold most dear, in exchange for great wisdom.” “Very well. The deal is done,” replied the creature. And indeed, it was at that moment that the mage acquired true wisdom as he felt the life energy drain from him. He had been wrong in thinking that he held no one dear. In his last conscious thought he realized that in fact he held himself dear, and cared naught for anyone else. Eventually his servant awoke and found a desiccated corpse wearing his master’s robes. He assumed that whatever ritual his master had set out to perform had gone horribly wrong, and decided to bury him next to the existing grave where, unknown to him, the freshly nourished creature had resumed its slumber. Later, as the dutiful servant that he was, he procured a small headstone that he erected next to the creature’s resting place. Echoes From the Caverns The post The Graveyard – by Womby – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another wonderful story from Womby. It is entitled Interview with a Ghost Background music by Smartsound Recently the rather spoiled son of a local duke announced that he was going to be my apprentice. This came as a surprise to me, as was his announcement that his initial outing would be to interview a ghost, thus making history with his first story. Here is the complete transcript of his interview. “Greetings, ghost. How are you?” “I’m dead. And it’s Sir Ghost to you. I am – or was – a knight.” “Indeed. Of course. How insensitive of me. Tell me Sir Ghost, what did you do before you became a ghost?” “I used to be a writer.” “So now you’re a ghost writer?” For some reason the interview appears to have been discontinued at this point. The interview notes were sent to me by a person or persons unknown, and the reporter who conducted the interview has disappeared without trace. Echoes From the Caverns The post Interview with a Ghost – by Womby – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another wonderful story from Fetid SirDidy. It is entitled “Bluster” Background music by Smartsound It began with a low hum. The schoolmasters head shook so fast that it appeared to be vibrating. Because the area in which he reverberated was so confined, the violence with which he shook lent to an affect that appeared like slow-motion. Beads of sweat shimmered as they filled the air around him like tiny frozen stars. Veins arose and protruded in thick spidery webs across his face and forehead and blood oozed like sludge from eyes, nose, mouth and ears. He was a tuning fork made of flesh. A stench like death and vomit emanated from him as his bowels and bladder emptied. Their contents streamed from underneath his robes and fanned out creating a Rorschach of human waste. A noise that had started as a low hum was now deafening as bolts of energy cracked and whipped about and upon the man. In a sudden crescendo the schoolmasters head bulged and then popped. Chunks of flesh and brain and bowel sprayed out in a 360-degree ark spackling everything around; ceiling, walls, floor, and the twenty or so students still frozen in shock as they looked upon the madness with a mixture of horror, bewilderment and disgust. The tendrils of energy subsided and their accompanying wailing ceased. In the back of the room a young man looked down at his hand, admiring the Suutaks bluster as it dimmed and then went dark. Pocketing the artifact, he pushed open the door at the far end of the room, and left. Echoes From the Caverns The post Bluster – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Avatar’s Update #424: Play Release 89 Now! Obsidian Panopticon Revealed! The Rise Expanded! Crafted Gear & Artifact Updates! UI Improvements! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Greetings Fellow Avatars! Another amazing game release has arrived, Avatars! Head to Mistrendur and enter the Obsidian Panopticon, a brand new adventure scene added for Episode 2 Access holders! Also, The Rise... Avatar’s Update #424: Play Release 89 Now! Obsidian Panopticon Revealed! The Rise Expanded & More!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Another amazing game release has arrived, Avatars! Head to Mistrendur and enter the Obsidian Panopticon, a brand new adventure scene added for Episode 2 Access holders! Also, The Rise adventure scene has been expanded significantly. Players will discover amazing new challenges whilst delving deeper into this sinister labyrinth! Artifact changes and balance have begun, and crafted gear items have received their initial round of improvements in an ongoing series of changes to increase the appeal of crafted gear! So many fixes and UI improvements are live, Avatars! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: News Announcements Obsidian Panopticon Revealed! Release 89 Patch Notes! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! Crown Store: Stargazer Lilies, Stacked Construction Timbers, Darkstarr Items & More! May Login Reward: Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies! R89 Subscriber Login Rewards: Xenossian Armor Leggings, Jewelry Box 3-Pack, Lily Vases! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Community Events & Resources Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players The Obsidian Panopticon Revealed! Ready your weapons, and gather your spell components, Avatars! The Obsidian Panopticon has been discovered deep within the icy reaches of Mistrendur upon the easternmost island of Slangehodde. Available to Episode 2 Access holders, this ancient prison controlled by the Obsidian Elves of Mistrendur contains unspeakable dangers. Will you and your companions attempt to brave this newly-discovered location? “Ruthless elves who still worship the Obsidian Eye dominate the eastern region of Mistrendur. Most of those who oppose them are slaughtered without mercy, but a ‘lucky’ few find themselves imprisoned in the elves’ Obsidian Panopticon. Hanging within a bleak, frigid canyon and surrounded by a frozen wasteland, the panopticon offers inmates only one way to escape: death.” The Obsidian Panopticon is another fantastic addition to the ever-growing library of available Episode 2 content. As the year unfolds, more and more locations will be revealed, and more Episode 2 story elements and quests will be added to the game. In the coming weeks, additional loot items will become available in this new scene, to include new recipes for Imbued Gems which attach to crafted gear gem sockets. We hope you enjoy this new adventure scene. So much more new content is on the horizon, so stay tuned! Release 89 Patch Notes! Below are a list of updates that are live as of Release 89 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! In our tick-tock development cycle, this is a new content, improvement and bug fixes month (a tock), with a slew of additional improvements and bug fixes inbound for R90. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 89! Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Consumable Changes: New durability standards have been applied to all newly created gear, whether it be an upgraded artifact or a purely crafted gear item. These new standards are a result of adding in the 50 durability formerly offered with exceptional crafts directly into the base durability values of each item. Artifacts now feature slightly lower durability standards than crafted gear and will degrade about 10% more quickly. Any newly crafted item, newly looted item, or newly combined artifact will feature the durability and durability damage multipliers as indicated below: Artifacts: Helm – 130 Chest – 200 Gloves – 130 Legs – 175 Boots – 130 Belt – 150 Back – 150 Ring – 130 Necklace – 130 1H Melee – 150 2H Melee – 220 Bows/Crossbow – 200 Shield – 150 Off-Hand – 150 Durability Damage Multiplier, Plate – 2.7 Durability Damage Multiplier, Chain – 1.8 Durability Damage Multiplier, Leather – 1.3 Durability Damage Multiplier, Others – 0.9 Crafted Gear: Helm – 145 Chest – 220 Gloves – 145 Legs – 200 Boots – 145 Belt – 165 Back – 165 Ring – 145 Necklace – 145 1H Melee – 165 2H Melee – 240 Bows/Crossbow – 220 Shield – 165 Off-Hand – 165 Durability Damage Multiplier, Plate – 3 Durability Damage Multiplier, Chain – 2 Durability Damage Multiplier, Leather – 1.5 Durability Damage Multiplier, Others – 1 Bone Armor: Helm – 150 Chest – 250 Gloves – 150 Legs – 210 Boots – 150 Exceptional crafting results now provide the following bonuses instead of +50 durability: Weapons with critical/exceptional success now receive +2.5% (1-Handed) or +5% (2-Handed) bonus to Weapon Durability Effectiveness. Armor and miscellaneous gear items with critical/exceptional success now receive +1% bonus to Armor Durability Effectiveness. Shields with critical/exceptional success now receive +5% bonus to Shield Durability Effectiveness. Adjustments were made to base stats of crafted weapons to provide more uniformity across weapons within the same category. Also, crafted items received various stat increases to to become more competitive with artifact weaponry. In an upcoming continuation of balance work for artifacts to be revealed in R90 and R91, many artifact weaponry base values will diminish slightly. All existing artifacts that have tiers (Common through Legendary only) already present in player inventories and storage, are now considered “Legacy” artifacts. Their tooltip descriptions indicate instructions on how these items can be utilized going forward. Legacy artifact tooltip descriptions are as follows: “This is a legacy version of this artifact, but it can still be equipped as is. To use this artifact in upgrade recipes, it must be salvaged to receive a low durability variant of the newer artifact version. That low durability variant can be used in upgrade recipes, and it can also be salvaged for Ancient Essences.” The reason there are new versions of the same artifact (as well as all crafted gear items), is because if 50 durability was added to gear items already present in the game which had previously received an old exceptional bonus would receive an EXTRA 50 durability. And since artifacts are used in recipes to upgrade, to allow the crafting system to recognize matching artifacts for upgrade recipes, first the old Legacy artifacts must be converted to the new versions so the recipes can recognize that matching artifacts were in fact provided to the crafting table. Old versions of Epic artifacts were not added to this Legacy salvage concept since they are not utilized in upgrade recipes. They will still salvage into essences as expected. Non-tiered artifacts such as Cabalist Hoods and Cabalist Weaponry, as well as items such as the Torch of Jerik, still feature the same salvage results as before and have yet been tiered. So if players wish to hold off salvaging these a bit longer, you’ll soon be able to combine them or salvage for components, but no new salvage results for these items were added. Artifact upgrade recipes now require Ancient Essences. Common to Uncommon requires 1. Uncommon to Rare requires 2. Rare to Legendary requires 4. Legendary to Epic requires 6. Rare, Legendary, and Epic Artifacts now yield fewer essences when salvaged. Artifact Balance (Initial): Attunement values for Rings of Attunement have all been reduced, yet they’ve received an extra 30 durability due to the new standardized durability values. The Attunement bonuses for the Ring of the Deep Woods have been realigned, and the penalty resistance reductions have been adjusted to mirror the bonuses within the opposite schools of magic. Vexlyn’s Ember of Conflagration now has a reduced attunement bonus, the Intelligence bonus is now scaled with tier, the fizzle reduction has been normalized with wands, and the penalties have been reduced. Thunder Branch now has a reduced attunement bonus, the intelligence bonus is now scaled with tier, the fizzle reduction has been normalized with wands, the Earth Attunement penalty has been reduced, and a Magic Glyph Focus Cost penalty (identical to the newly reduced Vexlyn’s Wand penalty) has been added. Wand of Static Discharge and Wand of Undying Embers have had their penalties removed. The Fire Speed Bonus has been removed from the Wand of Undying Embers. 9 Off-Hand items have been balanced to feature attunement and summon improvements only, though the Ankh of Sacrifice has retained its focus regeneration since there is no life summon ability available. Attunement amounts for all 9 Off-Hand items have been reduced. The Ankh of Sacrifice and the Ankh of Wala have been converted to Off-Hand items and now only function in left hand slot. Both received large reductions in attunement bonuses to balance with their Off-Hand brethren and to prep for upcoming skill tree balance work. Acara Shield’s Air Stun Effectiveness now scales with tier. Mundane items such as Rusty Spatulas, Beakers, Flasks, Jars, Ceramic Bowls, Paintings, Maps etc. can now be salvaged: Quartz Chunk has been renamed to Quartz and added to many glass item salvage results. Quartz will be utilized in upcoming new recipes. All mundane items now feature a tooltip description to indicate the uses for the item. An example would be, “This item can be sold, used as a decoration, or salvaged at a carpentry station for wood scraps, canvas fabric, or various other items.” Mundane loot items have all received slightly increased gold values in case players still wish to sell these items, regardless of the salvage improvements. Some mundane items available on NPC merchants have either been removed from merchants or have had their purchase prices increased to discourage mass purchase/salvaging of NPC merchant items. A new crafting material known as “Bone Powder” has been added to the game which will be utilized in many upcoming recipe additions to the game. Bone Powder is obtained by salvaging various bones which drop as loot. Many mundane items have had their names changed to better describe their appearance, to help differentiate them with other mundane items, and to provide more flexibility in how these items can be utilized for salvage or upcoming improvements to their purpose. An example of this would be, “Green Spice Jar” was renamed to “Jar of Green Powder” which affords more flexibility in salvage results since “powder” is less specific than “spice.” Many mundane items missing from loot have been added to lower tier loot tables. Several additional mundane items never before available to players have been added to lower tier loot tables. Salvaging mundane items that are stolen yield slightly lower primary results, and a have a much smaller chance to provide special rare results. For instance, a stolen Green Cloth Bolt will provide 1-2 fabric scrap as it’s primary result, with a much less chance to provide items like threads and actual bolts of cloth, while the looted version provides 1-3 fabric scrap as its primary result and has a considerably higher chance to provide special salvaging results. Gold and Silver Goblets now provide many more gold and silver scraps. Stolen versions of these goblets provide significantly less gold and silver scraps, but they are still worthwhile to steal if you happen to pass by one. A small number of mundane items, primarily mugs, cups, and goblets, have been reassigned to mundane item salvage tables. This means these items now have a small chance to also provide interesting rare results when salvaged. Small Ball of Clay has been added to the game and drops from salvage results for ceramic/pottery type items. A recipe will soon be added to the game which will allow these balls of clay to be combined into clay blocks. Additional uses for clay will be added to the game in future. Many maps have been removed from bookseller merchants, but Imps now have a very significant chance to drop all maps. These are the maps that were recently added to crafting recipes to create framed versions. These maps now also have salvage options for wood pulp, with more interesting salvage results to come in the future. Here is a list of all the mundane items that were addressed in this round of salvage love: Beaker Beaker Tongs Black Striped Cloth Spool Blue Cloth Spool Boiler Glass Bowl of Black Powder Bowl of Orange Powder Bowl of Red Powder Bowl of Yellow Powder Brown Cylindrical Jug Brown Rounded Jug Bucket Candle in Bulb Base Ceramic Cup Ceramic Goblet Ceramic Mug Ceramic Pitcher Ceramic Plate Chamberstick Candle Clear Pyramid Bottle Condenser Conical Flask Diamond Cloth Bolt Digging Shovel Dirty Cutting Board Dirty Rolling Pin Dirty Wooden Spoon Dotted Cloth Spool Dragon Claw Dragon Jawbone Dragon Leg Bone Dragon Rib Dragonbone Throne Empty Ceramic Jug Empty Ruined Sack Empty Test Tube Rack Filled Beaker Filled Boiler Glass Filled Condenser Filled Flask Filled Glass Bottle With Stand Filled Pyramid Bottle Filled Round Bottle Filled Small Square Bottle Filled Test Tube Filled Test Tube Rack Flat Shovel Flimsy Hoe Green Cloth Bolt Green Striped Cloth Spool Jar of Green Powder Jar of Orange Powder Jar of Red Powder Jar of White Powder Large Ceramic Bowl Large Flat Shovel Large Pewter Bowl Large Square Bottle Maps (All 26 versions) Mosaic of the Avatar Oil Lamp Burner Painting (Butcher Shop) Painting (Ladies in Waiting) Painting (Lakeside Sunrise) Painting (Pastoral Village) Painting (Portrait of a Gentleman) Painting (Portrait of a Lady) Pewter Cup Pewter Jug Pewter Mug Pewter Pitcher Pewter Plate Pitchfork Plow Portrait of Envy Angel Pristine Skeleton Rib Cage Pyramid Bottle Rectangular Bottle Red Cloth Bolt Round Bottle Round Flask Rusty Bowl Rusty Deep Pan Rusty Fork Rusty Kettle Rusty Knife Rusty Ladle Rusty Mug Rusty Pan Rusty Plate Rusty Spatula Rusty Spoon Scale Scythe Short Ceramic Vase Skeleton Hib Bone Small Clear Square Bottle Small Knife Small Odd Skull Small Round Flask Small Square Bottle Small Square Jar (Green) Small Square Jar (Red) Small Square Jar (White) Small Square Jar (Yellow) Square Jar (Black) Square Jar (Blue) Square Jar (Brown) Square Jar (Yellow) Square Shovel Striped Cloth Bolt Tabletop Candelabra Tall Ceramic Vase Test Tube Test Tube With Cork Trowel Wood Bowl Wood Plate Wood Serving Bowl Wood Serving Plate Wooden Mug Yoke Planting and watering only consumes a bucket of water 10% of the time. Crafted belts can now be enchanted and masterworked. Jar of Yeast Culture has been renamed to Yeast. Animal Bones have been removed from NPC merchants. The Belt of Control has received an improved tooltip description. The Fine Oak Furniture Set can now be placed upon castle walls and blocks or other decorations which allow it. Ancient Xenossian Plate Chest Armor is no longer tagged as “medium” armor. It has been changed to “heavy” as intended so heavy armor skills will function in conjunction while wearing it. The Cherry Blossom Dress pattern can now be applied to chest slot items, and it can now be placed as POT decoration. Uncommon Staff of Xen now properly indicates the tier in the display name. Rare Spurred Boots no longer provide a double focus bonus and properly apply 70 focus. Legendary Spurred Boots now properly provide the Mounted Sprint Speed bonus like the other tiers. Uncommon Spider Silk Belt now indicates the tier in the display name for this artifact. The female Shogun chest armor has been adjusted around neck/upper chest to mitigate stretching. Closed a gap in the neck on female Shogun and Dark Shogun chest armor pieces. Fixed an LOD issue with Saddle & Bags with Stand. All hot tubs can now be placed as POT decorations. Improved the store entry descriptions for string lights to indicate they will most likely need to be scaled down in size to fit in row-sized homes. Spring Fountain with Floating Candles once again has candles that light up. Renamed dungeon transition pieces for Stone Dungeon to Ancient Stone so the blueprint, the recipe, and the item match in nomenclature. Tooltip descriptions were added to all seeds to aid players with determining watering and harvest times. Crafting Stations and Printing Presses can now be placed upon other items such as castle walls. The Faerie Belt is now properly flagged as a premium non-artifact item. Mounts can now be used from the inventory even if locked. User Interface Changes: The town lot listings window can now be assigned a hotkey and can be opened without visiting the town crier. The town lot listing window now features a column for house name (right-click your home’s icon in Property Manager to rename) and also indicates if the lot has a basement and dungeon placed. Displaying the custom names for homes should allow players to better advertise what is featured on their lot when other players view the lot listing window. The journal now features search functionality to filter for active and completed tasks. Also, sound and display issues have been fixed for the journal. The recipe book now features search functionality to filter for recipes. The quest turn-in interface now automatically filters for the quest item required. The /quit command now opens the quit menu. A large number of in-game maps have been improved. The non-combat bar can now have hotkeys assigned for in-combat use. The Deco Palette can now have a hotkey assigned. Culling of interior decorations in player houses can now be controlled more effectively in the options menu to aid with performance improvement. By holding a new hotkey, Ctrl-W, players will see which planting beds require watering. The Party User Interface has been significantly optimized. The Quest Task List UI has been lowered slightly to no longer interfere with the display of pet buffs. Buffs for party members will no longer show unless they are targeted. This should offer a modest performance improvement in busy party combat situations Player Economy, Rewards & Loot Changes: All loot tables have been updated to ensure any creature, quest, or bundle providing an artifact, provides the new versions of the artifacts with updated durability. Shadow Bears and Shadow Wolves now have a small chance to drop the artifact spirit helm for their species. The Helm of the Wolf Spirit now only drops from high tier wolves, with the Destroyers having the most chance. The Helm of the Bear Spirit now only drops from high tier bears, with the Destroyers having the most chance. The Helm of the Stag Spirit now only drops on T10 stags such as the Noble Stag in Tanglemire. Destroyer boars no longer drop the Bear, Wolf, or Stag Spirit Helms, but they have a significantly higher chance to drop the non-species specific taming artifacts. Ghost Corpion loot in mass spawn areas has been reduced, but single spawn Ghost Corpion loot has been improved. Many Episode 2 creatures have received experience reward reductions. Major repairs now require 250 Crowns of the Obsidian instead of 100. This change was to encourage players to replace armor more commonly and to use the Major Repair feature less often. Fishing bait recovery now features a soft cap. Gains beyond a certain level will still yield some benefits but will never reach 100%. Public vendors now allow 50 items per player. Combat, Skills & Balance Changes: The shield tree has a new passive skill, Ranged Defense. This skill will make shields significantly more effective against non-magical ranged attacks. Experience attenuation no longer applies to characters below adventure level 110. Combat block and parry are no longer capped at 75 and instead scale more slowly above that value. Most taming skills will advance more slowly, though they will not require more experience to level. Torpid Torment will now be used by many higher level enemy casters. The base skill in the subterfuge tree, Distract, will now start at level 40. A large variety of creatures now feature increased crowd control resistances. More creatures are now considered “hovering” which enables more resistance or even immunity to certain types of crowd control. More skills respect creature “hovering” to including Disabling Shot, Hamstring, Knockdown, Leg Sweep, and Trip. Many Episode 2 creatures have been reduced in power. Ghosts have gained several new abilities and also will move faster as they get closer to death. Spiders now have several ranged attacks and their webs now scale in strength with their level. Night Vision now has improved visuals. Draw Speed now features a soft cap. The Root spell can now dispel Shield of Air. Voice Training now has a unique icon. Obsidian Trials has been temporarily set to a Adventure Level and skill cap of 100. World, Quests, and Miscellaneous Changes: The Rise Expanded: A new mysterious addition to The Rise has appeared. Little is known of the new area. Time to explore, adventurers! Guild and Player-Owned Town (POT) messages of the day now last for 1 year. Certain houses, such as glass storefront homes or pavilions, are not affected by interior decoration culling. As a performance improvement, tooltips no longer attempt to refresh each frame if the mouse has not been moved. Jaanaford: The “secret cow” now has a unique name and doesn’t have the same one as the cow in Owl’s Head. Brittany Estates: Added a mailbox to the south bank. Crypt of the Avatar: Improved how Eris recognizes when the player has the “Report from the Council of Might” in her responses. Soltown: Improved how Bentley’s “Return Key to Bentley” task archives itself. Crooked Shank: Improved how the journal tasks archive while investigating the mystery of Crooked Shank. Soltown: Geof now has a compass marker for when a player is bringing him an iron blade. Geof’s journal entry for an iron blade has been improved. Mistrendur: Added access to the Obsidian Panopticon. Solace Bridge Outskirts: Adjusted some props to allow for better access to a quest-related ghost. Soltown: Updated some of Jeanne’s responses about her missing necklace. Novia: Added a quest marker to the Northwest Blackblade Mountains entry for Avatars seeking the Bunker C Jelly in Bunker C. Mysterious Swamp: Updated the path grid to better accommodate the giant monkey automatons. Novia: Added highlighting for the Macsen quest to the Longfall Woods compass marker. Blood River Outskirts: Updated logic, journals, and compass markers for Gus the automaton’s “Corruption Junction” anti-druid quest. Blood River Outskirts: Stag spawns have been improved. Brittany Fields: Added a washer woman to a small house near the water. Etceter: Added a compass marker at the Bank of Etceter. Lamech’s Bazaar and South Midmaer Way: 3 ankhs were added to the airship. Etceter: The housing decorations merchant should no longer rush to close the bank door when it’s left open. Ferig’s Battle Camp: Improved Lord Ferig’s logic to help advance the “Free Sir Patrick” / “Speak with Lord Ferig” follow-up task. Solace Bridge Outskirts: Updated the compass marker data for Kinsey to ensure that the “Kinsey Needs Your Help” marker stops appearing at the proper time. Lord British’s Castle: Moved several spawn points for NPCs that were reported spawning within walls. Soltown: Improved logic in Abigail’s responses when talking about Charlotte. Also, improved Abigail’s recollection of the events at the start of the Battle of Solace Bridge. Blackblade Foothills: Fixed an issue where NPCs couldn’t fully walk across two bridges. Ardoris: Fixed typos in the keywords of Fiona FitzOwen. Braemar: Changed the “Bank and Town Crier” compass marker to “Town Crier” and gave the bank it’s own compass marker. Ardoris: Fixed an issue where several bottles were z-fighting with a table surface. Troll’s Bridge: Removed the special “random encounter” message when entering this scene and when the friendly NPCs that sometimes arrive after defeating the trolls. Blood River Outskirts: Avatars that learn the name of Zosimus will still see his trainer title. Spite: Shimzu now properly rewards Avatars who offer him a burial coffin before getting his quest to get one. Noreach: Added additional “safety” feature to Sigrunn’s tasks to speak to other NPCs, to help ensure they clear properly. South Drachvald Spur now features an in-game map. Added Player Memorial Obelisk to Brittany Graveyard. Gravestones in Brittany Graveyard are now less blurry. An NPC building roof in Kingsport should no longer distort with camera movement. The mount animation no longer plays twice when dismounting. Player Vendors that have become “stale” will no longer sit down. Necropolis Barrens: Fixed an issue that blocked some players from completing Davropos’s daily “dead body” turn-in. Necropolis Barrens: Players who already have a “dead body” when talking to Davropos about dead bodies for the first time will now get a reward if they accept his quest at that time. Necropolis Barrens: Fixed an issue where Davropos would give the wrong journal entry when offering the “dead bodies” quest for the first time. Well of Aldur: Fixed an issue with two transcribed letters which featured duplicate content. Both now have unique content. Braemar: Updated Bridget Helvig’s responses to help ensure she only gives out her banner reward once. Well of Aldur: Fixed a stuck spot that was between two fallen pillars. Owl’s Head: Created a new version of Farmhouse Ale (same basic stats as generic ale) and connected this new version Farmhouse Ale to Morton’s “quest” to obtain a drink. Object loading has been modified to improve loading performance of decorations in player towns. Spectral Mines: Added “piles of gore” to the Arch Lapin cave to provide additional means for players to obtain the bones required for the Arch Lapin quest. Highvale Outskirts: Fixed an issue where a large boulder was blocking access to some tunnels. Player-Owned Town Changes: Lightbringer Isle: Upgraded to Gigalopolis. Merri’s Hideaway: Changed biome to Island 01 and moved to near Xenos in Novia. Mossrest: Added new Hamlet along the road south of Etceter. Nauvoo: Added new City near Solace Bridge Outskirts. Nivenshire: Upgraded to Municipality. Wakoku: Upgraded to Crossroads Village. Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, April 30th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1-hour livestream! To enter the prize drawings, type “live life in full bloom” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT! Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!! Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShroudoftheAvatar/ Catnip Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/catnipgames Shroud of the Avatar Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudofAvatar Shroud of the Avatar Discord: https://discord.gg/GuBXakQ Support the Family of CatherineRose! Avatars! CatherineRose, a beloved member of our community, is going through troubling challenges as one of her family members is battling cancer. If you are able to, please lend their family support during these trying times. Even if you are not able to provide monetary assistance, providing well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers go a long way towards helping a family through such hardships. An auction run by the Aerie Fund is underway! Interested players can bid upon a Lord of the Isle Bundle in this forum thread. For more information about the auction fundraiser, please also see this thread. All proceeds will go towards the GoFundMe fundraiser supporting Wendy Barry’s fight with cancer. Also, Thradia with The Avatar Express, has posted information on the forums about portions of this fundraiser. Please see this forum thread for more details. Crown Store: Stargazer Lilies, Stacked Construction Timbers, Darkstarr Items & More! Many new and returning store items are coming your way in the month ahead! Keep an eye out each week as the following items become available in the Crown Store. Available today on April 29th, two varieties of Stargazer Lilies have been added to the store! Also, the Darkstarr armor set has returned to the store and will remain as a regularly featured item. The Burned Skeleton 4-Pack has also become a regularly featured store item: Vase of Pink Stargazer Lilies Vase of Purple Stargazer Lilies Darkstarr Black Chainmail Armor Set Darkstarr Coronated Black Chainmail Helm Burned Skeleton 4-Pack Becoming available on May 7th, a new Stacked Construction Timbers decoration has been added, and 3 prior rewards are now regularly featured items on the store: Stacked Construction Timbers Hustler Hat Obsidian Fur Collared Cloak Portable Aether Vibration Amplifier Becoming available on May 14th, these 4 prior rewards are now regularly featured items on the store: Mighty Winged Helm Skull Mask Flaming Top Hat Island Backpack Becoming available on May 21st, these 11 prior rewards are now regularly feature items on the store: Executioner’s Hood Ladybug Backpack Bass Fish Mask Trout Fish Mask Tuna Fish Mask Blanket Horse Mask Brown Horse Mask Buckskin Horse Mask Palomino Horse Mask White Horse Mask Light Unicorn Mask Many items have also been added to the Vault rotation. These items were previously stretch goal items, telethon rewards, login rewards, or subscriber login rewards. Also, many prior Darkstarr seasonal items have been added to the routine Vault rotation to offer more availability to players throughout the year, and all May the 4th items are now part of the regular Vault rotation or regularly featured items in the store. Players can expect these items to appear in the Vault periodically in the future, many of which will appear shortly: Black Sky Navy Helmet Electric Halberd Blue Electric Sword Adobe Dome Set Golden Jeweled Gauntlet Gossamer Virtue Cloak Snowflake Cloak Virtue Fur Hat Fancy Riding Outfit Darkstarr Dagger Darkstarr Morningstar Darkstarr Spear Darkstarr Sword Darkstarr Wand Darkstarr Staff Darkstarr Two-Handed Sword Darkstarr Crossbow Darkstarr Chaos Shield The Spring Equinox celebration continues! These rare spring items will remain on the store until May 3rd and will appear in the Vault or in the Spring Equinox section of the store: Bunny Ears & Slippers Set Decorative Dyeable Egg Pack Flower Crown Flower Emote Flowerleap Emote Lepus Mask 2017 Lepus Mask 2018 Rabbit Tailed Bodice Ensemble Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2016 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2017 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2018 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2019 Silver & Gold Lepus Mask Spring Fountain w/ Floating Candles White Lepus Mask Happy belated birthday, Darkstarr! The season of the Lord of Chaos is upon us once again, Avatars! These items will be available in the Crown Store until May 31st: Darkstarr Basement Entrance Eternal Pattern Darkstarr Fur Collared Cloak Darkstarr Shield Darkstarr Shield Pattern Pack Lord British vs. Darkstarr Battle Banner Darkstarr Clock Tower Darkstarr Clock Tower (Reverse Colors) Darkstarr Pavers Darkstarr Chaos Throne Darkstarr Chaos Throne (Reverse Colors) Mosh Emote To see a full listing of all the items which rotate through the Vault, we have prepared a forum post showing all items which could appear throughout the year! May Login Reward: Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies! Log in during the month of May, and you’ll receive a Large Fancy Vase of Multicolored Lilies! Other color varieties of this vase will also become available as Subscriber Login Reward items or new Crown Store items, but those versions will be smaller in size. Happy Mother’s Day! Release 89 Subscriber Login Rewards: Xenossian Armor Leggings, Jewelry Box 3-Pack, Lily Vases! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 89 are simply fantastic this round — you don’t want to miss out on these! Reward Program members must login during Release 89 to receive these login items: Ancient Xenossian Armor Leggings Fancy Jewelry Box 3-Pack Vase of Yellow Lilies Vase of Orange Lilies Vase of White Lilies The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following: 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month) Exclusive Title every 3 months 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith 6 Months: Keeper of the Word 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including: Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program! Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I! Phase I: Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply. Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar. Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual. Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come). Rules: To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application. To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program. Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program. Items of Note: SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord. Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material. Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them! Bug Brigade & Testing Directives! The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched. The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums. As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels! In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action! The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives. Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team! Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows: Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter” Single Ant Cloak Lady Bug Backpack Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids” Ant Farm Insect Leg Table Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles” Bug Painting B Bug Sprayer Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths” Butterfly Chair Corpion Chair (Pictured Below) Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies” Hacked Oracle Flyer Giant Blue Butterfly Pet Butterfly Mask Dragonfly pet Fairy Wings Monarch Butterfly Pet Dragonfly Wings Hacked Oracle Crawler Blue Butterfly VFX Orange Fireflies VFX Orange Butterfly VFX If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums. Upcoming Release Dates Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2021 Release Schedule is as follows: Release 89 (Content) – Apr 29 Release 90 (Polish) – May 27 Release 91 (Content) – Jun 24 Community Updates & Resources Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums: Catnip Games Contests: Catnip Games Monthly Fishing Tourney: Greetings Anglers! The monthly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! Join in on the fun! SO many prizes available for the anglers of New Britannia! Catnip Games Monthly Screenshot/Video Contest: Avatars! For those of you skilled with the camera or screenshot key binding, a monthly screenshot and video contest is underway which features a large number of valuable prizes. The focus will be for players to submit creative or informative screenshots and videos of content introduced to the game during the latest 3 monthly releases. Catnip Games Monthly Treasure Hunting Contest: Want to go hunting for rare items? Want to see if you can beat other players in this quest for treasure? Well join in on the monthly treasure hunting contest, Avatars! Special Announcements: Black Sails Says Goodbye to Boris Mondragon: The role-players and story writers of the Black Sails saga invite you all to bid farewell to their leader, Boris Mondragon. Please stop by and share your thoughts. The New Britannia Theater Troupe Needs YOU: If you would like to join this band of merry story writers and voice actors, give Asclepius a reply on the forums or send him a PM. Already there is a very rich selection of past work written and performed by the troupe which is available in audio form here at the Caverns.net. Tartarus Entry Guide: Master narrator Asclepius leaves his library to adventure in Tartarus and reveals to players some tricks and hints to find your way around the seemingly never-ending maze. Please give his channel a view and a follow, and give Asclepius a thank you for this highly helpful video! Torque Streams with Piachu: A wonderful video has been posted by Torque featuring gameplay with Piachu — please give them a thank you and a like! One-Time Events: The Omarian Crusade: The Player-Owned Town of Ironhall pushes its boundaries deeper into Norgard in this spectacular role-playing event! What say you, Avatars? Will you join in this effort or attempt to thwart their empire’s expansion? Mysteria Fishing Contest: Join the governor, stewards, and residents of Mysteria for a fishing contest on March 26th through April 30th! Lots of great prizes and fun! PaxLair Fishing Contest: Fish! Hail to the governors and stewards of PaxLair and their angler guests! Don’t miss out on their month-long fishing contest in PaxLair. Lots of prizes and fun await thee! Avatar Express Spotlight – Ironhall: Head on over to The Avatar Express to check out the latest town spotlight for Ironhall! Such a fantastic town and a fantastic read! Avatar Express Spotlight – Phoenix Haven: Don’t miss out on reading a recent and insightful spotlight for the wonderful Player-Owned Town of Phoenix Haven. Thank you Thradia and the journalists of The Avatar Express! Recurring Events: Ironhall Royal Races: Thoryk Omara and friends are once again hold a mounted race tourney in the lands of Ironhall. Test your skills against other riders’ speed and cunning, or simply watch and drink ale! Mad Splatter Tea Party: The Mad Splatter Tea Party takes place every 2nd Sunday of the month, which is a tea party in Lily Byrd’s back garden in Jade Valley. This month’s episode will take place on Sunday, May 9th at 3PM CT. There are drinks and eats, there is sometimes music, there are often party games with prizes, and sometimes attendees just sit and talk about life in Novia. Get your role-playing hats on and come on over! Beran’s Reach New Player Welcome Event: New players seeking a town to live might want to give Beran’s Reach a gander. They’re offering nice welcome packages to those players who simply visit their town! Head on over and receive 10K Gold for your efforts by simply following a simple set of instructions to notify their leaders of your visit! Combat & Crafting Sunday School: Head on over to Immortal City every Sunday from 7PM to 9PM CT to learn the tricks of the trade in combat and crafting! 500 Crown Fishy Prize: If you’re ever worried there isn’t an active fishing contest going on, well worry no longer! Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “bagged” link provided to see the full explanation of the contest rules. RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe chat, trade chat, and the forums! Asmodi M’hul will routinely announces at least one pop up fishing contest every week for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun! Don’t miss out! From April 16-22, there’s even a special spin-off event in Blood Bay! Get your PvP fishin’ hats on! Lightbringer Isle Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Lightbringer Isle welcome you to the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Lightbringer Isle’s market being the perfect place to do so! Join us every Sunday at 2PM CT! New Fan Fiction: Mingo’s White Raven Inn: Join Mingo and friends for an ongoing forum role-play session. Flex those creative muscles, Avatars! More Short Stories at TheCaverns.net: Asclepius has narrated another 4 short stories, Avatars! These works are all by Womby and Fetid SirDidy, which are titled: Souvenir, Journey to Kingsport, Creepy Dolly and Supper. Check these out as well as other fantastical fan fiction Podcasts at TheCaverns.Net! Arachnophilia: If you’re ready for creepy, here it is! Womby has written a wonderful creepy poem which hints at the existence of half-spider, half-man creatures! What’s creepier and crawlier than that?! Dying for a Drink: Womby is back, Avatars! And his quill is in hand and already hitting the parchment. Please take some time to enjoy the first post in his new thread in the Library forums. SotA Horror Fiction, The Home on Spectral Peaks: Fetid SirDidy already has another chapter available for the SotA Horror Fiction saga. Check out his latest! New Community Resources: Videos by ThatOddFrenchGuy: Violet Ronso a.k.a. ThatOddFrenchGuy has started a directory of tutorial videos. Check out his latest video addition now! Dragon Slayer Leaderboard: Tirrag has created a fun website that tracks the players with the most kills for dragons! Be sure to give him a thank you for his hard work, and head on over to see the current dragon slayer leaders! SOTAPrices.com: Join Shawn in his latest endeavor to create a price hunting application and website for Shroud of the Avatar merchants and shoppers! Community Calendars: Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in! SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better! Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun! One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these! Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones. Game Master (GM) Potion Request Procedures: Shroud of the Avatar has an amazing in-game consumable for player event holders — the Potion of Temporary GM Powers! Players wishing to enhance their in-game community event by having GM Powers at their disposal need to simply follow the procedures outlined in this forum thread. Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures. Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum. Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum. Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out! Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out! Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play. Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community. SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars! Project to Support: Shard RPG Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad. Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals. Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character! Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah! So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG! Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming! Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:  The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game: More Enemies! More Environments! More Magic Spells! RPG Quests! Weapon Forging and Crafting! Much, much more! If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available! Project to Support: Dragon Fight Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey: Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you Using a sword and a shield Fire! Nowhere to run! This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam! Project to Support: Avatar Express [Forum post by Vladamir Begemot] I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site. If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening. You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like. Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game. It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts! So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us! Resources: Players Helping Players The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website. Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another scary tale from Fetid SirDidy. It is entitled Creepy Dolly Background music by Smartsound Small fingers tugged at thread. The first stitch always fought the most. This she knew. She tugged a little harder and the knot cleared so that she was able to complete the stitch. Her hands trembled and her knuckles felt large and dull. She spent most of her days sewing. All her days really, she thought, pausing for a moment although that wasn’t quite right. It’s as if she’d been sewing for one day. One long day. She wasn’t even sure when she had begun to sew or where she had learned. Perhaps her mother had taught her. Perhaps she had learned on her own. Her mother. She tilted her head for a moment while completing another stitch. She could no longer remember her mother. Come to think of it, she could no longer remember herself. Small fingers tugged at thread. Most of her days were spent sewing because that is what she did. This she knew. She completed another set of stitches. Just then a black door opened and out of that door something emerged. First the points of horns appeared. Swirling spears of bone that curled and reached high slowly revealed themselves. Next to materialize out of the dark void was a hoofed foot which stepped forward and clapped down on the floor. Another few seconds and He emerged completely. He who was ancient came forth carrying a squalling infant no more than a few hours old. He placed the newborn on a pile of coal next to the girl. Tying off the final knot she held out her dolly so that He could take it. She threaded a new needle and grabbed the child he had brought. Small fingers tugged at thread. The first stitch always fought the most. This she knew. Echoes From the Caverns The post Creepy Dolly – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another scary tale from Fetid SirDidy. It is entitled Supper Background music by Smartsound The butcher’s massive knife descended with a grace that would rival even the best swordsman. The blade gleamed while it made its descent, reflecting pearls of sunlight that sparkled off the iron cookware that lay scattered about his worktable. It cut through scale and bone with ease and made a thwack sound as it came to rest on the wood before him where a monstrous fish lay. With a flick of his wrist, the butcher flung aside a large plated head which landed on the ground a few feet away from him. Two mangy dogs who had been soundlessly watching pounced on the head instantly and began tearing at it with tooth and nail. Placing the large knife down, the butcher reached into the belt at his side, unsheathed another one that had a long slender blade, and proceeded to deftly fillet the ancient looking behemoth. When finished, he gently placed the thick strips of meat into a leather sack and held it, along with his other hand, out. A man with a pointed and lordish looking face grabbed the sack and tossed a few coins on the table. The butcher only nodded and wiped the blade off on his blood-stained apron. Throughout the rest of the day the butcher received all manner of creatures which he cut, quartered and divided up skillfully. The coins piled up ever so slowly and the blood on the table increasingly pooled along with them. At last the sun began to dip toward the horizon and the butcher made his way home. Before entering, he removed his blood-soaked apron and dipped it into a barrel of water beside the door. The clear water in the barrel darkened, creating a pool of radiant hues of pink that matched the sky as the sun set. The butcher stood for a moment and watched as the sky brightened for a moment in a dazzling flash of brilliance and then went dark. With a few strong twists he wrung out the apron and went inside, closing the door behind him. A large steaming cauldron hung above the fireplace hearth, and the butcher’s stomach rumbled as he stirred the pot with a long-handled spoon. The fire crackled and cast shadows that danced on wood and stone. Aside from a polished dark table that sat in the opposite corner and a cage on the floor next to it, the room was mostly bare. Filling a bowl, he shuffled to the table and sat down. As he ate, he glanced at the cage on the floor beside the table. In it, a gagged man with eyes wide, murmured softly. His left arm had been removed at the elbow and had stitches caked with dried blood. His right hand, with wounds far more fresh, was missing all of its fingers. Echoes From the Caverns The post Supper – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another wonderful tale from Womby. It is entitled Souvenir Background music by Smartsound The badly mutilated body revealed a tale both silent and eloquent. The shattered sword in its hand told of a fierce battle, while the head resting some distance away spoke of a particularly brutal end to what must have been a terrifying struggle for survival. A battle that was lost, unwitnessed, in this impossibly convoluted series of underground passages. Something caught Womby’s eye and he bent down and retrieved a note lying next to the body. “To the person reading this note: I guess if you are seeing this then I must have been killed. Shed no tears for a reckless adventurer. It was bound to happen one day. However, should you ever find yourself in Ardoris, I beseech you to inform the guards of a criminal who goes by the name Fluffington. Glib of tongue he is, for he managed to extract my life savings in return for a worthless map that has resulted in my death. May he suffer eternal torment!” Womby Fluffington pocketed the note before returning to the exit. Another souvenir for his collection. Echoes From the Caverns The post Souvenir – by Womby – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another wonderful tale from Womby. It is entitled Journey to Kingsport Background music by Smartsound According to his hastily scribbled map the tavern was located in Kingsport. It had taken hours of torture to extract that information from Lord Xychra. Not much of a result after investing all that valuable time. Still, Lord Xychra had mentioned an associate who ran a tavern in Kingsport. Perhaps he could be fooled into leading him to the stash. After locating the tavern nestled by the Kingsport docks, Dhank stepped inside to discover a small, dimly lit bar that had obviously seen better days. The only occupant was the bartender, who paused what he was doing to glance up. A slightly raised eyebrow demanded an explanation for this intrusion. “Lord Xychra sent me” said Dhank. “He has directed me to collect some items from his stash, and asked me to show you this as proof”. With that he dropped Lord Xychra’s ring on the bar. The same ring that less than 24 hours earlier he had removed from his Lordship’s lifeless body. Slowly the bartender picked up the ring and examined it carefully. “Very well. Wait here while I fetch the key and write down some directions.” With that the barman left the room, and Dhank replaced the ring on his finger. The barman eventually returned with a rough parchment and a large iron key. “Follow these directions and they’ll take you where you need to go.” Following the directions was straightforward, as the location was only a short walk away, beneath the docks. The key opened a door into the town sewer and Dhank slowly made his way forward, cursing his oversight in not bringing a torch. He could no longer see the map and inched forward, first following the wall on his left, then the wall on his right before becoming hopelessly disoriented. Eventually the passage he was in led to a small platform overlooking a large channel filled with a dark and menacing liquid. It might have been water, but Dhank wasn’t about to bet his life on it. Suddenly he found himself rooted to the spot as he was struck by a spell cast from somewhere behind him. Dhank heard footsteps circle around him, then a torch flickered to life revealing the bartender who had sent him here. “Lord Xychra would never have parted with that ring. It’s a shame that you killed him. He used to send me the ingredients for my special meals.” The bartender came closer as he spoke, and Dhank could see that he wore a butcher’s apron and carried a large set of knives hanging from a leather belt around his waist. On the opposite side of the platform, visible for the first time in the light of the torch, Dhank could see a butcher’s station. “I guess you’re the last.” Echoes From the Caverns The post Journey to Kingsport – by Womby – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with another great story by Fetid SirDidy. It’s entitled “The home on Spectral Peaks” Background music by Smartsound “It was a dark and stormy night.” In the candlelight Liam looked at the page while his left eye twitched madly – something had gotten in his damned eye. He rubbed at it, knuckling it deeply. He tried to focus on the words written on the page, but they were obfuscated by a veil of blurriness. Crumpling the page, he tossed it aside, laid out a fresh one, and began again. Or at least he tried. The wind howled outside and the shutters on his window shook in brief intermittent spasms. Clack, clack. Clack, clack. Liam caught himself chewing on his thumb nail; His mind had wandered again. He licked the feathered pen in his hand and dipped it into the ink pot that sat on his desk. Holding the pen above the fresh parchment, he pondered for a moment and then brought it down. But he did not write. Ink began to spread out in a circle where he held pen to paper. The pen did not move. Liam did not move. A noise outside had caused Liam to utterly freeze. The sound came from something foreign, something strange, something terrifying. Something Liam could not fathom was outside. He was certain it was there. And that certainty scared him into the paralytic stupor he found himself in. Clack, clack. Clack, clack. The noise came again, and Liam began to whimper. Clack, clack. Clack, clack. Liam remained still but his eyes darted toward the door. He thought he heard scratches. Clack, clack. Clack, clack. The shutters shook with more intensity. The latch finally gave way and the shutters burst inward, and along with them a bout of frigid air. Then, suddenly, the wind died down and the shutters on the windows settled, then lay still. Liam let go of the pen. It lay, still spreading its ink on the paper. He took a deep breath. His heartbeat slowed. And then he let out a laugh; a full belly laugh. God, he hadn’t laughed like that in ages. All was quiet while moments passed. His mind had wandered again like it always had. Walking to the window, Liam looked outside. All he saw was dark. But the dark did not frighten him. He moved to his bedside, pulled down his trousers and got into bed. Leaning over, he snuffed out the candle on his bedside table, and closed his eyes. While in a deep sleep, large brown spidery arms pieced the window shutters and a multitude of beady eyes stared at Liam as he slept. In his dreams, while horrors consumed his waking body, Liam heard the shutters. Clack, clack. Clack clack. Echoes From the Caverns The post The Home on Spectral Peaks – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! So many changes, fixes, and improvements have happened in the game this round, Avatars! Loot improvements! New crafting recipes! New fish! Fixes, fixes, fixes! Head on into the game and experience it for yourself! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the... Avatar’s Update #423: Play Release 88 Now! New Quests! New Food & Fish Varieties! Fixes & More!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! So many changes, fixes, and improvements have happened in the game this round, Avatars! Loot improvements! New crafting recipes! New fish! Fixes, fixes, fixes! Head on into the game and experience it for yourself! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: News Announcements Release 88 Patch Notes! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! New Store Additions: Shogun Armor, Pink Dyes, Ambient Sounds, & Holiday Items! April Login Reward: Magical Pink Glowing Dye 12-Pack! R88 Rewards Program Login Items: Ancient Xenossian Chest Armor, Cherry Blossom Pavers, Cherry Blossom Dress! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Community Events & Resources Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Release 88 Patch Notes! Below are a list of updates that are live as of Release 88 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! In our tick-tock development cycle, this is primarily an improvements and bug fixes month (a tick), with some new content coming your way for R89. This round has an AMAZING amount of changes! For new content, some new crafting recipes have been added that should give players many more things to gather, loot, craft, and sell between players. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 88! Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Consumable Changes: Added 12 “Young” versions of the ultra rare trophy fish to the game and added them to the fishing loot tables. These young versions are still considerably rare but players will be able to fish these with far greater frequency comparatively to their ultra rare and full-size versions.These new versions can be placed as deco but do not scale nor have trophy data and will appear as 25% the size of the smallest trophy version. These can be processed at the at the butchering station using the same butchering recipes their larger versions use.Their addition to the game will allow for less ridiculous amounts of fillets needed if only the ultra rare versions continued exist without their young cousins. These young versions will still provide a large number of fillets in conjunction with the “feed the village” concept based upon the scarcity of the young fish, which typically vary between 1% and 3% catch rates (far more common that the ultra-rare versions that can be converted to trophies.)Mundane fish catches were reduced in frequency slightly to accommodate the addition of these fish, and trophy version fish chances were in no way changed. In Release 89 and 90, players can expect these young fish to be convertible to a small trophy, but size scaling is not a consideration. Future plans to provide Drying Rack and Fish Pile decorations are in the works! The 12 fish types receiving a new Young Fish variety are as follows: Alligator Gar Dunkleosteus Ichthyosaurus Marlin Mosasaurus Pike Plesiosaurus Sailfish Shark Sturgeon Swordfish Tarpon Added 23 new food recipes to food recipe NPC merchants which focus upon use of underutilized ingredients. The food spreadsheet has been updated and will continue to be updated as food changes occur in the future. As an example, the Broiled Mackerel recipe adjusted to only require 1 fillet with 4 meals created instead of 2 and 2. Other low rarity trophy fish recipes were also adjusted in similar ways to increase their food recipe’s output. Added identifiers to the display names to every fish carcass to aid players in searching/filtering for fish in their inventories. Identifiers are either Lava Fish, Freshwater Fish, Saltwater Fish, or Fetid Water Fish. If just “Fish” was used as the identifier, then it can be fished in multiple water types. Also, the weights for each fish variant have been adjusted so that players can sort by relative weight and have SOME indication as to size comparisons, but these numbers are just estimates within the length ranges to provide SOME additional help with sorting. Future improvements could arrive at a later date in that regard. Exceptionals received slight tweaks, and tech has been implemented so future recipes can be tagged as grandmaster recipes. More details to come! Craftable belts have been added to the game! The Epic Lead Gauntlets had worse stats than the legendary, which has now been fixed. The Epic Quiver of Jealousy stats were worse than lower level versions. This has been fixed. Edelmann bird bath is once again functional. The Cowbell of Reaping will no longer show effects that are zero. Pets once again work in basements! Fish Masks now correctly disappear when a character uses a stealth ability. The Round Heraldry Shield now correctly accepts dye Fixed blue flame sconce and floor lamps so that they properly illuminate. The Aether Orb can now be enchanted. The Belt of Control has received an updated description in its tooltip. Fixed the level of detail for the moon magic shrine. Fixed a crafting and gathering error which appeared when the success chance was higher than 90%. Fishing rods no longer disappear when hiding a helm or cloak. The initial spawn points for the circling dragons have been improved. They should no longer initially spawn in the distance. Animal spawner decorations such as the carrots or bowls no longer float in the air. The Practice Dummy can now be placed as a Player-Owned Town decoration and “should” be usable by everyone even if the owner is not present. Perennial Coast Dragon Mask eternal pattern can now be applied to helm slot items. The new plumed helm pattern can now be applied to other helmets. Updated the store entry name for Plumed Plate Helm to Ancient Xenossian Plumed Plate Helm The inebriation effects from all alcohols was reduced to 15 seconds from 5 minutes due to player complaints of disorientation, but a generic red wine remains on NPC food merchants, and a generic ale was created and added for NPC food merchants that still retains the full 5 minute effect for those that wish to party it up. Farmhouse Ale, which provides a dexterity bonus, was removed from NPC merchants and its name was changed to Satyr Spirits and added to Satyr Archer loot tables. White Table Wine, which provides a spell critical bonus, was removed from NPC merchants and its name was changed to Kobold Spirits and added to Kobold caster loot tables. 1 Year Whiskey, which provides agriculture bonuses, was removed from NPC merchants and its name was changed to Elven Brandy and added to all elf loot tables. Trout has also been removed from NPC merchants like all other common fish. NPC fisherman and fish stall merchants now also sell 4 decorative fish. The red and swirly decoration fish have been fixed and no longer appear sunken into the ground. Mutton Stew has been removed from all NPC merchants and now is only available through crafting. All 3 varieties of tavern, innkeeper and barmaid now sell the generic red wine, the generic ale, as well as the 7 bread type starter foods (which are used in several of the new cooking recipes as well as the bread ingredient). Base Damage Resistance for Epic Plate Gauntlets adjusted to 5 from 2. Large, Medium, and Small Ruins now accept decorations upon many surface areas. The 5 paintings used for turn-in on the positive and negative virtue quest lines have been removed from merchants in anticipation of improved rewards for these quests. Corrected the display name of Pristine Skeleton Rib Cage. The Faerie Belt is now marked as Premium and Protect from Ransom since it is a store item. Improved tooltip item description to all 6 public cache container types to indicate public cache permission settings on these items allow any player to take items from these containers. Decorated Cupcake now shows on eating progress bar and on buff icon tooltip instead of Dyeable Cupcake. Bass with Peppers now shows on eating progress bar and on buff icon tooltip instead of Sauteed Bass. Salt Cured Obsidian Pork renamed to Salt Cured Obsidian Boar to match the name of the recipe. Corrected Darkstarr Fried Oysters to use 3 flood slots instead of 1. Obsidian Bacon Recipe is no longer teachable. Salt Cured Obsidian Boar recipe has been added to cooking recipe merchants. Player Economy & Loot Changes: Deed limits for all NPC towns have been lifted. Previously players were limited to 3 lots in any non-Player-Owned Town per account, now players may settle anywhere as often as they like! Wyvern Haunches have been lowered in gold value. Many of the low tier purple wyverns at Wyvern’s Roost in the Well of Aldur have had their loot amounts reduced. High tier purple wyverns and all white wyverns remain unchanged. The Troll Toenails daily quest starting in Tenebris Harbor now also rewards 3 servings of Kobold Spirits. The Rune Bag daily quest in Yew now also rewards 3 servings of Elven Brandy. The Thick Animal Hide daily in Highvale Outskirts now also rewards 3 servings of Satyr Spirits. The Ghost Corpion now has a significant chance to drop a Common Focus Battery Artifact, and Ancient Essence, and a decent amount of Corpse Wax. Drop chances for crocodile carcasses has been significantly increased on T5 versions. Hemlock Borer now has lowered gold value, but now drops from T1 through T4 pine trees, and T8 and above nodes have increased drop chances for this item. Emerald Ash Borers now have lowered gold value, but have been added to loot tables for T1 to T4 maple trees and increased drop rates from high tier maple trees. Black Cutworm now has lowered gold value, but increased drop rates from Cotton Bushes, with higher drops present on high tier nodes. Beetle Carapace also now has an increased drop chance on high tier Cotton Bushes. Significantly increased chances for Common Heart’s of Vrul to drop in Daemon loot tables. Increased chances for Common, Uncommon, and even Rare drops of Anapa’s favor across the lich loot tables, with guaranteed chances for at least a common version on the Lich bosses such as the bosses in the Ruins of Ravensmoor. The recipe and blueprint for “Transition Stone Dungeon to Ancient Stone” have been moved to the Bookseller vendor. Also the recipe for “Tomb Dungeon Entrance” has been moved to the bookseller. Now all dungeon recipes that can be purchased with gold from NPC Merchants should be available on the bookseller merchant. Brown Cap Mushrooms and Cinammon Bark purchase prices from NPC merchants have been doubled. Possible removal from merchants will come with R89, likely accompanied by an increase in drop rates from their various loot sources. 18 produce items used in recipes yet grown via agriculture have had their NPC Merchant prices doubled and sale to NPC Merchants prices halved. In R89, all 18 of these items will be removed entirely from NPC merchants to encourage more agriculture use. Changed Artifact values to be 125, 500, 2000, 8000, and 16000 based upon being Common, Uncommon, Rare, Legendary, and Epic. Players will notice almost all Commons lowering in value significantly, and a good portion of Uncommons have dropped in value while others have increased in value. Lowered gold value of crafted artifact components as well, such as the rods and troll belt pieces, but increasing drop rates of these crafted artifact components was also implemented. Adjustments were made to artifact rarity especially in regards to the Common tier of artifacts. Future balance for all artifacts will be occurring throughout the next 2 releases, which will include a variety of power reductions and power increases. These changes will be accompanied by additional work related to how exceptionals function in crafting, new crafting components based from artifact salvage, new crafting components that are purely crafted from base resources, potential adjustments to many crafting components, and potential adjustments to the bonuses provided by the creation of the purely crafted base item (such as the initial weapon or piece of armor). The changes to the artifact drop rates and locations are as follows: Increased gem fragment drops on Envy Angel’s wisps, and add a slight chance for the Savage Sash of Swiftness to drop from them, and a larger chance for the common version of the Ring of the Deep Woods to drop. The Common Pirate Tricorn Hat of the Cap’n now has a much improved drop rate on the pirate captain in Tartarus, with a small chance to drop an uncommon or rare instead. Increased drop rates for the Envy Bow on Envy Angel. Also, she now has a much better chance to drop a common quiver, with a small chance for it to be an uncommon or rare version. Added the Common Ring of the Frogkin as an additional reward for completing the repeatable Ecology Researcher quest. Added Common Ring of Life as an additional reward to Hyun’s daily in Necropolis Barrens. Added the Common Ring of Cat’s Grace to the daily quest in Ardoris (5 Paintings) with Caravaggios Wolf as an additional reward. Added the following Common version artifacts to the 4 dailies in Lord British’s Castle: Ring of Jones, Belt of the Brutal Butcher, Belt of the Patient Harvester, and Ring of Chrysopoeia. Added Common Necklace of Civility as an additional reward for completing the repeatable Pilgrim Untimely Demise quest. Added Common Ring of Death to as an additional reward to the Arch Lapin Bones daily quest. Added Common Belt of the Ox as an additional reward to the Tanglemire Missing Bones daily. Added Common Ring of Water to water and ice elemental loot tables, with increased drop chances for higher tier mobs. Common Daemon Trident has been added to Daemon loot tables. They now have a much larger chance to drop the common version of the trident, though an uncommon or rare version could drop instead at a much lower rate. Common version of the Shield of the Wicked King has been added to all Cabalist loot tables, with a significant chance to drop. Added Common Shard of Night as a slight drop chance in the 9 hidden chests in Hilt Fortress. Also added a common version of this artifact as an additional daily reward to Skarde’s runestone daily in Spindelskog. Added Common Ancient Two-Handed Sword to loot tables of Kobold fighters, with higher tiers having improved drop rates. The Spider Queen in Spectral Peaks now has a greatly increased chance to drop a Staff of Xen, with a Common, Uncommon, or Rare version being possible. Added Common Two-Handed Mace of Unsummoning to Satyr fighter loot tables, will increasing chances with higher tiers. Also added this common version of the artifact to the “Repair the Spirit Wheel” daily in Tanglemire as an additional reward. Added Common Crossbow of Accuracy to Kaiser’s dragon tooth daily in Ulfheim as an additional reward. Added Common Shield of Attraction to loot tables of non-pirate skeleton warriors, with higher tiers having increased chances to drop. Also added this common artifact to daily rewards for turning in the siege encounter Arcane Catalysts daily. Added Common Vexlyn’s Ember of Conflagaration as an additional rare drop amongst Cabalist loot. Added Common Thunder Branch to Air Elemental loot tables, with higher tiers receiving increased chances. Added chance for Common Wand of Undying Embers to drop from Xavara and T15 Fire Elementals. Added Common Wand of Static Discharge to pirate caster loot tables, with higher tier receiving increased chances. Added Common Sword of Speed to Ebon Dawn melee loot, with higher tiers having increased chances. Also, the repeatable Bounty quest available in roaming encounters now offers a common version of this artifact as an additional reward. Added Common Cutlass of the Swashbuckler to higher tier melee pirates loot tables, with the higher tiers having improved chances. Also, the Broochash criminal-requested shakedown daily quest now provides the common cutlass as a daily reward. Added Common Thimble of Evelyn to Elven Archer loot tables, with higher tiers having a greater chance. Also added this ring to the daily rewards for the Sven the Hunter/Animal Hide daily in Highvale Outskirts. Added Common Ring of Sun to Phoenix loot tables to drop at a significant rate. Also, a Phoenix will now always drop 1-2 talons. Also, the drop rates for the Ankh of Wala on the Phoenix have been increased, and a small chance to receive an uncommon and rare instead have been added. Added Common Maple Band to plant creature loot tables (primarily PvP zone creatures). Also added this ring to Reaper loot tables at a smaller chance. Also, 1 of these rings can be obtained daily by completing a daily quest in Yew where Pendro wants a Boundless Forest Rune Bag. Added Common Pax Ring as a reward for the Tenebris Harbor Troll Toenail daily quest. Added Common Ring of the Mouse to all Faun loot tables, with higher tiers having an increased chanced. Also, the daily quest in Ardoris (5 Paintings) with Stephanie Broadmeadow will award a Common Ring of the Mouse each day. Increased drop rate of Common Ring of the Obsidian on tier 15 fire elemental bosses, now also with lesser chances for an uncommon or rare instead. Also, added a slight drop chance for this ring amongst the 9 hidden chests throughout Hilt Fortress. Added Common Ring of the Moon to Shadow animal loot tables. Also added this ring to the daily rewards in Elder Bodil’s quest in Tanglemire which takes players to Spindelskog. Added Common Ring of Life to Destructible Crate loot tables, and added one as an additional reward to Esmerelda’s tea leaf daily in Highvale Outskirts. Common Ring of the Lich Kind added to loot tables for Lich casters, higher tiers having better chances. Most lich boss casters have a good chance for a common, with a slight chance for an uncommon. Corrected display names for the upgrade recipes for this ring. Common Ring of the Gambler added to loot tables for all tiers of melee pirates with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Frogkin added to loot tables for all tiers of fungus creatures with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Green ones have a slightly elevated chance. The high tier ones in PvP zones have the best chance. Common Ring of Fire added to loot tables for all tiers of Fire Elementals and Xavara with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Earth added to loot tables for all tiers of Sand, Earth, and Lava Elementals with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of the Deep Woods added to loot tables for all tiers of Wisps. Common Ring of Death added to loot tables for all tiers of Skeleton casters with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of the Cuttlekin added to loot tables for all tiers of Barrel Mimic with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Jones added to loot tables for commoner corpses, barrels, and sacks. Common Ring of Chrysopoeia added to loot tables of all tiers of Kobold Grenadier with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Cat’s Grace added to loot tables for all tiers of Clockwork Cats with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Brittle Brawn added to loot tables of all tiers of Obsidian Golems with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Also, additional Obsidian Chips now drop from Obsidian Golems. Common Wayland’s Loop added to loot tables of all tiers of Kobold melee (non-brawlers) with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Air added to loot tables of all tiers of air elementals with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common and Rare Lavalliere of the Lagomorph has been added to the Death Bunny Loot table. Each kill will always provide 1 version of the artifact, with a small perccent chance the version will be uncommon or rare. Common Focus Battery Necklace added to ghost loot tables, with increased chances given to higher tier ghosts. Also, T5 and above ghosts will drop increasingly additional amounts of Corpse Wax. Also, T5 and above ghosts now have a small chance to drop an ancient essence. Common Necklace of Civility now has a small chance to drop in destructible crates and guard corpses. Also, the Adventure Level Buff has been removed and replaced with +50, +100, +150, +200, +250 health and focus for Common through Epic. Common Necklace of Common Precision added to loot tables of all tiers of pirate archers with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Halberd of the Sun added to loot tables of all tiers of melee bandits (to include Red Sash), which are T5 and below. Any bandits using a Bandit Leader loot table receive a significantly higher chance to drop a the common as well. Adventure scene mountain trolls can now drop Common versions of The Ring of an Unknown BMC Member at a significant rate, and the uncommon version will drop slightly more often. Common and Uncommon Zombie Skin Belt drops more regularly from the high tier zombies such as the slow walking ones in Tartarus. Common Zombie Skin Belts now also have a slight chance to drop from all zombies. The Creepy Dolly now drops more regularly from zombie children. Common Spider Silk Belt has 100% chance to drop from the Spider Queen in Spectral Peaks with small chances for an Uncommon or Rare. All other T15 spiders have a small chance to also drop the common Spider Silk Belt. Venom, Spider Silk, Eyes, Legs now have increased drop rates on high tier spiders. Common Savage Sash of Swiftness added to low tier Wisp Loot tables to drop at slight chance. Increased chances for Savage Sash of Swiftness to drop from high tier Wisps in Tartarus. Common Slipshod Shooter’s Sash added to loot tables of all tiers of Ebon Dawn Archers with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Sage’s Sash added to loot tables of all tiers of Elven casters with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Belt of the Patient Harvester added to loot tables of all tiers of Fauns with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Belt of the Ox added to loot tables of all tiers of Kobold Brawler with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Belt of the Brutal Butcher added to loot tables of all tiers of Barbarian Archers with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Gauntlets of Lead added to loot tables of all tiers of Satyr Warriors with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Supple Gloves of Riding added to loot tables of all tiers of Nightmares and Unicorns with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Spurred Boots added to loot tables of all tiers of Nightmares and Unicorns with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Common Ring of Wisdom added to loot tables of all tiers of Satyr casters with increased drop rates on higher tiers. Ringmaster’s Vest removed from the single Lich Archer loot table it was available in, and added to the loot tables of all Destroyer animals at a larger drop rate. Added all rod pieces for Staff of Death to all Lich caster loot tables, with varying chance based upon tier of Lich. Rod 1 was removed from Daemon loot tables. Rod pieces also drop from 3 varieties of supply bundles (Yellow, Blue, Orange), which have not been adjusted. Glowing Belt Buckle and Strip of Thick Troll Skin removed from Reaper loot tables, added to all troll loot tables at various drops rates depending upon the tier of the troll. Added all rod pieces for Staff of Anarchy to Daemon loot tables. Rod 1 was already available on T15 Daemons, which has received an increased drop rate in line with the other additions. Rod pieces also drop from 3 varieties of supply bundles (Yellow, Blue, Orange), which have not been adjusted. Combat, Skills & Balance Changes: The formula for calculating melee damage has been changed to use a bit more skill and stats for the calculation and a bit less weapon damage. Savage Sonata has had it’s critical hit effects tuned down. All bard skills are at 100% experience return on unlearning. Backing our the focus regen changes for shield of air for now Ring of fire cast time has increased by 0.5 seconds Fireball cast time has increased by 0.5 seconds Base focus cost increased from 12 to 15 for multishot Shield of Air adjustment to reduce dex effect. Previously the calculation was based on Skill Level + dex/5. This is now based on Skill Level + dex/6. Shield of air will get a major refactor in R89 Damage in PVP is now on a slight curve. Hits up to 50 points will do slightly more than previous releases and hits over 50 will do slightly less. The math for how much focus a skill costs based on skill level and effect has been increased slightly. This will only be noticeable in the 100+ range The bonus from Fire Proof and Blue Blooded have been doubled The speed at which free attacks charge has been made slightly faster but the extra damage each tick adds has been decreased slightly. The expected result is roughly the same DPS but with a lower max hit. All Ranged Combat, Fire Magic, Bard, Air Magic skills allow for 100% XP return during the month of Release 88. Combat movement speed has been reduced slightly. Atonal Aria, Ice Field, Immolation, and Ring of Fire can no longer critically hit on the first tick of their damage-over-time effect. Psalm of Stagnation now uses the correct icon. Psalm of Stagnation no longer has a chance to fizzle. World, Quests, and Miscellaneous Changes: The oceans and lakes of Novia are no longer Green. By player request, we’ll work on decorations for governors to place to let them change their water color. We’re behind on providing the weather changing decorations for Player-Owned Towns, but those should hopefully arrive in R89. Owlshead: NPC’s have been moved away from player lots so they harass players less while their at home. Fall damage has been adjusted to be far more forgiving especially for new players. Level of Detail for the Lord British throne has been adjusted so it doesn’t vanish at an inappropriate distance. A large number of the log errors in towns have been fixed to help improve performance and stability. A version of dungeon stairs now has the proper material applied. Collision on stairs in the Lost Vale have been fixed. The leaderboards have been fixed again! With the introduction of ambient sound effect decorations, the Crown Store is now capable of providing audio previews of these items. Hidden Vale: Removed access to POT The Fields of Misery from old location near West Ravenswood. Fixed a stuck spot in The Crags. Norgard Fens: Fixed an issue where a tree was floating above the ground. Lost Vale: Adjusted the collision for stairs near the center of the scene. Mysterious Swamp: Fixed an issue where the tier marker ribbons weren’t attached to the spikes. Sequanna Colossus: Corrected oversized and undersized ore nodes. Taenby Landing and all PRTs: Added discoverable entrances for all PRTs. Spite: Added a daily repeatable quest that allows players to turn in the “Burial Coffin” item for 3 Elixirs of Potency, a new unique potion only offered in this questline which provide 5% increased consumable effects. Necropolis Barrens: As a daily “quest,” Davropos the master trainer will request a dead body from experienced avatars or those who already have a dead body in their inventory. This quest provides 3 Elixirs of Longevity, a new unique potion only offered in this questline which provides 15% increased consumable duration. Blood River Outskirts: Updated text in the “Deliver Evidence to Bearfield” and “Give Phineas the Warrant” (formerly “Serve the Warrant”) journal entries. Solace Bridge Outskirts: Updated some of Kinsey’s responses to better account for her giving players the “Caregiver” title. Added a couple of climbable vines along the river. Solace Bridge Outskirts: Update the method by which the “Kinsey Needs Your Help” task auto-archives if the task remains lingering after completing. Ardoris: Fixed an issue with Damai’s responses that was causing a build error. Norgard Fens: Adjusted a rock to remove a stuck spot. Northwest Blackblade Mountains: Removed collision from the dangling “glow worms” prop and re-generated the path grid. Ardoris: Fixed a typo in Damai’s respones. Music: Added additional background music selections to several scenes. Solace Bridge Outskirts: Adjusted one of the exit archways to avoid blocking players who were trying to exit from some directions. Malice: Added safeguards in Malice to prevent players within the wrong quest stage from advancing prematurely and blocking their progress in the main storylines. Highvale Outskirts: Reduced the size of Phineas Drumplemouth’s walking path to be closer to his tent. Updated his early “hello” response to mention the “help” and “elf” keywords. Battle of Highvale: Added a safety feature to help ensure the “Find Word of Nena’s Charges” task archives even if the task lingers after completion. Soltown: Added a “safety” fix to Edwin’s “hello” response to help remove the “Create a Leather Helm” task if it lingers after completion. Seasonal Monsters: Envy Angel has been deactivated (in Necropolis Barrens) while the Arch Lapin has been activated (in Spectral Mines). Owl’s Head: Updated Myra’s special responses that occur if you badmouth her fish to better auto-archive the tasks related to her brother. Tanglemire: Fixed an issue where the “Deliver Wildflower” compass marker wasn’t appearing at Frida at the correct stage of the related quest. Soltown: Improved how Edwin the Tanner manages his crafting tutorial tasks. Well of Aldur: Moved 3 floating Aldurite Crystal formations to ground level. Updated the ambient wind sound effects. Tanglemire: Fixed an issue where some watery areas were too deep; all “shallow water” areas now share a consistent depth. Ruins of Ravensmoor: Updated the recommended tier for the “Find Roedberk’s Sarcophagus” task from 8 to 10. Ulfheim: Made adjustments to allow wave battles to reset when they aren’t engaged with any players Well of Aldur: Improved the safety feature for the “Get Professor Another Amulet” and “Deliver Amulets to Aeronaut?” tasks to help them auto-archive when appropriate. Elysium Mines: Adjusted a wooden barricade to allow players to walk through its large hole. Also, blocked a stuck-spot to one side of that barricade. Verdantis Mines: Fixed an issue with a silver ore node that couldn’t be mined. Daily Quest Rewards: Internal adjustment of daily quests has been implemented to make future work on these quest rewards more efficient. Lamech’s Bazaar: Fixed an issue where the difficulty teleporter wagon wouldn’t always display the alternate difficulty versions of the scene. Well of Aldur: Moved a treasure chest that was sunk into the ground to ground level. Sequanna Colossus: Fixed the collision on the statue of Sequanna and NPCs should no longer walk through its base. Ardoris: Fixed a typo in the journal for the shady art dealer. South Boundless Forest: Fixed a data mismatch which had Visna’s barks referring to herself as “himself.” Well of Aldur: Fixed an issue where the “Te amo in aeternum” amulet of testimony was linked to the incorrect content. Soltown: Added Hee-Jin Jun, a player vendor NPC, to the center of town. Initial updates to Brittany Graveyard has been implemented to create a Player Memorial Cemetery, with more updates to follow. Bug Brigade in-game titles have been adjusted for syntax. North Midmaer Way: An unreachable copper node has been fixed. Added and assigned a unique load screen to the Episode 2 Lord British’s Castle scene. Created a Crown Store sub-category for dungeon (adventure design) tagged store items in Recently Added so any new items with the Dungeon parent tag will show up in Recently Added as appropriate, such as the new sound effect player dungeon items. Added a note in each store entry for circling dragons to indicate they do not effectively function in cavern style Player-Owned Towns due to the altitude of flight. Lowered prices of the Ornate Public Cache Chest, the Resurrection Ankh, and the Resurrection Chaos items in the crown store. Added War Dance Emote to Crown Store Vault rotation. All dye store descriptions were updated to remove unnecessary verbiage from the web store transfer, and an explanation of how dyes function was added. Player-Owned Town Changes: POT Silverdale Estates: Renamed from Obsidian Market and biome changed to Grassland 01a from Forest 01c. POT Haven Ridge: Upgraded to Town from Crossroads Village. POT Lightbringer Isle: Upgraded to a Megalopolis. POT Victory Peaks: Added new Hamlet to Mistrendur, in the southeastern mountains of the western island. POT Freyr’s Town: Added new hamlet southeast of Brittany. POT Ironhall: Upgraded to Town from Crossroads Village. POT The Fields of Misery: Upgraded to City from Village. Moved to south shore of Hidden Vale, near Ravensmoor. Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, March 26th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1-hour livestream! To enter the prize drawings, type “spring has sprung” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT! Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!! Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShroudoftheAvatar/ Catnip Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/catnipgames Shroud of the Avatar Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudofAvatar Shroud of the Avatar Discord: https://discord.gg/GuBXakQ Support the Family of CatherineRose! Avatars! CatherineRose, a beloved member of our community, is going through troubling challenges as one of her family members is battling cancer. If you are able to, please lend their family support during these trying times. Even if you are not able to provide monetary assistance, providing well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers go a long way towards helping a family through such hardships. An auction run by the Aerie Fund is underway! Interested players can bid upon a Lord of the Isle Bundle in this forum thread. For more information about the auction fundraiser, please also see this thread. All proceeds will go towards the GoFundMe fundraiser supporting Wendy Barry’s fight with cancer. Also, Thradia with The Avatar Express, has posted information on the forums about portions of this fundraiser. Please see this forum thread for more details. New Store Additions: Shogun Armor, Pink Dyes, Ambient Sounds, & Holiday Items! Many new store items are coming your way in the month ahead! Keep an eye out each week as the following items become available in the Crown Store. Available today on March 25th, this amazing dyeable Shogun armor set with matching dyeable helms sold separately: Shogun Armor Set Shogun Armor Helm Shogun Armor Helm with Mask Shogun Armor Helm with Mask and Crescent Crest Shogun Armor Helm with Mask and Horns Shogun Armor Helm with Mask and Pronged Crest Becoming available on April 2nd, a giant rabbit animal spawner and a variety of pink dyes: Animal Spawner, Giant Brown Rabbit Magical Pink Glowing Pulse Dye 12-Pack Magical Pink Sparkle Dye 12-Pack Becoming available on April 9th, these ambient sound items which can only be placed in a basement or dungeon: Ambient Sound 3-Pack: Clock Ticking 1 Ambient Sound 3-Pack: Clock Ticking 2 Becoming available on April 16th, the “Dead Body, Elf Male 1” decoration which functions as a Public Cache Container: Becoming available on April 23rd, the Sparse Cherry Blossom Pavers set: The Spring Equinox celebration has arrived, and some St. Patrick’s Day items still have a chance to appear in the Vault! The rare spring items will remain on the store from March 26th until May 3rd and will appear in the Vault or in the Spring Equinox section of the store! All 3 St. Patrick’s Day items could appear in the Vault anytime between now and April 30th! Bunny Ears & Slippers Set Decorative Dyeable Egg Pack Flower Crown Flower Emote Flowerleap Emote Lepus Mask 2017 Lepus Mask 2018 Rabbit Tailed Bodice Ensemble Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2016 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2017 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2018 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2019 Silver & Gold Lepus Mask Spring Fountain w/ Floating Candles White Lepus Mask Leprechaun Hat Pot o’ Gold Garden Leprechaun With the recent changes to the frequency of update publications, we will no longer be providing details each week about what’s arrived in the Crown Store Vault, but we have prepared a forum post showing all possible items which could appear throughout the year! April Login Reward: Magical Pink Glowing Dye 12-Pack! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of April, and you’ll receive a Magical Glowing Pink Dye 12-Pack! With other pink dyes becoming available during April, what better way to show dress for Spring-time festivities than to sport some vibrant pink clothing! Release 88 Rewards Program Login Items: Ancient Xenossian Chest Armor, Cherry Blossom Pavers, Cherry Blossom Dress! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 88 are simply fantastic this round — you don’t want to miss out on these! Reward Program members must login during Release 88 to receive these login items: Ancient Xenossian Plate Chest Armor Cherry Blossom Pavers Cherry Blossom Dress The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following: 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month) Exclusive Title every 3 months 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith 6 Months: Keeper of the Word 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including: Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program! Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I! Phase I: Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply. Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar. Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual. Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come). Rules: To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application. To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program. Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program. Items of Note: SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord. Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material. Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them! Bug Brigade & Testing Directives! The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched. The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums. As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels! In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action! The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives. Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team! Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows: Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter” Single Ant Cloak Lady Bug Backpack Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids” Ant Farm Insect Leg Table Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles” Bug Painting B Bug Sprayer Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths” Butterfly Chair Corpion Chair (Pictured Below) Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies” Hacked Oracle Flyer Giant Blue Butterfly Pet Butterfly Mask Dragonfly pet Fairy Wings Monarch Butterfly Pet Dragonfly Wings Hacked Oracle Crawler Blue Butterfly VFX Orange Fireflies VFX Orange Butterfly VFX If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums. Upcoming Release Dates Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2021 Release Schedule is as follows: Release 89 (Content) – Apr 29 Release 90 (Polish) – May 27 Release 91 (Content) – Jun 24 Community Updates & Resources Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums: Catnip Games Contests: Catnip Games Monthly Fishing Tourney: Greetings Anglers! The monthly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! Join in on the fun! SO many prizes available for the anglers of New Britannia! Catnip Games Monthly Screenshot/Video Contest: Avatars! For those of you skilled with the camera or screenshot key binding, a monthly screenshot and video contest is underway which features a large number of valuable prizes. The focus will be for players to submit creative or informative screenshots and videos of content introduced to the game during the latest 3 monthly releases. Catnip Games Monthly Treasure Hunting Contest: Want to go hunting for rare items? Want to see if you can beat other players in this quest for treasure? Well join in on the monthly treasure hunting contest, Avatars! Special Announcements: Black Sails Says Goodbye to Boris Mondragon: The role-players and story writers of the Black Sails saga invite you all to bid farewell to their leader, Boris Mondragon. Please stop by and share your thoughts. One-Time Events: Mysteria Fishing Contest: Join the governor, stewards, and residents of Mysteria for a fishing contest on March 26th through April 30th! Lots of great prizes and fun! Avatar Express Spotlight – Ironhall: Head on over to The Avatar Express to check out the latest town spotlight for Ironhall! Such a fantastic town and a fantastic read! Avatar Express Spotlight – Phoenix Haven: Don’t miss out on reading a recent and insightful spotlight for the wonderful Player-Owned Town of Phoenix Haven. Thank you Thradia and the journalists of The Avatar Express! Recent Beat of Novia Episode: If you missed her latest streams, check out Alleine Dragonfyre’s latest “Beat of Novia “episode! Recurring Events: Combat & Crafting Sunday School: Head on over to Immortal City every Sunday from 7PM to 9PM CT to learn the tricks of the trade in combat and crafting! 500 Crown Fishy Prize: If you’re ever worried there isn’t an active fishing contest going on, well worry no longer! Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “bagged” link provided to see the full explanation of the contest rules. Islands of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest: Don’t miss out on more prizes with this monthly fishing contest in Isle of Wonders! Good luck, Anglers! RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe and trade chat this weekend! Asmodi M’hul will be announcing at least one pop up fishing contest for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun! Don’t miss out! Lightbringer Isle Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Lightbringer Isle welcome you to the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Lightbringer Isle’s market being the perfect place to do so! Join us every Sunday at 2PM CT! New Fan Fiction: Dying for a Drink: Womby is back, Avatars! And his quill is in hand and already hitting the parchment. Please take some time to enjoy the first post in his new thread in the Library forums. Horror Stories 2: Asclepius has done it YET again, Avatars! The DJ extraordinaire has created another amazing oration of Shroud of the Avatar fan fiction, this time the second chapter of a work written by Fetid SirDidy. Check this out as well as other fantastical orations at TheCaverns.Net! SotA Horror Fiction, The Home on Spectral Peaks: Fetid SirDidy already has another chapter available for the SotA Horror Fiction saga. Check out his latest! Black Rose Chronicles 13: Another fan fiction oration is available from TheCaverns.Net! This piece has been narrated by Joline Sedai! Please take some time to thank Belladonna Rose and the Echoes from the Caverns team for this fantastic community endeavor. Check this out as well as other fantastical orations at TheCaverns.Net! The Ebon Viper – Book II: Blaquerogue has shared another chapter of Ebon Viper’s fictional journey throughout New Britannia. Give it a read and Blaquerogue a thank you for sharing another great literary work! New Community Resources: Dragon Slayer Leaderboard: Tirrag has created a fun website that tracks the players with the most kills for dragons! Be sure to give him a thank you for his hard work, and head on over to see the current dragon slayer leaders! SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better! SOTAPrices.com: Join Shawn in his latest endeavor to create a price hunting application and website for Shroud of the Avatar merchants and shoppers! Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun! One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these! Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones. Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum. Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum. Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out! Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out! Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play. Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community. SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars! Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Comic lovers of New Britannia! Rosemary Price has published a variety of Shroud of the Avatar themed comics which are available on Amazon! These highly entertaining works are a must have for any collector. So far, 5 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve Amanita’s Adventures: Red Ruby Amanita’s Adventures: Billy Please give Rosemary a.k.a. Amanita Phalloides a big show of appreciation for her hard work and dedication to the community. Happy reading, Avatars! Project to Support: Shard RPG Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad. Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals. Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character! Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah! So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG! Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming! Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:  The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game: More Enemies! More Environments! More Magic Spells! RPG Quests! Weapon Forging and Crafting! Much, much more! If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available! Project to Support: Dragon Fight Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey: Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you Using a sword and a shield Fire! Nowhere to run! This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam! Project to Support: Avatar Express [Forum post by Vladamir Begemot] I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site. If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening. You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like. Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game. It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts! So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us! Resources: Players Helping Players The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website. Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community. View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a couple more wonderful horror stories from Fetid SirDidy. Background music by Smartsound. “Harvest Night” A dull hum was all he heard, and what he saw was a fiery sky. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. The sky was painted with brush strokes of orange and red and brown. Leaves of the same color fell all around him, and he danced as they did. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. He saw his father’s hands, blistered and raw. He saw his mother’s apron, tattered and stained. He saw the local magistrate bray and scorn, and he saw the local boys and girls laugh and mock. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. He saw the tall grass swaying in the wind. He saw the shadows of the windmills walking across the ridge. He felt the House on the Hill scream as it lay still. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. He saw the sun dip down. He saw the darkness swallow everything around. He walked toward the House as if bound. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. He stood before the mold soaked door. He pressed damp wood with trembling hands. He stood on a threshold staring into an infinite dark. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. He froze. A voice in the void whispered, but Wilhelm could not hear because he was deaf. He cried out. He knew it called out for them, but they could not hear because he was mute. He watched as the local boys and girls moved past him. They entered the darkness and were never heard from again. Wilhelm Santree was deaf and mute but he could still see. A dull hum was all he heard, and what he saw was a fiery sky. “Arrow Black” The boy died on a Tuesday. The arrow that pierced his skull was fletched on a Wednesday but this was of no importance to anyone other than Rolf. Rolf stared at his breakfast. Two eggs, a slice of bread, and a glass of Ardoran orange juice. The eggs were runny, the bread stale, and the orange juice acidic. The same breakfast Rolf had eaten since being stationed here; 127 days and counting. 127 days. 127 nights in this god forsaken city. Rolf sat in the guard tower, hen feathers in right hand and wood shaft in his left as he skillfully assembled his object of destruction. In his minds eye he saw Tanya’s boy, Thomas Cumpston, and he shuddered as he imagined the light in the boy being snuffed out. Rolf put the arrow down and clenched his hands. Closed fists, open fists, closed fists. He dipped fingers into a small bowl of ashen paste and spread it along the shaft of the arrow he had just created. The bolt blackened. Rolf became darker. The iron head of the Black Arrow glistened in the early morning light. It’s target, a young Thomas Cumpston gleefully strode across the square. Rolf loosed the arrow and relished in the inevitability that followed; a symphony of screams. Echoes From the Caverns The post Horror Stories 2 – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

This is Black Rose Chronicles 13, by Belladonna Rose, narrated by Joline Sedai. Background music by Smartsound. Visiting the various shops in Crossroads she made her way to the docks and spoke to the town crier who told her she could take a wagon or walk up the road a bit to get back to the main roadways. She decided to take the wagon. Once back on the road she looked out over the hillside and there near the coastline was a huge metropolis of buildings. The one in the center was very fancy looking. Walking down and bidding good day to those she passed she reached the gates of the city. Over the gate was a sign. Central Brittany. This must be where this Lord British fellow lives. Smiling she started towards the gate where one of the guards stopped her. He asked her name and her business and was a rather rude sort but she answered his questions. Once she gave her name and told him she was an Avatar he immediately saluted and offered to open the gate. Before she could step through someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. The lady seemed quite pleasant and very enthusiastic. She started going on about the Hidden Vale and how lovely and secluded it was there. Explaining that there was plenty of adventuring to do there and even some towns to call home. Pulling Bella towards the docks she pointed to the large ship and explained that this ship would take her to the Hidden Vale if she decided to take a look. Then she patted Bella on the shoulder smiled and walked away. Shaking her head at the lady who was waving to everyone she passed Bella decided she would take a look around Central Brittany first. The city was massive and there were a variety of homes throughout the streets. Some fancy some not so much. Would prove to show who had and had not. Finally making her way to the docks she asked about for the boat to this Hidden Vale. The few dock workers were kind enough to point in the right direction and she once again on her way. It was nice to set foot on the deck of a ship even though it was a small vessel. After about an hour or so the bells on the ship deck chimed alerting all that they were setting sail. It was coming up close to dusk and she hoped it would not land them on shore after dark. That was always the one thing she hated about sailing. Coming into port in the dark. Although most of her arrivals were of that kind it still gave her an odd feeling. She had had many altercations with other ship captains and even authorities when she made landfall. Either to rob her, investigate her cargo or to just out right arrest her. The latter was more common though. Shaking her head and laughing to herself she thought back to many of those times. “You transport one bad shipment and they always think you are up to no good.” As the ship entered the harbor she looked out over the prow to see the upcoming town come into view. It was not what she had expected. Ramshackle buildings and a few folk wandering about. Not what she would think of being a port town for sure. As they set anchor at the docks she started down the plank to the landing. Many of the buildings she could see had been boarded up and the town looked like it had and was having a rough time of it. Stepping up the rickety walk there were several boats anchored there. A few to different towns and such. But not the hustle and bustle that would normally be seen at a port town. Sadness seemed to steep into her veins the further she walked. Most of the folk here were ragged and tattered. An old man approached and she tossed him a coin. Smiling his toothy smile he thanked her and went towards what looked like an inn. She followed him and went inside. This was not what she expected but it would do for now. Sitting at a table a barmaid came by and told her what they had on hand and she ordered the meager meal and a tankard of ale. Hopefully one of the two would be good. Wiping the crumbs off the table she looked about. No one really noticeable to the likes of anyone in charge of a port town. After a bit the girl came back and set a average sized tankard down and smiled. “Food will be around in a bit love. Its not been too busy today so having to scrap up a decent meal fer ya.” Belladonna smiled back and took a swig of the ale. Not too bad she thought. She tried listening to the folk about town and heard names barked out of the surrounding area. Alot of hushed talk about the undead and such. Typical talk she had heard on her travels there. She heard a bit of chatter about the sewers being haunted here and in Owl’s Head. About missing folk from Braemar and about some bad goings on in the Owl’s Nest Mines. Shaking her head she thought that this place was just as riddled with bad things as the rest of the world. Moments later the girl returned with a platter of assorted dried meats, cheeses and vegetables. Nary a fruit to be seen. Once she found a place and set down some roots she was for sure going to plant her some fruit trees if she could find the seeds and any other things she could grow. Her cousin, Aletta would be so pleased to hear that Bucaneer Bella was thinking of becoming a farmer. Biting into a crusted piece of bread from another platter she laughed at herself. That would be a different thing to do for sure. Farming. Goodness gracious how she had fallen. As she continued with her meal she listened to some conversation amongst the patrons. Even enjoyed a lively tune being sung by a gentleman wearing tattered and worn clothing. Seemed to her that most all the folk in this town had once seen better days. Ragged and faded and weathered faces but all still willing to continue on with life. That to her was a good sign. At least they hadnt given up just yet. As she finished her meal she lay some coin on the table..walked over to the minstrel and tossed him a coin and made for the back door. The alley was dim but not yet dark as it was still pretty early in the day. Many market tents were set up and she could see that some folks had found a way to make some sort of living. There was a nice man with a fish cart. A tailor selling bolts of fabric. And even a vegetable cart. She walked over to the man and asked if he carried seeds for planting. He smiled a toothy grin and told her he had several seeds for planting depending on what she wanted. She asked about fruit trees and he laughed and said yes but unless she was willing to set down roots somewhere there was no point in trying that. Said it takes a bit for them trees to grow and even in the soil around these parts they wont get too big. She smiled and told him she would keep that in mind. Further up the alleyway she found an alchemist wagon. The lady was kind and gentle and offered many potions for various ailments. She would keep her in mind for later as well. Although Bella knew a bit about alchemy from her cousin Pol. She continued on up to a stone bridge and stood there looking out at the harbor. Again she found herself whisked away to another time and place. She thought of her cousins, Aletta, Pol and Katrina and wondered if they were worried about her. She thought too of her sisters, Crimson and Scarlet and what they might be up to. With a sigh she walked over the bridge and saw a gate leading out of town. There were still a few hours of daylight left. She might as well make the most of it. Echoes From the Caverns The post Black Rose Chronicles 13 – by Belladonna Rose – narrated by Joline Sedai appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Significant changes to the Crafting System have been implemented! Players can now enjoy increased success and exceptional chances during crafting! The recently announced food and drink changes are live as of Release 87. Every food and drink consumable now has a specific purpose and each is scaled and balanced with all foods and drinks available. Also, 23 additional food recipes will arrive to the game for Release 88. For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: News Announcements Crafting System Changes! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! Weekly Update & Release Cycle Changes! Food & Drink Revamp! Additional Game Updates! New Store Additions: Circling Dragons, String Lights, Ambient Sounds, & Holiday Items! March Login Reward: Ceiling Green Paper Lantern String 3-Pack! R87 Rewards Program Login Items: Starrbot Emote, Smoke Chaos Emote, Plumed Plate Helm! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Community Events & Resources Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Crafting System Changes! Crafters of New Britannia, take heed! Significant changes to crafting have occurred which will change the frequency of exceptional/critical results! Some of the upcoming changes to salvage are also explained below: Crafting success chance maximum has increased from 95% to 100%. Exceptional/Critical chance maximum has increased from 33% to 50%. Grandmasters now receive a bonus to Exceptional/Critical chance! This means having skills above 100 will continue to add to Exceptional/Critical chances up to the new maximum of 50% even when your base success chance has already maxed at 100%. One decimal point of precision is now displayed for each percentage. A variety of engraving kits have received stat improvements which will provide increased success chances to some crafting skills such as Agriculture, Alchemy, Butchery, Cooking, Smelting, Tanning, Textiles, and Fishing. Background work for improving salvage has begun, although these changes are not yet ready for player consumption. Players can expect GREATLY improved component “drop rates” from salvage in the future, though the gold values of components received from salvage will be reduced proportionally. Once this work is completed, more details will be revealed. These changes will enable subsequent development work such as increasing the number of items that can be salvaged, and improving what components are obtained when artifacts are salvaged. The aforementioned salvage changes will be tentatively applied throughout R88 and R89. We hope you enjoy these crafting improvement items. Many more changes to crafting are inbound throughout the year, so keep your crafting tools at the ready, Avatars! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, February 26th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a community 1-hour livestream! To enter the prize drawings, type “love is in the air” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On store. Please submit questions into Twitch Chat by inserting !question at the beginning of your text. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4 PM CT! Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!! Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShroudoftheAvatar/ Catnip Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/catnipgames Shroud of the Avatar Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudofAvatar Shroud of the Avatar Discord: https://discord.gg/GuBXakQ Support the Family of CatherineRose! Avatars! CatherineRose, a beloved member of our community, is going through troubling challenges as one of her family members is battling cancer. If you are able to, please lend their family support during these trying times. Even if you are not able to provide monetary assistance, providing well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers go a long way towards helping a family through such hardships. An auction run by the Aerie Fund is underway! Interested players can bid upon a Lord of the Isle Bundle in this forum thread. For more information about the auction fundraiser, please also see this thread. All proceeds will go towards the GoFundMe fundraiser supporting Wendy Barry’s fight with cancer. Also, Thradia with The Avatar Express, has posted information on the forums about portions of this fundraiser. Please see this forum thread for more details. Weekly Update & Release Cycle Changes! Through the years, Shroud of the Avatar has maintained an incredibly ambitious Weekly Update and Monthly Release schedule. Now, with 87 Releases behind us, ALL of which were published on-time, the development team has decided to greatly change how we provide game update information to players in an effort to free up more developer time for tasks which improve the game itself. In the past, the team size was much larger, and therefore more members were available to work administrative tasks such as customer support, community management, and providing game update information. Now that each developer is also capable of working on in-game improvements, content, and bug fixes, we’re changing how we provide information to the players to free up developer time for additional game development. With this in mind, these are some of the changes players can expect going forward: Weekly Updates: We no longer will be providing Weekly Updates. Most, if not all of the new game content advertised in these updates were previews of what was to arrive in the upcoming Release, which would later be duplicated in the monthly Release Notes. Even though players can expect occasional singular articles to be published throughout the month as the need arises, large amounts of developer time will become available for higher priority tasks that impact actual gameplay since we are not spending time providing duplicated information. Monthly Releases: Our monthly release schedule will continue, however we’ll be alternating what is provided by utilizing what we refer to as a “tick-tock” concept. The upcoming release for R88 will be a “tick” and primarily feature game polish, fixes, and improvements, while the following release will be a “tock” and feature more new game content. The polish month (tick) will feature highly abbreviated Release Notes, while the content month (tock) will feature more robust Release Notes similar to what has been provided up to this day. Patch Notes: To help players visualize what has changed in the game, improvements have been made to our methods for providing updates to the Patch Notes page. Since our work submittals already feature an internal requirement to describe the submittal, an automated method has been devised to export this data into a document that we can routinely paste into the page. As we continue to enhance this process, expect the notes to improve as the developers become accustomed to formatting their submittal descriptions in a more visually appealing and informative fashion. Community Events: Traditionally, we’ve spotlighted community events in our Weekly and Release Updates, which will be discontinued after this edition of the Release Notes. In the future, if we spot any new events posted by players in the event forums, we will instead post information about these events directly into the Upcoming Events page as we spot them shortly after the event ad was created by the player. Crown Store Articles: In the future, all New Store Addition articles will forecast the upcoming store items for the entire upcoming month. The current Vault items will no longer be advertised since the process is fully randomized and automatically occurs on a weekly basis. However, if players would like to see a full list of what could appear in the Vault throughout the year, we’ve recently provided this listing which will be updated as new items are added to the Vault rotation. Stream Schedule: NO CHANGES! We’ll continue to provide the Community Livestreams on our Twitch Channel on a weekly basis (sometimes more often), and we hope these streams continue to improve as we enhance our methods of sharing information. By freeing up this additional time, we very much hope players enjoy the increased amount of content, fixes, and improvements arriving in the future. We will continue to make improvements to this new version of information sharing, and we’re happy to take feedback at any time about the information we share. So much more to come, Avatars! Food & Drink Revamp! For the virtual food and drink lovers in Shroud of the Avatar, a robust update to food and drink buffs has arrived! Through the years and prior to the introduction of the food channel system, many food and drink recipes have entered into the game, much of which did not feature significantly unique purposes or stats, or as the game progressed and players became more powerful, many of the low level foods quickly lost purpose. Eventually, players only expressed interest in a small portion of the food and drink recipes available. Well, all that has changed, gourmets of New Britannia! A revamp of nearly all food and drink buffs has arrived for Release 87! With this update, an extensive effort has been made to provide a unique and specific purpose to every food recipe. Taking full advantage of the food buff channel system, buffs will now be completely related and balanced to how many buff slots the consumed food occupies. Standardized buff durations will be implemented based upon the slots occupied, and standardized regeneration rates will also be provided across the spectrum. Many buff categories will have at least 3 versions of the buff in amounts relative to the slots occupied, while other buff categories might only have a single offering. For buff durations, most foods now feature either 1-hour, 2-hour, or 4-hour durations based upon the slots they occupy. Some older, powerful foods (e.g. Dragon Stew, Troll Spare Ribs, and Spicy Phoenix Bites) may deviate from this change and retain their larger durations. Food buffs will occupy one or more slots within the corresponding channel: 1-slot foods (other than starter foods) will last up to 1 hour, 2-slot foods will last 2 hours, and 3-slot foods will last 4 hours (to provide a bit of extra duration for those looking forward to a longer play session). Having useful and scaled buffs attached to 1-channel and 2-channel foods will provide players expecting a shorter play session far more options in which foods they ingest Similarly, regeneration rates will be greatly standardized. A variety of foods are now categorized as defensive, and provide regeneration rates benefiting health over focus, while other foods are categorized as offensive and benefit focus regeneration more so than health regeneration. Of course, players can mix and match their food intake to provide any variation of buff balancing, so there is no requirement for a player to eat all defensive foods or all offensive foods. Mixing and matching is certainly allowable and encouraged. 6 foods are now also provided that feature increased regen rates as their primary function, so if players would prefer higher amounts of regeneration, they’ll have 1, 2, and 3 slot foods of both offensive and defensive varieties to incorporate into their buff choices. With standardized concepts in mind, players will likely only need to consider the unique stats the food provides when shopping or crafting, since regeneration and flat rate health and focus provisions are uniform based upon the number of slots the consumable utilizes. In the same fashion, each food now provides standardized amounts of additional health and focus. Defensive foods provide +25, +50, or +75 additional health depending upon the slots occupied, and offensive foods provide those same numbers to focus based upon the slots occupied. Also, 6 foods provide additional amounts of health and focus as their primary purpose, with 3 for health and 3 for focus being available and to scale with the number of slots occupied. Players have also come to know that a significant number of crafted foods were also available as loot or can be purchased at an NPC food merchant. All of these items have been removed from merchants and loot to ensure crafting or trade between players is the sole source for every crafted food. Starter foods have been notoriously useless since their buff durations were so miniscule (1 to 15 minute buffs usually), and their buffs provided little meaning to gameplay. Now, 8 starter foods have been identified and balanced so that all occupy 1 slot, and each feature the standardized regeneration rates and flat rate health or focus typically provided by 1 slot foods, however the durations for starter foods were only increased to 30 minutes. Players will find these starter foods readily available in loot, for sale on NPC merchants, or even distributed as world decorations which can be stolen, but these 8 starter foods will not be crafted. However, all 8 starter foods will eventually be introduced into crafting as crafting components, so even higher level players can find them beneficial to utilize. Most will recognize the 8 starter foods as common items already available in-game: Lemon Bun Short Bread Loaf Slim Bread Loaf Braided Bread Loaf Bread Loaf Roll Sugar Cookies Wheat Bun As foods were shifted into standardized categories, many “holes” were identified in regards to what buffs are available in the food system across the spectrum. To fill these “holes,” approximately 23 additional food recipes will be introduced to the game for Release 88 on March 25th. All of these recipes will focus on using underutilized crafting components, and with these recipes only in prototype, there’s still plenty of time for players to provide input on recipe names and ingredients. The proposed names for the upcoming new recipes are as follows, and the names should provide players a significant hint as to what underutilized component will gain new purpose: Black Cutworm Cupcake Bone Broth Cinnamon Cake Coelacanth Chips Corpion Cake Dragon Egg Omelet Emerald Ash Egg Roll Entrails and Eggs Hemlock and Ham Ichthyosaur Fried Ice Cream Lard Bread Nut Butter and Ooze Sandwich Oozy Omelet Phoenix Fingers Pickled Plant Pollen Plesiosaurus Pie Pop Crackle Candy Shadow Slaw Shadow Snacks Shark Jerky Spiced Tea Tarpon Tart Trilobite Chomps Food and drinks with crafting and gathering buffs are now greatly expanded, with no changes being provided to 1 Year Whiskey, 2 Year Whiskey, or 7 Year Whiskey. New buffs available across such recipes are as follows: Decorated Cake Slice: +50% Cooking Production Time Bonus Baked Pacu: +5 Fishing Range, 2.5% Bait Recovery, +10 Fishing Skills 25 Year Whiskey: +3% Meticulous Mining Chance Harvest Wheat Bear: +3% Meticulous Foraging Chance Obsidian Bacon: +3% Meticulous Field Dressing Chance Squirrel Stew: +3% Meticulous Forestry Chance For pet foods, only one change is inbound which is for Fishy Nibblers. Formerly it provided an adventure level buff which is not useful for pet applications, and will instead provide an additional 250 Health to a pet. Also a pesky bug where the food could apply the buff to the character with no pet summoned has been fixed. Utility foods are also being introduced which either provide additional carry capacity or skill learning bonuses. The foods will be distributed throughout loot, the crafting system, and many can be obtained from a replenishing confections platter periodically available in the Crown Store Vault. Also, the confections platter can now be utilized monthly to receive 4 of these items. These initial utility foods will be as follows: Bacon (Crafted, +25% Encumbrance Carry Capacity) Decorated Cupcake (3% Grey Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Elderberry Cream Cheese Sugar Drops (10% Yellow Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Petit Fours (25% Blue Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Thumbprint Cookies (100% Orange Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Slice of Lord British Birthday Cake (Looted in Lord British’s Castle, +100% Skill Learn Bonus) Very close attention will be paid to the scarcity of components for all food and drink recipes. We realize some of the components are obtained from exceptionally rare drops such as dragon eggs, phoenix talons, sharks, and rare lava fish, but a “feed the village” concept will be utilized when players craft food recipes containing scarce resources. The scarcer the components, the output for the recipes will be increased proportionally. For example, fishing a shark out of salt water is very rare, but, when you do? You’ll be able to “feed the village” in a sense and make many food items to utilize or trade. Maintaining the scarcity of the drops will still allow trophies and other rare items to keep their value, while providing a modicum of excitement knowing these drops will also provide very significant food output at a crafting table. Balancing of these outputs may take some time to normalize through future game patches, but ultimately we hope they settle upon output levels which makes the food or drink very viable for routine and affordable use. Players can expect scarcity adjustments to go live on R88, with perhaps some patching in during R87. There were a small number of food and drink items which provided magical resistance bonuses directed at a particular school of magic. These buffs will no longer be available with food or drink consumption, and will instead be provided by various potions being introduced into the alchemy system sometime in the future. With development time during 2021 being strongly focused upon balance and fixes, this initial work in the food system is only the beginning. Players can expect similar work to address imbalances in other game systems, with uniformity and standardization concepts to be applied throughout. Ultimately, when each side system is balanced, subsequent efforts for balancing can be appropriately applied to the skill trees themselves knowing that all side systems feature an already balanced array of available buffs and categories. Also, we realize some players could be significantly inconvenienced when their favorite foods or drinks have been adjusted to provide different buffs amounts, durations, regeneration rates, health, focus, slot numbers, or even a shift into an entirely new buff category. We implore with the community to please understand the importance of these balancing efforts and to work with us by providing constructive feedback and suggestions. For those wishing to participate in feedback for the upcoming changes, please do so in this forum post. Please understand that all adjustment passes are not yet complete, the potential changes to recipe difficulty or output are not complete, and the team is very interested in hearing feedback from the community. We hope players come to enjoy the expanded food buff system. Our efforts aim to provide an improved crafting, gathering, and buff selection experience while also affording a much larger breadth of useful food and drink recipes throughout the game. More balance efforts will be introduced in coming months, so stay tuned! Additional Game Updates! Below are a list of additional game updates that are live as of R87. This list is generated from an automated process which captures description information from our routine work submittals. We’ll be working to improve the formatting of these descriptions in the future, but using this automated process allows for us to truly capture every change as well as saving considerable amount of developer time. Please be patient with us as we work to improve this process. Fixed an issue with fireplace recipes Adjust drops for T10 and T15 reagent resource nodes Adjusted gathering chances and added GM bonus Refined gems and jewels may now be fractured Damage sources that do less than 1 point of damage will no longer break stealth Sap will now require a melee weapon (not ranged) Auto attacks will no longer target a stealthed player. Active attacks/spells will have a greatly reduced attack angle and distance Scenes may now show custom backgrounds for the load screen The Breach will now have more air elementals that spawn faster Vrul will no longer be attacked by undead POT Lightbringer Isle: Added new metropolis north of Brittany POT Greymorn: Added new POT northwest of Brittany POT Haven Ridge: Upgraded to Crossroads Village from Village POT Jagged Hold: Changed biome to Forest 01b and upgraded to Municipality Blood Bay: Players that can survive at the top of either volcano may find it possible to do some lava fishing Overworld Boats: Added better LODs to some boats used in the overworld scenes Kobold Expeditionary Camp: Improved some kobold commander responses and improved how a related task archives itself Well of Aldur: Updated the reset settings for a treasure chest Well of Aldur: Added a minor jumping puzzle Ardoris: Improved the logic for the Students of Virtue quest. Added compass markers Grunvald Shardfall: Adjusted NavMesh data to improve how NPCs move through the scene Northwest Blackblade Mountains: Jumping into the well that leads to Bunker C will auto-teleport the player to that location Hills Encounter: Created a new “dragon” scenario that can appear on all three overworlds Owl’s Head: Updated some logic for the quest from Morgan to discredit Myra. Added compass markers Shaminian Hills: Adjusted temple architecture to block players from squeezing through certain tight holes South Majestic Forest: Updated stairs on Preben’s house to better accommodate NPC walking Spectral Mines: Fixed an issue that prevented an ore node from being mined Middle Downs: Fixed a stuck spot on a mound Eastmarch: Fixed typos in responses from the devotional caretakers South Hinterlands: Fixed a rug that was poking through a wall Well of Aldur: Fixed an issue with missing collision on a wall Tanglemire: Updated tiered resource nodes (cotton, garlic, trees, ore, and mandrake) to ensure they are all tier 10 Maple Trees and Pine Trees: Adjusted the LODs to stop a “split” from appearing at close distance Ruined Keep: Adjusted a section of the terrain where trolls were having navigation issues Wynton’s Folly: Players selecting the East Entrance option when entering from Hidden Vale will now arrive at the correct location Obsidian Keep Tops: Updated the collision at the top of these custom prefabs Snowy Tundra Encounter: Added a floating crystal node to the ground Well of Aldur: Fixed several collision issues. Blocked off a “stuck spot” Soltown: Improved the method of archiving the “Tell Abigail About Charlotte” task when talking with Abigail Bunker C: Fixed a stuck spot in the lava pool Solania Catacombs: In the daemon chamber, added teleporters that are active only when the wave battle is not ongoing Highvale Outskirts: Updated some of the doors in the monastery. Updated some of Esmeralda’s responses Jaanaford: Players will now “unlock” Thibodeaux’s name when she shares it with them Novia: Added a compass marker at Kiln for the “Ask About Bonesteel in Kiln” task Brookside: Players entering from the lunar rift will now unlock the town crier compass marker The ONBE title will now include a Dame option Fishy Nibblers no longer applies to the character when a tamed pet is not available Adjusted Confections Platter to monthly Slice of LB Birthday Cake no longer labelled as Premium nor No Trade since being introduced to loot at LB’s Castle, but will have a chance to drop in PvP Improved tooltip descriptions for Shrines by adding mention of attunement bonuses provided Fixed typo in Citrine (Unrefined Gemstone) display name. Increased spider eye drop amount T8 through T15 spiders Disabled Shrine size scaling. Enlarged buff fields for each Shrine and recentered so rotating Shrines does not affect availability of buff field All 3 of the new off-hand artifacts (15 items Common to Epic) now properly display female characters Significantly increased drop rates of taming artifacts on destroyer animals Added an additional loot table for destroyer animals to have increased amounts of hides, suet, and entrails Heart Heraldry Shield pattern should now properly apply to items Improved loot drops for Envy Bow and Quiver Reworked visuals for the Ankh of Sacrifice and Ankh of Wala fto include the new shrine visual effects Added a small chance to get the Shrine of Gaiaism recipe to Sand Elementals Well of Aldur: Added splash screen to load scene info Well of Aldur: Some improvements to unreleased nested scene. Jotungrund: Creating and improving unreleased showy expanse scene. New Store Additions: Circling Dragons, String Lights, Ambient Sounds, & Holiday Items! Many new store items are coming your way in the month ahead! Keep an eye out each week as the following items become available in the Crown Store: Available today on February 25th, these ceiling string lights count as 2 light sources: Ceiling Blue Paper Lantern String 3-Pack Ceiling Red Paper Lantern String 3-Pack Ceiling White Paper Lantern String 3-Pack Ceiling Yellow Paper Lantern String 3-Pack Becoming available on March 5th, this platter provides 4 Skill Learning Speed food items per month: Replenishing Confections Platter Becoming available on March 12th, these dragons are Player-Owned Town (POT) decorations only and count as 5 decoration items each: Circling Black Dragon 3-Pack Circling Blue Dragon 3-Pack Circling Green Dragon 3-Pack Circling Orange Dragon 3-Pack Circling Purple Dragon 3-Pack Circling Red Dragon 3-Pack Circling White Dragon 3-Pack Circling Yellow Dragon 3-Pack Becoming available on March 19th, these ambient sound items can only be placed in a basement or dungeon: Ambient Sound 3-Pack: Cave Sounds 1 Ambient Sound 3-Pack: Cave Sounds 2 Ambient Sound 3-Pack: Cave Sounds 3 Last week, 3 varieties of flowerbeds became available on the store. Some may recognize the Flax Flowerbed which is finally making its store debut, and it was formerly called Flowerbed A. Happy gardening, Avatars! Sunflower Flowerbed Anemone Flowerbed Flax Flowerbed Also, with Valentine’s Day upon us, a large variety of holiday items have returned to the store. Some will appear in the Vault throughout the coming weeks, and others will be available on the store until March 7th! Breathe Hearts Emote 2016 Cupid Ensemble 2016 Cupid Heart Cloak Blank Valentine’s Day 2016 Card 5-Pack 2016 Valentine Hearts Cloak Blank Valentine’s Day 2017 Card 5-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2017 3-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2018 3-Pack Blank Valentine’s Day 2019 Card 5-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2019 3-Pack Double Smoke Heart Emote Smoke Heart Emote Triple Smoke Heart Emote Heart Hot Tub Heart-Shaped Spear Heart Top Hat Heart-Shaped Footstool With the Spring Equinox celebration coming shortly, even more holiday items will become available on March 26th. These rare spring items will remain on the store until May 3rd! Bunny Ears & Slippers Set Decorative Dyeable Egg Pack Flower Crown Flower Emote Flowerleap Emote Lepus Mask 2017 Lepus Mask 2018 Rabbit Tailed Bodice Ensemble Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2016 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2017 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2018 Replenishing Confetti Eggs Basket 2019 Silver & Gold Lepus Mask Spring Fountain w/ Floating Candles White Lepus Mask With the recent changes to the frequency of update publications, we will no longer be providing details each week about what’s arrived in the Crown Store Vault, but we have prepared a forum post showing all possible items which could appear throughout the year! March Login Reward: Ceiling Green Paper Lantern String 3-Pack! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of March, and you’ll receive a Ceiling Green Paper Lantern String 3-Pack! These string lights count as 2 lights each and are a fantastic way to show your seasonal spirit during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! Release 87 Rewards Program Login Items: Starrbot Emote, Smoke Chaos Emote, Plumed Plate Helm! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 87 are simply fantastic this round — you don’t want to miss out on these! Reward Program members must login during Release 87 to receive these login items: Plumed Plate Helm (Features 2 Dye Layers) Starrbot Emote Smoke Chaos Emote The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following: 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month) Exclusive Title every 3 months 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith 6 Months: Keeper of the Word 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including: Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program! Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I! Phase I: Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply. Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar. Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual. Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come). Rules: To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application. To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program. Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program. Items of Note: SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord. Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material. Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them! Bug Brigade & Testing Directives! The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched. The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums. As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels! In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action! The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives. Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team! Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows: Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter” Single Ant Cloak Lady Bug Backpack Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids” Ant Farm Insect Leg Table Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles” Bug Painting B Bug Sprayer Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths” Butterfly Chair Corpion Chair (Pictured Below) Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies” Hacked Oracle Flyer Giant Blue Butterfly Pet Butterfly Mask Dragonfly pet Fairy Wings Monarch Butterfly Pet Dragonfly Wings Hacked Oracle Crawler Blue Butterfly VFX Orange Fireflies VFX Orange Butterfly VFX If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums. Upcoming Release Dates Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2021 Release Schedule is as follows: Release 88 (Polish) – Mar 25 Release 89 (Content) – Apr 29 Release 90 (Polish) – May 27 Release 91 (Content) – Jun 24 Community Updates & Resources Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney: Greetings Anglers! The monthly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! Join in on the fun! SO many prizes available for the anglers of New Britannia! Catnip Games Monthly Screenshot/Video Contest: Avatars! For those of you skilled with the camera or screenshot key binding, a monthly screenshot and video contest is underway which features a large number of valuable prizes. The focus will be for players to submit creative or informative screenshots and videos of content introduced to the game during the latest 3 monthly releases. Catnip Games Monthly Treasure Hunting Contest: Want to go hunting for rare items? Want to see if you can beat other players in this quest for treasure? Well join in on the monthly treasure hunting contest, Avatars! SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better! Royal Masked Ball: Avatars! A royal masked ball is to be held at the castle in the Player-Owned Town of Ironhall on March 5th at 6PM CT. All are welcome! Horror Stories I: Asclepius has done it again, Avatars! The DJ extraordinaire has created yet another amazing oration of Shroud of the Avatar fan fiction, this time a work written by Fetid SirDidy. Check this out as well as other fantastical orations at TheCaverns.Net! The Ebon Viper – Book II: Blaquerogue has shared another chapter of Ebon Viper’s fictional journey throughout New Britannia. Give it a read and Blaquerogue a thank you for sharing another great literary work! SOTAPrices.com: Join Shawn in his latest endeavor to create a price hunting application and website for Shroud of the Avatar merchants and shoppers! Darkstarr’s Birthday at Forkswerth Bobservatory: If you’d like to see a wonderfully decorated observatory, and party it up like there is no tomorrow with the Virtue/Avatars Radio crew, head on over to Lake Cusabo on February 26th from 8PM CT to Midnight or tune in on Virtue/Avatars Radio… or both! Islands of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest: Don’t miss out on more prizes with this monthly fishing contest in Isle of Wonders! Good luck, Anglers! Great Gormandizing Gustation: Hungry? Wanna win prizes? Well, just how much in-game food can you imbibe, Avatars? Sorgin Txakal wants to know! If you’d like to participate with in-game eating contests, this is the forum thread for you! RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe and trade chat this weekend! Asmodi M’hul will be announcing at least one pop up fishing contest for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun! Don’t miss out! Beran’s Reach Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Beran’s Reach welcome you the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Beran’s Reach market being the perfect place to do so! Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun! One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these! Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones. Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum. Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum. Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out! Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out! Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play. Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community. SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars! Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Comic lovers of New Britannia! Rosemary Price has published a variety of Shroud of the Avatar themed comics which are available on Amazon! These highly entertaining works are a must have for any collector. So far, 5 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve Amanita’s Adventures: Red Ruby Amanita’s Adventures: Billy Please give Rosemary a.k.a. Amanita Phalloides a big show of appreciation for her hard work and dedication to the community. Happy reading, Avatars! Project to Support: Shard RPG Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad. Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals. Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character! Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah! So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG! Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming! Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:  The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game: More Enemies! More Environments! More Magic Spells! RPG Quests! Weapon Forging and Crafting! Much, much more! If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available! Project to Support: Dragon Fight Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey: Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you Using a sword and a shield Fire! Nowhere to run! This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam! Project to Support: Avatar Express [Forum post by Vladamir Begemot] I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site. If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening. You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like. Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game. It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts! So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us! Resources: Players Helping Players The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website. Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Food and drink changes are inbound for Release 87, hungry adventurers! Expect every food and drink consumable to have a specific purpose and each to be scaled and balanced with all foods and drinks available. For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the... Avatar’s Update #421: Food & Drink Revamp & Balancing Inbound! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Food and drink changes are inbound for Release 87, hungry adventurers! Expect every food and drink consumable to have a specific purpose and each to be scaled and balanced with all foods and drinks available. For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: News Announcements Food & Drink Revamp & Balancing Inbound! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! New Store Additions: Flowerbeds, Blank Ornate Scrolls, & Valentine’s Day Items! New Vault Round! February Login Reward: Fancy Vase of Multicolored Roses! R86 Rewards Program Login Items: Valentine’s Day & New Year Theme! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Community Events & Resources Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Food & Drink Revamp & Balancing Inbound! For the virtual food and drink lovers in Shroud of the Avatar, a robust update to food and drink buffs is inbound! Through the years and prior to the introduction of the food channel system, many food and drink recipes have entered into the game, much of which did not feature significantly unique purposes or stats, or as the game progressed and players became more powerful, many of the low level foods quickly lost purpose. Eventually, players only expressed interest in a small portion of the food and drink recipes available. Well, all that is about to change, gourmets of New Britannia! A revamp of nearly all food and drink buffs will arrive on February 25th for Release 87! With this update, an extensive effort has been made to provide a unique and specific purpose to every food recipe. Taking full advantage of the food buff channel system, buffs will now be completely related and balanced to how many buff slots the consumed food occupies. Standardized buff durations will be implemented based upon the slots occupied, and standardized regeneration rates will also be provided across the spectrum. Many buff categories will have at least 3 versions of the buff in amounts relative to the slots occupied, while other buff categories might only have a single offering. For buff durations, other than some deviations in regards to some of the older powerful foods such as Dragon Stew, Troll Spare Ribs, and Spicy Phoenix Bites, almost all foods will feature either 1, 2 or 4 hour durations based upon the slots they occupy. 1 slot foods will last 1 hour, and 2 slot foods will last 2 hours. 3 slot foods will last 4 hours to provide a bit of extra duration for those looking forward to a longer play session. Having useful and scaled buffs attached to 1 and 2 channel foods will provide players expecting a shorter play session far more options in which foods they imbibe. Similarly, regeneration rates will be greatly standardized. A variety of foods are now categorized as defensive, and provide regeneration rates benefiting health over focus, while other foods are categorized as offensive and benefit focus regeneration more so than health regeneration. Of course, players can mix and match their food intake to provide any variation of buff balancing, so there is no requirement for a player to eat all defensive foods or all offensive foods. Mixing and matching is certainly allowable and encouraged. 6 foods will also be provided that feature increased regen rates as their primary function, so if players would prefer higher amounts of regeneration, they’ll have 1, 2, and 3 slot foods of both offensive and defensive varieties to incorporate into their buff choices. With standardized concepts in mind, players will likely only need to consider the unique stats the food provides when shopping or crafting, since regeneration and flat rate health and focus provisions are uniform based upon the number of slots the consumable utilizes. In the same fashion, each food will provide standardized amounts of additional health and focus. Defensive foods will provide +25, +50, or +75 additional health depending upon the slots occupied, and offensive foods will provide those same numbers to focus based upon the slots occupied. Also, 6 foods will provide additional amounts of health and focus as their primary purpose, with 3 for health and 3 for focus being available and to scale with the number of slots occupied. Players have also come to know that a significant number of crafted foods were also available as loot or can be purchased at an NPC food merchant. All of these items will be removed from merchants and loot to ensure crafting or trade between players is the sole source for every crafted food. Starter foods have been notoriously useless since their buff durations were so miniscule (1 to 15 minute buffs usually), and their buffs provided little meaning to gameplay. Now, 8 starter foods have been identified and balanced so that all occupy 1 slot, and each will feature the standardized regeneration rates and flat rate health or focus typically provided by 1 slot foods, however the durations for starter foods were only increased to 30 minutes. Players will find these starter foods readily available in loot, for sale on NPC merchants, or even distributed as world decorations which can be stolen, but these 8 starter foods will not be crafted. However, all 8 starter foods will eventually be introduced into crafting as crafting components, so even higher level players can find them beneficial to utilize. Most will recognize the 8 starter foods as common items already available in-game: Lemon Bun Short Bread Loaf Slim Bread Loaf Braided Bread Loaf Bread Loaf Roll Sugar Cookies Wheat Bun As foods were shifted into standardized categories, many “holes” were identified in regards to what buffs are available in the food system across the spectrum of slots and categories. To fill these “holes”, approximately 23 additional food recipes will be introduced to the game for Release 88 on March 25th. All of these recipes will focus on using underutilized crafting components, and with these recipes only in prototype, there’s still plenty of time for players to provide input on recipe names and components. The proposed names for the upcoming new recipes are as follows, and the names should provide players a significant hint as to what underutilized component will gain new purpose: Black Cutworm Cupcake Bone Broth Cinnamon Cake Coelacanth Chips Corpion Cake Corpion Cutlets Dragon Egg Omelet Emerald Ash Egg Roll Entrails and Eggs Hemlock and Ham Ichthyosaur Ice Cream Lard Bread Nut Butter and Ooze Sandwich Oozy Omelet Phoenix Fingers Pickled Plant Pollen Plesiosaurus Pie Shadow Slaw Shadow Snacks Sharkfin Soup Tarpon Tart Trilobite Chomps Turkey and Sinew Chewies Food and drinks with crafting and gathering buffs are to be greatly expanded, with no changes being provided to 1 Year Whiskey, 2 Year Whiskey, or 7 Year Whiskey. New buffs becoming available in R87 across such recipes are as follows: Decorated Cake Slice: +50% Cooking Production Time Bonus Baked Pacu: +5 Fishing Range, 2.5% Bait Recovery, +10 Fishing Skills 25 Year Whiskey: +3% Meticulous Mining Chance Harvest Wheat Bear: +3% Meticulous Foraging Chance Obsidian Bacon: +3% Meticulous Field Dressing Chance Squirrel Stew: +3% Meticulous Forestry Chance For pet foods, only one change is inbound which is for Fishy Nibblers. Formerly it provided an adventure level buff which is not useful for pet applications, and will instead provide an additional 250 Health to a pet. Utility foods are also being introduced which either provide additional carry capacity or skill learning bonuses. The foods will be distributed throughout loot, the crafting system, and many can be obtained from a replenishing confections platter periodically available in the Crown Store Vault. These initial utility foods will be as follows: Bacon (Crafted, +25% Encumbrance Carry Capacity) Decorated Cupcake (3% Grey Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Elderberry Cream Cheese Sugar Drops (10% Yellow Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Petit Fours (25% Blue Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Thumbprint Cookies (100% Orange Bundles or Replenishing Confections Platter, +25% Skill Learn Bonus) Slice of Lord British Birthday Cake (Looted in Lord British’s Castle, +100% Skill Learn Bonus) Very close attention will be paid to the scarcity of components for all food and drink recipes. We realize some of the components are obtained from exceptionally rare drops such as dragon eggs, phoenix talons, sharks, and rare lava fish, but a “feed the village” concept will be utilized when players craft food recipes containing scarce resources. The scarcer the components, the output for the recipes will be increased proportionally. For example, fishing a shark out of salt water is very rare, but, when you do? You’ll be able to “feed the village” in a sense and make many food items to utilize or trade. Maintaining the scarcity of the drops will still allow trophies and other rare items to keep their value, while providing a modicum of excitement knowing these drops will also provide very significant food output at a crafting table. Balancing of these outputs may take some time to normalize through future game patches, but ultimately we hope they settle upon output levels which makes the food or drink very viable for routine and affordable use. There were a small number of food and drink items which provided magical resistance bonuses directed at a particular school of magic. These buffs will no longer be available with food or drink consumption, and will instead be provided by various potions being introduced into the alchemy system sometime in the future. With development time during 2021 being strongly focused upon balance and fixes, this initial work in the food system is only the beginning. Players can expect similar work to address imbalances in other game systems, with uniformity and standardization concepts to be applied throughout. Ultimately, when each side system is balanced, subsequent efforts for balancing can be appropriately applied to the skill trees themselves knowing that all side systems feature an already balanced array of available buffs and categories. Also, we realize some players could be significantly inconvenienced when their favorite foods or drinks have been adjusted to provide different buffs amounts, durations, regeneration rates, health, focus, slot numbers, or even a shift into an entirely new buff category. We implore with the community to please understand the importance of these balancing efforts and to work with us by providing constructive feedback and suggestions. For those wishing to participate in feedback for the upcoming changes, please do so in this forum post. Please understand that all adjustment passes are not yet complete, the potential changes to recipe difficulty or output are not complete, and the team is very interested in hearing feedback from the community. We hope players come to enjoy the expanded food buff system. Our efforts aim to provide an improved crafting, gathering, and buff selection experience while also affording a much larger breadth of useful food and drink recipes throughout the game. More balance efforts will be introduced in coming months, so stay tuned! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, February 19th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Rick “Elgarion” Hart and possibly other members of the development team for a very special community 1 hour livestream! THIS WEEK’S LIVESTREAM WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE COMMUNITY CHANNEL, BUT YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO VIEW THE STREAM ON OUR PRIMARY CHANNEL. TO PARTICPATE IN CHAT, YOU’LL NEED TO SWITCH OVER TO THE COMMUNITY CHANNEL. Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow for notifications so you can join us right as we go live! Also, if you’ve missed our latest streams, check out our archive of content at our YouTube Channel. Like! Follow! Subscribe! Prizes!!! Don’t forget to also join the Shroud of the Avatar team and community over at all our social media venues: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShroudoftheAvatar/ Catnip Games Twitter: https://twitter.com/catnipgames Shroud of the Avatar Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudofAvatar Shroud of the Avatar Discord: https://discord.gg/GuBXakQ Support the Family of CatherineRose! Avatars! CatherineRose, a beloved member of our community, is going through troubling challenges as one of her family members is battling cancer. If you are able to, please lend their family support during these trying times. Even if you are not able to provide monetary assistance, providing well wishes, thoughts, and prayers go a long way towards helping a family through such hardships. Details about an upcoming auction will be announced shortly. We’ll be putting a Lord of the Isle pledge up for auction, and all proceeds will go towards the GoFundMe fundraiser supporting Wendy Barry’s fight with cancer. Stay tuned for more details, but in the meantime, please show this loving family your support if at all possible. Also, Tradia with The Avatar Express, has posted information on the forums about portions of this fundraiser. Please see this forum thread for more details. New Store Additions: Flowerbeds, Blank Ornate Scrolls, & Valentine’s Day Items! This week, 3 varieties of flowerbeds are now available on the store. Some may recognize the Flax Flowerbed which is finally making its store debut, and it was formerly called Flowerbed A. Happy gardening, Avatars! Sunflower Flowerbed Anemone Flowerbed Flax Flowerbed Last week, a new variety of decoration has been added to the store — the Blank Ornate Unrolled Scroll 5-Pack! With the recent addition of 3 varieties of scrolls to crafting, this adds yet another visual to the array of books and papers upon which players can annotate notes. Also, with Valentine’s Day upon us, a large variety of holiday items have returned to the store. Some will appear in the Vault throughout the coming weeks, and others will be available on the store until March 7th! Breathe Hearts Emote 2016 Cupid Ensemble 2016 Cupid Heart Cloak Blank Valentine’s Day 2016 Card 5-Pack 2016 Valentine Hearts Cloak Blank Valentine’s Day 2017 Card 5-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2017 3-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2018 3-Pack Blank Valentine’s Day 2019 Card 5-Pack Valentine’s Day Gift Boxes 2019 3-Pack Double Smoke Heart Emote Smoke Heart Emote Triple Smoke Heart Emote Heart Hot Tub Heart-Shaped Spear Heart Top Hat Heart-Shaped Footstool New Vault Round! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, February 25th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home Cabinet of Virtue Hot Air Balloon Tansu Chest Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Front Porch Town Home Viking Brynhildr Shield Viking Tyr Shield Aether Two-Handed Mace Elven Cloak February Login Reward: Fancy Vase of Multicolored Roses! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of February, and you’ll receive a beautiful vase of roses! The Fancy Vase of Multicolored Roses is the perfect accent piece for your home’s décor. Release 86 Rewards Program Login Items: Valentine’s Day & New Year Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 86 are Valentine’s Day and New Year themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 86 to receive these login items: Perennial Coast Dragon Mask Ornate Red Floral Heart-Backed Armchair 2-Pack (Dyeable) Heraldry Heart Shield (Dyeable) The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following: 900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month Monthly Login Reward Items (~ 3 per month) Exclusive Title every 3 months 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith 6 Months: Keeper of the Word 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months Pick any three of the 7 Obsidian Potions every month, including: Potion of Capacity: Increases carrying capacity Potion of Conservation: Reduces reagent use chance Potion of Expedience: Swift gathering on all gathering skills Potion of Precision: Increases Meticulous Collection to all gathering skills Potion of Preservation: Reduces armor and weapon damage Potion of Reclamation: Increases Salvage and Repair to all production skills Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program! Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I! Phase I: Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply. Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar. Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual. Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come). Rules: To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application. To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program. Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program. Items of Note: SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord. Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material. Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them! Bug Brigade & Testing Directives! The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched. The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to cleanup the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums. As was recently announced on a Twitter post by Chris “Atos” Spears, the upcoming development time for Release 84 will be primarily spent working many of the verified bugs which have been submitted to the team by the Bug Brigade. This focused effort on bug fixes would not be possible without the recent efforts of the Bug Brigade. Please take the time to thank these bug hunting aficionados when you encounter them in your travels! In turn, the development team would like to express a big thank you to the Bug Hunters! These community members are doing a fantastic job bringing so many bug reports to the team, and they’re doing it in a way which makes the process smooth and efficient. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action! The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives. Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team! Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows: Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter” Single Ant Cloak Lady Bug Backpack Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids” Ant Farm Insect Leg Table Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles” Bug Painting B Bug Sprayer Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths” Butterfly Chair Corpion Chair (Pictured Below) Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies” Hacked Oracle Flyer Giant Blue Butterfly Pet Butterfly Mask Dragonfly pet Fairy Wings Monarch Butterfly Pet Dragonfly Wings Hacked Oracle Crawler Blue Butterfly VFX Orange Fireflies VFX Orange Butterfly VFX If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, signup and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravolox in the main Bug/Feedback forums. Upcoming Release Dates Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events page for spotlighted events plus links to various areas to post or find events on our forums. The upcoming 2021 Release Schedule is as follows: Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Community Updates & Resources Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney: Greetings Anglers! The weekly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney is live! These contests run for 1 week intervals, Friday Noon to Friday Noon CT. We’ll announce the winners every Friday during the livestream. Lots of great prizes for the 3 winners, plus everyone gets a decorative participation trophy every week they participate! Catnip Games Monthly Screenshot/Video Contest: Avatars! For those of you skilled with the camera or screenshot key binding, a monthly screenshot and video contest is underway which features a large number of valuable prizes. The focus will be for players to submit creative or informative screenshots and videos of content introduced to the game during the latest 3 monthly releases. Horror Stories I: Asclepius has done it again, Avatars! The DJ extraordinaire has created yet another amazing oration of Shroud of the Avatar fan fiction, this time a work written by Fetid SirDidy. Check this out as well as other fantastical orations at TheCaverns.Net! The Ebon Viper – Book II: Blaquerogue has shared another chapter of Ebon Viper’s fictional journey throughout New Britannia. Give it a read and Blaquerogue a thank you for sharing another great literary work! SOTAPrices.com: Join Shawn in his latest endeavor to create a price hunting application and website for Shroud of the Avatar merchants and shoppers! Darkstarr’s Birthday at Forkswerth Bobservatory: If you’d like to see a wonderfully decorated observatory, and party it up like there is no tomorrow with the Virtue/Avatars Radio crew, head on over to Lake Cusabo on February 26th from 8PM CT to Midnight or tune in on Virtue/Avatars Radio… or both! Mad Splatter Tea Party: The Mad Splatter Tea Party takes place every 3rd or 4th Sunday of the month, which is a tea party in Lily Byrd’s back garden in Jade Valley. This month’s episode will take place on Sunday the 21st at 3PM CT. There are drinks and eats, there is sometimes music, there are often party games with prizes, and sometimes attendees just sit and talk about life in Novia. Get your role-playing hats on and come on over! Islands of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest: Don’t miss out on more prizes with this monthly fishing contest in Isle of Wonders! Good luck, Anglers! Great Gormandizing Gustation: Hungry? Wanna win prizes? Well, just how much in-game food can you imbibe, Avatars? Sorgin Txakal wants to know! If you’d like to participate with in-game eating contests, this is the forum thread for you! RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe and trade chat this weekend! Asmodi M’hul will be announcing at least one pop up fishing contest for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun! Don’t miss out! Beran’s Reach Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Beran’s Reach welcome you the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Beran’s Reach market being the perfect place to do so! Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun! One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these! Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones. Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum. Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum. Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out! Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out! Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play. Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community. SO many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars! Project to Support: Amanita’s Adventures Comic lovers of New Britannia! Rosemary Price has published a variety of Shroud of the Avatar themed comics which are available on Amazon! These highly entertaining works are a must have for any collector. So far, 5 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve Amanita’s Adventures: Red Ruby Amanita’s Adventures: Billy Please give Rosemary a.k.a. Amanita Phalloides a big show of appreciation for her hard work and dedication to the community. Happy reading, Avatars! Project to Support: Shard RPG Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad. Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals. Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character! Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah! So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG! Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Shadow of Valhalla is a visceral physics-based VR combat game with dynamic RPG elements, set within an ancient realm of Viking lore and mystic powers! Early Access beta includes “endless horde mode” featuring a variety of enemies with progressive difficulty. Also, players can discover many magic spells to unlock! So much more is coming! Finn Staber with Chicken Waffle, will join the Shroud of the Avatar team on Twitch during their Friday the 28th livestream to showoff this new Early Access game! Also, here is a teaser video on YouTube:  The development team is working hard to create additional environments and new quests! Shadow of Valhalla is available on Steam as Early Access. Additional features coming to the game: More Enemies! More Environments! More Magic Spells! RPG Quests! Weapon Forging and Crafting! Much, much more! If you would like to learn more about Shadow of Valhalla, be sure to stop by the main webpage for the game as more news becomes available! Project to Support: Dragon Fight Darkstarr has also been hard at work with the team for Dragon Fight VR which recently went live on Steam! Dragon Fight VR is an internal experiment to capture the “essence” of a dragon fight, the classic penultimate experience of every fantasy story. We wanted to create a short visceral, realistic experience stripped of user interface, lobbies, scores, levels, and other visual intrusions that might distract. There were some key elements of fighting a dragon that we wanted to capture and we felt VR was uniquely qualified to convey: Face to face with a large scale hostile creature trying to kill you Using a sword and a shield Fire! Nowhere to run! This started out as an internal experiment to learn some things about VR’s capabilities, be reductionist in our designs, etc. We felt that the experiment was successful enough to release as a free experience to share. Enjoy! Available for free on Steam! Project to Support: Avatar Express [Forum post by Vladamir Begemot] I’m pleased to report that The Avatar Express is clacking away furiously. News is being delivered and we have established systems to deliver it directly to your brain. You can use one of those systems by following us on Twitter at @avatar_express. Even more reliable due to its fully automated nature is joining us on the Discord server. News items are posted there via RSS. Or you can subscribe to RSS directly on the site. If you run an event, quests, etc, please consider helping out by self reporting. The Shroud community is big, and many things are happening that are never seen by others. With 10k monthly users, we would need a full time staff to track down everything that is happening. You can fill out the contributor form, message @that_shawn_guy here or post in the Discord server that you would like to help. There is no commitment once signed up, you can post as much or little as you like. Writing up your own events has several benefits beyond the immediate exposure. It serves as a record for others to see the history of New Britannia as we create it, in an attractive format. Publishing in the Express also has a higher chance than the forums of being seen by search engines and random readers, thus bringing more eyeballs and new players to the game. It will even make posting in the forums easier! You can upload images to your news item, and then link to those images in your forum post. No more need for 3rd party image hosts! So if you have something going on in your guild or town, or want to be a Reporter, Cartographer or Historian, please join us! Resources: Players Helping Players The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website. Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community. View the full article

Upcoming Food & Drink Buff Changes for R87 View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a couple of thrilling stories from Fetit SirDidy. Background music by Smartsound “The Man in the Kobold Dwelling” As the Avatar approached the odd looking man, the smell of animals and rot filled his nostrils. The sun above was a fiery eye, its stare a blazing inferno causing copious beads of sweat to materialize and run down his face in a torrent. Each drip instantly engulfed by dry earth. Thermal waves emanated from the metal buildings and fencing around him and all was still save for the melodic turning of the windmill powered generators and a crow at the far side of the compound that picked at a bloodied carcass. Even at this distance the Avatar could hear the crow feasting, it’s beak pecking and tearing at exposed innards. Upon hearing the Avatar’s approach the odd looking man held up a hand and beckoned him forward. Sskkk. tsssk.. hello friend..sssskkk,” the man drawled. Bringing clenched fist to mouth, the Avatar cringed at the site of what stood before him. He now saw that the odd looking man was actually a kobold that had the likeness of a Human man draped across its face. The human visage appeared to be tied on with leather string, like a carnival mask. As the kobold began to speak, his tongue flicked wildly behind rows of jagged teeth. “Ah, I see you like my face…tsssk”, he chortled. The kobold turned his head left and right allowing the Avatar to appreciate the entirety of his Human mask. As the Avatar slowly began to back away, laughter pulled his gaze near where the crow ripped at tattered flesh and vein. A trio of bodies lay sprawled on the hardened earth. One of the bodies was large and the other two were small. Two kobold younglings with clawed hands embraced gleefully danced around them, and upon their faces they wore masks of their own; with the likeness of human children. “The Battle” The minutes blurred into hours and the hours into days as the Avatar dodged and countered. His hands weakly held onto the wand as he flicked his hand wildly like a dying composer conducting his last symphony. Just a little longer. Hold. Hold. The avatar was near exhaustion. His reserves nearly spent. All the experience he had accumulated over the years was called into action as he fought, drawing every hidden ounce of power and bending it to his will. At last the Cabalist, who had towered over him and caused his near exhaustion was defeated. Looting his foes body, the avatar stood in horror. There, on the ground, lay a single gem, a single black pearl, and a rusted fork. The avatar was haunted by that fork for the rest of his days Echoes From the Caverns The post Horror Stories 1 – by Fetid SirDidy – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! The time has come, Avatars! So many fantastic community members have shined in the past year, many of which have never received recognition for their hard work and dedication. Well, now the recognition program is back! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the... Avatar’s Update #420: Community Recognition Program Returns! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article