Jack T. Lamplighter

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 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 Community Recognition Program Returns! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! New Store Additions: Blank Ornate Scrolls, Awnings, & 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 Community Recognition Program Returns! Greetings Avatars! This is a very important week in New Britannia. For many years, the developers of Shroud of the Avatar have routinely awarded titles, plaques, and medals to outstanding community members in a way to thank them for their hard work and dedication. This program has lapsed this past year, but now it is back! Lord British and the Royal Court of New Britannia will be presenting awards to various recipients during today’s Friday Livestream. Wash that troll blood off your hands, put on your ceremony finery and meet us at Arabella’s Castle at 4PM CT if you would like to attend within the game. Also, please join us today for the Friday, February 12th Livestream at 4PM CT on Twitch to congratulate new award recipients as we broadcast the ceremony. For those that are unfamiliar with the program, here is a breakdown of the 3 awards to be routinely provided to exceptional community members and organizations: Order of the New Britannia Empire (ONBE): The ONBE is awarded to individual community members of Shroud of the Avatar. Lord British bestows this medal upon stellar community members for their positive contributions to the game and community. The community nominates these outstanding individuals for their efforts within a wide variety of supportive activities such as: creation of player resources, community leadership, new player support, and much more! Recipients of the ONBE are awarded the Knight of New Britannia title, an actual medal to wear outside of the game, and a digital version of the medal to display within the game. DarkStarr Medallion of Chaos (Chaos Medal): This award is given by DarkStarr to “chaotic members” of the Shroud of the Avatar community. Unlike its virtuous counterpart, this award is given chaotically to community members whom DarkStarr deems worthy at in-game events. As one would expect, there are no rules or guidelines in how Darkstarr determines the recipients, but we assure you, with the chaotic forces at his disposal, he puts much consideration and effort into selecting the recipients most deserving. Recipients of the Chaos Medal are awarded the Chaotic of New Britannia title, an actual medal to wear outside the game, and a digital version of the medal to display within the game. Royal Warrant: The Royal Warrant is awarded to outstanding community groups for their positive contributions to the game and community. Players nominate these outstanding groups for their collective contributions to projects, group activities, community events, and more. Recipients of the Royal Warrant are awarded an actual plaque to display outside of the game, and a digital version is also provided to display within the game. More information will be released about the recognition program in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, February 12th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Chris “Atos” Spears and other members of the development team for a very special 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. 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: Blank Ornate Scrolls, Awnings, & Valentine’s Day Items! This 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. Last week, 2 varieties of wooden awnings have become available to players! These are fantastic structures to use as outdoor merchant stands or even crafting areas! They’re considerably large, so be sure to have space in a village lot (or larger) or in a Player-Owned Town if you would like to utilize one of these spacious overhead coverings. 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 18th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. 2016 Cupid Heart Cloak Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home Black Squirrel Decoration Pet Brindle Greyhound Decoration Pet Ornate Elven Longsword Pattern Pack Ornate Viking Chest Viking Tyr Shield Pattern Pack Ladies’ Admiral Outfit Obsidian Altar 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. Valentine’s Day Ball: For those that would like to dress up and attend a ball during the Valentine’s Day celebration, please pop on over to Immortal City on Friday, February 12th. From 8PM CT until Midnight, the DJ’s of Virtue/Avatars Radio will be blasting away the airwaves to get everyone’s legs a movin! 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! Forkswerth Bobservatory Grand Opening: If you’d like to see a wonderfully decorated observatory, head on over to Lake Cusabo and check out the impressive decoration job by the residents there. What a fantastic example of the capabilities the decoration system in Shroud of the Avatar has to provide! 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! Knightmare Falls Spotlight: Avatars! The talented reporters at TheAvatar.Express have written a wonderful article about the Player-Owned Town known as Knightmare Falls. Please give it a read and those involved a big thank you for their efforts! 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! SotALore.Com Update: Gravidy recently added a wondrous improvement to the SotALore.Com website which is well known for its popular agriculture tool. Just added, a way to track your character skill advancements — check it out! 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! Torque Adventures with BeeStriker: Streaming extraordinaire Torque has once again provided a video of his Shroud of the Avatar gameplay If you wanna see this video on YouTube, check it out on Torque’s Channel! Zeek Latreck’s Guide to Streaming: So you want to stream Shroud? Why not check out Zeek’s guide for getting started? He’s laid out concepts very clearly to the reader, such as what software to procure, but there’s so much more. Perhaps you’ll be an upcoming SotA streaming expert! Anpu’s Most Wondrous Catalog of SotA Guides: Anpu’s very helpful forum post is a directory to ALL of his guides to include many extremely insightful quest guides. He works diligently to keep these updated, so if you see a quest missing or out of date, let him know — he’ll be sure to keep it up-to-date for the Shroud of the Avatar Community! 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, 3 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve 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! The developers of Shroud of the Avatar will be making some changes to the fishing tourney events which we have held weekly for the past 40 weeks, and we’ll be introducing 2 additional developer community event concepts. Lots of fun and prizes inbound! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure... Avatar’s Update #419: Upcoming Developer Community Events! Latest New Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! The developers of Shroud of the Avatar will be making some changes to the fishing tourney events which we have held weekly for the past 40 weeks, and we’ll be introducing 2 additional developer community event concepts. Lots of fun and prizes inbound! 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 Upcoming Developer Community Events! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Support the Family of CatherineRose! New Store Additions: Wooden Awnings, Arrow Groupings, Water Lilies, & More! 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 Upcoming Developer Community Events! During the next 3 weeks there will be major changes to the Weekly Catnip Games Fishing Tourney, and we will be adding two additional events in hopes to capture interest of a wider player base. What? Not everyone loves fishing? Hard to believe, but worry not non-anglers of New Britannia! Two additional event varieties will be coming soon to a Community Events page near you. Monthly Screenshot & Video Contest: A new screenshot and video contest will be fully announced during the upcoming week which will feature 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. Videos must be of 720p quality or greater and posted on a popular social media outlet, and images must be in 1920×1080 resolution and hide the UI. All submissions must be embedded into responses in an upcoming forum thread which will appear in the community events and screenshot forums early next week (where we’ll also be taking feedback about the contest). The full contest details will be posted in the forums next week. The event will officially start on the day of Release 87, and initial subject matter considered must feature R87, R86, or R85 content items. The prizes will be as follows: 1st Place Video: Player-Owned Town Town Lot Deed 2nd Place Video: Player-Owned Town Village Lot Deed 3rd Place Video: Player-Owned Town Row Lot Deed 1st Place Screenshot: Player-Owned Town Town Lot Deed 2nd Place Screenshot: Player-Owned Town Village Lot Deed 3rd Place Screenshot: Player-Owned Town Row Lot Deed Winning entries will be posted throughout our media venues, and each winner will also receive a Master of the Arts in-game title. As long as submissions feature content of the 3 spotlighted releases, they will be considered during each month they remain eligible. Monthly Rare Item Bounties: In 2 weeks, we will announce a new bounty type event which encourage players of Shroud of the Avatar to seek rare drops throughout two designated scenes which will be identified monthly. One scene will be PvP and coincide with the fishing tourney PvP location. The other scene will be PvE and differ from the fishing locations. All prize decisions are still being finalized, but will be appealing enough to attract players to these scenes. For the developers, these item bounty events will be very informative and could provide valuable insight into leaderboard improvements in the future. Also, as players adventure in these scenes, we will be attempting to provide targeted loot improvements to the spotlighted scenes based upon player feedback. The event details will be posted in the forums prior to R87 so players can prepare, and the official start date of this event series will be on the day of Release 87. Also, Master of Collections and Master of Mayhem titles will be provided to the PvE and PvP winners, respectively. More details to come, Avatars! Catnip Games Fishing Tourney Changes: To be fully announced on the day of Release 87 (February 25th), the fishing event will be changing to a monthly format. We’ll be increasing the number of scenes in which the event will take place, and the prizes will be adjusted. We will continue with the weekly tourney as designed until release day, but full details about the upcoming changes will begin to appear early in this forum thread so players, governors, and stewards can prepare. Please post suggestions in the same thread, and they will be taken into consideration. We look forward to your feedback as we release the details for each event in the coming weeks. The commencement of these events on the day of Release 87 should provide an additional and interesting mix of community activities available to players going forward. Also, we’re likely to discontinue the provision of participation trophies for such events and use this developer time for loot improvements and bug fixes. Instead, we will deliver rewards to random non-winners so even players with small amounts of available time to participate will still have a significant chance to win something. To encourage more spin-off events, we will be offering a larger variety of trophies to event holders upon request (each trophy available will be announced as well), so that they may distribute them to participants of their spin-off contest according to their unique rule sets. Get your fishing poles, weapons, and cameras ready, Avatars! So much more is coming your way in 2021, so stay tuned! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, February 5th 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. 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: Wood Awnings, Arrow Groupings, Water Lilies, & More! Just arriving to the in-game Crown Store, 2 varieties of wooden awnings have become available to players! These are fantastic structures to use as outdoor merchant stands or even crafting areas! They’re considerably large, so be sure to have space in a village lot (or larger) or in a Player-Owned Town if you would like to utilize one of these spacious overhead coverings. Last week, players began decorating their homes and castles with battle damage! The new arrow groupings decorations are perfect to display evidence of a recent battle for your player events and stories. (Regular arrows can also be placed as decoration.) Blossoming Water Lily Clusters really add some appeal to your water property, and keep an eye out for a non-blossoming version dropping as loot! For those wanting chandeliers of smaller varieties, 4 more types of chandeliers have been added to the store! Also, a set of two Ornate White & Gold Heart-Backed Armchairs featuring 2 dye layers have arrived just in time for Valentines day. Last but not least, are you in need of a Sacrificial Altar? Well one has just been added to the store for those wanting a darker touch to their home and dungeon décor. Arrow Groupings 12-Pack Blossoming Water Lily Cluster 12-Pack Small Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Long Chain Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Long Chain Fancy Crystal Chandelier Ornate White & Gold Heart-Backed Armchair 2-Pack (Dyeable) Sacrificial Altar Last week, a very large dragon skull decoration with iron reinforcement was added to the store. This piece is significantly larger than the recently-added dragon skull into the loot system, and is a must-have centerpiece to anyone’s dragon bone collection. Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, February 11th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Black Foal Pet (Domesticated) 2016 Cupid Ensemble 2016 Valentine Hearts Cloak Brown Nomad Hat Druid Town Home Teletype Elven Elder Archer Armor Pattern Pack Obsidian Order Plate Set Spike Trap 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! 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! SotALore.Com Update: Gravidy recently added a wondrous improvement to the SotALore.Com website which is well known for its popular agriculture tool. Just added, a way to track your character skill advancements — check it out! 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! Mounts of New Britannia Part II: Streaming extraordinaire Torque has graced the community with even more of his hard work. In this latest edition of Torque’s mounts series, he shows off a plethora of the mounts he’s obtained thus far in the game as well as teaching players the nuances for using a mount. Please thank Torque for all his hard work! If you wanna see this video on YouTube, check it out on Torque’s Channel! Zeek Latreck’s Guide to Streaming: So you want to stream Shroud? Why not check out Zeek’s guide for getting started? He’s laid out concepts very clearly to the reader, such as what software to procure, but there’s so much more. Perhaps you’ll be an upcoming SotA streaming expert! Anpu’s Most Wondrous Catalog of SotA Guides: Anpu’s very helpful forum post is a directory to ALL of his guides to include many extremely insightful quest guides. He works diligently to keep these updated, so if you see a quest missing or out of date, let him know — he’ll be sure to keep it up-to-date for the Shroud of the Avatar Community! 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, 3 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve 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! To herald in 2021, the first release of the new year brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a robust offering of wonderful new content items, decorations, and other game updates. A new adventure scene has been been added, an extensive revamp of how gear patterns function is now live, a new decoration type that buffs players with magical attunement is now available, dragon eggs now drop as loot which can be crafted into Baby Dragon Conversationalists,... Avatar’s Update #418: Play Release 86 Now! New Adventure Scene: The Well of Aldur! SO much more!View the full article

Hail, Avatars! What a whopper of a release coming your way tomorrow Here's the link to the draft notes in case anyone has time to offer edit suggestions, but also please feel free to get a sneak peek into what's coming your way tomorrow. Hail, Avatars! What a whopper of a release coming your way tomorrow https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SFL85fRsqExADuC3502M2QObBr1rzJ2vE-XrO5ADyPo/edit?usp=sharing I still have put in a LOT more info in the bottom... DRAFT: Release 86 Notes View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! To herald in 2021, the first release of the new year brings players of Shroud of the Avatar a robust offering of wonderful new content items, decorations, and other game updates. A new adventure scene has been been added, an extensive revamp of how gear patterns function is now live, a new decoration type that buffs players with magical attunement is now available, dragon eggs now drop as loot which can be crafted into Baby Dragon Conversationalists, and Public Cache Chests have received additional variations! 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 New Adventure Scene: The Well of Aldur! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! New Gear Pattern Flexibility! Shrines of Attunement! Weather Control Devices Incoming! Dragon Eggs & Baby Dragon Conversationalists! New Public Cache Chest Varieties! Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! New Store Additions: Arrow Groupings, Water Lilies, Armchairs & More! February Login Reward: Fancy Vase of Multicolored Roses! R86 Rewards Program Login Items: Valentine’s Day & New Year Theme! New Vault Round! World & UI Changes Crafting & Economy Changes Combat Balance & Changes Updated Player-Owned Towns Bug Fixes 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 New Adventure Scene: The Well of Aldur! New Britannians! A mystical and mysterious adventure scene is now live and available to players of Shroud of the Avatar. “The Well of Aldur” is a scene for Episode 2 Access holders which features a variety of activities to challenge even the most stalwart of Avatars! World builders List Rostov and Sannio both worked hard on this wondrously ethereal adventure scene, which is now available! Sannio has shared a small teaser for what to expect: “High above the mountain peaks of Mistrendur floats the crumbling remains of a civilization whose origins are lost to time. Only the greatest adventurers will decipher the secrets, survive the threats, and discover the true nature of the Well of Aldur.” Players can expect a variety of challenges, including crystal-powered sky-movers, jumping puzzles, and wave battles. One of the wave battles includes new mechanics and new unique loot for the scene. And beware, engaging in combat upon one of the platforms within the scene could draw out Suutak, Master of Tempests! May the Virtues guide thee on your adventures within… The Well of Aldur! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, January 29th 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 “2021 is gonna rock” 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 Upcoming Gear Patterns Flexibility! Gear Patterns in Shroud of the Avatar, up to this point, have been considerably restrictive in how players could apply them to gear. For instance, a 1-Handed Longsword Pattern would only apply to other 1-Handed Longswords, or a cloth helm pattern would only apply to a cloth helm. The list goes on, but this list will get considerably less complicated going forward! As of Release 86, gear patterns are now much less restrictive! Category Restrictions Simplified: Below is a list of categories which will remain. Any item within that category will accept a pattern from another item within the same category. Bludgeon 1-Handed Bludgeon 2-Handed Blades 1-Handed Blades 2-Handed Polearm 1-Handed Polearm 2-Handed Bows Crossbows Shields Head Slot Back Slot Chest Slot Gloves Slot Legs Slot Feet Slot Artifacts: Most of these elusive treasures scattered through out the realms will now accept all patterns available within the same gear slot. For instance, an artifact chest piece will accept ANY pattern for a chest piece. Also, with many visuals for off-hand items already available, and 3 more off-hand artifacts having just been introduced for R86 with the new Shrines of Attunement, expect some off-hand item patterns on the horizon as well! We hope players enjoy this extra flexibility with gear patterns. We will be introducing many more patterns in the future, so expect additional options for character customization shortly. Shrines of Attunement! Avatars! With the unveiling of The Well of Aldur, an entirely new statue type has been discovered throughout New Britannia–Shrines of Attunement! These powerful and crafted statues utilize 9 related off-hand artifacts to craft (3 of which have been introduced with this release), which provide 3-day attunement buffs for any character which steps into their aura. These buffs are on their own separate buff channel, and 2 buffs can be simultaneously utilized. Significant loot improvements have resulted, and more use has been made for a variety of underutilized crafting components or loot drop locations. The 9 required off-hand artifacts to craft these shrines have either been created as new, received visual effect enhancements, increased loot drop chances, and/or received significant stat bonus adjustments. Here’s a breakdown of the artifact updates: Ankh of Wala (Sun Magic, Atenism): This odd little artifact appears as a golden ankh. Why the powers of Atenism were infused into a golden symbol for life magic? That is a story for another time. Users of the Ankh of Wala can expect some improved visuals. This item’s attunement power has been significantly reduced yet still provides more attunement than many of its off-hand brethren. Also, the reagent consumption penalties have been removed, and fizzle reduction has been added. Drop rates for this artifact have been increased, and players have the best chances to receive one by defeating a phoenix (which also drop talons more frequently now). Heart of Vrul (Chaos Magic): The Heart of Vrul is an intriguing artifact that drops from Daemons and can be used on its own or crafted into the Warlock’s Chain. Now, players can use the Heart of Vrul to craft the Shrine of Chaos, and it has received visual touch-ups utilizing Chaos Magic visual effects. Gaia’s Heart (Earth Magic, Gaiaism): This artifact, glowing green with the powers of earth magic, now drops more frequently, received a bug fix (common attunement was equal to uncommon attunement, now scales), and no longer provides a negative attunement penalty to Air Magic. This item has not received an appearance update. Aether Orb (Moon Magic, Lunaism): The Aether Orb has been an extremely rare artifact, most readily obtainable during the seasonal coming of the comet when the aether creatures reenter our realm. The magical buffs on this item tie it in directly with Moon and Water magic, but slight adjustments have been made to increase the amount of moon magic attunement provided, and the featured water magic attunement has been slightly decreased to provide more significance to the Frozen Tear of Titans. Drop rates for the Aether Orb have been increased, especially amongst the applicable aether creatures, and rumor has spread that Shadow creatures now have a chance to drop common versions of this artifact. This item has received visual enhancements, and also a bug fix has ensured the epic versions scale for attack speed. The epic version now features 15% Attack Speed, instead of 12.5%, which was already featured on the legendary version. Anapa’s Favor – NEW! (Death Magic, Necromancy): This new off-hand artifact has stunning visuals and drops from a large variety of lich casters or bosses. Anapa’s Favor provides death magic attunement, intelligence, and fizzle reduction. Upgrade recipes are discoverable, but can also be found in Grey Supply Bundles. Vexlyn’s Spark – NEW! (Fire Magic, Sorcery): This new ominous looking Fire Magic artifact has been added to Lord British’s Castle and Xvara (Fire Boss) loot tables. Fire elementals throughout the lands also have small chances to drop this artifact. Vexlyn’s Spark provides fire magic attunement, intelligence, and fizzle reduction. Upgrade recipes are discoverable, but can also be found in Grey Supply Bundles. Frozen Tear of Titans (Water Magic, Tempestry): This artifact has received improved visuals, and the negative fire magic attunement penalty has been removed. The artifact now also features ice and water elemental power bonuses to make the summoned creatures in that school more appealing. Expect to find this artifact more frequently, and even common versions have a chance to drop amongst water and ice elementals throughout the lands. Ankh of Sacrifice (Life Magic, Thaumaturgy): The Ankh of Sacrifice has received visual improvements, and the reagent consumption penalties have been removed. Also, a fizzle reduction bonus has been added. The amount of life magic attunement has been reduced, but is still far greater than many of it’s off-hand artifact brethren featuring attunement bonuses. Drop rates for this artifact have been increased, especially in regards to common versions, and elven mages now have a chance to drop Ankhs of Sacrifice. Suutak’s Bluster – NEW! (Air Magic, Theurgy): This spectacular orb of air magic has been discovered in The Well of Aldur, the new adventure scene introduced this release! The Well of Aldur features the greatest chances to receive common, uncommon, and rare versions of this artifact. Air elementals throughout the lands have also received small chances to drop common versions of this artifact. Suutak’s Bluster provides air magic attunement, intelligence, and fizzle reduction. Upgrade recipes are discoverable, but can also be found in Grey Supply Bundles. Each shrine can be crafted at a blacksmithing station, and the recipes drop at locations indicated in the list below. Each recipe features common components between them (such as Ancient Essences, Bronze Ingots, and the rare version of the related artifacts), but underutilized ingredients have also been added to each recipe. These recipes are considered to be highly difficult, so expect some significant effort involved to obtain all the elusive components required to craft them. These shrines can be placed as property or Player-Owned Town decoration, the buffs last for 3 days each, and 2 different shrine buffs can be utilized simultaneously. Here are more details about the 9 Shrines of Attunement: Shrine of Atenism (+15 Sun Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires a Phoenix Talon and Atenism Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from the phoenix. Shrine of Chaos (+15 Chaos Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires Ground Daemon Hoof and Obsidian Chips. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from Daemons. Shrine of Gaiaism (+15 Earth Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires Pure Elemental Sand and Gaiaism Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from earth, sand, and lava elementals. Shrine of Lunaism (+15 Moon Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires Shadow Essences and Lunaism Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from Shadow Creatures. Shrine of Necromancy (+15 Death Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires a Dragon Skull and Necromancy Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from Lich bosses. Shrine of Sorcery (+15 Fire Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires a Red Dragon Egg and Sorcery Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops in Lord British’s Castle. Shrine of Tempestry (+15 Water Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires an uncommon Ring of Water and Tempestry Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe drops from water elementals in The Well of Aldur. Shrine of Thaumaturgy (+15 Life Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires an uncommon Ring of Life and Thaumaturgy Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe can be found in destructible crates. Shrine of Theurgy (+15 Air Magic Attunement): The crafting recipe for this shrine also requires an uncommon Ring of Air and Theurgy Gems. The non-teachable shrine recipe can be found in The Well of Aldur. As more artifacts roll out into the world of New Britannia, crafters amongst the ranks of Avatars might have some concerns about lessening the significance of crafted items. Rest assured, plans to allow more artifacts to be broken down into components (such as Torq’Dawl’s Basher and Slicer) are still very much in planning, and underutilized gathered/looted components will continue to be featured in upcoming recipes to add to their value. We hope you enjoy the new Shrines of Attunement! Keep an eye out for a plethora of new crafting recipes in the future, providing love to all aspects of loot, gear slot/type, and gatherers. Also, masters of Combat and Strategy skills won’t be left out! Similar concepts for buffing skills in these trees through use of shrine type decorations will make their way into the game in the future. Weather Control Devices Incoming! Work is well underway to provide governors and stewards a means to alter the weather and even biome of their Player-Owned Town (POT). The new tech is finished, and the related decoration items are being created which utilize this feature. The existing Moontower decoration will be the first to receive this tech, a change which will patch in shortly after release, with many more weather altering decoration items to follow. Many of these devices will be premium store items, but players can definitely expect some weather varieties to be altered from looted and/or crafted items. Dragon Eggs & Baby Dragon Conversationalists! New loot items have been added to all the loot tables for chromatic dragons — dragon eggs! These rare drops from each dragon work nicely as decorations, but can also be taken to your alchemy table to hatch the egg. Upon success, these rare eggs are converted into Baby Dragon Conversationalists! These conversationalists can be scaled in size from 0.5 to 1.3 to help players depict a larger age range between their hatchlings. Conversationalist, Black Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Blue Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Green Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Orange Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Purple Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Red Baby Dragon Conversationalist, White Baby Dragon Conversationalist, Yellow Baby Dragon For more information on how to “craft” these conversationalists, players must first seek Kaiser, the NPC located near the entrance of Ulfheim. Kaiser can provide a book of knowledge which describes nuances for each recipe and provides hints to where players can obtain each recipe. As we continue to expand the free offerings of conversationalists in the game, we hope players continue to enjoy the ever growing variety afforded to the conversation system. So many more conversationalists will be added in the future, so get your stories ready, Avatars! Public Cache Chest Varieties! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar utilize in-game decorations in their towns and properties to tell a story or to enhance their in-game events. Public Cache Chests have always been a fantastic resource for sharing inventory items with other players, but unfortunately have been limited to two very large chests, which does not suit all needs for public cache containers. Besides simple storage, here’s a list of some of the common uses for these chests we’ve witnessed in years past: Sharing Gear & Resources Player-Created Treasure Hunting Events Player-Created Quest Rewards Contest Entry Collections & Prize Distribution Although there are likely many other creative uses for public cache containers, we hope to expand the appeal of these items by offering a much larger variety in sizes and appearances. Here are some of the future updates for public access containers, some of which arrived today with Release 86: Immersive Varieties: 3 varieties of corpse/coffin containers are now available as of Release 86 to aid players with storytelling in our wondrous yet dangerous world of New Britannia! The dead villager versions are looted from many creatures which could easily swallow a villager whole, and the coffin variety is crafted. Crafted Varieties: The above mentioned coffin is the first crafted public cache container, with many more to follow in the releases ahead! A new “wildflower” quest that results in the player getting a coffin recipe has been added to Spindelskog. Smaller Varieties: There will be a variety of small public cache containers which will certainly take less shelf space, but these smaller varieties will also add a significant improvement to player-created treasure hunting ventures. Those large original cache chests are simply too easy to spot from a distance for treasure hunting and player quests! Fancy Premium Varieties: Most definitely we’ll have more varieties of these items on the Crown Store, which will feature larger storage space as well as ornate or special qualities. As we continue to expand our offerings for how players share gear and resources with other players, we hope to improve the overall guild, player quest, and inventory sharing experiences throughout the community. Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! In continued celebration of the holidays, the Lord of the Isle (LOTI) Bundles (9-16) will remain on sale until January 31st. Upon reaching the end of the month, all LOTI bundles will be removed from the webstore and will no longer be offered. In the future, players can expect new bundle offerings of much smaller varieties. Plans to create these bundles are already underway, so stay tuned! LOTI Bundle Details: As one of the biggest supporters of Episode 2, you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Here is a complete list of the LOTI rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Can be placed on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle. Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above). NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition. (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade. (If a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store. Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice. Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot). Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (to be revealed later). 140,000 Crowns. 1000 Bank Slots. Pick 12 Prosperity Tools. Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item). Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate). Early Access to Episode 2. Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team. 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference). One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8. In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version). Tour of Lord British’s property. Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. New Store Additions: Arrow Groupings, Water Lilies, Arm Chairs & More! New this week, decorate your homes with battle damage! The new arrow groupings decorations are perfect to display evidence of a recent battle for your player events and stories. (Regular arrows can also be placed as decoration.) Blossoming Water Lily Clusters really add some appeal to your water property, and keep an eye out for a non-blossoming version dropping as loot! For those wanting chandeliers of smaller varieties, 4 more types of chandeliers have been added to the store! Also, a set of two Ornate White & Gold Heart-Backed Armchairs have arrived just in time for Valentines day, and they feature two dye layers. Last but not least, are you in need of a Sacrificial Altar? Well one has just been added to the store for those wanting a darker touch to their home and dungeon décor. Arrow Groupings 12-Pack Blossoming Water Lily Cluster 12-Pack Small Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Long Chain Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Fancy Crystal Chandelier Small Long Chain Fancy Crystal Chandelier Ornate White & Gold Heart-Backed Armchair 2-Pack (Dyeable) Sacrificial Altar Last week, a very large dragon skull decoration with iron reinforcement was added to the store. This piece is significantly larger than the recently-added dragon skull into the loot system, and is a must-have centerpiece to anyone’s dragon bone collection. Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble 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 New Vault Round! Laissez les bons temps rouler, Avatars! Don’t let the vault door close on these items for another year before you have decorated for Mardi Gras! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, January 28th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Flambeaux Battle Banner Tower Village Home Ornate Flamberge Pattern Pack Kobold 4-Story Great Hall City Home Kobold Fighter Mask Aether Aeronaut Helmet Mardi Gras Fountain Mardi Gras Garland 12-Pack World & Miscellaneous Changes These miscellaneous updates affecting the game world or aspects of the user interface (UI) patched in during R85, will go live with R86, or will go live shortly after R86: Double-Click to Target: An option to toggle targeting between single and double-click has been added to the interface options menu. Disable Weather on Low Performance: An option to disable weather during times of low performance has been added to the video options menu. AFK Detection: Players will no longer be disconnected for inactivity unless their character is earning or spending experience points. Performance Improvements: UI improvements were implemented to help with combat related frame rate issues. Many POT related decoration issues were adjusted to increase performance. Dynamic performance monitoring has been improved to automatically and temporarily adjust graphics settings if frame-rate has lowered for a significant duration. Sequanna Colossus: Enhanced the “container” built into the Shrine of Love so that it opens while looting it. Added a wave battle that starts when approaching the shrine, which includes 3 treasure chests that sequentially “unlock” as the waves progress. Seasonal Monsters: Created scrolls for each seasonal monster that tells its legend which players will will discover throughout their adventures. Malice: Added new “Enter Malice” compass marker and adjusted logic in Yama’s conversation to accommodate it. Crafting Tutorials in Soltown, Aerie, and Resolute: Improved logic of quest progression, added and updated compass markers, and improved quest text for all three tutorials. Harvest: After completing the quest from the children to stay in the house on the hill, characters will be awarded a new “Witch Hunter” title. Characters who have already completed this quest can talk to almost any child in Harvest to get this title. Bogman: This rare creature has received fog VFX improvements. Highvale Outskirts: Improved quest logic, responses, journals, and compass markers for several early quests regarding Captain Burnes and Leftenant Simone. Etceter: Removed the off-duty schedule from Captain Steel, who now stays on the docks. Reduced the time and shrunk the area for Lady Ransom’s off-duty time when she goes upstairs at the inn. Blood River Massacre: Updated the tutorial text that appears when approaching the village elder’s home. Necropolis Barrens: Updated the responses from Kardan Marbane and Samael after completing the Path of Love storyline. Aerie: Updated Kyle Behrand’s responses. Tanglemire: Arnkatla now “waves her hands” to indicate she has a quest for you. Tanglemire: Added wildflower quest which includes a recipe for a coffin decoration as part of the reward. Novia: Added limits on the boat from Etceter to Xenos for when the “Truth storyline” advances. Etceter: Removed schedule from Harbormaster. Aerie: Improved compass markers for the Lord Macsen quest. Highvale Outskirts: Improved compass markers and quest logic for quest to find Nach’s book. Blood River Massacre: Improved the quest logic related to leaving the scene. Crafting, Items & Economy Changes These changes to the player economy, in-game items, or crafting patched in during R85, will go live with R86, or will go live shortly after R86: Scroll Decorations: 4 functional scroll decorations have been added to the game. Players will now have a larger variety of ways to document their stories and player quests. 3 of these scrolls are crafted by players, with the Blank Ornate Unrolled Scroll 5-Pack becoming available on the Crown Store on February 12th. To locate the recipes for the craftable scrolls, start smashing crates! The Blank Scroll, Blank Unrolled Scroll, and Blank Scroll with Ribbon recipes all have a chance to drop for those choosing to be a little destructive. Water Well Dungeon Entrance: Players can now craft another style of dungeon entrance, the Water Well! Looking inside, players will see a hatch partially submerged in the water. To find the pattern for this well, utilize water wells throughout the game. Apply the pattern to the crafted Tomb Dungeon Entrance, and presto! Water well! Also, when the pattern is placed as a decoration, it features a unique “message in a bottle” appearance. Cannons & Cannonballs: These items can now be placed upon castle walls, blocks, and other decorations with horizontal decoration surfaces. Aortic Thrombus: The Aortic Thrombus has been renamed to Entrails. Zinc, Tungsten, Tin, & Nickel: These rare items now have “ore” in their names to assist players with inventory filtering. New Stackable Items: These items can now be stacked within a player’s inventory. Flax Flowerbed (Renamed from Flowerbed A) Confection Stand Confection Platter Fish Throne Ornate Fish Throne Pipe Organ Flesh Flayer 4-Story Flesh Flayer Large Flesh Flayer Ornate Water Platform Pirate Banner Free Standing Pirate Banner Viking Bathtub Shogun Bathtub Elven Bathtub Obsidian Bathtub Marble Bathtub Kobold Bathtub Belt of Speed Recipes: These recipes were renamed to properly align with the Savage Sash of Swiftness artifact Bank Upgrade Store Entry: This entry was rewritten to better indicate 100 slots are being purchased, not 10. Dungeon Room Conversions: Dungeon rooms that are converted from Spawn to No Spawn versions no longer require 500 Crowns of the Obsidian. They instead require 1 Ancient Essence. Gem Fragments, Uncut Gems, & Cut Gems: These items now all have (Refined Gemstone) or (Unrefined Gemstone) at the tail end of their item name to assist players with inventory filtering. Wyvern Heads: The drop rates for these items on T10 Wyverns (existing ones) have doubled. T14 and T15 Wyverns will be coming to the game which will have even better drop rates, albeit they will still be very rare collectibles. Wyvern Haunches: The drop rates for these items on T10 Wyverns has more than tripled, now at 75%. T14 and T15 Wyverns will have even better drop rates, where players will almost always receive at least 1 haunch, with a good chance to receive a second haunch (more so with the T15 version). Ashen Heartwood: These items will now drop 50% more often from Reapers. Flesh Flayers and Red Thorn Flowers, which exist mostly in PvP scenes, will also have equal chances to drop Ashen Heartwood. This change will help players obtain this item which has recently been added to more recipes. Dread Artifacts, Shroud of the Avatar: These items have received improved tooltips. Practice Dummies: These items no longer take up an NPC slot on property. Potions of Disco Fever: These items can now be utilized anywhere. Small Stone Ruins: This decoration now allows other decorations to be placed on some surfaces. Bell Tower: The vertical flat surfaces within the Bell Tower can now be decorated. Elven Guard Tower: The vertical flat surfaces within the Elven Guard Tower can now be decorated. Ornate Clock Tower: The vertical flat surfaces within the Ornate Clock Tower can now be decorated. Ornate Gazebo: Decorations can now be placed on the ceiling and on top of the railings. Small Fancy Pavilion: Decorations can now be placed on the ceiling. Large Fancy Pavilion: Decorations can now be placed on most vertical and horizontal surfaces. Party Blow Horn Emote: /partyblowhorn can now be performed while sitting. NPC Merchants: These merchants which sell many crafting items will now allow for much larger quantities to be purchased with each transaction. 2 Year Whiskey: NPC merchants will offer 30% less gold to purchase this item from players. Enchantment Skills: These skills will now apply significantly more production EXP per use. Flowerbed A: The name of this flowerbed has be changed to Flax Flowerbed. Combat Balance & Changes These changes to combat skills or concepts patched in during R85, will go live with R86, or will go live shortly after R86: Bows & Crossbows: These items now only count as a 1-handed item in regards to fizzle. Control Point Undead: Control point versions of undead were significantly increased in power to make them more challenging than their non-control point counterparts. Bolster Balance: This skill now includes a Critical Hit Damage Reduction feature which reduces the damage multiplier for incoming critical hits. Deflect: This skill now includes a power boost for block. Evasion: This skill now includes a Critical Hit Defense feature which reduces the chance for incoming critical hits. Summoned Pets: Summoned pets of all varieties have received a significant power boost, which will be especially noticed by players specialized in the related school of magic. Aimed Shot: Aimed shot only applies max damage to stationary targets. Summon Will-O-Wisp: This summoned pet can now apply 3 stacks of its buff to the player, which also now includes a +0.1 melee critical damage modifier to each stack. Death Magic: Death mages will now enjoy being far more effective against the undead! Undead are much less resistant to death magic. Stealth: Fall damage no longer breaks stealth unless damage exceeds 5 points of health. Douse: This skill now receives a stacking bonus that increases the duration. Ignite Weapon: This skill now receives a stacking bonus that increases the duration. Consumables: Many consumables now feature cooldowns if placed as a dynamic glyph into a deck. Updated Player Owned Towns These updates affected Player Owned Towns which patched in during R85, will go live with R86, or will go live shortly after R86: Britt Mart: Changed owner. Duanor: Upgraded to Crossroads Village. Fet City: Added new POT to Novia near Jaanaford. Knightmare Falls: Updated interconnections. Llanvier: Moved to Novia near Yew. Obsidius: Upgraded to Crossroads Village. PaxLair: Upgraded to Teralopolis. Riptown Creek: Upgraded to Crossroads Village and set to PvP. Salem: Upgraded to Town. Updated Spite interconnection. Sionann: Upgraded to City. Changed to Swamp Island 01. Moved to near the Tower of the Shuttered Eye. Stormsong Vale: Changed owner. Traveller’s Rest: Upgraded to Town. Bug Fixes Albeit many bug fixes patched in during R85, will go live with R86, or will go live shortly after R86. Here are some of the highlights! A little bit of helium has been released from the white and gray goose decoration pets. They still have enough helium left to be light and fluffy, but they no longer have floating issues. Logic has been improved to help prevent player resurrection issues when 2 players attempt to resurrect the same target. This problem was difficult to duplicate, so please report continued issues in this regard. Giant ore nodes in various scenes have been fixed. Marlin in Aerie now always has a response when you give him the “Drumplemouth” keyword. Cristiano of Sanctus Spine should now properly teleport players across the scene when they request it. Issues with Immolation have been resolved. This spell no longer loses its attunement portion of the buff. The snow weather effect has been improved and should appear less often when indoors. Updated nameplate heights for air and water elementals to be above the heads of the NPCs. Collision was added between the ice pieces in the floating ice cluster decoration so players can no longer fall between the pieces and get stuck. Fixed several issues in Solace Bridge Outskirts in regards to a floating dirt pile on the ground, quest compass marker improvements, quest text improvements, and added crates and barrels on ramp up to bivouac. Replaced a cage door in the Halls of Artifice that was missing. Players should now learn Visna’s name when she shares it in South Boundless Forest. Adjusted weight for the Shield of the Wicked King artifact from 25 to 1. Fixed an issue in Kiln that caused the “Ask About Bonesteel in Kiln” compass markers to disappear prematurely. The “Find Kiakis in Vertas” compass marker should no longer appear prematurely. Thomas Strongbeard of Owl’s Head will have a proper acknowledgement when players tell him their names. Fixed issues in Tanglemire with the path grid in the vicinity of some dirt piles. Reworked spike door trap to function properly as a door. Albert Lock and Franseza Moisan in Aerie no longer run downstairs when the bank door is open The Yule Elf Outfit pattern now applies to gear appropriately. 8 store descriptions were corrected to no longer indicate they can be placed upon a Village Lot or larger since empty row lots are now available. Rebaked navmesh in Oracle Colossus with a tighter grid to help NPCs trying to move on steep slopes. Removed a waypoint node in Oracle Colossus that Imps had trouble reaching. Also, increased the arrival radii for all other Imp waypoint nodes to help with access. The store entry for the Sigil Complete Set was corrected to no longer display a wall of text that transferred in from its original webstore entry. Improved how the “Confirm Final Step” task in Highvale Outskirts archives itself and stops displaying as a compass marker. The “Find Kiakis in Vertas” compass marker should no longer appear prematurely. 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 86 – Jan 28 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! Rajazel Fishing Contest: The Lijuan Zhang and residents of Rajazel have created a spin-off contest for their week within the Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney — get your poles ready, anglers! Catch some big fish! Win some prizes! 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! Mounts of New Britannia Part II: Streaming extraordinaire Torque has graced the community with even more of his hard work. In this latest edition of Torque’s mounts series, he shows off a plethora of the mounts he’s obtained thus far in the game as well as teaching players the nuances for using a mount. Please thank Torque for all his hard work! If you wanna see this video on YouTube, check it out on Torque’s Channel! Zeek Latreck’s Guide to Streaming: So you want to stream Shroud? Why not check out Zeek’s guide for getting started? He’s laid out concepts very clearly to the reader, such as what software to procure, but there’s so much more. Perhaps you’ll be an upcoming SotA streaming expert! Anpu’s Most Wondrous Catalog of SotA Guides: Anpu’s very helpful forum post is a directory to ALL of his guides to include many extremely insightful quest guides. He works diligently to keep these updated, so if you see a quest missing or out of date, let him know — he’ll be sure to keep it up-to-date for the Shroud of the Avatar Community! 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, 3 comics are listed as available for digital download: Amanita’s Adventures: The Pig Amanita’s Adventures: Sword of Oliver Amanita’s Adventures: Steve 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 the next chapter of a wonderful story from Belladonna Rose, entitled Black Rose Chronicles Background music by Smartsound The walk back to Soltown was quiet and solemn. Bella thought back to the people she met in the Solace Bridge encampment. They had all been through so much and yet many still survived and endured all they had been through. The children although a few were orphaned she was sure seemed to pull through and hold out for some form of hope. Playing and doing their best although a bit odd. Smiling at the children dancing around the campfire singing the Ballad of Bloody Bones seemed innocent enough. But after seeing that creature at the Ebon Dawn ritual sites she was not all that sure. Passing the awful bridge area again made the whole thing sink deep in her thoughts. There truly was something evil lurking about and causing all this trouble. She just hoped she could help end it all. And the sooner the better it would seem. Entering the edge of Soltown she was greeted by the refugees there at the campsite. Captain Stanley waved from the edge of the docks as he ushered more folk from who knew where. Patting her sides she remembered she had to deliver a message for him to some town called Ardoris. As she walked up to Stanley his smile dimmed a bit. She thought to herself ..Do I look that bad? Do I show some sort of misery to him that I bring bad news? Odd she would think this but it must show on her face. She had always been so good about hiding things like this. “Ahhh Avatar…I mean Mistress Belladonna. Good to see you have managed well from the outskirts. I take you have news for me?” “Yes I bear a message from Captain Kinsey. She bade me inform you that they are holding down things there despite some interruptions. But things are going well. A few folk are packing up to move on for other parts but most seem content to stay there.” Frowning a bit he looked down at his feet…then looked back up into her face. “I don’t know if things will ever be alright again M’lady but tis good that we have you Outlanders here to help out. Meaning no disrespect mind you. It’s good to have you here. Things in Soltown have been a bit strange of late but I guess that goes with so many refugees about.” She gave him a puzzled look and turned to look over her shoulder. “They all seem to be faring well at the moment. Not sure what else could be going on.” “Ahhh well see that is the thing. The regular folk of town are a might up in arms over the folks from Solace Bridge being here. Rag tagged and all. They feel that what happened at the bridge might find its way here. And quite frankly we are not equipped or manned for such an assault.” Bella nodded in understanding and started to step away. “Its more than that though I am afraid.” Clearing his throat as to speak more he moved closer as if to whisper in her ear. “Seems there have been some things happening the last few nights. Robberies, fires and someone mentioned there were bandits coming up outta the sewers. Not what one would expect here. If you wouldn’t mind moving about town and see if you can find more information about these things I would truly appreciate it.” Patting him on the shoulder she nodded to him she would and that simple smile grew on his face again. It was amazing to Bella that this man would hold so much trust in her since she was an Outlander. Shaking her head she grew to hate that title more and more each day. Walking towards the camp everyone bid her a good day and she made a point to speak to each one. One lady mentioned that she went to put flowers on her daughter’s grave and the pendant she had placed there was missing…and there were large footprints around her grave. She told Bella it had to have been the thief as her husband was off fighting somewhere and the boot prints were extremely large for any of the men about town. Giggling she told Bella she had spent the last couple of days going about town looking at all the men’s feet. Bella couldn’t help but laugh as well. She told the lady she would look about and see if she could solve the mystery. One of the men in the camp was going on about a fire a few nights back..burning an entire wagon to the ground. Almost killing one of the horses. And one of the other women agreed that she had seen someone walking about with a red sash or some sort of red clothing. But she wasn’t sure as it was getting dark. Everyone was unnerved that someone would try to burn them out after what they had already been through. Many were already talking about taking what little they had and moving on. At least they wouldn’t have to deal with this. She nodded to them her understanding and thought to herself they were better off here than out side the town. Too much evil was lurking about ..and that wasn’t just the things she had been fighting. Things like this often bring out the worst in folk. Moving through town she stopped and spoke to Arabella a short time then made her way into the inn. Ordered some food and sat down to eat. Minding her own business as she ate she did listen to the conversation at the table. No one seemed to give her a second notice. The mintstrel who usually is singing for a pint was sitting by the fireplace on a stool….staring warily into the flames. When she finished her meal she approached. Touching him lightly on the shoulder he almost jumped out of his skin. “Scared me half to death ya did. Don’t be sneakin up on folk like that.” “I did not sneak up on you and I did call your name out but you were too engrossed in watching the fire. Is there something the matter this evening. You seem very on edge.” “Well I don’t be knowing what “engrossed” means but yes I am a bit distracted.” Bella smiled and pulled a stool up next to him and patted him softly on the knee. “ Here I be out back of the inn…takin care of business in the darkness when two hooded figures come barreling by me knocking me to the ground. Neither a care in the world that I could have been hurt. Rudeness if you dont mind me saying so. But that aint the thick of it. They smelled funny they did. Kinda like damp stone and moss. Like they been sleeping by the river or somethin. But it was way worse. Kinda had a dead smell about them too.” Shivering he looked back at the fire and shook his head. “It was just strange. Made me teeth chatter thinking about the way they smelled. I thought maybe they went into the inn but they never did. I came back inside and they were nowhere to been seen.” Patting him on the back she listened to him.. Motioning for Emily to bring over a couple of pints. As she got the mugs she handed one to the man and told him to drink up. She sipped the second one and decided she would give it to him instead. She never was good at drinking ale and beers. After a few gulps he seemed to settle down a bit. Then she asked him if he could tell her what direction they came from and she would check it out. He told her and she again patted him on the shoulder . Standing she walked to Emily and handed her a few coins. Asking her to get the man a bed for the night so he could rest. Emily smiled and nodded. Here she stood with three new missons to accomplish. Find a thief, an arsonist and some thugs. Well isnt this going to be a fun time indeed. After many days in Soltown Belladonna finally completed her missions. She found and dispatched the thief in the graveyard and returned the missing necklace to the rightful owner. She uncovered the arsonist and reported him to the Captain in town so he could deal with him. The wealthy merchant fellow is still a bit under suspicion to her though. He did not seem like a friendly fellow. Again she talked to Arabella and was told to venture out into the world. Finish the tasks at hand in the city of Ardoris and go forth to Blood River and High Vale. There were many things needing to be done in both those area to finally find the cause and reason for the Undead uprising . Also the additional uprising of the Elves. Belladonna pondered her newfound circumstances. Now she would have to tread throughout this still unknown land trying to help fix all their problems. Shaking her head she moved on towards Ardoris After talking to many folk throughout she met many along the way that sent her here and there for different tasks. Making her way to a shop she purchased a coal stick and blank book so she could write down all this information so she would not forget it. Each person she talked to she jotted down clues and such to help keep track. She smiled as she sat at a table in the Pelajar Tavern eating a small meal. Pulling the book out and sharpening the slight charcoal stick she wrote down the past things she had done since she arrived. Some were disturbing remembrances and some were funny. Finally catching up to the present time she stretched and took to her room for the night. Arising the next morning she had a small breakfast. Visited a tent shop to purchase some provisions and then headed out. It was time to explore this vast world and see what it had to offer her. She needed to find a quiet place to settle down and make home port. There was no way she could keep venturing further and further without having a place to go to and revive herself both mentally and physically. Making her way back up the road from Ardoris she passed by Soltown again. And on past Solace Bridge. She reached the area of East Reach Gap and made her way across into a desert area. Dry, hot and very few villages along the way she found herself in Desolis. Here she stayed the night and picked up more information about this and that from the villagers. Restocking her supplies she headed west as she was instructed. “Head to Brittany. There you will find what you seek” said one of the travellers in Desolis. So that is what she did. Crossing the remaining desert she approached green grass and trees. Finally. Some respite from that horrid heat and sun. Not that she was not familiar with heat and sun being a ship’s captain but the dry air was not to her liking. She liked the sea breezes for certain. Coming over the hillside she saw many villages dotted across the lands. This was obvious due to the smoke pillars from all the homes. She stopped into one town and took a rest there. Crossroads was the name although it was not a cross road at all. But it was a nice enough place to rest for the night. Early the next morning she stopped at a small row house shop and resupplied herself. At least the small scrabbles she had along the way gave her enough coin to purchase what she needed. Echoes From the Caverns The post Black Rose Chronicles 12 – by Belladonna Rose – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

FYI, anyone who purchased or will purchase a Flambeaux on the store before it leaves the store on Thursday will notice that the store entry is providing 2 copies of the same emote rather than 1 of each flambeaux. Once their sale ends on Thursday, I'll send out the missing emote to all those that purchased one via in-game mail. We'll pull the data then and proceed with delivering out the missing ones later this week or early next week. Apologies for the inconvenience. More details to come! View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar utilize Public Cache Chests as a means to provide other players easy access to resources, loot, prizes, and even player quest rewards! In Release 86, the first batch of new public cache containers are set to arrive! For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure... Avatar’s Update #417: Public Cache Chest Varieties Incoming! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar utilize Public Cache Chests as a means to provide other players easy access to resources, loot, prizes, and even player quest rewards. In Release 86, the first batch of new public cache containers are set to arrive! 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 Public Cache Chest Varieties Incoming! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Ultima Online Podcasts with Lord British! Homes & Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! New Store Additions: Dragon Bones & Holiday Items! New Vault Round! January Login Reward: Ice Trident! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! 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 Public Cache Chest Varieties Incoming! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar utilize in-game decorations in their towns and properties to tell a story or to enhance their in-game events. Public Cache Chests have always been a fantastic resource for sharing inventory items with other players, but unfortunately have been limited to two very large chests in appearance, which does not suit all needs for such items. Besides simple storage, here’s a list of some of the common uses for these chests we’ve witnessed in years past: Sharing Gear & Resources Player-Created Treasure Hunting Events Player-Created Quest Rewards Contest Entry Collections & Prize Distribution Albeit there are likely many other creative uses for public cache containers, we hope to expand the appeal of these items by offering a much larger variety in sizes and appearances. Here are some of the future updates for public access containers, some of which will arrive as early as Release 86 on January 28th: Immersive Varieties: 3 varieties of corpse/coffin containers will arrive on R86 to aid players with storytelling in our wondrous yet dangerous world of New Britannia! Crafted Varieties: The above mentioned coffin will be the first crafted public cache container, with many more to follow in the releases ahead! Smaller Varieties: There will be a variety of small public cache containers which will certainly take less shelf space, but these smaller varieties will also add a significant improvement to player-created treasure hunting ventures. Those large original cache chests are simply too easy to spot for treasure hunting and player quests! Fancy Premium Varieties: Most definitely we’ll have more varieties of these items on the Crown Store, which will feature larger storage space as well as ornate or special qualities. As we continue to expand our offerings for how players share gear and resources with other players, we hope to improve the overall guild, player quest, and inventory sharing experiences throughout the community. So much more is on the horizon, Avatars! Stay tuned! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, January 22nd 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 “2021 is gonna rock” 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 Ultima Online Podcasts with Lord British! Avatars! Looking through the treasure trove of interviews on Vas Rel Por’s “The Ultima Online Podcast” series, we spotted some wonderful Lord British (a.k.a. Richard Garriott) appearances on the program. Be sure to give these a listen — lots of great information has been revealed about Lord British’s extensive career in gaming. The Ultima Online Podcast #013 – Lord British Part I The Ultima Online Podcast #014 – Lord British Part II We hope you enjoy the interviews. Please stay tuned for more fantastic interviews coming your way on Vas Rel Por’s Podcast channel. Homes & Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! In continued celebration of the holidays, the following sales are still active! Homes will continue to be on sale until January 28th, and The Lord of the Isle (LOTI) Bundles (9-16) will remain on sale until January 31st. Upon reaching the end of the month, all LOTI bundles will be removed from the webstore and will no longer be offered. Crown Store Homes 25% Off! Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! In the future, players can expect new bundle offerings of much smaller varieties. Plans to create these bundles are already underway, so stay tuned! Lord of the Isle (LOTI) Details: As one of the biggest supporters of Episode 2, you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Here is a complete list of the LOTI rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. New Store Additions: Dragon Bones & Holiday Items! This week, a very large dragon skull decoration with iron reinforcement has been added to the store. This piece is significantly larger than the recently added dragon skull into the loot system, and is a must-have centerpiece to anyone’s dragon bone collection. Last week, a premium dragon bones decoration was added to the store! Dragon Bones 2 can be placed on property or a Player-Owned Town, and works very well with all the new miscellaneous dragon bone decorations which drop as loot! The original Dragon Bones decoration which features a different death pose has been renamed to Dragon Bones 1 and will soon be enabled for property placement. Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! Laissez les bons temps rouler, Avatars! Don’t let the vault door close on these items for another year before you have decorated for Mardi Gras! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, January 28th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Flambeaux Battle Banner Tower Village Home Ornate Flamberge Pattern Pack Kobold 4-Story Great Hall City Home Kobold Fighter Mask Aether Aeronaut Helmet Mardi Gras Fountain Mardi Gras Garland 12-Pack January Login Reward: Ice Trident! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of January, and you’ll receive your very own Ice Trident! The perfect weapon to wield during these icy months of winter! Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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 86 – Jan 28 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! Rajazel Fishing Contest: The Lijuan Zhang and residents of Rajazel have created a spin-off contest for their week within the Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney — get your poles ready, anglers! Catch some big fish! Win some prizes! 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! Mounts of New Britannia Part II: Streaming extraordinaire Torque has graced the community with even more of his hard work. In this latest edition of Torque’s mounts series, he shows off a plethora of the mounts he’s obtained thus far in the game as well as teaching players the nuances for using a mount. Please thank Torque for all his hard work! If you wanna see this video on YouTube, check it out on Torque’s Channel! Zeek Latreck’s Guide to Streaming: So you want to stream Shroud? Why not check out Zeek’s guide for getting started? He’s laid out concepts very clearly to the reader, such as what software to procure, but there’s so much more. Perhaps you’ll be an upcoming SotA streaming expert! Anpu’s Most Wondrous Catalog of SotA Guides: Anpu’s very helpful forum post is a directory to ALL of his guides to include many extremely insightful quest guides. He works diligently to keep these updated, so if you see a quest missing or out of date, let him know — he’ll be sure to keep it up-to-date for the Shroud of the Avatar Community! 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 24th 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 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: 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 avatars! We wanted to start off the new year by sharing our plans for the future of Shroud of the Avatar. After a crazy year, and plenty of time to digest and reflect on Shroud over the past year, we’ve come to the conclusion the best thing we can do for Shroud is to focus largely on fixing bugs, improving quality of life, improving many systems that already exist, and balancing rewards and systems. There will be new content and systems in 2021, but they will not be the top... Shroud Vision View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Gear Patterns in Shroud of the Avatar will receive a plethora of adjustments, Avatars! Expect them to become far more flexible with Release 86! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming... Avatar’s Update #416: Upcoming Gear Patterns Flexibility! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Gear Patterns in Shroud of the Avatar will receive a plethora of adjustments, Avatars! Expect them to become far more flexible with Release 86! 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 Upcoming Gear Patterns Flexibility! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Ultima Online Podcast #20 with Darkstarr! Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! New Store Additions: Dragon Bones & Conversationalists! New Vault Round! January Login Reward: Ice Trident! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Upcoming Community Events Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Upcoming Gear Patterns Flexibility! Gear Patterns in Shroud of the Avatar, up to this point, have been considerably restrictive in how players could apply them to gear. For instance, a 1-Handed Longsword Pattern would only apply to other 1-Handed Longswords, or a cloth helm pattern would only apply to a cloth helm. The list goes on, but this list will get considerably less complicated going forward! These changes should arrive in Release 86 or soon after! Category Restrictions Simplified: Below is a list of categories which will remain. Any item within that category will accept a pattern from the same category. Bludgeon 1-Handed Bludgeon 2-Handed Blades 1-Handed Blades 2-Handed Polearm 1-Handed Polearm 2-Handed Bows Shields Head Slot Back Slot Chest Slot Gloves Slot Legs Slot Feet Slot Artifacts: These elusive treasures scattered through out the realms will soon accept all patterns available within the same gear slot. For instance, an artifact chest piece will accept ANY pattern for a chest piece. With many visuals for off-hand items already available, with even more coming very soon (hint hint), expect some off-hand item patterns on the horizon as well! We hope players enjoy this extra flexibility with gear patterns. We will be introducing many more patterns in the future, so expect additional options for character customization shortly. Developers continue to work hard to bring new features, content, and fixes to reveal on January 28th for Release 86! Of the new or improved items coming to players, development is still on schedule to launch the new “Well of Aldur” adventure scene. Corpses and coffin decorations are inbound, some to be found as loot, some to be crafted at your Carpentry tables! Also, at least 8 new crafted conversationalists are coming, which feature 8 related decoration items and crafting recipes! New crafted and premium scroll decorations are coming to offer players more variety in publishing their great literary works! And most certainly a slew of new Quality of Life improvements will also be in the mix. Release 86 is going to be a great one, Avatars, so don’t miss out! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, January 15th 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 “2021 is gonna rock” 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 Ultima Online Podcast #20 with Darkstarr! Avatars! So many of us hail from realms other than New Briitannia, and Darkstarr (a.k.a. Starr Long and Lord Blackthorn) reminisces with Vas Rel Por in a wondrous interview touching upon Starr Long’s extensive history with Ultima Online as well as his involvement with Shroud of the Avatar! Go get some snacks, sit back, and listen in! Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! In continued celebration of the holidays, the Lord of the Isle (LOTI) bundles 9-16 remain on sale until the end of the month. Upon reaching the end of the month, all LOTI bundles will be removed from the webstore and will no longer be offered. In the future, players can expect new bundle offerings of much smaller varieties. Plans to create these bundles are already underway, so stay tuned! (SALE EXTENDED JANUARY 31st: Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! LOTI Bundles will also be discontinued on January 31st.) As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. New Store Additions: Dragon Bones & Conversationalists! This week, a premium dragon bones decoration has been added to the store! Dragon Bones 2 can be placed on property or a Player-Owned Town, and works very well with all the new miscellaneous dragon bone decorations which drop as loot! The original Dragon Bones decoration which features a different death pose has been renamed to Dragon Bones 1 and will soon be enabled for property placement. Last week, 8 premium Zombie Conversationalists have been added to the Crown Store! These 8 additions work very well alongside the two recently added Zombie Conversationalists available through in-game crafting. Conversationalist, Zombie Male 1 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 2 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 3 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 4 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 1 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 2 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 3 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 4 Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, January 21st at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Jester Carnival Mask Pallas’s Cat Tower Town Home Windmill Village Home Elven Elder Fighter Armor Pattern Pack Kobold Mage Mask Elven House in a Hill Obsidian Order Throne Small Obsidian Obelisk January Login Reward: Ice Trident! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of January, and you’ll receive your very own Ice Trident! The perfect weapon to wield during these icy months of winter! Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Upcoming Community Events 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, and perhaps make some great emote, recipe, and gear trades or get some adventuring or role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events 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! Dark Bayou Fishing Contest: The Avatars of Dark Bayou have created a spin-off contest for their week within the Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney — get your poles ready, anglers! Catch some big fish! Win some prizes! SotA Horror Fiction: Would you like to read a horror fiction series by Fetid SirDiddy? Well check out his latest work on the forums in the Fire Lotus Tavern! “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 was instantly engulfed by dry earth. Thermal waves emanated from the metal fences and buildings 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…” Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues: Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” Mingo’s White Raven Inn: Join other role-playing community members in the forum RP thread, “Mingo’s White Raven Inn!” “Hail and well met old comrades in song! My sojourns have interrupted my story telling I know, but I have survived…somewhat…although with loss of half a leg and an eye. I tried me hand at piracy once again at the behest of an old friend… There was some benefit however. Come ye and see me new Inn, “White Raven” in the newly discovered land of Mistrandur…Mistrendur? whatever….there be a big green island off the main island, and in the middle, towards the southern coast, the town of Meridian. Ye can’t miss me inn, it be 4 stories tall with a statue of a white raven outside ….well actually it is a turkey, but as close as I could find to a raven…” Shroud of the QAvatar: Avatars! Stay tuned for exciting livestream events coming from dedicated community member Violet Ronso. Violet plans to test builds live on stream that have been suggested to him by various community members. Black Rose Chronicles Continues: Role-players and authors of New Britannia! Community member Belladonna Rose has continued the story, “The Black Rose Chronicles!” “The skies grew dark as the ship headed into rough seas. Salt spray grew with intensity and the sails furled and flapped with every gust. Even for a seasoned crew it was obvious they were a bit more tense than usual. There seemed to be a strange form of energy in the wind and on the sea.” Islands of Wonders Quest: A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! Crafters Town Shopping Spree: Greetings Avatars! Every month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! 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 weeky 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: 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! Lord of the Isle Bundles and Player Homes remain on sale for a limited time! 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... Avatar’s Update #415: Homes & Lord of the Isle Bundle Sales Continue! Latest News Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Lord of the Isle Bundles and Player Homes remain on sale for a limited time! 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 Homes & Lord of the Isle Bundle Sales Continue! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Homes and Lord of the Isle Bundle Sale! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Statues & More! New Vault Round! January Login Reward: Ice Trident! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! Upcoming Release Dates Community Updates Upcoming Community Events Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Homes & Lord of the Isle Bundle Sales Continue! In continued celebration of the holidays, the following sales have been extended! Homes will continue to be on sale until January 11th, and The Lord of the Isle (LOTI) Bundles (9-16) will remain on sale until the end of the month. Upon reaching the end of the month, all LOTI bundles will be removed from the webstore and will no longer be offered. Crown Store Homes 25% Off! Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! In the future, players can expect new bundle offerings of much smaller varieties. Plans to create these bundles are already underway, so stay tuned! In the coming weeks, developers will continue working hard to bring new features, content, and fixes to reveal on January 28th for Release 86! Of the new or improved items coming to players, development is still on schedule to launch the new “Well of Aldur” adventure scene. Also, at least 8 new crafted conversationalists are coming, which feature 8 related decoration items and crafting recipes! New crafted and premium scroll decorations are coming to offer players more variety in publishing their great literary works! And most certainly a slew of new Quality of Life improvements will also be in the mix. Release 86 is going to be a great one, Avatars, so don’t miss out! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, January 8th 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 “let it snow” 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 New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Statues & More! This week, 8 premium Zombie Conversationalists have been added to the Crown Store! These 8 additions work very well alongside the two recently added Zombie Conversationalists available through in-game crafting. Conversationalist, Zombie Male 1 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 2 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 3 Conversationalist, Zombie Male 4 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 1 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 2 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 3 Conversationalist, Zombie Female 4 Lately, 5 amazing new store items became available. For those wanting some eerie ambience in their homes and dungeons — a new Skull Pile decoration! A new Programmable Teletype Conversationalist! New decorative swordsman statues of different sizes and colors! (Also, be on the lookout for a new recipe to craft an Avatar sized swordsman statue which is available on the in-game merchant on the second floor of the bank in Aerie.) Skull Pile Conversationalist, Programmable Teletype Giant Golden Swordsman Statue Giant Swordsman Statue Tabletop Swordsman Statue Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, January 14th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Buckskin Foal Decoration Pet Aeronaut Wearable Pack Brown Chaperon Hat Obsidian Tower (Village Home) Elven Fighter Armor Lava Hot Tub Arrow Trap Large Knight’s Tent Saddle with Stand January Login Reward: Ice Trident! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of January, and you’ll receive your very own Ice Trident! The perfect weapon to wield during these icy months of winter! Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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. Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! (SALE EXTENDED JANUARY 31st: Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! LOTI Bundles will also be discontinued on January 31st.) Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. 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 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Upcoming Community Events 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, and perhaps make some great emote, recipe, and gear trades or get some adventuring or role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events 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! SotA Horror Fiction: Would you like to read a horror fiction series by Fetid SirDiddy? Well check out his latest work on the forums in the Fire Lotus Tavern! “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 was instantly engulfed by dry earth. Thermal waves emanated from the metal fences and buildings 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…” Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues: Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” Mingo’s White Raven Inn: Join other role-playing community members in the forum RP thread, “Mingo’s White Raven Inn!” “Hail and well met old comrades in song! My sojourns have interrupted my story telling I know, but I have survived…somewhat…although with loss of half a leg and an eye. I tried me hand at piracy once again at the behest of an old friend… There was some benefit however. Come ye and see me new Inn, “White Raven” in the newly discovered land of Mistrandur…Mistrendur? whatever….there be a big green island off the main island, and in the middle, towards the southern coast, the town of Meridian. Ye can’t miss me inn, it be 4 stories tall with a statue of a white raven outside ….well actually it is a turkey, but as close as I could find to a raven…” Shroud of the QAvatar: Avatars! Stay tuned for exciting livestream events coming from dedicated community member Violet Ronso. Violet plans to test builds live on stream that have been suggested to him by various community members. Black Rose Chronicles Continues: Role-players and authors of New Britannia! Community member Belladonna Rose has continued the story, “The Black Rose Chronicles!” “The skies grew dark as the ship headed into rough seas. Salt spray grew with intensity and the sails furled and flapped with every gust. Even for a seasoned crew it was obvious they were a bit more tense than usual. There seemed to be a strange form of energy in the wind and on the sea.” Islands of Wonders Quest: A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! Crafters Town Shopping Spree: Greetings Avatars! Every month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! 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! 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

I’ve seen a few requests for a 2021 vision. I don’t think creating something like last year’s vision makes sense. In hindsight, having a specific list of features and specific deadlines is just not that useful and ends up doing more damage than good. Going forward we will keep a high level vision that is not just a list of features and instead is a list of high level goals for the project. We learned a lot this year but one of the most important things I think we learned is that new... Shroud Vision statement View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! As many within community and the development team take a break during the holidays, we wish everyone a happy, safe, and restful time! 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... Avatar’s Update #414: Happy New Year, Avatars! New Store Additions! New Vault Round!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! As many within community and the development team take a break during the holidays, we wish everyone a happy, safe, and restful time! 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 Happy New Year, Avatars! Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! New Store Addition: Skull Pile, Conversationalists & Statues! New Vault Round! January Login Reward: Ice Trident! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! Upcoming Events Calendar Community Updates Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney Community Event: Yearly Snow Walker Migration Community Event: Jade Valley Fishing Contest Community Event: Mysteria Fishing Contest Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Community Event: Mingo’s White Raven Inn Community Event: Shroud of the QAvatar Community Event: New Timeslot for DJ Asclepius Community Event: Black Rose Chronicles Continues Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Community Event: Beran’s Reach Auction Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Happy New Year, Avatars! Happy New Year, Avatars! While the development team continues to spend some extra time with loved ones, we hope the new year brings everyone much happiness. The team is anxious to dive back to regular hours on Monday morning fully charged to bring you all great content and improvements for 2021! We’ll be back on track to provide weekly development updates starting next Friday as well. We hope everyone stays healthy and safe during their celebrations, and for those that don’t have balmy winters, stay warm! Happy Holidays, Avatars! NOTE: We mistakenly only submitted sale prices to 80 of the store homes. As a result, we’ll be submitting a patch shortly to add the discounts to the remaining 40 or so homes that got missed, AND we’ll be extending the home sales an additional week as a result. UPDATE, LORD OF THE ISLE (LOTI) BUNDLES (9-16): Don’t miss out if you were on the fence about becoming a LOTI supporter — LOTI bundles 9-16 are on sale for 25% Off! Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! In celebration of the holidays, various sales will extend from December 17th to January 4th. The following sales will be available: NEW, THIS WEEK ONLY: Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! Crowns 20% Off! Crown Store Deeds 25% Off! Deed Upgrades 25% Off! Crown Store Homes 25% Off! Episode 2 Access Discounted to $14! 2-Hour Flash Sales! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. And be sure to watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! Happy shopping, Avatars! NOTE: We mistakenly only submitted sale prices to 80 of the store homes. As a result, we’ll be submitting a patch shortly to add the discounts to the remaining 40 or so homes that got missed, AND we’ll be extending the home sales an additional week as a result. New Store Addition: Skull Pile, Conversationalists & Statues! This week, a Skull Pile decoration has been added to the Crown Store! Last week, 4 amazing new store items became available. A new Programmable Teletype Conversationalist! New decorative swordsman statues of different sizes and colors! (Also, be on the lookout for a new recipe to craft an Avatar sized swordsman statue which is available on the in-game merchant on the second floor of the bank in Aerie.) Conversationalist, Programmable Teletype Giant Golden Swordsman Statue Giant Swordsman Statue Tabletop Swordsman Statue Also, the winter store season is here, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, January 7th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Brass Clockwork Monkey Decoration Pet Airship City Home Hacked Oracle Flyer Pet Shiba Inu Dog Decoration Pet Black & Chrome Ornate Aeronaut Outfit Ornate Viking Short Sword Pattern Pack Kobold Mask Dark Thorn Sword Virtue Clockwork Wings January Login Reward: Ice Trident! Don’t miss out! Log in during the month of January, and you’ll receive your very own Ice Trident! The perfect weapon to wield during these icy months of winter! Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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 Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund! Moving in to the holiday season, now more than ever we need to support our friend Justin, every contribution helps! Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need: “No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com) Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated. Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information 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 our other 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 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 The following bugs and quality of life improvements are being released to QA in the coming weeks, please keep checking QA, testing and giving feedback on these items: One hit to Zero Durability Root Issue Durability on Crafted Items Potion of Shadow Form Useable on Combat Bar Desolis: Corsten now correctly asks for a taming necklace for a Blanket Horse in exchange for a rideable Blanket Horse Player Owned Town light counts increased by 50% Shard of Night Pattern Daemon Trident Pattern Halberd of the Sun Pattern Xen Penetrator Pattern Ancient Essence Yield: Uncommon and Common yield 1. Rare yields 2. Legendary yields 4. Epic yields 8. Find Out Why Owl’s Nest Has No Ale quest updates Arabella Cloak deco types revised Meticulous Collection while Harvesting to yield XP Rewards in Loot Quiver of Jealousy masterwork and enchant updates Player Instruction Updates And much much more! 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. Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles (9-16) 25% Off! As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! (THIS WEEK ONLY: Lord of the Isle Bundles (9-16) 25% Off!) Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. Upcoming Events Calendar 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: 2020/2021 Release Schedule: Release 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Community Event: 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. Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry. Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 1st at Noon CT to Friday the 8th at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week: Largest FRESHWATER Fish (Town): Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns. Governs can request loaner water conversion statues. Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy Jade Valley (@Mal Hari) Mysteria (@Irishize ) Duanor, Near Noreach (@Raven Swiftbow) Largest Fish (PvP): Rules: Must be caught in Paladis Shardfall Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy Largest Lava Fish: Rules: Must be caught in Etceter Crag Mines Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy Participation Prizes: Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone. Jade Valley: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/jade-valley-fishing-contest-jan-1-jan-8.166721/ Mysteria: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/mysteria-fishing-contest-jan-1st-jan-8th.166754/ How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch. Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars! Community Event: Yearly Snow Walker Migration Avatars, just when you thought the holidays were winding down, the annual Snow Walker migration has begun in Jade Valley! Come quickly and meet the Snow Walkers of the Elysium Mountains as they come down from their peaky homes and wander the town, valley, and mountains in Jade Valley on Elysium Island south of Novia. For more information or if you would like to participate, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Jade Valley Fishing Contest Ready to get outside and start working off those holiday pounds? The Jade Dragons invites all anglers, tall and small, to a week of fishing fun in Jade Valley! Come welcome in 2021 and say good riddance to 2020 with some fishing and fun. Where: Jade Valley Player-Owned Town When: Noon Friday, January 1st through Noon Friday, January 8th CT For more information or if you would like to participate, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Mysteria Fishing Contest Pack your best fishing kit, and come on out to join the locals for some magic in Mysteria, with a spin-off contest for this week’s Catnip Weekly Fishing Tournament! The magic is real in Mysteria, so keep your wands at the ready, and your bait box full! Where: Mysteria Player-Owned Town When: Noon Friday, January 1st through Noon Friday, January 8th CT For more information or if you would like to participate, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” To continue on this adventure, head to the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: Mingo’s White Raven Inn Join other role-playing community members in the forum RP thread, “Mingo’s White Raven Inn!” “Hail and well met old comrades in song! My sojourns have interrupted my story telling I know, but I have survived…somewhat…although with loss of half a leg and an eye. I tried me hand at piracy once again at the behest of an old friend… There was some benefit however. Come ye and see me new Inn, “White Raven” in the newly discovered land of Mistrandur…Mistrendur? whatever….there be a big green island off the main island, and in the middle, towards the southern coast, the town of Meridian. Ye can’t miss me inn, it be 4 stories tall with a statue of a white raven outside ….well actually it is a turkey, but as close as I could find to a raven…” For more information or if you would like to participate, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Shroud of the QAvatar Avatars! Stay tuned for exciting livestream events coming from dedicated community member Violet Ronso (a.k.a. ThatOddFrenchGuy) on Twitch! Violet Ronso plans to test builds live on stream that have been suggested to him by various community members. If you’re interested in watching, commenting, or even suggesting future builds, stay active on the main forum post on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: New Timeslot for DJ Asclepius Attention Avatars! DJ Ascelpius has just announced new hours for his weekly radio program, so get your calendars adjusted! When: Mondays, 10PM CT Where: Either utilize your in-game Aether Vibration Devices for Avatar’s/Virtue Radio (radios, clockwork pets, clockwork helms, etc.) or simply point your browser to Avatar’s/Virtue Radio: https://zcu.io/jXP8 The Shroud of the Avatar community is INCREDIBLY creative, and over the last five years, many community members have composed short stories, poems, and other creative works. Asclepius, along with a number of other narrators have had the privilege of rendering them into audio form. There is a huge vault of podcasts on the Caverns site with well over 200 amazing creative contributions. For more information about these reoccurring broadcasts on Avatar’s/Virtue Radio, please contact Asclepius on his forum post about this topic. Community Event: Black Rose Chronicles Continues Role-players and authors of New Britannia! Community member Belladonna Rose has continued the story, “The Black Rose Chronicles!” “The skies grew dark as the ship headed into rough seas. Salt spray grew with intensity and the sails furled and flapped with every gust. Even for a seasoned crew it was obvious they were a bit more tense than usual. There seemed to be a strange form of energy in the wind and on the sea.” Be sure to read the latest entry in this immersive storyline. For more information or to express gratitude for all her hard work, please check out the main forum post on the official forums! Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! When: Ongoing! Where: Islands of Wonders For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Greetings Avatars! Starting this month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! Where: Crafters Town When: December 1st to December 31st For more information about contest guidelines and prizes, please see the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums. Happy sales hunting, shoppers! Community Event: 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! When: Sundays, 2PM CT Where: Beran’s Reach For more information about the auction house event, see the main thread on this topic on the official forums. Happy bidding, 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! As many within community and the development team take a break during the holidays, we wish everyone a happy, safe, and restful time! 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... Avatar’s Update #413: Happy Holidays from the Development Team!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! As many within community and the development team take a break during the holidays, we wish everyone a happy, safe, and restful time! 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 Season’s Greetings from the Development Team! Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts, & Seasonal Items! New Vault Round! December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 20202 3-Pack! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles Upcoming Events Calendar Community Updates Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Community Event: A Not So Scary Story Community Event: Mingo’s White Raven Inn Community Event: Shroud of the QAvatar Community Event: New Timeslot for DJ Asclepius Community Event: Jade Dragons’ New Year’s Eve Party Community Event: Winter Ball & New Year’s Livestream Bash Community Event: Black Rose Chronicles Continues Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Community Event: Beran’s Reach Auction Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Season’s Greetings from the Development Team! Season’s Greetings, Avatars! As the development team spends some extra time with family and friends, we wanted to express our deepest appreciation and admiration for the community. So many of you have done so many wonderful things for each other as well as the development team, and because of this amazing community, we’re continually inspired and motivated to forge ahead and provide new content, features, and improvements. Through your support and love for project, as well as your dedicated efforts to help us improve the game, we believe each and every year ahead, Shroud of the Avatar will improve and become home to more and more players throughout the world. Please take some time this holiday season to express your thanks and appreciation to your fellow community members, family, and friends. We hope you all have a happy holiday season. Stay safe! Stay warm! And be on the lookout for those that might just need a little extra holiday cheer to brighten their day. Happy Holidays, Avatars! For those that missed the Christmas caroling from two of our most famous New Britannians, Maxine (Lead Vocals) and Chris Spears (Back-Up Vocals), no worries! Here’s the video from yesterday’s caroling event: Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! In celebration of the holidays, various sales will extend from December 17th to January 4th. The following sales will be available: Crowns 20% Off! Crown Store Deeds 25% Off! Deed Upgrades 25% Off! Crown Store Homes 25% Off! Episode 2 Access Discounted to $14! 2-Hour Flash Sales! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. And be sure to watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! Happy shopping, Avatars! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts & More! Just this week, 4 brand new items are now available on the Crown Store! A new Programmable Teletype Conversationalist! New decorative swordsman statues of different sizes and colors! (Also, be on the lookout for a new recipe to craft an Avatar sized swordsman statue which is available on the in-game merchant on the second floor of the bank in Aerie.) Conversationalist, Programmable Teletype Giant Golden Swordsman Statue Giant Swordsman Statue Tabletop Swordsman Statue Last week, 17 amazing new store items have become available! Some will only be available during winter holidays, so don’t miss out! Red-Nosed Reindeer Mount (w/Spotlight Effect) Kwanzaa Table Decorations Yule Gift Box 2020 3-Pack Blank Yule Card 2020 A 5-Pack Blank Yule Card 2020 B 5-Pack Floating Ice 12-Pack Huge Long Chain Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Long Chain Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Fancy Crystal Chandelier Conversationalist, Barbarian Bear Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Boar Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Dragon Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Stag Clan Female 1 Conversationalist, Mountain Troll Conversationalist, Troll Underdweller Conversationalist, Troll The winter store seasons are upon us, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, December 31st at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. White Foal Decoration Pet (Domesticated) Red Squirrel Decoration Pet Barn 2-Story Village Home Shroud of the Avatar Soundtrack Volume 1 – Wax Cylinders Black & Chrome Ornate Aeronaut Outfit Pattern Pack Viking 2-Story Stronghold Village Home Viking Guor Shield Kobold Radiant Energy Coil Ancient Elven Bow December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 2020 3-Pack! If you’re getting your home prepared for a visit from Santa, then you’ll want to log in this month, and get your stockings to hang by the chimney with care! Simply log in during the month of December, and these holly jolly Yule Stockings will appear in your rewards window. Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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 Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund! Moving in to the holiday season, now more than ever we need to support our friend Justin, every contribution helps! Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need: “No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com) Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated. Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information 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 our other 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 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 The following bugs and quality of life improvements are being released to QA in the coming weeks, please keep checking QA, testing and giving feedback on these items: One hit to Zero Durability Root Issue Durability on Crafted Items Potion of Shadow Form Useable on Combat Bar Desolis: Corsten now correctly asks for a taming necklace for a Blanket Horse in exchange for a rideable Blanket Horse Player Owned Town light counts increased by 50% Shard of Night Pattern Daemon Trident Pattern Halberd of the Sun Pattern Xen Penetrator Pattern Ancient Essence Yield: Uncommon and Common yield 1. Rare yields 2. Legendary yields 4. Epic yields 8. Find Out Why Owl’s Nest Has No Ale quest updates Arabella Cloak deco types revised Meticulous Collection while Harvesting to yield XP Rewards in Loot Quiver of Jealousy masterwork and enchant updates Player Instruction Updates And much much more! 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. Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. Upcoming Events Calendar 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: 2020/2021 Release Schedule: Release 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Community Event: 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. Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry. Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 25th at Noon CT to Friday the 1st at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week: Largest FETID WATER Fish (Town): Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns. Governs can request loaner water conversion statues. Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy Beran’s Reach (@Duke Vallas [BEAR]) PaxLair (@Sean Silverfoot) Novia Market (@Adam Crow) Largest Fish (PvP): Rules: Must be caught in The Brave Coast Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy Largest Lava Fish: Rules: Must be caught in Bunker C Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy Participation Prizes: Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone. No Crossover Events Announced How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch. Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars! Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Each month, the anglers of New Britannia can enjoy a fantastic fishing competition in the Islands of Wonders! So many fantastic prizes await thee, Avatar! Crowns of the Obsidian! A troll horde containing valuable loot! Don’t miss out! When: The Month of December! Where: Islands of Wonders Please message Rook Strife on the forums or in-game if you have any questions/feedback. For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” To continue on this adventure, head to the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Hear ye, Hear ye! Maykie Antear and Trellana are hosting a wondrous gift exchange event in Knightmare Falls! You’ll most certainly not want to miss out: When: Until December 26th Where: Knightmare Falls For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: A Not So Scary Story Did you miss out on Bee Striker’s “A Not So Scary Story” on Youtube? Well fear not! Alleine Dragonfyre has shared this video on the forums. For more information or to express appreciation for this fun video, please check out the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Mingo’s White Raven Inn Join other role-playing community members in the forum RP thread, “Mingo’s White Raven Inn!” “Hail and well met old comrades in song! My sojourns have interrupted my story telling I know, but I have survived…somewhat…although with loss of half a leg and an eye. I tried me hand at piracy once again at the behest of an old friend… There was some benefit however. Come ye and see me new Inn, “White Raven” in the newly discovered land of Mistrandur…Mistrendur? whatever….there be a big green island off the main island, and in the middle, towards the southern coast, the town of Meridian. Ye can’t miss me inn, it be 4 stories tall with a statue of a white raven outside ….well actually it is a turkey, but as close as I could find to a raven…” For more information or if you would like to participate, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Shroud of the QAvatar Avatars! Stay tuned for exciting livestream events coming from dedicated community member Violet Ronso (a.k.a. ThatOddFrenchGuy) on Twitch! Violet Ronso plans to test builds live on stream that have been suggested to him by various community members. If you’re interested in watching, commenting, or even suggesting future builds, stay active on the main forum post on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: New Timeslot for DJ Asclepius Attention Avatars! DJ Ascelpius has just announced new hours for his weekly radio program, so get your calendars adjusted! When: Mondays, 10PM CT Where: Either utilize your in-game Aether Vibration Devices for Avatar’s/Virtue Radio (radios, clockwork pets, clockwork helms, etc.) or simply point your browser to Avatar’s/Virtue Radio: https://zcu.io/jXP8 The Shroud of the Avatar community is INCREDIBLY creative, and over the last five years, many community members have composed short stories, poems, and other creative works. Asclepius, along with a number of other narrators have had the privilege of rendering them into audio form. There is a huge vault of podcasts on the Caverns site with well over 200 amazing creative contributions. For more information about these reoccurring broadcasts on Avatar’s/Virtue Radio, please contact Asclepius on his forum post about this topic. Community Event: Jade Dragons’ New Year’s Eve Party Celebrate with the Jade Dragons and friends for a wondrous New Year’s Eve Party! When: December 31st, 10PM to Midnight CT Where: Jade Valley in Jade Tavern Celebrate with friends! Bring your drinks, music, fireworks, and gifts! Share emotes! Share recipes! For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Winter Ball & New Year’s Livestream Bash Join the crew and friends of Avatars/Virtue Radio for the Winter Solstice Ball 2020! When: December 25th, 8PM to 11PM CT Where: Immortal City But that’s not all! Also, don’t miss out on the New Year’s Eve Livestream Bash on Twitch! Skeggy Media: December 31st, 2PM to 7PM CT Dinheru Live: December 31st, 7PM to 8PM CT For more information, please visit the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Black Rose Chronicles Continues Role-players and authors of New Britannia! Community member Belladonna Rose has continued the story, “The Black Rose Chronicles!” “The skies grew dark as the ship headed into rough seas. Salt spray grew with intensity and the sails furled and flapped with every gust. Even for a seasoned crew it was obvious they were a bit more tense than usual. There seemed to be a strange form of energy in the wind and on the sea.” Be sure to read the latest entry in this immersive storyline. For more information or to express gratitude for all her hard work, please check out the main forum post on the official forums! Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! When: Ongoing! Where: Islands of Wonders For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Greetings Avatars! Starting this month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! Where: Crafters Town When: December 1st to December 31st For more information about contest guidelines and prizes, please see the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums. Happy sales hunting, shoppers! Community Event: 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! When: Sundays, 2PM CT Where: Beran’s Reach For more information about the auction house event, see the main thread on this topic on the official forums. Happy bidding, 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! Adventurers, ready your weapons! Shroud of the Avatar has just placed the Well of Aldur onto QA for player testing! Expect this new adventure scene to go fully live on Release 86. Sales, sales, and even more sales events are live! Don’t miss out! Also, more information has been revealed about the new collectible framed maps! And be sure to check out all the new bone decorations — so many to choose from and to discover! These exciting updates and more... Avatar’s Update #412: Play Release 85 Now! Well of Aldur Update! Decorative Framed Maps & More!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Adventurers, ready your weapons! Shroud of the Avatar has just placed the Well of Aldur onto QA for player testing! Expect this new adventure scene to go fully live on Release 86. Sales, sales, and even more sales events are live! Don’t miss out! Also, more information has been revealed about the new collectible framed maps! And be sure to check out all the new bone decorations — so many to choose from and to discover! These exciting updates and more are outlined below for Release 85! 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 Well of Aldur Update! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! Decorative Framed Maps! New Bone Decorations! Craftable Zombie Conversationalists! Supply Bundle Decorations! Patterns & Cabalist Hoods! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts, & Seasonal Items! New Vault Round! December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 20202 3-Pack! R85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Theme! World & UI Changes Crafting & Economy Changes Combat Balance & Changes Updated Player-Owned Towns Bug Fixes Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles Upcoming Events Calendar Community Updates Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Community Event: Mad Splatter Yuletide Tea Party Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Community Event: Autumn Rising Brewery Dance Party Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Community Event: Beran’s Reach Auction Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Well of Aldur Update! New Britannians! Soon, a mystical and mysterious adventure scene will be coming to players of Shroud of the Avatar. “The Well of Aldur” is a scene for Episode 2 Access holders which will feature a variety of activities to challenge even the most stalwart of Avatars! Many finishing touches still need to be done, but the images shown are a great example of the work in progress. World builders List Rostov and Sannio are both hard at work to complete this wondrously ethereal adventure scene, with a full launch expected for Release 86 on January 28th. Sannio has shared a small teaser for what to expect: “High above the mountain peaks of Mistrendur floats the crumbling remains of a civilization whose origins are lost to time. Only the greatest adventurers will decipher the secrets, survive the threats, and discover the true nature of the Well of Aldur.” Players can expect a variety of challenges such as a jump puzzle with a reward upon reaching its end. Also, a boss fight with new mechanics will become available to players, as well as new unique loot for the scene. As of today for Release 85, players will be able to reach “The Well of Aldur” for testing purposes on the QA server. If interested, message an online developer for teleportation to the scene. Please report all related bugs and feedback items on the QA bug reporting/feedback section of the forums. Stay tuned for more information as the scene develops. Happy adventures, Avatars! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, December 18th 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 “let it snow” 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! Crowns, Homes, Deeds, Deed Upgrades & Two-Hour Flash Sales! In celebration of the upcoming holidays, various sales will begin on Thursday morning and extend from December 17th to January 4th. The following sales will be available: Crowns 20% Off! Crown Store Deeds 25% Off! Deed Upgrades 25% Off! Crown Store Homes 25% Off! Episode 2 Access Discounted to $14! 2-Hour Flash Sales! To upgrade a deed, place the deed into your inventory, then right-click the deed to reveal upgrade options. And be sure to watch your clocks, Avatars! A new batch of 9 sale items will rotate into the in-game Crown Store every 2 hours! Happy shopping, Avatars! Decorative Framed Maps! Upon Release 84, two new decorative framed maps were immediately available to players of Shroud of the Avatar, but during R84 the remaining 24 framed maps became available! These framed maps can be crafted by players, but the recipes can be significantly challenging to locate and are scattered widely throughout New Britannia in various monster loot tables. Well, no worries. Caravaggios Wolf is here to help! [SPOILERS] Caravaggios Wolf is a prominent art dealer NPC in Ardoris, who is located in an art store just on the edges of the main market square. If a player prompts Caravaggios with the phrase “framed maps” phrase, Caravaggios will provide his knowledge of these recipes and even provide a book which was written by one of his colleagues. This book has very helpful information as to the location for each of these recipes. If players would like to see a variety of these framed maps in-game, be sure to pop on by Cypher Black’s art museum in the Player-Owned Town of Whyte Roc. Nearly a half of these crafted framed maps are already on display, many of which have been donated by community members supporting the museum. More collections such as this will be coming in the future, so keep your eyes open, Avatars! New Bone Decorations! As of Release 85, a wide range of bone type decorations will be featured as loot, crafted items, or even upcoming store items. Some of these bone decorations already served as crafting components, but now they can also be placed as decorations! Here’s a quick summary of where to find all these recently added or upcoming decorations for all you bone collectors out there! In the above image, the following bones are shown: Dragon Claw (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons) Dragon Leg Bone (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons) Dragon Rib (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons) Dragon Jaw (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons) Dragon Skull (Crafted – Recipe Drops from Chest Mimics and Barrel Mimics, uses any non-clockwork dragon head) The massive Reinforced Dragon Skull decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 22nd! The Dragon Bones 2 decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 15th, and can be placed on player property as well as a Player-Owned Town (POT). The original POT Dragon Bones decoration, which is significantly different, has been renamed to Dragon Bones 1. Expect changes to that decoration item in the future allowing it to be placed on player property as well. This creepy Skull Pile decoration will appear on the Crown Store on January 1st! The recently added Bone Pile decorations (3 versions) are a wonderful touch for any player-created dungeon scene, and the recipes to craft these are in Xenos. Pictured above is the variety of additional bones, many of which were already available as crafting components but can now be placed as decorations: Skeleton Pelvic Bones (Loot – Drops from skeletons) Troll Pelvic Bones (Loot – Drops from trolls, renamed from Troll Hip Bone) Skeleton Bones (Loot – Drops from Skeletons) Dragon Neck Bone (Loot – Drops from non-clockwork dragons) Pristine Rib Cage (Loot – Drops from skeletons) We hope you all enjoy collecting and decorating with these new bone decorations. Expect more bone decorations to come in the future, and be on the lookout for additional recipes which drop as loot from creatures to utilize some of these bones for crafting! Craftable Zombie Conversationalists! The game of Shroud of the Avatar features a wide variety of Conversationalists. These decorative NPCs allow players to insert custom interactive conversations which other players can enjoy. Whether you’re sharing information about your vendors, town, guild, or even creating a custom storyline, these amazing items inspire creativity throughout the community and add a considerable bit of flair to any in-game town or property. As more Conversationalists are added to the game, most of which are premium Crown Store items, there are additional crafted or looted Conversationalists coming with R85, with even more crafted and looted varieties coming just on the horizon! Just added for Release 85 are two new Zombie Conversationalist alchemy recipes, which can be looted from Ebon Dawn casters. Here’s a quick summary of non-premium Conversationalists, to include the ones which went live with R85, and the ones which will be coming to a recipe or a loot table near you! Recently added crafted Conversationalists: Conversationalist, Beggar Male 1 (Crafted – Recipe sold in Xenos) Conversationalist, Beggar Female 1 (Crafted – Recipe sold in Xenos) Conversationalists added with Release 85: Conversationalist, Putrid Zombie Male 1 (Crafted – Recipe drops from Ebon Dawn casters) Conversationalist, Putrid Zombie Female 1 (Crafted – Recipe drops from Ebon Dawn casters) Crafted/Looted Conversationalists slated to arrive in the future: Conversationalist, Imp Conversationalist, Child Male Conversationalist, Child Female Conversationalist, Child Elf Conversationalist, Zombie Child Male 1 Conversationalist, Zombie Child Female 1 Conversationalist, Oracle Crawler Conversationalist, Oracle Flyer Conversationalist, Clockwork Monkey Conversationalist, Baby Dragon (All Colors) We hope utilizing the Inkle Studios “Ink” conversation system has become a joyful endeavor within the game. Six additional Zombie Conversationalists will arrive to the Crown Store on January 8th. Expect many more Conversationalists to arrive in the future as this system continues to develop. Supply Bundle Decorations! For years, players of Shroud of the Avatar have been looting a variety of “Supply Bundles” which randomly drop from a large number of creature types throughout the game. Many players open these bundles immediately upon acquisition, but others have chosen to either save their findings or to place excess bundles onto their player vendors. Well, another option has arrived! Starting with Release 85, players can utilize Grey, Yellow, Blue and Orange bundles as decorations! Stack’em high! Flip’em on their sides! Resize them! Put other decorations on top of them! Most importantly, we hope you enjoy them. Patterns & Cabalist Hoods! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar have spent considerable effort and time acquiring impressive collections of Cabalist Hoods which are desired by players for their excellent stat bonuses. Until now, if a player wanted to receive these bonuses, they were forced to display the hood’s appearance or utilize the “Hide Helm” feature. Patterns could not be applied to these hoods or any artifacts for that matter, but no longer! Live today for Release 85, all 8 Cabalist Hoods will accept cloth head patterns. This new option will allow those hood wearers to vary their appearance significantly. The following hoods will receive this update: Cabalist Avara Hood Cabalist Corpus Hood Cabalist Dolus Hood Cabalist Fastus Hood Cabalist Indigno Hood Cabalist Nefario Hood Cabalist Nefas Hood Cabalist Temna Hood In the near future, expect many more artifact varieties to receive pattern capabilities. We hope players enjoy this new flexibility for altering one’s appearance. So many more exciting new features and Quality of Life improvements are inbound, Avatars! So, stay tuned! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts, & Seasonal Items! Just this week, 17 amazing new store items have become available! Some will only be available during winter holidays, so don’t miss out! Red-Nosed Reindeer Mount (w/Spotlight Effect) Kwanzaa Table Decorations Yule Gift Box 2020 3-Pack Blank Yule Card 2020 A 5-Pack Blank Yule Card 2020 B 5-Pack Floating Ice 12-Pack Huge Long Chain Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Great Hall Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Long Chain Fancy Crystal Chandelier Huge Fancy Crystal Chandelier Conversationalist, Barbarian Bear Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Boar Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Dragon Clan Male 1 Conversationalist, Barbarian Stag Clan Female 1 Conversationalist, Mountain Troll Conversationalist, Troll Underdweller Conversationalist, Troll Players of Shroud of the Avatar can also enjoy these recent additions to the Crown Store: Conversationalist, Bogman Gray Goose Decoration Pet Black Reindeer Mount White Reindeer Mount Woodland Reindeer Mount Black Stag Mount Brown Stag Mount White Stag Mount The winter store seasons are upon us, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round! The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, December 24th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Jester Outfit Hacked Oracle Crawler Decoration Pet Dark Leaf Spear Wizard Tower Village Home Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Balcony Village Home Roan Foal Decoration Pet (Domesticated) Elven Peaked-Roof Village Home Ornate Elven Longbow Viking Guor Shield Pattern Pack December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 2020 3-Pack! If you’re getting your home prepared for a visit from Santa, then you’ll want to log in this month, and get your stockings to hang by the chimney with care! Simply log in during the month of December, and these holly jolly Yule Stockings will appear in your rewards window. Release 85 Rewards Program Login Items: Holiday Celebration Theme! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 85 are holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 85 to receive these login items: Yule Elf Outfit Dyeable Tuxedo Party Blow Horn 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 (~ 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 World & Miscellaneous Changes These miscellaneous updates affecting the game world or aspects of the user interface (UI) patched in during R84, will go live with R85, or will go live shortly after R85: Single-Click Targeting: Players can now target enemy creatures and other targetable objects with a single-click instead of shift-click Owl’s Head: Morton’s quest to recover his ledger has received updated dialog and journal text, compass markers, and better quest-tracking logic; players in the middle of the quest should be unaffected, but if they feel stuck they can talk with Morton to help back on track Occlusion System: Improvements were made to this system to reduce the number of vanishing objects and to provide better handling of quick camera movements Overworld First Person View: A recent change allowed players to activate first person view on the Overworld by using a chat command; now this feature has been assigned to the normal hotkey for cycling through the 3 perspectives New Minimaps: The following locations received new minimaps… Aldwater Brekken Bay Endurance Forewind Port Titan Taenby Landing Axwich Dorwald Fons Vita Littlecreek New Holtrot Aldhaven Redmill Shadowmist Highiron Lochfield Greyacre Hills Random Encounter Lord British’s Castle Row House Fireplaces: The fireplaces in Row Homes no longer apply damage to players or wandering pets Logging of Quest Flags: Behind the scenes logging of player quest flags has been created to assist with future quest bug reports and feedback Ardoris: Martin the student guide will now direct players to his students if they wish to learn the names of the books they require Resolute: Improved how Janet Kallen responds when asked to open the gate Master Trainers: Added “bard” to the list of master trainers that normal trainers will point players to Halls of Artifice: Moved a compass marker to be at the throne of Boreas instead of in the middle of its room; also, added a hint when you are next to Boreas, which also adds a quest marker to the crown which also adds a quest marker to the crown Tanglemire: Made improvements to the area surrounding the waterfall Kas Ruins: Updated decorations and decals in the tower with the lich battle Blood River Forest: Added and improved ladders to help navigate certain locations in the fish hatchery area Soltown: Updated Ashton’s quest in to find his recipe book; it now includes compass markers and a “Bring Book to Ashton” task Item Relationship Tech: New tech was created to assist developers visualize related recipes, loot bundles, and store entries to their associated components to improve work time/quality with these items Under Construction Indicators: 40 scenes no longer display floating text indicating they are in early development/under construction Crafting, Items & Economy Changes These changes to the player economy, in-game items, or crafting patched in during R84, will go live with R85, or will go live shortly after R85: New You Makeover: The New You beauticians now only charge 100 Crowns for a makeover instead of 500 Crowns. Magic Movers/Property Manager: All fees for the magic movers system which incurred a Crowns charge (moving a house, basement or a dungeon to another town) now only cost 100 Crowns each. The previous prices for use of this system for inter-town moving incurred fees varying from 500 to 1000 Crowns for each Corpion Chair: This amazing Bug Brigade participation award is now dyeable Fancy Bathroom Sinks and Fancy Kitchen Sinks: These decorative sinks can now be re-sized Plain Table: The “Bench” decoration now has its matching table as a player decoration; the “Bench” has been renamed to “Plain Bench” and a new recipe has been added to carpentry merchants for a “Plain Table,” which has been designed to allow for decorations underneath Decorations Enabled for Player-Owned Town (POT) Placement: The following items can now be placed in POTs 103 chairs, loveseats, benches, couches, sofas, setees, stools, thrones, etc. Trophy Pumpkins Jack O’Lantern Recipe: Now accepts crafted candles “LIVESTREAMING” Title: A new “LIVESTREAMING” title has been created for the Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade Moderator Titles: A large variety of Bug Brigade titles have been created as rewards for participation Crafting Failure Tech: New tech has been created so crafting failures can also produce unique products; expect use of this new improvement to come to various crafting recipes in the near future Tier Markers 11-30: Created many new “skullls on a spike” tier markers to assist with future and existing high tier adventure locations, and added “skulls on a spike” tier markers to Mistrendur scenes Combat Balance & Changes These changes to combat skills or concepts patched in during R84, will go live with R85, or will go live shortly after R85: Environmental Effects: Effects such as cold, fire, lava, lightning, etc. are now affected by a character’s resistances Torpor: This Earth Magic spell has been greatly enhanced to provide a heal-over-time, an aggro debuff, and a much shortened root effect if specialized Aimed Shot: This Ranged Combat skill now features an increased focus cost, cast time (1 to 1.25 seconds), and cooldown (5 to 8 seconds) Rapid Fire: This Ranged Combat skill has received an increased cooldown (15 to 20 seconds) and focus cost Combo Skills: The following changes affected combo skills Flaming Bash: Received a significant damage increase Hamstring: Received a significant damage increase Shield Smash: Received a significant damage increase Spintering Strike: Received a significant damage increase Titan Smash: Received a significant damage increase Icy Thrust: Received a significant damage increase Glacial Glissade: Received a significant damage increase When successfully utilizing a combo on an enemy target, players will receive a small buff If specialization exists in either school utilized for a combo, additional stacking benefits will apply Resurrect Creature: All reagents are now required to utilize the Resurrect Creature ability, whereas previously some were optional Updated Player Owned Towns These updates affected Player Owned Towns which patched in during R84, will go live with R85, or will go live shortly after R85: Haven Ridge: Added new village northwest of Soltown Skalabrekka: Changed biome to Forest 01a Bug Fixes Albeit many bug fixes patched in during R84, will go live with R85, or will go live shortly after R85. Here are some of the highlights! Fixed typo in all store entries for mounts Blacksmiths in Aerie no longer automatically open a merchant window if the character is on a specific stage of the Bonesteel Dagger quest Texture of the Small Cabinet now better matches the Large Cabinet Texture of the Small Dark Cabinet now better matches the Large Dark Cabinet Stucco Three-Story Row Homes now have decoration surfaces on the ceiling of the first floor The access point for The Breach is now exactly over its overworld location in Mistrendur Ceiling decorations can now be hung from the ceiling beams of the Elven Village Home Perennial Coast Peasant Slippers are now properly attached to male ankles Durability issues with crafted items have been fixed and a data migration was implemented to repair affected items Fixed many instances of the “Centaur” mount bug Fixed a bug related to the Scepter of Dread which was blocking some players from completing the questline Damage fields no longer block targeting or looting Frostgeists no longer set players on fire Players using a GM Potion no longer accumulate PvP kills when the summoned creatures killed other players The Records of the Obsidians Quest in Desolis has been fixed Fixed “hello” response regarding “lost mail” for Town Criers Fixed issues with Mages of Mystery teleporting players to incorrect locations in Eastreach Gap and Sanctus Spine Anne Faraday in Resolute now always has a proper response for her “book” keyword Fixed Masterworking for the Epic Daemon Trident Fixed Enchanting for the Pirate Tricorn Hat Leather Armor has been added to merchants in Solace Bridge Outskirts and Soltown Skeleton Archers are now dynamically scaling in difficulty Tridents no longer receive extra weapon durability damage Resolution of Novia minimap has been increased Forest curtain (edge of scene) darkness has been fixed for Ruins of Utheim and Deep Ravenswood All tiers for the Quiver of Jealousy now have progressively increasing stats; also the Common version of this item can now be enchanted Fixed an issue with a break in the NavMesh along one of the ramps in the Snowy Mountains Road Encounter The “Sealed Kobold Wine Bottle” quest item at Ferig’s Battle Camp is now destroyable; players can only have one in their inventory at a time Gave Captain Burnes in Highvale Outskirts several fallback responses, most notably for the “elf head” keyword Fixed multiple stuck spots in Tanglemire POT NPC buildings no longer change in scale when placed onto pavers that have altered scaling Reworked much of the conversations in the finale of the Path of Courage at Valhold Palace; added compass markers with hints; changed lights to help highlight path into thrown room; rebaked Navmesh Framed Map Recipes now only require and consume 1 fuel upon failure Improved how the “Find Jeanne’s Necklace” task in Soltown completes and auto-archives Improved the methods that Samael, Miles, and Eris use to indicate they have a task for the player in Crypt of the Avatar Fixed an issue where Private Docks 1 wasn’t appearing in the signpost teleporter list for POT template Tropical Island 01 Garlands can once again be placed on indoor walls Fixed an issue with placement of a Gustball Uniform onto a mannequin Fixed floating mushrooms in Etceter Crag Mines Collision has been improved for the Mistrendur Overworld to prevent odd camera clipping from Spindelpeak mountain The floating shield in Ruins of Ravensmoor has been fixed Floating trees have been removed from Spindelskog A rain collider was added to the cave in Highvale Village to stop the rain from displaying inside Simone von Eglinger’s “help” response in Ardoris will better direct the player to her quest to find Scarlett’s book Lord Marshal Declan Robinson of Resolute no longer implies the things he knows about Mara are third-hand Added flag to complete for 2 tasks related to Vertas so they auto-archive when the player completes the Truth path One-way invisible wall in The Rise has been fixed Blue Blooded resistance skill now applies its effects to all damage fields and effects Invisible barrier which prevented looting in a certain spot in Quell Shardfall has been fixed Finding Loreley’s sketchbook in The Epitaph will no longer grant the journal entry if the player has already finished the related quest Floating text in Malice only showed 1 of the 3 requirements (gems) which has been fixed to display all 3; in this regard, floating text indicating multiple quest requirements has also been improved greatly Osterhild of South Drachvald Spur no longer provides the “How’s your progress” response when saying “hello” to her after you finished giving each of her squires their pieces of lucky leather Randall of Owl’s Head no longer tells players that he sells hides Removed durability from the Lord Marshall’s drinking horn The following recipes no longer appear in the incorrect portion of the recipe book: The Rise Shaft The Rise Shaft w/Spawns The Rise Dog Run Stone Dungeon Room – The Rise Library Stone Dungeon Room Spawned (Random Encounter 1) Stone Dungeon Room Spawned (Random Encounter 2) Stone Dungeon Room Spawned (Random Encounter 3) Fixed an unreachable granite node in Eastreach Gap Cows, Ducks, Horses, Rabbits, Sheep and Squirrels now provide 100 EXP for Meticulous Collection Stuck spots fixed in The Breach, Dysborg Ruins, and Opalis Ruins Fixed an issue in Kas Ruins where players couldn’t summon pets or cast AoE spells at the top level of the tower Fixed issue with floating lantern in Brittany Sewers Fixed an issue in the Confluence Chamber where the “Reassemble and Use the Vermillion Lens” task wasn’t archiving upon using the lens. Also, characters who still have this task after using the lens should have it auto-archive For players who enter Estgard without advancing their “Brigid’s Amulet” quest with Khary in Harvest, “safety” triggers were added for the Estgard’s main entrance, docks, and city wall gates Fleshflayers are no longer visually broken when placed upon rotating objects Fixed stuck spots, floating objects, offset compass markers, z-fighting, and an invisible blocker in The Breach and Dysborg Drykalla of Far Hinterlands no longer has a hole in the back of his neck Fixed a typo in the “Disable Monolith to Collect Geisterseelen” journal entry for Broken Echoes Silver Mine Fixed several stuck spots in the fish hatchery area of Blood River Forest Fixed Moerndan the Caretaker in Brittany Graveyard so that he once again sells merchandise The pattern for the Lord British 2-Handed Sword can now properly apply to crafted 2-Handed Swords VFX for Ghost, Shadow, and Nightmare mounts should no longer issue from creature’s origin, but from its skin VFX for Cabalists, a number of ghost creatures and characters, shadow creatures, and a few Lava Fish trophies should now also play correctly Innate move rate bonus for the Epic Pirate Tricorn Hat has been fixed Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund! Moving in to the holiday season, now more than ever we need to support our friend Justin, every contribution helps! Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need: “No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com) Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated. Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information 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 our other 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 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 The following bugs and quality of life improvements are being released to QA in the coming weeks, please keep checking QA, testing and giving feedback on these items: One hit to Zero Durability Root Issue Durability on Crafted Items Potion of Shadow Form Useable on Combat Bar Desolis: Corsten now correctly asks for a taming necklace for a Blanket Horse in exchange for a rideable Blanket Horse Player Owned Town light counts increased by 50% Shard of Night Pattern Daemon Trident Pattern Halberd of the Sun Pattern Xen Penetrator Pattern Ancient Essence Yield: Uncommon and Common yield 1. Rare yields 2. Legendary yields 4. Epic yields 8. Find Out Why Owl’s Nest Has No Ale quest updates Arabella Cloak deco types revised Meticulous Collection while Harvesting to yield XP Rewards in Loot Quiver of Jealousy masterwork and enchant updates Player Instruction Updates And much much more! 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. Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. Upcoming Events Calendar 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: 2020/2021 Release Schedule: Release 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Community Event: 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. Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry. Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 11th at Noon CT to Friday the 18th at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week: Largest FRESHWATER Fish (Town): Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns. Governs can request loaner water conversion statues. Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy Rinzai (@Griffler) Knightmare Falls, Mistrendur East Island (@shadowvice) Outlander Welcome Center, Novia Near Soltown (@Bayard) Largest Fish (PvP): Rules: Must be caught in Kas Ruins Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy Largest Lava Fish: Rules: Must be caught in Blackblade Foothills Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy Participation Prizes: Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone. Knightmare Falls: Head on over to Knightmare Falls and compete for extra prizes which were indicated by Tellana in this forum post on the official forums. How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch. Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars! Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Each month, the anglers of New Britannia can enjoy a fantastic fishing competition in the Islands of Wonders! So many fantastic prizes await thee, Avatar! Crowns of the Obsidian! A troll horde containing valuable loot! Don’t miss out! When: The Month of December! Where: Islands of Wonders Please message Rook Strife on the forums or in-game if you have any questions/feedback. For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Mad Splatter Yuletide Tea Party The Mad Splatter Tea Party takes place every 3rd or 4th Sunday of the month, which is a tea party in my back garden at Lily Byrd’s home in Jade Valley. 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. For this particular event, be sure to bring a gift which you have crafted so you can participate in a festive gift exchange. Where: Jade Valley, Lily Byrd’s Cottage and tea garden just south of the “Stone Bridge of Happy Arrival” When: Sunday, December 20th, 3PM CT (Usually every 3rd or 4th Sunday of the month) Attire: This is a role playing event tea party so come as your Avatar. We play games, we eat cake and drink…various teas and drinks… There are goofy prizes for winning games if we play them. See you there, Lily Byrd. For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” To continue on this adventure, head to the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Hear ye, Hear ye! Maykie Antear and Trellana are hosting a wondrous gift exchange event in Knightmare Falls! You’ll most certainly not want to miss out: When: Until December 26th Where: Knightmare Falls For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! When: Ongoing! Where: Islands of Wonders For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Autumn Rising Brewery Dance Party The Autumn Rising Brewery Management invites all Novians to dance the night away in our spectacular ballroom! The one and only Dark Lord Celith Wraine will be spinning all his wonderful tunes for the event. When: December 19th, 7PM CT Where: Crossroads (Take fast travel sign to Adventure Club and enter the blue portal in the Stone Arch) For more info please contact Trezir Pyle or Chatull Aventari. For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Thanks and hope to see you all there! Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Greetings Avatars! Starting this month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! Where: Crafters Town When: December 1st to December 31st For more information about contest guidelines and prizes, please see the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums. Happy sales hunting, shoppers! Community Event: 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! When: Sundays, 2PM CT Where: Beran’s Reach For more information about the auction house event, see the main thread on this topic on the official forums. Happy bidding, 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 Avatars! The draft notes for Release 85 are ready for viewing. Feel free to peruse these for a sneak peek or even to offer edit suggestions. I haven't had a chance to check for errors, and I still haven't nearly finished adding items to the following sections, and we might have at least 1 more player event to put in: World & Miscellaneous Changes Crafting, Items & Economy Changes Combat Balance & Changes Bug Fixes We'll get these finished up by 1030AM CT and... DRAFT: Release 85 NotesView the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Adventurers rejoice! The brave souls of Shroud of the Avatar possessing Cabalist Hoods will soon be able to alter their hood’s appearance by applying patterns. 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 #411: Patterns & Cabalist Hoods! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream!View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Adventurers rejoice! The brave souls of Shroud of the Avatar possessing Cabalist Hoods will soon be able to alter their hood’s appearance by applying patterns. 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 Patterns & Cabalist Hoods! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts, & Seasonal Items! New Vault Round! December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 20202 3-Pack! R84 Rewards Program Login Items: Lord British & Holiday Themed! Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Streamer Rewards Program Bug Brigade & Testing Directives Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles Upcoming Events Calendar Community Updates Community Event: Catnip Games Weekly Fishing Tourney Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Community Event: Autumn Rising Brewery Dance Party Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Community Event: Beran’s Reach Auction Project to Support: Shard RPG Project to Support: Shadow of Valhalla Project to Support: Dragonfight Project to Support: Avatar Express Resources: Players Helping Players Patterns & Cabalist Hoods! Many players of Shroud of the Avatar have spent considerable effort and time acquiring impressive collections of Cabalist Hoods which are desired by players for their excellent stat bonuses. Until now, if a player wanted to receive these bonuses, they were forced to display the hood’s appearance or utilize the “Hide Helm” feature. Patterns could not be applied to these hoods or any artifacts for that matter, but no longer! Coming on Release 85 next Thursday, all 8 Cabalist Hoods will accept cloth head patterns. This new option will allow those hood wearers to vary their appearance significantly. The following hoods will receive this update: Cabalist Avara Hood Cabalist Corpus Hood Cabalist Dolus Hood Cabalist Fastus Hood Cabalist Indigno Hood Cabalist Nefario Hood Cabalist Nefas Hood Cabalist Temna Hood In the near future, expect many more artifact varieties to receive pattern capabilities. We hope players enjoy this new flexibility for altering one’s appearance. So many more exciting new features and Quality of Life improvements are inbound, Avatars! So, stay tuned! Latest News Q&A Friday Livestream! The weekly Community Livestream is Friday, December 11th 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 “let it snow” 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! New Store Additions: Conversationalists, Mounts, & Seasonal Items! Just this week, the elusive Bogman comes to the Crown Store! Waddling not too far behind is a charming Gray Goose also available! Conversationalist, Bogman Gray Goose Decoration Pet Guards, Villagers and Mounts, OH MY! Players of Shroud of the Avatar can also enjoy these recent additions to the Crown Store: Black Reindeer Mount White Reindeer Mount Woodland Reindeer Mount Black Stag Mount Brown Stag Mount White Stag Mount Conversationalist, Shogun Guard Female 1 Conversationalist, Shogun Guard Male 1 Conversationalist, Shogun Villager Female 1 Conversationalist, Shogun Villager Male 1 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Female 1 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Female 2 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Female 3 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Female 4 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Male 1 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Male 2 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Male 3 Conversationalist, Wounded Guard Male 4 The winter store seasons are upon us, Avatars! All holiday items will be available either in the Vault or as recurring seasonal items: 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack Breathe Blue Fire Emote Breathe Emote 6-Pack Breathe Snow Emote Ceiling Yule Tree Dark Yule Outfit Fountain of Frozen Waters Frozen Bagpipes Giant Haunted Yule Tree Giant Yule Tree 2015 Giant Yule Tree 2016 Giant Yule Tree 2017 Giant Yule Tree 2018 Haunted Snow Family Haunted Snowman Mask Haunted Yule Tree Holly Wreath with Candles Hat Holly Wreath with Sparklers Hat Ice Elemental Statue Ice Hot Tub Ice Nightmare Mask Ice Wings Icy Ancient Stone Cathedral Icy Ancient Stone Room Fishing Grotto Large Haunted Yule Tree Large Yule Tree 2016 Large Yule Tree 2017 Large Yule Tree 2018 Menorah 2014 Menorah 2015 Menorah 2016 Menorah 2017 Menorah 2018 Ornate Mantle Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Mantle Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2014 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2015 Ornate Replenishing Snowball Box 2016 Ornate Sled Ornate Sleigh Ornate Snow Family 2015 Ornate Snow Family 2016 Ornate Snow Family 2017 Ornate Snow Family 2018 Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Ornate Yule Music Box Ornate Yule Wreath 2015 Ornate Yule Wreath 2016 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2017 3-Pack Ornate Yule Wreath 2018 3-Pack Reindeer Decoration Pet Scarecrow Mask Small Ornate Wall Garland 2017 12-Pack Small Ornate Wall Garland 2018 12-Pack Snow Emote Snowdragon Snowflake Pattern Cloak Snowman Mask 2015 Snowman Mask with Hat & Moustache 2018 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2016 Snowman Mask with Stovepipe Hat 2017 Tabletop Elf Statue with Yule Hat Tabletop Haunted Yule Tree Tabletop Yule Tree 2014 Tabletop Yule Tree 2015 Tabletop Yule Tree 2016 Tabletop Yule Tree 2017 Tabletop Yule Tree 2018 Traditional Yule Hat Virtue Ice Crown Virtue Ice Gown Outfit Virtue Ice Shield Virtue Ice Sword Virtue Ice Wand Virtue Icicle Cloak White Raven Decoration Pet White Reindeer Decoration Pet White Rottweiler Decoration Pet White Squirrel Decoration Pet White Turkey Decoration Pet Winter Lynx Decoration Pet Winter Pattern Glass Chandelier 3-Pack Winter Pattern Glass Floor Lamp 3-Pack Yule Card 2017 5-Pack Yule Card 2018 5-Pack Yule Gift Box 2016 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2017 3-Pack Yule Gift Box 2018 3-Pack Yule Hat Yule Stockings 2016 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2017 3-Pack Yule Stockings 2018 3-Pack Yule Tree 2014 Yule Tree 2015 Yule Tree 2016 Yule Tree 2017 Yule Tree 2018 Yule Velvet Bodice Ensemble New Vault Round!The holidays are here, Avatars! Get your hands on these assorted decoration items and more! The current round of Vault items are available until Thursday, December 17th at 1PM CT. At that time, the next round of 9 items will be available for one week, and then the next, etc. Dragon Sword Oracle Cable Wings Elven Tree (Town Home) Mandarin Duck Decoration Pet Ornate Black Leather Aeronaut Helmet Kobold Metal Store Chest Aether Shield Saddle and Bags with Stand Upscale Stables December Login Reward: Yule Stockings 2020 3-Pack! If you’re getting your home prepared for a visit from Santa, then you’ll want to log in this month, and get your stockings to hang by the chimney with care! Simply log in during the month of December, and these holly jolly Yule Stockings will appear in your rewards window. Release 84 Rewards Program Login Items: Lord British and Holiday Themed! Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 84 are Lord British and holiday themed! Reward Program members must login during Release 84 to receive these login items: Lord British 2-Handed Axe 2020 Snow Globe White Goose Decoration Pet 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 Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund! Moving in to the holiday season, now more than ever we need to support our friend Justin, every contribution helps! Through years of gameplay and attendance of live Shroud of the Avatar events, community members might have had the opportunity to meet developer Justin “oneandonly” Gilbert. Justin has been a most valued team member for many years, but is now experiencing an immense loss in his life and could really use our support. Tragically, Justin’s wife, Jenn Gilbert, has passed away. Please, for those that have met Jenn or Justin or simply have love in their hearts for the team, please reach out and offer your condolences. On Justin’s behalf, Chris Spears has launched a GoFundMe page to help the family in their great time of need: “No amount of money could ever replace the love, laughs, and comfort that Jenn Gilbert brought to her family. But we are hoping to help raise enough to help make life for her husband, Justin Gilbert, and her three children a little more bearable while they work out how to move forward without her in their lives. Jenn and Justin had been together over 20 years, having started dating in high school. Justin and Jenn’s mom, Judy, will now be trying to fill the hole her sudden passing has left in the lives of their three children, JJ, Jax, and Jayla…” (more at GoFundMe.com) Even if times are hard and a donation to the memorial fund is not possible, please visit the Jenn Gilbert Memorial Fund page to learn more about Justin’s beautiful wife, Jenn. May she always be remembered, and may the memories of her always be cherished. Any contributions to the Gilbert family, no matter how small, are so greatly appreciated. Recent Shroud of the Avatar Livestreams Atos and other members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team go live very frequently on our TWO Twitch Channels: twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar and twitch.tv/communityoftheavatar — be sure to get these channels on follow and get the latest information 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 our other 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 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 The following bugs and quality of life improvements are being released to QA in the coming weeks, please keep checking QA, testing and giving feedback on these items: One hit to Zero Durability Root Issue Durability on Crafted Items Potion of Shadow Form Useable on Combat Bar Desolis: Corsten now correctly asks for a taming necklace for a Blanket Horse in exchange for a rideable Blanket Horse Player Owned Town light counts increased by 50% Shard of Night Pattern Daemon Trident Pattern Halberd of the Sun Pattern Xen Penetrator Pattern Ancient Essence Yield: Uncommon and Common yield 1. Rare yields 2. Legendary yields 4. Epic yields 8. Find Out Why Owl’s Nest Has No Ale quest updates Arabella Cloak deco types revised Meticulous Collection while Harvesting to yield XP Rewards in Loot Quiver of Jealousy masterwork and enchant updates Player Instruction Updates And much much more! 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. Lord of the Isle Episode 2 Bundles As one of the biggest and earliest supporters of Episode 2 you will be granted the largest lot deed in the land (Castle), the title Lord (or Lady) of the Isle, a tour of Lord British’s property, and dinner with the game leaders including Lord British himself! Only 24 of these unique bundles will be sold! Complete List of Rewards: Lord of the Isle Place Anywhere Castle Lot Deed: Tax Free Forever (when placed in a POT) and Tax Free for 1 Year (when placed outside of a POT). Placeable on water as well as land! Title: Lord of the Isle or Lady of the Isle Unique Lord of the Isle Home (pictured above) NEW – Lord of the Isle Fishing Expedition (This scene version will work like a large instanced property such as a basement and will feature decoration surfaces to further beautify the scene.) Town Size Upgrade (if a town is not owned by the LOTI supporter, they may gift this size upgrade to another town owner. Maximum possible town sizes will be taken into account, but the Teralopolis size just became available!) Choice of 1 House currently available in the store Castle Basement currently available in the store of your choice Castle Wall Set currently available in the store of your choice (with enough for Castle Lot) Unique Lord of the Isle Dungeon Room (To be revealed later) 140,000 Crowns 1000 Bank Slots Pick 12 Prosperity Tools Lord of the Isle Crown (In-Game Wearable Item) Unique In-Game Teachable Emote (/radiate) Early Access to Episode 2 Episode 1 Box and map signed by the team 1 hour one-on-one with Chris for design discussion (via video-conference) One real silver ring crafted personally by Lord British: Numbered 1 – 8 In-game version of the Lord British ring: Numbered 1 – 8 (including a place-able decoration version) Tour of Lord British’s property Fine dinner and drinks with Lord British, Darkstarr, and Atos at a location TBD in Austin or NYC. NOTE: Digital items that are currently available will begin delivery as soon as Release 62 (Jan 31, 2019). Other items will be delivered at a future date TBD. NOTE: Travel costs NOT covered by Catnip Games for Tour & Dinner. Upcoming Events Calendar 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: 2020/2021 Release Schedule: Release 85 – Dec 17 Release 86 – Jan 28 Release 87 – Feb 25 Release 88 – Mar 25 Release 89 – Apr 29 Release 90 – May 27 Release 91 – Jun 24 Community Event: 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. Town Registration: Each week, the contest takes place in 3 Player Owned Towns, 1 Random PvP location and 1 Random Lava or NPC Town Location. Please register your Player Owned Town of choice in a reply to this thread, 1 entry per player, and these entries will be added into the town registry. The contest will cycle through the towns in the sequence they entered the town registry, then loop back again to the beginning. The town registry will be reset/wiped for new entries periodically to ensure only active/interested towns are within the registry. Fishing Prizes & Objectives: All prizes will be no-trade. Players may donate additional prizes in the name of their guilds or towns to sweeten the pot. This event timeframe is Friday the 11th at Noon CT to Friday the 18th at Noon CT, and these are the prizes and goals for the indicated week: Largest FRESHWATER Fish (Town): Rules: Must be caught from one of these towns. Governs can request loaner water conversion statues. Prizes: Player Owned Town Row Lot Deed, Large Gold Fishing Trophy Rinzai (@Griffler) Knightmare Falls, Mistrendur East Island (@shadowvice) Outlander Welcome Center, Novia Near Soltown (@Bayard) Largest Fish (PvP): Rules: Must be caught in Kas Ruins Prizes: 2 Chained Obsidian Shard 3-Packs, Large Silver Fishing Trophy Largest Lava Fish: Rules: Must be caught in Blackblade Foothills Prizes: Fishing Rod of Prosperity, Large Bronze Fishing Trophy Participation Prizes: Rules: Everyone who caught at least 1 trophy fish in this week’s locations Prizes: Small Silver Fishing Trophy Cross-Over Events: Prizes provided by the Community Manager will be available for participants and winners of the Fishing event, but governors, guild leaders and players are welcome to sweeten the pot by providing additional prizes based on objective criteria entirely of their own design. In fact, please consider planning events to overlap the duration and chosen weekly locations of the PvP and Fishing developer events. Please post these events in the in-game events forums and the Community Manager will promote accordingly. Please submit links to event threads which take place in the spotlighted towns, PvP zone or PvE zone. Knightmare Falls: Head on over to Knightmare Falls and compete for extra prizes which were indicated by Tellana in this forum post on the official forums. How to Participate: To participate, players need merely catch trophy fish in the 5 locations indicated above. The locations will change every week at Noon CT on Friday, so be sure to pay attention to the announcements for new locations each week! Please do not send your fish to Elgarion via the in-game mail system. Through data logging, he’ll be able to determine the winners. SO please hold on to your fish, and feel free to use them in any fashion after the catch. Head on over to the Fishing Event Forum Thread for more information. Happy adventures, Avatars! Community Event: Island of Wonders Monthly Fishing Contest Each month, the anglers of New Britannia can enjoy a fantastic fishing competition in the Islands of Wonders! So many fantastic prizes await thee, Avatar! Crowns of the Obsidian! A troll horde containing valuable loot! Don’t miss out! When: The Month of December! Where: Islands of Wonders Please message Rook Strife on the forums or in-game if you have any questions/feedback. For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Defectors & Curses Storyline Continues Role-players of New Britannia, head on over to the forums and participate in an active role-playing storyline created by Arkah EMPstrike! “Arkah set his last trunk down on the floor in his house. That made 5 large trunks, 4 backpacks, 2 sacks, 3 barrels and 3 crates. “Phew” he wiped his forehead as he stepped outside his door to tie up his horse, Trots McHorsington. “Sorry about all the work buddy!” he apologized and fed McHorsington a carrot. “His name is awful!” said Xalia, who made herself very unhelpful in a armchair by the fireplace. “Well,” Arkah scoffed, “it’s not Your name.” He said while tossing stuff out of a trunk placed on his bed. “You don’t have to introduce him at parties. Besides, we’re so far out in the boonies that no one’s gonna care.” Ever since the gas incident in Caelestis Canton…” To continue on this adventure, head to the main forum thread on this topic on the official forums. Community Event: Knightmare Falls Winter 2020 Gift Exchange Hear ye, Hear ye! Maykie Antear and Trellana are hosting a wondrous gift exchange event in Knightmare Falls! You’ll most certainly not want to miss out: When: Until December 26th Where: Knightmare Falls For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Islands of Wonders Quest A player-made interactive quest has been created by Net and is available to players of Shroud of the Avatar! This quest is a mix of treasure hunt and obstacle course, so put on your running shoes, grab your wits and head to the bulletin board in the Islands of Wonders! When: Ongoing! Where: Islands of Wonders For more information about this event, please see the main forum post on the official forums. Community Event: Autumn Rising Brewery Dance Party The Autumn Rising Brewery Management invites all Novians to dance the night away in our spectacular ballroom! The one and only Dark Lord Celith Wraine will be spinning all his wonderful tunes for the event. When: December 19th, 7PM CT Where: Crossroads (Take fast travel sign to Adventure Club and enter the blue portal in the Stone Arch) For more info please contact Trezir Pyle or Chatull Aventari. For more information, check out the main forum post on the official forums. Thanks and hope to see you all there! Community Event: Crafters Town Shopping Spree Greetings Avatars! Starting this month, a new Shopping Spree contest will be running in Crafters Town! Lots of prizes are available, including Crowns of the Obsidian! Where: Crafters Town When: December 1st to December 31st For more information about contest guidelines and prizes, please see the main forum thread on this topic in the official forums. Happy sales hunting, shoppers! Community Event: 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! When: Sundays, 2PM CT Where: Beran’s Reach For more information about the auction house event, see the main thread on this topic on the official forums. Happy bidding, 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