Jack T. Lamplighter

Hail Avatars! Portalarium is excited to participate in the first ever community organized convention for Shroud of the Avatar – SotA Con East 2016! SotA developers and players alike will be gathering together for a casual for a casual weekend filled with exciting activities, engaging panel discussions, and of course plenty of gameplay sessions. SotA Con East runs from November 4-6, 2016 in Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland. Registration is still open, so get your tickets by visiting the official event site links below! Developers Attending Richard “Lord British” Garriott Creative Director “I am humbled and thrilled to be speaking at SotA Con. It’s amazing how passionate our community is in supporting each other around such a great idea as this event, which is entirely organized and driven by the community itself. Even if you are not yet a player of Shroud of the Avatar but are interested in learning more about it, I encourage you to attend!” Starr “Darkstarr” Long Executive Producer “Talking directly to the players about the game’s development is super important to me, and what better way to do that than in person. I really look forward to getting to know everyone that can make it to SotA Con. If you haven’t already purchased your tickets to the event, do it! SotA Con is going to be a blast!” Mathew “Berek” Anderson Senior Community Manager “I am so impressed by this community! SotA Con is a magnificent face-to-face event that is going to be perfect to get players together for one fun weekend. I can’t wait to arrive and get to know everyone in person, play the game with others, and have a ton of fun celebrating what the community has built in the game so far!” About SotA Con SotA Con is entirely planned and funded by the players, for the players and developers. This once again shows how our passionate and dedicated players are creating exciting opportunities for the rest of the community, and succeeding magnificently. The event’s planning team had the following to say: Join The Event! Here is how to join in on the fun this Nov. 4-6, 2016 in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland: Schedule: See the ever-expanding schedule here: http://east.sotacon.org/schedule Tickets and added donations: SotA Con organizers ask for a minimum of $25 for a ticket for all three days (Fri, Sat, Sun) and humbly request donations beyond that to help pay for all the fun things that can be done. Go to: http://east.sotacon.org/register Donations (those who cannot attend): If you can’t attend yet want to contribute to a great event and help lower costs for attendees, please contribute directly via PayPal Hotel and Travel: Get your hotel reservations at the group rate – they are going fast! Also see some travel ideas. Go to: http://east.sotacon.org/hotel-and-travel Since SotA Con East 2016 is the first SotA convention of its kind, be among the first to hear details on the proceeding and sure to be epic SotA Con Central 2017 event! If you have any questions, you can reach organizers through the official website at http://east.sotacon.org/contact-us, and can discuss the event on the SotA Forums Post with other attendees. See you there Avatars! View the full article

[From a Forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long] Greetings Avatars, Thank you everyone for the amazing work you all do reporting issues in the game. It is only through your bug reports that we can find and fix issues with the game. The volume of reported issues from the Live Server has remained steady, but now that we have reached persistence, it is understandably challenging to convince players to divide their time between the “real” world of Novia and the fleeting world of the QA Server. However, we still have a critical need for testing on the QA Server right before a monthly Release goes live. That is why we are launching the Testing Incentives Program. This program will include exclusives that can only be earned on the QA Server, but there are lots of awards that can be earned on the live servers as well. Each Release, exceptional contributors selected through quality bug reports, document edits, etc. will be eligible for rewards. The rewards will be given out as individual items, not all at once. Initial rewards will include the following (and may expand over time): Testing Incentive Rewards: These rewards can be earned through playing and reporting on both the Live and QA Servers. Titles: Players will rank up through these after demonstrating a solid record of reproducible bugs with detailed information (ex. coordinates and screenshots) Pest Controller Expert Pest Controller Master Pest Controller Royal Pest Controller Antennae: worn in the head slot Bugs Cloak: features lots of ants Bug Cloak: This cloak features one giant ant. Bug Sprayer: Equippable with /bugspray emote that makes a green cloud QA Server Exclusive Rewards: These rewards can only be earned through play time and bug reporting on the QA Server (but of course they will be delivered to you on the Live Server). COTOs for Time: Players who spend at least 4 hours of play time per Release on the QA Server will receive 5 Gold COTOs. Please note this is active play that we will verify via logging. You cannot simply login and stand still. Ant Farm: Decoration you can place in your house with ants crawling around in it. Don’t break it! Corpion Chair: Don’t fear the cushion of its deadly comfort! Set of Bug Paintings: An assortment of Classical still life paintings featuring insects Insect Leg Table Butterfly Chair We hope to have the program begin with the QA Server and Live Server tests of Release 34, so stay tuned for an official “go!” announcement. Thank you everyone for the incredible work so far and we look forward to more of it in the future. View the full article

Reddit AMA: Richard had one of his busiest schedules at Dragon Con ever this year, with 9 different events to preside over. Despite that, he still found time to do a Reddit AMA Sunday night where he answered questions about everything from how he got the name Lord British through what languages can he speak to how he celebrates Halloween. Check out the entire AMA on Reddit. Speck’s Wedding: Not one to stay idle, after the New Britannia Round Table on Saturday, Richard presided at the wedding of a community member, Speck, who was given away by her childhood friend, Shooter Jennings. It was a true Dragon Con wedding with the groom dressed as Deadpool and a Jedi cutting the cake with a lightsaber. MJ Guthrie at MassivelyOP even covered the wedding! Storytelling Interview: Richard had just landed in Austin from Dragon Con when he was interviewed by Unseen Dragon about storytelling. Many from the community also attended Dragon Con to meet with Richard Garriott, Tracy Hickman, and to celebrate their presence in the game with each other. Enter the forums to see more photos of their adventures, and to post your own if you attended Dragon Con as well! View the full article

We have been carefully analyzing the distributed wealth of our current player base and we have uncovered some critical issues that need addressing quickly. The biggest issue is that the top 10% of players have 90% of the gold while the bottom 90% are incredibly poor and can barely afford to play. This has manifested itself in various ways through things like: Exclusive Use of "Reagent Free" Decks: On one hand this shows the flexibility of our deck building and skill system... Upcoming Economic Balance ChangesView the full article

Greetings Avatars, The building out of Hometown has been delayed because we have decided to take this back over as a developer effort versus a volunteer community effort. Thank you for patience. This was not an easy decision but there was some negative perception around having players have access to the houses and decorations for "free" and rather than create unnecessary drama we have just decided to take this back on as a dev effort. -Darkstarr View the full article

Hello everyone! Here is the news of the week! Tropical Island POT Polish Upcoming Economic Balance Changes Richard Garriott Hi-jinks: AMA! Dragon Con Wedding! Storytelling! Testing Incentives Program Sales of Virtual Items for Real Currency Policy Elven Bundle Store and Add-On Goodies Elven 2-Story Row Tax Free Bundle Upcoming Events Community Resources – Players Helping Players Job Openings (3) Recommended Projects to Back The post Echoes From the Caverns 09-09-16 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: Tropical Island POT Polish Upcoming Economic Balance Changes Richard Garriott Hi-jinks: AMA! Dragon Con Wedding! Storytelling! PCGamer: Meet the Bards of Shroud Testing Incentives Program Sales of Virtual Items for Real Currency Policy Elven 2-Story Row Tax Free Bundle Upcoming Events Community Resources – Players Helping Players Job Openings (4) Recommended Projects to Back Tropical Island POT Polish When we launched the Tropical Island Player Owned Town Template in Release 30 back in May, we were moving quickly to get it launched and in the hands of our POT owners. It was based on the Island 01 template and was a simple swap of tree type mostly without really any other major changes. Owners who chose this template were understandably underwhelmed by this variation so we decided that we needed to take another pass at this Island. Hutch has been working this Release to improve the island and has made a host of improvements. He started by choosing a few different base terrain textures, ones that lend themselves better to a tropical environment. He then chose some additional terrain grasses and ran a process to apply them to the map in order to cover areas that were bare of grass before. He also added some more tree varieties to the map to improve variety and height differences and spread these more thoroughly throughout the map. The biggest changes, however, are an overall increase in foliage density throughout the island to create a more tropical jungle look and the addition of flat beach areas suitable for house placement. Upcoming Economic Balance Changes [From a Forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long] We have been carefully analyzing the distributed wealth of our current player base and we have uncovered some critical issues that need addressing quickly. The biggest issue is that the top 10% of players have 90% of the gold while the bottom 90% are incredibly poor and can barely afford to play. This has manifested itself in various ways, including the following: Exclusive Use of “Reagent Free” Decks: On one hand this shows the flexibility of our deck building and skill system and every player should have a “Reagent Free” deck in their arsenal, but that’s not the only deck they should be able to use! Tons of Inventory on Vendors: Lots and lots of items on vendors and no one buying. We cannot simply increase the overall influx of resources and gold into the game because that will cause inflation and damage the overall health of the economy. It would also only further increase the disparity between the wealthiest few and the poorest masses. Instead, we need to come up with ways to add wealth to the more deprived players that cannot then be ground repeatedly to either increase inflation or add even more wealth to the already wealthy. To that end, we are going to start making the following changes. Some of these will begin showing up as soon as Release 34, but some may take longer as they are a bit intensive to implement. Please note the values below are all best estimates / starting values. Daily Oracle Confession: Visiting the Oracle on a daily basis and discussing how you are faring on your journey along the Paths of Truth, Love, and Courage will earn you 500 gold per day. You must answer her accurately based on your personal actions. Town Crier Outlander Registration: Novians do not exactly trust Outlanders and want to make sure they know where they are traveling around to. Thus, they started an Outlander Tracking Program. Each time you visit a Town Crier for the first time in any town will earn you 100 gold. Starting Area Resource Yields: We are going to slightly increase the overall resource yields in the scenes around the starting areas. Reagent Spawner Balance: We are reviewing the reagent spawners to make sure they are evenly balanced against the power of the spells they are used with and well dispersed in the scenes so players won’t have to exclusively rely on merchants. Quest Gold Rewards: We are going through all the non-repeatable quests and either adding gold rewards (if not present) or increasing the gold rewards (if gold already present). Skill Quests: Currently only Tier 5 Skills like Summon Elemental have quests from Master Trainers associated with them. We are going to add more quests from trainers for earlier skills like Rend (Blades), Piercing Shot (Ranged), Lightning (Air), etc. These will include gold rewards. This is just the first of many such adjustments we will make to insure that the economy is properly balanced yet sustainable over the long term. Thank you for your patience as we make these improvements. Richard Garriott Hi-jinks: AMA! Dragon Con Wedding! Storytelling! Reddit AMA: Richard had one of his busiest schedules at Dragon Con ever this year, with 9 different events to preside over. Despite that, he still found time to do a Reddit AMA Sunday night where he answered questions about everything from how he got the name Lord British through what languages can he speak to how he celebrates Halloween. Check out the entire AMA on Reddit. Speck’s Wedding: Not one to stay idle, after the New Britannia Round Table on Saturday, Richard presided at the wedding of a community member, Speck, who was given away by her childhood friend, Shooter Jennings. It was a true Dragon Con wedding with the groom dressed as Deadpool and a Jedi cutting the cake with a lightsaber. MJ Guthrie at MassivelyOP even covered the wedding! Storytelling Interview: Richard had just landed in Austin from Dragon Con when he was interviewed by Unseen Dragon about storytelling. Many from the community also attended Dragon Con to meet with Richard Garriott, Tracy Hickman, and to celebrate their presence in the game with each other. Enter the forums to see more photos of their adventures, and to post your own if you attended Dragon Con as well! PC Gamer: Meet the Bards of Shroud Steven Messner over at PC Gamer wrote a truly beautiful piece about how we crowd-sourced our music for Shroud of the Avatar with our players. Thank you James Stratton-Crawley for being Holt Ironfell the bard. Thank you to all the musicians who have made the world sound better! Meet The Bards Whose Dedication Moved Lord British To Tears By Steven Messner How fan musicians became the composers of Garriott’s MMO In the land of New Britannia there exists a musician of great renown. His name is Holt Ironfell, a grandmaster bard and founder of an alliance of artists with a very special gift. Unlike most bards, whose works are trapped and lost in the memories of those who hear them, the songs written by the Poets’ Circle are woven into the fabric of New Britannia itself—no less tangible than the castles and sprawling meadows that stretch across its countryside. Holt Ironfell is just a fictional character in Richard Garriott’s MMO, Shroud of the Avatar, but his real-life counterpart, James, doesn’t just pretend to be a bard, he is one. The Poets’ Circle isn’t your average MMO guild, and Ironfell isn’t your average MMO player. Shroud of the Avatar might come from Garriott’s imagination, but the music that helps bring it to life comes from theirs. To date, The Poets’ Circle has been commissioned to compose over 80 songs that now form the official soundtrack for Shroud of the Avatar. They grew from a haphazard assortment of fans into a troupe of musicians who, right alongside Garriott himself, are shaping a new chapter of roleplay surrounding Lord British. As James tells me, it’s a journey that has impacted his life. “Making music for Shroud of the Avatar was the most fun I’ve had gaming,” James says. “It remains a fascinating experience which has brought music full force into my life.” You can read the rest of the article at PC Gamer. Testing Incentives Program [From a Forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long] Greetings Avatars, Thank you everyone for the amazing work you all do reporting issues in the game. It is only through your bug reports that we can find and fix issues with the game. The volume of reported issues from the Live Server has remained steady, but now that we have reached persistence, it is understandably challenging to convince players to divide their time between the “real” world of Novia and the fleeting world of the QA Server. However, we still have a critical need for testing on the QA Server right before a monthly Release goes live. That is why we are launching the Testing Incentives Program. This program will include exclusives that can only be earned on the QA Server, but there are lots of awards that can be earned on the live servers as well. Each Release, exceptional contributors selected through quality bug reports, document edits, etc. will be eligible for rewards. The rewards will be given out as individual items, not all at once. Initial rewards will include the following (and may expand over time): Testing Incentive Rewards: These rewards can be earned through playing and reporting on both the Live and QA Servers. Titles: Players will rank up through these after demonstrating a solid record of reproducible bugs with detailed information (ex. coordinates and screenshots) Pest Controller Expert Pest Controller Master Pest Controller Royal Pest Controller Antennae: worn in the head slot Bugs Cloak: features lots of ants Bug Cloak: This cloak features one giant ant. Bug Sprayer: Equippable with /bugspray emote that makes a green cloud QA Server Exclusive Rewards: These rewards can only be earned through play time and bug reporting on the QA Server (but of course they will be delivered to you on the Live Server). COTOs for Time: Players who spend at least 4 hours of play time per Release on the QA Server will receive 5 Gold COTOs. Please note this is active play that we will verify via logging. You cannot simply login and stand still. Ant Farm: Decoration you can place in your house with ants crawling around in it. Don’t break it! Corpion Chair: Don’t fear the cushion of its deadly comfort! Set of Bug Paintings: An assortment of Classical still life paintings featuring insects Insect Leg Table Butterfly Chair We hope to have the program begin with the QA Server and Live Server tests of Release 34, so stay tuned for an official “go!” announcement. Thank you everyone for the incredible work so far and we look forward to more of it in the future. Sales of Virtual Items for Real Currency Policy [From a Forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long] Greeting Avatars, As many of you are aware, for a very long time we have supported the sale of virtual goods like Pledges, Pledge Rewards, Add On Store Items, etc. via our Player Marketplace subforum. Our reasoning is that this activity will occur no matter what our position on it is, so we feel that it is better to have it in a place where we and the community can see it easily. Even though we support these activities, we understand that they can threaten the suspension of disbelief we all work very hard to maintain around the game world we have built together. To that end, we must insist that, for now, all Real Currency sales happen in the Player Marketplace only and never be mentioned inside the game nor in any other part of the Forums. The current rules for those transactions are the following: Player Marketplace Only: All sales involving Real Currency (USD, Euros, etc.) can only be discussed, advertised, etc. in the Player Marketplace subforum. Bans for Out of Marketplace Posts: Any mention, post, information, text, advertising, etc. of any kind of a sale that refers to Real Currency in Shroud of the Avatar official locations outside of the Player Marketplace (i.e. the main forums, Shroud Discord chat, Shroud Facebook Page, inside the game) is against the rules. The game is especially off limits for these kinds of messages (except for the final resolution of the sale which has to happen in the game via secure trade and will, of course, necessitate some in game communication). Offenders will receive a warning. Repeated offenses will result in bans, up to and including permanent bans across multiple accounts. All Virtual Items Allowed: Sales for Real Currency can include any virtual goods, including Add On Store items, Pledge Rewards, and virtual currency (gold). Portalarium Not Liable: Portalarium is not liable for any of these transactions. They are solely between the buyer and seller. We understand that the inclusion of gold as one of the virtual goods that can be bought and sold will cause some of you concern, but we believe that in the end it is just another virtual good like the others. I would like to address the main concerns we have seen. Inflation: As you have seen we have been monitoring VERY carefully the influx of gold into the economy and we do not believe the sales of gold will increase the likelihood of inflation anymore than any other factors. Exploits: All the rules of enforcement related to exploits will of course still apply. As you have seen, we are very aggressive about finding exploits and enforcing punishment of users that abuse them. Competition for Resources: With our multiple modes of play, you are almost guaranteed to never be competing with someone “farming” for gold because they will most likely be in Single Player Online mode. Intrusion: As you can see by the above rules we will aggressively repel any intrusion into the game or into the main forums of real currency transactions. We feel VERY strongly about keeping the sanctity of our world intact. If you see any activities occurring that go against these rules, please do not mention them (or the persons involved) in public areas. For in-game occurrences, you can report them by right-clicking on the offending player and selecting the “Report Player” or “Report Content” options and choose “Other” from the context menu. Alternatively, you may use the /reportcontent or /reportplayer commands in the chat window. For occurrences outside of the game, you can use the Forum Report option or contact us at support@portalarium.com. Elven 2-Story Row Tax Free Bundle We’ve added the first property-based package to the Elven Bundle Store with the Elven 2-Story Row House Tax Free Player Owned Town Lot Bundle. Artist Bob Cooksey has created this unique look for the new Elven row house and Elven Wardrobe cabinet: Upcoming Events 2016.09.09 – Release 33 Postmortem Livestream (Archive now available on YouTube) 2016.09.21 – Austin Games Conference 2016.09.29 – Release 34 2016.10.27 – Release 35 2016.11.04 – SotA Con 2016.11.17 – Release 36 2016.12.15 – Release 37 Community Activities Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events. Event of the Week – Grandmaster Tutoring Event for Crafters (9-10-2016 1pm NBT) We invite all grandmaster Crafters to come and share their knowledge to new and would be grandmasters. We can confirm a grandmaster carpenter, tailor and blacksmith will be attending, and able to mentor a party of up to 7 others. If more grandmasters donate their time then even more can be mentored. Being mentored in a group with a grandmaster grants you the ability to learn faster, a rate of 10% less producer xp required to level. You must bring your own materials to this event. There are fuel merchants very near by the crafting pavilion in Diamond Fields but prices may increase due to turn out. A banker is also near buy so you can shuttle in your raw materials and squirrel them away ahead of time for the event. Community 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. Job Openings (3) World Builder/Level Designers (2) We currently have an opening for 2 junior-level to senior-level World Builder/Level Designers with artistic skills for Shroud of the Avatar to build out scenes (these positions are less focused on game play elements). Qualifications for “ideal candidates” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience for junior-level (preferably on a shipped game) Minimum 5 years industry experience for senior-level (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity3D proficiency Scripting ability Experience building, texturing, and decorating natural, terrain based exterior environments An artistic eye for detail, with strong scene compositional skills BONUS: Ability to model and texture in 3D art tools Programmer We currently have an opening for a Programmer for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience Strong C#/C++ skills Database development experience Awesome debugging skills Windows programming experience Network programming experience Extensive Multi-threaded programming experience Ability to work in unstructured, non-hierarchical environment Strong software architecture skills BONUS SKILLS (any one or more of these): Minimum 5 years industry experience (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity development experience Mac development Avid game player Web development experience (C#, PHP, ASP.NET, XML/web services, JavaScript) UNIX experience MMO game development experience If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on the ground-breaking Shroud of the Avatar, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including actual game play, videos footage, and document form (images, maps, and event descriptions). Recommended Projects to Back Underworld: Ascendant Far more than a dungeon crawl, Underworld Ascendant is a next-generation sequel to the legendary fantasy RPG’s Ultima Underworld & Ultima Underworld 2. It not only modernizes the series’ visuals and user interface to take full advantage of the today’s powerful PC’s, it innovates in bold new ways. Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image. A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account! Save View the full article

Greeting Avatars, As many of you are aware for a very long time we have supported the sale of virtual goods like Pledges, Pledge Rewards, Add On Store Items, etc. via our Player Marketplace subforum. Our reasoning is that this activity will occur no matter what our position on it is so we feel that it is better to have it in a place where we and the community can see it easily. Even though we... Sales of Virtual Items for Real Currency Policy View the full article

Greetings Avatars, Thank you everyone for the amazing work you all do reporting issues in the game. It is only through your bug reports that we can find and fix issues with the game. The volume of reported issues from the Live Server has remained steady, but now that we have reached persistence, it is understandably challenging to convince players to divide their time between the “real” world of Novia and the fleeting world of the QA Server. We still have a critical need for testing on the... Testing Incentives Program View the full article

Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a wonderful story from Cianna Danaan. It is entitled And Then There Was Nick, Part I Background music by Smartsound Cianna jumped as the door to the Soltown tavern burst open with a clatter and a rush of cold air. The soft, plaintive melody she’d been absentmindedly playing on the piano died away. A youngish man, clearly the worse for drink, stumbled through the door. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, pushed his cloth hood off, and glanced around the room. “Barkeep! Barkeep! Another round, if you please.” “Ya haven’t had your first yet, mate.” The grizzled old man behind the bar said, laughing. “At least not here. But you’ve definitely had a few rounds somewhere else, by the looks — and smell — of ya.” The scattered patrons in the tavern laughed, the young man joining in with them. “But, isn’t this the Fire Lotus Tavern, good man? It’s not? Hmmm, I could have sworn I was in Owl’s Head.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I seem to have lost a continent. Well, no matter, let’s remedy this problem on the spot. Barkeep, my usual, if you please.” The barkeep beckoned with his finger. “Come here, my boy,” he said, a look of bemusement on his face. The young man swayed as he ambled up to the bar, leaning across the counter so he could hear the barkeep. “Yes, my good man?” The barkeep whispered, loudly, so the room could hear, “Seeing as you’ve never been here before,” he said, “I don’t know what your ‘usual’ is. Do you see my problem, mate?” As the crowd laughed again, Cianna rose from her seat. “He’ll have a whiskey,” she said. “You can bring it to my table.” Everyone turned to look at her as she spoke, the young man turning a bit slower than the rest, trying to maintain his balance as he went. He looked at her in confusion for a moment. Cianna thought she saw concern pass over his face, but if it was there, it quickly vanished. “Milady? Is that you? By all the Watchers in Adoris, it is! It’s you!” He turned to a hefty man sitting on a stool near him. “It’s her!” he said to the man. “The love of my life, the apple of my eye, the….” Cianna strode forward and gripped the young man by the elbow. “Quiet, please, Nick. I don’t care for too much scrutiny in public.” “Shhh, shhh, yes, milady. I understand, I do. I’ll be quiet. Quiet as a….as a….” “Foghorn?” said the barkeep, stepping past them to place a whiskey on Cianna’s table. “Anything more for you, miss?” he asked. “No, I’m good, thank you.” She handed him coin for the whiskey. Cianna steered Nick to her table, helping him to maintain an upright demeanor. She pulled out the nearest chair and guided him into it. She looked him over with a smile lurking at her lips as she sat down again. “So, we meet again. How are you, Nick?” “Ahh, but it’s good to see you again, milady.” “Stop with the milady business, will you? Cianna’s good enough for me.” He raised his eyebrows, then took a sip of whisky. “Cianna it is, then. Only trying to be respectful to my lady love.” He winked at her. “I’m not your lady love, Nick. We barely know each other.” She laughed at his pouting face. “It is good to see you, though.” “And it’s grand to see you,” he said. “Your beauty brightens up the day. Puts the very sun to shame, and makes the moon cry in his cups.” Cianna laughed again. “Your laughter is cruel, madam. You break my heart.” “Nick, I’m quite sure that you flatter all the young women this way, and perhaps even the older ones, too. The girl who takes you seriously will get her heart broken, I fear.” “But, I do not mean to flatter you, milady, I mean to woo you — with love . . . and perhaps a little whiskey?” He held his glass out to her with a smile. Cianna shook her head, still laughing. A movement at the bar caught her attention. Two men had entered the tavern and were ordering drinks. They looked rough, as though they had ridden for days without stopping. The conversations in the tavern had gone quiet. Even Nick seemed more subdued. “Who are they? Do you know?” she asked. He held a cautionary finger to his lips. “Well, look who it is,” he bellowed, turning suddenly in his chair and sending it crashing beneath him. He grinned up at the men from the floor. They scowled before turning their backs on him. “Barkeep! Another round!” Nick called out, struggling to his feet. He rose and clasped both men by the shoulder, not seeming to notice their obvious annoyance. “What brings you here, gentlemen? You’re a long, long way from Rats Nest. Is there something good in the works? Anything I can help with?” “Shut up, you idiot,” said the tallest of the two. “Barkeep,” he yelled toward a back room, “make it quick with that order!” “Stocking up, are you?” Nick asked in an exaggerated whisper, moving in close as if to hear a secret. “What’s in the barrels they’re packing up, boys? Come on, you can tell ol’ Nicky.” The second man pushed Nick away roughly. The barkeep returned and took their money. “Is it all there?” the tall one asked. “It is, damn you,” said the barkeep. “Now get out of my establishment. You’re bothering my customers. And tell the Baron not to send anymore of his…residents…to me. I don’t like doing business with the likes of you.” “Boys, boys,” Nick called out as the two men headed for the Tavern door. “Cut me in on the deal, won’t you? I could use a job. And the Baron speaks very highly of me!” The door closed loudly behind them. Nick stood still for a long moment, then returned to sit beside Cianna. “What was that all about?” she asked. “Who are those men?” Nick’s thoughts seemed far away. “They’re from Rats Nest. An island town off the Northwest Coast. Not a particularly nice part of the world, I’m afraid.” “You mean they’re outlaws?” Cianna asked. Nick grinned. “Well, I wouldn’t put it quite that genteelly, but yes, they’re outlaws.” Cianna stood quickly. “Hey, what…? Where are you going?” “I have to catch up to them. I need to talk to those men.” “Whoa, girl, hold on a minute.” He grabbed her arm. “You can’t go running after men like those. You’ll get yourself killed, or worse. Those are tough men, and they wouldn’t waste time being polite with you, if you catch my meaning.” Cianna’s eyes blazed. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much. And you don’t understand. I must talk to them.” “Okay, okay, sit down and explain it to me.” “But they’ll get away! Let me go, Nick!” He held firm. “Not until you tell me what’s so damn important that you have to chase after men like that. Besides, I can tell you where they’re going. You can follow them — if you still want to — when we’re done.” Cianna struggled for a moment more, then sighed and sat down. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, as she glared at him. “Am I?” Nick furrowed his brow. “You seem to have sobered up rather quickly.” “Ah, yes, that.” He glanced around the room. “Listen, let’s get out of here. We need to talk.” Without another word, Nick lurched to his feet. “Come, milady, let’s take a stroll around this fair town. I’m in need of fresh air and your charming company.” “I’ll give you charming company,” Cianna muttered to herself. She rose and took the arm that was offered to her. Nick leaned heavily on her for support. “If you fall flat on your face out there, I’m leaving you where you drop,” Cianna warned in a whisper. “Ah, my angel, I do so love when you say sweet things to me.” Nick waggled his brows at her. In spite of herself, Cianna laughed. The post And Then There Was Nick – Part 1 – by Cianna – narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Hello everyone! Here is the news of the week! Free Lot Deed Raffle Tickets in R34 Release 33 Postmortem Estgard Polish Fireplaces and Chimneys Swamp Island POT Templates Update Elven Bundle Store and Add-On Goodies Star Citizen Cross Promotion Update Upcoming Events Richard Garriott at Dragon Con Community Resources – Players Helping Players Recommended Projects to Back The post Echoes From the Caverns 09-02-16 appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns. View the full article

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar: Free Lot Deed Raffle Tickets in R34 Release 33 Postmortem Estgard Polish Fireplaces and Chimneys Swamp Island POT Templates Update Elven Bundle Store and Add-On Goodies Upcoming Events Richard Garriott at Dragon Con Community Resources – Players Helping Players Job Openings (4) Recommended Projects to Back Free Lot Deed Raffle Tickets in Release 34 Raffle As mentioned in the Release 33 instructions we have begun the distribution of in-game Lot Deeds via Raffles. The raffles will be monthly and for this first month’s raffle we will be handing out 75 Place Anywhere Deeds and 600 Player Owned Town Deeds. Raffle Tickets can be purchased from Home Decoration merchants in various locations throughout the game. For those backers who do not yet own property we are going to automatically enter you into both Raffles in Release 34! Anyone who has game access to Shroud of the Avatar, but does NOT yet own property at the beginning of Release 34 (September 29, 2016), will automatically be given a gift of 1 Raffle Ticket of each type to the First Raffle. To claim your tickets simply login to the game, go to the nearest bank and claim your rewards. The drawings will be held on October 27, 2016 and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Deeds will be delivered in Release 35. Backers are not eligible for this gift if they meet the following criteria on September 29, 2016: Own an Ancestor Pledge or above Own a Viking 2-Story Row Bundle or above Own a Kobold 2-Story Row Bundle or above Own any quantity of Add On Store Deeds Own any deeds won through previous drawings, contests, etc. Release 33 Postmortem Join us Friday, September 9th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 UTC) for our monthly Hangout of the Avatar! The team will be chatting about Release 33 and looking ahead to Release 34. As always, we will be giving out rare Lord British artifacts of immense power and glory, and answering your latest questions. For a chance to win an artifact, be in Discord chat during the livestream. There will be multiple chances to win throughout the broadcast! Watch live on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar: Watch live video from shroudoftheavatar on www.twitch.tv You will also be able to watch directly on YouTube: www.youtube.com/portalarium! The final recording will be archived on YouTube after the event as well. If you wish to win prizes, be in Discord or IRC chat during the livestream! Post your questions in the comments section of the post here. Only one post submission allowed, and keep questions to 3 or less. This will allow us to get to as many players as possible. Questions and feedback related to this release’s specific topics will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. Tweet with us @ShroudofAvatar during the Hangout! Estgard Polish Estgard is on the island of Norgard and is part of the Path of Courage. It is a cloned scene using one of our PRT / POT templates based off of the Forest 01 base template (aka PaxLair). In Release 33 we did an initial rebuild (aka “un-cloning”) of that scene where we added a plot specific perimeter wall and a handful of other visual changes to have it more closely match the Viking like style of the island of Norgard. In Release 34 we are polishing that rebuild to bring it up to our visual standards. When we start focusing on the Courage Path in a future release it will also get an NPC polish pass. Note that when we un-clone these scenes we do NOT change lot placements. We only make cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage. [From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar] REVISITING ESTGARD Hey guys, for R34 I have been tasked with polishing up the town of Estgard. Estgard is located in Norgard across the Naryad Channel from the town of Harvest. Dockside city entrance into Estgard: This area of Norgard is heavily forested so much that moss and vines line the outer walls of Estgard. Falls of Strymon: Located to the West of Estgard these majestic falls are located on a tributary of the Oso River which eventually makes its way into the Naryad Channel. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water flow over the 100 foot high cliffs every second. You can see the tiny avatar dwarfed in the lower left hand corner. Truly a must see on your next visit to Estgard. Forest: An abundance of rain water gives this area of Norgard a dense forest feel. Cenotes: To the East several Cenotes dot the landscape. Essentially large sinkholes created when subterranean bodies of water cave in and collapse. Hermit Hut: A hermit hut just North of Estgard. Logging Camps: Logging camps are scattered throughout this heavily forested region. Stay tuned for more progress on Estgard! Esteben Zaldivar Level Designer Fireplaces and Chimneys For a long time now players have requested fireplaces and chimneys as decorations for their homes. In Release 34 they will finally have their dreams realized with two craftable versions in-game as well as several versions for the Add-On Store. [A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones] Hello good folks! Following the suggestions by those who, like me, take their nesting instincts very seriously when it comes to home decoration, I present the work-in progress for my task of place-able fireplaces and chimneys! The goal here was for me to create a system by which our homeowners could hope to assemble a decent fireplace, from ground-floor hearth to roof, with a limited set of pieces using our deco system. Here you can see the almost-complete initial variation sets built in Max prior to export into Unity! To make this work, it was important that I take into account the fact that deco-system items can only collide with other items in very specific circumstances, while I also wanted to be able to let the final chimney piece intersect the roof so it could be seen from the outside. To add to this (in cases where the player has access to the roof), while the roof chimney extension can intersect with the roof and interior floors fairly freely, I also wanted to make sure that a player couldn’t simple “walk through” it as if it were a hologram… Since all our player homes have been built with a variety of floor to ceiling sizes and configurations, this was no easy task! Once imported, I was able to add all the effects and lay them out for review. Above you’ll notice the sets being filled out as I expand each variation type. For this first group there will be two variations you can craft yourself (a rustic-looking stone hearth, as well as a stone and wood version) as well as their attendant chimney set pieces… These simpler ones were then followed by three “ornate” variations you’ll be able to buy in our add-on store (two of which you can see toward the back), which will be “Ornate Stone” (small and large, in a somewhat baroque visual style that will match many of Bob’s up-scale manor houses he’s made), “Ornate Stone and Wood” (small and large, made to match the Norgard visual style of some of the Lord Marshall items I’ve made), and finally an “Ornate Metal” version (small and large, mimicking the style of the cast-iron radiator decoration I’ve made), which I haven’t finished creating yet… Below you can see the initial two “Ornate” ones a bit more closely, which include their basic “flat” primary chimney pieces on top…Each set will, in most average cases, allow the owner to create one fireplace type from the first floor of any home and extend it up on each floor and finally through the ceiling! To make sure this idea worked, I took my initial group (the rustic craft-able all-stone hearth) and got Rick to help me set them up to function in our deco system. I then went through each and every player home type, testing all the pieces to make sure that I could build at least two full fireplaces in each home in key locations where most folks would consider placing them. In the image below you can see the two different placement versions; the one on the left tests the look of the base hearth with its angular chimney topper meant to indicate that it passes through the wall to the outside, where the chimney pieces can stack past the roof,…and the one on the right tests the look of a the same set rising up toward the ceiling to indicate an interior chimney arrangement. You’ll notice that the use of these limited pieces, due to small variances in each building’s design, can’t always be perfect (such as the chimney addition on the right, in this particular home, not completely reaching the ceiling in this particular house design), but I did measure each of our limited number of pieces to fit fairly well together in most circumstance, with just a little “mix and match” effort. ^_^ Another thing you’ll notice is that, like our bookshelves and tables and such, there are flat areas, mantles, and shelves on most of these pieces that will allow you to place favorite small decorations on your fireplaces. I particularly enjoyed loading mine up with all kinds of fun stuff! In the image below you can see a floor extension I placed on the second floor of this house to make it look like a fireplace is extending through the interior, and it too is equipped with a small shelf upon which I’ve placed a ceramic jar. On the exterior of the house you can see further building I’ve done placing chimney pieces from the ground to the roof! By simply stacking them one upon the other, it was fairly easy to get just the look I wanted. On top you can see my second interior chimney set poking up above the other, and a quick run up the stairs to the roof will let you see the intersecting roof extension as well as the taller floor extension placed on the roof to simulate the second chimney piercing through…With other less “conventional” house configurations, the set seemed to work well too! Here you can see merely two pieces of the set (the main hearth and the roof extension) used in our Elven Village Hill Home, seen from the inside as well as seen from the outside, so you can appreciate the way it nicely intersects with the roof! The fun part, honestly, is playing with all the pieces in several different house and room configurations to find the assembly that works best in any given circumstance… Trial and error is the name of the game with these sets, since (as with all deco items) they won’t always work in every single situation, but I’m betting you’ll be surprised by their versatility! Once all of these are finished and ready for you to have, I’m really hoping you’ll all have a great time playing with these props. Take care! Scottie ^_^ Swamp Island POT Templates Update As mentioned in our last Update (191) the Swamp Islands are the newest templates for the Player Owned Towns. These new templates are lowland islands covered in swampy terrain. We offer two versions, a normal version and one that has an Obsidian Style spiked wall surrounding the large island. While this is based on the original Island template, the terrain has been lowered to better represent a swampy area. This also has the nice byproduct of creating much more flat space for building placement! In fact, this template is only rivaled by the Grassland templates and Inland Forest (a modified Grassland) in available space for building. We have finally gotten them added to the POT Submission form (accessible from your Account page) and you can view images and overhead shots of them from the POT Templates page. Here are the overhead shots of the islands (the second view is the walled version). Here are some more shots of the non-walled version (we showed only shots of the walled version last week): Elven Bundle Store and Add-On Goodies Elven Bundle Store We are excited to launch our latest Bundle Store addition with the Elven Bundles! While the Elves of Novia were originally created for war by the Obsidian Order, in the centuries since many have sought to find new meaning in their lives, and have found it through finding a place of their own in nature’s order, harmonious with the land around them. These bundles reflect this with homes and furniture built from natural materials. (NOTE: The first five Elven Bundles are available now in the Bundle Store! Stay tuned for the remaining bundles in time for Release 34) Elaborate Tiara Be the talk of the ball when you show up wearing this beautifully styled Elaborate Tiara! Available now in the Add-On Store! Black & Chrome Ornate Aeronaut Outfit You can’t stand in your Hot Air Balloon, or your Airship, without the appropriate gear! This ornately carved, black & chrome leather Aeronaut outfit provides both comfort and style! Available now in the Add-On Store! Upcoming Events 2016.09.02 – Richard “Lord British” Garriott at DragonCon 2016 2016.09.09 – Release 33 Post-Mortem Hangout 2016.09.21 – Austin Games Conference 2016.09.29 – Release 34 2016.10.27 – Release 35 2016.11.04 – SotACon 2016.11.17 – Release 36 2016.12.15 – Release 37 Community Activities Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events. Event of the Week – Boat Emote Happy Hour The Boat Emote Event where you bring your emotes and trade with others on a boat of course. While this will be mostly a dance themed event it is also meant as a community meet and greet for those around the world now that persistence is here. We encourage folks to look at SotAWiki.net and find emotes and bring them to trade. Random store credits to be given away to participants. At least 15 bucks worth more depending on turnout. Richard “Lord British” Garriott at Dragon Con! Richard Garriott will be attending Dragon Con from Friday to Sunday this coming September 2-4, 2016! He will be available at certain times for autographs, as well as on a number of exciting panels you won’t want to miss. Some of the events and panels Richard will be on: Commercial Space Is Busting Out Everywhere! Shroud of the Avatar – Q&A Craft Your Own Automation Stuff Podcast – LIVE! New Britannia Round Table Celebrity Gaming with Pathfinder! A Hour With Lord British Mars in 10 Years! Can Elon Get It Done? Get Richard’s complete schedule here! Community 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. Job Openings (4) World Builder/Level Designers (2) We currently have an opening for 2 junior-level to senior-level World Builder/Level Designers with artistic skills for Shroud of the Avatar to build out scenes (these positions are less focused on game play elements). Qualifications for “ideal candidates” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience for junior-level (preferably on a shipped game) Minimum 5 years industry experience for senior-level (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity3D proficiency Scripting ability Experience building, texturing, and decorating natural, terrain based exterior environments An artistic eye for detail, with strong scene compositional skills BONUS: Ability to model and texture in 3D art tools Quality Assurance We currently have an opening for an entry-level Quality Assurance agent for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are: Avid game player Experience with RPGs and MMOs Willingness to also do Customer Service tasks as needed Desire to expand into other areas of game development long term BONUS: Experience with Quality Assurance Programmer We currently have an opening for a Programmer for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience Strong C#/C++ skills Database development experience Awesome debugging skills Windows programming experience Network programming experience Extensive Multi-threaded programming experience Ability to work in unstructured, non-hierarchical environment Strong software architecture skills BONUS SKILLS (any one or more of these): Minimum 5 years industry experience (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity development experience Mac development Avid game player Web development experience (C#, PHP, ASP.NET, XML/web services, JavaScript) UNIX experience MMO game development experience If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on the ground-breaking Shroud of the Avatar, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including actual game play, videos footage, and document form (images, maps, and event descriptions). Recommended Projects to Back The Bard’s Tale IV From the creators of Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera comes The Bard’s Tale IV. Thirty years ago, The Bard’s Tale put Brian Fargo and Interplay on the map and launched a storied career crafting some of the most beloved cRPGs in gaming history. Today, we return to Skara Brae for the long-awaited dungeon-crawling sequel to the Bard’s Tale trilogy — the games that helped define the genre. The Bards Talke IV it is a single-player, party-based cRPG with dynamic phase-based combat, challenging puzzles and riddles, and a game set to beautiful Gaelic music, where the Bard’s songs and melodies affect gameplay. Backer Shipping Addresses In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image. A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account! View the full article

There have been recent reports of abuse and scams between players in the game. One scam has been that of renaming items to trick players into thinking those items are more valuable upon resale. Since those items are often quickly purchased, the name is the marker for recognizing legitimacy of an item’s value. We have been banning anyone that scams players. Anyone caught renaming items in a way to trick other players will receive an instant permaban -- no... Reselling renamed items to scam other players View the full article

We have new openings at Portalarium! Are you a Shroud of the Avatar fan (of course you are :))? Want to work with an awesome team that is passionate about the game? Come work with us! See below for openings, qualifications, and how to contact us with interest. Please note these openings require being in Austin, TX: World Builder/Level Designers (2) We currently have an opening for 2 junior-level to senior-level World Builder/Level Designers with artistic skills for Shroud of the Avatar to build out scenes (these positions are less focused on game play elements). Qualifications for “ideal candidates” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience for junior-level (preferably on a shipped game) Minimum 5 years industry experience for senior-level (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity3D proficiency Scripting ability Experience building, texturing, and decorating natural, terrain based exterior environments An artistic eye for detail, with strong scene compositional skills BONUS: Ability to model and texture in 3D art tools Quality Assurance We currently have an opening for an entry-level Quality Assurance agent for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are: Avid game player Experience with RPGs and MMOs Willingness to also do Customer Service tasks as needed Desire to expand into other areas of game development long term BONUS: Experience with Quality Assurance Programmer We currently have an opening for a Programmer for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are: Minimum 2 years industry experience Strong C#/C++ skills Database development experience Awesome debugging skills Windows programming experience Network programming experience Extensive Multi-threaded programming experience Ability to work in unstructured, non-hierarchical environment Strong software architecture skills BONUS SKILLS (any one or more of these): Minimum 5 years industry experience (minimum of at least 1 shipped game) Unity development experience Mac development Avid game player Web development experience (C#, PHP, ASP.NET, XML/web services, JavaScript) UNIX experience MMO game development experience If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on Shroud of the Avatar, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including actual game play, videos footage, and document form (images, maps, and event descriptions). We look forward to working with you! View the full article