Jack T. Lamplighter

11/11/2023 03:44 AM

We will be performing maintenance on our webserver cluster starting at 2am CT on the 7th. This work is to move the website, forum, and game authentication databases to new hardware. This work will require an intrusive work window (meaning the website and game logins will not be available during the procedure).

The work is expected to last up to an hour and new logins to the game will not be allowed until the work is completed. Players already in game at the start of the work window should...

Scheduled maintenance with downtime for November 13th at 02:00am CT

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11/07/2023 06:07 AM

Double XP and COTO sales have ended. The in-game Crown Store sales will end with a client patch that has been delayed until the morning to avoid conflicts with the web server maintenance scheduled for tonight.

View the full article

11/01/2023 06:24 AM

Players will get the November login reward upon their next login to the game.

The last patch for R119 will be overnight between the 6th and 7th to disable 2XP, the sales and apply a couple of additional fixes.

There will be a brief period starting around 2am CT on the 7th where the website, Forums, and login server will be unavailable. This is to allow for the final step in our migration of the webservers to their new home. this final change will speed up the response to the website and...

November Login Reward and next patch date/time

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10/29/2023 06:07 PM

This is a small patch addressing only one issue: player dungeon spawn totems can now be placed on their pedestals as intended.

Read the R119 patch notes here:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=32989

View the full article

10/28/2023 03:16 PM

This patch nurses the Magic Merchants back to health along with a few other items. We are working on another patch to correct the placement of the Player dungeon spawn totems, that should be released later today.

Read the full patch notes here:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=32989

View the full article

10/26/2023 07:42 PM

On October 10th, Steam advised all game developers that we would need to set up 2FA to continue to access the site and update our games.

We made the required changes before the cutoff, but now Steam has backed off the mandatory implementation of the new authentication.

Bottom line is implementing the changes they asked for broke the API authentication (it wiped out our API key).

I am currently working to resolve the issues with sending the patch to Steam. I will post an update here when...

[RESOLVED] R119 Published, Steam clients cannot patch (yet)

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10/25/2023 08:55 PM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 119 goes live October 26th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 119 (R119), we offer treasure for the coffers, treasure for the mind, and a nice place to go back to when you're done gathering them.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities,...

Play Release 119!

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10/25/2023 08:53 PM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 119 goes live October 26th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 119 (R119), we offer treasure for the coffers, treasure for the mind, and a nice place to go back to when you’re done gathering them.

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 Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

News Announcements

Community Updates

Find a Treasure Map and Set Off for Adventure

In the coming days, you may find a mysterious map along your travels: perhaps on an enemy, in a chest, listed on a player vendor, or given to you by some kind and/or baffled guild-mate. Junior Treasure Hunters across Novia all know to go to Selleck, to be found along the Port Harmony docks, to learn about seeking what it leads to! There’s a guy who really knows where his shovel is. He’ll make sure you know how to use one before sending you out with some helpful hints. There may be valuables ne’er seen before! There may be guardians to battle! It’s a good thing that explorer’s shovel is a weapon…

This first round added to the game includes decrepit maps that will lead you into low-tier zones accessible to players of every level and blood-stained maps that will lead you into zones frequented by players hunting other players. Be sure you trust your party members!

Be Transported to a New Tutorial Encounter

Helpful Automatons now have an inventory-themed tutorial they can provide to any Avatar.

The tutorial is a series of one-on-one lessons in a solo scene which any Helpful Automaton can teleport you to upon request. It’s primarily informational, but there are some basic activities which shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. If needed, though, a teleporter at the site will allow you to return to town at any time, even before the tutorial is concluded, and you can always return to the tutorial scene and continue where you left off. Students who complete the tutorial are given a reward.

Helpful Automatons can be found in Soltown, Castle Atos, Kingsport, Port Harmony, and other NPC towns around the world, and more units will be added to other cities over time.

Build Diverse Neighborhoods with New Row Markers

Home, home of the strange…

An unclaimed row lot in a player-owned town has always displayed a two-story wood-and-plaster row home, which doesn’t make for much visual variety until residents start claiming them and replacing them with other homes. From now on, however, Governors and Stewards can place an assortment of alternative row markers which display one of eleven additional two-story home options, allowing themed neighborhoods or a lively cacophony! These homes retain their variant appearances when claimed, giving the resident access to a variety of home styles they’d otherwise have to purchase. They may still wish to purchase their own, as none of these markers are for taller homes with more space.

Most of these homes are normally available in the Crown Store and the associated new markers are priced accordingly, but a few homes whose stand-alone versions have been available for in-game-gold are also to be had in the Crown Store for a minor price so any Governor should be able to create some variety.

See the full set below!

Release 119 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 119 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R119 is a content month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R120 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 119!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

Added the ability to upgrade a POT Castle Lot Deed to a be a POT Castle Tax Free Water Lot Deed. SOTA-71730
Adjusted some of the floor deco surfaces for the plain and golden variants of the Kobold Four-Story Great Hall City Home. SOTA-71732
Fixed frog goliaths not giving meticulous collection XP.
Salvage/combination of Daemon Tridents and salvage of Ice Hammers of Jotungrund, Shards of Night, Halberds of the Sun, and Xen Penetrators will no longer output a pattern per weapon for common and uncommon variants. SOTA-71707
Enabled dying the fabric cushion on the craftable Arched Wooden Armchair. SOTA-70431
The Magical Broom Pet will no longer be visually shouting at avatars. SOTA-58540
Added new icon to the Shard of Night. SOTA-71717
Corrected icon for book Theme for Rabbling.
Removed pink artifacts in icon for Fiona Fitzowen’s lute.
Removed pink background from icon for Pristine Patriarch Bear Head.

User Interface, Store Information, Inky, & Lua Changes:

The prices for POT NPC Buildings have been adjusted: buildings with special functionality are now 1200 COTOs and all others are 800 COTOs.
Fixed typos in 130 store descriptions.

World and Quest Changes:

Overworlds: All roving NPCs will now respect Spawn Protection and wait until it’s gone before pulling the Avatar into a random encounter. This includes dogs, sheep, and stags. SOTA-66405
Seasonal Monsters: Pumpkin Head is packing it in for the year and Krampus will return to East Sanctus Forest and some Snowy Mountain Road Encounters on November 16th.
Desert Encounter: The Luminous Atavist will no longer appear out-of-season. SOTA-71726
Swamp Road Encounters: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. A frog goliath might also spawn. SOTA-71570
Multiple Scenes: Reworked the sounds for all junction transformers used in kobold creations, placed in scenes as well as part of player deco, like moon towers, windmills, trolley stations, weather and time machines, and elevators. Also, shutting off both transformers in moon towers will turn off the moon tower completely.
Manor of Mystery and Tutorial Encounter: Adjusted sound effects for the Teleporter Pads and corrected their cloth accessories to be Return-to-Previous-Location purple. SOTA-71339
Blood Bay: Adjusted LODs on several rock types. Added and updated steam and lava sounds. Added waterfall sounds to a waterfall at a ruin. SOTA-40523
Blood River Forest: Tweaked the whirlpool VFX. SOTA-64690
Blood River Outskirts: Fixed typos in Captain Bearfield’s responses.
Brave Coast: Added more spawn location alternatives and ankhs throughout the scene. SOTA-71681
Brookside: None of the four wells should be protected by the anti-theft system any longer.
Castle Atos: Added ambient light options.
East Vauban Foothills: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
Far Hinterlands: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
Grannus Colossus: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
Greymark Forest: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
Grusk: The five daily versions of Kortreek’s kite platform quest now have separate initial journal entries, with better directions for finding the platforms. SOTA-70489
Jotungrund: Reverted scene worldbuilding and navmesh to its R117 state.
Lost Vale: Blocked off the end of a hallway in the Fall of the Epitaph area. SOTA-71731
Manor of Mystery: If you have completed his Inoperable Kobold Cloud Cannon quest, the High Magus will now accept an Inoperable Kobold Tesla Rifle even if you have a second Inoperable Kobold Cloud Cannon in your inventory. SOTA-71714
Naryad Moors: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
Necropolis Barrens: Replaced a tree with odd collision that allowed players to slide up the sides. SOTA-71725
Paladis Shardfall: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
Port Harmony: Removed grass poking through a planter. Moved several rubble piles to the ground.
Port Harmony: Updated the logic for Selleck’s treasure chest so avatars can get extra chances to dig it up if they wait too long to recover the trinket inside.
Port Harmony: Treasure Hunter Selleck now gives a proper response for the “lemon” keyword (as do the Junior Treasure Hunters.) SOTA-71719
Port Harmony: Fixed typos in Treasure Hunter Selleck’s responses, journals, and quest item. SOTA-71715
Rhun Ruins: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. SOTA-71570
Spindelskog: Added tiny frogs. SOTA-71570
Tenebris Harbor: Added tiny frogs and poison dart frogs. A frog goliath might also spawn. SOTA-71570
Well of Aldur: Added extra randomization to the wyvern wave battle, which now includes additional large and huge wyverns of not-seen-before colors. Adjusted the loot for most wave enemies prior to the final wave. SOTA-71713

Player-Owned Town Changes:

Arx Draconis Lowlands: Upgraded to City from Town.

Latest News and Q&A October Livestream

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, October 27th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “prank or present!” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team stream on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel 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 on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/shroudoftheavatarofficial and on Discord at https://discord.gg/shroudoftheavatar.

Sales and Bonus Events

To observe Samhain, until end-of-day November 6th:

XP will be doubled.
Crown Store sales will be 30% off.
Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.

Release 119 Subscriber Login Rewards

Use these lights to guide your visitors and these gift boxes to bait them into a trap: the Rewards Program login items for Release 119 are a pair of Spooky Urns with Blue Flame and a set of three Cat-Themed Square Halloween 2023 Gift Boxes!

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 119 to receive these special login items.

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
- 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
- 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
- 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
- 30 Months: Keeper of Countless Devotions
- 33 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Three Corpions
- 36 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Six Serpents
- 39 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Nine Tulips
- 42 Months: Keeper of Forty-Two Roses
- 45 Months: Keeper of Forty-Five Lilies
- 48 Months: Keeper of Forty-Eight Daisies
- 51 Months: Keeper of Fifty-One Staves
- 54 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Four Daggers
- 57 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Seven Arrows
- 60 Months: Keeper of Sixty Swords
- 63 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Three Coins
- 66 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Six Gems
- 69 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Nine Jewels
- 72 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Two Goblets
- 75 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Five Rings
- 78 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Eight Amulets
Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of these 7 Obsidian Potions every month:
- 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
- Potion of Stamina: Decreases focus use from sprinting
While subscribed to the rewards program, players also receive these special bonuses:
- Obsidian Potions are significantly more powerful!
- 24 Additional Deck Slots!

November Login Reward

Share your treats! Well, at least keep them in a nice container. Each account that logs in during the month of November will receive a one-time gift of a Small Rectangle Pumpkin Halloween 2023 Gift Box!

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for today’s release:

Row Property Marker (Blue Tile)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Blue Tile)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Blue Tile)
Row Property Marker (Elven w/ Left Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Left Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Left Alcove)
Row Property Marker (Elven w/ Right Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Right Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Elven w/ Right Alcove)
Row Property Marker (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Left Alcove)
Row Property Marker (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Kobold w/ Right Alcove)
Row Property Marker (Obsidian)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Obsidian)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Obsidian)
Row Property Marker (Shogun)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shogun)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shogun)
Row Property Marker (Viking)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Viking)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Viking)
Row Property Marker (Shingle-Roof)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof)
Row Property Marker (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Left Alcove)
Row Property Marker (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Right Alcove)
Variety 12-Pack of Row Property Markers
One each Elven Left Alcove, Elven Right Alcove, Kobold Left Alcove, and Kobold Right Alcove and two each Blue Tile, Obsidian, Shogun, and Viking
Variety 24-Pack of Row Property Markers
Two each Elven Left Alcove, Elven Right Alcove, Kobold Left Alcove, and Kobold Right Alcove and four each Blue Tile, Obsidian, Shogun, and Viking
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Mixed Alcoves)
Six each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Stucco w/ Mixed Alcoves)
Twelve each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove
12-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof and Stucco)
Three each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove and six Shingle-Roof
24-Pack of Row Property Markers (Shingle-Roof and Stucco)
Six each Stucco Left Alcove and Stucco Right Alcove and twelve Shingle-Roof

…And some POT improvements that aren’t Row Markers:

New You Pavilion Bundle
This bundle comes with a POT NPC Building and one each of male and female New You Beautician POT NPCs. An NPC is needed for the New You functionality.
Player-Owned Town Iron Signpost
Player-Owned Town Kobold Signpost

…And some things that aren’t POT improvements:

Painting Display Stand
Paintings and books dragged on to these new types of display stands will snap into an angled position for ease of viewing.
Tabletop Painting Display Stand
Book Display Stand
Dark Gothic Furniture Mega Set
Dark Gothic Furniture Dining Set
Dark Gothic Furniture Bedroom Set
Dark Gothic Queen Size Bed
Dark Gothic Standing Mirror
Dark Gothic Padded Dining Chair 2-Pack
Purple Fireflies
Black Tiki Demon Mask
Black Flaming Tiki Demon Mask
Flaming Tiki Demon Mask
Pale Flaming Tiki Demon Mask
Ghost Themed Round Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack
Pumpkin Themed Rectangle Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack

…and for November 10th:

Cat Themed Square Halloween 2023 Gift Box 3-Pack
Spooky Urn with Blue Flame

The Spooky Seasonal store items (apart from this year’s new additions, which will be available throughout R119) are available until Monday November 6th:

List of Spooky Seasonal items:

Day of the Dead Mask
Day of the Dead Mask with Top Hat
Day of the Dead Mask with Veil
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Top Hat
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Veil
Day of the Dead Mask 6-Pack
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2015
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2015
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2015
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2016
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2016
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2016
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2017
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2017
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2017
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2018
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2018
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2018
Rotten Jack O’ Lantern Mask
Pale Scarecrown Mask
Blood Spurting Headless Mask
Ornate Scythe
Ornate Scythe Pattern Pack
Ornate Spider Legs Cloak
Spider Web Cloak
Woven Spider Web Cloak
Breathe Spiders Emote
Juggle Jack O’ Lanterns Emote
Juggle Severed Arms Emote
Juggle Severed Heads Emote
Juggle Zombie Arms Emote
Juggle Zombie Heads Emote
Puke Blood Emote
Rain Spiders Emote
Dead Tree with Spider Webs 6-Pack
Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Giant Lich Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Ornate Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Undead Specimen Vats Set
Zombie Cat
Zombie Dog
Zombie Raven

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 relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running and the volunteers (Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn) are in 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 clean up the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

Every month, a considerable amount of development time will be 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! Much improvement has been noticed by the development team and we’re so very excited to see the program’s continued success!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who take time to participate in QA Testing Directives. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs can be identified and fixed prior to content 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.

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing and bug rewards 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 and /bugspray Emote
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 Butterfly Pet (Blue)
Butterfly Mask
Dragonfly pet
Fairy Wings
Monarch Butterfly Pet
Dragonfly Wings
Hacked Oracle Crawler
Blue Butterfly VFX
Orange Fireflies VFX
Orange Butterfly VFX
Autumn Fairy Wings
Green Fireflies VFX
Landing Flies 3-pack
Blue Fireflies
Mounted Ladybug Specimen
Mounted Rhinoceros Beetle Specimen
Mounted Firebug Specimen
Mounted Diving Bug Specimen
Mounted Asian Ladybug Specimen
Swallowtail Butterfly Pet
Mounted Potato Beetle
Silver Bug Sprayer
Mounted Dung Beetle Specimen
Mounted Hissing Cockroach Specimen
Mounted Maybug Specimen
Mounted Stag Beetle Specimen
Mounted Flower Beetle Specimen

If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, sign up and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravalox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Streaming Program

Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar can participate in a program to showcase the game and be rewarded for their efforts. Any Streamer who wishes to be included in the Streaming Program can contact Laney via in-game mail 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 the LIVESTREAMING title.

Rules:

To qualify for Streaming 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 1^st day of each month, to remain in the program.

Monthly Streaming Bundles:

On the 1st of each month, qualifying streamers will be eligible to receive 50 Streaming Bundles. Bundles will be sent out to Streamers via in-game mail.

A few things you need to know:

Streaming Bundles are intended to be given away to stream viewers, not consumed by the streamer.
Streamers are not allowed to put paywalls in place for the Streaming Bundles. (For example, giving away Streaming Bundles once the stream reaches a certain number of bits, subscriptions, or donations).

Other Items of Note:

Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
An optional fan graphics kit is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
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.

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 2023 Release Schedule is as follows:

This Release 119 – October 26 (Content)
Release 120 – November 16 (Polish)
Release 121 – December 14 (Polish)

Community Events & 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.

Recurring Events:

Lightbringer Isle Auction: This newly-resumed auction will be held by Hemnu Lightbringer every Wednesday at 2000 EST / 1900 CST / 0100 BST / 2400 UTC.
The Nebula Time Trials are intended as a fun competition amongst players, but also a way for players to compare builds, playstyles, learn from one another and just generally have fun together. Each trial will consist of a challenge along the lines of “kill this mob” or “complete this quest” and while prizes will be awarded based on completion time, everyone who enters will receive something. Check this main post for links to the individual trials as they occur.
Monthly Release Fishing Contests: This will be a rotating, multi-location contest sponsored and organised by Rajazel, The Town Museum and its Governor Diablotine.
Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Introducing Trash to Treasure 2.0! Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding all of New Britannia with junk: Headdresses, Wings, Backpacks, assorted miscellany of every sort. It’s time to clean this trash up and so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that is turned in each contest period!
Mad Splatter Tea Party: One Sunday of each month, Lily Byrd hosts a tea party in her back garden at her home in Jade Valley. There are drinks and eats, there is sometimes music, there are often party games with prizes, and sometimes they just sit and talk about life in Novia. All are welcome to join but this is a role playing event tea party: please come as your avatar!

Community Calendars:

Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
NBNN Calendar: This calendar provides a great schedule for NBNN and WRFB programing as well as many other community events. If you’re a fan of the Laz & Jack show or even if you’re hoping to catch them in action for the first time, this is the calendar for you!

Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!

One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.

So many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Project to Support: Avatar Relics

Community member Shawn Butts has opened a Shroud of the Avatar merchandise store with Catnip Games’ approval. Visit for pins, mugs, shirts, posters, and more here.

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 Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts books! 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: Embers Adrift!

Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Embers Adrift! Check out their official trailer here.

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

10/03/2023 07:34 PM

We have gotten reports in the last 24 hours that people creating new accounts using Microsoft or Google based email addresses are unable to complete the registration process.

The issue is that the confirmation email that provides a link to create the account password is not being received by the new player. So far we have noted outlook.com (hotmail) and google.com email addresses being impacted.

We had just completed a move of our website from a cloud based solution to a dedicated data...

[RESOLVED] New Account Email Confirmations are not being received [RESOLVED]

View the full article

10/01/2023 05:00 AM

The new login rewards should be delivered on your next login to the game. Enjoy!

View the full article

09/27/2023 09:06 PM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 118 goes live September 28th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 118 (R118), we offer an improved shopping experience, but not in Jotungrund.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have...

Play Release 118!

View the full article

09/27/2023 09:00 PM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 118 goes live September 28th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 118 (R118), we offer an improved shopping experience, but not in Jotungrund.

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 Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

News Announcements

Community Updates

Support Breast Cancer Research with New Make a Difference Items

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and, going live October 1st, our Make a Difference Store is having a few items added to its breast cancer charity section. Catnip Games donates 20% of the net purchase price of items in this section to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Starting on the first of the month, a Pink Fireflies 3-Pack will be added!

October 1st also heralds the return of the Pink Katana, which was removed from the in-game store when the Make a Difference store relaunched; a new Pink Katana Pattern 6-Pack has been created to go with it.

Our own reminder, as the month is about awareness, not just donations: despite all the pink, breast cancer is not ONLY a woman’s disease. Men have vestigial breast tissue and can develop cancer as well. It’s rare, but they tend to have worse outcomes because it’s not something they are routinely screened for and so it’s generally caught later in the disease process. If you’re a man who’s noticed any odd changes to your chest, please don’t ignore them!

Improvements to the Vendor Listings in Zone Window

The Vendor Listings in Zone window has seen some performance and usage improvements from DevilCult this month:

The window will no longer be destroyed when closing it; it will now just be hidden. A message will appear in chat upon opening the list informing you that you may close the window and let it load in background. While the list continues loading, it might still affect the game a little depending on how many vendors and items are being loaded. Once the list finishes loading, another chat message will appear showing the number of items loaded and the number of vendors in the town, letting you know that it’s ready for use.

Data caching for the vendors (though not the listed items) has been added: when leaving a town and then returning within an hour, that list will still be downloaded but will need to repopulate the items, which can still take some time.

The scroll bar will now resize correctly with the window. Finally, the dark ‘loading’ overlay has been enlarged so players can’t click the columns to sort or the refresh button until the whole list is loaded, which was delaying its completion.

We hope these changes help you search for that rare conversation piece or deadly dagger!

A New Helm in the Jotungrund Ice Crevasse

Some far-ranging members of the Ice Bear clan that inhabit the ice crevasse in Jotungrund have noticed the fierce giant occassionally found far to their south and have decided that he’s a stylish dude. They’ve been making helms to mimic his iconic headgear and you can get one too! They even have patterns, should you have the skill for it. As these barbarians refuse to put their wares for sale on vendors despite the recent UI improvements, may we suggest violence?

Release 118 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 118 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R118 is a polish month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R119 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 118!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

Slightly enhanced the effects “glow” that the bronze, silver, and gold Courage Club commemorative coins have. SOTA-71682
Linked a new open book icon to the existing books that display as open. SOTA-71662
The Heavy Halberd now has the correct deco appearance and a new icon that matches. SOTA-71554
Sound effects from the Arx Draconis Dragon Statue should no longer play when entering the scene from distant locations. SOTA-70317
Floating Barrels now always give alcohol items and also have a chance for a single copy of a random wax cylinder. SOTA-70403
Allowed placement of (small!) items on the three pledge plaques.
Fixed several item icons with distorted proportions. SOTA-71685
Garbage Bin: Another try to stop the question marks in the mouseover name.

Combat & Skill Changes:

Frog Goliaths will now give experience when skinned. SOTA-71598

User Interface, Store Information, Inky, & Lua Changes:

In Options > Controls, renamed Deco Flip to Mirror Flip Decoration (which has default key N.)
Many minor store description fixes. SOTA-70170, SOTA-70172

World and Quest Changes:

Plains Encounter: Moved a floating garlic node to the ground. SOTA-71698
Aerie, Ardoris, Central Brittany, Etceter, Resolute, and Soltown: Adjusted or removed schedules from some NPCs (primarily merchants). If there are still quests blocked by a town NPC’s day/night schedule, please report them! SOTA-71690
Aerie and Xenos: Corrected misspellings of Boreas and other typos in multiple conversations. SOTA-71606
Spindelskog, Ulfheim, and Vikland: Corrected a typo in the negative-Courage monolith message. SOTA-71696
Aerie: Fixed a logic issue in Albert Lock’s keywords.
Ardoris: Improved logic in Khasi’s responses to help archive the “Speak with Khasi” task.
Blood River Forest: The west entrance now has the proper display name when entering from Novia. SOTA-71684
Blood River Outskirts: Added extra safeguard logic to reduce how often the vigilante gate guards draw avatars into their conversations. SOTA-71312
Brittany Alleys: Changed compass discovery label from “Wreck of the Dracherz” to “Wreck of the Drachherz.” SOTA-71695
Brittany Estates: Corrected a sign display name from “Equipment” to “General Store.” Added construction barricades in some buildings. SOTA-71683
The Fall: Moved a pile of floating bones to the ground. SOTA-71699
Graff Island: The wells and fountains should no longer be protected by the anti-theft system. No guards should claim their personal name as “Guard.” Fixed typos in several NPC responses. SOTA-71675, SOTA-71676, SOTA-71677
Jotungrund: Removed unused conversational responses from Frost Giant (but barks and death remarks remain.)
Jotungrund: Moved some interactables from within ice to where players can get to them.
Jotungrund: Updated some world collision. Regenerated path grid. SOTA-71672
Owl’s Head: Added a signpost teleporter next to the Town Crier. Removed the nearby “Lower Merchant Row” signpost. SOTA-71524
Port Harmony: Fixed the scale of a coil of rope that had became dramatically oversized.
Solace Bridge Outskirts: Some NPCs now advise avatars to sell their extra gear and that a bank exists in the next town.
South Varisalla Foothills: The large hanging braziers are now interactable and have improved fire and smoke effects.
This month the members of the Great New Britannian Mapping Expedition ventured into North Paladis and the surrounding area, completing maps for the following locations: Desert Encounter, Hills Siege, Grannus Colossus, Hallowed Plains, Kas Ruins, Libris Ruins, Mysterious Swamp, Paladis Shardfall, Serpent’s Spine Foothills, West Sanctus Forest, the Brave Coast, Estercove, Grumridge, Port Mirren, and Smaragar.
Discovered that the Red Sash Bandits were at it again and somehow messed with the compass of anyone who dared to try to find the entrance to the Owl’s Nest Mine. Placed an arcane dampening field which caused the map to snap back into position. SOTA-71519

Player-Owned Town Changes:

Magnolia: Added new village to Novia north of Brittany.

Latest News and Q&A September Livestream (the Second)

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, September 29th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “pink is for everyone” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team stream on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel 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 on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/shroudoftheavatarofficial and on Discord at https://discord.gg/shroudoftheavatar.

Release 118 Subscriber Login Rewards

Invite a visitor over for checkers and then scare the stuffing out of them! The Rewards Program login items for Release 118 are a Dark Gothic Dining Table and two Dark Gothic Dining Chairs, a Pale Tiki Demon Mask, and a Baby Green & Yellow Spider Pet. Don’t let the spider move the checkers.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 118 to receive these special login items.

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
- 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
- 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
- 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
- 30 Months: Keeper of Countless Devotions
- 33 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Three Corpions
- 36 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Six Serpents
- 39 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Nine Tulips
- 42 Months: Keeper of Forty-Two Roses
- 45 Months: Keeper of Forty-Five Lilies
- 48 Months: Keeper of Forty-Eight Daisies
- 51 Months: Keeper of Fifty-One Staves
- 54 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Four Daggers
- 57 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Seven Arrows
- 60 Months: Keeper of Sixty Swords
- 63 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Three Coins
- 66 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Six Gems
- 69 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Nine Jewels
- 72 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Two Goblets
- 75 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Five Rings
- 78 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Eight Amulets
Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of these 7 Obsidian Potions every month:
- 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
- Potion of Stamina: Decreases focus use from sprinting
While subscribed to the rewards program, players also receive these special bonuses:
- Obsidian Potions are significantly more powerful!
- 24 Additional Deck Slots!

October Login Reward

As the nights grow longer, there may be things about that you’ll need to deter. Each account that logs in during the month of October will receive a one-time gift of a Tiki Demon Mask!

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for today’s release:

Silver Virtuekrug
Green Electric Sword

…and for October 13th:

Dark Gothic Dining Table
Dark Gothic Dining Chair 6-Pack
Dark Gothic Dining Chair 2-Pack
Pale Tiki Demon Mask
Baby Green & Yellow Spider Pet
Pirate’s Booty Accessory (Fish Tank)
Blue Faerie Circle
Red Faerie Circle
Yellow Faerie Circle
Green Faerie Circle
Orange Faerie Circle
Purple Faerie Circle
Pearlescent Faerie Circle

The Spooky Seasonal store items are available from Friday September 29th until Monday November 6th:

List of Spooky Seasonal items:

Day of the Dead Mask
Day of the Dead Mask with Top Hat
Day of the Dead Mask with Veil
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Top Hat
Day of the Dead Colorful Mask with Veil
Day of the Dead Mask 6-Pack
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2015
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2015
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2015
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2016
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2016
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2016
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2017
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2017
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2017
Jack O’ Lantern Mask 2018
Jack O’ Lantern Glowing Mask 2018
Jack O’ Lantern 6-Pack 2018
Rotten Jack O’ Lantern Mask
Pale Scarecrown Mask
Blood Spurting Headless Mask
Ornate Scythe
Ornate Scythe Pattern Pack
Ornate Spider Legs Cloak
Spider Web Cloak
Woven Spider Web Cloak
Breathe Spiders Emote
Juggle Jack O’ Lanterns Emote
Juggle Severed Arms Emote
Juggle Severed Heads Emote
Juggle Zombie Arms Emote
Juggle Zombie Heads Emote
Puke Blood Emote
Rain Spiders Emote
Dead Tree with Spider Webs 6-Pack
Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Giant Lich Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Ornate Giant Grim Reaper Statue with Magic Portal Dungeon Entrance
Undead Specimen Vats Set
Zombie Cat
Zombie Dog
Zombie Raven

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 relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running and the volunteers (Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn) are in 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 clean up the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

Every month, a considerable amount of development time will be 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! Much improvement has been noticed by the development team and we’re so very excited to see the program’s continued success!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who take time to participate in QA Testing Directives. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs can be identified and fixed prior to content 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.

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing and bug rewards 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 and /bugspray Emote
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 Butterfly Pet (Blue)
Butterfly Mask
Dragonfly pet
Fairy Wings
Monarch Butterfly Pet
Dragonfly Wings
Hacked Oracle Crawler
Blue Butterfly VFX
Orange Fireflies VFX
Orange Butterfly VFX
Autumn Fairy Wings
Green Fireflies VFX
Landing Flies 3-pack
Blue Fireflies
Mounted Ladybug Specimen
Mounted Rhinoceros Beetle Specimen
Mounted Firebug Specimen
Mounted Diving Bug Specimen
Mounted Asian Ladybug Specimen
Swallowtail Butterfly Pet
Mounted Potato Beetle
Silver Bug Sprayer
Mounted Dung Beetle Specimen
Mounted Hissing Cockroach Specimen
Mounted Maybug Specimen
Mounted Stag Beetle Specimen
Mounted Flower Beetle Specimen

If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, sign up and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravalox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Streaming Program

Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar can participate in a program to showcase the game and be rewarded for their efforts. Any Streamer who wishes to be included in the Streaming Program can contact Laney via in-game mail 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 the LIVESTREAMING title.

Rules:

To qualify for Streaming 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 1^st day of each month, to remain in the program.

Monthly Streaming Bundles:

On the 1st of each month, qualifying streamers will be eligible to receive 50 Streaming Bundles. Bundles will be sent out to Streamers via in-game mail.

A few things you need to know:

Streaming Bundles are intended to be given away to stream viewers, not consumed by the streamer.
Streamers are not allowed to put paywalls in place for the Streaming Bundles. (For example, giving away Streaming Bundles once the stream reaches a certain number of bits, subscriptions, or donations).

Other Items of Note:

Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
An optional fan graphics kit is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
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.

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 2023 Release Schedule is as follows:

This Release 118 – September 28 (Polish)
Release 119 – October 26 (Content)
Release 120 – November 16 (Polish)
Release 121 – December 14 (Polish)

Community Events & 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.

Recurring Events:

Lightbringer Isle Auction: This newly-resumed auction will be held by Hemnu Lightbringer every Wednesday at 2000 EST / 1900 CST / 0100 BST / 2400 UTC.
The Nebula Time Trials are intended as a fun competition amongst players, but also a way for players to compare builds, playstyles, learn from one another and just generally have fun together. Each trial will consist of a challenge along the lines of “kill this mob” or “complete this quest” and while prizes will be awarded based on completion time, everyone who enters will receive something. Check this main post for links to the individual trials as they occur.
Monthly Release Fishing Contests: This will be a rotating, multi-location contest sponsored and organised by Rajazel, The Town Museum and its Governor Diablotine.
Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Introducing Trash to Treasure 2.0! Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding all of New Britannia with junk: Headdresses, Wings, Backpacks, assorted miscellany of every sort. It’s time to clean this trash up and so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that is turned in each contest period!
Mad Splatter Tea Party: One Sunday of each month, Lily Byrd hosts a tea party in her back garden at her home in Jade Valley. There are drinks and eats, there is sometimes music, there are often party games with prizes, and sometimes they just sit and talk about life in Novia. All are welcome to join but this is a role playing event tea party: please come as your avatar!

Community Calendars:

Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
NBNN Calendar: This calendar provides a great schedule for NBNN and WRFB programing as well as many other community events. If you’re a fan of the Laz & Jack show or even if you’re hoping to catch them in action for the first time, this is the calendar for you!

Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!

One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.

So many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Project to Support: Avatar Relics

Community member Shawn Butts has opened a Shroud of the Avatar merchandise store with Catnip Games’ approval. Visit for pins, mugs, shirts, posters, and more here.

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 Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts books! 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: Embers Adrift!

Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Embers Adrift! Check out their official trailer here.

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

09/22/2023 03:46 AM

Black Rose Chronicles, Chapter 16

Background music by Smartsound

Traveling up the road to Owl’s Head she determined that going on foot was getting weary. She went there to pick up a few supplies but decided to take on a new task. Not that she was an expert on riding it was time to put four feet under her opposed to her lowly two. So she headed to the stables.
There she found the stable boy Nob. He was a rather chatty fellow and seemed a bit lazy as well. Leaning against the fence post her snorted and spit on the ground. Rude. Yes, he had little manners for sure but i guess dealing with horses all day he lost some skills in dealing with people. He grinned when i approached.
“Afternoon outlander. Be lookin for a horse for your journey?’
Over time she grew tired of that term…Outlander. And she was going to see to it that he didn’t use it again.
“Mind your manner boy. I have been in these lands long enough and done more than you have seen to deserve being called more than Outlander.”
Jumping up and standing straight he changed his demeanor quickly.
“Beggin your pardon Madame. I meant no offense. I should of know’d better. Things have for sure changed around here and i should watch my tongue.”
Bella smiled and walked up to the corral fence. Look into the corral she saw a couple horses grazing on some fresh hay and just minding their own. She looked
particularly close at a nice black stallion standing off from the others. Curious she walked up the fence line to see if she could get his attention. Sure enough he walked over
to her and pushed his head up over the fence. Slowly reaching her hand out she opened her palm for him to sniff. Softly he nuzzled his nose into her palm.
Reaching into her pack she pulled out a carrot and broke it in half….holding the carrot top end in the palm of her hand she reach out to him. He snorted and then took the carrot
from her. She too took a bite from the other piece and chopped along with him. Then she handed him the rest. After he finished the second piece, he shook his head proudly and
nodded it up and down. Softly pawed at the ground as if telling her he wanted to go.
Patting him softly on the head she turned and walked back to where Nob stood.
” Amazing M’lady. That horse doesn’t take to no one. He is a mean sort for sure. But you seemed to have made an impression on him.”
Bella smiled and looked over her should and saw that the horse had followed her down the fence line.
“Well Mr. Nob. How much is this horse gonna cost me?”
“Well M’lady. Don’t rightly know. He has been here for a long spell. Seems his owner disappeared, and no one has been interested in him since he is so mean in spirit.”
Bella looked Nob up and down. She wasn’t sure how to access him. He could be trying to sell her someone else’s horse for all she knew.

“Who has been paying the stable fee for him if he has no owner then.”
“No one. I don’t stable him. He just stays out here in the corral or shelters inside the barn…..but no stall for him. Last time he broke through the wall and that took a bit to fix
up. So i just feed him and leave him be.”
” And you are for sure there is no owner?”
“Aye . I wouldn’t dare sell another man’s horse. Not wanting to end up in the Clink for such dealings. “
“Very well then. I will take him. I will need a saddle and some saddle bags. And i will pay you kindly for him”

Nob looked her up and down as if trying to decide if she was gonna be able to afford such a luxury of a horse.
“Beggin your pardon M’lady but that could be a bit expensive….mind you look a well off sort but horses aren’t cheap.”
Smiling she pulled a piece of parchment from inside her jacket and handed it to him. Nob handed it back quickly.

“Sorry M’lady but I can’t read. If you wouldn’t mind?”
Smiling softly again she read what the parchment said. It stated that she lived in Knight’s Watch and stated she had a healthy bank account with the Britannian bank.
With that info Nob smiled and gave her a price. She told him she would walk up the hill to the bank and get the gold while he readied her horse. Nob jumped up and over the fence to get busy
Whistling as he walked into the barn, he muttered to himself. Ole Nob be eating good tonight.

Echoes From the Caverns

The post Black Rose Chronicles 16 – by Belladonna Rose – Narrated by Asclepius appeared first on Echoes from the Caverns.

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09/05/2023 08:21 AM

The patch is being deployed now on the Live game server, please see the patch notes here for details.

View the full article

09/01/2023 05:55 AM

The new login rewards should be delivered on your next login to the game. Enjoy!

View the full article

08/31/2023 07:53 PM

In addition to the below sales, Double XP is in effect through September 4th!

In game Crown Store sales are 30% off
In game Deed Upgrades are 20% off
Website purchases for Crowns of the Obsidians are 20% off

View the full article

08/31/2023 12:00 AM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 117 goes live August 31st at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 117 (R117), we offer challenges and coins. En Garde!

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to...

Play Release 117!

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08/31/2023 12:00 AM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 117 goes live August 31st at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 117 (R117), we offer challenges and coins. En Garde!

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 Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

News Announcements

Community Updates

Courage Club: New Arena, New Challengers, New Rewards

Courage Club has gotten a series of improvements! Note that some of these were suggested and encouraged by players, but things got a little out of hand and we added some extra bells and whistles.

Courage Club is a secret fight club where avatars can prove their mettle by fighting several enemies, one at a time, in a small, private arena. There are Courage Clubs in Aerie, Central Brittany, Mud, Resolute, Valhold, and Westend; talk to the local guards to get a Courage Club Key and find a hatch to enter, generally near the guard offices.

After some heavy excavation, the Club has expanded its small boxy fighting pit into a bigger, rounder arena. This improved space has attracted more and tougher participants:

Previously, players would fight five enemies of random capabilities and ever-increasing threat and the last enemy was a champion with a unique name. Now, that’s Bracket 1! (You only need to complete Bracket 1 to receive the Banner of Valor. Also, completing or slinking away from Bracket 1 will now modify your virtue once a day, rather than only the first time.)

The NEXT three enemies, Bracket 2, are tougher, with a named and possibly uniquely-styled champion as the third opponent. Then there’s Bracket 3: three of the toughest competitors, with the final being a champion with a unique name AND appearance.

Remember to ransack the fallen: the defeated of Bracket 1 drop Courage Club Bronze Coins, Bracket 2 drops Courage Club Silver Coins, and Bracket 3 drops Courage Club Gold Coins. Make sure you collect them for a bonus reward! The referee will trade ten Bronze Coins, seven Silver Coins, and/or seven Gold Coins for a reward.

You can choose to trade the coins in for gold and experience once a day, as three separate daily quests, OR trade them for decorative versions of the same coins as often as you have enough: a Commemorative Courage Club Bronze Coin, Silver Coin, and Gold Coin. These coins are always slowly spinning on their edges and have a visual effect glow (but are not a light source).

(Known issue: for now, you’ll need ten each of gold and silver coins to trigger the turn-in for these commemorative coins, even though you only need to hand in seven.)

There are four new leaderboards to track these underground feats: a main one for Courage Club fight totals but also ones tracking fights against the final champions of each bracket.

Perhaps this is why the Oracle knows about Courage Club! If you participate in Courage Club and then ask the Oracle about courage, she might have some feedback on your performance. Who doesn’t like to watch a good fight? I wonder who she roots for…

Release 117 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 117 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R117 is a polish month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R118 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 117!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

Adjusted Founder Royal Elderberry Seed to prevent player from right-click destroying the seed and selling them to Merchants. SOTA-71668
Adjusted baits (excluding red worms and minnows) to prevent players from selling them to merchants. SOTA-71621
Increased container limits on chests of drawers and end tables that were too low for their size.
Enabled use of pattern removers on Heraldry Tables. SOTA-71622
Fixed faerie belts showing as enchantable when they are not. SOTA-70162
Removed the Wood and Plaster Three-Story Row Home from the in-game-gold merchant SOTA-71655
Made an icon for the Highvale bandits’ heads. SOTA-71626
Attached an existing elf icon for the Highvale Outskirts Obsidian Elf Camp Commander’s head.
Changed house names at the lotstones to match the names on deeds for the Red Barn Two-Story (Village Home), recently renamed, and for eleven other houses that had text not matching their deeds after previous changes.
Corrected spelling of eight Perennial Coast paintings. SOTA-71620
Fixed a typo in the text description of the mounted minotaur beetle.
Corrected Owlshead to Owl’s Head in dungeon piece, blueprint, and recipe names and a book pattern name.

Combat & Skill Changes:

The buffs from the store/reward and the no-trade versions of Obsidian Potions won’t be stackable anymore. The Obsidian Potion of Precision had been fixed previously to prevent excessive meticulous collection, but we feel this limit should be consistent across all of them.

User Interface, Store Information, Inky, & Lua Changes:

Added the output from /translate to its own chat tab option: Translate. Don’t forget to check this option in the cogwheel if you want to see the output in whichever tab you’re translating in!
Added caching for the leaderboards for better local performance.
Added some colors to the leaderboard on the side menu, on alternate row backgrounds, and on your avatar’s row listing.

World and Quest Changes:

NPC Towns: Updated Justicars’ responses and appearances to help present them as a pan-community order. SOTA-71635
Sieges: Fixed typos in siege scouts’ responses about how many arcane catalysts are required for their quest. SOTA-71670
Random Encounters: The Altruist pilgrim that sometimes appears after the large battle will now include Port Harmony in their listings of cities relevant to the “Talk to an Altruist Monk” task. SOTA-71634
Random Encounters: Updated the data used to direct players to a turn-in NPC for when an avatar has a bounty slip, ecology survey ticket, or prayer card. SOTA-71650
Artifice, Malice, Midras, Valhold, and Vertas: Corrected spelling of Boreas in multiple NPCs’ responses. SOTA-71606
Ardoris: Shaaria Barista now refers properly to Sequanna Square and has had small typos in her responses fixed. Updated the position of the compass marker for the Peladjar Inn. Updated the signs hanging outside the Tavern of the South Wind to display that name. SOTA-71510
Ardoris: Updated the master shields and blades trainers’ responses about themselves and each other. SOTA-71653
Blood River Massacre: Moved a dead body so it’s not clipping through a building. SOTA-71647
Blood River Outskirts: Moved a floating mushroom to a nearby rock. Regenerated the path grid. SOTA-71623
Blood River Outskirts: Corrected the spelling of “Blood River” in multiple journal entries, NPC responses, and compass marker discoveries.
Blood River Outskirts: Fixed typos in responses from the Hermit in the tree at the elf camp and Gus the automaton. SOTA-71665
Blood River Outskirts: Fixed several typos in the various warrants and manifestos acquired in this scene. SOTA-71652
Broochash: Shrunk Umberjack’s wander radius to keep him from walking too far from his “home” on the dock. Added some crates and a lantern near Umberjack. Regenerated the path grid. SOTA-71627
Brookside: Fixed a typo in the compass marker for the cemetery. SOTA-71651
Brookside: Samael will no longer perform the “squat” emote.
Castle Atos: Fixed a typo in Oliver’s “job” response. SOTA-71664
Castle Atos: Added a dev switch for a crowd control barrier at the castle steps.
Despair: Removed loot meant to be exclusive to the Fall from all enemies in this scene. SOTA-71654
Estgard: Fixed several stuck spots at the cenote. A wayward Valhold guard outside the west gate has been replaced by a local guard. Added a blacksmithing station in the smithy. Added a compass marker discovery at the bank. Removed collision from some yellow banners that sometimes blocked player movement. SOTA-71637, SOTA-71638, SOTA-71636
Grusk: Reduced the range of thunder sound effects near the lighthouse to stop them from triggering each time a player took the boat to the lighthouse. SOTA-71624
Middle Downs: Improved the interaction collision used by a sturdy vine in a trap. SOTA-71663
Myrkur: Removed loot meant to be exclusive to the Fall from all enemies in this scene. SOTA-71654
Owl’s Head: Added a signpost teleporter by the west entrance. SOTA-71524
Port Harmony: Players should now be able to create guilds with Romina the guild registrar. SOTA-71642
Port Harmony: Fixed typos in Zouch’s “lie down” and Corbyn Sallow’s “job” responses. SOTA-71633, SOTA-71628
The Rise: The “Boss Lich Room” blueprints and recipes can now only be found in the Rise. Local lich Elrin Nayer is the primary source for these items, but avatars also have a much lower chance to loot them from several high-threat Obsidian Elves elsewhere in the scene. SOTA-71658
Ruined Keep: Increased the leash ranges for the patrolling trolls that sometimes spawn by the bridge. SOTA-71641
Shaminian Hills: Adjusted collision for some of the ruins sections.
Solania Catacombs: The exit volume to Spectral Mines once again works properly. SOTA-71649
South Boundless Forest: Changed two 1-way climbable roots to 2-way climbable roots. Regenerated the path grid. SOTA-71639
South Fetid Swamp: Slightly moved a book next to a skeleton so it can be grabbed. SOTA-71646
Upper Fortus: Added some rocks at the top of a waterfall so players don’t see the edge of the waterfall collider. SOTA-71640
Vikland: Fixed typos in rumors shared by residents and merchants. Liva will now share her name when asked. Added some props next to the groceries merchant. Fixed Erling’s “crystal” response so he doesn’t say he gave you a yellow crystal. SOTA-71630, SOTA-71632, SOTA-71631, SOTA-70987

Player-Owned Town Changes:

Desert POT Templates: Corrected many floating palm trees.
Avallon: Added loading background image and loading message.
Dark Bayou: Moved island to Norgard area east of Norgard Fens.
Umbra: Replaced Umbra Regnum with a new Tropical Island near Soltown on Novia.

Latest News and Q&A September Livestream (the First)

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, September 1st at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “autumn relieves” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team stream on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel 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 on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/shroudoftheavatarofficial and on Discord at https://discord.gg/shroudoftheavatar.

Sales and Bonus Events

To commemorate Labor Day, until end-of-day September 4th:

XP will be doubled.

Crown Store sales will be 30% off.

Deed Upgrades will be 20% off

Crowns of the Obsidians will be 20% off.

Release 117 Subscriber Login Rewards

I’m not evil. Why do all my houseguests think I’m evil? The Rewards Program login items for Release 117 are a Dark Gothic Chest of Drawers, Heavy Chair, and Footstool.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 117 to receive these special login items.

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
- 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
- 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
- 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
- 30 Months: Keeper of Countless Devotions
- 33 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Three Corpions
- 36 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Six Serpents
- 39 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Nine Tulips
- 42 Months: Keeper of Forty-Two Roses
- 45 Months: Keeper of Forty-Five Lilies
- 48 Months: Keeper of Forty-Eight Daisies
- 51 Months: Keeper of Fifty-One Staves
- 54 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Four Daggers
- 57 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Seven Arrows
- 60 Months: Keeper of Sixty Swords
- 63 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Three Coins
- 66 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Six Gems
- 69 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Nine Jewels
- 72 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Two Goblets
- 75 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Five Rings
- 78 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Eight Amulets
Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of these 7 Obsidian Potions every month:
- 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
- Potion of Stamina: Decreases focus use from sprinting
While subscribed to the rewards program, players also receive these special bonuses:
- Obsidian Potions are significantly more powerful!
- 24 Additional Deck Slots!

September Login Reward

Just the size for an un-poisoned cup of tea: each account that logs in during the month of September will receive a one-time gift of a Dark Gothic Side Table!

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for September 1st:

Dark Gothic Side Table

…and for September 15th:

Dark Gothic Chest of Drawers
Dark Gothic Console
Dark Gothic Heavy Chair 6-Pack

The Summer Seasonal store items will be available until Monday September 25th:

List of Summer Seasonal items:

Firedancer Outfit
Fire Dance Emote
Fire Dance Cross Emote
Flame Scimitar
Flame Shield
Flame Stained Glass Table Lamp 3-Pack
Flaming Bagpipes
Hula Emote
Island Spear
Island Flower Crown
Island Dress

Bug Brigade’s 3rd Anniversary Party

Please join us for a party celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the new Bug Brigade, hosted by the Bug Moderators Ravalox, Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn! The party will start Saturday the 23rd at 4PM NBT on the Bug Brigade’s Houseboat at its new location in Brekken Bay off Hunters’ Island, where there’s more open space for… guests of unusual size, indicated in the image on the right. Justyn will be spinning tunes on WRFB while the party-goers dance, play party games, and more! You never know what might happen!

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 relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running and the volunteers (Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn) are in 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 clean up the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

Every month, a considerable amount of development time will be 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! Much improvement has been noticed by the development team and we’re so very excited to see the program’s continued success!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who take time to participate in QA Testing Directives. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs can be identified and fixed prior to content 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.

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing and bug rewards 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 and /bugspray Emote
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 Butterfly Pet (Blue)
Butterfly Mask
Dragonfly pet
Fairy Wings
Monarch Butterfly Pet
Dragonfly Wings
Hacked Oracle Crawler
Blue Butterfly VFX
Orange Fireflies VFX
Orange Butterfly VFX
Autumn Fairy Wings
Green Fireflies VFX
Landing Flies 3-pack
Blue Fireflies
Mounted Ladybug Specimen
Mounted Rhinoceros Beetle Specimen
Mounted Firebug Specimen
Mounted Diving Bug Specimen
Mounted Asian Ladybug Specimen
Swallowtail Butterfly Pet
Mounted Potato Beetle
Silver Bug Sprayer
Mounted Dung Beetle Specimen
Mounted Hissing Cockroach Specimen
Mounted Maybug Specimen
Mounted Stag Beetle Specimen
Mounted Flower Beetle Specimen

If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, sign up and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravalox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Streaming Program

Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar can participate in a program to showcase the game and be rewarded for their efforts. Any Streamer who wishes to be included in the Streaming Program can contact Laney via in-game mail 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 the LIVESTREAMING title.

Rules:

To qualify for Streaming 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 1^st day of each month, to remain in the program.

Monthly Streaming Bundles:

On the 1st of each month, qualifying streamers will be eligible to receive 50 Streaming Bundles. Bundles will be sent out to Streamers via in-game mail.

A few things you need to know:

Streaming Bundles are intended to be given away to stream viewers, not consumed by the streamer.
Streamers are not allowed to put paywalls in place for the Streaming Bundles. (For example, giving away Streaming Bundles once the stream reaches a certain number of bits, subscriptions, or donations).

Other Items of Note:

Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
An optional fan graphics kit is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
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.

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 2023 Release Schedule is as follows:

This Release 117 – August 31 (Polish)
Release 118 – September 28 (Polish)
Release 119 – October 26 (Content)
Release 120 – November 16 (Polish)
Release 121 – December 14 (Polish)

Community Events & 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.

Recurring Events:

Lightbringer Isle Auction: This newly-resumed auction will be held by Hemnu Lightbringer every Wednesday at 2000 EST / 1900 CST / 0100 BST / 2400 UTC.
The Nebula Time Trials are intended as a fun competition amongst players, but also a way for players to compare builds, playstyles, learn from one another and just generally have fun together. Each trial will consist of a challenge along the lines of “kill this mob” or “complete this quest” and while prizes will be awarded based on completion time, everyone who enters will receive something. Check this main post for links to the individual trials as they occur.
Monthly Release Fishing Contests: This will be a rotating, multi-location contest sponsored and organised by Rajazel, The Town Museum and its Governor Diablotine.
Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Introducing Trash to Treasure 2.0! Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding all of New Britannia with junk: Headdresses, Wings, Backpacks, assorted miscellany of every sort. It’s time to clean this trash up and so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that is turned in each contest period!
500 Crown Leisurely Fishing: Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. You can now win 500 Crowns for record fishies caught in Brittany Fort by anybody at any time in history for display in Sonja Solar’s fishy aquarium museum. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “Brittany Fort” link provided in the first post to see the full explanation of the contest rules.

Community Calendars:

Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
NBNN Calendar: This calendar provides a great schedule for NBNN and WRFB programing as well as many other community events. If you’re a fan of the Laz & Jack show or even if you’re hoping to catch them in action for the first time, this is the calendar for you!

Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!

One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.

So many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Project to Support: Avatar Relics

Community member Shawn Butts has opened a Shroud of the Avatar merchandise store with Catnip Games’ approval. Visit for pins, mugs, shirts, posters, and more here.

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 Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts books! 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: Embers Adrift!

Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Embers Adrift! Check out their official trailer here.

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

08/23/2023 03:16 PM

Please see the testing Directive post here:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/testing-directive-courage-club-2-0.174877/

Use the Player Test Environment Feedback area to post input on the changes; we want to hear from you!

View the full article

08/05/2023 04:42 AM

This patch addresses issues in the Port Harmony Cistern, as well as a bunch of other fixes. Please see the details here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=32989

View the full article

08/01/2023 09:27 AM

You may see an "Instance Closing" message during deployment, this is expected. After the rewards are deployed, you should be able to claim your reward the next time you login to the game.

View the full article

07/27/2023 03:05 AM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 116 goes live July 27th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 116 (R116), we offer intruders that are not supposed to be in the water and animals that are.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community...

Play Release 116!

View the full article

07/27/2023 03:00 AM

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Release 116 goes live July 27th at 10:30 AM CDT.

Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 116 (R116), we offer intruders that are not supposed to be in the water and animals that are.

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 Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.

News Announcements

Community Updates

Something is Amok in Port Harmony Cistern!

Port Harmony’s underground cistern is at the heart of the Port Harmony water system. There are numerous pipes that run underground and all of them intersect within the cistern. It filters debris from their water, distributes clean water to certain locations, manages waste, and can even convert salt to fresh water. Its functions are a combination of small miracles! Lately, though, the water pressure has not been at the expected strength.

As the city’s Watersmith, Annora Jenkins maintains the canals and water management systems. If you’ve already completed all the tasks in Port Harmony that Jenkins needs help with, she will send you into the cistern to do repairs and find the cause of the low pressure. It might be sabotage! Who would do such a terrible thing?

New Creatures Spotted in Swampy Areas!

The warm spring has awakened some unusual creatures in East Sanctus Forest, East Veiled Swamp, Midras Ruins, and Tanglemire. The smallest of them seem harmless enough, but the larger ones are quite territorial!

From all reports, most frogs are green, but a few sightings of Red Poison Dart Frogs and Brown or Pale Frog Goliaths have been confirmed. It is even rumored that there are Blue Poison Dart Frogs, but that has not been verified as of this writing. Perhaps some ~~hapless wanderer~~ intrepid adventurer will ~~stumble across~~ track them down them in the coming months.

The tamers of New Britannia have managed to break Poison Dart Frogs to their will, but Frog Goliaths seem to be just too stubborn. Fortunately the chefs of New Britannia have stepped up and made alternate plans for them: general merchants in Tanglemire and Solania and a wandering merchant in Mistrendur now sell a recipe for fried frog legs.

At this rate, they’ll invade more wet areas soon! Perhaps someone should start a Cult of Anura just in case… not the chefs, though.

Release 116 Patch Notes

Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 116 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! R116 is a content month. Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R117 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 116!

Crafting, Decoration, Gear, & Inventory Item Changes:

Graveyard caretakers that are also merchants (which now includes the Port Harmony caretaker) now sell Explorer’s Shovels. These are currently equipable as (weak) bludgeons and will be expanded upon in the future.
Added decorative plants from agriculture and water lilies from loot to the “Plants” crafting category which is used in recipes for hedge maze pieces, garlands, and wreaths. SOTA-71495
Made the deco scaling range on all numbers and runic letters larger to be consistent with the block letters that were expanded previously. Thanks, Owsley!
Added the ability to use pattern removers on all the light armor bandit, riding, and taming artifacts. SOTA-70047, SOTA-70255
Heavy Two-handed Axe Blades can now be used to craft axes. SOTA-70073
Adjusted the “Fish Fillet” crafting category to include all (and only) the common fish: added barramundi and removed pacu. SOTA-70904

World and Quest Changes:

Pumpkinhead arose to terrorize Drachvald on July 16th and won’t go to his rest until mid-November.
All master trainers now can inform the Avatar about the location of the other master trainers and they also have proper unique responses when told their own names. SOTA-71506
Plains and Snowy Tundra Random Encounters: To help distribute underrepresented wyvern colors, Plains Encounters with wyverns will now have red, green (replacing purple), yellow (replacing orange), and black (replacing white) versions. Snowy Tundra Encounters with wyverns will now have blue (replacing red), purple, orange, and white versions. Thanks, Ceal Astra! SOTA-71527
Hidden Vale: Added a compass marker for Mysterious Swamp and updated the one for South Ravenswood. SOTA-71531, SOTA-71532
Aerie: Lord Macsen now asks for the Avatar’s name using the same logic as other NPCs. SOTA-71546
Ardoris: Regenerated conversation files for Shaaria Barista. SOTA-71510
Ardoris: Corrected the color of some seaside ladders to red.
Ardoris: Fixed various typos in several NPC conversations. SOTA-71510, SOTA-71509, SOTA-71508, SOTA-71511, SOTA-71512, SOTA-71513
Blackblade Foothills: Set this scene to “Respawn at Spawn Point” when re-entering it. SOTA-71544
Broken Echoes Silver Mine: Adjusted the invisible collision that blocks players from going outside the playspace. SOTA-71545
Castle Atos: The town crier now gives his name as Caspian. SOTA-71516
Celestis: Reduced the collision for the shield on the coat of arms wall decoration. SOTA-71547
Central Brittany: Fixed a bed in the castle that was inaccessible. SOTA-71523
Crooked Shank: The river water is now deep enough to swim and fish within.
Crooked Shank: Fixed a typo in Stan’s responses.
Crooked Shank: Fixed collision on a handful of trees.
Crypt of the Avatar: Replaced a missing wall near the start of the scene. SOTA-71522
Etceter: The Avatar will now remember vegetable merchant Rowan Norfolk’s personal name. SOTA-71502
Ferig’s Battle Camp: Fixed several incorrectly-sized ore nodes. SOTA-71504
K’rul: Moved two Oracle Watchers away from the lava. Rebaked the path grid. SOTA-71549
Highvale: The default exit should now display as “South Entrance” when entering from Novia. SOTA-71468
Highvale Outskirts: Marissa now correctly gives the player all the items back as part of her gathering quest reward and gives a reasonable excuse for doing so. SOTA-71540
Highvale Outskirts: Inserted a task for Burnes’s quest to defeat the Obsidian Elf Commander that appears when you collect commander’s head, which directs you to deliver it to Burnes. SOTA-71529
Highvale Outskirts: Fixed an issue where players would sometimes not memorize Montgomery the hermit’s name. SOTA-71530
Kiln: Added props to the reagents merchant area. SOTA-71533
Kingsport: Adjusted sea mist locations slightly. SOTA-71518
Kingsport: Fixed typos and grammar in responses for guild registrar, old female shopper, and Jeremy the tailor supplies merchant. SOTA-71514, SOTA-71515, SOTA-71520
Owl’s Head: Added teleporter signs to several locations. SOTA-71524
Owl’s Head: A cabinet with awkward interaction has been improved. SOTA-71517
Port Harmony: Selleck has taken off hunting treasure for a bit. We’re sure he’ll have some fascinating things to tell us when he returns.
Port Harmony: Corrected the reponse that Jenkins the watersmith gives for her own name. Fixed a logic issue in the responses for the news hawkers when trying to praise them.
Port Harmony: Jeremiah the produce merchant now also sells lemons.
Port Harmony: Fixed a typo in Peregrine’s conversation. SOTA-71528
Port Harmony Cistern: Fixed spawn-in targets. Improved cavern terrain. Fixed collision on exit ladder. Adjusted water-soaked torches. Fixed typos in a letter. Added tooltip to water purication consoles. Adjusted quest logic in Jenkins’ responses.
Shores of Malice: Added lights next to Charon and Yama. Players can now destroy their Malice Far Gate key and reacquire one from Yama. Improved the logic that archives the “Learn How to Enter Malice” task. SOTA-71437
Solace Bridge Outskirts: Updated a few responses for Ackerley the Alchemist. SOTA-71503
Soltown: Corrected typos in two guards’ responses. Updated Emily’s “red cloth” response. SOTA-71505
Sunless Barrens: Removed grass from an inappropriate location. Added a waypoint path for some NPCs.
Tenebris Harbor: Removed plants from and slightly reshaped a cliffside. SOTA-71548
Ulfheim: The grand hall door will now display magical barrier effects the first and every time it closes. SOTA-65669
Vikland: Oski the bard trainer has moved from the Ruins of Utheim and now lives within the village of Vikland. SOTA-71506
Westend: Corrected the “read/write” settings for several walls and signs to ensure their collision is always enabled. SOTA-70896
Created map for the Crags. SOTA-58040
Created map for North Quel Way.
Created map for Quel Shardfall.
Created map for Sawtooth Thicket.
Created map for South Quel Woods.
Adjusted alignment for Brittany Alleys map.
Added map card for the Jack of Diamonds.
The next region for mapping is Verdantis.

Player-Owned Town Changes:

Avallon: Upgraded to Town.
Chiron Beta Prime: Upgraded to Village.
Dark Caverns: Added new Village southwest of Estgard in Novia. (in an imminent patch)
M’hul Island: Upgraded to City.

Website Changes:

We have removed the Twitter widgets from our webpage due to Twitter’s recent changes causing the website embed functionality to cease working as expected. Tweets cross-posted in Discord are partially working at this time. We are considering dropping Twitter as a communication channel and will post more information info on this in the official forums when updates are available.

Latest News and Q&A July Livestream

The post-release Community Livestream is Friday, July 28th at 4PM CT on Twitch! Join Stephen “Ravalox” Reinen and other members of the development team for a 1-hour community livestream!

To enter the prize drawings, type “leap frog” into any in-game chat channel OR make a purchase on the website Add-On Store.

Please submit questions using in-game universal chat by typing “askadev” before your question. We’ll do our best to answer these questions live on the stream. Watch on Twitch, Friday at 4PM CT!

Members of the Shroud of the Avatar development team stream on twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar — be sure to get the channel 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 on
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/shroudoftheavatarofficial and on Discord at https://discord.gg/shroudoftheavatar.

Release 116 Subscriber Login Rewards

In the hottest days of summer, don’t be afraid of the dark. The Rewards Program login items for Release 116 are a Dark Gothic Cabinet, Console, and Serving Table.

Subscribers to the Rewards Program must log in during Release 116 to receive these special login items.

The Shroud of the Avatar Rewards Program lets you earn the best rate on purchasing Crowns, AND receive monthly reward items! For the low price of $9 USD per month you will receive the following:

900 Crowns of the Obsidians every month
Monthly Login Reward Items (about 3 per month)
Exclusive Title every 3 months
- 3 Months: Keeper of the Faith
- 6 Months: Keeper of the Word
- 9 Months: Keeper of the Vow
- 12 Months: Keeper of the Flame
- 15 Months: Keeper of the Oath
- 18 Months: Keeper of the Pledge
- 21 Months: Keeper of the Bond
- 24 Months: Keeper of the Promise
- 27 Months: Keeper of the Covenant
- 30 Months: Keeper of Countless Devotions
- 33 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Three Corpions
- 36 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Six Serpents
- 39 Months: Keeper of Thirty-Nine Tulips
- 42 Months: Keeper of Forty-Two Roses
- 45 Months: Keeper of Forty-Five Lilies
- 48 Months: Keeper of Forty-Eight Daisies
- 51 Months: Keeper of Fifty-One Staves
- 54 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Four Daggers
- 57 Months: Keeper of Fifty-Seven Arrows
- 60 Months: Keeper of Sixty Swords
- 63 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Three Coins
- 66 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Six Gems
- 69 Months: Keeper of Sixty-Nine Jewels
- 72 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Two Goblets
- 75 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Five Rings
- 78 Months: Keeper of Seventy-Eight Amulets
Pick any Dye 12-Pack every 6 months
Pick any three of these 7 Obsidian Potions every month:
- 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
- Potion of Stamina: Decreases focus use from sprinting
While subscribed to the rewards program, players also receive these special bonuses:
- Obsidian Potions are significantly more powerful!
- 24 Additional Deck Slots!

August Login Reward

Give your valuables some contrast and some perspective: each account that logs in during the month of August will receive a one-time gift of a Dark Gothic Pedestal!

Crown Store Updates

New in the crown store for August 1st:

Dark Gothic Pedestal

…and for August 11th:

Dark Gothic Cabinet
Dark Gothic Console
Dark Gothic Serving Table

The Lord British store items will be available until Friday August 4th:

List of Lord British items:

2014 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2016 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2017 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2018 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2019 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2020 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2021 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2022 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
2023 Lord British Replenishing Birthday Cake
Lord British Basement Entrance Eternal Pattern
Lord British Cloak
Lord British Fur Collared Cloak
Lord British Moondial
Lord British Pavers
Lord British Round Table
Lord British Salute Emote
Lord British Shield
Lord British Shield Pattern Pack

The Summer Seasonal store items will be available until Monday September 25th:

List of Summer Seasonal items:

Firedancer Outfit
Fire Dance Emote
Fire Dance Cross Emote
Flame Scimitar
Flame Shield
Flame Stained Glass Table Lamp 3-Pack
Flaming Bagpipes
Hula Emote
Island Spear
Island Flower Crown
Island Dress

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 relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running and the volunteers (Alley Oop, Echondas, Flair Minamoto, and Justyn) are in 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 clean up the backlog of bug reports posted by players on the forums.

Every month, a considerable amount of development time will be 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! Much improvement has been noticed by the development team and we’re so very excited to see the program’s continued success!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who take time to participate in QA Testing Directives. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs can be identified and fixed prior to content 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.

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing and bug rewards 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 and /bugspray Emote
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 Butterfly Pet (Blue)
Butterfly Mask
Dragonfly pet
Fairy Wings
Monarch Butterfly Pet
Dragonfly Wings
Hacked Oracle Crawler
Blue Butterfly VFX
Orange Fireflies VFX
Orange Butterfly VFX
Autumn Fairy Wings
Green Fireflies VFX
Landing Flies 3-pack
Blue Fireflies
Mounted Ladybug Specimen
Mounted Rhinoceros Beetle Specimen
Mounted Firebug Specimen
Mounted Diving Bug Specimen
Mounted Asian Ladybug Specimen
Swallowtail Butterfly Pet
Mounted Potato Beetle
Silver Bug Sprayer
Mounted Dung Beetle Specimen
Mounted Hissing Cockroach Specimen
Mounted Maybug Specimen
Mounted Stag Beetle Specimen
Mounted Flower Beetle Specimen

If you’ve come to think of Shroud of the Avatar as your home, sign up and help make New Britannia a better place to live! To learn more about joining the Bug Brigade, please read the announcement thread by Ravalox in the main Bug/Feedback forums.

Streaming Program

Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar can participate in a program to showcase the game and be rewarded for their efforts. Any Streamer who wishes to be included in the Streaming Program can contact Laney via in-game mail 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 the LIVESTREAMING title.

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 1^st day of each month, to remain in the program.

Monthly Streaming Bundles:

On the 1st of each month, qualifying streamers will be eligible to receive 50 Streaming Bundles. Bundles will be sent out to Streamers via in-game mail.

A few things you need to know:

Streaming Bundles are intended to be given away to stream viewers, not consumed by the streamer.
Streamers are not allowed to put paywalls in place for the Streaming Bundles. (For example, giving away Streaming Bundles once the stream reaches a certain number of bits, subscriptions, or donations).

Other Items of Note:

Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
An optional fan graphics kit is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.
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.

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 2023 Release Schedule is as follows:

This Release 116 – July 27 (Content)
Release 117 – August 31 (Polish)
Release 118 – September 28 (Polish)
Release 119 – October 26 (Content)
Release 120 – November 16 (Polish)
Release 121 – December 14 (Polish)

Community Events & 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.

Recurring Events:

Monthly Release Fishing Contests: This will be a rotating, multi-location contest sponsored and organised by Rajazel, The Town Museum and its Governor Diablotine.
Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Introducing Trash to Treasure 2.0! Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding all of New Britannia with junk: Headdresses, Wings, Backpacks, assorted miscellany of every sort. It’s time to clean this trash up and so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that is turned in each contest period!
500 Crown Leisurely Fishing: Sonja Solar and friends are running a continuous fishing contest in Brittany Fort “Now and Forever for All Eternity” which has wonderful prizes and objectives. You can now win 500 Crowns for record fishies caught in Brittany Fort by anybody at any time in history for display in Sonja Solar’s fishy aquarium museum. Be sure to watch the video indicated in the “Brittany Fort” link provided in the first post to see the full explanation of the contest rules.

Community Calendars:

Avatars-Virtue Radio Calendar: Just when are all those talented DJ’s and streamers broadcasting? Don’t just guess, check out there very helpful calendar! Never again will you wonder when’s the best time to tune in!
NBNN Calendar: This calendar provides a great schedule for NBNN and WRFB programing as well as many other community events. If you’re a fan of the Laz & Jack show or even if you’re hoping to catch them in action for the first time, this is the calendar for you!

Community Event Resources: Here are some fantastic resources for tracking down community events or posting your own events. Become involved! Create! Explore! Make friends! But most of all, have fun!

One-Time Community Events Forum: Sometimes events happen only a single time, so you’ll not want to miss out on these events as they occur. Check out the forums routinely to spot these!
Recurring Community Events Forum: Some events occur on weekly or monthly schedules which are a great way to routinely meet up with friends and to make new ones. Be sure to check this forum frequently for new events or time changes to existing ones.
Player Event Trophies and Special Item Requests: Would you like to request a special trophy or renamed item for a player event you’ve created? Head on over to this thread to see what’s available and to obtain more information about request procedures.
Player Radio Station Forum: If you want to check out the latest and greatest from our in-game radio stations, go to the radio stations forum! If you’re a DJ, be sure to advertise your time slot and venue in this forum.
Player Livestreams & Videos Forum: If you’re searching for a Shroud Streamer to watch, head on over to the streamer forum! If you are a live streamer for Shroud of the Avatar, be sure to advertise your Shroud stream by posting in this forum.
Town Directory Forum: Want to find a town to live in or get your town listed in the directory, head over to the forums and check it out!
Guild Directory Forum: Looking for a guild or want to get yours posted in the guild directory? Head on over to the forums and check it out!
Fire Lotus Tavern: This wondrous role-playing and story writing forum is the spot to be if you love fan fiction and role-play.
Community Resources: Looking for links to community and official resources for Shroud of the Avatar? Well look no further. On this page you’ll find links to a plethora of helpful resources created by the dev team or the community.

So many options to stay tuned-in with fellow community members. Please take advantage of all these wonderful options. Happy adventures, Avatars!

Project to Support: Avatar Relics

Community member Shawn Butts has opened a Shroud of the Avatar merchandise store with Catnip Games’ approval. Visit for pins, mugs, shirts, posters, and more here.

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 Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts books! 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: Embers Adrift!

Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Embers Adrift! They officially launched September 30. Check out their official trailer here.

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.

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07/19/2023 07:51 AM

Our data center has begun intrusive upgrade work without giving us appropriate warning. As per support, the work will be between 2am and 4am CT. I have no indication from them if the intrusion will be intermittent or throughout.

The impact is to the network connectivity only. The game and support servers are still operational.

The forums and website are not impacted as they are not located in the same datacenter.

I have asked them to send out an email to the clients and will be...

SotA servers are being impacted by Upgrade work in the Data Center

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07/15/2023 03:05 AM

Our data center has advised that they are doing work on some of the routers that may cause some packet loss during their work window. The window has started (10pm CT) and is expected to be complete by 6AM CT.

They have indicated that the work should have not greater impact than some occasional packet loss. This should not impact game play.

I will send out an update if the work becomes more visible.

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Posts posted by Jack T. Lamplighter

Find a Treasure Map and Set Off for Adventure

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Build Diverse Neighborhoods with New Row Markers

Release 119 Patch Notes

Support Breast Cancer Research with New Make a Difference Items

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Release 118 Patch Notes

Black Rose Chronicles, Chapter 16

Courage Club: New Arena, New Challengers, New Rewards

Release 117 Patch Notes

Bug Brigade’s 3rd Anniversary Party

Something is Amok in Port Harmony Cistern!

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Release 116 Patch Notes