Play Release 98 Now!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

The Catnip Games development team now brings the players of Shroud of the Avatar another round of new content and improvements. For Release 98 (R98), our primary focus was bugs but we did manage to sneak in a number of new game elements! First off, more large cats (black panthers, jaguars, snow tigers) have been added, most of which can be tamed! Players will find these new creatures scattered through many scenes throughout New Britannia! Also, a entirely new category of powerful but fragile artifact has started to appear in some scenes.

For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Players Guide and Known Issues list for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes. Now, let’s see what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:


Release 98 Patch Notes!

Below is a list of game changes and new content that are live as of Release 98 (R98). A handful of combat balance changes and other fixes will be patched in within the next week before moving on to our February release

  • More big cats have finally made their appearance in Novia: Jaguars, Black Panther, and Snow Tigers
    • With the exception of the very rare, very powerful version of each species, all big cats can be tamed!
    • Jaguars and Black Panthers have chances to spawn in:
      • Forest road encounter in Novia, Hidden Vale, and Mistrendur
      • Ravensmoor
      • Verdantis Shardfall
      • Norgard Fens
      • Sawtooth Thicket
    • Snow Tigers have a chance to spawn in:
      • Snowy Tundra encounters in Novia and Mistrendur
      • Jotungrund
  • Added a randomize button to the character creation screen.
  • Added a street light to Righ Inis on the overworld map to make it easier to find.
  • Added big cat trophy heads and rugs
  • Added Lua function ShroudPlayerGold to get current gold amount of the player.
  • Added pristine to the new big cat head component
  • Added ShroudOnPlaySound which will catch Lua and UI sound name and also ShroudStopUISound() which is used with the first function to stop a sound from
  • Being played in the UI channel right when its being played.
  • Added ShroudSceneMusic(active) lua function to stop or re-enable back the scene music.
  • Adjusted and added missing deco surfaces for the Lord of the Isle Aquarium dungeon room. SOTA-70104
  • Aerie: Fixed an issue where the “Find Another Blacksmith” compass marker was displaying prematurely. SOTA-70085
  • Ardoris: Added a compass marker for players finding certain evidence related to the black arrow murders. SOTA-70078
  • Ardoris: Improved the journals, responses, logic, and compass markers related to meeting with Siranto, Khasi, Pintar, Damai, and the spirit-talkers.
  • Ardoris: Improved the logic which Shaaria uses to clear her “Give Advice to Shaaria” task. SOTA-70092
  • Ardoris: Removed a redundant keyword from Rolf the guard’s conversation, to stop build errors.
  • Ardoris: The “Meet with Siranto” task has had several text improvements, including being renamed to “Mention Undead to Siranto.”
  • Ardoris: Updated the tasks related to Samael and Kardan Marbane pointing the avatar to talk to Min Liang Tan. SOTA-65292
  • Bard songs vfx should no longer continue after the song is over.
  • Battle of Solace Bridge: Corrected spelling of “Soltown” in “Tell Abigail About Charlotte” journal entry. SOTA-70094
  • Big cats collision was overly large and made it difficult to loot things with a large cat pet out. These have now been adjusted downward to make them less annoying.
  • Big cats should all now have a ROAR ability that grants different effects
  • Big cats will no longer pounce while rooted.
  • Blood River Massacre: Improved how the “Find a Weapon” task resolves itself and archives this task. SOTA-70080
  • Blood River Outskirts: Adjusted the path grid to help keep a deer from spawning within a certain tree. Added POI-specific music at the outposts and ziggurat. SOTA-70143
  • Broochash: Avatars cannot choose to skip a conversation with Albreda if they have Umberjack’s “shakedown note” for her. SOTA-70079
  • Castle ATOS now has a Scene Map. SOTA-70149
  • Castle Atos teleporter now takes you to Castle Atos
  • Castle Atos: Moved items floating over the storehouse shelter to rest on the roof.
  • Castle Atos: Removed line-of-sight conversation requirement from the banker. SOTA-70126
  • Castle Atos: The faction for the chickens in Castle Atos have been changed to “chicken” faction, allowing them to be attacked. SOTA-70100
  • Castle Atos: The Storehouse Containers in Castle Atos have been updated, and the unique turn-in item at the uncommon crate requires 2 Purple Wyvern Eggs.
  • Crown Shop: added castleSet wizard’s tower village home to store
  • Deep Savrenoc Timberland: Resource nodes are now correctly set to tier 4. SOTA-70139
  • Dungeon Kit: Fixed a low LOD version of a single door drame wall piece.
  • East Vauban Foothills: Updated the terrain by the lake to help accommodate players still on the ruins when they sink. SOTA-70066
  • Elysium Mines: Adjusted several ore nodes to improve pathing while mining them. SOTA-70138
  • February 2022 Login Reward: Heart-Shaped White & Gold Footstool
  • Fix: Fixed a bug in vendor items list window that were not showing the numbers of items sent to bank.
  • Fix: Fixed Lua functions ShroudUnsetMask and ShroudMinMaxSize which was always returning false. Also removed the transparency on panel when draging it around which caused problems while setting your own transparency on panels.
  • Fixed an error thrown when doing a “Get Direction” on vendor listing when scene has changed.
  • Fixed deco issue with Leather Flame Armor
  • Fixed deco issue with Triangle & Acara Shield
  • Fixed icon for ball of clay -adjusted block of clay icon brightnesss
  • Fixed icon for Ornate Wooden Hot Tub -increased contrast on hot tub icon
  • Fixed loot issues with 6 Wax Cylinders. Desolis I and II, Sands of Grunvald, and Into the Epitaph now drop properly in the Epitaph at a relatively small rate per creature. Solania now has a small chance to drop from the demon in Solania Catacombs. Kas Ruins now properly drops from the Lich Boss in Kas Ruins at a 100% rate.
  • Fixed storage item count on Celestian Commode
  • Frost giant should now give XPs to even a large party
  • Greyacre: Corrected the spawn-in orientation at the southwest entrance to face the road. SOTA-70098
  • Halls of Artifice: Fixed a typo in a trigger warning UI message. SOTA-70082
  • Improving horse hoof sounds. (Spoiler alert, they still are not good but now just less bad)
  • Jaanaford: Renamed the “Travel to Jaanaford” task to “Ask About Bonesteel in Jaanaford” and improved the logic which archives it. Also, improved the logic in Jenna Karttunen’s responses regarding bonesteel. SOTA-70081
  • Jaguar and Panther: Added to Forest Road Encounter in Novia (southwest), Hidden Vale, and Mistrendur. SOTA-70136
  • Jaguars and Panthers: Added new NPCs to Ravensmoor, Verdantis Shardfall, Norgard Fens, and Sawtooth Thicket. SOTA-70136
  • Jaguars, Snow Tiger, and Black panthers have started appearing in the wilderness.
  • K’rul: Increased the size of a certain doorway to ensure players could always pass through. SOTA-70125
  • Kingsroad: Adjusted some spawner locations and rates for better distribution. Overall, there should be one or two additional spiders, bears, and skeletons in the scene. Also, added ranged and caster skeletons, and a chance for a tier 2 wolf. More nightshade may spawn near the graveyard. Some garlic may spawn along the road.
  • Kingsroad: Fixed a broken spawner to stop build errors.
  • Kobold Expeditionary Camp: Updated the “Free Sir Patrick!” task to be more clear and correct regarding that task. SOTA-70145
  • Kobold Expeditionary Camp: Updated the logic used by the compass marker when doing the “Free Sir Patrick!” task. SOTA-70144
  • Large Cats now feature unique loot tables per cat type and size, and all wolf items have been removed from their loot tables.
  • Loot, 9 Ephemeral Relics were added to the game and will appear as extremely rare drops throughout the world of New Britannia. Ephemeral Relics are typically  more powerful than their crafted counter parts, but cannot be repaired and feature a small amount of durability. Use these relics wisely for important battles!
  • Malice: Updated the logic which archives the “Speak with Sequanna” task after completing the Path of Love.
  • Many female NPCs were incorrectly using a male or neuter voice, especially in the Perennial Coast area. This has now been corrected.
  • Massive and Legendary crocs will now have different stats.
  • Moonlight and Sunlight enchantment will now appear in the tooltip of the equipments.
  • Mounted head and rug trophy recipes for big cats -added bigCats head item componnet for recipes
  • Necropolis: Added a connection to the Midmaer Passage near the exit to Midras Ruins. SOTA-69908
  • New elf loot tables for Despair.
  • New Lua functions ShroudLoadSound(filePath, AudioType), ShroudListSound(), ShroudPlaySound, ShroudStopSound() and a new enum AudioType. Lua scripters now have 5 audio channel to play sounds on at once.More information can be found on the API Doc and a demo on will be shown on forum scripting section.
  • New lua functions ShroudOnPlayFX and ShroudStopFX which will give ability to lua scripter to stop an fx from being played. Look at the API doc for more information.
  • Northwest Blackblade Mountains: Adjusted how close NPCs can get to a certain exit volume. SOTA-70107
  • Novia: Moved the banners above Mud and the Naryad Moors to be above the treeline. SOTA-70097
  • Ore Nodes: Corrected the scaling on high-tier ore nodes.
  • Pet sheet will now be displaying dodge and magic resist.
  • Plains Road Encounter: Removed the”line-of-sight” conversation requirement from the merchants that appear after the boss wave, to help stop them from canceling conversations. SOTA-70147
  • Players will no longer get trapped with the fishies in the Lord of the Isle Aquarium dungeon room. SOTA-70104
  • Players will now be able to place a Dry Docked Huge Pirate Galeon (Keep sized home) on a Castle lot as well as a Keep lot. SOTA-69091
    port_pirate_galleon_town_playerHouse: Secret door sound effects are now located at the secret door.
  • POT Arx Draconis Lowlands: Upgraded to Town from Village. SOTA-70113
  • POT Moonglow: Added new Holdfast west of Fortus End. SOTA-70091
  • POT Rajazel: Upgraded to City from Town. SOTA-70089, SOTA-70088
  • POT Silverdale Market: Upgraded to City from Town. SOTA-70103, SOTA-70101
  • Previously, the new tall 5 story Town lot sized house would block decoration in some towns with higher elevation. This should now be fixed.
    Process Big Cats recipes -added carcasses for loot
  • R98 Reward: Heart-Shaped Console, Queen’s Sitting Room Set: Heart-Themed Coffetable, Heart-shaped end table, Heart-backed white & gold throne
  • Ravensmoor Player Dungeon Room Deco Surface fixed. SOTA-70135
  • Savrenoc Stronghold: Adjusted a location where NPCs would get stuck in a world object. SOTA-70099
  • Savrenoc Stronghold: Instead of the northeast and east entrance sharing one compass marker and entry point, these two are now split into two separate compass markers and entry points. (Players will continue to spawn by default into the same location, called East Entrance.) SOTA-70083
  • Seasonal Monsters: Changed the name of Krampus’s list to “Krampus’ List: Naughty Boys and Girls” to help players find it in their inventories.
  • Seasonal Monsters: Krampus has gone dormant until next year, while Envy Angel has returned to Necropolis Barrens. SOTA-68642
  • Set Ancient Essence to be valid ingredient for smelting
  • Set Standing stone deco recipes to be discoverable since they are re-teachable.
  • Several issues which could cause creatures to stop spawning in some scenes have been fixed. This was most common in cities.
  • Snow Tigers: Add new NPC to Snowy Tundra Encounters in Novia and Mistrendur, Vertas Pass, Brightbone Pass, and Jotungrund. SOTA-70136
  • Solace Bridge Outskirts: After finding the missing scout, the avatar will get a task to ask her about Ebon Dawn (to ensure a more obvious transition to the “disrupt ritual” quest). SOTA-70105
  • Solace Bridge Outskirts: Fixed typos in in the Deliver Bloody Bones journal entry, and another in Talk to First Memory of Three journal entry. SOTA-70109, SOTA-70108
  • Solace Bridge Outskirts: Moved a lantern than wasn’t working when looked at from certain distances and angles. SOTA-70065
  • Solania: Updated the logic used by Merriweather in her responses about Simone’s book quest. SOTA-70087
  • Soltown and other scenes: Corrected typo for “Town Crier” in teleport-to-zone lists. SOTA-70062
  • Soltown: Regenerated Arabella’s conversation components to help prevent “not found” error messages. SOTA-70146
  • Spectral Mines: Changed the archlapin bone quest items to be destroyable. SOTA-69429
  • Taming Frenzy finally has a unique icon!
  • The Breach: Adjusted the path grid to better accommodate the Blackened Clockwork Dragon. SOTA-70068
  • The various large cats in New Britannia now have a chance to drop Cat Claws, which can be utilized in a new potion recipe, the Potion of the Stalking Cat. This potion grants a small bonus to Rend, Sneak Attack, and when attacking from behind. This recipe is a somewhat rare drop from the elves in Despair.
  • Toned down Chaos Shield visuals to be less distracting
  • Updates to big cat stats to make adult, ferocious, and obsidian cats have different stats.
  • Upper Fortus: Fixed a typo in a letter found on a table in a building. SOTA-70096
  • Wyvern Eggs: Set “Merchant Availability” to “Not Available” to stop build errors.
  • Xenos: Updated the “Enter Artifice” journal entry to be more specific and to “Enter Halls of Artifice,” among other improvements. SOTA-70086
  • Known issue: Young Snow tigers appear orange (fixed patch 1)

Player Owned Town Updates:

  • Arx Draconis Lowlands: Upgraded to Town from Village.
  • Moonglow: Added Holdfast to Novia, west of Fortus End
  • Rajazel: Upgraded to City.
  • Silverdale Market: Upgraded to City.

 

February Login Reward: Heart-Shaped White & Gold Footstool!

Log in during the month of February, and you’ll receive a Heart-Shaped White & Gold Footstool! Be the envy of all your neighbors with this amazing piece!

Release 98 Subscriber Login Rewards: Ancient Xenossian Winged Plate Helm, Heart-Shaped Console, and Ornate Large White & Gold Heart-Backed Throne


These new heart-themed furniture items will also be featured in the Crown Shop in the new Queen’s Sitting Room Sets.

Avatars! Rewards Program login items for Release 98 are a must have — don’t miss out! This month’s collection includes the last of the Ancient Xenossian collectibles: The Winged Ancient Xenossian Helm. It also includes two new heart-themed furniture items: The Ornate Large White & Gold Heart-Backed Throne, as well as the Heart-shaped Console. Subscribers to the Reward Program must login during Release 98 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
  • 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!

Bug Brigade & Testing Directives!

The Bug Brigade was established to improve how the community and the development team work together to improve the game. Since the Brigade’s inception, the program has gone through a number of changes and was eventually placed on hold. The stability of the game is as important to the development team as it is to the players, therefore the program was revamped and was recently relaunched.

The Brigade has been up and running for two months now, and the volunteers are getting into a good rhythm for verifying and submitting bugs to the developers. If you have reported a bug that has not yet been addressed, please be patient while the backlog is being worked. The Brigade is working diligently to 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! Already, much improvement has been noticed by the development team, and we’re so very excited to see the program successfully back in action!

The development team would also like to thank all of those who took time out to participate in the QA Testing Directive for the upcoming Mount System. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, many issues and bugs were identified and fixed prior to the system going to the Live Server! Keep up the great work! For those that wish to participate in future bug hunting endeavors, please check the forums regularly for upcoming QA Testing Directives.

Also, the Bug Brigade would like to welcome its newest Bug Moderator, Echondas! Please congratulate him the next time you see him in-game or on the forums. This new member expands the Bug Moderator team to: Alley Oop, Echondas, and Justyn. Thank you Moderators! Your efforts are highly valued by the development team!

Don’t forget, the Bug Brigade is open to all players in good standing, and the bug rewards are back! And they are SWEET! They will be awarded on a monthly progression basis with only minimal requirements to qualify. The available rewards to receive in progression via qualifying participation are as follows:

  1. Antennae Head Gear and Forum Title 1: “Bug Hunter”
  2. Single Ant Cloak
  3. Lady Bug Backpack
  4. Bug Painting A and In-Game Title 2: “Associate of Aphids”
  5. Ant Farm
  6. Insect Leg Table
  7. Many Ants Cloak and In-Game Title 3: “Bachelor of Beetles”
  8. Bug Painting B
  9. Bug Sprayer
  10. Bug Painting C and In-Game Title 4: “Master of Moths”
  11. Butterfly Chair
  12. Corpion Chair (Pictured Below)
  13. Yellow Fireflies VFX and In-Game Title 5: “Doctor of Dragonflies”
  14. Hacked Oracle Flyer
  15. Giant Blue Butterfly Pet
  16. Butterfly Mask
  17. Dragonfly pet
  18. Fairy Wings
  19. Monarch Butterfly Pet
  20. Dragonfly Wings
  21. Hacked Oracle Crawler
  22. Blue Butterfly VFX
  23. Orange Fireflies VFX
  24. Orange Butterfly VFX

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

Updates to the Streamer Rewards Program!

Several months ago, a program was proposed for the Streamers of Shroud of the Avatar. The ultimate goal being to showcase Shroud of the Avatar while giving SotA streamers a reward for their efforts. The program is currently in Phase I, with Phase II technology currently being discussed and worked internally. So, let’s talk Phase I!

Phase I:
Streamers who wish to be included in the Streamer Program must contact Laney via in-game mail or in a private message on the forums with their Character Name and Twitch Channel information. If you have already signed up for the program in the past, fear not, you’re on the list, and you don’t need to reapply.

  • Streaming Rewards Program participants must adhere to our Terms of Service (TOS) and Community Rules while Streaming Shroud of the Avatar.
  • Streaming Rewards Program participants must stream at least 10 hours of Shroud of the Avatar ACTIVE game play to remain in the program with reward accrual.

Streamers will receive a one-time digital reward of in-game items after meeting the program’s requirements: Streamer’s Cloak, Streamer’s Camera, and a brand-new LIVESTREAMING title. Future incremental rewards will occur at 6-month intervals. (More information to come).

Rules:

  • To qualify for Streamer Rewards, each streamer must continue to meet the minimum requirements for 60 days after application.
  • To accrue additional rewards, Streamers must stream SotA a minimum of 10 hours per month, tallied on the 1st day of each month, to remain in the program.
  • Streamers must be actively playing the game during their streams. Being away from the keyboard (AFK) for short periods is acceptable. If Twitch indicates the streamer is playing SotA but they are streaming other content or a timeout/login screen, they risk being removed from the program.

Items of Note:

  • SotAbot: Streamers in the program will be included in the SotAbot StreamPop function, appearing in the player-streaming channel in Discord.
  • Graphics & Overlays: An optional “Streamers Kit” is available to the participating streamers as well as all players of Shroud of the Avatar, which includes graphics, overlays and other material.

Watch the forums for more information, coming soon, regarding Titles, future rewards and for info on Phase II of the program. We love our Streamers, so get out to Twitch and follow them, watch them, and support them!

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 2022 Release Schedule is as follows:

  • This release: Release 98 – Jan 27 (Polish)
  • Release 99 – Feb 24 (Content)
  • Release 100 – Mar 31 (Polish)
  • Release 101 – Apr 28 (Content)

Community Updates & Resources

Greetings event holders and event attendees! So many fun and exciting events are available in the upcoming weeks. Be sure to get out there and participate, make some new friends, perhaps make some great emote, recipe, or gear trades, or get some adventuring and role-playing into your mix! Here are spotlighted events or updated community resources that we’ve noticed popping up lately on the official forums. Note, we are putting a hold on our official Catnip Games events while we train up our new community person!

Special Announcements:

  • Quel Regional Market Now Open: Tired of searching endlessly for what you’d like to buy? Well, the Britannian Mining Company feels the same way, so they’ve created a well-organized and easily accessible vendor town. And the best part… All row lots inside the settlements are FREE for any merchant in New Britannia to claim!

Recurring Events:

  • Dragon Hold Fishing Invitational: Located above the Whiteguard Foothills, Dragon Hold hosts a monthly fishing contest with prizes allocated per trophy type as well as largest overall fish. Rules and prize details can be found on the notices at the fishing shop easily reached by teleporter. Happy fishing and good luck to all!
  • Trash to Treasure Dropped Items Turn-In: Some unscrupulous fella has been flooding the loot in New Britannia with junk: Chrismas/Holiday Themed Items! It’s time to clean this trash up that’s plaguing the loot tables, so a bounty has been placed on all gear crafted by Coswald Dirthmire that you find in loot. Turn in what you find every contest period! R96’s contest period lasts until December 28th!
  • Ironhall Tournament & PvP Training: The Player-Owned Town of Ironhall holds weekly player training events every Saturday at 1PM CT. Events are held in the village of Virtus Mons in Ironhall and can be reached easily via use of the fast travel signs.
  • M’Hul Island Monthly Fishing Contest: Join Asmodi M’hul and friends at M’hul Island for their monthly fishing tournament that lasts from Release Day to Release Day! Prizes are available!
  • Lightbringer Isle Fishing Contest: Why not earn some extra prizes each month and participate in Lightbringer Isle’s monthly fishing tourney? Lots of fantastic prizes — don’t miss out!
  • Combat & Crafting Sunday School: Head on over to Immortal City every Sunday from 7PM to 9PM CT to learn the tricks of the trade in combat and crafting!
  • 500 Crown 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.
  • RHEC Traveling Pop Up Fishing Contest: Keep an eye out in universe chat, trade chat, and the forums! Asmodi M’hul will routinely announces at least one pop up fishing contest every week for those anglers out there anxious for extra prizes and fun!
  • PvP Fishing with RHEC: The RHEC anglers of New Britannia will be hosting PvP fishing contests in The Brave Coast! There are 3 tourneys which will take place on July 23rd and July 24th from 7PM to 9PM CT, and July 25th from 5PM to 7PM CT. Hope to see you there!
  • Lightbringer Isle Auction: Ladies and gentlemen! The Citizens of Lightbringer Isle welcome you to the weekly auctions! The auctions are about bringing together people from all corners of the community, with the Lightbringer Isle’s market being the perfect place to do so! Join us every Sunday at 11AM CT!

New Player-Created Resources:

  • Crafting Q&A with Coswald Dirthmire: Recently, streamer extraordinaire Coswald Dirthmire hosted a crafting Q&A session in the town of Haven Ridge. As the 3rd installment of Haven Ridge’s Q&A series, it turned out to be a highly informative event. Please watch the video and see what you missed!

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!
  • SotA Event Calendar: Event participants, take heed! Thoryk Omara has done a wondrous job creating a community event calendar which is available to all players of Shroud of the Avatar. Please make an effort to support this new calendar. The more resources players have at their disposable for event notifications, the better!

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

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

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

Project to Support: Ghostbusters: The Gates of Gozer

Immersive theatre. 3D binaural sound. Real ghostbusting. Get your tickets now!

We are excited to share, Starr “Darkstarr” Long’s (Executive Producer at The Acceleration Agency) latest project: Secret Cinema’s “Ghostbusters: The Gates of Gozer.” Travel back to the ‘80s and experience never-before-seen storylines based on the original film in this live virtual adventure. Get ready for the jaw-dropping detail of any Secret Cinema event, brought to you online and to a whole other level! Team up with the Ghostbusters to investigate paranormal activity, explore the infamous 550 Central Park West and uncover spine-chilling secrets from other dimensions. The world needs saving and you’re the one for the job!

Project to Support: Shard RPG

Shard Studios invites you to enter the fantastic world Dárdünah, the vast shard of a shattered realm, as presented in the colorful pages of the SHARD RPG! Many years in the making, this system allows players to choose from a wide variety of animal people who are the main cast of the many adventures this otherworldly setting offers. Skyships glide through shimmering clouds past majestic crystal peaks. Giant insects prowl alien jungles or lurk in the sparkling emerald seas. Warriors with blades of diamond and amber duel across crimson sands. And mystics chant in shadowy chambers as their spirits wander abroad.

  • Intro Sheet: For a quick glimpse into the world of Dárdünah, be sure to download the intro pdf! It’s packed with great information and features beautiful artwork, not unlike the artwork found throughout the many pages of this gaming system’s gorgeously designed manuals.
  • Core System Manuals: It’s easier than ever to delve into Dárdünah, World of the False Dawn, with the Core Books Bundle! If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience this unique gaming system and setting, now’s your chance! This bundle includes two beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books: the original Basic Compendium and the Magic and Martial Arts book! They contain everything you need to begin your adventures, and include instructions for the ritual magic and martial arts combat systems. These manuals also include 90 new Animal Templates upon which to base your character!
  • Other Shard RPG Products: So many more manuals and gaming materials are available! Everything an avid tabletop role-player and game master needs to delve into the world of Dárdünah!

So if you’re ready to experience a gaming world like no other, check out what Shard Studios has created for tabletop role-players on the Shard RPG official website! You’ll most certainly be immersed and amazed by the offerings of the Shard RPG!

Project to Support: Ember’s Adrift!

  • Help support one of our team members’ other projects, Ember’s Adrift! While not live yet, they will be releasing a schedule soon detailing their timeline. Check out their newly released video 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

SotA_NewPlayerWelcome_Forum

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.