Update of the Avatar/Update 247

Avatar's Update #247, posted posted_on::September 29th 2017

Avatar’s Update #247: Play Release 46 Now!
Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Game Development News Announcements Community Updates
 * Play Release 46 Now!
 * Making of Blackblade Foothills, North Midmaer Way, & North Quel Way
 * Q4 2017 Schedule Update
 * R46 Postmortem Telethon
 * Cyber Monday Crown Bonus
 * R45 Raffle Winners Announced
 * SotA Con Austin 2017 Schedule
 * Upcoming Events Calendar
 * Play: Hungry Eyes in The Darkness
 * Event: Veritas Sanctuary R46 Welcome Events
 * Resources: Players Helping Players
 * Recommended Project to Support: Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny



Play Release 46 Now!


Release 46 successfully launched yesterday, September 28, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:


 * Reduced Load Times
 * Stealing Rework
 * Quest Polish
 * More Side Quests
 * Malice Dungeon Rework
 * Blackblade Pass Rework
 * Highvale Outskirts (new)
 * Crooked Shank (new)
 * North Shattered Hills (new)
 * South Longfall Wetlands (new)
 * The Crags (new)
 * Combat Balance
 * Multiple Entry Points from Overworld
 * Agriculture Batch Recipes
 * New Creature: Reaper
 * Scythes (new Polearm)
 * New Sword Loot
 * Doublet and Gambeson Loot
 * Halloween Items
 * More Inns
 * Prison Home and Cages
 * Telethon Items
 * Seed Invest Items
 * R45 Lot Deed Raffle Winners

…and much more

Check out the Release 46 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new content.

We need all your help with testing the new patches, putting more stress on our multiplayer servers, and testing the new game content, so please join us in playing this Release!

If you have not backed the game yet, go to www.shroudoftheavatar.com and click the “Play Now” button. Game Early Access is also available on Steam Early Access.

Release 46 Player Instructions

Release 46 Known Issues



Making of Blackblade Foothills, North Midmaer Way, & North Quel Way
We have been focusing many of our scene rebuilds (aka “un-clones”) on the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. These are all Tier 1 – 3 scenes that players encounter near the beginnings of their play experience. In addition to being rebuilt, we are also adding side quests to them.

In Release 47 these scenes include Blackblade Foothills, North Quel Way, and North Midmaer Way. Blackblade Foothills is an arid area in the South Paladis region directly southwest of Nightshade Pass. North Quel Way is a forested road in the Quel region that features a caravan trading post that has been overrun by undead. North Midmaer Way is a spider infested densely packed forest of old growth trees in the Midmaer region.


 * Blackblade Foothills (cont.) &#91;From a Dev+ Forum Post by Chris Wolf&#93;  Here are a few more screenshots for Blackblade Foothills.  Ruined City Exterior  [[Image:BBP_08.jpg|800px]]  Ruined City Interior  [[Image:BBP_06.jpg|800px]]  The Magma Pools  [[Image:BBP_09.jpg|800px]]  Road to the Temple  [[Image:BBP_07.jpg|800px]]  The Temple Beneath the Mountain  [[Image:Template.jpg|800px]]  Chris “Sea-Wolf” Wolf Level Designer   North Midmaer Way  &#91;From a Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski*#93;  Here’s some early screenshots of our progress on North Midmaer Way, hope you enjoy them!  North Midmaer Way is a Tier 2 Adventure Zone, set in a heavily wooded area.  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_A.jpg|800px]]  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_B.jpg|800px]]  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_C.jpg|800px]]  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_D.jpg|800px]]  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_E.jpg|800px]]  [[Image:SS_09282017_NorthMidmaer_F.jpg|800px]]   North Quel Way  &#91;From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar&#93;  SorcerousSteve here to give you a sneak peek at my latest upcoming map: North Quel Way!  North Quel Way is located in a valley where tributaries of the Barren River flow down from the mountains. Off in the distance you can see waterfalls that make their way down as fast flowing streams and feed the pine tree forests scattered throughout. An abandoned trading post can be seen in the middle ground victim of the recent undead overrun.  [[Image:NorthQuelWay_001.jpg|800px]]  As you enter the trading post there are many signs of a fierce fight with the undead…wagons have been toppled over, auto ballista turrets are still active, and many undead lay dismembered.  [[Image:NorthQuelWay_005-v2.jpg|800px]]  Smoldering debris, weapons, and corpses are scattered about. The inhabitants of this trading post did not go down without a fight and defended themselves until their last breath.  [[Image:NorthQuelWay_002.jpg|800px]]  Forced to make a final stand a few survivors have managed to hold of the undead horde and have fortified themselves in the trading pavilion. Collaborating with level designer Keith Quinn, we have designed this space with some breakable/rebuildable barriers that will provide a great spot for players to fend of waves of undead!  [[Image:NorthQuelWay_008.jpg|800px]]  See you next time for more progress on North Quel Way!  Esteben Zaldivar Level Designer

''Thanks for following our progress! More soon!''



Q4 2017 Schedule Update
From a Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long

Greetings Avatars,

As we have stated previously, we intend to publish quarterly schedule updates for our monthly releases. Even though the goals outlined in these schedules are likely to change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to periodically provide you with an updated roadmap.

Our priority continues to be to deliver new content to our backers each and every month, so that you can give us feedback that will help us iteratively improve Shroud of the Avatar. This collaborative process continues to benefit the game, and often results in sweeping changes such as the upcoming addition of the Outskirts scenes. As you have seen in previous releases, the flexibility inherent to this process means that we sometimes push things out, but we also often pull new things in.



Top 10 Priorities: We keep a running list of our Top 10 priorities at all times that we use when building our schedule and prioritizing where to allocate our team’s resources. We often refer to it when making decisions about the project. While it has a VERY strong influence on what we work on at any given time, it does not mean that we only work on something that is on the list. It just means that if someone can assist with something that will help address an item on the list, then we will make sure they do that first before working on anything else. Sometimes team members cannot assist with anything on our top priorities, so they work on other tasks such as visual polish, combat balance, or content that helps us raise funds.

Until now we have only used this list internally and we have not shared it externally with you, our backers. However, we felt that as we approach launch we definitely should share this list, especially because our current Top 10 list consists of everything that we need to address BEFORE we are ready to launch.


 * 1) Reduce Load Times: There are a lot of benefits to being a game that is divided up into multiple scenes, including everyone playing on one server and the ability to dynamically update scenes at will. However, being a scene-based game means that our load times MUST be mere seconds or the entire experience of playing the game is destroyed. Right now scene loads can still be over a minute on physical media drives (HDs) and up to 30 seconds even on solid state drives (SSDs). Reducing load times to seconds on both drive types is our number one goal for Q4 because the entire game experience depends on it.
 * 2) Client Performance (FPS): Once we have reduced load times, we can focus on improving client performance. We will work on improving framerate, minimizing hitching, and lowering the game’s memory footprint.
 * 3) Improved Reward Cycle: Right now, our reward cycle for play is completely unsatisfying. The loot is infrequent, not exciting, and requires multiple steps to gain a reward (ex. salvaging followed by crafting). We are going to add more immediately gratifying items (artifacts and gear with stats that can be salvaged for unique components). We are also going to slowly increase the amount of resources available in the world while carefully monitoring the game balance. Finally, we are going to add more unique quest rewards, especially items related to the virtues (ex. banners with virtue symbols). [[Image:Getting-a-blessing-from-Sacrifice-devotional.jpg|800px]]
 * 4) Clearer Player Direction: Currently we rely on some very subtle and “immersive” indicators for information in the world (ex. piles of skulls to indicate scene difficulty). We are going to provide much clearer indication of information. For example, on the overworld all towns will have clear indicators of their town type (POT, NPC, etc.). We will also indicate whether you have a quest in a scene, a clearer label of the scene’s difficulty, perhaps even an indicator of what services a scene might provide (bank, mail, blessings, etc.). We will also start providing more on-screen indicators of this information, so that while you are in a scene you will better know what kind of scene it is, what difficulty it is, whether you have quests in the scene, etc. We will also work hard to polish the maps and compasses to better guide you to and from your quests, homes, services, points of interests, scene exits, etc.
 * 5) Story Polish: The story currently does an adequate job of conveying the game’s narrative, but it does not really make you care, nor does it tell enough about the virtues. We will be working hard over the next several releases to provide more compelling experiences that put you in situations that will hopefully make you care more about the world, and at the same time provide you opportunities to either fulfill or turn away from the virtues.
 * 6) Improved Enemy Behaviors: Most of our enemies have very simplistic and repetitive behaviors that can be easily gamed and do not require a high level of coordination nor planning. We hope to improve on this so that enemies have markedly different behaviors, resistances, and also weaknesses. For bosses in particular, we want to introduce patterns of behaviors that change over time as the battle progresses.
 * 7) User Interface Polish: While our user interface allows users to access all the current game functions, it can be counter-intuitive, often provides inadequate information (ex. very little feedback when you are stealing), and sometimes even shows incorrect information. We hope to incrementally improve the intuitive usability of the various interface elements while also adding more feedback for the user’s actions, and of course fixing any erroneous information displayed.
 * 8) New User Experience (NUE): While we have made various improvements to the New User Experience, including the addition of the Outskirts maps, polishing the Isle of Storms, refactoring of the hints, and tips on the loading screens, there is still much work left to do in order to improve the way that we guide new players as they begin playing. We need to provide much stronger and clearer direction in these opening moments than we currently do. [[Image:SotA_IslandofStorms_1.jpg|800px]]
 * 9) Localization: Now that we have publishing partners that represent territories spanning the globe, we need to spend more time on localization, including detection of system language, fonts that work for multiple languages, websites that work for other territories, and of course translations.
 * 10) Launch Readiness: As we prepare to move from Early Access to a truly live state post-launch, we need to make sure we have everything in place to truly support the product 24 / 7. This includes ensuring we have all the proper Customer Support Tools, Network Operations Center escalation / troubleshooting procedures, and security audits.

To repeat what I said in the Q1 post:


 * “We believe that we have reached the final 20% of development before Commercial Release, at which point we will transition out of Early Access. The next two quarters will be the most exciting and challenging times for the project so far. This will be when we get the final features and content in the game and make the last important balance changes. The changes will be fast and furious, and they may occasionally be hard to understand when you become accustomed to the way things were before. Please trust that we firmly believe that every change we make is best for the long term health of the project.”​

As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers.

NOTE: Releases 48 and 49 are shorter in duration and in the middle of the month due to the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

RELEASE 47, October 26, 2017


 * Story: We will continue to work on adding sidequests and polish to the Paths of Truth, Love and Courage, including the continued addition of unique virtue-themed rewards for these quests. Additionally, we will be doing polish work focused specifically on the starting scenes. Finally some adventure scenes in various regions of Novia will be rebuilt from scratch, including Blackblade Foothills, North Midmaer Way and North Quel Way. [[Image:BBP_04.jpg|800px]]
 * Load Time Reduction: Various changes and optimizations will continue to be made to the game to reduce load times for all scenes. These changes will include code and content changes.
 * Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns (POTs) that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
 * Crafting & Economy: We will continue adding more loot to the game, including unique components for crafting.
 * User Interface Polish: We will add more information and labeling to the overworld and on screen that will include such things as scene difficulty, quest locations, scene types, and more.
 * Seed Invest, Telethon, & Holiday Content: We will add the second (and final) set of Golden Seed Invest items to the game including the Golden Viking Home, Golden Viking Palisade Walls, the Golden versions of the magic emotes, and all the rest. We will also add the R45 Oktoberfest Telethon items and the 2017 Fall Holiday items.

RELEASE 48, November 16, 2017


 * Story: We will continue to work on adding sidequests and polish to the Paths of Truth, Love and Courage including the continued addition of unique virtue themed rewards for these quests. Additionally, we will be doing polish work focused specifically on the starting scenes. Finally, some adventure scenes in various regions of Novia will be rebuilt from scratch, including East Longfall Wetland.
 * Load Time Reduction: We will continue work on load time optimizations.
 * Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns (POTs) that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
 * Crafting & Economy: We will continue adding more loot to the game including unique components for crafting.
 * User Interface Polish: We will continue adding more information and labeling to the overworld and on screen that will include such things as scene difficulty, quest locations, scene types, and more.
 * Telethon & Holiday Content: We will add the R46 Spooky Telethon items, 2017 Winter Holiday items and Doctors without Borders / Children’s Hospitals Make a Difference items. [[Image:image-5.png|800px]]

RELEASE 49, December 14, 2017

Where is my favorite feature?: Looking at the above you might be wondering: “Where is my favorite feature or piece of content that still needs work?” Fret not! While some of these are not being worked on directly we are definitely still planning on working on them, just not in Q4, or just not as our highest priority for now.
 * Story: We will continue to work on adding sidequests and polish to the Paths of Truth, Love and Courage including the continued addition of unique virtue-themed rewards for these quests. Additionally, we will be doing polish work focused specifically on the starting scenes. Finally, some adventure scenes in various regions of Novia will be rebuilt from scratch, including Sunless Barrens.
 * Frame Rate Increase: Performance work will shift towards improving framerate and reducing hitching during gameplay.
 * '''Player Towns & Player Housing: Updates to Dynamic Player-Owned Towns (POTs) that have locked submission forms will appear in the game.
 * Crafting & Economy: We will continue adding more loot to the game including unique components for crafting.
 * '''User Interface Polish: We will provide more feedback about locations on the compass and map for quests, services, points of interest, etc.
 * Telethon & Holiday Content: We will add the R47 Telethon items and more 2017 Winter Holiday items. [[Image:SotA_2016_Winter_Holiday_Indoor_Scene.jpg|800px]]

When is Launch?: You have probably noticed that we do not list one of these releases as a launch release. While we feel we are definitely getting closer to launch readiness each month we do not believe that launching before the end of the year is going to be the right time. Before the end of the year however will be the right time to announce a firm launch date; so stay tuned!

We continue to be incredibly thankful for the support we receive from this amazing community. While the funding you provide makes all of this possible, it pales in comparison with the faith you have in us, the feedback you provide us, and the content you are making for everyone to enjoy. We are humbly grateful, and we cannot wait to see you again in New Britannia!

Before I go, I wanted to include an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our ongoing schedule:


 * ''As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done, and at times, even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public normally has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback. Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be, and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us.  It is important to note that all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change.​

Sincerely, Starr Long Executive Producer Shroud of the Avatar



R46 Postmortem Telethon


Greetings Avatars,

This release’s Postmortem Telethon is going to be Halloween themed! Expirations are back, new stretch goal items are ready to be achieved, and themed contests are kicking off this month to celebrate Release 46!

LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE (Central Time Zone)

Telethons are livestreamed on Twitch and include answers to your gameplay questions, world building tours, prize giveaways, sales on items, and more! See what we have planned below beginning at 3:00 PM CT on October 12:


 * 3:00 PM: Introductions
 * 3:30 PM: R46 Postmortem Q&A
 * 4:30 PM: World Building Tour
 * 5:30 PM: Postmortem Q&A Continues
 * 7:00 PM: End of Telethon!

Schedule is subject to change. Check back here before the livestream begins!

EXPIRING ITEMS
 * Ghost Pets
 * Juggle Skulls Emote
 * Zombie Wings
 * Demon Wings
 * Zombie One-Eyed Mask
 * Zombie Mask
 * Ornate Skull Candle
 * Spider Still 3-Pack
 * Spider Aggressive 3-Pack
 * Spider Attack 3-Pack
 * Stone Zombie Statue

STRETCH GOALS (Spooky Themed!)

As a special bonus, we are offering funding rewards to any backer that pledges a minimum of $5 for twelve hours during the day of the telethon, on October 12 from 12:00 PM to 11:59 PM CT (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply).



''NOTE: While the livestream ends at 7pm CT, everyone will have until 11:59 PM CT to spend $5 to get the stretch goals. We will announce the final total on the following day.''


 * $10K: Skull Cloak
 * $25K: Prisoner’s Mask
 * $35K: Torn & Tattered Wedding Dress & Tuxedo
 * $50K: Spooky Fountain
 * $65K: Dead Hedge Fence Set
 * $80K: Nightmare Statue with flaming mane and glowing eyes

CHEER ON THE DEVS!

For every $2,500 donated, all developers on camera have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.

Additionally, we will be spinning the Wheel of Fortune! The wheel will have 12 different categories of sales plus the Lord British and Darkstarr wildcards where they get to choose any category! Each time a category comes up it will go on sale at approx. 20% off for 1 hour.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE FLASH SALES:


 * Viking Bundles
 * Obsidian Bundles
 * Kobold Bundles
 * Elven Bundles
 * Shogun Bundles
 * Make a Difference
 * Home Decorations
 * Outdoor Decorations
 * Property Deeds, POT Upgrades, Homes and Basements
 * Pets and Music
 * Emotes and Fireworks
 * Wearables, Dyes, and Patterns

WIN THESE GREAT PRIZES!


 * Halloween goodies!
 * Bank Upgrades
 * COTOs
 * Store Credit
 * RelicsbyRild.com merchandise
 * and a bunch of items we will announce on the livestream!

We will be giving prizes away on an hourly basis with many being given away multiple times. If you wish to win prizes during the event, be in Discord chat! We will be active on Twitch and YouTube chats as well, but they will not be our portal for prize giveaways.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS!

We will be answering questions throughout the livestream, so submit them in the comments section for the original post here or on Discord chat during the event. Questions and feedback related to each segment will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. Please keep it to 3 total questions in the comments section below.

Keep an eye on @ShroudofAvatar for updates before, during, and after the livestream. See you on Twitch at 3:00 PM CT on October 12!

&#91;Read More…&#93;



Cyber Monday Crown Bonus
‘Tis our favorite time of year: the holiday season! It is that special time where you purchase gifts for the ones you love (including yourself) and it is that special time where we release all sorts of fun holiday goodies for Halloween, Fall, and Winter.

To celebrate we are rewarding all purchases of $15 or more with a bonus of Gold Crowns. The amount of crowns awarded will be approximately 15% of the purchase value.

Here is the exact award chart:

The above will be awarded for all new purchases (including bundles, bundle upgrades, add-on items, player owned town upgrades, and Make a Difference items) between 10:30 AM September 28, 2017 and Midnight CST, November 27, 2017 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2017). NOTE: This will not count for purchases made with store credit.

&#91;NOTE: The crown bonus is calculated every day for all purchases within the previous 24 hours and then added to your account&#93;

Original post here.



R45 Lot Deed Raffle Winners
The latest Lot Deed Raffle was drawn with deeds awarded to the following lucky winners!



There were two raffles, one for each lot type:

Place Anywhere Deeds: 10 Total


 * Row: 5
 * Village: 3
 * Town: 1
 * City: 1

Player Owned Town Deeds: 10 Total


 * Row: 5
 * Village: 3
 * Town: 1
 * City: 1

Raffle tickets grant the holder a chance to win deeds of any size (Row, Village, Town, or City). Raffles will be held monthly (total deed numbers may vary each month). Winners can claim their deed(s) simply by logging into the game and claiming rewards at any bank.

Release 46 Lot Deed Raffle has begun! Details in the forums.



SotA Con Austin 2017 Schedule


We are excited to be attending the upcoming community driven fan event, SotA Con! The first event of its kind, SotA Con will be held right here in Austin where Portalarium and our team resides. We look forward to everyone visiting in just a couple of weeks!

Please note that the main part of the convention will be at the Renaissance Austin and SpringHill Suites Austin North/Parmer Lane.

Renaissance Austin: 9721 Arboretum Blvd Austin, TX 78759

SpringHill Suites Austin North/Parmer Lane: 12520 North IH-35 Austin, TX 78753

Here is the complete schedule for SotA Con Austin 2017:

Thursday 10/12/2017


 * 10/12/2017 @ 6:00am CT – Advance party starts to arrive

Friday 10/13/2017


 * 10/13/2017 @ 8:00am CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Opens (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 8:00am CT – Registration Open (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 8:30am CT – Breakfast Served For Hotel Guests (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 9:00am CT – Registration Open (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 10:00am CT – Hospitality Room Opens / Open Bar Available (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 10:00am CT – Richard Garriott (Lord British) & Starr Long (Darkstarr) Welcome to Sota Con Intro (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 11:00am CT – Robert Thompson (Dr. Bob) ,Richard Garriott (Lord British) and Mathew Anderson (Berek) Astronomy Panel (in-game and real life topics) (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 12:00pm CT – Lunch Break (On Own)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 1:00pm CT – Scott Jennings (Lum the Mad) with Story Line (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 2:00pm CT – Damien Foletto (Puuk) & Scott Jennings (Lum the Mad) Questing & More (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 2:00pm CT – VIP Portalarium Tour hosted by Lord British (Portalarium)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 3:00pm CT – Keith Quinn and Dan Brennan “What The Puzzle?” Puzzles & SotA (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 4:00pm CT – Sarah Dworken (Serafina), Rhys Romero (The Attenwood), Andrea Vinyard (Lexie) QA team: “This Game is Broken!” (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 5:00pm CT – Happy Hour / Dinner – The County Line BBQ Map (On Own) (Additional event optional not included in ticket price)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 7:00pm CT – The Baron’s Men Curtain Theatre – The Dead of Winter – Tickets – Map (Additional event optional not included in ticket price)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 930pm CT – Moonlight Cruise – Lone Star River Boat – Tickets – Map – (Additional event optional not included in ticket price)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 11:00pm CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Closes Day 1 – Hospitality Room Closes (Spring Hill Suites)

Saturday 10/14/2017


 * 10/14/2017 @ 8:00am CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Opens – (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/13/2017 @ 10:00am CT – Hospitality Room Opens / Open Bar Available (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 8:30am CT – Breakfast Served For Hotel Guests (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 10:00am CT – Travis Koleski (List Rostov), Chris Wolf (Sea-Wolf) & Steve Zaldivar (SorcerousSteve) in a Deep Dive In World Building With Q&A Part 1 (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 11:00am CT – Travis Koleski (List Rostov), Chris Wolf (Sea-Wolf) & Steve Zaldivar (SorcerousSteve) in a Deep Dive In World Building With Q&A Part 2 (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 12:00pm CT – Lunch Break (On Own)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 1:00pm CT – Momento Mori guild sponsored visit to St. David’s Children’s Hospital – Map (Additional event optional )
 * 10/14/2017 @ 2:00pm CT – Chris Spears (ATOS) & Starr Long (Darkstarr) Topic(s) of their choice (State of SotA with Q&A ) (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 3:00pm CT – Chris Spears(ATOS) & Starr Long (Darkstarr) Topic(s) of their choice with Q&A (Sota Con Post Mortem Q&A ) (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 4:00pm CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Dance Party Setup (Renaissance Austin)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 4:30pm CT – The King’s Feast – Catered by Nik’s Italian (Spring Hill Suites)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 6:00pm – 9:00pm CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Dance Party With Mathew Anderson (Berek) & Sarah Dworken (Serafina) (Renaissance Austin) – Guild Introductions Meet & Greet – Meet The Devs / Avatars – Music with DJ Justyn of WRFB Radio Free Britannia – Costume Contest / Cosplay (Costumes Judged by Port Dev’s) PRIZES!!! – Fan Fiction Contest – Raffle 50/50 – Cash Bar
 * 10/14/2017 @ 10:00pm CT – Scare for a Cure – RETURN TO MUTANT WASTELAND – Tickets – Map (Additional event optional not included in ticket price)
 * 10/14/2017 @ 11:00pm CT – SotA Con – Austin 2017 Closes Day 2 – Hospitality Room Closes (Spring Hill Suites)

Sunday 10/15/2017


 * 10/15/2017 @ 12:00pm CT – Farewell Lunch – (Location To Be Announced – Map To Be Announced (Additional event optional not included in ticket price)
 * 10/15/2017 @ 2:00pm CT – Advance party departs from Austin, Texas

See the official forum post for details on SotA Con Austin 2017!



Upcoming Events Calendar
Sept 29 – Oct 1, 2017 – IgroMir Expo (Moscow) Oct 3 – 5, 2017 – Unity Unite Oct 12, 2017 – R46 Postmortem Telethon Oct 13 – 15, 2017 – SotA Con 2017 (Austin) Oct 26, 2017 – Release 47 Nov 16, 2017 – Release 48 Dec 14, 2017 – Release 49

Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.



Hungry Eyes in The Darkness – Saturday, September 30 at 8-11pm CT



 * Due to mature subject matter, parental discretion is advised… They live among us, preying on the weak and unsuspecting to satisfy their hunger for tender, human flesh. But where did they come from? Every story has a beginning… The New Britannia Theater Troupe Presents “Hungry Eyes in the Darkness”. Based on ancient records recently unearthed at Desolis by the noted historian, Theodric, the untold story of the cannibals is finally revealed! Join us in the Evil Eye Tavern at Rifts’ End on September 30th from 8PM to 11PM New Britannian Time for the listening party, which will be broadcast by Avatars Radio. There will be a fifteen minute intermission halfway through the play, during which live music and refreshments will be provided by The Bear Tavern Guild.



Veritas Sanctuary R46 Welcome Events – Friday-Sunday (SEP. 29-OCT. 1)



 * Friday September 29th 11am – 1pm CT (NBT): A Public Crafting Event at the Dragonbane Market’s full set of expert tables with GMs in virtually all refining and production crafting skills (including advanced masterwork skills) available for apprenticeship and recipe teaching. No appointment necessary; just show up and bring your materials! Don’t worry if you forget something. We have tons of materials available on market vendors at competitive prices. Friday September 29th 3pm – 5pm CT (NBT): A public Concert of Performing Arts at our Amphitheater of the Ancients, with prizes for top performances, judged by a panel of 3 judges. Have a masterpiece you’d like to play on our ornate grand piano? Have a special juggling act? Ventriloquist pet act? Maybe you can breath fire while your pet dances around you in a circle. Whatever your special talent, message Twilight Tempest in-game (@Nighttempest in forums) if you are interested in performing. An after-party at the adjacent dance floor will begin at 5:30pm CDT (NBT) with a DJ mixing the tunes.  Sunday October 1st, 10am – 12pm CDT (NBT): A Public Auction at the Veritas Sanctuary Auction House in Dragonbane Market where any player may list their items for sale with the town and any player can bid on them. Common auction rules will be followed. Players must wave from their seat to bid. Items up for auction include high-end crafted gear, artifacts, expired items, add-on store items, telethon or pledge rewards, and more. There is a minimum required value of an item or stack of items for entry into the auction, to discourage auctioning 10 potatoes for example. Mystery lots will also be available! All items will be traded to an Escrow Officer (at reception) before the auction, who will complete the trade to the highest bidder and distribute the proceeds to the seller after the lot, thereby maintaining anonymity of buyer and seller. Auctions will be held weekly at the same time and same place going forward! Message Psyche Aetherfract (@Psyche in forums) if you would like to auction an item.



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.



Recommended Project to Support – Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny


''Set a billion years in our future, Numenera is a tabletop roleplaying game about exploration and discovery. The people of the Ninth World suffer through a dark age, an era of isolation and struggle in the shadow of the ancient wonders crafted by advanced civilizations now millennia gone. But discovery awaits for those brave enough to seek out the works of the prior worlds. Those who uncover and master the numenera can unlock the powers and abilities of the ancients, and bring new light to a struggling world.''



Backer Shipping Addresses
In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image.

A reminder to be sure that [mailto:support@portalarium.com support@portalarium.com] is unblocked from your e-mail account! 