Shroud of the Avatar

is a multiplayer fantasy Role Playing Game calling upon you to return as a fabled Avatar and quest to fulfill the paths of Truth, Love and Courage across a deep single player story. Featuring a robust player housing and town system, Shroud of the Avatar is a perfect fit for players with a strong sense of community and teamwork. Embark on new adventures in the world of New Britannia and enjoy multiple MMO benefits by playing alongside your friends and becoming a permanent resident in a persistent shared universe.

Lord British Returns!
Discover a rich fantasy role-playing universe crafted by the maker of Ultima series, Richard Garriott. Explore and inhabit a persistent living world in which magic and technology coexist. Uncover and learn the intricate history and lore of a legendary realm, New Britannia.

Choose your path
It is whispered that the Avatars once taught the Virtues to all that would listen and that only the Avatars can return that knowledge to the land. With the help of the enigmatic and mysterious Oracle, will you be the one to do so?

The Oracle
A mysterious machine, its minions watching all that takes place throughout the land, its voice promising answers yet responding with questions. Which path will YOU choose, to discover your long-prophesied destiny?

Pick Your Gameplay Mode
Begin your quest to ultimately become a force for good as a fabled Avatar in a world beset by dangers and darkness. Choose to follow the path of Love, Truth or Courage, and uphold the everlasting principles of being an Avatar every step of the way.

Adventure solo or play co-op with your friends in a persistent world. Prove your mettle in PVP or play offline anytime. The choice is all yours.

Features

 * Episodic Content: Shroud of the Avatar will consist of five episodes that will tell a series of virtue based stories created by Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman. All supported by a series of prequel novels starting with The Sword of Midras.
 * Single Player Offline Mode: Players adventure through over 40 hours of Episode 1’s story in an interactive world where their choices have consequences, ethical paradoxes give them pause, and they play a vital part in weaving their own story into the immersive world and lore surrounding them.
 * Selective Multiplayer Modes: If you want to go through the story online you can play with everyone in three different online modes (Single Player, Party Only, and Open).
 * Classless Character System: Vast customization options with hundreds of skills and spells in over 20 different skill trees.
 * Skillful Combat: A new way to prepare and fight in an RPG by building custom decks of skills and dynamically activating them in combat.
 * PvE and PvP: Consensual with Open PvP flags, zones, and Guild Warfare.
 * Player Housing: Non-instanced, finite, and embedded in the world with group living options.
 * Player Driven Economy: Deep crafting system where the best items are made by players and player items are the main source of loot found in the game.
 * Free to Play: No mandatory subscription.
 * Social: Full Guild System, Highly Active Community and Player Owned Towns.

is currently in development by Catnip Games and provides monthly Release content.
 * For details on the latest build notes and what’s changed from last release, please see: Player Instructions, All Updates, Release Patch Notes and Known Issues pages on the official Shroud of the Avatar website.

Cost

 * is Free to play and does not require a subscription to play. Episode 1 content is fully accessible by everyone.
 * Episode 2 content is only for Episode 2 Early Access holders.
 * The Bard Skills and Adventuring Areas on the continent of Mistrendur require Episode 2 Early Access.
 * Player Owned Towns can freely be entered by anyone on the continent of Mistrendur.

System

 * See the FAQ Page on the official Shroud of the Avatar Website for up to date information on specific system requirements.
 * Shroud of the Avatar can be played on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux platforms.

Community

 * See the current up to date Upcoming Events on the official Shroud of the Avatar Website.

Funding
Current funding is through purchases from the Online Store and the optional Rewards Program.

=Development History= Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) was developed by Portalarium. It is created by Richard "Lord British" Garriott and Starr "Darkstarr" Long. It was first announced as a project by Richard Garriott on November 9, 2011. The title of the game as well as the crowd funding was announced on March 8, 2013.

Ultimate RPG
Richard Garriott announced the start of the Ultimate RPG and his vision of "Ultimate" Role Playing Game on his Facebook page on November 9, 2011:


 * "Today, with my new company Portalarium, and with the talents and skills of many who made Ultima an Ultimate RPG, we set forth to forge a "New Britannia," a new world from scratch, internally self-consistent, deep and refined. We have lofty goals as an Ultimate RPG. An Ultimate RPG does not fear going where others fear or have failed."


 * "[H]ere is what I feel is safe to say: Lord British's Ultimate Role Playing Game, which may be called "Akalabeth" or may be called "New Britannia" or may be called "a name I cannot yet say as it describes the setting I am considering and think I should keep secret at least until I know if it's likely true," will be an Ultimate RPG. You will have customized Avatar homesteads and real roles to play in a deep, beautifully realized highly interactive virtual world. It will have virtues and the hero's journey reflected back to the player. It will have the best of synchronous and asynchronous features in use. Fiction will support your arrival from earth into this new world. I even hope to make maps, coins and other trinkets available to players of the game.(...)"


 * "[C]ome play with us in the brave new world. Help us grow it. Teach us about what you have learned in your years of playing. Invite in your new friends who are new to gaming. They will be a new spirit and provide new ideas about what to do. They will likely not tolerate bad instructions, bad interface or huge upfront fees, which is a good thing! We will teach and learn from them as well."

Ultimate RPG fan page was launched on Facebook on December 6, 2011, inviting fans to sign up for beta. On that page, a teaser message is posted on February 28, 2013:


 * Exciting stuff coming soon! Stay tuned...

A week long countdown was set up on lordbritishpresents.com on the first day of March 2013, revealing information and puzzle map pieces every other day until finally the Kickstarter campaign was announced on March 8, 2013, revealing the name of the game as Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues.

Crowd Funding
Kickstarter campaign for Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues was launched on March 8, 2013 and ended on April 8, 2013, during which time $1,919,275 was raised within 30 days from 22,322 backers. Several tiers are set up for early backers (also known as Founders) to pledge that give bonus rewards from cloth maps to special housing in the game (see: Founder Pledge Rewards).

After the successful Kickstarter campaign, similar pledge options were given to backers (also known as Benefactors) via the Shroud of the Avatar website who couldn't pledge before the end of the campaign (see: Benefactor Pledge Rewards).

Releases
The first pre-alpha release (Release 1 or simply R1) of Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues was made available on December 12, 2013 at 10:30 CT and lasted until December 16, 2013. This first release focused on initial systems like installing the game, patching, registration and character creation as well as some of the in-game systems like house claiming, house decoration and NPC interactions. Only the Single Player Online mode was available on R1.

The second pre-alpha release, R2, was made available on January 23, 2014 and while it was supposed to end on January 25, 2014, it was extended until January 27, 2014. This second release was also Single Player Online-only. R2 introduced the initial Crafting system.

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is the first of a five Episode series.

The Team
Notable members of the team include Richard "Lord British" Garriott, Starr "DarkStarr" Long, and Tracy Hickman.

On March 13, 2013, Tracy Hickman, New York Times Best-selling author of Dragonlance series, announced that he joined the Shroud of the Avatar team (as Lead Story Designer) on his YouTube channel.

On July 5, 2013, Starr "DarkStarr" Long announced that he joined the Shroud of the Avatar team as the Executive Producer. He stated "We were on a frontier with Ultima Online and we are again with Shroud of the Avatar."

=See Also=
 * SotA Wiki

=Gallery= Shroud of the Avatar - The Path of Virtue (Trailer)

=External Links=
 * Official Shroud of the Avatar Website
 * Official Shroud of the Avatar Forum

=References=