Update of the Avatar #144 – 2015.09.25: Play Release 22 Now!, Q4 Schedule, Autism Awareness, and More!

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Play Release 22 Now!
• FireLotus Release 22 Dance Party!
• R22 Patch Notes
• Release 22 Screenshot Gallery: Fishing
• Jakup White’s Map of the World
• Wanted: Athanil of Bear Tavern
• Q4 2015 Schedule Update
• Tavern Rap by Briar Vesper
• Rough Stone Building Blocks
• Autism Awareness Charity Events
• SpeedTree Contributes Autism Awareness Puzzle Tree
• Stone Crypt
• Elven Homes
• 38 Day Countdown for Fall Reward & Sale Expirations
• Auto-Canceling Monthly Layaway Payment Plans
• In-game Community Weekend Events
• This Week In The News
• Upcoming Events
• Recommended Games to Back

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Play Release 22 Now!

Release 22 successfully launched yesterday, September 24, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

• Dragons!
• Fishing!
• Music! Includes playble Lutes, Pianos, and Synchronized Group Play.
• New Scenes including Isle of Storms, Blood River Massacre and Blood River Settlement
• New Elven homes, Dragon Statues, Stone Building Blocks, and new Decorations, including skeletons, spiders, & crypt
• New Crafting Recipes, including building blocks, fishing poles, lute, piano, coconut bra, trophy fish, gravestones, etc.
• Many new Player Owned Towns
• Emote Teaching
• New Skills and Combat Balanced
• …and more!

Check out the Release 22 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new R22 content.

The Grand Tour Quest
Just as in our last several releases, we’ve included a Grand Tour Quest designed to guide you through all the new content. You will be able to get the Steampunk Goggles by completing the Release 22 Grand Tour Quest. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 22 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in soon and talk to all the Tour Guides!

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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 Release 22!

If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. The basic Adventurer level pledge is also available on Steam Early Access.

Release 22 Player Instructions

Release 22 Known Issues

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Avatars Radio Presents: FireLotus Release 22 Dance Party!

This month’s traditional FireLotus Release Party was held at FireLotus’ Elven House in a Hill in Radio City!

In addition to dancing, other popular themes at this month’s party included coconut bras, fishing, Steampunk goggles, coconut bras, Nightmare “Mounts”, Lute playing, and more coconut bras.

Bit of a wardrobe malfunction with the coconut bras on female avatars, resulting in the bra-on-bra effect. Should have that straightened out in an upcoming patch:

Umm, did FireLotus invite the Chippendale Dancers?

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R22 Patch Notes

Thanks to all our community members that jumped right into this Release and started reporting bugs. We’ve already fixed quite a few of them and pushed out several patches. Click here for the most up-to-date Patch Notes.

September 25 2015  

Build Number 334 3:45 PM CDT: 

• Fixed bug that was preventing looting corpses in some cases
• Fixed issue that would sometimes cause musical instrument playing not to work
• Minor fixes to Arabella dialog
• Fix to Abigail dialog in Soltown.
• Fixed issue that would sometimes cause DoTs not to work
• Shadow Form and Vanish now targeted spells, no longer Area of Effect
• Brightened up the Night Vision spell via tone mapper.
• No longer allow /play or /playstart while dead.
• Removed Skinning Knife from Production and Refining recipes (it should have never been there)
• Locked time of day in Blood River Massacre
• Turning up the ambient light ever so slightly for Etceter Crag Mines.  It was truly pitch black in there.
• Reduced bloom visual effect on Isle of Storms
• Fixed piano blocked by chair in Poets’ Circle in Ardoris
• Reduced frequency of random encounters along the Perennial Trail.
• Alexa Herbstile in Desolis now will buy and sell alchemy supplies as intended
• Fixed localization issue with several Player Owned Town names that was causing question marks bracketing the name like this: ?townname?
• Fixed stuck spots in the Epitaph
• Moved Christoph Schneider behind the counter of his shop in Ardoris
• Increased non-combat pet speeds
• Fixed some data with Ranged enemies so they won’t run around so much
• Added owner to Owl’s Rest and Orion’s Hold PoT
• Blood River Massacre and Blood River: Fixed Scene Gap and floating props.
• Fiery Decay was set to do half the amount of life drain that was intended.  Fiery decay also now applies both fire bonus AND death bonus to the fire portion of the spell.
• Flame fist was doing half the dot damage that was intended.  Now fixed to be the same as Fire Arrow.
• Brought up the Lute sounds one octave
• Healing touch damage was unintentionally slightly better than healing ray.  Turned it down to be the same power as healing ray.
• Fixed bug that upon login the first free-form play of an instrument would break another instrument’s sound until scene was changed
• All tools will show up for each table now (molds appear again)
• Upped the range of blink
• Don’t apply experience to Tactics and Focus passives when a producer skill is used (ex. Fishing)
• Bank fix for players with bags from expired player vendor items that would break the bank for them
• Fix for ranged guys failing to attack if you follow them

Known Issues:

• Fishing has no visual effects
• Falling short distances can sometimes kill you
• Cannot /r reply to GMs when whispering
• Spell animations don’t play when moving… if you cast and then move, you slide
• We have not yet tested all Razer Chroma devices, expect anomalies
• Some items cannot be salvaged
• We do not yet officially support Windows 10. If you have upgraded to Windows 10 you may experience instability
• Lighting and fog levels are still being tuned to work with the new weather system, expect anomalies
• Weather has not been propagated to all scenes yet so there may be mismatches
• Zooming into First Person camera leaves floating hair in view
• Some skills have not been fully adjusted to work properly with the new use based system
• Sound effects are not always playing properly
• Players in the same scene will sometimes be invisible to each other, usually leaving the scene and returning will fix
• Death and Resurrection do not work properly in the team arena
• Water lots in Dynamic Player Owned Towns can currently only be placed along shorelines, not on docks
• If you upgrade from a property owning pledge between data wipes you will receive extra lot deeds.
• Some objects and NPCs in game are missing textures and show up bright pink
• Time is not in synchronized between scenes that have the new sky vs. the old sky
• Red crystal nodes in Etceter Crag Mines are all yielding blue crystals.
• If your video drivers are out of date characters will appear as if they are covered in triangles.
• Some cities are experiencing performance spikes
• Some assets create flash bulb like sparks on screen
• Many pledge, add on, and stretch goal items have not yet been built and/or do not yet have tech support.
• The update to Unity 5 caused a host of general texture and lighting related issues, and not all of these have been resolved.
• Distant tree billboards may have a white outline that is especially noticeable at night, and some trees may shimmer with white at night.
• Skin tone will sometimes not match properly on different parts of the body
• Unity 5 engine bug: Terrain is not accepting shadow casting lights and terrain lighting shows up on grid vs. radius
• ALT key can no longer be bound. This was necessary to re-enable quick self cast with ALT
• Unity 5 Engine Bug: Objects in the foreground sort incorrectly against objects in the distance like trees and the horizon

[Complete Patch Notes…]

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Release 22 Screenshot Gallery: Fishing

Players are posting lots of screenshots in the Release 22 Screenshot Gallery on the SotA Forums as well as the Steam Community Screenshot Gallery. Players are particularly enjoying the new fishing system in R22, judging by the number of fishing screenshots being posted! Even the revelers at the Traditional FireLotus Release Party couldn’t resist the fishing urge!

Winfield in particular is excited for Release 22, as it will be the first time that “Fishing with Winfield” on Sunday evenings will actually involve fishing! Here he is fishing from the roof of his Crab Shack in PaxLair:

Night fishing appears to be popular as well:

Wonder what kind of fish populate Blood River?

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Jakub White’s Map of the World

Community member Jakub White recently posted a link in the forums to his SotAMap.com, which provides an amazing, interactive map of New Britannia!

I have the honor to present a stable and properly functioning interactive map of New Britannia, available at sotamap.com. On this high resolution map you will find almost all cities, locations and geographical points such as mountains, rivers, lakes and much more. The map is fully interactive and has an option to search and zoom to the place you want. In the near future I will work on tools that will allow registered users to create interactive maps of cities (POT’s).

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Wanted: Athanil of Bear Tavern

[From a Release 22 Events Forum Post by Baron Drocis Fondorlatos]

The city of Rats’ Nest is no stranger to the wandering eyes of its residents. Neighbors are almost respected for coming up with new and ingenious ways to out smart one another out of property – almost.

But outsiders are just that, and when the Oracle protected of Novia enter the nest, respect must be earned. One does not simply show up uninvited writing notes about how brilliant a master thief they are. Nor does one enter our homes while under construction and “warn” us through stationary.

No, this lack of etiquette can not be ignored. Which is why I have decided to provide both an opportunity for redemption as well as justice.

I have issued the following reward…to those that might balance the scales of justice by killing Athanil of Bear Tavern more than any other:

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Q4 2015 Schedule Update

[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Greetings Avatars,

As we have stated previously, our goal is to once-per-quarter post an updated schedule for our monthly releases. Even though these goals will likely change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to provide you an updated roadmap periodically.

Our goal continues to be to deliver our backers content each and every month so that we can get feedback and use it to iterate improvements. This continues to benefit the game, with additional game features like jumping and swimming, and improvements to systems like crafting, conversations, and combat. Meeting that monthly goal is our highest priority, but we require flexibility in our deliverables in order to meet that goal. As you have seen in previous releases, sometimes we push things out, but we also often pull new things in.

As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers. Speaking of changes, you will see below we will not be launching by the end of this year as we had hoped. We made every attempt we could to make that happen, but several factors have contributed to us deciding that we wanted and needed more time. None of these factors by themselves moved our dates, but instead, it is the combination of all of them, along with a host of other minor issues. These factors include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Iterative and Responsive Development: Co-development and responding to feedback to improve the game while we are still developing takes a bit longer but we believe that this makes the game better and is the right thing to do. Without this method we would not have swimming and jumping in the game. We also would not have changed to a Use Based Advancement system.
• Unity Engine Upgrade: Switching to Unity 5 from 4 cost us a couple of months but the additional features it supports will be worth this in the end.
• Hiring: As you may know we have been slowly ramping up our hiring as more systems come online and we are ready to build more content to fill those systems. Hiring is always slow and it has been particularly challenging for us in some areas like Visual Effects. This is coupled with a few departures that we have had to backfill.
• Time for Polish and Balance: When we finish adding systems and content, we want to have adequate time to polish and balance before the final wipe / launch.

We will do everything in our power, however, to complete Episode 1 in as timely a manner as possible without sacrificing scope or quality. It is worth noting that based on our current funding and fundraising data trends, that we we will still be able to complete the game without any financial issues, even with slips like this. NOTE: With this schedule change we extended payment plans to February.

I feel incredibly excited about how we are finishing 2015. As I stated in my Release 22 post yesterday, I really do feel we are at a turning point in the project. We are expanding in both axes that are the quintessence of this project: Sandbox and Story. The breadth of features that let you interact with the world and other players continues to widen and will now start to deepen as we add more content to those systems; systems like weather, fishing, crafting, etc. The depth of the story will lead you even further into the murky ethical dilemmas that identify the works of Lord British. There is, however, a third axis that we continue to dedicate ourselves to: you, our community. That third leg of the tripod is perhaps the sturdiest, for it is the base on which this entire experience depends and I could not be more thrilled with the quality of that support. This is truly a magnificent community that delicately balances passionate support with honest critique. You are the ones who will take our work and make it great. Thank you for being here with us.

Now without further ado here are our goals for the Fourth and final quarter of 2015:

RELEASE 23, October 29, 2015

• Full Wipe: We are going to make some fundamental changes to item architecture that require us to do a full wipe for Release 23. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please note that if you have been waiting to melt down add-ons, this is your chance to do so as long as you do NOT login once R23 goes live (which automatically claims the items and prevents melt down).
• Halloween Content: Prepare for an explosion of spooky stuff! Masks, decorations, statues, potions, makeup… the works!
• Servants and House Pets: Players can now place servants and pets in their home. Servants will have conversations and pets will do their own business (note that peeing on rugs is a stretch goal).
• Spells & Skills: We will continue to make a pass through the skill trees and add new skills, balance existing skills, and replace less useful skills.
• Taming: Taming will expand with new skills and will now allow players to have more than one tamed creature in their inventory. Players will also now be able to trade and sell tamed creatures.
• Story: More polish passes will be made on existing maps for balance and story support. We will also continue to expand the story with new scenes including the town of Etceter and Highvale Village, a single player experience that is the starting map for the Courage quest line (and the final starting map of three).
• Player Owned Towns: We will add an additional template for the Underground biome and we will add the ability for Dynamic Town owners to place the various NPCs they chose (Guards, shopkeepers, etc.).
• Crafting: More Refining and Production skills will come online. Additionally Crafting Table quality, location, and calendar will begin to factor into crafting results. We will also create more armor, weapon, and cooking recipes
• Creatures: The enslaved Fauns will start appearing alongside their masters the Satyrs.
• Master / Apprentice System: Adventuring with a player who has achieved Grand Mastery in a skill will increase the rate that you advance that same skill.

RELEASE 24, November 19, 2015:

• Polish and Performance: We will work to improve overall polish and performance in the game. We will focus not only on improving frame rate, but also lowering load times. We may also spend some time on usability issues. This will be the main focus of Release 24 so content delivery will be smaller than a “normal release”.
• Story: The story continues to expand with the control point of Hilt and the dungeons beneath that contain the only known forge capable of forging with Obsidian. Additionally, a handful of new towns will appear beyond the Perennial Coast that include story quests.
• Localization: We will begin crowdsourcing the translation of the game into various languages.
• Weather: More types of weather will come online, like snow. Weather will also be linked to seasonal changes, vary based on location (it won’t snow in the desert generally), though it will have some randomness.
• Earlier Delivery Date: Due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, R24 will be coming out one week earlier than normal releases.

RELEASE 25, December 17, 2015

• Story: More towns with story content will appear in Novia along with the dungeon of Artifice on the island of Elysium that will be the climax of the Truth Quest line.
• Property Tax: Property ownership will now incur regular fees (unless you are using a tax free deed from a pledge). If the fees are not paid, the player will lose their claim, and their possessions (including the house and decorations) will be moved to their bank.
• Combat: The cover system will be introduced and will modify attack and defense values when you (or your target) are behind cover.
• Creatures: Our creature list will continue to expand with Chaos Demons and Wisps.
• Guild Warfare: Guilds will now be able to declare war on each other.
• Agriculture: Players will be able to start planting and harvesting as Agriculture appears in the game.
• Player Owned Towns: We will continue to expand the number of templates.
• Multiple Characters: Players with pledges that include additional character slots can now create and play with those additional characters. As mentioned previously, all these characters share reputation, bank, pledge rewards, add-on items, and property. Additionally, if the first character has a last name, all additional characters will have that same last name.
• Earlier Delivery Date: Due to the Christmas holiday, R25 will be coming out one week earlier than normal releases.

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:

 

Sincerely,
Starr Long
Executive Producer
Shroud of the Avatar

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Tavern Rap by Briar Vesper

Briar Vesper released this cool rap video supporting the Locklake Tavern in BMC’s town of Blackrock Cove. Check it out!

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Rough Stone Building Blocks

These stackable stone blocks (craftable in-game) come in eleven sizes and allow players to build simple open structures like walls, mazes, amphitheaters, etc.

As an example, here is a Keep that Darkstarr built with the building blocks:

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Autism Awareness Charity Events

The Third Annual Logan Grisham Autism Awareness Charity Drive concluded on September 22nd with great results! They raised a total of $5,631, far surpassing their goal of $2,500! Additionally, the Shroud of the Avatar backer community has contributed $3,356 through Make A Difference charity item purchases (Portalarium donates 50% of it’s share of the Make A Difference purchases).

There are even more Shroud of the Avatar Autism Awareness Charity Events scheduled for this weekend, and throughout the week, including:

SotA Concert Series

Utilizing the new music system included in Release 22, several community leaders, including Kazyn Phoenixfyre, Violation, and Winfield, are coordinating a weekly concert, to be held in a different town each week. The very first concert, premiering in Port Phoenix this Saturday, September 26, at 4pm CST, will focus on raising awareness and support of autism through the Make A Difference Charity items. This first concert will feature community member Eniko, along with other community members. As first mentioned in Update #141, Eniko developed the ABC and MML code library that we are using in SotA’s music system. Eniko offers the code library free (MIT licensed) to give back to the community.

Fishing With Winfield For Autism Awareness

Winfield has been holding his Fishing With Winfield event every Sunday night at 8pm CST, described as “Come sit with Winfield on a log or rock to hear some fish tales or tell your own. Chat about anything from the moons to the earth worms.”

This week’s Fishing With Winfield will be doubly special, in that it is the first time that fishing will actually be involved, and Winfield, Kazyn Phoenixfyre and others are handing out Autism Awareness cloaks, prompting players to wear the cloaks in support of Autism Awareness.

Autism Awareness Random Drawing

Members of RizeUp Gaming, Avatars Radio, and Phoenix Republic will be scouting throughout New Britannia, on the lookout for any player wearing an Autism Awareness Puzzle Pattern or Puzzle Tree cloak. Anyone spotted wearing one of those cloaks (up to one per hour) will be eligible for a drawing at the end of the week to win two $20 Store Credit Gift Coupons, courtesy of RizeUp Gaming!

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SpeedTree Contributes Autism Awareness Puzzle Tree

Our thanks to Sonia Piasecki, senior artist at SpeedTree who modeled the Autism Awareness Puzzle Tree, and Chris King who helped facilitate the effort at SpeedTree. We love how Sonia was able to create puzzle shaped leaves that had a very real, organic feel.

We created a Puzzle Tree 6-Pack in the format of our other tree packs, available now in the Make A Difference Store in support of Autism Awareness charities. The pack includes:

• 2 one-story tall trees
• 2 two-story tall trees
• 1 three-story tall tree
• 1 four-story tall tree

The Puzzle Tree 6-Pack is available as a stand-alone item and is also included in the Puzzle Pack, along with the Puzzle Pattern Cloak and (dyeable) Puzzle Tree Cloak:

Since added to our Make A Difference Store last week, our amazing community has purchased over $3,000 of these Autism Awareness items, of which Portalarium is donating 50% of its share of the purchase price to be equally split between the National Autism Association and the National Autistic Society. By purchasing these items, our community is helping to make a difference in the lives of those that need our help.

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Stone Crypt

This large gravesite decoration comes with an interior to hide spooky things! Can be placed on a property along with your home.  Available now in the Add-On Store!

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Elven Homes

Live in harmony with nature in these one-room Elven Village homes, designed for comfort and simplicity (you may have seen the homes in Blood River Settlement). Available in the Add-On Store.

Elven Village Home

Elven Peaked-Roof Village Home

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38 Day Countdown for Fall Reward & Sale Expirations

As we approach the last quarter of 2015, and major milestones such as Alpha and Beta are looming ever closer on the horizon, we are announcing the Fall Reward Expiration Event that occurs at Midnight CST, November 2, 2015. This event includes the following reward expirations:

• Future Episodes 2,3,4 & 5 of Shroud of the Avatar
• Additional Character Slots 2 & 3
• Waterfront Homes & Lots (including Cabana, German Cabana, Lighthouse, Houseboat, Galleon, Castle, and Castle with Keeps)

In addition to the pledge reward expirations, the sale will end on November 2nd for the following Add-On Store items and they will revert to their regular prices (as displayed in the item description): Battle Banner, Tower Village Home, Tower Town Home, Druid Town Home, Airship City Home, Row Lot Property Deeds, Village Lot Property Deed (SOLD OUT), Town Lot Property Deeds, and City Lot Property Deeds

[More Fall Reward Expiration details…]

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Auto-Canceling Monthly Layaway Payment Plans

We implemented the ability to automatically cancel monthly layaway payment plans, no longer requiring you to cancel them manually. Starting September 7, 2015, any payment plans that reach their desired pledge level will be canceled automatically. You are still able to cancel your plan manually at anytime by going to your Account page.

There are several payment plans that have exceeded their designated pledge level that have not been manually canceled by their account holder. The backers of these payment plans will have until September 30th to contact our customer service department at support@portalarium.com to let us know that they would like for the payment plan to continue, or they will be automatically canceled on September 30, 2015.

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In-game Weekend Community Events

Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Special thanks to community member SpookyJenny (aka Jenny Phoenixfyre in-game) for her help in compiling the latest schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar:

Recurring Events

• The R22 Unreliable Travel Guide
  • The Unreliable Travel Guide, created at the SotA Writing Round Table, is not an event, but a collection of hilarious short stories published by two drunken layabouts who have nothing better to do than try to derive a dishonest income from newly arrived avatars. (details)
• Avatars Radio (Daily Programming)
  • Welcome New Britannians to Avatars Radio – Radio of the Avatars. Rocking your socks off from the town of Radio City with the Terrestrial and New Britannian bards together under one roof through the power of the Moon Towers.  Check out their daily program of amazing DJs:  http://avatarsradio.info/schedule.php
• NBNN Lunch with Lazarus (Weekdays, 12pm CST)
  • Join Lazarus every weekday for the daily goings on in SOTA. Calendar updates, relevant issues happening in the days news, chat about upcoming events and general information. Feel free to call in or join us in team speak and tell us WHAT YOU THINK. http://www.twitch.tv/nbnnnews
• Daily War Time PVP Event (Daily, 8pm CST – 9pm CST)
  • Invitation to all guilds, PK hunters, PVP’rs or players interested in PVP training to come to Chaos Crossroads (Located at the crossroads outside of Kingsport on the road to Owl’s Head). PVP Event rules: None! Use whatever spells you want, kill in mobs or solo, group with new allies and defend your territory, lure newbies into the town and wack them! (details)
• Daily Breakfast Club – 12am CST (London UK); 6am CST (Central US); 3pm CST (Sydney Australia)
  • Breakfast Clubs offer a time when people from around different time zones can gather. (Wody’s Pub, Paxlair)
• “The Tavern Respite” RP Event (Mondays, 8pm CST)
  • The tavern door opens before you, and the scent of pipe and stew waft outwards with a wall of warmth from the hearth. Join in with the patrons of the Bear Tavern as they share tales of their adventures amid endless mugs of ale, legs of mutton, and merriment unbounded (The Bear Tavern in PaxLair; /zone Elgarion De’Khali; details)!
• Challenge Dungeon Run (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 7pm CST)
  • This is a self-host event, meet at the Braemar Cemetery and organize into groups to take on the infamous Chillblain’s Compendium of Pain & Suffering!
• PaxLair Working Hours – Host Sean Silverfoot (Tuesdays, 2pm)
  • PaxLair town and community “working hours” are for anyone interested in PaxLair. We will be in New Britannia doing things as a town when many people can work together. Sean Silverfoot hosts this working period. / zone Sean Silverfoot
• Novian Academy – New Citizen Help Hours (Tuesdays, 6pm CST)
  • /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre of Novian Academy in Soltown as they provide guidance to those new to the world of New Britannia.
• Phoenix Republic Open Mic Night (Wednesdays, 7pm CST)
  • Join the Phoenix Republic as we explore a weekly series of shared creativity, stories, songs and music. We will have entertainment and dining, dancing and socializing with our friends. Those who wish to share in their creativity can take to the stage and show off their newest creative endeavor!
• Happy Hour Wednesdays (Wednesdays, 8pm CST)
  • Otherwise known as “Spend Stryker’s Gold” – Stryker will open a bar tab at one of the local Novia taverns for an hour or so for drinks, stories, news, critique of the arts, dancing, and otherwise unplanned mayhem. Zone /Stryker Sparhawk or watch this thread for locations each week!
• Storytime with royalsexy (Thursdays, 7am CST)
  • Join royalsexy in Radio City for stories and chats. /zone royalsexy or hike aaaaalll the way to Radio City to join in. Also live on Avatars Radio http://avatarsradio.info
• Gladiator Wars (Thursdays, 7pm CST)
  • A call to all fighters PVE and PVP! Would you like to participate in the “Gladiator Wars” PvP Tournaments? Registration starts at 6pm CST. (/zone Pestilence; details)
• Phoenix Republic PVE Nights (Thursdays & Fridays, 7pm CST)
  • Join the Phoenix Republic as we send our weekly foray into the control points, dungeons and other of the most dangerous locales. Each week we will depart to a different PVE locale to help train our combatants. Contact Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Malakas for more info!
• Vengeance Madness (Fridays, 7pm CST)
  • This is an Open PvP event where everyone fights it out in a royal rumble to see who the ultimate death dealer is! (City of Vengeance; /zone Bambino LudoVate)
• Astronomy Event (Fridays, 8pm CST)
  • Interested in New Britannia Astronomy? Just enjoy gazing at the stars? Join us every week as we explore the night sky above New Britannia. (Player Town of Caer Dracwych; details)

Saturday, September 26

• 9:00am CST PaxLair Working Hours
  • PaxLair town and community “working hours” are for anyone interested in PaxLair. (/zone Winfield)
• 11:00am CST Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service
  • Join Lady Amber Raine, High Priestess of the Church of the Dark Star along with Kazyn Phoenixfyre of the Church of the Sun, as they bring another thought provoking service. (PaxLair; details)
• 1:30pm CST A Letter From 4B
  • Come with us and solve all the riddles of the player written quest under guidance. Work together with the group so we can finish it within a good time. After that let us party, celebrate a bit too late one year of 4B and than draw the winners. We will draw a seperate 5$ credit winner under all that take part in the event and solve the riddles till the end (details).
• 3:30pm CST Spoon’s Silly Spectacles – the Magic Movers
  • Two teams of two player each face off against each other. An “Engineer” in single player mode builds something that their teammate, a “Runner” in multi-player mode, must use to complete a challenge. Prizes! (In the player owned town of Lux Sanctuary; /zone Lux; details)
• 4:00pm CST SotA Concert Series
  • Join us each week in Shroud of the Avatar as we hold the weekly SotA Concert Series! Each week we will be travelling to a different town and presenting an hour long concert by one of our amazing community musicians! First week is Port Phoenix. Whisper Kazyn Phoenixfyre, Violation or Winfield for details on each week’s concert!
• 7:00pm CST Port Phoenix Social Nights
  • Come on out to Port Phoenix to join the republic in a series of 1v1 and 2v2 Gustball matches! Each match is played first to four points wins! (Port Phoenix, Firehawk Field, or /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre)
• 8:00pm CST Vengeance 1v1 Tournament
  • The longest running Player vs Player tournament in Shroud of the Avatar. (City of Vengeance)

Sunday, September 27

• 6:30am CST Explore Novia with royalsexy (PaxLair Moon Tower, /zone royalsexy)
• 8:30am CST PaxLair Meeting
  • Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions! (PaxLair, /zone Winfield)
• 11:00am CST Phoenix Republic Town Hall/Working Hours
  • A Gathering of members of the Phoenix Republic to cover important topic areas of the month. (Republic Town Hall, Port Phoenix, /zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre or Jack Knyfe)
• 1:00pm CST Serenite Shopping Extravaganza
  • Serenite Shopping Extravaganza at the Selfridge Mall. Crafters will be available for special orders.
• 3:00pm CST Gustball
  • Two teams are pitted against each other in a sporting event not dissimilar from soccer, football, and basketball. The object of the game is to Gust a Gustball around the field and into your opponent’s goal (/zone Bambino Ludovate, details)
• 5:00pm CST BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration
  • Register to compete in the BMC Gridiron and mingle with other participants and spectators before the big fight! (Blackrock Point on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, details)
• 5:00pm CST Happy Birthday – Community-Wide Event!
  • We are here to celebrate the birthdays of no less then 7 wonderful community members as well as everyone else who is having a birthday this month that are missed! Including Firelotus, Justyn, Kazyn Phoenixfyre, Lady Adnor, Amber Raine, Stephen Daniele, and Duke Violation.
• 5:30pm CST BMC Gladiator’s Grid-Iron
  • The BMC is proud to present the nastiest, the foulest, the most feared arena in all of New Britannia! The Grid-Iron is equipped with a pit-style arena, locker rooms, a VIP round-table, betting & vendor booths, and all the blood-sport you can handle. (Blackrock Point on Novia near Etceter Crag Mines, details)
• 7:00pm CST PaxLair Meeting
  • Come see what PaxLair is up to in Novia and other town areas! Many people also attend from towns and guilds for a bit of a weekly wrap-up and what’s happening. Good discussions!  (PaxLair, /zone Winfield)
• 8:00pm CST Fishing with Winfield (in Avenguard)
  • Come sit with Winfield on a log or rock to hear some fish tales or tell your own. Chat about anything from the moons to the earth worms. Spend a relaxing day in nature near a stream or lake — bring insect repellent or a sword.  (some fishing spot or pond, /zone Winfield)

Be sure and check out the Release 22 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.

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This Week In the News

September 21 – MMORPG: Column: Release 22: Marking Time

September 21 – Richard Garriott’s ‘Shroud of the Avatar’ Puts Storylines in a Sandbox Videogame

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Upcoming Events

2015.10.15 – Intel® Buzz Workshop
2015.10.29 – Release 23
2015.11.19 – Release 24
2015.12.17 – Release 25
2016.01.28 – Release 26
2016.02.25 – Release 27
2016.03.17 – SXSW Gaming

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Recommended Games to Back

Underworld: Ascendant

Far more than a dungeon crawl, Underworld Ascendant is a next-generation sequel to the legendary fantasy RPG’s Ultima Underworld & Ultima Underworld 2. It not only modernizes the series’ visuals and user interface to take full advantage of the today’s powerful PC’s, it innovates in bold new ways.