Keeping of with Shroud of the Avatar, It’s Community, and It’s Developers

Hello, everyone!

Just another short and quick to the point piece for you Shroud of the Avatar players, of things you may have missed. Most of these items will not be found mentioned on any of the official communication platforms for the game, but are rather pieces I found elsewhere.

Shroud made MMORPG’s list of games that had it worst in 2017.

Richard Garriott is a legend. Portalarium’s goal to make the ultimate RPG is a lofty one, but one that just can’t seem to find its footing.
Read more at https://www.mmorpg.com/columns/the-mmos-that-had-it-worst-in-2017-1000012365#Z37ixTXvmMbbjITQ.99

The MMOs That Had It Worst in 2017 – The List – MMORPG.com

Massively Over Powered talks about the addition of Log Cabins to the game.

With such a strong emphasis on player housing, Shroud of the Avatar has fans guessing as to what other interesting abodes the team is cooking up inside of Lord British’s lab. Turns out the answer to this is “log cabins.”

Shroud of the Avatar goes nuts for log cabins – Massively Overpowered

If you scroll down towards the bottom of this Article on Sim City, you will see a piece and a short video that references Starr Long & Richard Garriott, in regards to Virtual Ecology.

See the long-lost NES prototype of SimCity | Ars Technica

This was my favorite!

An article that references Richard Garriott.

What this means is that Todd Howard is going to join the ranks of Ultima developer Richard Garriott and the entire team at Rockstar Games – they have won this prestigious Legend Award in the past

Todd Howard To Receive Legend Award At New York Video Game Awards

Richard Garriott is going to be talking about Shroud of the Avatar at the Austin Convention Center!

After several years of successful development as the second highest crowdfunded game ever, Shroud of the Avatar is finally launching! Join Richard “Lord British” Garriott himself

It's Here! Shroud of the Avatar and What's Coming Next (OFFICIAL)

Air and Space magazine has an article this way, about 2017 being a popular year for Astronauts to release memoir books.

Tales of the Space Explorers | Daily Planet | Air & Space Magazine

Well, if you missed Richard Garriott’s book I HIGHLY recommend it. In fact being familiar with most of his stories it has even become more fun for me, as when I am telling someone about something I am now able to pull it off a shelf and say “read these two paragraphs!”.

You probably saw this one through official channels, but it’s worth watching again!

IGN Talks about SXSW hitting Austin in March!

For starters, attendees can enjoy exclusive access to industry luminaries, creators, performers, and high-profile players at the Discovery Stage. The nine sessions announced so far include appearances by System Shock / Deus Ex mastermind Warren Spector, Ultima creator Richard Garriott (on the eve of launching crowdfunding phenom Shroud of the Avatar), Castlevania dad Koji Igarashi, Sega’s Sonic posse, and many more.

SXSW Gaming's About to Storm Austin Once Again – IGN

Looking to buy Shroud of the Avatar digital items for the game?

Check out Caveloot.com! My store, where I keep a section dedicated to digital products just for the SotA Player!

Shroud of the Avatar

Category: Blogs, Game News Sites, Lord British, Lord DarkStarr, Space Sites, Video's | Comments Off

November 26 2017

Keeping up with Shroud of the Avatar, it’s Developer’s, and it’s Community

Long overdue to highlight some of the things taking place that may be of interest to many of the Shroud of the Avatar community!

One thing that just happened is community member Rosemourne transcribed the R46 post-mortem telethon. Definitely, a cool thing to do for the community!

R46 Post-Mortem Telethon Transcription | Shroud of the Avatar Forum

Both Richard Garriott and his wife Laetitia Garriott, who met through their joint interests in spaceflight, also held duel judge positions recently!

Surprise Double Prize at the Austin “Sharks in Space” Event

Let’s not miss out on the articles by various game sites, magazines, blogs, and other such places that have done articles on Shroud of the Avatar itself!

Shroud Of The Avatar Details Release 48 Updates | MMOExaminer

Are Too Many MMORPGs Using the Fantasy Genre? | MMOExaminer

Shroud Of The Avatar Shows Off Armor And Holiday Items | MMOExaminer

Shroud of the Avatar – Invading Europe – MMORPG.com

Shroud Of The Avatar Gives Patch Notes For Release 47 | MMOExaminer

Warum hacken alle auf Shroud of the Avatar rum? – Mein-MMO.de

What's Ahead for the Balance of 2017? The Journey to Early Access Release – Shroud of the Avatar – MMORPG.com

Some cool things from the community! Speaking of which, I am going to be in a play soon! Right, the stuff..

Join the Meretz SotA Tribe | Shroud of the Avatar Forum

Some other Misc Stuff

Gamasutra – GDC 2018 to host a special 20th anniversary

Windows 10 Issue and Workaround | Shroud of the Avatar Forum

Visceral Games Joins A Long List Of Studios Closed By EA

News – All News

Tracy Hickman working on some cool things outside of Sota!
The VOID Tackles Star Wars Universe in Next Experience – Utah Business

Category: Crowdsourcing, Game News Sites, Lady British, Lord British, Lord DarkStarr, Space Sites | Comments Off

February 13 2016

Starr Long visits Sweden / Get Free Books From #DiscoverSciFi

What’s more is he is giving some presentations during his travels. Here’s a quick little snippet from an article with a video posted at TV2 OJ. This is from a Google Translate so it may not be perfect!

Tuesday morning he visited just Erhvervsakademi Dania to give a presentation about a new trend in the field of game development, “Open Development”.

I’m sure he is having a great time and is happy to be conducting business at the same time. Go check out the video and article here.

http://www.tv2oj.dk/artikel/292622:Norddjurs–Amerikansk-udvikler-er-positiv–Grenaa-kan-blive-spil-mekka

I’m all about the reading as you know. Always showing you cool books on Amazon and such!

A new reading source that I have on my radar is DiscoverSciFi.com. DiscoverSciFi.com is a website that is being done by multiple Science Fiction authors and they currently have a chance to enter for a drawing of some great prizes simply by popping over to the site and not doing much more then plugging in an email address.

Their grand prize package is a collection of some major books signed by some well known authors, I highly recomend checking it out!

Space.Com has a great article detailing the entire project.

The website, called Discover Sci-Fi, is a joint venture of 10 science fiction authors who intend to offer deals for discounted and free books, contests, sneak peaks and inside looks into the writers’ processes. It features the writers Matthew Mather, Nick Webb, Samuel Peralta, Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Michael Grumley, Evan Currie, Autumn Kalquist, Jay Allan, Darren Wearmouth and Joshua Dalzelle (as listed in an introductory email).

You can grab that over here:
http://www.space.com/31885-scifi-authors-website-free-gifts.html?cmpid=514648

You ALSO GET A FREE E-BOOK! VERY EASY They send you a confirmation email, click a link, pick your format and/or delivery. You have it. They made this extremely easy to do for you and I am already interested in the site without the free goodies!

Category: Books, Lord DarkStarr | No Comments »

July 29 2015

R20 coming and more!

So if you play Shroud of the avatar at all, you know that Release 20 comes out tomorrow. This has a lot of things taking place that are very exciting! For me the big one in terms of need to pay attention to will be the Player Owned Town. In short, with The Caverns Guild owning one, the guild is going to have me busy for a few days! Im very excited personally about taming though!

Whatever your favorite is your going to want to see the list and the details. Darkstarr has that taken care of for you!

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads%2Frelease-20-instructions.34250%2F

Need some snacks while you play? Ive been trying out different subscription boxes on occasion and I tried a snack one or two.

Munchpak is a win, straight and simple and it’s why its the best! http://munchpak.com (I get nothing when you use that link!)

I also tried Candy Club last month as I had a 20.00 off. It comes in great containers and is REALLY good. The cost is worth it in my opinion IF you do a year at a time. At the monthly rate I could do better going to a local candy shop even taking into account the convenience and time of having it at my door instead. Bottom line though is my review on this one is about the way they cancel.

You have to request it…. If a company can auto renew me for something, then I demand a link to cancel from them. A company that REQUIRES me to contact them by ANY other method to tell them to cancel my subscription looses my business 95% of the time immediately and will not get it back. Its a marketing gimmick (in my opinion) that is transparent and I do not play games- If you can’t sell me because you have a good product and you have to resort to making things harder to keep my business, then you don’t get it at all (same thing for Bocandy!).

Munchpak has an easy to use cancel option on your account. They’ll get repeat business from me once or twice a year when I’m in the mood for same gaming treats! Because of a good product, at a good price, combined with making giftinging, signing up, AND cancelling easy. Not only that but they are quickly becoming one of my favorite gifts for family members and friends. I’m not staying with them due to finances and watching my spending, but if I made more money they would be a permanent staple in my home! Sorry for crumbs I may have left in your screen a few weeks back…

Category: Lord DarkStarr, Misc, Portalarium Updates, Stile Teckel | No Comments »

July 17 2015

Continuing to keep you up to date with the new and the old for Shroud of the Avatar and related!

I know, I know.. I’ve been lame for this last week. I apologize! Been one of those.. Car troubles and all sorts of things. Keeping it short, life’s been extra special busy with a dash of epic! I’m always here though keeping it coming for you.. and I haven’t been completely slacking!

ALL of the Caverns file links should be restored and working again. This includes the Google drive links. Everything (after a mere 2 months of arguing with my computer) is back up and running or seems to be! Please – if you run into any bugs report them to me. Its possible I have tweaks to make. I apologize for how long this took but moving files around with glitches can take a while!

Unfortunately the Post Mortems always take place while I am at work so I miss them live. Luckily for those of you who are like me in you missed the R19, we have it on Youtube!

NBNN did an interview with Starr Long on Twitch but fear not, as it IS on Youtube.

I hear the details on the Chaos Medals is discussed at 1:30:14!

I was really excited when I saw this next one. The first video I ever saw from the Mad Hermit (and I think it was his first for this community) was a Unity how-to video for those doing assets for the game.

So I almost jumped out of my seat cheering for The Mad Hermit when I saw he put an asset up on Unity! GO BROTHER< GO!!!!!

Ever wish you had a Magic The Gathering card.. Signed by Richard? A contest is taking place for just that!

No, not me this time as the few of these I have left im keeping (although for the right price i might part with a signed artist proof someday).

This time Koldar is running it!

I am giving away some MtG Shield of the Avatar cards that Lord British (@RichardGarriott) autographed. There are 3 foil and 25 regular cards (see images below).

Since Portalarium is offering a 10% bonus, I figured now would be a great time to have this giveaway. The truth is, I’ve been planning this for a while but I wasn’t sure when the best time would be to launch it. I believe that time has come.
-Koldar

Get over to the forum thread and win one of these! Tell em Stile or The Caverns sent ya!

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/giveaway-celebrate-the-summer-bonus.33875/

(this photo is from my collection as opposed to the ones Koldar is giving away. You can grab a image of those at that thread I told you to go to!)

Looking for a Patreon to support? I mean, other then mine.. although no complaints *winks*. Be sure to support Dennis Loubet!

Hes doing cool things, sharing his work, and even doing random drawings for giveaways!

https://www.patreon.com/denisloubet?ty=c

Blake Blackstone revealed a new project he’s been working on called The Weeping Seven.

Now after you check it out, you may be going.. nice artwork! As you should as Tortoise and Hare represents!

THE WEEPING SEVEN
is an organisation that follows and upholds the disciplines of the Seven Sons. Each member is unique and sets their own path, choosing one of the Sons to follow and study. However, all act together, as a single unit, if the time arises to defend the sacred scriptures.

Go read and see it all here: http://theweepingseven.com/

Category: Artwork, Caverns, Dungeons, and Beyond, Denis Loubet, Guilds & Communities, Hangout of the Avatar, Interviews, Lord DarkStarr, Mad Hermit, Stile Teckel, Video's | No Comments »

March 25 2015

Shroud of the Avatar – R16,

So you ready for Release 16? I KNOW I’M NOT! *chuckles* speaking of which, so that everyone doesn’t think I fell off the face of the earth, I am going to be away for a week or two, starting next week. Sorry for the absence and I will be checking in on things as far as correspondence but probably very little beyond that. I’ll be back.

Seriously though, I’m very ready for release 16. Unfortunately I think release 17 is going to be my personal big release as far as getting in game more often. I will definitely be in R16 a bit this weekend to spend some time with my friends and do some hat quests!

That’s why I am going to need the Release 16 instructions and so will you! Luckily Starr took care of it as always and hes got that.

Release 16 Instructions | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

Greyhaven did this. This happened!

Greetings All

With thanks to Doctor Shroud for the source material, and Jarrod Kailef for his blessing to use his excellent tunes “Trekking in the Tall Grass” and “Beautiful Meadow”, here is my tongue-in-cheek video assessment of the winning druid home:

(Video) R14 Decoration Contest Winner & Kailef Music | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

Live in New York? Going to be in NEw York this Weekend? Then you just may be interested in this!

@LaetitiaNYC & I are hosting a potentially explosive interactive gaming event @MoMath1 this weekend! Come join us!
-Richard Garriott via Twitter

Richard Garriott on Twitter: "@LaetitiaNYC & I are hosting a potentially explosive interactive gaming event @MoMath1 this weekend! Come join us! http://t.co/L2bvMcF4xu".

The Mad Hermit turned me onto this one, so I am going to let him tell you about it!

Follow @MrCacoPlays for #ShroudOfTheAvatar tutorials and help videos in Spanish.
-The Mad Hermit Via Twitter

The Mad Hermit on Twitter: "Follow @MrCacoPlays for #ShroudOfTheAvatar tutorials and help videos in Spanish. https://t.co/1ASAwaQJkz".

Mr Caco – YouTube.

Category: Caverns, Dungeons, and Beyond, Decorating, Housing, Lord British, Lord DarkStarr, Mad Hermit, Misc, Music, Offical, People, Screenshots, The Caverns Guild, Video's | No Comments »

March 21 2015

Tuesday’s Newsday

So, hopefully some of this isn’t to old as not to be of use.. man, when I start catching up on old news pieces, you guys are going to go “really.. that old Stile?”.. Meanwhile so that I am not of complete waste:

So this piece really caught my attention. Its over at Gamers Nexus and its focus is on Richard Garriott and Chris Roberts talking, space.. Why did that catch my attention? What a combo on that topic!. Fun and short read even if my musing wasn’t!

Chris Roberts & Richard Garriott Playfully Discuss Zero G Physics [Video] | Gamers Nexus – Gaming PC Builds & Hardware Benchmarks.

Miss the most recent Church of the Dark Star? Visit Amber Raine’s thread where she even posts the audio for you! Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Services | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

Matterio posted a thread over in the Sota forums announcing the SotA community app has went Alpha.

SotA Community App | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

Umuri did something pretty cool. I really am not even going to try to explain this thing, you just need to check it out.

Ok, so I’ve been working on a functional almost fully self-crafted house decor entry, and now that it’s done for this release 16 hours positioning and 6k boards later, figured I’d run a contest.

So, hidden on this lot are a number of apples, I won’t say exactly how many, but first one to find them and post screenshots of them at each apply with /loc showing wins 100k gold. So you have to ask yourself, did you find them all? Or maybe you didn’t and your post will tip someone off to where their missing one is? Good luck! Since no one’s put an entry up yet, The following reward applies, for every apple you are missing, your reward is cut in half, and the remaining apples rewards are still open.

So whoever finds the final apple gets 50k, the second to last gets 25k, third to last gets 12.5k, etc

Head on over and see the full details. Go check the place out, I hear its really cool!
Scavenger Hunt for 100k gold! | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

Ok, disregarding anything else, this is one catchy title!

Con Man: Quick … Take My Money!

Tracy Hickman is strongly supporting this project. It has some amazing people involved and it really looks awesome. I figured while not really SotA related it was a cool blurb that many might be interested in.

Con Man: Quick … take my money!.

Need some combat lessons? Heres a class that took place you can watch!

Combat Lessons – From Novice To Master (Introduction) – YouTube.

Published on Mar 21, 2015
A combat lesson by Net
Assisted by Gaelis Trajan
Commentary by Amber Raine

Shroud of the Avatar has passed 6 million dollars… HUZAH!! HELLLLL YEEAHH!!! Well, to tell you all about it, who better then the Ultima Codex?
» Shroud of the Avatar: $6 Million RaisedThe Ultima Codex.

MMORPG Also did a piece on this:
$6M and CountingSotA Shroud of the Avatar News – MMORPG.com.

Article over at Redbull.com: Shroud of the Avatar: Ultima in all but name.

Yes, in full disclosure I am biased. One of my guild members made the front cover of this piece over at Gamers Nexus. So this is a must see! *chuckles*.

Shroud of the Avatar's Impressive Stability & Beautification – Richard Garriott Interview | Gamers Nexus – Gaming PC Builds & Hardware Benchmarks.

I thought it was pretty cool that Shroud of the Avatar made an article by CNBC! Fans give millions to fund fantasy Avatar video game.

Category: Audio, Avatar's Radio, Decorating, Events - in Game, Game News Sites, Lord British, Lord DarkStarr, Misc, People, Puzzlle/Riddle, SotA Fansites, Tracy Hickman, Video's | No Comments »

February 7 2015

A Whole lotta stuff

The Mad Hermit never seems to stop putting out pieces of aid to the community! Need gold? He is going to show you how to be rich beyond your dreams and then you CHOOSE to live in a little hovel alone somewhere in the woods.. because your CRAZZZZYYYYY…

Shroud Of The Avatar – Money Making Guide – R14 – YouTube.

All Reporters Gathering! This is a thing! How cool is that? Winfield posted about this new occurrence taking place over in the Sota Forums. Heres a little snippet of what he has to say!

Purpose:
To discuss how news and information from inside New Britannia is reported and documented.
To compare ideas to help consolidate and prevent duplication of services.
To envision how information will last for decades for all to use.
To share knowledge about existing or planned services.
To educate each other on best methods for discovering, uncovering, reporting, and documenting information.

Now I know your saying.. “Stile, how soon are you getting in on this?”. To be honest, I am not. I think its fantastic, a great group and they have my support! However for me personally I have a dull plate of projects and activities that I am already trying to wrap up so I can maintain my core stuff and focus on my guild and new in game projects. Im not going to add new projects to my plate! Although I hope to maybe poke my head in from time to time as time allows.

However I think this is a fantastic opportunity to grow a great community within our big community. TWO THUMBS UP!

So were in R14 now your playing it, the graphics are looking good. Maybe some things still need some work. Well, compare it to where we where are R13 and where we are going by catching the R13 Post Mortum!

Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 13 Postmortem – YouTube.

Kenneth Kully got something really cool in the mail and it shows you why being a part of this community is so fantastic! Head over and see what he had to say and exactly showed up in his mail!

In Which Rustic Dragon and Richard Garriott Leave Me Humbled – The Ultima Codex.

Ultima Underworld returns via Kickstarter – Article over at bit Gamer

Ultima Underworld returns via Kickstarter | bit-gamer.net.

The Bear Tavern Brawl is hosting an event this Saturday! “Tag Team”, Read all about it!

Bear Tavern Brawl – Tag Team! | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

The Recap band.. LIVEEE IN NEW YORK!!!!!!! How cool is this??!?!?!?!?!?

Our first local NY show is happening! 3/7 @ The Skyline in Middletown.

Damn, wish I could go!!

Recap on Twitter: "Our first local NY show is happening! 3/7 @ The Skyline in Middletown. https://t.co/2aJzFLRCiq".

The Bear cavern starts a new community group called “The Beran League”

To one and all,

The community of The Bear Tavern has slowly but surely grown over its recent past, attracting visitors from all walks of life. Now well beyond the scope and scale of that originally intended, it has been decided that a different approach should be taken to support the community as a whole. As such, on the evening of the 3rd of February, the High Council of Beran’s Reach voted on and approved the formal creation of The Beran League, an organisation encompassing a range of Towns, Guilds and Businesses. This represents our first step in founding something bigger, a move which promises to deliver greater opportunities and events for those who wish to be involved. Our little community has begun to grow up.

This isn’t the only news. Alongside our current circle, our long-term friends within The Moongate Travellers together with their Player Town of Rifts End will be joining us. I would like to wish them a formal welcome, a matter that seems somewhat redundant since we know many of them well already! I look forward to go out into the world alongside the good folk of MGT470 on dungeon raids and event nights in the future.
-Vallas

Go catch all the details!
The Beran League – Guilds and Land Owners Unite | Shroud of the Avatar Forum.

News Cast by Matthew over in the Google community can be found here!

Episode 11 is here!.

It looks like if I am understanding this correctly, that home decorating services are being offered.

Need design work done for your home in #NewBritannia ? Like this page and….

The Shroud of the Avatar Box art was revealed!

Shroud of the Avatar on Twitter: "Heya @djWHEAT Care to add SotA: FV box art to Twitch Games Directory? https://t.co/ceD3PsE4v1 http://t.co/snVj6P558l".

Massively has an article up about the free hat quest in R14

Shroud of the Avatar's release 14: FREE HAT | Massively.

German Shroud of the Avatar interview! our Lord British tweeted about this over here, Richard Garriott on Twitter: "Hope its complimentary, don't speak German: Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues – Interview http://t.co/KPQZboprlT via @gamona".

You can go view the interview here, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues – Interview.

Until I send more your way,
Stile Teckel

January 25 2015

Uderworld, Starr Long interview, SotA Role Players, Update #108

Ok if you haven’t heard about Underworld Ascendant yet then you may find it of interest if you where a past fan of Ultima Underworld. If you where not a fan of Ultima Underworld, STILL CHECK THIS OUT!

Underworld Ascendant – Underworld Ascendant.

One of the questions quickly become though is, any chance of this having any SotA Tie-ins? The question has been raised and Ultima Codex tackled a great article on it!

#IAmTheAvatar: Are Underworld Ascendant and Shroud of the Avatar Set in the Same Universe? – The Ultima Codex.

Personally I am hoping we see a little cross promotion on this project. I wont be putting a lot of money into it as I can’t afford to. I will however be backing it as it will be a game I will have to fit a little time in for.. somehow!

Don’t miss the interview you can see posted over here at Gamasutra with Starr Long titled “Crowdsharing development of Shroud of the Avatar” and from what I hear it is a very good interview! Definitely going onto my to watch list. It’s accompanied by an article.

Gamasutra – Video: Crowdsharing development of Shroud of the Avatar.

In case you missed a past piece I did on it, don’t forget that the Shroud of the Avatar Role Players moved to a new site recently! IF you are not familiar with them, they are a community with the goal of creating some role play cohesion among different role playing guilds, individuals, and groups in the community.

Shroud of the Avatar Role Players.

If nothing else swing by to take a look at their site! Wow! I’m jealous, that’s a nice theme!

Also, If you didnt catch update 108 be sure to grab that! I didn’t publish it at the time 🙂
Update of the Avatar #108 – 2015.01.16: Mad Hermit’s Lay of the Land, PAX South, R13 Postmortem, Duke’s Basement, Flesh Flayer, Steam Catchers, and More! | Shroud of the Avatar.

Category: Game News Sites, Interviews, Lord DarkStarr, Portalarium Updates, Video's | No Comments »

January 23 2015

Recap Band, Starr Long, and more!

Yeah, time to mix up a little Neon Milk and rock out to the latest cover song from Recap Band!
Mistadobalina (opb Del Tha Funky Homosapien) by Space Bards(a.k.a. Recap) on SoundCloud – Hear the world’s sounds.

Now, once you have done that your going to want to find a designated driver to get you to Pax South and visit Starr, Richard, and any other Portalarium folks that may have went!

Starr Long on Twitter: "Come see @ShroudofAvatar this weekend @Official_PAX South, Texas Indie Game Lounge, Microsoft Booth 1343. We are giving away daily prizes!".

Category: Game News Sites, Interviews, Lord DarkStarr, Music, Spacebards, Video's | No Comments »