Category Archives: Community Spotlight

‘Dawn of New Britannia’ Community Trailer Contest

Get those eye popping trailer ideas ready, Avatars! This is your chance to show that Shroud of the Avatar is both the game, and community, that new players will want to experience next! The ‘Dawn of New Britannia Community Trailer Contest’ kicks off today!

You have from August 4, 2016 (Now) to August 21, 2016 (11:59 PM CDT) to design a video trailer for all New Britannians to see and admire. Glamorous city districts, creative player-owned towns, luxurious housing, intense combat, majestic outdoor areas, and so much more is available to proudly show off. There’s a nearly infinite potential in creating a trailer that makes even the most hardy New Britannia cry in joy, and to want to share the video with others.

Below are the details of this contest, including what you can win when creating an amazing video!

WINNERS & PRIZES

Trailers will be judged by a team at Portalarium on the following merits:

  • Keeping to the Shroud of the Avatar world (Only SotA footage, audio, or your own (free/non-copyrighted) assets)
  • Overall originality and artistic flair (Don’t overdo it! Simplicity can work wonders)
  • Diversity of in-game areas presented (Outside scenes, inside homes, dungeons, etc.!)
  • Overall flow from opening scenes, buildup of in-game footage, and end scene
  • Seamless transitions, consistency, and smooth gameplay throughout
  • Will it make a fan shed a tear in joy? Brownie points here!

Check out these great prizes for designing a great trailer!

  • Grand Prize: $1,000 Store Credit, SotA signed t-shirt, Sword of Midras book, SotA COTOs coin, and a specially signed congratulations letter from Richard Garriott.
  • 2nd Place: $500 Store Credit, SotA signed t-shirt, Sword of Midras book, SotA COTOs coin
  • 3rd Place: $250 Store Credit, SotA signed t-shirt, Sword of Midras book, SotA COTOs coin

All Other Submissions: Everyone else that submits an eligible and feature complete trailer will have theirs included in a contest playlist on the official Portalarium YouTube channel for proudly submitting their work.

Final entries and winners will be mentioned and possibly shown in the upcoming summer telethon on August 22nd! Keep watch on the main website for details on the telethon.

Read more…


Recap’s Pronoia Album – Listen Party This Weekend

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The First Listen Party for Pronoia! The second Album from the Space Bards / Recap Band

Avatars Radio along with The Caverns are proud to announce the first listen party on July 22-23, starting at 10pm NBT (CDT). Tune in to Avatars Radio and join us in game at the Isle of Ghosts!

Schedule:

10-11pm NBT: Hangout with the Bards on Avatars Radio for some rabble

11pm NBT: Listen to the entire album from start to finish

After the Album is finished, hang around with Dom John, Dan Span, and Steven Goldman!

Listen In:

Details and discussion of the event in the Community Forums.


RizeUp Gaming’s 4th Annual Multiple Sclerosis Charity Drive, June 17-19

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[The following excerpt is from a RizeUp Gaming Twitch Channel Subscriber Letter]

We are excitedly preparing for our June charity: the Fourth Annual Multiple Sclerosis Society Charity Drive hosted live on the channel the 17th through 19th. Look forward to seeing our everyday streamers in addition to a few of our newest members recruited to the stream team. Long-time supporter, Indie, will be casting from the channel Saturday, June 18th, at 10am PDT. RizeUp Owner, Firecrow, will be casting the same day at 8pm PDT.

All streams during the marathon will have special donation incentives to make donating to the MS Society Charity a little more interesting as we attempt to reach our $1000 goal. Prizes for this marathon include two Steelseries headsets, one 60-day Minecraft server hosted by WTGHosting, artwork by artists in our community, and Steam game code packs. We will be giving out Steam game codes when we reach certain follower, subscriber, and donation increments to viewers in chat and through the RizeUp Twitter.

Make sure to come by the channel and show off your sub emotes while we raise money for MS.

https://www.twitch.tv/rizeupgaming

Donate to RizeUp Gaming’s National MS Society Charity Drive here!

#StrongerThanMS


Portalarium Attends HoBLotH III

Last week was amazing in Austin for both Portalarium and the SotA community! Many on our team had the pleasure of attending HoBLotH III, which stands for Hearth of Britannia: Lifeblood of the Hearth. The event generated a huge amount of activity for over five days at Castleton Village near the office.

Dancing, storytelling, and LARPing quests and contests occurred throughout each day with many events extending well into the evenings. Tuesday was the official kick-off day with the real fun beginning on Wednesday with a bunch of quests that included testing one’s knowledge of Britannia, a scavenger hunt, fishing, and fighting for valor in LARP combat!

COMMUNITY EVENTS


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Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings

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We are excited to announce the availability of the first officially licensed SotA comic from Tortoise & Hare Creations, Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings!

Created by W.O. Billman II (plot, script, and editing) and Indi Martin (pencils, inks, colors, and lettering), New Beginnings tells the story of a corrupt land, where a young farmer and his wife find themselves embroiled in a lethal powerplay with local constables, and seek a fabled escape to a legendary world.

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Community Spotlight ~ Scholars of Novia’s First Writing Contest

“In a crumbling stone tower, deep in the Shadow Wood, there live two sisters, Vomica and Repugna. Some say they are immortal, having survived from the time before the Cataclysm by the use of an enchanted hair comb. Others say they are simply two old crones who have gone half-mad eating poison mushrooms in the forest…”

This introduction to the Scholars of Novia (SoN) first player-written book contest for Shroud of the Avatar revealed the “Sisters Grim”. The strange “Sisters” received 19 book submissions through the SotA Scholars of Novia Forum, they read and savored every word, and argued for hours about which books were the best. In the end, they decided five books were the winners to be published in Shroud of the Avatar.

Winfield, one of the three Grand Masters of the Scholars said, “We Scholars of Novia are a new player group, formed over the past few months. We envision a New Britannia filled with great player-created literary works to entertain, educate, and inspire people for many, many years. We seek to foster a community which loves to read and write. We are committed to discovering and documenting lore for everyone’s enjoyment. Our contest revealed many great authors and stories worthy of being in New Britannia. The top 5 were selected:”

1. A Tale of Braemar – By royalsexy
2. The Journal of Dereck Warden – translated and with an introduction by “The Bard from Shadow Valley” (by Net)
3. The Smokehouse – Anonymous (by grnarrow)
4. Mirror, Mirror…of the Lost – by Gaelis Trajan, translated by Tolon
5. Moonlit Vigil – a selection from the Tales of Lux, from the Lux Sanctuary Library Collection (by Spoon)

The Scholars also help bring the literary artists and their books to events in New Britannia. In fact, royalsexy read his book live in Release 11 and narrated by Trevor on Avatars Radio. In Release 12, Net plans to read his award winning book as well, also narrated on Avatars Radio. Keep an eye on the Avatars Circle Calendar for all the latest events and times.

royalsexySoNreading

royalsexy reading his book in Braemar

“Whiiiiiiizzzzz” is the best word to describe the sound the boy’s sling made as he
spun it over his head. He loosed the stone and startled a lizard basking on the
side of the mountain, part of the range known as the Bone Spires.

“I’m so bored! Nothing ever happens here!” the boy complained to his friend.

You can read all the Contest #1 stories on the Scholars of Novia Forum final books thread. The Scholars are currently extracting loric references from the books to be published as reference material in the SotA Wiki and will have another call for books out soon.

The Scholars of Novia are led by three Grand Masters: Winfield, Amber Raine, and MalchorII. Within their ranks they have several Scribes and Lore Keepers working with authors, Portalarium, and publishing areas such as the SotA Wiki Library. They are the notable and immensely talented Unseen Dragon, Wahooka, Miracle Dragon, Balec Fares de Cani, Bowen Bloodgood, Browncoat Jayson, and Grant MacGregor. For more information, see SoN Wiki Page  or reach any of the Scholars on the SotA Forums any time.


Community Spotlight ~ Gladiator Games

With Release 8 around the corner, and PvP on everyone’s mind, I thought it would be a great time to check out one of the first Fighting Tournaments to rage through the hearts and minds of New Britannia… the Gladiator Games.  I had a chance to chat with the Battlemaster, Torniquet TheWarSworn, and he had lot’s of great information about the Gladiator Games and what he envisions them becoming.  But for those of you interested in participating… well, I figured you would want this bit up front.  ;)

A call to all fighters PVE and PVP! If you would like to participate in the “Gladiator Wars” please send me, Torniquet TheWarSworn, a short background about your character and why you are the greatest fighter! That way, I can start doing spots for you guys on Avatars radio with interviews and commercials, to build your titles up and create a following! I look forward to hearing from you all! please only send me messages with your characters name (not forum unless they are the same) and why he/she is the greatest fighter of all time!

–include your character name (not forum but in game name)
—what city if any you are from (in game)
–a brief description why you are a contender!

Read more…


Community Spotlight: The SotA Travel Guide

travel guide

As we gear up for Release 7, I couldn’t help but think that a Community Spotlight featuring a very cool site whose sole purpose is to help our community learn about the sights and sounds of New Britannia would be a perfect choice!  So, without further delay, I present to you, The SotA Travel Guide!   The SotA Travel Guide is designed to give visitors advice on what towns to visit, sites to see, and even has some insider tips on where one might find a few hidden gems. The SotA Travel Guide  also explores player run content including towns, shops, festivals, and more.

I had a chance to chat with Joseph Drasin (Unseen Dragon), the creator of the SotA Travel guide, and here is what he had to say. :)

Read more…


Lord British Presents yon Winners of the DnD1 Contest!

I, Lord British, am pleased to announce the winners of my Royal Challenge, the DnD1 Contest!  In total, we had 24 Entrants, all of which performed admirably and have earned my utmost respect and gratitude for participating.

Out of those entries, the Team and I selected 6 finalists, three in each of the two categories; Best Native Web version and Best Unity Plug-in.

For the Best Native Web Version, the two runners-up are:

  • Darius Makaitus
  • Santiago Zapata

You can check out a video of Santiago Zapata’s entry here:

And the Winner of Best Native Web Version is…

For the Best Unity Plug-in Version, our Runners-up are:

  • Joel François
  • Sean Gailey

And the Winner of Unity Version is:

Both Mundi King and Richard Flemming will receive a  $550 Citizen pledge, and our 4 runners-up will receive a $165 Collector pledge!  Congratulations to our winners and my humble thanks to all of those who participated.


Community Spotlight ~ PaxLair Player Town

During R6, we saw our very first, fully realized player town, PaxLair. The PaxLair community spent many hours scoping out a place to call home, laying their claims and building homes of all shapes and sizes, and crafting together in order for the whole community to be able to decorate their mantles in New Britannia. And when they were done, Lord British, Lord Darkstarr and I had the happy privilege of receiving a Royal Tour!

 

Now that R6 has been re-opened for E3, you have another week to visit PaxLair if you  haven’t already done so!  Just type  “/zone Valemark” for a quick way to get to PaxLair.  Or, if you would rather travel there by overland map, just head south from Owl’s Head. Read more…