SotA Con – A Shroud of the Avatar Fan Convention – Nov. 4-6, 2016

Hail Avatars!

Portalarium is excited to participate in the first ever community organized convention for Shroud of the Avatar – SotA Con East 2016! SotA developers and players alike will be gathering together for a casual for a casual weekend filled with exciting activities, engaging panel discussions, and of course plenty of gameplay sessions.

SotA Con East runs from November 4-6, 2016 in Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland. Registration is still open, so get your tickets by visiting the official event site links below!

Developers Attending



Richard “Lord British” Garriott
Creative Director

“I am humbled and thrilled to be speaking at SotA Con. It’s amazing how passionate our community is in supporting each other around such a great idea as this event, which is entirely organized and driven by the community itself. Even if you are not yet a player of Shroud of the Avatar but are interested in learning more about it, I encourage you to attend!”




Starr “Darkstarr” Long
Executive Producer

“Talking directly to the players about the game’s development is super important to me, and what better way to do that than in person. I really look forward to getting to know everyone that can make it to SotA Con. If you haven’t already purchased your tickets to the event, do it! SotA Con is going to be a blast!”




Mathew “Berek” Anderson
Senior Community Manager

“I am so impressed by this community! SotA Con is a magnificent face-to-face event that is going to be perfect to get players together for one fun weekend. I can’t wait to arrive and get to know everyone in person, play the game with others, and have a ton of fun celebrating what the community has built in the game so far!”

About SotA Con

SotA Con is entirely planned and funded by the players, for the players and developers. This once again shows how our passionate and dedicated players are creating exciting opportunities for the rest of the community, and succeeding magnificently.

The event’s planning team had the following to say:

“SotA Con creates a casual Shroud of the Avatar themed gathering so players and developers can come together, grow together, and share ideas. This is essentially a huge player gathering with the developers and lots of things to do, even for the whole family!

We have a hotel conference room for the discussions, a board-game room, and a large hospitality suite open each evening. We are also planning a group King’s Tournament Dinner at Medieval Times: Baltimore Castle on Saturday night (Nov. 5th) — Lord British will be with us! Baltimore Inner Harbor is a great place with many museums, restaurants, attractions, sports and more, so bring your family too for a wonderful vacation. Take a look here about the Inner Harbor.

You are encouraged to dress in medieval garb to add to the fun, though it is not required. Just dress casually to enjoy the weekend. Bring your Sword of Midras book and other collectables for Lord British and Darkstarr to sign! You can also bring a board game to hang out in the game room, or a laptop to play Shroud of the Avatar with others. How you want to have fun during the event is up to you!

There are panel discussions, lots of Q&A, and plenty of hanging out with players and the devs. The main stage discussions will be:
​

1. Foundations of Shroud of the Avatar – Richard Garriott will describe the path he took to become the Creative Director of Shroud of the Avatar. His discussion includes the 400 years of backstory prior to the setting of Shroud of the Avatar (including some of the real world events between Ultima and SotA).
2. Building New Britannia – Starr Long will lead a discussion about building Novia systems and design and the making of Shroud of the Avatar. This covers using Unity and custom tools and also provides an overview of the creation of Shroud of the Avatar from concept to Early Access in three years. He will describe how crowdsourcing and crowdfunding has helped and hurt along with what Portalarium expects over the next three years. This session will be the ideal place for discussion around world design and essential game systems.
3. The Story of the Avatar – Richard Garriott will discuss the storyline and virtue within Shroud of the Avatar. This will be a focus on the single player and party narrative within Shroud of the Avatar and will likely include backstory spoilers and details. This session will be the ideal place for discussion around single player story and virtue.
4. The Heroes of New Britannia – Richard Garriott will discuss “encouraging and controlling the sandbox storyline.” He will describe how Portalarium is telling a multiplayer virtue narrative with a single player story. Find out about things that can affect your virtue and how that can change the world around you. This session will be the ideal place for discussion around multiplayer story and questing.
5. Framing the Box – Starr Long will talk about systems and community growth based on the sandbox side of Shroud of the Avatar. The focus will be on how developer interaction with the player community has led new capabilities for the community-at-large, such as making the gustball for Bambino and the battle banner for Violation to support community events. This session will be the ideal place for discussion around multiplayer systems and non-essential game design.

See the full schedule-at-a-glance here.​

Join The Event!

Here is how to join in on the fun this Nov. 4-6, 2016 in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland:​

• Schedule: See the ever-expanding schedule here: http://east.sotacon.org/schedule
• Tickets and added donations: SotA Con organizers ask for a minimum of $25 for a ticket for all three days (Fri, Sat, Sun) and humbly request donations beyond that to help pay for all the fun things that can be done. Go to: http://east.sotacon.org/register
• Donations (those who cannot attend): If you can’t attend yet want to contribute to a great event and help lower costs for attendees, please contribute directly via PayPal
• Hotel and Travel: Get your hotel reservations at the group rate – they are going fast! Also see some travel ideas. Go to: http://east.sotacon.org/hotel-and-travel

Since SotA Con East 2016 is the first SotA convention of its kind, be among the first to hear details on the proceeding and sure to be epic SotA Con Central 2017 event!”​

If you have any questions, you can reach organizers through the official website at: http://east.sotacon.org/contact-us.

See you there Avatars!

 

Thanks @Berek for the announcement! Thank you everyone who has helped for so long making this possible and I look forward to seeing everyone there!

 

And there was much rejoicing!

 

I'm looking forward to this event and I hope to meet many of my forum friends there! I've got hugs waiting for everyone

 

Bravo !

 

@Violation Clauth Any vendor support? I.E. I'm sure Relics by Rild will want to be there and possibly Indi. Will there be a place for them?

 

I'm going and am FIRED UP! Come join us if you can.

 

Gonna be a HOT November in Baltimore!

 

Dreams come true.
First the game and now a Con with these legends. I am ecstatic.

 

I wonder if this will become something like what CCP (eve) archieved over the years with the Fanfest. Sounds awesome!

Have fun guys and enjoy it!

 

I am there for sure! In fact, I even have garb to wear, which is unusual for me. I love SotA, the community and the game, and I am eager to meet you all in person.


I am even considering making something special to help out.

 

The second time I will have the honor to meet you, Starr and Lord British.

 

Wait, does Starr really not have a Technocrat Blackthorn action figure at the office?

 

This time we got to have a talk. LB and DS can wait.

 

I think we can do more than talk. A few brews are in order!

 

I'm booked for Thurs,Fri & Saturday night. Should be a grand time!

 

Great stuff! I can't wait. There's more than just the Panels and discussions too I think!!


Oh, and the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament! Indeed! Maybe we can all group up in two opposing sections for Lord British vs Darkstarr! This could be so Epic! Saturday night!






And remember, the National Aquarium and USS Constellation are right there too! FISH!! Will they let us do some real fishing at the aquarium? Hmm.


National Aquarium - http://www.aqua.org/






USS Constitution - https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/





What else... Hmm...

Oh my... you have to see this! Bring your fishing pole to SotA Con!




I can just hear it now...

Lord British looks around and asks a knight dressed in chainmail at the SotA Con, "Well, where is Winfield? I thought he was coming to SotA Con. Has anyone seen him?"

The knight shrugs his shoulders a bit and points towards the docks, "Sire, I think he got sidetracked and brought his fishing pole with him."​

This is going to be a great event!

 

I love Darkstarr, but I'll have to be on the Lord British team. Chaos is not my bag...lol.

 

Seeing as this is in my backyard, I will be there! Too bad this couldn't have been planned a month earlier, as Rennfest ends a couple of weeks earlier (would have been a nice excursion for folks).

Since I live in the area, if anyone has questions about coming into this area or Baltimore itself, send me a message!

 

Upon further investigation of image forensics, it's there! Hard to see, but it's on the right-hand side of the shelf that aligns with the desk tabletop. I can breathe easier now.