A npc dwarf
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It looks like a reembarked hearthlings (i forgot how to spell reembarcation:D). The guy is either a new NPC who helpes you at the start, or a late game Hearthling like the knight, who was brought from your previous village. If its a hearthling, then new facial hair options, and new clothes? or could be the magma smith idk
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I’m reeeeeeally sure what this picture is about, because you already spilled the beans on the discord xD So I’m not going to guess this time, else it would spoil the fun for others, I think.
But this picture’s really fueling the ideas of the people, what it could be about 
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A new campaign and / or more interaction between npcs and hearthlings?
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The character on the right in the picture appears smaller than the other two - either another Rattley child-type NPC, or (less likely) a whole new family system!
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Really? Am I the only person to actually play the unstable and quite simply met the NPC in person already? Well, of course I’m not. We have Tilyene so that makes the two of us. I won’t spoil it for you, have fun guessing!
(in other words: consider giving unstable a shot, folks! testers are always welcome!)
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Yeah, one of them seems shorter than the others …
Lots of smaller trees back there. And the background seems different …
By the way … the knight has different … feet ? O.õ?
Just a quick heads-up, due to a busy schedule IRL I’ll only post the next “Preview Thursday” a bit later today (Friday) 
I apologize about that.
I just finished some work and was going to do it but it’s 2 AM and I’m really sleepy, so… Se you all tomorrow 
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IRL stuff comes first:)
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I think the only way to make this right is to give us TWO picture clues on Sunday. 
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Greetings, everyone! 
Happy sathursday! 
I’d like to apologize for that… This has been a weird end-of-the-week and even though I tried coming here to write, both times it was already too late and I was just really sleepy 
Anyway, let’s go!
One thing I noticed in the past few weeks but has been really intense this time around is that the simple mystery of posting a picture with no clues creates some funny, crazy perception on people and we’ll start seeing clues everywhere!
Please don’t take this badly, I think it’s really awesome (and funny) so don’t stop doing it
But no, the girl on the right is not smaller nor a child (a “family system” is something that we’re never going to introduce through ACE - sorry 
), it’s a normal female hearthling… No, the Knight’s armor isn’t different at all, it’s the silver armor and no, there are no small trees anywhere - these are berry bushes 
That said, let’s go to the people that got quite close, now:
Well, it is a NPC! But not a dwarf… However the reason I’m commenting this message is that even though you didn’t get this one right, you’re not wrong about… NPC Dwarves in the next update 
Ohhhh, almost there!
And yes, there’s a new campaign!
These last 2 messages combined sort of get it right… For this reason, I’m giving @ThisDude and @Guillaume the “Guessing victory” this week!
Let’s talk about a new (and very mod-friendly) campaign being added in ACE. Let’s talk about the…
FRIENDLY STRANGERS
The “Friendly Strangers” campaign was actually envisioned long ago, around the time the project was starting, but it never really took off as there were lots of other priorities and things being done - and since many systems were getting entirely reviewed or changed, it made little sense as it would be possible that things done for it would need remaking.
But now that we’re on the final stretch towards new/promised content that we are doing (like Dwarves) want to eventually get to (the Ninjas, Pirates & Politicians story, Elementals, Animal Trainer and beyond…) - or, in other words - now that we are finishing what we call “the base game experience revamp”, where we are mostly revisiting, tweaking, adding and fixing to the existing mechanics and jobs, we can finally get started with this campaign that has no end, really.
This campaign is, in essence, a tutorial.
But we wanted to make it different than the most conventional approaches to tutorials, we wanted it to somehow have character, charm and feel like its part of the game world. We didn’t want a magical voice from the sky introducing the player to the new concepts in ACE or to more complex mechanics…
Instead, we wanted to tackle two things with a single system: the first thing is the ongoing effort to make the world feel more alive, bustling with activity and filled with funny and interesting characters… And the second thing is the need for a tutorial itself.
Whenever a Friendly Stranger arrive, they’ll introduce themselves and tip you about their subject of interest. Their arrival is always dynamic and not simply timed, based on certain requirements. For example, Fernand the Great’s visit (You might recognize his name from the “Famous blacksmith from the south” merchant. Yes, it is the same guy! We gave him a face and a personality ) is triggered by having your first hearthling with a job that has a workstation that requires fuels.
This is because, as expected, Fernand will talk and teach the player all the basics about the fuel system!
Their dialogues are longer or shorter depending on the subject, of course - but we try our best in explaining the basic ideas and how the mechanics work while also keepin the text amusing or cute. We want the player to feel like they’re really being visited by a friendly merchant that has advice and not simply a wall of text with game tips. So expect funny quirks, jokes or even puns. We love puns.
Whenever a Friendly Stranger shows up, you also have the option to “recognize” them - which is the ideal choice for those that have seen their dialogue already and don’t want to read through the tutorial again.
You can ask Fernand “Haven’t we met before?” and he’ll completly snob you!
After their initial dialogue, Friendly Strangers will remain for roughly a day. They won’t eat or use your facilities, but will rest by the fire and socialize with your lings.
Finally, they might even leave you a gift upon departure - usually accompanied by a letter to encourage you on your newly learned abilities!
However all of this depends on some other factors, as well. For example, if you play on the Hard difficulty level, the Friendly Strangers campaign will not exist at all.
And if you play on Normal, they will visit you but will not leave you the presents when departing. You’ll only get these when playing on Peaceful or Gentle!
Another example of a Friendly Stranger that players might meet early on - upon promoting a Trapper - is Bruno the Fisher with his tips and hints about Fish Traps!
As you can probably guess, Bruno the Fisher is a small homage to @BrunoSupremo because of his awesome Archipelago Biome mod that brought fishing and fishes into the world of Stonehearth
But you can expect even more Friendly Strangers to show up over time!
And this is, finally, the last (and cool) thing about this campaign! It’s made in a modular way - very streamlined in terms of structure - that allows us (and other modders) to easily add new Friendly Strangers!
So not only they can be used by ACE to introduce key mechanics or complex systems, modders can also utilize it to create NPCs that explain their own mechanics and additions. For example, I could add a NPC that explains glassmithing or the complex process of drying & tanning in my own mods (Glassworks & Trapper+), by simply mixing some files into ACE’s campaign!
A piece of the campaign showing its simple structure for each stranger: requirements → delay → arrival → dialog and gift → removal. The counters only exist to prevent multiple strangers at the same time.
So that’s it about the Friendly Strangers campaign!
As part of the ongoing improvements and enrichment of the Stonehearth universe, don’t be surprised to see new faces on each update! Eventually, we hope that all the complex or more unintuitive mechanics in the game can be, somehow, made clearer in similar fashion! And by hosting the ACE discord and gathering all the information we do through our help and support channels, we do have an interesting amount of data on the things that confuse people the most.
For example, some of you might’ve noticed that Fernand gives you a piece of Hard Coal (and teases you about its importance!) - this is a reflex of what we’ve seen throughout those two last years, where several people ask about that particular resource.
Once more, I apologize for the delay!
Tomorrow I’ll post two pictures instead of one, and if the second one gets correct guesses as well, then we’ll have a Double Preview Thursday!
That’s all! Have a nice time and stay warm, fellow hearthlings 
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Sounds awesome!
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An npc with spanish accent? 
cool concept!
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TELL me you were cackling maniacally when you made these damn puns lol
8 in one picture 
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It’s actually quite funny that after I was done with the text, I sent it to Paul (who is a native English speaker) to get some feedback/make sure I didn’t murder English anywhere… And he did have some revisions, which added even more puns 
So when you die reading Bruno’s dialogue, know it is born from Paul’s and mine punny power combined
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Might want to add another ‘n’ or a hyphen in there, buddy.
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Lol, no, no
I think our power is puny indeed
coughs
fixes it
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That’s out of my scale. I’m fin-nished.
(Honestly you all should be glad they did not send it to me.)
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