Trails & Tales

Not to be confused with Trail Ruins.

Trails & Tales
Release date	2023
Major version	Java Edition 1.20 Bedrock Edition 1.20.0
◄ The Wild Update
◄ The Wild Update

“	The 1.20 update is all about self expression, specifically self expression through representation, story telling, and world building. And, it’s the journey - your trails - that ties it all together. The Minecraft worlds belong to the players – and so do the stories, or tales, about those worlds.	„
	— Agnes Larsson on minecraft.net

Trails & Tales is an upcoming update that will be released as Java Edition 1.20 and Bedrock Edition 1.20.0. Its theme is "creativity and self-expression through representation and storytelling", focusing mostly on decorative blocks, customization options and resources for player-driven in-game storytelling and roleplay. It also adds new passive mobs and the cherry grove biome. The name of the update was revealed in Minecraft Monthly on March 2, 2023.

Notable features

Blocks

Bamboo Mosaic

• A plank variant exclusive to the bamboo wood set.
• Crafted by arranging 2 bamboo slabs in a vertical strip.
• Can be used to craft respective stairs and slabs variant.

Bamboo Planks

• Crafted using 1 block of bamboo (stripped or unstripped) to craft 2 bamboo planks.
• Can be used to craft respective buttons, doors, fences, fence gates, pressure plates, signs, slabs, stairs, and trapdoors.
• Can be used to craft bamboo rafts and bamboo raft with chests.
• Can be used to craft wooden blocks or items, (eg. chest).

Block of Bamboo

• New log-like block.
• Block of bamboo can be crafted from 9 bamboo and can be stripped like other wood logs.
• Bamboo planks crafted from block of bamboo yield only 2 planks compared to 4 for wood logs.

Cherry Leaves

• A new type of leaves, generated in cherry trees.
• Emits cherry leaves particles falling underneath.

Cherry Log

• A new type of log, generated as a part of cherry trees, which are located in cherry blossoms.
• Can be crafted into cherry planks and wood.
• Has a stripped variant as well , wood and striped wood.
  • The stripped variant can be used to craft cherry hanging sign.

Cherry Planks

• Crafted from cherry logs.
• Can be used to craft respective buttons, doors, fences, fence gates, pressure plates, signs, slabs, stairs, and trapdoors.
• Can be used to craft cherry boats and cherry boat with chests.
• Can be used to craft wooden blocks or items, (eg. chest)

Cherry Sapling

• A new type of sapling which grows into a cherry tree when planted.
• Drops underneath cherry leaves.
• Can break off a fully grown one and plant it to grow a cherry tree.
• Can be placed in flower pots.

Chiseled Bookshelf

• Can be crafted with 6 planks and 3 wooden slabs.
• Can store up to six books, enchanted books, written books or books and quills.
  • Books in chiseled bookshelves can be added or removed from any slot by targeting the specific slot.
  • Books are directly added and removed, so there is no interface.
• Can be used with a redstone comparators (giving a signal strength matching that of the slot that was last interacted with).
• Can be used with a hopper and dropper.
• Do not increase the power of enchanting tables.
• Require a Silk Touch axe to mine.

Decorated Pot

• Can be crafted with any 4 pottery shards or brick items, shaped rhombic.
  • The type of crafting material decides which picture would occur on each side of the crafted decorated pot.
    • The possible pictures are decided by the type of pottery shard which is used to craft.
    • The brick item will not have a picture.
• Very fragile, and very easy to break.
  • Will break apart into its crafting materials when broken using any block-breaking tool.
  • Will drop itself when broken using an empty hand or an block-breaking tool with Silk Touch, or when moved by pistons.

Hanging Sign

• A more expensive version of normal signs, which can be crafted with 2 chains and 6 stripped logs, resulting 6 of them.
• Has a total of 11 wood variants: oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, crimson, warped, bamboo, and cherry.
• Can be hung up in the following ways:
  • Underneath a block that can provide support in the center, like a full block or a fence.
    • When the hanging sign is placed underneath a full block, the chains will be on parallel sides of the sign. Signs in this configuration can be placed in 4 cardinal directions (North, South, East, West).
    • When the hanging sign is placed underneath a non-full block, such as a fence, or when placed while sneaking, the chains will take on an upside-down v-shape. Signs in this configuration can be placed in 16 different angles.
  • Attached to the solid side of a block.
  • Attached to the side or underneath another hanging sign.
• Cannot be placed directly on the ground without support from the side or above.
  • However, hanging signs that have a horizontal bar will not pop when the supporting block is removed.
• If it is hanging off the side of a block and that block is broken, it will remain hanging in the air. But if it is hanging underneath of a block and that block is broken, it will also break immediately.
• Unlike regular signs, the space available for text is much smaller.
• Text can be dyed and tinted with glow ink sacs to make text glow.

Piglin Head

• Piglins will now drop their heads when killed by a charged creeper.
• The piglin head will flap its ears when powered by redstone, or when worn by a player while walking.

Pink Petals

• A new type of block, which generates naturally in cherry groves.
• Renewable when applying a bone meal to an existing one or to the ground of cherry groves.
• Similar to sea pickle, can be placed up to 4 in one dirt-related block.
• Can be placed directional.
• Can be crafted into a pink dye.

Pitcher Plant

• A type of plant which grows from the pitcher pod after 4 stages (5 stages in total).
• If grown fully, it will only drop itself when broken, otherwise drops the pod.
• Can be crafted into a cyan dye.
• Cannot be placed in a flower pot.

File:Sniffer Egg Slighty Cracked.png Sniffer Egg

• Can be found in the suspicious sand found at warm ocean ruins.
• Dropped when two sniffers breed.
• Hatches into a baby snifflet.
  • When placed on moss block, it will hatch after approximately 10 minutes.
  • On all other blocks, it will hatch in approximately 20 minutes.

Suspicious Gravel

• Looks like gravel, but rougher.
• Affected by gravity, vanishes when landing.
• Generates naturally in ocean ruins, with different archaeological loot tables.
• Drops nothing when mined or moved, even if mining with Silk Touch.
• Brushing the suspicious gravel with a brush will extract objects.
  • Has 4 stages of extracting, will recover gradually when stop brushing.
  • Turns to regular gravel when extraction is done.
  • Only suspicious gravels with a valid archaeological loot table can extract an item.
  • Currently drops nothing when brushed.
  • Сan't give out an item if placed by a player.

Suspicious Sand

• Looks like sand, but rougher.
• Affected by gravity, vanishes when landing.
• Generates naturally in desert temples and desert wells, with different archaeological loot tables.
• Drops nothing when mined or moved, even if mining with Silk Touch.
• Brushing the suspicious sand with a brush will extract objects.
  • Has 4 stages of extracting, will recover gradually when stop brushing.
  • Turns to regular sand when extraction is done.
  • Only suspicious sands with a valid archaeological loot table can extract an item.
• Depending on the structure, there will be different items.
  • In desert temple might get caught: diamond, emerald, tnt, gunpowder, pottery shard skull, pottery shard prize, pottery shard archer.
  • In desert well might get caught: suspicious stew, stick, brick, emerald, pottery shard hands up.
  • Сan't give out an item if placed by a player.

Torchflower

• A new type of flower, grows from torchflower seeds after 2 stages (3 stages in total).
• Doesn't emit light.
• If grown fully, it will only drop itself when broken, otherwise drops the seed.
• Can be crafted into an orange dye.
• Can be planted in a flower pot.
• Can now be used to craft suspicious stew, giving the player Night Vision.
• Can be used to tempt and breed bees.

Items

Brush

• An item which can be used to brush things.
• Can be crafted with a feather, copper ingot and stick in a vertical line.
• Consumes 1 durability when extracting an item from a suspicious sand successfully.
• Does nothing when brushing anything other than suspicious sands.

Pitcher Pod

• Can be planted on farmland and grows into a pitcher plant.
• Can only be obtained if a sniffer digs up a pitcher pod.
• Drops pitcher plant when fully grown, otherwise drops itself.

File:Arms Up Pottery Shard.png Pottery Shards

• An item found by using a brush on suspicious sand.
• There are currently 20 known varieties:
  • Angler Pottery Shard
  • Archer Pottery Shard
  • File:Arms Up Pottery Shard.png Arms up Pottery Shard
  • Blade Pottery Shard
  • Brewer Pottery Shard
  • Burn Pottery Shard
  • Danger Pottery Shard
  • Explorer Pottery Shard
  • Friend Pottery Shard
  • Heart Pottery Shard
  • Heartbreak Pottery Shard
  • Howl Pottery Shard
  • Miner Pottery Shard
  • Mourner Pottery Shard
  • Plenty Pottery Shard
  • Prize Pottery Shard
  • Sheaf Pottery Shard
  • Shelter Pottery Shard
  • Skull Pottery Shard
  • Snort Pottery Shard

Smithing Templates

• New item series for trimming armor and upgrading diamond armor to netherite, with twelve varieties of armor trims.
  • Netherite Upgrade
  • Armor trims:
    • Coast Armor Trim
    • Dune Armor Trim
    • Eye Armor Trim
    • Host Armor Trim
    • Raiser Armor Trim
    • Rib Armor Trim
    • Sentry Armor Trim
    • Shaper Armor Trim
    • Silence Armor Trim
    • Snout Armor Trim
    • Spire Armor Trim
    • Tide Armor Trim
    • Vex Armor Trim
    • Ward Armor Trim
    • Wayfinder Armor Trim
    • Wild Armor Trim
• These can be obtained randomly from chests generated in their respective structures.
  • Exceptions:
    • While randomly generated in other rooms, a netherite upgrade smithing template is also guaranteed in every treasure room in a bastion remnant.
    • 1 eye armor trim is guaranteed in every stronghold library chest.
    • A single tide armor trim is sometimes dropped by elder guardians upon death.
    • Host, raiser, shaper and wayfinder trims are found by brushing Suspicious Sand and Suspicious Gravel in Trail Ruins.
  • Some armor trims are rarer than others, with a higher or lower chance of generating depending on the set rarity.
  • The following common armor trims always generate 2 templates in a chest when found:
    • Dune
    • Coast
    • Wild
    • Sentry
• Consumed when used to upgrade an item in the smithing table.
• Cannot be crafted directly, but a copy can be made by crafting in the following pattern:
  • 7 diamonds, in a U shape.
  • 1 block of material that the template is made out of, placed in the center slot of the crafting grid.
  • 1 smithing template, placed in the remaining top middle slot.

Spawn Eggs

• Camel spawn egg
• Sniffer spawn egg.

Torchflower Seeds

• A new type of seed, which can be planted on farmland and grows into a torchflower.
• Can only be obtained if a sniffer digs up a torchflower seed.
• Can be used to tempt and breed chickens and parrots.
• Can be used to breed, but not tempt, sniffers.

Mobs

Camels

• A rideable entity, which can be equipped with a saddle and ridden by two players.
• Have 32 × 16 health points.
• Spawn naturally in desert villages.
• Can be bred with cactus, and will follow players holding a cactus on hand.
• Mobs that are 2 blocks tall and lower cannot reach the player (except spiders) when the player is riding it, due to its height.
• Can walk over 1.5 block tall obstacles (such as fences and blocks with a slab on top).
• Will randomly sit down.
  • While sitting, it is difficult to convince them to move.
• Can either walk slowly or sprint quickly.
• Can also dash forward (if the player uses the jump key while riding it) but will lose stamina for a while.
  • When it loses stamina, it cannot sprint or dash again for a few seconds.
  • A dash can extend more than 10 blocks when executed perfectly.

Sniffer

• A new passive friendly mob, which is the mob vote winner of Minecraft Live 2022, and considered as the first "ancient" mob.
• Very large (2x2 full blocks).
• Have 14 × 7 health points.
• Cannot spawn naturally.
• Cannot be tempted or tamed.
• Often sniff in the air and occasionally dig for torchflower seeds.
  • The digging has a cooldown of 8 minutes.
  • The last 20 dug blocks are remembered with a sniffer_explored_positions memory, and are not eligible for digging again.
• Can be bred with torchflower seeds.
• Drop moss block when killed.
• Can be mounted with the /ride command.

Non-mob entities

Cherry boat

• A new type of boat, crafted with cherry planks.
• Can be used to craft a variant with a chest.

Raft

• A new type of boat, crafted with bamboo planks.
• Can be used to craft a variant with a chest.
• They function the same as ordinary boats, but have a unique look to them.
  • Raft is higher than boat.

World generation

Cherry Blossom Tree

• New type of tree variant that is found in cherry groves, can be grown from cherry saplings.
• Occasionally generated with a bee nest.
• Tree trunks fork or bend high up, and are then covered up in large, round canopies of cherry leaves.
• The concept was proposed in 2013 by Patrick Geuder, but was ultimately not added at the time.

Cherry Grove

• A new biome which contains cherry trees.
• Located in the mountains, like meadows.
• Pigs, sheep, rabbits, and bees can spawn here.

Trail Ruins

• A buried generated structure from a lost culture.
• Four armor trims can be found here.

General

Data pack

• Added registry trim_pattern and trim_material, which defines trim patterns and materials respectively, to allow add them via data packs.
  • These are synchronized to clients when they join the server, but the accompanying resource pack is required on client to make them visible.
  • The paths to these textures are inferred based on the filename of the pattern json, and will try to find the textures within the same namespace as the trim pattern's name field.
• trim_pattern defines following data:
  • asset_id: a namespaced ID used to infer texture locations and localization.
  • template_item: the ID of the smithing template item used to apply the trim pattern.
  • description: a text component used for displaying the pattern name of an armor trim when hovering an armor itemstack.
• trim_material defines following data:
  • asset_name: a string used as a suffix for armor trim texture locations.
  • ingredient: the ID of the ingredient item used to apply the trim material.
  • item_model_index: a float number which defines the item model override each armor item model should target to change their visuals for this material.
  • description: a text component used for displaying the material name of an armor trim when hovering an armor itemstack.
    • The style defined in this description is applied to the armor trim pattern description as well.
  • override_armor_materials: an optional map of armor material to overriden color palette.
    • Map key is the armor material that this trim material wants to override with a different color palette.
    • Map value is the name of the color palette that will be used when this trim material is applied to an armor piece with the corresponding armor material.

Particles

• Added dripping_cherry_leaves, falling_cherry_leaves, and landing_cherry_leaves, which will appear underneath the cherry leaves.

player.dat format

• Added new flag (value 128) to HideFlags NBT field for hiding armor trim item tooltips.

Recipe

• Added smithing_transform, and smithing_trim recipe serializers for the updated netherite upgrade and the new armor trim recipe respectively.

Resource pack

• Added paletted_permutations, which is a new type of atlas configuration source used to dynamically generate new textures in memory based on a set of color palettes.
  • Color palettes allows to swap out the colors of a texture without having to supply all files for the variants of a texture in a resource pack.
  • This is useful for things like armor trims. It can change the their color directly without create a new texture for each color.
  • The paletted_permutations source has a set of required parameters:
    • textures: a list of namespaced locations of base textures.
      • These textures will be used to generate variants of them that have been modified by color palettes.
    • palette_key: a namespaced location of a color palette key file.
      • A color palette key is used to define the set of key pixel colors we want to swap out with the color palettes defined below.
    • permutations: a map of permutations from suffix to a namespaced location of a color palette file.
      • The suffix is appended at the beginning to the resource location of the output variant textures, with a _ character separating the suffix and the base texture name.
      • The color palette is a texture file with a set of pixels that are used for replacing pixels that match the color palette key in each base texture.
      • The number of pixels in each color palette must be the same as that of the palette_key defined for this source.
      • Key matching is done by comparing the RGB values of each pixel in the palette_key to the RGB values of each pixel in the color palette.
      • Alpha channel is ignored for key matching, but in the resulting texture the alpha channel is multiplied with the color palette's alpha channel.
      • Pixels that do not match the palette_key are copied over to the resulting texture as-is.
  • After defining a paletted_permutations source, those namespaced output textures can be referenced in other resources in resource pack.
    • For example, if the following paletted_permutations source exists:

      • {
            "type": "paletted_permutations",
            "textures": [
                "minecraft:item/leather_helmet",
                "minecraft:item/leather_chestplate",
                "minecraft:item/leather_leggings",
                "minecraft:item/leather_boots"
            ],
            "palette_key": "minecraft:colormap/color_palettes/leather_armor_color_key",
            "permutations": {
                "red": "minecraft:colormap/color_palettes/red",
                "green": "minecraft:colormap/color_palettes/green",
                "blue": "minecraft:colormap/color_palettes/blue"
            }
        }
        

    • The resulting textures can be referenced in other resources like this:

      • {
            "textures": {
                "layer0": "minecraft:item/leather_helmet_red",
                "layer1": "minecraft:item/leather_chestplate_green",
                "layer2": "minecraft:item/leather_boots_blue"
            }
        }
        

Tags

• Added following block tags:
  • #all_hanging_signs: contains the ceiling_hanging_signs, and wall_hanging_signs tags.
  • #bamboo_blocks: contains bamboo_block, and stripped_bamboo_block.
  • #ceiling_hanging_signs: contains all ceiling versions of hanging sign blocks.
  • #cherry_logs: contains cherry_log, cherry_wood, stripped_cherry_log, and stripped_cherry_wood.
  • #sniffer_diggable_block: contains dirt, grass_block, podzol, coarse_dirt, rooted_dirt, moss_block, mud, and muddy_mangrove_roots.
  • #wall_hanging_signs: contains all wall versions of hanging sign blocks.
• Added following item tags:
  • #bamboo_blocks: contains bamboo_block, and stripped_bamboo_block.
  • #bookshelf_books: contains book, written book, enchanted book, and book and quill.
  • #breaks_decorated_pots: contains #tools.
  • #cherry_logs: contains cherry_log, cherry_wood, stripped_cherry_log, and stripped_cherry_wood.
  • #decorated_pot_shards: contains brick, pottery_shard_archer, pottery_shard_prize, pottery_shard_arms_up, and pottery_shard_skull.
  • #hanging_signs: contains all hanging sign items.
  • #noteblock_top_instruments: contains zombie_head, skeleton_skull, creeper_head, dragon_head, wither_skeleton_skull, piglin_head, and player_head.
  • #sniffer_food: contains torchflower_seeds.
  • #trim_materials: contains amethyst_shard, copper_ingot, diamond, emerald, gold_ingot, iron_ingot, lapis_lazuli, netherite_ingot, quartz, and redstone.
  • #trim_templates: contains coast_armor_trim_smithing_template, dune_armor_trim_smithing_template, eye_armor_trim_smithing_template, rib_armor_trim_smithing_template, sentry_armor_trim_smithing_template, snout_armor_trim_smithing_template, spire_armor_trim_smithing_template, tide_armor_trim_smithing_template, vex_armor_trim_smithing_template, ward_armor_trim_smithing_template, and wild_armor_trim_smithing_template.
  • #trimmable_armor: contains chainmail_boots, chainmail_chestplate, chainmail_helmet, chainmail_leggings, diamond_boots, diamond_chestplate, diamond_helmet, diamond_leggings, golden_boots, golden_chestplate, golden_helmet, golden_leggings, iron_boots, iron_chestplate, iron_helmet, iron_leggings, leather_helmet, leather_chestplate, leather_leggings, leather_boots, netherite_boots, netherite_chestplate, netherite_helmet, netherite_leggings, and turtle_helmet.

Gallery

Official artwork

• 

  Logo.

• Cherry Blossom Valentines Art.jpg

  Cherry tree valentines artwork.

• Decorated Pot Valentines Art.jpg

  Decorated pot valentines artwork.

• Sniffer Valentines Art.jpg

  Sniffer valentines artwork.

Development screenshots

• 

  Clay pots.

• 

  Ceramic shards.

• 

  An excavation site.

• 

  Sniffer with earlier texture and model.

• 

  Early sniffer lays.

• 

  Early sniffer on sunset.

• 

  Sniffer with final texture and model. Horizontally flipped image.

• 

  Sniffer lays down in desert. Horizontally flipped image.

• 

  Sniffer lays.

• 

  Sniffer in swamp.

• 

  Sniffer in snow biome.

• 

  Sniffer in village.

Concept artwork

• 

  Concept art of archaeology.

• 

  Concept art of the camel showcasing the different coloring and face shapes considered during development.

• 

  Concept art of the camel showcasing the many designs of its face.

• 

  Concept art of the camel showcasing the camel's height next to a player and three blocks.

• 

  The 2 dimensional pixel art of the sniffer shown at Minecraft Live 2022