And thereby help us to continue to make, and spread the word about, our amazing game worlds! So here are a few ways that if you get the chance, and can take the time, really do help us with feedback and with letting other people know just what we’re up to.
Not that anybody _has_ to feel like they need help us! We appreciate everybody who does, but we don’t expect it from folks. We do expect and really hope for our community to have fun in our game worlds – with the definition of “fun” being up for grabs!
Just read a couple of the large MMN blog Comments section posts from a month or so ago for a peek into the very different ways folks enjoy our stuff!
But here are some ways to go beyond the pale helping us:
REVIEWS AND RATINGS
Like I mentioned last week, we’re asking folks to spend a bit of time rating or reviewing our projects on the various sites that allow for such things. Your reviews demonstrate that there is a community who has enough commitment to a game line to do a review – which is a pretty encouraging thing for folks who aren’t sure if they’ll find players, or even just someone to discuss the game with.
It’s not just DTRPG, I’m talking about either. You can give your thoughts on social media – everything from comments on our social media, to writing your thoughts up on your social media, to doing video blogs and short vids on FB or TikTok. And I’m pretty sure that reviews on Amazon, good or bad, increase the book’s visibility on that shopping behemoth.
That’s why we’ve been pushing for these things lately: we’ve seen reviews and ratings increase a lot of traffic for The World Below Ashcan, for an example of a brand new game that could use all the eyes on it we can manage, but also for Exalted Essence, which is a new take on a long-time favorite. In that case, the reviews help explain what this “Exalted but different” game is trying to do.
Plus, when you consider the rollout process we’ve been using where either the Advance or the Backer PDF is released before the PoD book, there’s a natural review moment that occurs if you are going back to order the PoD. You’re on the site, you read the PDF, g’head and pop in a rating or even a review while you’re there.
We‘ll be glad you did! 😉
For y’all who have provided both ratings and reviews already on DTRPG – you have our humble appreciation and thanks!
“LET’S READ” THREADS
Related but different – and requiring a lot more dedication – are a series of threads on a forum, or posts on other social media, where the reader goes through the book chapter by chapter and expresses their thoughts, good/bad/confused, about the book they are reading.
These can be really amazing things to read through, just chock full of info, and often contain questions from readers and clarifications from the book’s creators. Depending on the writer, of course, they can be really funny or very personal or all about utility. Mileage varies, which is one of the things that makes reading through them interesting.
VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN
This one is more about the creation of a project, but in a way that does encourage community feedback and attention, too. That’s taking advantage of when we put up something that involves a poll or a vote. We really pore over them, and we know we’re not the only ones! We just finished the KS for They Came From the RPG Anthology!, and about half of the setting chapters were selected via backers voting during the KS!
Last Thursday, Matthew resumed his The World Below blog here on the OP site, and as he has done with all of them, he included a poll for folks to vote on what they’d like to see previewed next. Again, we really do look to see what material gets the most votes. Those responses are very direct ways for you folks to relay back to us what you’re interested in seeing in our games, and we do pay attention!
ERATTA
Having an errata phase with our projects was something that grew from our community commenting on text during our crowdfunding campaigns, and it’s something that has grown to be a specific part of how we work with all y’all to make our books. We think including your catches has really improved our books, and we’re really appreciative of anyone who lends their eyes to the process!
(Again, just to stress this for those who get stressed about this (thankfully this is rare): helping us out by filling in the errata form is a gift you’re giving us; it is absolutely not mandatory. You are not letting us or “the project” down if you’re on vacation or whatever and miss the errata phase of any given book. Our intention is that your helping spot fixes should be fun, not a burden. We and the project will be fine – or we’ll screw it up a different way that errata wouldn’t have caught anyway! Yeesh.)
ANOTHER WAY TO HELP YOU…
…is to let you all know that the BackerKit Crowdfunding campaign for TC: Aegis will be starting on Tuesday, July 25th! You can see the blurb and the link for the pre-launch page down below!
AND YET ANOTHER WAY!
Which is to give you all a heads-up that DTRPG and Roll20‘s XMAS IN JULY SALE is coming soon! As always, expect huge sale savings!
BLOG COMMENTS HELP, TOO!
So don’t be shy! Let me know what you think about what I’ve been saying here, or about one of our projects, or whatever! For our regular gang, all our talk about horror and dark urban fantasy over the last couple of months in this very blog’s Comments section continues to bubble around in my brain. Over the holiday, somebody mentioned something that a few of you touched on, and I wonder if you’d be willing to return to this topic: are extraterrestrials, ie: Aliens, viable aspects for a horror game?
Are they too science-fiction-y? Do we have supernatural creatures already that cover any niches an alien would fill? Of course, there are some creatures “not of this world” all through horror – I think I’m more thinking of the Grays and UFOs and such. Let me know below what you think, if you have a chance! Thanks!
Back to the title: Let Us Help You To Help Us To Make Our:
MANY WORLDS, ONE PATH!
BLURBS!
KICKSTARTER/CROWDFUNDING!
Coming up on July 25th: Trinity Continuum: Aegis on BackerKit!
Here a link to the BackerKit campaign landing page!
https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/877c1416-a77f-42a9-8c11-8aedb2e4656c/landing?ref=OnyxPath
Onyx Path Media!
This week:
D, Matthew, and Eddy discuss new releases to DriveThruRPG and crowdfunding backers, such as The World Below Ashcan and Trinity Continuum: Anima!
As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
Onyx Path Media now has its own blog on Tuesdays! We’ll continue posting our highlight of the week here, but Tuesday will be the day to visit if you want to catch up on actual plays, interviews, deep dives, and other assorted Onyx Path media!
Please check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week! In particular, keep those eyes open for our Storypath Showcase, where we give an excellent profile of our various Storypath games and how to play them!
MEDIA HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:
Awkward GM Corbin is a fantastic video creator who has been working away on Beginner’s Guides for a whole bunch of our games. Today he’s broadcasting a video on our Twitch channel (twitch.tv/theonyxpath) for Scion: Demigod!
Reading this a little later than the video, you may think “Damn, I missed it.” But do not fret. These videos are retained on our Twitch channel for a month if you subscribe (if you have Amazon Prime you can do so for free) and are eventually transferred to our YouTube channel too. So give him your support and check out his videos on our Twitch and YouTube!
The Onyx Path News discusses recent and upcoming releases! You can find it on our YouTube channel (click the bell to be informed when we go live!) but if you missed the last episode, here it is: https://youtube.com/live/B6oEEaemd4A
Virtual Tabletop!
NEW!
They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea
Here are some more shots from the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Compendium!
And there’s also the Scion Jumpstart, all ready for Roll20 VTT fun!
More news and links when we have them!
The Scion: Origin and Scion Hero Compendiums are now available on Roll20!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing
Scion is just the start! They Came From Beneath the Sea! and other
Onyx Path RPGs are in development for Roll20 virtual tabletop!
The first of our official Scion sheets designed for Foundry VTT are
now available!
Direct Link: https://foundryvtt.co
Looking for more virtual tabletop resources? We have a selection of
Tokens, Encounters, and more available now at DriveThruRPG!
Get ’em here: https://bit.ly/3SnrNJ7
Our Sales Partners!
We’re working with Studio2 to provide our traditionally printed books out into your local game stores. Game stores can order via their usual distributors, and can also contact Studio2 directly. And individuals can check out our projects via the links below!
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books, dice, and screens? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com!
Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).
Check out Melody Through the Mirrorshade Lens and Facets of Truth , as well as Trinity Continuum: Terat and The Hollow Courts on Kindle in the Kindle store!
On Sale This Week!
What holds back the darkness? Only the light that Hunters can bring to protect the mortal world from those who dwell in shadows! PDF & PoD versions of Tending the Flame for Hunter: The Vigil 2e are available this Weds on DTRPG!
Conventions!
As we are slowly returning to attending conventions in person after the current COVID-19 outbreak, keep an eye out here for more physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at Start.Playing is the last Friday of the month! Come play some Trinity Continuum in celebration of the upcoming Trinity Continuum: Aegis crowdfunding! (But any of our game lines are welcome all day long!)
Please spread the word about GMing games as much as
possible. Details on how list a game are at the bottom of the page in
the FAQ:
https://startplaying.games/event/game-night-onyx-path
And now, the new project status updates!
Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out June’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-june-2023/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
Final Draft
Tasty Bit – Scion: Dragon: Library
- Eddy: An intriguing Tasty Bit for Scion: Dragon! Who doesn’t love a weird and creepy library?
Scion – Scion: God Player’s Guide
- Matthew: Hiromi and Michele have sent this one back to the authors to work on their final drafts, adding all kinds of exciting new options to the already wide array of character choices you get in God.
Manuscript Approval
Scion – Scion: Divine Inspiration
- Matthew: Steffie developed this book and having read through it, it’s exactly what any Scion Storyguide (regardless of what tier you’re running at) needs to get their games set up and going. So many damn story hooks!
Exalted – Tomb of Memory (was Exalted Essence Jumpstart)
- Danielle: Monica and David have taken a little bit of a different tack with this Jumpstart and are presenting a conflict with a bunch of threads that characters could latch onto with various outcomes depending on what they do. Since it includes all 10 Exalt types as playable characters, they wanted to keep the story open. I think folks are really going to dig what they’ve done here.
They Came From – Heroes of Action and Wonder!
- Matthew: You want crossover for They Came From? This is the book that contains a campaign structure for crossover between every They Came From from Beneath the Sea! to Witchford Academy!
Tasty Bit – They Came from CLASSIFIED!: Hotel Lobby
- Eddy: The secret messages were correctly decoded for the final draft and sent along to the Agency for final approval before mission start!
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Eight Directions – Art over for Paradox approvals.
- SCION Titans Rising – Cover recontracted.
- TC Aegis (KS) – Prepping for Backer Kit.
- CtL2e The Hedge – Fulls in and approved.
- DTR Clade Companion – Art in and approved.
- TC Adventure Addendum – Art work all in.
In Layout
- M20 Lore of the Traditions – Book roughed in, going back in and massaging the layout for first proof.
- HtV Jumpstart – I’m cleaning up Leblanc’s art before I send it over.
- SCION Once and Future – With Josh.
Proofing
- Ex3 Crucible of Legends – Resending off 2nd proof.
- TC Assassins VTT Adventure – Trying to put in corrections when I have time.
Indexing
At Press
- TC Anima – Getting InCopy files over to MK for input.
- TC: Adventure! – Just have to finish the press cover and get files over to printer.
- TC Adventure Storyguide Screen and Booklet – Quoting with Printers.
- Exalted Essence – Quoting with Printers.
- W20 Apocalyptic Record – Quoting with Printers.
- W20 Apocalyptic Record Screen & Booklet – Quoting with Printers.
- W20 Howls of Apocalypse – PoD proofs ordered.
- MtAw Tome of the Pentacle – PoD proofs ordered.
- The World Below Ashcan – PoD proofs ordered.
- HtV Tending the Flame – PDF and PoD versions on sale this Weds on DTRPG!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla, who shows up in several of our games; most prominently in Trinity Continuum: Aether! Therefore today is Nikola Tesla Day, officially celebrated as a holiday in various parts of the world. For example, in Serbia, 10 July is celebrated as the National Day of Science. In the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia, the local Association of Teachers also officially celebrate 10 July as the Day of Nikola Tesla though in practice, the celebrations last the seven days (one week) from 4 July to 10 July inclusive. On 7 January 2021 (which is both Orthodox Christmas and the anniversary of Nikola Tesla’s death), the Tesla Science Foundation Serbia (TSFA) sent a petition to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church proposing that the Synod consider the canonization of Nikola Tesla as an Orthodox saint with his birthday, 10 July as his feast day. ZAP!
Comments
29 responses to “Help Us Help YOU [Monday Meeting Notes]”
You mentioned Greys and such but I mean look at things like the Species movie. Or The Thing. There is space for human looking aliens to be in a modern day horror setting. As both NPC and even playable.
Can alien things do horrific things in a movie? They certainly have, but are either of your examples considered horror or sci-fi? Even scary sci-fi is still not quite horror. At least in how a lot of media has been branded. Are we really discussing supernatural horror vs explainable science-based horror, I wonder.
I’m pretty sure both Species and The Thing are branded more horror than scifi. That’s where they were in my Blockbuster.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, To Serve Man from Twilight Zone. Ray Bradbury’s Monsters are Due on Maple Street. Plenty of other examples. They’re not exactly greys, but Alien, and also Predator are definitely horror films.
Aliens play a great role as one of two things in a horror story; either an implacable hunter of humans, who are too much of an apex predator to realistically be facing a threat from anything terrestrial, but are rendered powerless by qualities the aliens have that exist outside the expectations they have of other threats, that’s intelligent but absolute impossible to reason with, or as Strangers, things that seem human but aren’t. That can pass as human but aren’t. That are subtly off in ways that no one seems to notice or believe in. And that are trying to invade us by using these methods.
There’s some overlap with existing lines in Chronicles of Darkness. The True Fae of Changeling are a bit of the stranger. But one core thing that’s different there is that Changelings aren’t able to be a widespread phenomenon and True Fae don’t walk among humans. There’s a little overlap with Demon the Descent too, but it downplays that aspect of things quite a bit to focus on the spy thriller aspects. There’s still no invasion dynamic. Werewolf has a bit of the hunt aspect, but the hunting is still rooted in a human like intelligence, that can be reasoned with, that has a similar emotional range.
I personally don’t like sci-fi/alien horror, at least when that is all it there is to the story. That said, I think elements of that can work in a setting. I have been replaying Halo a lot, and for anyone who knows that game series you know the surface level conflict of humanity fighting against genocide by a technologically superior fanatical empire composed of multiple alien species. However the games can quickly become horrifying when the parasitic Flood enter the stage. The Flood consumes and converts all life, and it is capable of taking over entire galaxies. Most frightening of all is the potential that there really isn’t a surefire way to eradicate the Flood since, at its base level, it can exist in the form of small spores that can move in the air.
That is horrifying for sure. I would not make something like that the focus in a horror game, but that’s just my personal taste.
Sci-fi game, scary sci-fi game, even. And The Flood, or Tyrannids, or the Zerg, or the Borg, can be truly scary, but is that scariness horror – or horrifying? Maybe that’s the nuance that prevents you from using something like that in your horror game?
Maybe a copout answer from me but it is both! I mean intellectually I know the Flood are horrifying and also work in the genre or horror very well. I think they do work well in their specific universe where they are a common enemy to face, and they add a layer of sinister dread but without making the Halo universe focus on them alone. The Flood are a perfect example of body horror, and I still like the Halo games with them in it, but something like the Thing is a bit much for me in that department. I guess you could say I am picky.
As a child of the X-Files, I really miss alien horror. I feel it’s a somewhat underused niche these days, particularly in contemporary games.
I hear you. Part of why I asked was a retrospective I ran through on X-Files and how you had horror episodes ala Kolchak, you had the alien/alien abduction episodes, and the paranoid government conspiracy episodes all interweaving into one pretty consistent “setting”. Definitely a large part of its success.
My library, weird and creepy? What ever could you mean? *A chain of books scurries past in the background*
Eddy could have been talking about any one of us! 🙂
I watched Fire in the Sky not too long ago, and there is some great body horror in there as well as just the fear of the unknown and the fear of not being able to trust your memories. So I think aliens can be used in a horrific way.
Aliens used horrifically – totally. From the other direction in thinking, your favorite WoD character, let’s say a Toreador, is clubbing and loses several hours. They notice several small punctures in their skin, but not like with fangs. This opens the story up to all sorts of nastiness, both mundane and supernatural. Would you find it offputting to discover that the hours missing and the punctures are the results of an alien abduction?
So here’s a thought experiment. If you’re thinking “urban fantasy” and “urban horror” do you think there’s a place for alien species to coexist with things like vampires and werewolves? In my mind, I think tying something like vampirism to some kind of space disease would be really cool. Or maybe the vampires and other monstrous types are the only ones who know about an alien invasion and have to stop it! What if aliens were a playable type, and everyone thought they were demons? I think there’s a lot of possibilities to explore without making it extremely sci-fi.
Actual game-making example, back in the olden times, it was floated in a WW book that Vicissitude wasn’t just a discipline, but an alien virus/intelligence. Some folks dug it, and the inspiration behind it, and some hated the idea with white-hot passion. Not sure that was because of the ideas expressed here in these Comments, but there was definitely negative feedback. Maybe somebody reading this recalls that whole thing?
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
I also remember the Valjunkha (sp?) from Under A Blood Red Moon being an alien species. At the time it seemed to come out of left field, but given the proper treatment I think it could have been quite interesting.
Aliens can be a viable option. They can compete with the “terrestrial” monsters for power or food (i.e lifeforce or emotions). They might use some form of disguise to pass unnoticed between humans and the paranormal populace ad well. Or the supernatural monsters might be aliens themselves.
So you’d be cool if, let’s say, it was revealed that your Changeling hadn’t been abducted by the Gentry in CtL, but by aliens? Same circumstances, false memories maybe, an escape – but you get away from their hidden base-ship and they are hunting you. It’s a cool concept, now that I write it out, but is it horror like regular CtL is?
I think it depends by the setting of this hypothetical new urban horror book. If it encompasses all the paranormal manifestations like the twilight zone tv series, then yes it is horror as in CtL.
I wasn’t even thinking about this in terms of a hypothetical new game, it was sort of a lingering setting design question I saw get brought up again. I’m straight-up wondering about putting aliens like from UFOs into horror games, not so much wondering if other media works by mixing them. Clearly, we all have a sliding scale as to what is actually horror – as opposed to something being horrific – when it comes to media. Hence my question to you. To fine-tune the question, not talking hypotheticals: would you be OK if we introduced UFO-flying aliens into CofD or WoD?
Yes, why not ? It’s worth a try.
Aliens aren‘t really my thing. At least not in Urban-X. At least not in the most common versions like grey men, martians, aliens from the MCU.
That being said, I could see a game that focusses on horrific aliens like the Thing or an alien from Alien. They might fit in a HTV scenario or Deviant game. Making them the source of horror. Having extraterrestrials next to more mythic creatures feels odd to me. They should have their own niche.
Maybe it would be interesting to look at something like The Expanse for inspiration (haven‘t watched more than season one).
All of that being said, I preferre my mystic creatures and stories.
Yep. I think The Expanse is more like our own Trinity Continuum, in that anything that seems supernatural, like ghosts, are explained via science. If anybody recalls any case of supernatural stuff in there that wasn’t ultimately part of the sci-fi universe the novels/series are in, please do chime in!
When you talk about alien horror, are you talking about aliens as antagonists? Or are you taking about making them into playable characters, the way WoD and CoD have done with supernatural monsters? Because those are two very different things.
Ultimately, both could apply as the issue at hand is whether _any_ injection of space aliens gets weird in horror settings. We’ve had a few comments here that I think are aiming at them as antagonists or NPCs, so what if they were PCs? Would it feel “right” to have some kind of Alien in there along with vampires as player characters? (I suspect that one answer to that is based on what kind of aliens they are. Lil Greys, a Predator, or a Xenomorph, would all be pretty different to play I think.)
One of the problems I have with aliens is that they suggest such a massive quantity of backstory that it would be hard to fit them in cleanly. You’re taking every question about other new species and magnifying it tenfold. If you’ve got alien PCs or recurring NPCs (vs one-off monsters), you kinda need the answers. And, the questions feel so big and crunchy that it would be hard to go our own directions if the OP content doesn’t quite fit.
Questions
* Do aliens have their own versions of each supernatural species?
* How does alien physiology and psychology interact with each supernatural species? (can vampires drink their blood, dominate them, turn them, etc.?)
* How do the aliens get here? Can we go there?
* What’s the alien society like? Why are they here?
* What time scales are we talking about? (lifespan, time on Earth, history)
* How do aliens accomplish these amazing feats (interplanetary travel, environmental adaptation, parsing linguistic/cultural differences, etc.) without being untouchably powerful?
* If these technological feats are possible for aliens, are they possible for terrestrials?
* One alien planet or many? One race or many? Did they bring alien flora & fauna?
All good questions and appropriate. I’m betting, if we did Alien: The Abductionators that there’d be in-setting reasons why _these_ aliens are the way they are. They’d be designed to sidestep a number of your questions like aliens on the other planets, but most of your questions are pretty similar to the ones we have to answer every time we do a new PC monster for existing horror games. They could be stranded shape-shifters like the Skrulls, hiding in plain sight, or alien beings of pure psychic energy who merge with humans.
“They could be stranded shape-shifters like the Skrulls, hiding in plain sight, or alien beings of pure psychic energy who merge with humans.”
On a base level, you can do this easily with the mechanics of Demon: the Descent for the first; and Mummy: the Resurrection, Hunter: the Reckoning, and Geist: the Sin Eaters for the second. The story would have to change but the mechanics are a definitive proof of concept. All of those games can be wickedly horrific in the hands of a good storyteller. Whether it is an addition to an existing setting or a brand new setting, I think it is safe to say that such an option would be interesting to plenty of players. Since Onyx Path’s games really shine in how flexible the mood can be (as horrific or not as a group prefers), the appeal could be quite broad.