Shards! That’s what we’re talking about! Mythic Shards!
Which is our newest project for Scion 2e, and one that has a crowd funding campaign on BackerKit that started running just last week! So, I haven’t run out of exclamation points yet!
As for the BackerKit campaign: Great news! We funded in less than a day, and currently have over 600 backers! We’ve already passed the first Stretch Goal, the ubiquitous backer t-shirt, and continued “funding may allow the Scion Second Edition team to add a companion supplement with additional information and options for the shards, or even expand the book with one or two additional setting shards with direction provided by campaign backers!”
But let’s take some longer looks at these so-called Shards. First here’s a Shard breakdown from the campaign page:
- After the End: A post apocalyptic desert full of peril and opportunities for new beginnings
- Cyber-Scion: A cyberpunk dystopia where Scions pilot mecha to fight corporate kaiju
- Farewell to Heroes: Gritty noir cities where Scions are illegal
- Four Color: A place of superheroes, alter-egos, and over-the-top excitement
- Space Odyssey: An entire galaxy of starships and aliens
Each Shard contains a ton of information and inspirational material including the following:
- Fiction: A short story showing a glimpse of a Scion’s life within the shard.
- Genre Introduction: This section contains genre inspirations and explanations for genre and feel of the World within the shard.
- A Brief History of the World: Each shard exists within an alternate reality, and this section provides story seeds and a quick explanation of the significant events that shaped the World within the chapter.
- New Player Options: Contains tier appropriate player options such as new setting mechanics, Fatebindings, Powers, Birth Rights, Knacks, or Boons, etc., for the shard.
- Key Players: Short biographies of the important people within this version of the World. Some of the Scions and denizens share similarities to the signature Scions in the main timeline of the World but are quite different.
- Locations: Some of the well-known places within the shard characters are likely to encounter, the people associated with those, and the major goings on around them. This is the last player facing section in each chapter.
- Plots and Schemes: Storyguide only section. Arc length plot seeds appropriate for each Tier represented in the chapter. These can be played as missions for the players to get a feel for the new setting.
- Antagonists and Storyguide Characters: Storyguide only section. Stat blocks and more amplifying information for Antagonists and Storyguide characters that might be import to the introduced plot seeds within the chapter.
There’s actually an enormous amount of useful info in each section, all it rife with rich (or rich with rife) details and depth, and despite the different Shards presenting different genres, the mythological nature at the heart of Scion shines through. It’s the foundation that the creators have built upon. Which becomes obvious if you read the excerpts – which you can do if you back the project!
Here’s Hiromi with some of the background for the Cyber-Scion Shard which is being delivered to backers, at least the text is, tomorrow as I write this:
Cyber-Scion was one of the first shards to get pitched, and it was obvious that we wanted to do a cyberpunk version of Scion, but we also wanted to see something new and different from the genre. So, instead of replicating the feel of early cyberpunk with punks hiding in the shadows, hacking and fighting to survive a dystopia, we went in a more dramatic, more Scion direction; we added giant robots. There are plenty of places for Scions to do their thing in Cyber-Scion, but the most obvious is working on the behalf of one or more freeholds (independent city-states) to maintain the freedom and safety of the people.
This gives groups narrative freedom to fight corporations, kaiju (giant monsters), or both, as well as just doing good in the community. After all, there are social powers; just because you have a giant robot doesn’t mean that you have to get into big fights. It just means that the fights are cooler and more dramatic. I look forward to seeing what kinds of fun players get up to with this shard. I know folks are going to have a lot of fun with this one.
And for folks who like to watch vids about projects, here’s that Awkward GM Corbin with his preview of Cyber-Scion! Check out his video right here: https://youtu.be/KyBVAxSsrog?si=THFOB3SlSqVJ3W_o
Plus, if you missed it last week, here’s his overview of the whole project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8paMFjgOYSQ
Was the Campaign All We Talked About? Shardly!
We actually covered a really wide swathe of topics today, and made sure that whatever anybody was working on wouldn’t be interrupted by vacation time. With a small team like we have, it’s vital that communication is active so that projects stay covered and moving forward.
We covered the big, big, sales going on right now at both the DTRPG suite of sites, including Roll20, and the smaller but physical project specific sale at IPR. Both are great at offering deals at big discounts – you can check them out at the links in the Sales Partners section of The Blurbs!, below.
Not yet on sale to folks in the general public except in PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG, both the Deluxe and regular traditionally printed editions of Exalted Essence and its Storytellers Screen have been shipping out to backers – and once that’s over, the regular edition will be available for local game stores to order via Studio2. And also maybe IPR. This is the first regular edition Exalted book that we’ve been able to offer for game stores and other retailers, so we hope anybody who missed out on the crowdfunding campaign can take advantage of being able to get one from your Friendly Local Game Store!
On a different topic, we reviewed plans for a continuing series of blog posts detailing the world and rules for Curseborne. Last week, we did a general overview on Tuesday, and then Thursday was a more detailed look at Liminal Spaces than we’ve released as yet. Liminal Spaces, those strange and often terrifying locales where what we consider our “normal” world collides with…something else. Haunted houses would be classic versions of this sort of scary space, but the deep woods are pretty freaky too!
Here are some links to those blogs:
This week, our blogs will focus on one of the major divisions between the supernatural accursed, the Primal. That which changes you, makes you stronger…
Really looking forward to hearing what you folks think – so please keep an eye out and like and share these sorts of blog posts as they move into social media, and if you see some of the related vids that have started going out there too! Curseborne has only started to be revealed to y’all, there’s a lot more to come!
But not much more of this blog to go, so just a reminder to give us a yell/like/rating/review as you run into these things we’re putting out there; all of these:
Many Worlds, One Path!
Blurbs!
Crowdfunding!
SCION MYTHIC SHARDS – Funded in half a day!
Jump in now and you’ll get to read each Shard as it is revealed!
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/onyx-path/scion-mythic-shards
Onyx Path Media!
This week: This week’s episode is about Consulting Developers. Matthew interviews some past Consulting Developers from our crowdfunding campaigns to discuss what the process is like!
As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue!
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!
In this week’s Onyx Path News, you’ll find information on Scion: Mythic Shards, Curseborne, and more! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTGkQHAQwo
Awkward GM Corbin strikes again with his preview of Cyber Scion! Check out his video right here: https://youtu.be/KyBVAxSsrog?si=THFOB3SlSqVJ3W_o
Virtual Tabletop!
DTRPG/Fiction/STV and Roll20 Marketplace X-Mas in July Sale is happening RIGHT NOW. Almost our entire catalog will be on sale for 2 weeks!
The Monsters of the Deep Compendium with all of the monsters added to the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Compendium core, including Tokens for VTT play, will be on Roll20 and DTRPG this FOUR MORE DAYS!
They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea
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! https://foundryvtt.co
Looking for more virtual tabletop resources? We have a selection of
Tokens, Encounters, and more available now at DriveThruRPG! 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/
Dog Days of Summer Sale is live on IPR:
https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/
As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com!
DTRPG/Fiction/STV and Roll20 Marketplace X-Mas in July Sale is on now:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/4261/onyx-path-publishing?promo=31815
https://www.drivethrufiction.com/xmas_in_july.php?manufacturers_id=4261
https://www.storytellersvault.com/xmas_in_july.php?manufacturers_id=4261
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/search?tag=Unique%20Status:ChristmasInJuly24&author=Onyx%20Path%20Publishing
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).
On Sale This Week!
We all know that in the Victorian Era the planet Mars invaded our Earth! Now it can be told: the true story of all the strange and bizarre events of that time, including the failed Martian invasion (at least for now)! Trinity Continuum: Aether enters our dimension this Wednesday on DTRPG with PDF and physical copy PoD versions available!
Conventions!
Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
Keep an eye out for our books at:
GenCon at the Studio2 and IPR booths!
GameHoleCon – Oct 17th – 19th
https://www.gameholecon.com/
PAX Unplugged – December 6th – 8th
https://unplugged.paxsite.com/
Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying is this coming Friday, July 26th! Come play some of our games that night! (But any of our game lines are welcome all day long!)
Here’s a link to give anyone $10 credit to play games on Start.Playing:
https://startplaying.games/referral/clog9y0v10006ju0968iev95m
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
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-2024/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
Manuscript Approval
Storypath – Storypath Ultra Core Manual
- Eddy: After many months of writing this manuscript and cross-referencing with the other Storypath Ultra games in production, the Core Manual is now up to Rich for approvals! I’m also asking Matthew and Danielle to take a look in case I missed anything, but so far it looks like the biggest concern is that maybe I need to write even more of it!
Editing
Tasty Bit – Æon: Diplomacy and Conflict (August)
- Eddy: Negotiations over final drafts and approvals went quite smoothly, and the diplomatic corps have agreed to push the resolution up to editing.
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- The World Below – So it’s all AD’d out. Symbols are in progress. Strata map will be underway soon.
- TCF RPG Anthology – If things go my way, finished sending out notes this week.
- M20 Forbidden and Forgotten Orders – Throwing the fulls at Paul Lee.
- M20 Victorian Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters – Gaydos has the fulls and the halfs.
- Pugmire 2e Jumpstart – Seeing what we need to get this going…
- SCION Mythic Shards (BK) – Chugging along!
- SPU Rulebook (BK) – Contracted.
In Layout
- SCION Path to Apotheosis – With Dixie and reviewing her notes.
- They Came From Classified Jumpstart – Assembled files going over to Ron Thompson.
- Scion Tasty Bit Combo
Proofing
- M20 Victorian Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magic – Coming over to me to do up the ToC and get ready for Paradox approval.
- TC Player’s Guide – First proof with devs.
- Pugmire 2e – I need to interactivize the sheet for Eddy’s example thingie at the end of Ch2.
- Pugmire 2e Curs and Threats – Waiting on final page numbers from Realms.
Indexing
- Scion God – Wrapping up for PoD this week.
At Press
- Reprints:
- Scion Origin – Starting the trip over the seas to Studio2.
- TC Core – Starting the trip over the seas to Studio2.
- Exalted Essence Retail and LtD – Backer books at Studio2, shipping.
- Ex Essence Screen – Shipping to backers.
- Ex 3 Exigents – Getting quotes.
- Ex 3 Exigents Screen – Getting it quoted and prepping press files.
- TC Aether – Getting quotes. PoD files uploaded.
- TC Anima – Awaiting the proofs.
- Ex3 Sidereals – Exporting this out for indexing.
- Ex Essence Jumpstart – Inputting errata correx.
- Ex Essence Charm Cards – Setting up Backer PDFs.
- Scion – No Gods No Masters – PoD proofs ordered.
- They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave – Proofs signed off on, should be printing.
- They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave Screen
- They Came From CLASSIFIED – Proofs signed off on, should be printing.
- They Came From CLASSIFIED Screen
- TC Aether – PDF and physical book PoD versions go live Weds on DTRPG!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Four years ago today, we published Pirates of Pugmire! Really, loved that whole concept, and love the pirates ripping through the cover on swinging ropes art by Claudio Pozas! Grrrryaaarrr! (And for those who haven’t picked it up yet, the sales we have running right now can get you the physical traditionally printed book and screen on IPR in their Dog Days of Summer Sale – heh, and the PDF on DTRPG’s Xmas in July Sales at pretty deep discounts, matey!)