We’re in that time that crowdfunding backers know too well- the slump before the last days when backing sloooows down. Well, no! We don’t need to do that with our steam-powered Rigs!
The Rigs are a big part of Trinity Continuum: Steam Wars – the crowdfunding campaign that now needs us to throw more of the special coal in the furnace and pump up the steam! Full speed ahead and let’s propel ourselves out of the trough!
And really, although the Rigs and their crews are how we frame the more advanced abilities in this piece of the Trinity Continuum, there are plenty of action, espionage, and social maneuvering opportunities when your characters are out of the Rig. The Old World rivalries and skullduggery before the countries of Europe fully formed into their modern versions; the brashness of the New World before alliances and industry sprang into high-gear – that’s the backdrop these new kind of war machines stomp their way across!
And, and – then there’s the added fun of doing a supplement that spins off a version of the TC: Steam Wars world and says: “Yeah, but what if there were also giant monsters? How would that shake history up?” We’re almost there in achieving the Stretch Goal that gets that supplement – The Kaiju Factor – onto our schedule! So please spread the word as you turn up the steam, and let’s get that goal and a bunch more, before this campaign strides off across the battered landscape!
If all that means you have lots of questions, well, you’re in luck! Right now we have a Q&A AMA-style thread up on RPG.net where the writers and devs, and even myself, will be standing by ready to answer those questions, and any more you might have! https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/trinity-continuum-steam-wars-ama.925815/
Looking forward to hearing from you there!
Not only did Matthew start the RPG.net AMA thread about TC: Steam Wars, but he has also sent me some words following up his previews from last week’s MMN blog – take it away, Matthew:
Hi again all!
We’re a whisker away from our kaiju vs. steam rigs stretch goal, so I wanted to let everyone know about steam dice in Trinity Continuum: Steam Wars!
Those of you who have been following Curseborne will know all about curse dice, how they replace dice in your pool, and can lead to spectacular victories and crushing defeats. Steam dice fulfil a very similar function when you’re on board your rig, managing your station – whether you’re a pilot in the helm, an engineer in the chest, a gunner in the arms, or a pilot in the legs! The more steam dice your rig has, the more likely it is you’ll be able to see what we call “rousing success” or a “pernicious defeat”, which leads to all manner of interesting narrative effects.
You can also use those steam dice to purchase specific steam dice Tricks, many of them dependent on where in the steam rig you’re based. You either have to hold those steam dice, or vent them, thereby losing them from your pool. I’ll post a few below:
Arms Tricks
Haymaker (Vent 2 steam dice): By diverting some extra power to the shoulders and holding just the right amount of tension in the cables, the cranesman delivers a wallop to the opposing rig, knocking it back one range band.
Surgical Precision (Hold 1 steam die): Your character knows exactly how to work the pulleys and levers, moving the claw-grips as though they were her own hands. Reduce the difficulty or Complication by 1 on an action requiring delicate movements. This might be something like lowering a teammate into narrow space or stealing a pipe from atop a stack without knocking the rest over.
Legs Tricks
Dancer’s Grace (Hold 1 steam die): The ambulators work in perfect unison, maneuvering around the battlefield as though they were dancers in a ballroom. Reduce area effect Complications involving difficult terrain by 1, such as Overgrowth, Quaking, or Sinking.
Mighty Leap (Vent 2 steam dice): The ambulators crouch the rig down low, then spring into the air with a great hiss of steam and straining pistons. Move 1 additional range band beyond the normal limit.
Pivot (Vent 1 steam die):A rig’s momentum makes it hard to turn on a dime, but the engineers know how to pull it off. An ally of your choice gains 1 hit to spend on another Combat Trick.
Guns Tricks
Draw Fire (Hold 1 steam die): Your shots ping off an opponent rig’s chassis, forcing that rig’s gunners to concentrate on you and allowing an ally’s actions to go unnoticed. The target suffers +2 difficulty on any actions that don’t focus on your rig until the end of your next turn.
Explosive Ordnance (Vent 1 steam die):The ammunition you selected has been altered in some way. Maybe it packs an extra punch thanks to a thin coating of condensed coal, or its shape can tear a hole clean through even the thickest chassis walls. Inflict 1 additional damage on the target.
And we have many more Tricks than that! The battlefield combat set on war rigs is a really exciting part of the game, and we would love to hear your thoughts on it!
Happy to pop in there.
Said a couple of times today by various folks in the Monday Meeting. One thing about our crew, they’re willing to help out each other!
As you’ll see in June, as the next Onyx Path Virtual Convention is now set for June 6-8! We’re giving folks plenty of warning for this one as it promises to be our best one yet, and we’d hate for anybody to miss it!
One of the many things happening this year is that we’re working with both Start Playing and our demo teams from Envoy to provide more online gaming time during the con! So you’ll be able to try out new games or old favorites with a variety of Storyguides, including the stalwart folks who go around from convention to convention demoing our games. After running the gauntlet at PAXu and other cons, they know their stuff!
Speaking of demos- this last weekend, our friends from the Dead Gamers Society were running the Curseborne Ashcan at Strategicon: Orc Con this last Feb 15. In fact, here’s a pic of the gang – I’ve only ever heard good things about their games, so if you get a chance at a con where they’re playing – be sure and sign up!
We still have sales going on for physical books, screens, etc at both IPR and Studio2, and the legendary GMs Day Sale is starting in a few weeks on March 4th on DriveThruRPG.
Travis updated us on a couple of community events and projects you might be interested in checking out! First, there’s the ongoing Storypath Nexus Game Jam – and the submissions window is only open for less than a week if you want to get in on it! Here’s Travis’s notes on that:
Submissions for the Storypath Nexus Game Jam close on Saturday the 22nd at NOON EST! Show off your skills by designing a release under one of these prompts:
- Dystopia Rising: Evolution: Community: projects entered around the idea of building or maintaining a community.
- Scion: Changes: supplements centered around shifting from origin to hero or hero to demigod.
- They Came From…: Greenlight a Sequel: projects that are a follow up to any official story ranging from published adventures to published story hooks.
- Trinity Continuum: New Worlds: new dimensions, planets, or tangents.
Personally I’m a fan of the Trinity Continuum prompt, as we’ve seen tangents explored in The Adventure! Addendum, the Phoebe Trust (now available in the recently released Tasty Bit Compendium) and, of course, with Trinity Continuum: Steam Wars!
The full rules for the game jam can be found at https://theonyxpath.com/storypath-nexus-game-jam-2025/
I look forward to seeing everyone’s submissions!
There’s also a brand new Scarred Lands project that’s pretty cool that he wanted us to know about, so I’m sharing this with you folks, too:
A group of community content creators have come together to craft Sangus’s Guide to the Titanspawn, a new release for Scarred Lands via the Slarecian Vault. Per the preview text on DriveThruRPG, this collection of creatures allows you to “revisit the terrifying legacy that the titans and the Divine War wrought across the land, including the return of old favorites from the original Creature Collection and Creature Collection 2 supplements, and new nightmarish threats to challenge your players with.”
This band of creators released two previews to whet your appetite:
These Slarecian Vault community content releases contain material drawn from the 5e OGL, which is one of the two permitted systems for the Slarecian Vault. The other system you can use when creating Slarecian Vault content is Pathfinder 1st edition. Check out the Sangus’s Guide to the Titanspawn Previews and check out the creator-run Actual Play next Monday!
When we talk about building online communities, I love this bit about Bluesky, for those of you who haven’t yet found us over there, from Dixie from a month or so ago:
For those who aren’t aware, Onyx Path is now on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/)! Bluesky is a microblogging app similar to the old days of Twitter. One of the features on Bluesky is Starter Packs, which allow you to follow multiple accounts at once, so we’ve made one for our freelancers you can follow here: https://bsky.app/starter-pack/theonyxpath.bsky.social/3laz43eiw3u22
We’re continuing to update it as freelancers let us know their Bluesky handles, so never miss a skeet (that’s what they’re called) from the Onyx Path team! You can also just follow us for company updates at @theonyxpath.bsky.social
Hope to see you all in bluer skies!
If you’re a regular reader, or even an irregular one, of these MMN blogs, then you might have noticed that a lot of the notes I pull out of our meeting are our talks about our community. We’re always looking at what y’all are saying, throwing out ideas to further respond to everybody out there, and it’s from those continuing discussions that we then put into play things like the Nexus pages and the errata pages for our PDFs, and other methods of being mindful of not just what we want to make, but the sorts of projects you’re into!
I mentioned before, I think – we were pretty busy at the time, that the series of AMAs we ran during the lead-up to the Curseborne KS really provided us with tons of feedback. So if you can sit in on a Reddit one, or post on an RPG.net one, you can be sure that we’re taking notes! We’re looking at doing a bunch of different ones this next year, so you should get your chance one of these sessions!
You talk, we listen. We talk, you listen. Tweaks are made, our mutual story advances. It’s almost like we’re learning from the way we game…who’da thunk it? Well, we think lots of things, particularly about:
Many Worlds, One Path!
Blurbs!
Crowdfunding!
Trinity Continuum: Steam Wars
FUNDED!
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/onyx-path/trinity-continuum-steam-wars
Onyx Path Media!
Check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week!
On this week’s Onyx Path News Matthew discusses the upcoming the Trinity Continuum Anima Jumpstart and kaiju in Trinity Continuum: Steam Wars! Check it out right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syhb9zegUnw
On The Gentleman Gamer’s YouTube channel, we have a new Gentleman’s Guide to the Accursed with his guide to the Eight Hands family! Check out this official lore drop here: https://youtu.be/oal9pGV3kR4
Virtual Tabletop!
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!
Select Chronicles of Darkness Screens and Monarchies of Mau books,
screens, and dice 50% off at Studio 2:
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/onx-onyx-path-publishing
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books, dice, and screens? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
Select books and screens on sale at 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!
Look out for March 4th and the GM Day’s Sale! Pretty much all of our PDFs in all of our game lines will be on sale!
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!
They Came From the RPG Anthology! with eleven chapters of different genres to quip through, and all its quip cards, will be ready for its closeup as it goes on sale in PDF and PoD versions this Weds on DTRPG!
Conventions!
Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
This year’s Onyx Path Virtual Game Con will be happening on June 6-8! Mark your calendars!
Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying is the last Friday of every month! Come play some Curseborne 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 January’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-january-2025/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
FIRST DRAFTS
Curseborne – Toil and Trouble: Curseborne Player’s Guide
- I’ve pulled together a big team of writers to work on our first big supplement for Curseborne. They’re already tearing apart the outline and reviewing the latest version of the manuscript. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!
DEVELOPMENT
They Came from the Cyclops’ Cave! – The Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet
- Jumanji! Pocahontas! Creepy Men! Only one of these three elements will be making it into the Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet. But which…?
POST EDITING-DEVELOPMENT
Exalted – Champions of the Divine Flame
- A supplement for Exigents, Champions of the Divine Flame has been deftly edited and is now in the developer’s hands for review!
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Abyssals – Sending art over to Paradox.
- Ex3 Miracles of the Divine Flame – Dev feedback sent to artists… awaiting update pieces.
- Ex3 Exigents Jumpstart – Sending to DAC. They are chomping at the bit.
- TCF Cyclops Cave Jumpstart – Checking with Sheikman to see if he has time.
- TCF Murder Lake Jumpstart – Gonna throw this all to Leblanc.
- SCION Wild Hunt – Okay… I think I have my artist roster for this one.
- SCION Demigod Companion – Still getting my roster together.
- SCION Titans Rising – It’s all in… probably go to Ron Thompson for layout really soon.
- SCION Mythic Shards – Slight snag in art… we need to get 1 more piece for 4 of the non KS add on chapters… we never got all the pieces for them.
- TC the OTHER Anima Jumpstart – Gonna see if Denmark can do it up.
- TC Aether Jumpstart – Gonna see who I can get to do the art on this one.
- At The Gates – Have art notes. Unless I hear different… gonna ping Mel and some other artists.
- Branch Riders – Feedback sent to Gong. Awaiting updates.
- TC: Steam Wars (BK) – BackerKit crowdfunder running.
Layout
- Scion Tasty Bit Combo
- Ex Essence Pillars of Creation– with Travis.
- TC With Great Power
- TC Aether Screen
- SCION God Storyguide Screen
- World Below Screen – Wrapping up this week.
- Pugmire 2e Screen
- SCION God Storyguide Screen
Proofing
Indexing
At Press
- Reprints:
- Scion Origin – At Studio2, prepping for shipping to backers.
- TC Core – At Studio2, prepping for shipping to backers.
- Ex 3 Exigents – Quoting and press files.
- Ex 3 Exigents Screen – At Studio 2
- TC Aether – Prepping press files.
- Ex 3 Sidereals – Quoting and press files.
- Scion: God – Prepping press files.
- The World Below – Tweaking Strata Map and character Sheet… then we PoD the sucker.
- TC Aegis – Prepping for PoD.
- TC Tasty Bit Combo – Uploading PoD files.
- TCF RPG Anthology – On Sale this week in PDF and PoD versions for both the book and cards on Weds on DTRPG!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Today in the US is Presidents Day, which is some kind of holiday here – I think banks and post offices are closed but maybe not much else. Schools? But, if you don’t feel like that’s enough of a holiday to celebrate, how about National Cabbage Day? No euphemism there, it’s all about the leafy vegetable that stinks up the place when you cook it. Also, it’s National Random Acts of Kindness Day – which seems like a very nice idea overall! (Enjoy it while it lasts!)
Thanks for sharing our pic. The players had a fun time encounting The Champagne Room. The people in our region are curious about this game, we fill it up every time we run it. We’ll be running Curseborne more for anyone who wants to check it out. Search the Dead Games Society and see our schedule on our website.
Very glad to hear it, Louis, and thank you so much for providing an opportunity for players to sit and get a real taste of Curseborne at the table. I’m sure they had fun with your crew running the games!
“Curseborne – Toil and Trouble: Curseborne Player’s Guide
I’ve pulled together a big team of writers to work on our first big supplement for Curseborne. They’re already tearing apart the outline and reviewing the latest version of the manuscript. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!”
So, what are the odds you’ll have shareable details by OPP-Con?
I’d say that they are pretty good for some kind of info being hyped up at OP Con! Whether that’s part of an ad campaign, or teasers, or chatty commentary… we’ll have to see!
Thanks for the shout-out <3
Sangus's Guide to the Titanspawn is set to release on Sunday !
My pleasure – good luck to all of you working on the book!