Yep, Eddy, Dixie, and myself have all returned safely from SAFe – the Save Against Fear Convention run by our friends at the Bodhana Group!

Here’s Dixie with her recap:

I had a really amazing time at Save Against Fear! I was on three panels: Branch Riders, Podcasting 101, and Safety Tools in Gaming with a bunch of super talented people. I also got to playtest a newer game and see Eddy, Rich, and Lisa in person for the first time in almost three years. It was nice going back to an in-person convention, and as always I learned a lot from other people in the industry and the Bodhana Group!

And Eddy with his:

The con was exhausting for me, but most of that is just because it’s been a few years since I’ve done a “proper” con like this with several panels, meeting up with fans and colleagues, and checking games out. But aside from some travel woes where I had to navigate the new normal of airplanes, hotels, and rental cars, the actual convention was wonderful. I sat on some great panels (and listened to a couple other ones), I had fun running a secret playtest of secret things, and it was nice to actually hug my friends again and have dinner and drinks with folks I haven’t seen face-to-face in so long. Save Against Fear is always a small but welcoming show, and I’m so glad I went this year.

Personally, it was incredible to once again go to a con in real life, I mean in a body, talk face-to-face – all that. It’s been two and a half years, after all. Really great to see Eddy and Dixie, Jack and the whole Bodhana Group gang – who run the con so smoothly and so safely, our friend Bear, and a lot of fans and new folks, too!

I sat on the Branch Riders panel, where a lot more about the Group’s TTRPG was discussed and revealed – much of it for the first time! For example, there are eight listed dimensions that a Rider can come from, and each is tied to a particular genre/style of play. If that was all they were, then that alone would be an interesting start to a setting for gaming. But, each of the dimensions is also designed in such a way as to focus on certain traits that effect the player characters, help to define that setting, and are also usable as personal-growth focus areas.

Which again, is cool and really helps the players hone in on their characters and what they can do. Beyond that, though, those traits are areas that trained therapists can also use during therapeutic sessions playing the game. It is stated repeatedly, because it bears repeating, that non-therapists should not attempt to use those aspects to “heal” their friends, and in no way does the game require those therapeutic aspects to be used for folks to enjoy playing in the setting.

(I’m deliberately not using the actual game terminology here, as we are still very much pre-pre-announcing the game. In fact, there were over a half-dozen sold-out playtests at SAFe, with tons of great feedback that the team is reviewing and discussing. They even incorporated comments from the Friday playtests in Sat/Sun playtests to see if the ideas handed in worked with what they already had).

But that wasn’t the only playtest at SAFe, as I also played in the super-secret game playtest run by Eddy that he mentions. It was a delight, and seemed to have a lot of notes to review.

I do want to call out the Safety Tools panel, which I attended in the audience, which was a comprehensive look at all of the various ways of calibrating your games. This has become a divisive topic in some gaming circles, and the panel’s run-down of a whole range of tools (compiled by Beau Sheldon, creator of the Script Change set of tools) would, I think, surprise anyone who looks at one version and feels like using them would wreck their game.

It becomes clear – at least to me – when you look at the gamut of tools available that we’re not only talking about player personal safety at the table – although this was certainly the impetus and something that Onyx Path sees as vitally important at even the simplest level of treating your players well.

There’s a lot in this gamut of tools which is all about calibrating your games to maximize the enjoyment around the table. “Calibration”, “tools”: these are the terms used, and just like you don’t use a hammer to unscrew a screw (I mean you can, but it runs the risk of messing things up), you don’t have to use all the possible safety tools all of the time.

Thinking about it, we’ve all been doing this for years with house rules and tweaks, so if you come at these tools as further ways to have that understanding before the campaign/chronicle/story/dungeon/adventure starts as to what everybody wants out of the game, and as a continuation of the building of characters that we have seen become more used over the years, then building-in ways to allow players before, during, and after playing is something that extends the collaborative aspect of our games.

We used to say in the graphic design business that the more restrictions on a project that were imposed by a client, the more easily a visual solution could be reached. I think the same applies to world-building for gaming sessions, and hearing from your players as to what they are expecting and what they don’t want is a great guide for the person running the games in much the same way.

YMMV, of course.

Overall, a very nice way to step gingerly into the convention scene again, and I’ll let you know next week if we’re all still feeling OK!

AAAAND?

Yep, although we were pretty tired after the convention-hopping, our Monday Meeting did go off as always. So here’s some stuff from that!

Here we are in the second week of our October celebration of our They Came From game line and we’re nearing the end of the first sales bloc with They Came From Beneath the Sea!. Related PDFs are 10% of their normal price on DTRPG – that’s 90% off – and physical projects are on sale for 50% off on IPR!

Second half of the month of scary scariness is coming, so I think you can guess what’s going to be featured then!

The Onyx Pathcast, on the other hand, will be looking at They Came From [CLASSIFIED]! with a discussion of the spy influences for they game. Do you expect them to talk? No, Mr Bond, I expect them to die!

Movie deaths aside, should be a fun one!

As a brief tangent, last week Matthew posted about the origins of They Came From Beneath the Sea!, and one thing I think I can expand on is how the Quip/Cinematic cards were added to the game, as this is a conversation I recall clearly.

Matthew had pitched Sea, and I wasn’t yet feeling it. The Quip idea was in there, but it relied on the player to come up with it. Now, I know we all laugh at the things we say around the game table, but those off-the-cuff witticisms can dry up like a drop of water in the desert at high noon when a player has to say something funny RIGHT THEN.

Matthew knew I was a huge MST3K fan, so he knew I was pro-quipping – I just was searching for a mechanic that allowed players to be funny on demand, that guided them to what was needed. In the midst of the conversation, Matthew suggested pre-created Quips as a mechanic – and that they could be cards. This tied into a point I was working on that suggested that the humor in Cards Against Humanity was largely from the pre-printed cards, not the blank ones.

Suddenly, our discussion came together on that one thought: Quip Cards. Of course, there was still a lot of work to do, and it was Matthew and his team who took that concept and turned into an awesome and fun part of the game that we enjoy.

Anyway, from the sublime creative to the ridiculous world of sales – here’s a reminder that there are still WtA and WtF PDFs on DTRPG‘s Creature Feature Sale. Link below in the Sales Partners section.

And we’d hate to have you folks miss out on the Scion: God crowdfunding campaign coming next week on BackerKit – so please use this link to head to the pre-campaign page and you can sign up to be notified before we go live. Early-birds do get some deals that we won’t be running through the whole campaign, so it might just be worth jumping in now! Right here:
https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/a0c8d51d-83cd-4f6c-8577-f80482b2c1f8/landing

Also, for those who have asked: you can choose not to back even if you sign up, and if you do back you’re only going to be charged once the campaign is over. Hope that helps!

Finally, just like last week, here are some creatures I’m doing the art for during Inktober. That’s the artist challenge of doing and posting an ink drawing per day for the whole month! They’re from the text of an upcoming new game we’re doing-

Here’s the text from that post: The prompt is Nest. The Mantodea people live in matriarchal nests & are willing to treat honorably- trading exists & this trader & his pack Ptera are loaded with goods. The lil drawing to the right is my suggestion for how their hands could work. Bic pen.

And the text from its post: The prompt is Trip. The Diamond Dragon is infused with Kaos, and can mutate and warp creatures and surroundings – even showing visions and bringing forth parts of other worlds/dimensions/eras. What a long, strange, trip that is! Ink pens.

And that’s it for this week! See you next week as we’ve been doing for:

TEN YEARS, MANY WORLDS, ONE PATH!

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BLURBS!

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KICKSTARTER/CROWDFUNDING!

Coming next on BackerKit crowdfunding… Scion: God!

Join over 700 other folks and sign up to be notified before the Scion: God Backer Kit crowdfunding campaign starts!

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/a0c8d51d-83cd-4f6c-8577-f80482b2c1f8/landing

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Onyx Path Media!

This week:

Eddy, Dixie, and Matthew sit down to talk about spy movies and television of the 60s and 70s, and how it all relates to the upcoming They Came from [CLASSIFIED]!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

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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 impressive number of 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:

The Old Ways Podcast are starting their guaranteed fantastic actual play of M20 Victorian Age on Wednesday this week! Give them a follow and listen when the first episode goes live: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/24632166
Here’s a character from the chronicle – Void Engineer Matthew Masterson. And as we know: nothing ever goes wrong when Void Engineers are involved.

The Onyx Path News goes live every single week to discuss recent and upcoming releases, dive into some of our most anticipated books, and answer questions from the audience. 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://youtu.be/-ccCeYBwaqo

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Virtual Tabletop!

The Scion: Origin Compendium is now available on Roll20!

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/compendiumexpansion/12522/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin

It’s native to Roll20, so not for use elsewhere, but perfect for starting your Roll20 Scion game – plus, the official Origin & Hero sheets are already available!

And the first of our official sheets designed for Roll20 are now available!

The first of our official sheets designed for Foundry VTTis now available!

Direct Link: https://foundryvtt.com

As they say: “Foundry Virtual Tabletop is a self-hosted roleplaying platform with support for hundreds of game systems with modern features and a developer-friendly API. Foundry VTT is a one-time purchase where your players connect for free using a web browser.”

More VTT offerings and projects will be arriving this year!

On DrivethruRPG, here is the main filter for all of our current VTT content:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing?filters=0_0_0_45317_0

A few highlights of our platform agnostic DTRPG content:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309127/Scarred-Lands-Creature-Collection-VTT-Token-Pack
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/317690/Trinity-Continuum-Hunt-for-the-Red-Widow-VTT
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/340327/Trinity-Continuum-Aeon-VTT-Tokens
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311578/Scarred-Lands-VTT-Separation-Anxiety
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311580/Scion-2e-VTT-Origin-Signature-Tokens
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311579/Scion-2e-VTT-Hero-Signature-Tokens

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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/

They Came From Beneath the Sea! book and screen 50% off for OPP 10 Year Anniversary at IPR.
As well as the annual Halfoween Sale (50% Off select books and screens) 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!

TCFBtS! PDFs 90% off until the 15th.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/saleguide.php
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing/subcategory/8329_36480/They-Came-From-Beneath-the-Sea

These will be available until the 15th, when a new set of various PDFs will go on sale to celebrate They Came From!

The Creature Feature Sale is up and running now! 33% Off most
of our WtF and WtA PDFs:

https://www.storytellersvault.com/promo.php?manufacturers_id=4261

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 the Trinity Continuum: Aeon novellas Dawn and Meridian in the Kindle store!

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On Sale This Week!

More users of mystic arts for Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition arrive with M20 Sorcerer! PDF and PoD versions available this Weds on DTRPG!

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Conventions!

Because dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, we don’t yet have a list of upcoming physical conventions. Instead, keep an eye out here for more 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! Our special focus is the They Came From! (But any of our game lines are welcome!)

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

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And now, the new project status updates!

Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out September’s full list report here:

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY

Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:

Manuscript Approval

TC: Aegis – Trinity Continuum: Aegis

• Eddy: Our latest Trinity Continuum era is all put together and ready for review! Soon our approvals team will read over our newest game of ancient sci-fi heroes.

Editing

Scion – Path to Apotheosis (was Demigod Scenarios)

• Matthew: On to editing with our exciting Scion: Demigod scenarios book!

Scion – Demigod Companion

• Matthew: And that’s not all, as the thicc (I believe that’s what the youth say) Demigod Companion follows suit to find an editor!

Post-Editing Development

M20 – Victorian Mage – Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magick

• Matthew: This one is now with Hiromi for last tweaks before we send it on to layout!

Layout

Scion – Scion: Dragon Jumpstart

• Matthew: An exciting adventure in the thrilling world of Scion: Dragon awaits!

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• TCF Cyclops Cave  and Classified Jumpstarts– Durwin is down to do the halves for the classified JS… I’ll poke Leblanc about Cyclops when he turns his critters in this week.
• SCION God 2e – Finishing working on graphics for the (Backer Kit) funding page.
• TC Anima – Contracting art out for the book itself now.
• TC Adventure Jumpstart – Denmark is working on the art for this.

In Layout

• Squeaks Jumpstart – Working on it.

Proofing

• Ex3 Adversaries – Corrections this week?
• Mask of the Mythos Screen
• Scion Dragon Screen

Indexing

At Press

• Scion Demigod – KS rewards shipped.
• Scion Demigod Screen – KS rewards shipped.
• Squeaks in the Deep Screen – KS rewards shipped.
• Squeaks in the Deep – KS rewards shipped.
• Squeaks in the Deep Bookmarks – KS rewards shipped.
• Scarred Lands: Dead Man’s Rust – KS rewards shipped.
• Scion Masks of Mythos – Files sent to traditional printer. PoD proofs ordered.
• Scion Dragon – Files sent to traditional printer. PoD proofs ordered.
• MTC Book of Lasting Death – PoD proof ordered.
• TCFBtG! – CC files prepping.
• CtL 2e Kith and Kin – Awaiting errata.
• TC: Mission Statements – Awaiting errata.
• Victorian Mage – M20 Victorian Mage – Backer PDF with backers for errata.
• M20 Sorcerer – PDF and PoD versions available Weds on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day in the US, and Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends!