YES! Thanks to all of your efforts, the Martians have been driven back and their invasion is OVAH!
But. For how long?
For…how…long?
Of course, what I mean really is that the Trinity Continuum: Aether Kickstarter campaign ended last week with over 1,000 backers and the much-anticipated Stretch Goal of statting up Dr. Acula, uh, Dracula!, for our Victorian setting.
And so the Trinity Continuum grows ever larger, with even more eras to explore!
As an aside, and maybe even a digression, I just discovered over the weekend an artifact from the original Aberrant core book that I thought a bunch of you might find interesting. I’ve shown some in-progress sketches for how we’ve created the Trinity Continuum cover art, but here’s the original cover sketch I did for the WW-era Aberrant core:
Multi-character wrap-around covers were pretty big in comics at the time, so it seemed to me that our comic-book game should follow suit. For the back cover, I went through the various characters we knew were already mentioned, if not written up, in the book text, and created their look and put them into what sort of scene would be appropriate for them. The front would feature The Fireman, already a pivotal figure (although not in the same way as in TC: Aberrant), and the two gravitational poles of the setting: Cestus Pax and Divas Mal.
From that rough sketch I gathered up whatever reference material we had, and did a tighter and clearer sketch for the artist, Tom Fleming. Tom was phenomenal to work with and took to this very complex composition like a thirsty man to water. He was (and I’m sure still is) also a huge comic-book and wrestling fan, so he was already conceptually in the place we were aiming at with Aberrant.
You can probably see that there are many more notes for Tom, including logo placement and printing live areas, etc. We have the Team Tomorrow play-style option of super team goodness at the far left, right next to the Slider murder conspiracy, then the media star celebrity play-style, contrasted with the mercenary elite warriors. The major movers and shakers behind the scenes appear in the “big head” style across the back cover (a motif I retained for the Trinity Continuum covers, if a bit more sophisticated).
Tom really added so much to the piece with his color sense and painting skills, delivering the very active, but not confusing finished piece we have here:
If I recall correctly, our longest back and forth was whether to leave the child’s eyes open. We weren’t going for a shock or horror factor and we wanted The Fireman to have demonstrated his heroism by saving the bus full of kids, and I felt the open eyes suggested the kid was open-eyed dead. I’m not sure if Tom disagreed or just wanted to know what else we could do, but after going around about it for what was probably way too long, I made the call and the rest is history.
HISTORY…SMISHTORY!
On to the now!
We continue celebrating the Scarred Lands game line this week as we are in the SL-dedicated month of our year-long celebration of Onyx Path‘s 10 Year Anniversary!
Our 90%-off sale of classic Scarred Lands PDFs continues over at DTRPG, as well as a 50%-off sale of physical Scarred Lands projects at IPR! (See below for links).
In addition to all that, the Onyx Pathcast just aired the first part of the SL adventure being played by Eddy, Dixie, and Matthew, and the 2nd part goes live this Friday wherever your favorite podcasts are available! Their game is being run by SL dev Travis Legge, so they’re in for it now!
You might get a chance to play some Scarred Lands yourself if you hop on the StartPlayingGames site and sign up for Friday’s Onyx Path Game Night (the secret being that it’s all day long). Details below in the Conventions section, and there’s other games being played too!
Last week was kind of an explosion of PDFs from crowdfunding campaigns, with three Backer PDFs being sent out! Scion: Dragon, Kith and Kin for Changeling: The Lost 2e, and The Book of Lasting Death for Mummy: The Curse 2e, are all in the errata phase and we’re enjoying the commentary from backers. We’re very glad folks are enjoying the PDFs!
Kudos to Mirthful Mike for pulling together the art and text and design so folks could dig the PDFs! And congrats to all the creators involved!
Getting our projects into your waiting hands has been no small feat during the last few years: the darn things don’t just magically appear fully-formed in our hands (or on our screens). Sometimes, it sure would be nice if they did, but that just ain’t how it works.
But if you’re reading this blog, you’re the kind of fan that knows that already!
Finally, just a point of clarification. Of all the woes that we’ve handled these last couple of years, the one we didn’t get hit by was the skyrocketing costs and the delays for any projects printed/manufactured in China. RichT, you say, tell us your secret of avoiding a situation that has actually destroyed some companies!
Well, I’ll tell you: we don’t print in China.
A bunch of years ago, we had some things made, but the hassles of working through customs and shipping were such a drag that I backed off of doing so for a while, and then all this Covid-based pricing and shipping exploding price madness hit. So we have avoided the whole thing – directly at least. I’m sure there are connected effects that hit us and our printers because of what happened with China.
And, we might work with printers over there in the future, as I’m not against the idea generally, so someday this bit of info might be outdated. Fair warning.
And now back to your regularly-scheduled, wrap-up, tagline, motto:
TEN YEARS, MANY WORLDS, ONE PATH!
BLURBS!
KICKSTARTER/CROWDFUNDING!
Coming next on crowdfunding… Scion: God!
Onyx Path Media!
This week:
Part 2 of the Dead Man’s Rust adventure with Dixie, Eddy, and Travis Legge!
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 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:
As if we weren’t giving him enough attention, Corey Reynolds produces the Deliberative Podcast, covering everything there is to know about Exalted! Do check it out, especially as the episodes are easily digestible and very fun to listen to.https://thedeliberative.edennian.com/
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/hScIoL7phlQ
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
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/
Scarred Lands books and dice are 50% off at IPR this month:
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!
Scarred Lands: the 3e/Pathfinder PDFs sale is live on DTRPG:
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!
On Sale This Week!
Trinity Continuum: Mission Statements follows the plan and goes on sale this Weds on DTRPG!
Mission Statements expands the setting of Trinity Continuum: Æon with details about organizations large and small, good and bad. From world powers, metacorporations, gangs, terrorists, cults and other threats, Mission Statements provides players with a wealth of information to understand the secrets and motivations of the groups that move the world, and plenty of Paths for characters to become part of these organizations.
Mission Statements requires both Trinity Continuum: Æon and the Trinity Continuum Corebook to play. Inside, you will find:
- Information about the Æon Trinity and the United Nations of the 22nd century, including their history, structure, drives, and continued influence on humanity.
- A look behind the scenes of ten metacorporations, including Orgotek, BioSystems, the deep space International Consortium of Ecomining, and media giant OBC.
- A wealth of antagonists to enrich stories and challenge players. The Shabeel of Karroo, Qin conspiracies, mind-altered terrorists, and more await.
- New technologies used by these groups, including illegal black-market goods and restricted Code Indigo biotechnology.
- Detailed systems for running organizations as Storyguide characters, with vulnerabilities for characters to exploit and notes on the ways organizations respond to these threats.
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 are the last Fridays of the month! This month, it’s August 26th! This coming FRIDAY!
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
Tabletop Scotland is this week on 27th and 28th August 2022 and will play host to at least four Onyx Pathers running our games and sitting on panels live and there in the room with you! If you’re UK or Europe based, it’s an excellent con to visit and within traveling distance from Edinburgh, which takes flights from a lot of places! Consider paying Tabletop Scotland a visit. https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/
And now, the new project status updates!
Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out July’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-july-2022/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
First Draft
TC: Aberrant – Tasty Bit – Queer Nova Alliance
- Eddy: This was a Tasty Bit pitched to us by Aberrant lead writer Steve Kenson, and we were so excited by the idea that we decided to get right on it! It’ll be a new Allegiance to add to Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, like our previous Tasty Bit Polyphemus.
Redlines
Storypath Fantasy – The World Below
- Matthew: This is a big moment, as I’ve received a substantial number of drafts now and am ready to start the redlining process for this new fantasy game. My initial read-throughs of the authors’ assorted works are incredibly positive, so I’m optimistic!
Trinity Continuum – Assassins VTT Adventure
- Matthew: Another fun adventure we’ve been working on sends our assassins down to a criminal haven (or at least, a town purported to be one) to extract or kill a lethal asset! Can the characters make it through this scenario alive? The redlines will be the determining factor.
Manuscript Approval
TC: Aberrant – From the Shadows
- Eddy: Another Trinity Continuum: Aberrant book coming down the slope! This one focuses on superhuman espionage in the near-future, which will be a great addition to fans of SHIELD, Checkmate, and the like!
Editing
Scion – Tasty Bit – Scion High
- Eddy: A few comments from approval, but all easily tweaked in development, so this slides right on through to editing!
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Exalted Essence – Got some artwork I need sign offs on.
- Ex3 Sidereals KS – Splat notes out to artists.
- M20 Lore of the Traditions – Back on track.
- SCION Realms of Magic and Mystery – Contracting. Basically just waiting on a couple of artists to confirm.
- SCION God 2e – Prepping crowdfunding assets.
In Layout
- W20 Apocalyptic Record – Text is in… layout begins.
Proofing
- Spiragos 5e Compilation – Moving ahead.
Indexing
At Press
- Scion Demigod – KS books headed to fulfillment shipper.
- Scion Demigod Screen – Press files printing.
- Squeaks in the Deep Screen – Press files printing.
- Squeaks in the Deep – Waiting to ship from printer.
- Squeaks in the Deep Bookmarks – At KS shipper.
- Hunter: The Vigil 2e – KS books headed to fulfillment shipper.
- HTV 2 Screen – Press files printing.
- Scarred Lands: Dead Man’s Rust – Trad press files at printer.
- TC: Novas Worldwide – Awaiting errata.
- Trinity Continuum: Assassins – PoD proofs ordered.
- M20 Sorcerer – Errata being input.
- Scion Players Guide: Saints and Monsters – Awaiting errata.
- Scion Dragon – Errata-ing with KS backers.
- MTC Book of Lasting Death – Errata-ing with KS backers.
- CtL 2e Kith and Kin – Errata-ing with KS backers.
- TC: Mission Statements – Advance PDF out this Weds on Drivethru!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Ten years ago on August 23rd 2012, Onyx Path began shipping its first Kickstarted book to backers: the V20 Companion! Boy have things changed since then!
Oh boy! God’s next for crowdfunding!? I can’t wait, this is gonna be awesome!
Well, we think so! 😉
Scion God is next? NEXT?! My heart wasn’t emotionally prepared for it to be here so soon!
Keep that heart pumping until we go live with the campaign! (I mean, past then too, of course!)
Scion God next AND art for Sidereals KS showing up in the list. Awesome!
Kind of suggests the next couple of KSs, hmmm?
Good sir, we’re going to throw so much money at you these next few months… I hope you had a Eddie include a vault when he rebuilt your house!
Fingers crossed that Kith and Kin gets released soon! The wait has been *long*
Well, it’s in errata with Kickstarter backers, which is generally a week or two. Then that all has to be implemented into the text. Then it goes to the PoD printer, and we have to confirm that it’s being printed correctly. They it gets put into queue for release. So if “soon” is on the scale of a few months, definitely. If “soon” is on the scale of a few weeks, unlikely.
Agreed, we appreciate your patience as our teams dealt with the various road-blocks the last few years have flung up in our way.
what happened to the 2 stretch goals for Deviant. they seem to have just disappeared. when they were still on the list, they seemed to be most of the way to completion, but that was at the beginning of the year
According to the July 2022 release round-up linked at the top of the progress section, they’re both in art direction. There’s a lot of stuff in art direction right now. So they’re working through their bottleneck. I figure they want to get the Kickstarters and big books done first.
As Troy points out, the weekly progress report has been literally just the projects that have new progress each week since the beginning of the year. You need to use the link at the top of the weekly report to view the monthly report – the Round-Up – if you want info on specific projects that didn’t progress that week. There are a million reasons why projects might not have moved any given week, from the phase they are in taking multiple weeks to issues during that phase that need resolving. We don’t have the band-width to go into further details beyond the two reports – thanks!
I love seeing the art notes and process for cool pieces (especially covers)! Thanks for walking us through that. With art being such a expensive and time consuming process, and AI-generated art getting ridiculously good ridiculously fast (Did you SEE the Midjourney beta yesterday? Oh my gosh!), would you maybe entertain the notion of doing a certain percentage of upcoming books via AI to save money and time?
Very good question, Corey. AI art is very much in its infancy as a way for art to be created, but already some artists are using it as a tool to create some pretty evocative pieces. Our buddy Jon Hodgson at Handiworks has created some beautiful pieces, in fact, for some of his games. (I think they still have a Kickstarter running for one of them). So there is potential there to have certain kinds of art generated by AI under the guidance of an in-house person or even a freelance artist. My take on all of these innovations is that they are tools to create images, and those tools are only as good and as appropriate as the creator can make them.