#episode: Opening Magic Packs and Combining the Cards Into New Monsters

[episodes-without-incident]

6/13/2024:

5 episodes since Drawfee last referenced Cats (2019)

13 episodes since Drawfee last referenced Everytime We Touch (2005)

[kichimiangra]

So... an imaginary episode of the 1983 D&D cartoon...

It’s a Meta episode.

The kids wake up to their average normal everyday lives.  Nothing weird or anything.  Have breakfast, do a few chores, say good morning to their parents, head out to school, etc.  Normal shit. 

While at school they kinda bump into each other a lot though and they get a weird vibe off of the others. But... why?  I mean, they know of these other kids, some are friends-ish with others but they’re not particularly close?  Bobby is Sheila’s kid brother, Diana is that girl who does gymnastics after school, Presto’s that dork who gets picked on for his crappy card tricks, Hank does sports or something, Eric is the haughty son of that CEO they keep seeing on magazines at the grocery store.  They’re not really super close friends, they have nothing in common really but... they get a feeling from each other?

On top of that they occasionally get a strange flash memory in their heads.

-Diana is about to do a cool gymnastic demonstration for a new team member at the request of the teacher.  Halfway through she bungles it when a memory of being surrounded by monsters flashes in her head.  Her coach approaches to see if she’s okay and on instinct kicks the teacher’s feet out from underneath them, easily taking them to the floor without hesitation before realizing what she had done.

-A card trick goes array in the lunchroom causing a bully to be wearing his lunch and turn his sights on Presto. The bullies cap fall onto Prestos head prior and he finds himself impulsively start a rhyme about taking out the ugly fucker, reaching into that hat and pulling out-- nothing?  What did he think that was actually going to do? I’m mean... he did insult the bully more so I guess it’s gonna get him punched?

-Eric happens to have lunch period with Presto and sees the whole thing go down as he is walking by to his usual table of more affluent “Friends”.  Heh... kid’s gonna get beaten up. That’s what happens when you insult your bullies mom or whatever. Not Erics problem. He doesn’t even know this kid.  Does seem Familiar though. The bully swings his fist back to hit that kid with glasses and Eric feels utter terror, like life or death fight or flight terror and before he even realizes he’s moved he finds himself between Presto and the bully, lunch tray blocking the fist and bully now wearing more lunch than before. Crap... what the fuck did he just do?!?! And why?!

(Not gonna come up with one for everyone I’m tired you guys decide what happens to Hank, Sheila and Bobby)

-----------------------------------------------------

At this point the audience knows somethings wrong so why hide it from THEM anymore?  It turns out through an untold adventure before the episode began some bullshit happened and the kids find themselves trapped in some kind of magic sleep caused by this dream master monster wizard or something I don’t care what he is. I’m vague on this part but He’s either

-gonna sell the kids to Venger so it’s like that time Dungeon Master got captured and took a nap and that very homosexual fairy showed up and helped the kids save him.

-OR He’s already working for Venger and they’re picking the kids brain for something while in the magic dream sleep. Like their Untold quest prior to the ep. involves them hiding their weapons so venger can’t get them and the Dream wizard guy is keeping their brains loosey goosey and complacent while he searches through them for the weapons locations or something like that.

-OR He’s working for Venger and the kids are hostages to convince DM to turn himself over and he’s having his own B plot of the good of the realm vs the good of these kids?

“Ehhhhhh....... Nah!  I’m sure they got this... Not the first set of kids I ruined.”

-OR He’s gonna rewrite their brains and turn them evil so they work for Venger and he can sick them on DM AND Tiamat! “If you can’t beat them, take over their brains and recruit them!“ (I like this one but that’s just cuz I like Mind control trope....)

-OR any combination of the above.  It really doesn’t matter you know he’s gonna fuck up.

Anyway Mr.Dream over here is having a little trouble because DMs disciples COULD realize they’re dreaming and shock them selves awake and fuck up the Evil Plan (tm)  And unfortunately the kids having flashbacks, vibes, and triggers is not on the menu, so he needs to come up with an in-universe explanation for the kids in the dream to be having these funky feels so they don’t question the funkitude going on...

---------------------------------------------------

Back in dream-school DMs Disciples are a little gonked up over the whole ptsd trigger flashbacks they’re having, some of which involve kids that they have almost no connection to! But before they can ponder further they notice the time, or their watch or alarm or someone mentioning the time alerts them.  They have a THING to get to!  They pack up their stuff and we follow a POV character (Probably Hank) as he makes his way to a specific classroom, or he leaves the school and heads home or to another house.  Matters not.  As he arrives he opens up the door and there everybody is!

Oh yeah!  That’s how they all know each other!  They play a fantasy tabletop rpg board game together! [Good idea Mr.Dream!  Now they can explain away Their vibes!]  Diana even considers maybe she should quit playing with them if it’s so immersive that it’s effecting her normal everyday life.  But it atleast explains where they got these random memories from!  It’s just their campaign!  They sit down and shoot the shit and start playing.

“What sort of adventure are we doing this time?”

*They begin to play out one of the episodes... Let’s do the Prison without Walls one for example... but things aren’t... right*

*Rolls dice*  Presto DMing: “17! Hank lets his arrow fly, piercing through the chest of the shambling monster!  It trumpets in pain before laying in silence!  The band of adventurers has defeated the monster and the gnome village has been Saved!”

Hank has a flash back... this... isn’t right...

Hank: “No... no I didn’t fire my arrow!  That Monster was Lukyan!” Hank explains.

Presto protests. “But Hank... there was no Lukyan in this campaign???”

Eric: “He’s probably just salty over the last time we played when he opened that box and let all the evil out-- wait...” Bobby: “Didn’t YOU open that box Eric?”

Eric: “... The evil box or Zinn’s box?”

Presto: “It was Zandora’s box.  Where’d Zinn come from?”

Diana: “Zinn was that Queen Eric Married when that Sorlarz monster poisoned Bobby and we slayed him for the antidote!”

Sheila: “SORLARZ?! No Bobby was Poisoned buy the turtle dragon! Sorlarz was a cursed king!”

Eric: “A WHAT?!”

Their bickering becomes too much for Hank and enough reminders of everything wrong with their adventures triggers his memory and slams his firsts on the table silencing everyone else.

Hank: “ENOUGH!!!!” They stare at him in shock and silence. Hank was never angry like this... not that they knew him well enough... “We-- Guys we... never made it home... We’re still in the realm!”

This triggers the kids memories and they realize just how wrong everything is and that all of these vibes they’ve been having are their REAL memories.

They are commended by Mr.Dream who fucked up because he’s very bad at keeping the continuity of his own story down but chastised because it would have been so much easier for them if they just stayed unaware and complacent.  Now the dream world is turning against them and they need to figure out a way to wake up.  But where better to hide the end of the dream than at the beginign of the adventure: At the Amusement park.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 160

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 12 - “Protect Urara’s Stage!” Date watched: 23 November 2019 Original air date: 22 April 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/KiGZvA2 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

When did this become the Precure stage show?

As I indicated in the last review, this is one of those episodes that just really sticks out in my memory, but it turns out I don’t actually remember much about it at all. It’s not as impactful as I recalled, but it represents a step forward for Urara and it has a kickass fight. Let’s get started!

The Plot

Urara has been tapped to host a stage show at an amusement park, which is a big break in her career. She meets her friends at the park, along with her overly prepared manager Washio and Masuko Mika, who’s there to write about her for the paper. Mika and Washio hit it off right away, speculating about where Urara’s career could go from here, culminating in a Hollywood movie and an Oscar nod.

Urara arrives at her rehearsal, goes through wardrobe, and starts going through her routine. Unfortunately the star of the show has had an emergency and called out. Nozomi quickly volunteers to play her part in the show, to save Urara’s debut. Unfortunately, she isn’t a very good actress, but it’s too late to cancel the show now. Outside, we see Girinma handing out fliers for the show and making ominous remarks about its content....

At showtime, the stadium is filled with children and their parents, wanting to see the forest animals show. Nozomi is extremely nervous, despite Urara’s reassurance, and trips and falls during her entrance.

Before she can recover, Girinma drops a mask onto a prop tree, which turns into a giant Kowaina. Out in the crowd, Mika is confused by this strange story direction but the audience all thinks it’s part of the show. (no magical falling asleep here!) Rin, Karen, and Komachi all rush onto stage with Nozomi and Urara but aren’t sure if they should transform with all these people watching. However, Urara’s actor instincts kick in and she tells the audience to look at up just as Karen convinces the stage manager to turn on the spotlights, blinding the audience members momentarily. The girls seize their opportunity and transform into Precure. They fight the Kowaina as the opening theme starts playing, and it’s a very visually spectacular fight as they run, jump, and dive through tree branches and vines to try to land a few solid hits on the monster. It tries to shoot a leaf storm at the audience but Mint blocks it with her shield, and then Girinma tries to attack a nosy Mika, who is protected by Aqua. Dream manages to shoot off a Dream Attack, defeating the Kowaina, as Girinma retreats. There’s a gag during all of this where Washio is worried because he can’t see Urara, and somehow didn’t connect the dots when the five girls transformed on stage.

Mika, recognizing the Pretty Cures from her first meeting with them, takes lots of pictures of the battle and plans to write a piece about them. They’re sure that this time they’re busted, but once again Nuts runs interference, going up to her in his human state and saying hello. The next day at school, all the students are crowded around the newspaper again, and wouldn’t you know, it’s an expose on Nuts and Mika’s fated reunion, with a tiny article about Urara’s stage show at the bottom. Washio comes up and asks Urara to put on that show again, because the Precure fight was a smash hit with audiences, but the other four girls wave it off, and the episode ends.

The Analysis

I don’t know where to start. Urara is giving it her all in this stage show, and she even improvs a bit to keep their cover and distract the audience while they transform. She’s really good at what she does, and she has a promising future as an actor ahead of her. She presents a really energetic performance for the kids and tries to mitigate the danger by making it seem like the monster attack is part of the show. The show must go on, indeed! Additionally, when Nozomi steps up to play the part of the rabbit, despite fumbling in the costume and having trouble with her lines, Urara just rolls with it. I love that all the girls are really rooting for this to work out for her, and during the fight they defend the sanctity of the show and Urara’s part. And honestly, props to Nozomi as well. She’s trying her best here. She’s clumsy and has been kicked out of the drama club before, but her heart is in the right place, and there are no better options so the other three girls agree to help her with cue cards.

there’s a new kaiju in town

The battle itself is action-packed and filled with some dynamic scenes that I will turn into gifs. It’s one of the better fights in this show so far. I love how the girls fly around through the vines and branches, delivering some swift ass-kickings. There is some reused footage from the opening, namely the part where the five girls line up as the song counts off “One, two, three four five!” The kowaina makes itself a difficult target, despite its large size, and that keeps the battle interesting. It takes some work for the girls to actually get to the mask and break it. The large amount of civilians keep the stakes high, as they’re easy targets for a massive attack. This lets us see Mint use her shield in a more interesting way than normal (because I’ll be honest, a lot of the times she blocks the enemy’s attack when she could just dodge). I love getting to see her make use of her strengths. Shield cures are highly situational, but this was a situation in which it was very effective. Also, I liked how Mika’s insatiable lust for a scoop put her in danger. She won’t learn from it, but it’s an action that had nearly fatal consequences because Girinma was out for her head, and it took Aqua intervening to save her. When she did that, she referred to her by name, which might cause Mika to recognize them down the road... I don’t think so but we’ll find out.

Speaking of special attacks, there’s something I want to discuss about them. In the FW shows, the special attack was only ever used as a finisher. They never used Marble Screw or Twin Stream Splash to attack in the middle of a battle, but they do use their special attacks in Yes 5 as both attacks and finishers. Some of their attacks simply don’t work as finishers (I mean, I’d like to see them TRY to finish a monster off with Mint Protection, that’d be cool), and pink rules so you usually see Dream Attack used to take down the monster. What they don’t have is a clear group finisher. That will change, of course, but as long as this persists, I get a sense of inconsistency about what will and won’t destroy a Kowaina. The use of special attacks that aren’t finishers is a bit of a deviation from the original concept but it’s still tame here. I don’t think they ever go too far down this rabbit hole, but it’s worth noting.

This episode manages to mix in a good amount of comedy on the side, without overwhelming the main plot, and I admire the balance. Washio is a fun manager but he is really over-prepared. He appears carrying two giant duffle bags for Urara, despite the fact that her outfit is provided, and among the many things he has brought are some charms for....

Nono Hana could use that last one

He and Mika play off of each other really well, they’ve got a nice comic relief duo schtick going on. Mika, of course, is mainly in this to get a good story for the paper, and having a local celebrity at school is a good outlet. Reporting on her career advancements is a big step up from reporting what she ate for lunch. Both of them readily buy into the fight scene, assuming it’s part of the show and not that there was some kind of actual danger, and Washio is just distressed that Urara has disappeared instead of fearing for his life. At the end of the episode, both of them ramp up the comedy in their own way. Mika’s crush on Nuts has not yet gotten old, and probably won’t for a while yet (don’t quote me on that), so continuing the running gag where she gets distracted from a big story by a chance (or intentional) encounter with him gets a thumbs up in my book. I don’t get tired of seeing Nozomi and Rin’s exasperated faces when they see her reports.

Also, Urara has a nice little gag there where she’s hopping up and down trying to read the paper because she can’t see over their shoulders. I’ll gif that soon.

Urara gets a couple of other moments of note, where she seems to be breaking the fourth wall. At the very start, when she’s sort of practicing her introductory speech to the crowd, she turns to speak to the show’s audience, and Rin questions who she’s even talking to. (Rin makes a good straight man, by the way).

The last gag of note is when Coco and Nuts say they tagged along because you never know when a Pinky could show up.... and then a Pinky shows up right then. Yeah, Pinkies, remember them? They’re kind of supposed to be driving the plot. There’s more of them than there are Heartiels and Miracle Drops combined, yet they’re barely mentioned.

Just some other small observations before I wrap this up, I love everybody’s street clothes in this episode. They’re a little different from what we’ve seen them wearing before.

except for Rin

Urara’s sailor blouse and knee-length skirt make her look a little more mature than her normal attire of puffy shorts and sleeves. The other four are wearing outfits strongly reminiscent of their clothes from the ending. Rin and Nozomi’s outfits are exactly that, except for the butterflies. Komachi and Karen’s outfits are the same as what they wear in the ending, but the colors are a little different.

for reference

And for some reason the art in this episode is very hit-or-miss. A lot of good shots still seem slightly off model. It’s a little jarring, it’s not low-detail (except for one laughably bad frame), it’s just that faces are drawn with warped shapes. Yes I am going to chronicle every time this happens in every show, it’s notable.

What happened here is that they quickly zoomed out to show the whole stage, and they wouldn’t need to show much detail, so to achieve the effect, they started way zoomed in on the cell before pulling back, rather than create a new drawing for one just frame. It’s not really visible when watching.

So, animation stuff aside.... this was a great episode! Since the major theme of this show is finding and chasing your dream, showing each girl’s different progress in that regard is important, and they do it so well. Urara is a bit further ahead than the others, but she still has a lot of work to do to become a famous actor, and her friends want to help her however possible. It’s what this show does best, and this was a fun stepping stone.

Next time, Rin is getting pulled in every direction at once! Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 “kettei” by Nozomi herself, 1 each by Washio and Mika (spoken together)

NOTE: I’m going to come back to add some gifs to this post at a later date. I really wanted to include them the first time around but due to unforseen circumstances, this review was delayed several days past when I wanted to get it out, so I didn’t want to delay it any further. I’ll make a post on @pcd-status​ when I update this.

[theonyxpath]

Yes, I’d say the creation of the 2nd Edition of Scion has taken the most thought (and Thoth) of any of our projects to date.

From the years spent iterating the Storypath System that powers Scion, to the years and years we and the Scion community dissected and recombined the first edition rules and setting, to the extensive amount of care the writers and developer Neall Raemonn Price have put into improving first edition in every way they could.

Like the Netjer (Egyptian) pantheon pictured above, all the pantheons have been researched and re-researched and run past experts in the myths and cultures they represent. You don’t in any way need a doctorate to use and enjoy them in your game, but now they more accurately reflect our current understanding of the gods and their cohorts.

Neall goes into this in his interview with Eddy and Dixie on last Friday’s Onyx Pathcast, and it is well worth your time to check it out if you’re a Scion fan. He goes into his thinking on Scion, as well as some of the often torturous steps we have had to take to get the first two game books created. If you’re not a Scion fan, he also reveals how Beckett’s Jyhad Diary was developed and written, and so basically, it’s a great overview of how RPG books are created.

You can check it out on your favorite podcast venue or directly on PodBean here: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

This Friday on the Onyx Pathcast, the Wraith Curse rears its ugly head, and the gang have to recreate an entire episode where they only mention Wraith in discussing TTRPGs and how they affect our non-game lives. Listen in to find out how the Wraith Curse manifests this time!

    Dragon-Blooded art by Yiyoung Li

    Now for myself, I too have thought a lot about Scion. From green-lighting the first edition and realizing that without something wahoo going on, the sales distribution system was going to under-order Scion: Hero, (“We need new games to sell!” “Here’s a new one we made.” “Wah? It’s new and has no sales history, how can we order that?”), to getting a copy of the book put into every retailer bag at that year’s GAMA trade show. Retailers who then ordered the game in such amounts that we had to do a second print pretty much before the book hit stores!

I’ve thought a lot about the dedication of the Scion community during the (very) lean years when almost nothing new came out, yet WW‘s old Scion forums were still getting more posts than entire other gaming websites. I read your posts you magnificent bastards, and incorporated that thinking into what we needed to do to elevate Scion for second edition.

I’ve ground my teeth in frustration during the time Storypath was iterating and while Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero have been incubating, and thought long and hard about the iterations and improvements that slowed things down. Were they worth it?

Well, the answer is yes, as far as I can see. Storypath is the simple base 10-sided pool system that can be expanded depending on your table’s interest in more shared storytelling that I hoped for. It is so flexible that we can add tweaks to it to emulate a post-apocalyptic scarcity game with zombies in Dystopia Rising: Evolution, and reflexive and meta humor mechanics in They Came From Beneath the Sea!.

And it enables play from man on the street to god levels of power for Scion and the Trinity Continuum.

    VtR2 Guide to the Night art by Sam Araya

      Scion has a built-in setting now, with the World, yet it is so designed that you can pull back on that and keep the god stuff hidden, or dial it to 11 and make the presence of the gods even more impactful on our normal world. I thought about whether adding the World was the right way to go – and had probably far more discussions with Neall than he wanted to have about it – but in the end, I think the default setting combined with the very easy options to alter that if you so choose hits the right spot.

It’s there and it’s rich and deep with history, but still open enough that your characters matter. Which is a big part of Scion, as I see it.

And one more thing that I’ve thought about A LOT, and have mentioned before, is that to me Scion is just getting started. The 4 book core of Origin, Hero, Demigod, and God is really the central spine of the possible ways Scion can be played. There’s the “Children of the Gods in Modern Times” that defines that spine, and we can provide a lot more projects that help build on that. We already have the Companion, Jumpstart, Ready Made Characters, and Bestiary being worked on.

But let’s change that to “Children of ____ in Modern Times”, or “Children of the Gods in _____ Times”, and we open up a huge range of possibilities if we start filling in those blanks!

Whew! I get pretty fired up thinking about all that.

Now, on to the Notes from our Monday Meeting today! We talked about:

1- We are all over the place online right now! It’s great! On this Tuesday night at 6pm Pacific US time, Pugmire: Homeward Bound begins on the Saving Throw Show Twitch channel. Here’s the intro video (it is amazing and beautiful!): youtu.be/qMpNHXjbZK8

And the link to their Twitch channel: twitch.tv/savingthrowshow

2- I did a wee little interview that surprisingly covered all sorts of Onyx Path and classic White Wolf stories and yet did not go into my love of pudding. Why is that surprising? Because the podcast interview was for Everybody Loves Pudding, and I was lured into this because I thought I’d be able to expound on the virtues and wonders of pudding. But, even without the pudding, it’s a pretty good chat – the guys were very on target with the questions. Not sure if you can say the same about my answers, but judge for yourself: http://www.everybodylovespudding.com/podcast/season-1-episode-22/

3- Eddy Webb is flying up to my neck of the woods and we’ll be going together to Save Against Fear, the convention that benefits the Bodhana Group, whose mission is to use tabletop gaming in their therapeutic efforts. Links are below in the Convention News section of The Blurbs, but we recently added that I’ll be there on Saturday signing Magic Cards and working on some artist proof sketches. So if you are near there and want your cards signed and to help a great group – come on by and meet me and Eddy!

4- On a related topic, Monica Valentinelli is working with Extra Life on a fundraiser where she’s playing D&D5e to help sick kids. Onyx Path has donated Scarred Lands PDF rewards at various levels of contribution, so here’s your chance to help a super cause and dig into Scarred Lands! https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=326323

    M20 Gods and Monsters art by Claudio Pozas

    5- If you missed the Prince’s Gambit casual Vampire card game by Justin Achilli Kickstarter campaign, we have copies of the card set available to buy from Studio2 and your local retailer, see below, and the basic set and booster pack will go on sale on Wednesday from DriveThru. The retail card set is all the cards from the Kickstarter in one box, and the DriveThru cards take all the cards and divide them into a basic set, and then the added cards from the KS in a booster pack. And, because we are asked this, Prince’s Gambit is a different type of game than VTES, it is not VTES, was not intended to replace VTES, and lots of us here are VTES fans and glad that new VTES cards are being made.

6- Finally, we have a fantastic sale going on at IPR for our Deluxe and Prestige books from our Kickstarter print-run overruns! Half off until the end of October, it’s our HalfoWeen Sale! The Mummy: The Curse Prestige Editions have sold out as of this writing, which means there are no more of them available for sale anywhere in the world! (Except EBAY, I’m sure. But other than that…)

I’m not finding a clever way to lead in to out tag-line this time, no wait, I just did. Damn:

Many Worlds, One Path!

  BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Lo the darkness that lies like a pall over Chicago. The V5 Chicago By Night Kickstarter arises in October!

We’re also working on the Kickstarter for They Came From Beneath the Sea! (TCFBtS!), which has some very different additions to the Storypath mechanics we’ll be explaining during the KS.  They take an excellent 50’s action and investigation genre game and turn it to 11!

  ELECTRONIC GAMING:

      As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

And our latest, the dice for Werewolf: The Forsaken 2e:

  ON 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).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

  OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

And we’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

  Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

    DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

  The Prince’s Gambit basic card set and the added cards from the PG Kickstarter booster pack will both be available on DriveThru this Wednesday!

        CONVENTIONS!

From Fast Eddy Webb, we have these:

Eddy will also be a featured guest (and RichT will be there at some point, too) at Save Against Fear (October 12-14) in Harrisburg, PA. He’ll be running some Pugmire games, be available for autographs, and will sometimes accept free drinks. http://www.thebodhanagroup.org/about-the-convention

Dixie Cochran will be at High Level Games Con in Atlantic City October 12-14, running a Women in Game Design panel, Eddy’s RPG Developer Bootcamp, and possibly making a surprise appearance at another event!

  And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

  Redlines

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

  Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

  Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

  Manuscript Approval:

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

C20 Players’ Guide (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

  Editing:

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

  Post-Editing Development:

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

Dog and Cat Ready Made Characters (Monarchies of Mau) (With Eddy)

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Jumpstart (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

  Indexing:

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

  In Art Direction

Dystopia Rising: Evolution

M20: Gods and Monsters – AD’d and Contracted.

Geist 2e

The Realm

Trinity Continuum (Aeon and Core) – Tracking down Core finals and going over Aeon Sketches.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Chicago By Night – KS art finals in.

Pugmire Roll of Good Dogs and Cats

C20 Player’s Guide

Aeon Aexpansion

They Came From Beneath the Sea! – Got KS artnotes out.

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Trinity Core – Working on symbols this week.

Trinity Aeon – Fancying up my Opnet images.

Ex3 Dragon Blooded

  Proofing

Scion Hero – Inputting Neal’s 2nd proof changes.

PTC: Night Horrors: The Tormented – KT has Steffie’s corrections in.

Scion Origin – Doing Neall’s errata changes, and swapping out the font.

VtR: Guide to the Night – Danielle is getting me her p.xx stuff on Monday and I’ll be wrapping this one up for approval by WW shortly thereafter.

Fetch Quest – Package design done

  At Press

Monarchies of Mau and Screen – At Studio2. Dice and buttons getting ready to ship to Studio2.

Cavaliers of Mars – Backer copies all shipped out.

Wraith 20th – Printing the Deluxe interior, proofing cover.

Wraith 20 Screen – Printing.

Scion Dice – At Studio2.

Cav Talent cards – PoD proof coming.

Lost 2e Screen – Prepping files.

Scion Screen – Prepping files.

Prince’s Gambit core deck and booster PoD – On sale at DriveThru on Wednesday!

Changeling: The Lost 2e – Prepping files for printer.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: OK, celebrate this one or don’t as you see fit. I know a lot of my South Philly buddies do and will. All I know is today I didn��t get my new fancy brush recommended by Jeff Miracola today because no mail on the Monday holiday. And the last kid has off from school, so I get to hear him shouting at his friends as they multi-play a shooter. Some holiday.

[theonyxpath]

That’s right! The Kickstarter for They Came From the Grave! starts at 2pm EDT on Tuesday the 21st, which is tomorrow as I write this.

Grave! focuses on the tropes and themes of horror films and TV shows that came out throughout the 60s and into the 70s – and because so many of them were also based in a sorta-Victorian era, we have rules for that in there too!

Travel back in time through magic or science. Relive the experiences of your ancestors ala past-lives. Play through what you found described in one of their worm-eaten journals. Or just play in that earlier time period – there are a lot of ways to time-slip in They Came From Beyond the Grave!.

If the old Universal Monsters were the first round of film horror, then the advent of Hammer Studios, American International (especially with films helmed by Roger Corman), and Amicus, plus various horror-themed TV shows, gave us a new sort of horror. Often action-packed and more physical, and always bloodier and gorier than those that came before, they also brought in a more overt sexuality.

Sometimes that manifested in kinkier characters and sometimes in (s)exploitative scenes and dialogue (and costuming). It’s said that at one point during his career working on Hammer films that Christopher Lee was receiving more fan letters from women than any other actor in Europe, no doubt helped by his notable physical presence as Dracula.

Just like in They Came From Beyond the Sea!, we take those sorts of cultural mores of the times the films were created to note and use them in ways designed to be fun to play for modern audiences.

That’s part of the core gaming experience we’re aiming at with the They Came From…! game lines. They’re designed so that you can play them “straight from the box” settings, with the option of including as much of the meta-devices as you want. For example, the Quips and Cinematics can be sparse or non-existent, or they are fired in a mile a minute in a paean to the joy of the cinematic standards of the time.

Your characters can be people of the time the game is set in, or the time the films were made, or modern people with our sensibilities and expectations. Players can deconstruct the hell out of the setting, or create an homage to the sorts of films and time periods the game lines focus on.

So, yes, the They Came From…! games provide all the needed material to go from a serious, even dark, setting all the way to a laugh-a-minute cross between riffing on old films ala Mystery Science Theater 3000 and a fill in the blanks card game. We needed to provide as much structure as possible to enable humor at the table.

Because, as they say, dying is easy, comedy is hard.

Just to give you an idea of the range I’m talking about, there are four different links below in our Onyx Path Media section. Three are to very different Actual Play sessions, and one is to the brilliant trailer for They Came From Beyond the Grave! created by filmmaker/artist/writer/cool guy Larry Blamire. Each of them present a totally accurate way to play – any one of which might be the way your table wants to play.

Check us out on Kickstarter tomorrow if ANY of that piques your interest!

Grave! illustration by Durwin Talon

What About the Buried Bones?

Well, not only was that a reference to digging up some of the inside stuff for Grave!, it was also a reference to the two Realms of Pugmire PDFs and PoDs going on sale this week!

Pirates of Pugmire will be available in PDF and PoD versions this Wednesday, even while the traditionally printed version enabled by the Kickstarter campaign is getting ready to ship from our printers to our KS fulfillers.

Then there’s Buried Bones, subtitled Creating in the Realms of Pugmire, which wasn’t attached to a KS, and contains a lot of Eddy’s thoughts on Pugmire (and the Monarchies of Mau) with background info and info on how to create adventures for the setting. It’s also coming out in PDF and physical book PoD versions on Weds.

Seems like this would be super-useful for folks planning on adding projects to the Canis Minor Community Content site!

Pirates of Pugmire illustration by Pat Loboyko

Hey, look at this:

That’s for 100,000 downloads of the Onyx Pathcast! Huge congrats to Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy for years of weekly Pathcasts exploring ours and other company’s game lines every week, taking Deep Dives into specific games (like the They Came From Beyond the Grave! one going live on Friday), their insightful interviews of industry professionals, and all the farty horns, wresting references, and digressions that they are rightly known for!

While the Terribly Terrific Trio, or the Terrifically Terrible Trio depending on your PoV, do foster a light-hearted, irreverent, and quick-witted atmosphere during the Onyx Pathcast, they do also talk about the challenges of creating artful games in the TTRPG business. From the Dreaded Deadline Doom, to the Care and Feeding of Creative Folks, to trying to stay focused on the projects you love while the world goes topsy-turvey, Eddy, Dixie, and Matthew manage to cover some serious topics without loosing that spark of fun that makes this thing of ours so special.

Again, congrats!

Titanomachy illustration by Andrea Payne

Hopefully, I can bring up this next topic as carefully as the Trio do with such things, but that’s actually the point, I guess. As a company, we’ve signed up our Onyx Path Monday Meeting crew to attend Sensitivity Training Workshops starting this Wednesday and into August.

As a group, we talk to many different people in the course of doing our jobs (nevermind non-job time), and we’d like to do that better. We’d like to be able to communicate better, and to be more aware of how we are coming across – especially as we continue to bring more diverse creators into the TTRPG biz.

Finally, if you get a chance, take a look at all those projects at press down there at the end of the project progress section! I think these are the most projects we’ve ever had finishing up printing at the same time. Some of that is, of course, due to the slow-downs in printing and shipping due to Covid-19, and some of it has been Mirthful Mike Chaney gettin’ it done!

Combined, we’re getting the decks cleared so that more projects can get finished up, and therefore more projects can get started. It’s the Circle of Life, or something like that. End of the day, we’re making the games you love set in our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

They Came From Beyond the Grave!

Goes live on Tuesday the 21st at 2pm EDT!

Here’s a specially-made special trailer by the brilliant Larry Blamire:

And keep your eyes open for:

Onyx Path Media!

Congratulations on achieving over 100,000 DOWNLOADS!

This week: They Came from Beyond the Grave! Deep Dive!! (Exclamation Points!!!)

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

With They Came from Beyond the Grave! coming to Kickstarter this week, let’s start off with all the actual plays and assorted videos for that game!

Over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath, Vorpal Tales are running their first campaign of They Came from Beyond the Grave! This follows their fantastic They Came from Beneath the Sea! campaign, and I really think you should check it out! Their YouTube channel has episode one right here: https://youtu.be/Q6na0WHTfjo

Meanwhile, over on YouTube, our friends at Red Moon Roleplaying have started their own They Came from Beyond the Grave! story, with their usual excellent editing, quality, and in this case, a lovely cast of players led by Director, Matthew Dawkins! Come join in and listen to the Cult of Abaddon at play: https://youtu.be/RDYzNbk7VkQ

Also on YouTube, Larry Blamire’s hilarious trailer for They Came from Beyond the Grave! has dropped and is there for your viewing pleasure. It’s a testament to the kinds of stories you can tell using this game: https://youtu.be/NP65PlAw7mI

And finally, also on YouTube, in case you missed it we have the actual play of They Came from Beyond the Grave! that Matthew ran for Rich Thomas, Ian Muller, Dixie Cochran, and B. Dave Walters. Dare you enter Karnstein Manor? https://youtu.be/qLEFXntIa3g

This week on Twitch, expect to see:

Mage 20 – Technocracy Reloaded

Scion – Behind the Screen

They Came from Beyond the Grave!

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Realms of Pugmire – Pawsome Junction

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds

Scarred Lands – Tears of the Weeping Maiden

Deviant: The Renegades – A Cautionary Tale

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games and subscribe to us on Twitch, over at twitch.tv/theonyxpath

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Realms of Pugmire: Paws & Claws – S2E6 https://youtu.be/oWSUZCVQhpA

Realms of Pugmire: Paws & Claws – S2E7 https://youtu.be/ThgctcL9bTY

Changeling: The Lost: Littlebrook Reunion – E22 https://youtu.be/QJZLhWW6qOs

V5: Blood City: Chicago by Night – E20 https://youtu.be/Ua7ja2F9r80

Scarred Lands: Purge of the Serpentholds – E7 https://youtu.be/ZtnVKzQQAn8

They Came from Beyond the Grave! Trailer https://youtu.be/mWTla3xEmGA

Legendlore: Lost in the Crossing – E1 https://youtu.be/twMAjrCpj3c

Legendlore: Fiction Reading https://youtu.be/Dj5Qp0aagy0

Storytellers with Coffee: Technocracy Reloaded https://youtu.be/hb44inqafmE

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Systematic Understanding of Everything is a new Exalted Explainer Podcast by Exalted Dev Monica Speca and Exalted Writer Chazz Kellner. Check out their array of episodes (the show’s only just started!) over at http://www.exaltcast.com/

Our very own Chris Allen runs a fantastic session of Werewolf: The Forsaken here and on Twitch: https://youtu.be/XTaTf7sxnLk He’s not being violent enough with people’s eyeballs yet!

Our friends over at Near Dark Studios have just concluded their second season of V5 Chicago by Night, and you can find the entire playlist right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhENuwZpsO7HXSuQ26MvX5uP-xqbYAwGG

Our good buddies at Vorpal Tales recently concluded their superb actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea!, which you can find here on YouTube in full playlist form. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9fUj4KdqE4Ayzfw1vrDtFY81E0uaNT2K

And Occultists Anonymous just got their latest episodes to us:

Episode 114: The Devil You Know Zolius faces a VERY upset cabal, trying to keep his own life and maintain the deal he established with them. The cabal debate the pros and cons of keeping him alive. https://youtu.be/5NavGFi9_rQ

Episode 115: Going to the Dogs As the cabal settles and makes plans after Zolius’ intrusion, Atratus takes a trip into the Shadow with Shanna. A little sightseeing on the other side of the Gauntlet. https://youtu.be/FCcenqJfxMk

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

We’re told that the App Dev is currently creating an updated version for the latest devices, so keep an eye open for those!

On 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).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, the Pirates of Pugmire come sailing in, in PDF and PoD versions, both on DTRPG!

Large portions of the sea remain unexplored and uncharted, denying pirates the assurance of a safe journey home. If treasure is found, there’s always a hostile crew or two out there on the waves, lying in wait to raid returning ships. And twisted corpses of dead sea life animated by Unseen forces haunt the waves. It takes an extra level of grit to brave the Acid Sea. Do you have what it takes? 

Pirates of Pugmire is a chronicle sourcebook for both Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau. It’s usable with either game, or as part of a joint experience.

Some highlights include: 

Two new species for players to enjoy: lizards and birds 

Six new callings, including two for dogs and two for cats 

Rules for building, sailing, and sinking ships 

A trove of new allies, enemies, and treasures 

Information on Waterdog Port and Port Matthew 

“Going on the Account,” a chronicle of three new adventures, taking characters from 1st through 6th level 

For more Realms of Pugmire good-dog-ness, Pugmire Buried Bones, a guide to Creating in the Realms of Pugmire is also available this Weds on DTRPG in PDF and physical book PoD versions!

Collecting a variety of internal documents, email exchanges, blog posts, and community content projects, Buried Bones is the ultimate guide to creating in the Realms of Pugmire. Whether you’re making your own products for the Canis Minor community content program, want to make your personal Pugmire chronicle as accurate as possible, or are just interested in some of the behind-the-scenes details of the world, Buried Bones is the book to read!

Buried Bones includes:

A number of blogs related to the Realms of Pugmire, rewritten for this edition.

A handy guide to help people convert material from the 5e OGL to Pugmire or Monarchies of Mau.

Answers to frequently asked questions about the lore of the world and the mechanics of the RPGs.

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

Keep an eye out for our games being run at the online version of GenCon at the end of the month, as well as our What’s Up With the Onyx Path? panel currently slated for 1pm, Thursday July 30th!

https://www.gencon.com/online/

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Prometheus Unbound (was Psi Orders) (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution Fiction Anthology (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Under Alien Skies (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Post-Approval Development

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Indexing

Lunars: Fangs At The Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – Off to LeBlanc.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS)

Aberrant – AD’d. Meredith is helping with keeping track of all the artists.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Full art notes are in.

Mummy 2

Deviant – Sam doing fulls for this next.

Legendlore

Technocracy Reloaded

Cults of the Blood God – Rolling along.

Scion: Dragon (KS)

Masks of the Mythos (KS) – Getting notes over to Cover guy. Pinging a couple of artists about fulls. Talking to Tucker about doing some of the dreamy stuff.

Scion: Demigod (KS) – KS art in progress. Fulls progressing. Halves progressing. Getting a few more halves rolling on that.

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS) – Ready for KS Tuesday.

TC: Adventure! (KS) – Cover is in.

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – AD’d, art is rolling.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

TC Aeon Terra Firma – With Josh.

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – continued working it.

Pugmire Adventure – small project, knocking the layout together.

Scion Titanomachy

Trinity Core Jumpstart

Proofing

Trinity Aeon Jumpstart – PoD files updated.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Indexing.

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Magic Item Decks (Scarred Lands)

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

At Press

TCFBTS Heroic Land Dwellers – PoD proof on the way.

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Press proofs signed off on, PoD proofs ordered.

Pirates of Pugmire – Traditionally printed books almost ready to ship to the shipper. PDF and PoD versions on sales this Weds.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Pugmire Buried Bones – PDF and PoD versions on sales this Weds.

Dark Eras 2 – Files at press.

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet – Files at press.

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Dark Eras Compilation

Contagion Chronicle – Press prep.

Contagion Chronicle Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Lunars Wall Scroll Map – Files at press.

Lunars Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Scarred Lands Creature Collection – Press proof signed off on.

Scion Companion – PoD proofs ordered.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

One small step for a man: in 1969 Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

Which we reference in a bunch of our games, but for me, it’s a strong childhood memory of watching the moonwalk on the small, scratchy, b&w TV we moved into my parent’s bedroom. They had the only room AC (it would take years before we could afford to catch up to the other houses in the neighborhood and get full-house AC) and it was a hot and humid Philly July night. Right before the news broke in with the Special Broadcast, Jerry Lewis’s The Nutty Professor was on (I think it was Channel 10, Philly folks), and I was afraid of the transformation scenes.

Our parents tried to impress on us the importance of what we were seeing, but it was near midnight, and it was all we could do to stay awake that far. After the single greatest achievement mankind had achieved in surpassing the bounds of Earth, we just wanted to get to sleep. Yet, I still remember it all as it happened.