#i will. try. and get like. an actual finished drawing done at some point ww

[poke-poke-poke]

She wishes to be as popular as Raihan on social media..    better keep working hard Klara!  (and maybe focus on keeping that jealousy under wraps a bit more-)

(bonus under read more-)

he is 100%  aware of her irritation-  

[theonyxpath]

It’s that time for a brief (riiight) look at just why we even have Monday Meeting Notes in order to have this blog. As we tighten up and re-purpose this and our other blogs, as you may have noticed these past few months, let me fill you in on just what this one, in particular, is all about.

Really, it’s an extension of the basic idea of starting the week off with a situation report that looks back at the last week to see what was accomplished, and looks forward to the coming week and what needs doin’. Full disclosure, I stole the idea from my head of Creative Services back in my TV days, and grafted it to the company-wide lunch meetings we had in the first months of White Wolf way back in the day.

Back then, I used the meeting to see if the production team had hit their goals from the meeting before, re-evaluate those goals based on why they were missed, and if they were met we set new ones at the meeting. They were individual goals, mostly, and such things as “Finish Mage splat character pencils”, or “Get half of Wraith laid out”, or “Get quotes from three different printers for the Aeon plastic book”.

By doing this during the meeting, the whole department was aware of both the challenges and the status of the various parts of the creation of the books. Sam needed Josh to finish those Mage splat drawings so he could get the initial layout done, for example. I’d also share the info I had learned during the previous Friday’s X-Meeting, which was the name for the WW weekly managers’ meeting. So long as the info was not top secret, I’d share it so that our team had the best information to base their decisions on.

It was a good system, and we had fewer left hands not knowing what the right hands were doing. I even heard rumors that the developer boyfriend of one of our designers would ask her for notes on the info to share with the devs at their meeting.

So naturally, I incorporated a Monday Lunch Meeting when I started Onyx Path. Putting the notes up in this blog was also based on a previous incarnation, this time with notes that started informal but turned into a formal weekly thing years later at WW after we had internet venues to post them to. With our belief in community and transparency, it just made sense to use this blog format to provide a regular reporting on how things stand at Onyx.

    They Came From Beneath the Sea! art by Aaron Riley

    Plus, for me, this was the modern equivalent of Stan Lee’s Soapbox, a “column” that appeared in the news page of Marvel comics way back in the day that enabled the lead guy at Marvel to continue to talk right to the reader, even if he wasn’t working on every book like he had been.

Love him or hate him, Stan succeeded in making readers feel that there were actual people involved in the making of the comics. At least young Rich Thomas did as he pored over the new X-Men – isn’t that Wolverine from Hulk? – and all the other 20 and 25 cent comics.

As for the meeting itself, we’ve actually put together a pretty organized routine at this point. We start the meeting with any big-picture, company-wide news. Then, Eddy, Matthew, and Dixie go through the status of the upcoming projects they have oversight over, then Mirthful Mike goes over where the projects are in art direction and layout. We discuss all news about the projects, with special emphasis on any roadblocks they are having.

Then Mighty Matt McElroy goes over any Operations news – which is basically things like conventions, sales and sales venues, business opportunities, etc. If there’s anything not covered previously, like vacations or the like, we wrap up with that.

Using their reports, which are also written out and updated each week, I then update the project progress parts of this blog, and then pick through the jokes and banter to get to several topics that the gang discussed in more detail that I think you folks will be interested in.

Which is really a huge part of the point of this blog. Where once, Monday Lunch Meetings allowed our staff to be aware of what everybody was working on, now the Monday Meeting Notes blog is set up so all of you erudite blog readers can look right into what we’re up to, and how, each week.

    Cover art for Wraith20’s Handbook for the Recently Deceased by Michael Gaydos

      And with that, here are a few highlights from the meeting today:

We’re excited to announce that we’re partnering with Fabricate, LLC to provide Scarred Lands adventures for Expedition!

Expedition is a light RPG using cards and a smartphone or tablet. Whether you’re new to the genre or a D&D veteran, whether you’re playing alone, with a group of friends, your spouse or with your kids – anyone can learn to play in less than 5 minutes! There are new quests and adventures every week, and the Expedition community can even create their own adventures and share them with others. With this new license, Scarred Lands-specific content will be available as booster cards and through the app. The team are really excited about this, so don’t be surprised if you see them posting in our Scarred Lands forums soon as well! If you want to learn more about Expedition, you can look them up here: https://expeditiongame.com/

  Gen Con 2018 is only a month away, and we’ve been busy with new brochures (one with all of our lines, and one just for Storypath System games), pins, card hand-outs, signage, all that con stuff we do. We’ll be announcing at least one new license, new projects, and two separate “What’s Up With the Onyx Path?” panels (Thursday and Saturday) which will pretty much cover the same info although the panelists may differ. It’s an experiment to see if we can open up more time for everybody, not jamming folks in to one session. There’s also a freelancing panel and a developer boot-camp session for those creators wanting to get into the biz.

  The Onyx Pathcast audience continues to grow, and last week the Trio of Terror interviewed writer and developer Steffie de Vaan and talked a lot about Promethean. This Friday’s Pathcast is all about freelancing in general, since they all do that, and freelancing for Onyx Path specifically. Plus, we’re making plans for some Onyx Pathcast broadcasting at/from Gen Con. More on that when we know more.

  We went over the Fetch Quest Kickstarter a bit, just reaffirming that it did well for its audience, but didn’t break out into the larger card game audience. It would have been nice, but we funded and more than tripled that amount, so it will be great to have it in stores. Card games are still something that we’ll do when a cool idea comes our way, and we’ll continue demoing Fetch Quest and Prince’s Gambit, and see where that kind of exposure leads.

  Next, we have prepped most of the material for the Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition Kickstarter, and are audaciously planning on putting it live on Monday, July 2nd at 12 noon EDT. We think that the audiences for this and Fetch Quest are significantly different, so there shouldn’t be much KS fatigue, and so we can run this before Gen Con. If, for some reason, we can’t make that happen, we’ll run it over Gen Con – but I’m trying to give our guys a break by letting them enjoy the con and any August vacations they so rightfully deserve without worrying about an ongoing Kickstarter.

  So, like we end with every week, you know:

Many Worlds, One Path!

    BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Thanks, everyone who backed Fetch Quest and helped us bring it to stores!

Next up, Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition Kickstarter…we’re aiming at starting this Kickstarter at 12 noon EDT on Monday July 2nd…if we can!

    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.

    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

    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:

This Wednesday is a veritable Sword and Sorcery Day, with the DriveThruRPG releases of the PoD version of the Scarred Land‘s adventure the Dagger Of Spiragos, and the PDF and PoD versions of the third of the Scarred Lands adventures: the Ring of Spiragos!

Along with the Gauntlet of Spiragos, these three adventures provide an outstanding way to first get into the epic fantasy Scarred Lands setting – available in both 5e and Pathfinder versions.

  As if that wasn’t enough, it is the last Wednesday of the month – so here are our Monthly Exalted 3rd PDF downloads:

For Hundred Devils Night Parade, we have Susurrus and Lodestar, and for Adversaries of the Righteous, we have Fivefold Mask & Lies.

          CONVENTIONS!

Prep is seriously underway for Gen Con 2018 in the first week of August, which takes place in Indianapolis. In addition to our booth presence, be sure to check out the games and panels in the Gen Con Event Schedule.

From Fast Eddy Webb, we have these:

Eddy will be speaking at Broadleaf Writers Conference (September 22-23) in Decatur, GA. He’ll be there to talk about writing for interactive fiction, and hanging out with other writers who have far more illustrious careers. http://broadleafwriters.com/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference-speakers/

Eddy will also be a featured guest 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

If you are going and want to meet up, let us know!

    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)

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

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)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

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

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

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

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

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

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

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

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

  Redlines

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

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

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

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

Dog and Cat Ready Made Characters (Monarchies of Mau)

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

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

  Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

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

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

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

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

  Manuscript Approval:

  Editing:

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

  Post-Editing Development:

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

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)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

  Indexing:

Wraith 20

Cavaliers of Mars

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero – Stuff is progressing…slowly, but progressing.

Trinity Continuum 

Geist 2e – KS artwork continues.

The Realm

M20 Gods and Monsters

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – More sketches coming in.

Promethean Night Horrors: The Tormented – Sketches and finals coming in.

VtR – Guide to the Night – Sam is doing the fulls and cover.

  Marketing Stuff

Posters and Displays

Gen Con Cards

  In Layout

Fetch Quest – Playtest decks uploaded.

  Proofing

Scion Origin – Onyx review.

Changeling: the Lost 2 – Josh is working on the interior fixing.

Storyteller System Brochure

  At Press

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary & Beckett Screen & V20 Dice – KS backer rewards shipping.

Scion Dice – At fulfillment shipper.

Monarchies of Mau – In Indexing.

Monarchies of Mau Screen – Files sent to printer.

Cavaliers of Mars Screen – Files sent to printer.

Wr20 Guide for Newly Departed – PoD uploaded.

Gen Con Buttons – At press.

WoD and CofD reroll cards – At press.

FQ and PG Gen Con cards – At press.

Wraith 20 Screen – Files sent to printer.

GenCon Brochure – Files sent to printer.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: Although the one-year anniversary of his passing was last week, here’s to the creative work and legacy of my friend, and co-founder of White Wolf, Stewart Wieck. A year? Really? Doesn’t seem real.

[soradgirl]

C3AFA Jakarta 2017

( this was so hard to work on I swear I have the worst memory)

Oh fun fact this was all actually broadcasted on Nico Nico, both panel and concert! (I think for the panel it was, but I’m definitely sure about the concert)

I came to the anifest for the anime.

Specifically the utaites 😏

There was also f'hana, Suzuki Konomi, May'n, and Usagi, but I’m not too familiar with them lol so I won’t write about them.

Also I’ll be writing about what they said to the audience but my Japanese isn’t… Perfect. I can understand it sometimes, but reading and writing is… Not good. 

S O R R Y.

Also because this was held in Indonesia I’ll be using Indonesian words when they spoke it, but in brackets I’ll put the English. I’ll also recap a few personally funny things that happened to me, specifically with my cousin that I brought along. (She isn’t even in a fandom, and doesn’t even know what utaites are)

NOW LET’S GO. (WARNING: LONG POST) 

I could only attend one day (Saturday), because of something I like to call hell school. Which I’m kind of sad about since Kradness is performing the second day and well, he’s the first utaite I’ve ever listened too. I’d go but there’s no way I’d be allowed to miss school Hahah :^)

The anifest exhibition, filled with little booths selling cute drawings, keychains, and a whole lot of Yuri on Ice yaoi. Official (?) booths include: Black Butler, Fate Apocalypse, some others I’m sure, but most were fan-run (?) booths. (I bought a set of Koi Yuri on Ice keychains that were adorable lol)

Of course that’s not what I came for. I came for the anisong concert. Specifically Tomohisa Sako.

The event began at 10:00 am. I arrived at 2:30 and bought the VIP tickets. To my dismay, T-kun had an autograph session at 12:30.

U N L U C K Y 

   To be fair was on the plane. Yes jakarta is not where I live. I live in another city boohoo. Flew out but missed autographs. 

And since I arrived late to purchase the tickets, the closest seats were row N. But at least had wasn’t in the standing area hahahahah. (Those who stood for three hours at the very back sorrymasen.) 

There was about five hours until concert doors opened. What can you do for five hours?? 

I took a look at the schedule. 

Wait. What��s this?

At 3:30 pm the beginning of nico nico panel!!? (Mind you I didn’t know this was happening.) I only came for the concert. This was great, I had some way to spend the time while waiting for the concert doors to open. 

 But who was performing? Was it anyone I knew? YES IT WAS. 

 Natsushiro Takaaki, Eve, and CleaNero (Clear and Nero.)

 L U C K Y. 

 I was so excited I stood in front of the small open stage thirty minutes early. Also because I wanted to be at the front. Then it happened. It begun. The crowd started to thicken. 

Anytime nico nico was mentioned me and a few other girls screamed like mad. 

(No pictures cause obviously they’re forbidden)

 I think the only downside of this short panel was that the time between each performance was really long XD. We had to wait around half an hour more or less for the next performer to come up. But they did provide entertainment in the middle of that wait.  

 Usagi was the first performer. She sang a song that I know the melody of but not the words or the title. (Shazam didn’t help either)

After her was my dear dear dearest Ikemennnnnnnnnnnn NATSUSHIRO TAKAAKI. He looked so good and ugh it was just amazing like how can someone be so cool lol. He came up on stage and pulled out a piece of paper. (a recurring theme.) 

“Selamat siang! (Good afternoon)” he said. Or tried to say, but he was cute for trying. “Nama saya Takaaki Natsushiro. (My name is Takaaki Natsushiro.)” he struggled to say it but we were patient. I was grinning so hard because him trying was so adorable. (”Ganbatte!” the crowd shouted in encouragement) 

Then he proceeded to speak in Japanese. “Do you understand Japanese?” he asked first. 

“We do!” the crowd, and me, answered. His smile grew like a little puppy as he complimented us it was amazing. (and adorable, they all were so dorky aa)

Okay here is where I apologize. I don’t remember any of the songs he sang. I KNOW I’M TERRIBLE BUT SERIOUSLY MY MIND BLANKED OUT. (I kept staring at his face I guess lol that’s not a valid excuse.) 

I think. THINK. He sang:  世界の真ん中を歩く(sekai no mannaka wo aruku)

BUT He was so enthusiastic as well, always getting the crowd to shout with the song, or clap our hands. (My cousin’s comment: How can he sing so perfectly while jumping?) ALSO DID I MENTION HOW STYLISH HIS OUTFIT WAS? HE WAS WEARING WHITE CLOTHES AND IT WAS WAS WAS COOLLLL.

He seriously looks like the drawings of him. Like with long white coat-thing with black underneath. And of course, a smile all the time. SO CUTE AGHHH

If anyone who was there knows any of the songs he sang please tell me ww I need help. 

Fun fact: during the performance I was looking at him then in the far corner I saw a guy wearing a mask. I stared for three seconds before almost, ALMOST shouting, “EVE.” 

Eve was watching the performance from a door to backstage it was so cute ww. 

A N D  

Eve was also the next performance. There was this one girl who seriously loved him, she kept shouting ‘kakkoi or kawaii’ when he came on stage ww and throughout the performance. So since no photos are allowed I have their faces branded into my brain haha. Okay but. Eve looks exactly like his avatar. Like the hair, the body shape, etc. I was gushing over it for the entire performance. He was wearing this blue patterned shirt with a floral jacket-thing over it, I think the pants matched the jacket. Why are Japanese people so stylish??? 

Now the performance. Not in correct order but he sang: 

ユニバース (Universe)

スパークル(Sparkle from Your Name/Kimi no Nawa.)

惑星ループ (Wakusei Loop)

Now this cute boy also pulled out that fated paper. He stared at it sometime, trying to pronounce the first few syllables. 

“Se- Sela? se se... (G- Goo? G-Good...)” he kept trying, eventually people starting shouting in encouragement but he held his hand out like ‘please be quiet I must focus.’ 

He then said it properly (well kind of). “Selamat siang! (Good afternoon)” When we cheered in response he looked so relieved that he had done it w. After that he sang another song. The poor boy was starting to get sweaty, and when he ended the song we could see he was really out of breath. To play it off adorably he panted into the microphone. “Haah haah, it’s hot...” he said (In japanese). (Cue squeals, it was so adorable.) And then he asked for a towel. 

While waiting for the towel he decided to speak a little to us, albeit in Japanese. He said, “before I came on stage I was really nervous!” (That’s what I think he sort of said. Could be wrong)  We all aww-ed and someone yelled (in Japanese) for him not to be nervous, which he obviously in turn replied with a thank you. 

I felt so sorry for my poor sweaty boy, and they didn’t have any towels to give him, so I half-jokingly told my cousin that I wanted to throw him some tissues. (She then kept trying to take my tissues and throw them upstage. I WAS IN THE FRONT ROW I SWEAR HE COULD SEE THIS HAPPENING IT WAS VERYYY EMBARRASSING.)

During Universe he got us to sing along to the ‘woah woah yeah yeah’ parts in the song, and during the instrumental breaks the crowd was shouting like, ‘HEY HEY HEY.” It was really nice. 

Wakusei Loop started playing and I screamed because I love that song. Immediately the crowd goes ‘ tuttururuttu ruttutturu’ along with the song. And some rhythmic clapping during choruses/ instrumentals.

When he left the stage I got so sad jeez. But i remembered that there was still CLEANERO.

I mean, there was two of them! Both, one package. Win win right? 

And they ran up on stage, instead of having that little paper scene, they went straight into the first song. 

The songs they sang (that I remember) are: 

Butterfly

Cotton Candy Cloud

That One Song That Goes ‘Lalalalala’ And They Got The Crowd to Sing With Them. (Aka idk)

And I’m sure there were more but I forgot song

But the thing about Clear and Nero is: THEIR HARMONIES. They are so beautiful i felt like shedding a tear seriously. It was like the heavenly voices came down to bless me on that anime day. 

But these two knew how to interact with fans more while performing. Although Nero more than Clear. They always stood on the front and one time Nero pointed at at an audience member while singing. 

But after two songs they took a break, and the paper came out. Clear was cackling while Nero tried to pronounce the words. He did so pretty well actually. 

“Selamat siang (good afternoon) Jakarta!” he yelled, which in reply we cheered, but then he handed the paper to Clear, who stopped laughing as soon as he realized what he had to do. 

Clear said the exact same thing as Nero, but with stuttering and a heavy accent.You could tell he was really embarrassed, especially when some of us giggled. Luckily MOST of us were very encouraging and cheered for him instead.

After they were done I headed to the main stage where the concert was being held. 

That’s when I entered and realized, “Oh no it started already?!?” 

I swear they began early. So we headed to out seats and May’n was performing. While she was singing my cousin pointed to the poster-thing, where the performers were lined up in this order from bottom to top:

Tomohisa Sako

May’n

Konomi Suzuki

f’hana

She told me that if it was in the order of the pictures then that would mean that T-kun already performed. CUE PANIC. I tried to stay calm and enjoy the show but my mind was going a quadrillion miles per hour thinking of what would be of my life if I had indeed missed Tomohisa perform. 

May’n finished and left the stage and I sat down while waiting for the next performer to come up. We were sitting there staring at the screen playing advertisements when it flashed and in very loud volume it played:

COMING UP NEXT: TOMOHISA SAKO

I SCREAMED SO LOUDLY AND TEARED UP. SERIOUSLY. MY HEART EXPLODED AND I JUST FELT LIKE AAAAAAAAAAAA IT WAS PURE BLISS HOLY CRAP. 

T-kun ran onto stage, and the girls were deafening. I tried to calm myself but how could I?!?! HOW COULD I?!?

T-kun sang many songs, but instead of listing them I’ll go through them. 

(Although maybe not in correct order.)

So he sang Renai Saiban (Love Trial) and it reminded me of the little medley he did with Amatan and I was singing along like a little bird that doesn’t really know all the lyrics ww. 

He sang Mezase Pokemon Master and mad us shout that pikachu part LIKE FIVE TIMES. HE EVEN CALLED OUT SOMEONE. “Ahh... You only! You only, okay?” he said in english. It was cute and I was SO JEALOUS OF THAT PERSON. 

He sang Get a Ban Ban and I THINK I JUMPED ALL MY FAT AWAY WHILE SINGING WITH HIM BECAUSE I WAS SO ENERGETIC. 

Sugar Song and Bitter Step. At the beginning he trailed off one of the lyrics and twirled his finger at the audience... Thinking about it still makes my heart beat aa it was wonderful. 

He sang Floria and I felt a little nostalgic since I haven’t listened to that song in awhile it was so nice. T-kun really is cute and sweet...

And he sang Blue Bird!! I SWEAR THE CROWD WAS THE MOST ENERGETIC FOR THIS SONG, I SWUNG MY LIGHTSTICK AROUND UNTIL I FELT LIKE MY ARM WAS GOING TO FALL OFF. 

Some other things that happened. 

Him trying so hard to speak in Indonesian. While he was trying someone in the crowd yelled, “ T-kun daisuki!” and he was startled and replied, “a~a~ arigato!” 

He told us, “Saya makan nasi goreng. Enak sekali. (I ate fried rice. It was really good.)” 

Then he asked us what foods we liked, and my cousin shouted, “INDOMIE!” (Instant noodles ww) I swear the people by us were cracking up. 

Seriously my boy was so pure and I had so much fun I just felt so blessed the entire time ww. 

IKEMEN BOYSSSS <3 

I want to follow them forever! 

(I want to translate the footage of T-kun’s performance but I must brush up on my Japanese ww. I can do the Indonesian. Hopefully I can though.)

C3 ANIFEST WAS AMAZING I MISS THEM SO MUCH. I WANT TO WATCH MORE OF MY UTAITE BABIES I HOPE THEY CONTINUE COMING TO INDONESIA!! 

[undauntedtcg]

My Run at Richmond Regionals/Day 2 Cup Report

I played Zoroark Garbodor in Richmond last weekend, and things were...weird. So all in all, just another day of Expanded. I went 3-4-2 day one, a worse day than Greensboro last season, however, I do believe that I improved in many ways despite a worse finish (more on that later). Let’s have a look at what went wrong!

R1 vs. Archie’s Night March LWT

This was such a cool deck! They used Archie’s Ace in the Hole with Swampert to give them more draw to improve control matchups. In game 1, I played a Karen to disrupt his damage output and he responded with double compressor, power draw and sycamore to build right back up on a one-shot and took the game fairly easily. Game 2 was a different story, Karen actually stuck and I just took my 6 prizes without any difficulty, which is really the only way to win this matchup. We got to game 3, he went first, played power plant, let loose’d me into an unplayable hand, I got basics down and then time was called. Super lucky to have tied that one, given the hand I got in that third game.

R2 vs. Archiestoise LL

This is the most polarized matchup ZoroGarb has. If they stumble at all turn 1, we can just win. If they get a cross division off, we just lose. Neither of those things happened here though! I whiffed energy the entire round and by the time I was hitting energy, it didn’t matter as the board state was too far gone.

R3 vs. MewGardy LWW

MewGardy is just a really bad deck. I prized double trubbish game one and couldn’t get there with Zoroarks alone, but as soon as I had access to all my pokemon in the second two games it was pretty easy. This would’ve been a tie had my opponent not scooped on turn 2 of time, seeing that his board was completely lost. S/o to him for being friendly!

R4 vs. ZoroToad LL

This. Matchup. Sucks. I was item locked the entierty of both games, with sudo down and no way to take prizes. Probably just an autoloss. In game 1, I saw the toad and assumed it was a control variant, which we can beat. But when they’re prize racing with LaserBank and Quaking Punch, our options are limited. ZoroToad doesn’t have many favorable matchups in this format, I would even go so far as to say that it’s just bad. But it definitely beats ZoroGarb most of the time.

R5 vs. MewGardy WW

My opponent had a rough start both games and by the time he was attacking, trashalanche was one-shotting everything. Round was over in a little under 20 minutes.

R6 vs. Archiestoise WW

The matchup went the other way this time. My opponent had decent turn ones both games but my deck actually functioned properly and Cross Division never happened. Great games with a super friendly opponent, though.

R7 vs. Trev LL

This used to be a free matchup last season. Now, however, they play 4 Power Plant. It’s more like 50/50 now, but if they brick you off of Let Loose + Plant there’s just nothing you can do. I got a board set up but never got to a point where I could attack and whiffed evolutions all both games. Nothing I think I could’ve done differently, but it all felt so bad. This was the round that took us out of contention for day 2.

R8 vs. Durant WLT

With Oranguru, this matchup is pretty favored. Took game one through Resource Management and KOing Ants. Game 2 I wasn’t able to develop to a point where I could be aggressive enough to take out ants often. Eventually we decked out after some Handiwork double heads. Time was called in game three, I had 2 prizes left by the end. Neither of us wanted to tie but both of us were trying to hit points, we talked with a judge about how else we could resolve it. Going by prizes isn’t really fair when it’s a mill strategy so we just agreed to draw. Thinking about it, I wonder if there is a mathematical way to equate cards left in deck to prize cards and use that to decide. Either way, this took us out of contention for points.

R9 vs. Archiestoise WLL

This is the only round I really felt like I was playing sub-optimally. I was tired, I couldn’t get anything no matter what happened this round, I just wanted to leave. I was basically brain dead and on autopilot the whole way through. I don’t even remember how I got the first game, it just sorta happened. He got Cross Division off Games 2 and 3 and there was just nothing happening for me. Oh well.

Looking back through all of the rounds I would do a few things differently.

I would’ve cut the girafarig. It’s good, but I never hit the matchups it’s good in. Cobalion GX would’ve been way more helpful to stop cross division.

In a more broad sense though, I think I should’ve just played Zoroark Control. I’m comfortable enough with the deck, the only reason I didn’t play it was that I didn’t think I could play it perfectly for 9 rounds. In retrospect, I think I still would’ve had better chances with it than what I played.

On the positive side, I played much better than I did in Greensboro. I remember making small mistakes and throwing matches last time. Here, I think my play improved, but everything else got worse. My matchups were horrendous, I drew poorly off of Let Loose + Plant. A lot went wrong.

 I can place an amount of blame on my preparation, for sure. I think the list could’ve been slightly better, and that’s definitely my fault. But at the same time, my list was geared to beat the decks I was expecting, and I didn’t come across as many of those as I would’ve liked.

After that pretty awful day 1, I played in the League Cup on day 2 with a different version of the deck. Playing cards like Bodybuilding Dumbbells and a heavier Parallel city count. I no longer have the exact list, but you aren’t missing much. Probably a little worse than what I played in the main event. But we’ll have a look at those rounds too, just for fun.

R1 vs. TurboDark W

I played against a player that attends tournaments in my area, which was rather nice. This was the first and only time I played against Dark the whole weekend and it was one of the most hyped decks going into the tournament. With Parallel and Sudowoodo, the matchup is pretty much just free.Keep control of their board and trashalanche until they lose.

R2 vs. Pikarom L

Half-bricked at the start of this game, had to bench more Lele and Dedenne than I would’ve liked. Game lasted a total of three turns, and two attacks. Full Blitz, Tag Bolt GG.

R3 vs. ZoroGarb T

This round didn’t go too well. He played cards that I wasn’t expecting, namely Acerola and Professor Kukui. We both kept Sudowoodo down the entire game. Trading two shots with Acerola inbetween for 30 minutes, then I used Tapu Cure GX to heal all the damage off my board in turn 2 of time and that was it. 

R4 vs. Archiestoise W

My opponent missed Archie’s turn 1, 2 and 3. I don’t really have anything else to say here.

R5 vs. Archiestoise L

We both had horrible starts, but Cross Division made mine way worse. It was a close game in all honesty, but he got rid of all our Trubbish and we just couldn’t do anything from there.

R6 vs. Green’s Greninja BREAK L

Oh dear. This was horrid. No Trade, they limited their items too well for us to one shot anything. Really missed having Sky Field in this one.

R7 vs. Keldeo GX/Hoopa W

They played 0 outs to Garbotoxin, Garb just won the game outright.

I played 16 rounds of Zoroark Garbodor in it’s various forms this weekend! The deck is pretty busted, but the deck just can’t beat a lot of things. Let Loose + Power Plant can make any otherwise good matchup unfavored, we can lose to a lot of very specific random stuff.

Going forward, I think the deck actually gets better! The matchup against the 1st place EggRow deck isn’t too bad with double Klefki and some more hand disruption. For Portland, I would definitely be giving this deck a look! I will leave you all with a warning, however. If you want to play this deck, test it thoroughly. Know each matchup, know how the deck tends to run, always have a plan. The deck has a lot of options and isn’t for someone who wants to just do the same thing every game. For that, I’ll refer you to Turbo Dark.

I’m disappointed in myself for my poor performance and I’m very unhappy with how the tournament went for me. I understand that not everything that happened was in my control, and I’m very happy with how I played for most of the weekend, so I hesitate to call the weekend a complete failure. But I definitely have much to improve on and will be giving my all to the game from now leading up to whatever regionals I’ll be attending next.

Thanks for reading!

[kaialone]

I’m gonna ramble about Ganon(dorf) for a bit

Proceed if you’re interested (I wrote a lot)

Okay so I don’t even know how to start this, I’ll just go.

(note that I’ll mention the timeline in this, please dont think that I dont know that the timeline could be changed at any moment should nintendo feel ike it, I just like semi-going by currently established canon. Also please note that I got no problem with people who dont feel like following the timeline for any reason, to each their own.)

I kinda really like the fact that Ganondorf is said to be a reincarnation of Demise, because, idk, somehow the idea of powerful demons needing to reincarnate into human form for some reason, and then once they have this form and live that life they start having human feelings and emotions and start struggling with what they want to be and maybe end up becoming good guys, is just somethign I really enjoy.

(If that sounds weirdly specific, Great Demon King Piccolo from Dragonball is one character with that kinda arc that I love.)

And then of course, one of the most interesting things about Ganondorf, imo, is how in the three different timeline branches, you got one incarnation of Ganondorf who turns out very different in each branch.

Something I always like is to just kinda, look at the different “last words” Ganondorf has in each timeline branch, and what they really mean for each of them:

"The wind... it is... blowing."

“I am the Evil King, Ganon...”

“The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!”

(though this gets a bit muddled in the Downfall Timeline, as technically Ganon died in ALttP, but was revived in OoX,´, which I see as his true death for now, but then again we dunno if any Ganons after that where him revived or reborn so *shrug*)

But first we should talk about the guy that “grows up” to be these other three.

I mean, personally I think no matter how you look at it, OoT!Ganondorf did lots of bad stuff, and wasnt a good ruler to the Gerudo (I dont mind different interpretations at all though), but I do think his initial intentions were good like we hear him talk about in WW, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

OoT!Ganondorf doesn’t really end up helping the Gerudo once he actually takes over Hyrule (all the Gerudo are still over in the desert, cept for maybe Iron Knuckles) and its heavily implied all the Gerudo were brainwashed to some extent (The carpenters note that the Gerudo seem nicer, post-Twinrova’s defeat), and Nabooru, who was very respected among the Gerudo, was explicitly against Ganondorf, but then brainwashed into submission.

Like even if you think Twinrova did all that without him knowing, not noticing your parents brainwashing your people doesnt exactly make you a good leader.

Adding to that, if A Link to the Past’s backstory is to be believed (and the timeline is not said to split until Link falls in the final battle) then, Ganondorf entered the hiding place of the Triforce alongside fellow thieves of his, and ended up killing them all so he could have the Triforce for himself.

Buuut before you think I’m just gonna talk about how bad OoT!Ganondorf is, like, I still think he genuinely wanted to help his people (at first) and that everything WW!Ganondorf says does represent his true feelings, and that at some point, he just really wanted to do something good.

I think its interesting to think about why that presumably changed for a while, wether you think its the usual getting mad with power, getting to close to the “dark side” or whatever with all the dark magic going on, or being groomed into this role by Twinrova, or all of that, or something else entirely.

I mean, he definitely did some bad stuff before that too, but in the context of Ganondorf being a reincarnation of Demise, I wonder if it could be possible that either seeing Link and/or Zelda or laying eyes on the Triforce ended up having some effect on him, like awakening some part of Demise within him so to speak, contributing to him losing sight of his initial goals and getting more about power in general.

Notably post timeskip Ganondorf seems to use a lot more monsters/dmemons to do his bidding than before, but this could easily just be the difficulty spike for the player.

Idk if this sounds cheap to people somehow, but I remember a popular theory being that the Triforce of Power turned him evil so, its not that different imo.

Of course, in the final battle we see OoT!Ganondorf become Ganon, presumably for the very first time, but honestly? The transformation itself isn’t that important to me, as it just feels like a visual representation of the downfall Ganondorf had undergone already anyway.

And then, when he is defeated, he infamously curses Link, and ZELDA, and THE SAGES, vowing to kill their descendants once he breaks free from the seal and all...

...which leads into who is everyone’s favorite Ganondorf, and rightfully so, WW!Ganondorf.

Before going into the present day of WW, there is its backstory, which is very interesting to me, cause you just gotta think, how do we go from a guy like OoT!Ganon to WW!Ganon?

At some point after OoT but before WW, Ganondorf’s threat became reality, he broke out of the seal and tried taking over Hyrule once more.

But I cant help but wonder how it mustve felt for him. I picture him for years, decades, centuries maybe, sealed away, picturing his revenge, imagining how great it’ll feel to get free and eradicate the descendants of Link and Zelda, and finally making Hyrule his.

But when he was freed, he likely found a Hyrule that was different from how he remembered it. Notably, there would be no hero, nor descendants of his for him to exact revenge upon. And while we know that a princess seems to have had existed at the time, who knows if she was “a Zelda”, if you wanna call them that.

I just imagine it wouldve felt a lot less satisfying that he imagined, heck, probably wouldve felt more like he was robbed if his chance to take revenge.

And who knows what even happened to the Gerudo by that point? I know lack of them in Wind Waker doesnt mean they are extinct, but for all we know they couldve left hyrule altogether? (Like they seem to have done between OoT and TP, and mightve done post OoT in the Downfall timeline, if you dont think they went extinct)

Overall I could see what Ganondorf mightve pictured/wanted to be his most glorious moment, his long awaited return, mightve just ended up feeling kinda empty.

Not that I think he wouldve done a complete 180 already because of that, but I could see it leaving him in a bit of a shock.

Adding to that, now just as he is about to conquer Hyrule for real, the gods decide to destroy it, essentially. Or at least, thats how Ganondorf felt about the situation, given how he speaks of it in the game. Its like the gods are playing with him, everytime Hyrule is just within his graps, they take it from him.

The flood mustve felt especially terrible for him, cause the way he saw it, it mustve been something like the goddesses saying “we’d rather just end hyrule and kill all its people than have you be its ruler”. What a slap in the face, to put it lightly.

After that, getting sealed away again, and all the stuff I mentioned above, probably gave him time and opportunity to reflect upon his life so far, and the future too.

I dont think that in WW, Ganondorf was just “going through the motions”, and just trying to finish what he started because he had no choice at this point. I do think he still genuinely wanted to try and conquer Hyrule, its just that he has had some time to think about it, a bit more about why he wanted it, and about what he did wrong before, and regretting those mistakes.

Like for example, he really doesnt seem like he wants to harm Link and Zelda anymore, if he can help it. He could be hating them, still furious for what happened during OoT, but he doesnt seem to be.

One of these days I wanna talk about all the contrasts and parallels WW seems to draw to Zelda games that came before it, especially OoT, but for this bit I just wanna mention this one thing.

How in OoT you confront Ganondorf, who smugly plays his leitmotif on the organ, the sound of which growing louder the further you approach his chamber. His back pointed at the entrance which he knows the hero will emerge from. Zelda, encase in a crytal, hangs above him like a trophy, like the hero bait she is to him at this point.

And then in WW, his leitmotif plays in his final dungeon, but actually grow more quiet the closer you get to him. That already makes you feel like, while it invokes OoTs atmoosphere, it actually turns it on its head. And then, when you do cofront him, “Zelda” is instead peacefully sleeping in a bed, (presumably Ganondorfs bed?) with him calmly sitting by her side, watching over her. He doesn’t face Link directly as he enters, but isnt completely turned away from his either.

Of course this scene still has some creepy atmosphere to it, especially when he starts reading her mind, but maaaan, the contrast to OoT (and games that came before it) just GETS ME everytime I just think about it.

Ahhh, I could go on and on like, you all know this stuff, you all thought about him in this game so much, didnt you?

I really hope nintendo will choose to give another Ganondorf this kinda depth, and maybe even just play with the idea of Ganondorf taking on a different role than “final boss” in a Zelda title. I would love that.

Now, let’s turn the clock wayyy back to when Ganon fought Link, and talk about the timeline that occurs when Link is actually killed by him.

To me, this is kinda of the “original” timeline, for various reasons, but I don’t wanna distract from our main man here too long.

In this version of the events, Ganon manages to actually aquire the full Triforce in the final battle of OoT, and causes quite a bit of misery before the Sages finally manage to seal him away in this version, too. But because he is so powerful with the Triforce and all that, it ends up costing a lot more lives to finally get to that point.

Now from that point on, this Ganon seems to just kinda rule the Dark World, a twisted “evil” version of Hyrule of his own creation. And of course most notably, either because of this worlds properties, or his general state of being, this Ganon seemingly always stays in beast form from that point on.

Sadly this one doesnt talk too much (though he is very much capable of doing so), so we dont get much of a grasp on his character.

To me, ALttP!Ganon feels like somewhere in the middle when it comes to Ganons. Despite his bestial appearance, he doesnt seem as blind with power and rage as TP!Ganondorf, maybe cause he doesnt call himself a god or something. But he of course is nowhere near WW!Ganondorf in terms of reasons and having reflecting upon his past.

Either way, it is clear that he is not happy with just ruling his very own personal Hyrule, filled with damned people that have become monsters like him, as in ALttP he does attempt to break his seal and go back to the World of Light

This might just be out of greed, but you could also imagine he might simply be unhappy in this demonic world, or even scared? Given how we see that some inhabitants of this land lose their humanity to such an extent that they’re turning into things like trees, maybe even completely losing their sense of self?

One of the more curious things about ALttP!Ganon is his relationship to Agahnim. No one is entirely sure what they are to one another.

In some of the mangas, Agahnim is portrayed as a human who gets possessed or turned by Ganon in some shape or form, and this portrayal is popular from what I’ve seen.

But in the actual game, Agahnim is described as being Ganon’s alter-ego. The term used in the japanese version is “bunshin”, which can mean a lot of things, including alter-ego or even reincarnation, but in the context of the Zelda franchise, there is another part in the series where it is used. In Phantom Hourglass, Oshus is described as being the “bunshin” of the Ocean King. So, if we assume Agahnim works the same way, his consiusness would have to be exactly Ganon’s, right? Of course that doesn’t mean other interpretations can’t exist, I myself am not even sure what to think.

The usage of the word bunshin does imply that to some extent, Agahnim literally was a part, or offshot of Ganon. So froma  certain point of view, we could add his character to Ganons, if we wanted to.

Something that intrigues me though is that in the Downfall Timeline, we never see Ganon in human form again. Could this be related to Agahnim? Maybe not exactly literally but symbolIcally?

Did Ganon split the humanity he had left off of himself, because that was the only part of him that could exit the Dark World before the seal was lifted?

If so, did Agahnim dying have any effect on him? Or did whatever Agahnim was in the end just return to him?

So much to think about here, ahh.

Of cours, ALttP!Ganon then gets killed by Link in their battle. Not sealed away, just flat out killed.

Normally this would probably be the end, but of course OoX happened, in which Twinrova tried to revive him, but didnt quite succeed.

Ganon is revived as a seemingly mindless beast, only actualy talking in his final moments, which is the quote from earlier.

In the japanese version, this quote is written entirely in katakana, which can indicate that its pronounced weirdly somehow, in cases like this likely because he had a hard time forming the words at all.

He also refers to himself as a Demon King in japanese, but that term hadn’t caught on in the english versions of the games yet.

Okay so, as I kinda mentioned above, this Ganon’s story gets a bit muddled from this point on.

Sometime after ALttP, but before ALbW, ALbW’s backstory (which is not ALttP) occurs, during which a hero fights a Ganon, who is then sealed away by him, the princess and the sages, but we dont know if this Ganon is the same, just revived again, or an entirely new incarnation.

But you could argue that it hardly matters, cause he barely does anything in the game, essentially acting as a power boost for Yuga...

However, there is a theory that he might do more than that actually.

So, according to this theory, Yuga actually was completely loyal to Hilda, and its only by fusing with Ganon that he starts wanting to betray, due to Ganons influence. The theory is nice in the sense that it makes Yuga more of an opposite of Ganon than he seems if you take the game at face value, and gives Ganon more to do. Depending on your interpretation, Yuga might just be influenced by Ganon, or they literally fuse into a being that is just as much Ganon as it is Yuga.

But of course that is just a minor theory, and you dont have to like it, naturally.

After that we get HF and AoL!Ganon, who is said to be more of a mindless beast as this point, no trace left of the human he used to be.

A rather sad fate.

Again it is unclear if this is the same Ganon, revived yet again, or maybe (anotehr) reincarnation.

But if its the former, you can only assume that, even if you dont think Agahnim dying had any effect on Ganon, just forcing him to ressurect over and over instead of letting him reincarnate properly, must’ve done quite the number on Ganon.

Somehow thinking about this version of Ganon in particular makes me think about the cursed boars in Princess Mononoke, who where lost to their anger. Especially the moment when the Wolf faces the Old Boar, who we have seen slowly lose his self at this point, and she almost pitifully says “Can’t you even speak anymore?” to him.

It almost feels like Downfall Timeline!Ganon is cursed by fate, in a sense. Not really in-universe either, but out of universe too!

History is already written (the first two games are already out) and thus Ganon has to follow the path that is already set for him, become what he will be in the future (what he is in the first two games), a frightening monster that terrorizes this kingdom of Hyrule for the sake of power, with no humanity in him (him having been human wasnt part of his character at the time the first two games where released)

I wonder if the demons failing to get Links blood in 2 will mark the end of this Ganon? (I hope not)

It was kinda nice to see BotW seemingly do somewhat of a modern take on this kinda idea of Ganon, something that has become little more than destruction of Hyrule in pyhsical form. I could see people place BotW as post- AoL for that reason, even.

And well, rolling back time yet again, we go to the last way OoT!Ganondorf turned out, which is TP!Ganondorf...

....who, compared to the others, actually has a bit more of a complicated “set-up” that kickstarts his character.

When Link gets send back in time at the end of OoT, his Tiforce of Courage breaks apart into the pieces we find in WW, presumably because Link was literally removed from that reality as he possessed it?

Then upon his arrival in the new Child Timeline, Link immediately gets the Triforce of Courage of THAT timeline, presumably cause he is in a state of being where he is meant to have a Triforce Piece of Courage?

Well, regardless of what you believe to be the cause, this is what happens, and as a result, the other two Triforce pieces choose Zelda and Ganondorf to bear them and end up residing in them. Thats how the pieces ended up with the three without the Sacred Realm being entered in this version of the events.

Link ends up warning Zelda and the king of the events that will transpire in the future, and thus Ganondorf loses the trust of the king and is unable to set his plan from OoT into motion.

Its a bit vague, but sometime after that Ganondorf starts a direct attack towards Hyrule, but gets captured and put on trial.

And as you know, as he was about to be executed, the Triforce of Power activated and saved him from death.

Now I am not sure if this is true, but I think up until that point, Ganondorf didn’t even know he had it.

But wether he discovered he had it now, or the moment it fist came to him, one thing I am sure of, he mustve felt so great for it. Cause he has no idea that a time travelling Link caused this to happen, right? From his perspective, the power of the gods just came to him like that because he is that great! And then, he cant even die as a result of this? He is literally immortal? Well, he must be the dang chosen one, right?

No wonder he got all god complex in this one!

Something I´m kinda interested in is how this guy spend years, likely centuries, in the Twillight Realm, and if his form in there is any indication, not exactly in physical form either, I mean isnt it implied he HAD to mae use of Zant like that in order to be able to have a physical form like that?

Ultimately TP!Ganondorf just is a lot like OoT!Ganondorf if you think about it, just kinda taken to a more extreme. He is no longer just human, but has transcended humanity much further than OoT!Ganondorf has, and feels superior to everyone because of it.

He is absolute in his own eyes, he is a god, his eventual victory is certain, his battle with the hero just a formality at this point.

And he sticks to that mindset until the very end, even as he is stabbed and fatally wounded by Link. It only makes sense, he couldnt be stopped by this before, why would it stop him now?

Of course the events that follow are rather vague, and people argue about what it means to this day, but I think it ultimately boils down to Ganondorf biting of more than he can chew, overestimating his own power. Or rather, what he thinks is his own power, cause its not even his.

From the moment he was impaled by the sword of the sage, Ganondorf has been a dead man.

He has only been kept alive afterwards through the power of others, the gods, and Zant as well.

This power was not his, and thus it could just leave him just as quick as it came to him.

The imagine of Zant snapping his neck, to me, either just refers to the fact that with Zant dead, who acted as Ganondorf anchor of sorts, Ganondorf himself dies as well, or it refers to the fact that Ganondorf, who saw himself as a god and superior to everything, was ultimately just as much of a mortal and simple being than the very person who worshipped him as a deity the most.

Yes, you could call Zant the very person that made Ganondorf a god in the first place, in more ways than one, so without him, Ganondorf is a god no more. And he dies just like any mortal would.

Ultimately this Ganondorf story feels like a story of hubris.

Simple, but neat.

(Its interesting like, its almost like, TP!Ganondorf was a human who longed to be a god, and WW!Ganondorf was like a god who longed to be human?)

But, do not think it ends here...

We’ve looked at all the people that OoT!Ganondorf grew up to be, but that isn’t all the Ganons there is, the story of Ganon actually continues further down the Child Timeline.

Yes, this brings us to FSA!Ganon, or as I sometimes like to call him, Ganon II.

I understand that most probably never played this game, and I probably won’t blow your minds if I tell you Ganon doesn’t actually do much in this game but, I still like to think about him.

He’s actually a proper reincarnation of TP!Ganondorf, folowing the latter’s death at the end of TP.

From some dialouge in-game we know a little bit about his past. Like his past life, he was a boy born to the Gerudo people, and was named Ganondorf.

Interestingly, in this game, the Gerdudo dont actually say that every 100 years a male child is born, they that every 100 years a “special” child is born, and of course Ganondorf was that special child. They still mention the “only man” part, but it doesnt come up with the “every 100 years” line.

Notably it also doesnt seem that Ganondorf was supposed to be their king, and it doesnt seem like they ever treated him like a king, they only mention he was supposed to be the protector of the Gerudo people and the desert.

This is just speculation, but perhaps, after what happened to the first Ganondorf, the Gerudo people decided it wasnt a good idea to treat the sole male like a king just because.

The Gerudo in the game tell you that the older Ganndorf became, the more twisted and obsessed with power he became, and eventually he started breaking their laws, too.

When he entered the forbidden pyramid, the Gerudo basically considered him banished from their tribe, but also didnt think he would ever survive in there and presumed him to be dead.

The Gerudo in this game really only talk badly about Ganondorf, which probably makes sense if he really just did bad stuff to them, but its a very stark contrast to OoT where the Gerudo seemed to just let Ganondorf get away with everything, kinda.

Something I wonder about if maybe like, Ganondorf wasn’t exactly treated well by the Gerudo, out of fear of him turning out like the old Ganondorf, or if Ganondorf just turned bad all on his own. Or maybe a mixture of both?

What is sorta interesting is the story of how this one came to be Ganon, which is that within the pyramid, he found a certain Trident, which is implied to have caused him to “awake as Ganon”, so to speak, as he picked it up. This is the inscription found with the Trident:

“Seek...you...the world? Seek you...power? Does your...soul...despise peace and...thirst for... more? Does your soul...cry... for...destruction and... conquest? We...grant you...power to ...ruin...the world. The power of...darkness. Evil...spirit of magic trident. You are...the... King of Darkness.“

The trident feels like it has more out of universe meaning than in-universe (though I do headcanon it to be a reincarnated ghirahim somehow, because I can). The trident being a weapon that franchise-wise is heavily associated with Ganon, and notably Ganon only, as Ganondorf is never really seen wielding a literal trident.

This Ganondorf picks up the trident, and with it the legacy of the interpretations of Ganons that came in the games before this one, so to speak.

I´m sorry for this part being so unstructured, but interestingly, Ganondorf is this game is referred to as “ancient demon reborn”, or something like “instrument of evil reborn” in japanese, hinting that even at the time of the game’s release, this Ganon was probably intended to be the reincarnation of a previous evil, likely a previous Ganon, of course.

What I wonder about is how much this Ganon is aware of that, though. When he grew up, becoming more and more twisted, did he know? Did he know he was the reincarnation of a villain that had previously plagued Hyrule? Did he feel his hatred? Did he know whose it was, or did he consider it his own? Or was it simply his own?

And when he picked up the trident, and transformed into a demon beast, did he understand what this meant? What he was? Did he ever obtain any memories of his past self, even?

Something that hints that this /might/ be the case is Shadow Link.

Now Shadow Link is not actually created by the dark mirror from the evil part of Link’s heart as the english localization suggest. Instead its created from the evil part of Ganon’s heart, using the dark mirror. It is said that through the mirror,the hatred and evil of Ganondorf, throughout time, took on the shape of Link. Likely because the hero is a major subject of Ganondorf’s hatred.

The fact that this happened when FSA!Ganon used the mirror, despite himself never having met Link up until that point, hints that he might, at least subconsiously, harbor the memories of his past incarnations?

But really, as usual there is a lot open to interpretation.

I´m just so intrigued, like in this timeline there is a “second Ganon”, a Ganon that came “after”, someone who had to take on this cruel legacy.

And, with that we have now talked about all the Ganon(dorf)s that have existed in the franchise to this day, not counting stuff like BS Zelda and the CDI-Games.

If you stuck around until this point, thank you so much, you’re too kind!

But also thanks to everyone that just skimmed this or looked it over briefly, I hope this wall of text did something for you. 

(Sorry for any typos I... type too fast when I get excited about a topic.)

[irandrura]

Breath of the Wild Review

In other news, everyone, I finished Breath of the Wild. I can expand on this if anyone is interested, but in brief:

This is a good game, but it is not a good Zelda game.

The problem with Breath of the Wild, I think, is that its mechanics and its systems lead it to be a particular type of game, but its aesthetic and its series legacy lead it to be a different type of game. The result is an awkward hybrid that is fun to play, but falls short of greatness.

Or to put it another way, this is a good game, but it could be a great game if it had an original IP and a more focused design.

There will be spoilers after the cut, of course:

What BotW wants to be, in its structures and systems, is an open world exploration and survival game. Its continuous open world is a genuinely impressive technological achievement, and its systems are great for just wandering around the countryside, doing side-quests, and scavenging. If the game was able to focus on those systems and sharpen them further, it could be much better.

What’s surprising, actually, is just how many open world features the game leaves out. You cannot repair weapons or items. You can’t really craft items beyond food and potions. There isn’t very much to do with buying and selling: no haggling or trading. There are no factions or tribes to join or work with, and no longer quest lines. There is no stash or item storage, for saving any gear you might like to use later. You can’t recruit NPCs, build anything, or acquire any property.

So the open world side of the game feels underutilised. We have a great mechanical foundation for an open world game, but it’s not explored. What you can do is wander around the countryside, collect food, cook it, obtain weapons, use those weapons until they break, replace them with new ones, and so on. The game lets you be a nomadic scavenger, but that’s about it. This is a good starting point, but without additional systems lacks the depth of an open world game over the long term.

Why aren’t those systems more developed? My guess there would be the other half of the game. This is still on some level trying to be a Zelda game, and the problem here is that everything in the Zelda formula pushes the game away from an open world.

Take the plot, for instance. Traditionally Zelda games have had quite linear journeys, depicting a heroic quest. The games are usually framed as legends. You are a hero on a legendary quest. The open world format of the game doesn’t work with this for several reasons.

BotW’s open structure requires that the game’s plot be firstly broken into non-linear chunks that can be acquired in any order, and secondly totally optional. The game doesn’t know which order you’ll do the four tribes in, or even whether you’ll go to the tribes and do their divine beasts at all. It doesn’t know what order you’ll collect the memories in, or if you’ll collect them at all. It doesn’t know when you’ll obtain the Master Sword, or if you will at all. The game’s plot needs to make sense even though every single piece of the plot is technically skippable. As a result, the game is structurally incapable of telling the story of a heroic journey.

This is important, I think, because the best Zelda games usually have a very strong focus on the hero’s journey. The Legend of Zelda is a legend, and legends have coherent narratives. If you play through Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, or Skyward Sword, they’re all paced quite carefully, linking up (pun unintended) Link’s development as a hero and his relationships with characters and societies with your mechanical progress through the game. TP would not work without your evolving friendship with Midna to contextualise it. SS’ series of purificatory quests wouldn’t make sense without the overall frame of Link and Zelda’s relationships as they grow into the princess and the hero.

To take a concrete example, consider the Master Sword. In OoT, discovering the Master Sword is the bridge between past and future, the defining moment that transports you between the game’s two phases. By taking the Master Sword, Link undergoes the next phase of his character development. When the child takes that sword, he takes it upon himself to become the hero, and it seals him away until he can achieve that. In SS, obtaining the Master Sword is a spiritual quest spread across three dungeons, as you seek out sacred fires dedicated to the three goddesses. There is a very real sense that as Link forges the sword, he is also forging himself. The sword grows alongside the hero. In BotW, by contrast, you can go and get the Master Sword at any time, and the only thing that matters is whether you’ve done enough shrine grinding to be able to draw it. You can draw it at any time, and as a result the time that you do draw it cannot be satisfyingly contextualised in the way that it could be in previous linear games.

And so on for other plot elements. OoT requires you face the temples in a particular order, first retreading the societies you visited as a child, and only infiltrating the fortress of Ganondorf’s own people at the end. TP is broken up into multiple phases with different primary villains (roughly King Bulblin, Zant, and finally Ganondorf), because it wants to have plot twists, and because it knows that it can’t introduce the later villains until Link’s relationship with Midna has reached a certain stage. (That is, Midna is practically a villain at the start of the game. You don’t want to introduce Zant until the player has reached a point where they will be emotionally invested enough to take Midna’s side.)

BotW’s non-linear structure requires that it can’t really have character development, because character development needs to be linear. Someone needs to grow in one way before they can grow in another way. It also requires that BotW have no plot twists. You can’t have a plot twist if you can’t control the information available to the player before and after. As a result, BotW’s plot is incredibly threadbare.

I felt this was particularly the case when it came to the villains, and would even characterise BotW as a game without a villain. Calamity Ganon is not a character: he is a natural disaster. That says some things that I find interesting, for what it’s worth – that after all this time Ganondorf cannot be the proud tyrant or mighty sorcerer that he was when he began, but he has been consumed by rage to the point where there is nothing he can be but an incoherent, wordless force of destruction – but it also means that the game doesn’t have a villain character. I mean, hell, I thought Demise was pretty thinly characterised, but at least Demise could speak. I knew who Demise was and what he wanted, and he had the much-better-characterised Ghirahim as a representative. BotW has nothing, and indeed BotW must have nothing, because it cannot present any linear character arcs. Even the likes of Ghirahim’s gradually increasing frustration and hatred for Link can’t be done without some linear structure. (In principle, BotW could have had a villain like Ghirahim and just slotted in the next part of his development whenever he appears, but that’s a kludgy fix at best.)

So the only place BotW is able to have a character arc is in the flashbacks, where Zelda does indeed have a fairly short character arc: she’s frustrated by the destiny that is thrust upon her, she’s interested in ancient technology, she eventually realises her power in order to defend the one she loves (though the series is characteristically coy about any actual romantic relationship). But this is rather thin, and it is a character arc that the player never gets to participate in.

Many of these observations came together for me after I defeated Calamity Ganon. I was not trying to dislike BotW, and indeed I don’t dislike it. It’s a good game. It just has the potential to be a better game. In any case, I found myself not quite as satisfied as I was in previous games. Twilight Princess has not lost its crown: it still has easily the best final battle of any Zelda game. But even OoT or SS left me feeling much more accomplished. Why was this? As best I can tell, it’s because those games contextualised the coming battle through an entire hero’s journey. In BotW, you can fight Calamity Ganon from the very beginning of the game, which means BotW can’t take into account the hero’s development. In OoT, WW, TP, and SS, there is a real journey that got me from the beginning to the end of the game. By the end of those games, Link and the player both have grown a great deal. I lack that sense in BotW.

I would also suggest that many of the open world mechanics I described above, while a good foundation for an open world game, don’t mesh well with a game about a heroic legend. Take the scavenging, for instance. Legendary heroes, well, don’t scavenge. You don’t find a bit in the Iliad where Achilles breaks his sword smashing a Trojan soldier in the head and pulls out another of the half-dozen swords he keeps in his pack. King Arthur isn’t constantly trading swords. (Yes, I know he breaks his original sword fighting King Pellinore.) You can’t really imagine reading a Norse saga where the bulk of the story is Thor gathering herbs, cooking dinner, and trying on new outfits. This is not what you focus on if you’re trying to tell a legend.

Basically: the open world formula requires that the game lack a strong sense of direction. The legendary journey frame of the Zelda series requires that the game have a strong sense of direction. BotW is unable to reconcile these competing requirements. I feel that the game needed to pick one element and stick with it.

You might say to me, “Ira, what about games like Skyrim? There are lots of open world games that have a main plot where you’re an epic hero of legend. They do this quite well.” My response would be twofold: firstly, in a game like Skyrim, the main plot is totally optional, and indeed removable, and secondly, Skyrim’s main quest is actually a linear story. This is actually one of my criticisms of Skyrim: all its faction quest-lines are as linear as any conventional RPG’s story, and this doesn’t play to Skyrim’s strengths. (Compare Morrowind’s faction quest-lines, which are more modular.) Skyrim has many more open world mechanics as well, and emphasises the main story less. Skyrim wants you to inhabit its world, explore, get loot, buy a house, and so on. It is, at its core, a game about aimlessly mucking about. This is true for all TES games since Daggerfall, and for Bethesda’s two Fallout offerings.

I don’t think BotW is committed to being a game that’s about aimlessly mucking about in the same way. BotW doesn’t commit to open world wandering in the same way.

Now, to be clear, if BotW did fully commit to be an open world game, I would probably also cry foul and declare it a terrible misuse of the license. I hope you can understand why, though.

BotW, as it is, is a schizophrenic game that has within it the seeds of two different, better games. Those two games are an immersive open world exploration and survival game with an original IP, and a linear Zelda game in the tradition of the series’ previous flagship titles. (I tend to think LttP-OoT-WW-TP-SS as the core titles in this light.)

Breath of the Wild is a good game, but a bad Zelda game, and it’s a pity, because it could have been a great game.

That’s my take, at least.

[theonyxpath]

This is the art for the cover of Cavaliers of Mars by Chris Huth, and it just so strongly reminds me of Mike Mignola’s comic art for Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, but even more detailed. Those comics were early 90s, and I was thrilled to be able to hire Mike Mignola some years later for the covers and some interior pieces for the editions of their adventures White Wolf reissued under our Legends fiction imprint.

Which is a round-about way of saying: I like that Cavs cover!

It’s sword and sorcery, and pretty inspiring, and Rose Bailey absolutely loves that inspirational material. She’s woven a setting that draws on all that great early sword and sorcery, and modern fiction and anime, and more. We’re half-way through Cavaliers of Mars‘ Kickstarter, and she’d be thrilled if you took the time to check it out here: http://ift.tt/2jF6HdQ

    V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart Ventrue

    One thing, if you do: don’t be put off by Cavaliers of Mars‘ Kickstarter Estimated Delivery dates. We’ve had many adventures with those dates, and at this point I just stretch them out far further than we really plan to deliver. I know that scares off some backers, but it’s a trade-off between accuracy and our process that needs to allow creators to take more time than originally estimated in order to nail the feeling and info they want to deliver for the project.

Or to allow creators who have unforeseen life changes come up, that prevent them from delivering when they originally thought they could, to still continue helming their projects. Like I mentioned last week, our creative process has been very much developer-driven going back to when Onyx Path was founded. So our estimates have been mostly based on working out delivery dates with the developer(s) and then extending the estimates out from there.

Rather than tie ourselves to the dates, we’ve extended the time-frames, maybe ridiculously. We’re also aiming to only go live with a Kickstarter after the text is completely finished and not add entire new sections to the KS’d project that would delay delivering the book to backers. And like I also mentioned these last couple of weeks, we’re bringing in more support folks like Eddy Webb to help beleaguered developers finish their projects.

If these initiatives help out, we’re more than likely to pull back the Estimated Delivery deadlines to more normal time-frames.

    Samuel Araya illustration for Half-Damned

    Speaking of initiatives, remember when I wrote about our Extended Media projects? Sure you do! I babbled on about them for quite a few blogs in the early parts of this year. Let’s see how they’re doing!

First, we have our fiction books getting onto Amazon and the Nook marketplace. We have put multiple waves of books up in both places, for a total of 25 books (a combination of novels, anthologies, and a cookbook) all in the proper Kindle and Nook formats for easy and convenient reading. World of Darkness, Chronicles of Darkness, Exalted, and Scarred Lands fiction are all up there. They’re selling and we’ll be adding more as we publish them, but we’re caught up on the backlog, so the new titles are likely to come out as each one is ready.

This was, I think, a win for what we were trying to do, and a big round of applause for Bill Bridges and Valerie Tate!

Val also has been working with our first App team in creating Onyx Path‘s dice rolling app. We’re nearing the time that we’ll be able to release the app, and we’re starting with ten-sided dice pools for Scion, and our licensed WW IPs, but the app is customizable for any 10-sided pool system. (And before we release to the public we need the OK from WW and then we need to send the very patient backers of Werewolf 20th their dice rolling app stretch goal rewards).

This project rolls into another with our App team, and things are looking awesome with it, so another expected win here – but we’ll hold off on actually marking that down until it releases.

Then we have the online gaming accessories, and here we’ve had less success. We are getting more traction on those venues (like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds) but that’s mostly because fans (in the companies involved or their existing customers) are making stuff, but we have not yet. Mostly, so far I haven’t been able to find creators we can hire on as freelancers.

We’re not giving up though, and with our recent purchase of Scarred Lands, I have some hopes that we’ll be able to work with some of the folks already engaged with SL in the online gaming space. But for now, I’ve got to take the hit for this and call it a loss. For now.

    Arms of the Chosen illustration by Gunship Revolution

    On a different topic, I also said a few weeks ago that I’d relate the new projects and such revealed at Gen Con last August. I’ve done Chronicles of Darkness, so this week it’s Exalted 3rd.

Besides the ongoing monthly monster and antagonists releases, we have The Realm and Dragon-Blooded. Which you pretty much know about. We expect Dragon-Blooded‘s Kickstarter next year to generate additional projects, some DB-oriented and others maybe not, so we’re keeping our “official slate of releases” pretty much focused on the big books with the expectation that smaller projects will fill in from that Kickstarter.

Because we know that our Exalted community needs certain big books in order to play their ongoing games, we’re focusing on Lunars and then Exigents after DB. The old and then the new, as it were. We really think that will take us through the year, so even though we do have ideas for starting to work in some of the already-announced projects, and even some new ones, we want to get our Dev team entirely through The Realm and Dragon-Blooded and all that goes along with developing those books, before committing to anything further.

Too much, too fast has already slammed our Exalted developers going all the way back, and we’d like to avoid that with our new team.

So that’s pretty much what I said at Gen Con, and also:

Different Worlds, One Path!

      BLURBS!

ON SALE!

YOUR COVER IS BLOWN! The Demon: The Descent Bundle of Holding goes live tomorrow 10/3 and runs until the 23rd – unlocking new books as it runs! It will be here tomorrow: http://ift.tt/ZkIwwy

  We’ve been looking for something to do to help out the disaster in Puerto Rico, as have a bunch of other publishers and we’ve donated PDFs for this: http://ift.tt/2xNzEtY We contributed the Trinity Core Rulebook. Please consider picking up this bundle, with proceeds going to GlobalGiving’s Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund.

    KICKSTARTER:

  The Cavaliers of Mars Kickstarter funded and is now past 600%, with Stretch Goals including an Exclusive T-Shirt, an increased art budget, Postcards from Mars, and we are closing in on the goal that completes an additional book: City of the Towered Tombs, describing the bustling canal city of Vance, from the brooding waters and desperate criminals of the Dredge to the beautiful environs and macabre spectacles of the Hangman’s Garden. Delve into the affairs of colorful nobles and the schemes of the desperate criminals in this look at Mars’ greatest remaining city! If all that sounds interesting to you, here is the link: http://ift.tt/2jF6HdQ

  ON AMAZON:

  We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook store on Amazon! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle. Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies: Vampire: the Masquerade‘s Endless Ages, Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage 2, Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Truth Beyond Paradox, Chronicles of Darkness‘ God Machine Chronicle, Mummy: The Curse‘s Curse of the Blue Nile, and Beast: The Primordial‘s The Primordial Feast!

And now you can get these books in the Barnes and Noble Nook store too!

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology

  And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology

  Andand six more more:

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)

And even more books are going up on Amazon and the Nook store on Wednesday!:

Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages: The Cainite Conspiracies

World of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies

Scarred Lands: The Walled Warren

    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!

http://ift.tt/2w0aaEW

    Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://ift.tt/1pOsnTb

    ON DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: God’s Own Country (Geist: The Sin-Eaters New Zealand 1950s). World War II is over and a new age of technology is coming, but a hidden storm threatens to overwhelm both the Maori and the European New Zealanders, flooding the world with the restless dead. The Bound are the last line of defense between a spirit-world gone mad and a sleepy island nation concerned with the advent of rock and roll and mourning their lost soldiers.

On sale in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG this Wednesday!

      EX3 Music Suite #1: Fanfare for the Chosen sounds off long and proud on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2fHws8A

Fanfare for the Chosen includes inspiring soundtrack themes for each of the ten types of Exalted (Solars, Lunars, Sidereals, Dragon Bloodeds, Abyssals, Exigents, Getiminans, Liminals, Infernals, Alchemicals), to set the tone as you encounter these Exalted in your games or are seeking inspiration for new stories.

    We’re also releasing the five EX3 Electronic Wallpapers only previously available to EX3 Kickstarter backers on DTRPG : http://ift.tt/2xNTzJb

      From out of the Dreaming, the C20 Jumpstart: Yours To Keep PDF and PoD are now live on DTRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2fmlF3s

There is magic hiding everywhere. You just need to know where to look.

You are a changeling, a faerie soul hiding in a mortal body, fighting the chill of Nightmares and the oppressive weight of Banality with the pure creative power of Glamour. You have lived many lives, but the story of this one? It outshines them all.

In this hidden world, knights in steel and leather clash sword to sword outside the homecoming dance, dragons fly between skyscrapers, and fantastic castles rise from suburban lawns. A world of magic, intrigue, and adventure, and now that your fae side has awakened, it’s your world too.

“Yours to Keep” includes a rules and setting overview, as well as pre-generated characters and a complete introductory scenario for Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition. It’s perfect for jumpstarting a new Changeling chronicle!

    The PDF and PoD versions of C20 are now on DriveThruRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2w4Eq2m

Twenty years ago, White Wolf published Changeling: the Dreaming, the fifth of their promised five game-lines that together comprised the World of Darkness. Seen by some as a lighter, more fantasy-based setting in the modern-day, and by others as the darkest game White Wolf had yet created, players had to face the question of what happens once creativity and magic fades from their world.

This 20th Anniversary Edition of Changeling: the Dreaming returns to that deceptively bright yet terrifying world and both compiles and completes the concepts of the previous two editions. Led by veteran White Wolf and Onyx Path developer “Blackhat” Matt McFarland, our writing team consists of longtime Changeling creators like Ian Lemke, Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea, and Peter Woodworth, as well as familiar names such as John Snead, Maggie Carrol, Matthew Dawkins, and Krister Michl. One and all are dedicated to making Changeling: the Dreaming Twentieth Anniversary Edition the most playable edition yet – while not losing the wonder, awe, and majesty that Changeling is known for.

A revised and up to date look at the World of Darkness through the eyes of the Kithain – what has happened to the Dreaming in the last 20 years, and what is the state of Glamour and dreams?

Rules for all of the kiths including in 2nd ed, plus fan favorites from other books: selkies, piskies, clurichaun, and both Arcadian and Concordian sidhe.

Rules for the Gallain: The inanimae, the hsien, the Nunnehi, and others!

An overhauled and reimagined system for fae magic, including new Arts and the powerful but dangerous practice of Unleashing!

New full-color beautiful artwork as well as classic Changeling illustrations including remastered full page pieces of the kiths by Tony Diterlizzi.

      Now available, this all-new Trinity Continuum: Aeon poster, featuring the art we used for the cover of the StoryPath Booklet at this year’s GenCon! http://ift.tt/2y2MOkm

And this version for art lovers is without the logo: http://ift.tt/2xt4ngk

        Calling all Good Dogs! The Pugmire Core Rulebook PDF is now available on DTRPG.com!

http://ift.tt/2wAaAp3

And the actual physical book, screen, and dice, are available to order on the IPR and Studio2 websites!

Studio2: http://ift.tt/2w0aaEW

          Satyr Phil Brucato beckons you once more into the Annex of Mage: The Ascension with this 300 page follow-up to M20. The M20 Book of Secrets is NOW on sale in PDF and PoD versions at DTRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2tKyJtb

More Than Magick

For mages who think they have everything, this trove of treasures expands upon the wealth of material presented throughout Mage: The Ascension’s 20th Anniversary Edition. New Traits, new rules, essays, answers, information… the Secrets are revealed within.

Enter the Annex

Building upon the M20 core rulebook, this Book of Secrets features updated rules and setting material, such as…

An M20 FAQ Genres & Resources

Matters of Focus Justice & Influence

New Abilities, Archetypes, Merits & Flaws

Expanded Rules for Combat, Resonance, Wonders, Computer Systems, and More

This Ascension Continues…

        What dark secrets do the eldest vampires hold? Find out in Thousand Years of Night for Vampire: The Requiem! Advance PDF version available now on DriveThruRPG.com. http://ift.tt/2sV8lZR

You may think that with a multitude of people coming, going, dying and running away, we’d be tired, done, or ready to give up. Instead, I find myself restless, looking for the next thing.  There’s always a next thing, and I for one am not yet ready to die.

– Elder Kincaid, Daeva Crone

This book includes:

• Detailed instructions on creating elder vampires, including how to base chronicles around them

• A look into the lives of elders, how they spend their nights, who they work with, and why including their roles in both their clans and covenants

• New Devotions, Merits, and Rituals for elder vampires

• The kinds of creatures that pose a threat to elder vampires, including Inamorata, Lamia, Sons of Phobos, a new elder conspiracy, and more!

          CONVENTIONS!

Fast Eddy Webb will be running Pugmire during the online convention Gauntlet Con: http://ift.tt/2sSctbs which runs from Oct. 20 – 22. Here is the sign-up link for the event which will be live-streamed. Currently three of six seats are still open: http://ift.tt/2xt3HaM

  In November, we’ll be at Game Hole Con in Madison, WI. November 2-5: http://ift.tt/2xsOnuzMonica Valentinelli (Hunter: the Vigil 2e, Dark Eras), Manda Collis (Exalted 3e), Scott Holden (Scarred Lands), Matt M McElroy (Operations Manager) and other folks from the OPP crew will be there!

  Also in November, the Onyx Path crew including Rich, Matt, Lisa, Neall, Dixie, and Meghan will be at the first ever PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, November 17-19. http://ift.tt/2kBzmfv

  Planning ahead for 2018, we’re heading back to Midwinter Game Convention in Milwaukee, January 11-14, where we’re going to be bringing a big crew of many of your favorite Onyx Path designers and we’ll be running demos and making some special announcements at the show!  http://midwintergamingconvention.com

  And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

RichT: To save time, I’ll tell you right now, no changes in the writing/dev/editing list this week. Lots of stuff is “on the cusp”, though.

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

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

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

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

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

  Redlines

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

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

  Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

Scion: Origin (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

  WW Manuscript Approval:

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

  Editing:

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

DtD Night Horrors: Enemy Action (Demon: the Descent)

  Post-Editing Development:

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

C20 Ready Made Characters (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

  Indexing:

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook – Art at WW approved.

Cavaliers of Mars

W20 Changing Ways

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Origins

Ring of Spiragos

VtR Half Damned

Book of Freeholds

DtD Enemy Action

C20 RMCs – Finishes coming.

Changeling: the Lost 2 – ADing. Getting art in for KS a priority.

Trinity Continuum – Splats for core book with Mr Jones

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Prince’s Gambit – Remaining art is arting.

Wraith 20

Beast PG

M20 Cookbook – Working on it after Beckett is done.

  Proofing

VDA Jumpstart

Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen 

Becket’s Jyhad Diary – Proofing back and forth with Dawkins.

  At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – On a boat to the US. PoD proofs ordered.

Dark Eras: God’s Own Country – PDF and PoD versions on sale this week.

VTR: Thousand Years of Night – Errors discovered at GenCon, getting fixed.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works.

CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology PDF – getting PDF ready.

Art of Mage – Ordering PoD proofs.

Pugmire Trick, Condition, and Initiative Cards – PoD proofs ordered.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: We did not celebrate the coming of Autumn yet, but it happened. The Fall. My favorite time of the year, and it’s not for all the pumpkin spice crap. Here in the NE USA, we have the leaves changing to reds, golds, oranges, yellows, and darkness comes earlier. The air gets crisper and cooler, less humid. We can wear layers and jackets! And Winter is coming, but it ain’t here yet, so let’s have some fun!