#not only does this update have some truly awesome Sky content

[adrift-in-thyme]

So we had some great Sky panels this update (credit to @linkeduniverse)

Like these beauties

And of course these (shoutout to Legend and Hyrule for managing to thoroughly aggravate Sky; also my boy over here chugging his energy drink XD)

And then there’s this masterpiece that captures the feeling of Skyward Sword sprints more than anything else ever has

[theonyxpath]

Our next Kickstarter is for the Legendlore RPG, and starts on this Thursday, March the 12th, at 2pm Eastern US time!

From the Kickstarter:

Legendlore was originally a comic, first published by Arrow Comics in 1986 and since procured by Caliber Comics, about four people who fall through a Crossing into the Realm. The Realm is home to fantasy creatures from elves to dragons, and the characters discover they too have ‘fantasy powers’ – the jock becomes a Fighter, while the bookish one becomes a Wizard, and so on. They go on adventures and some of them eventually find their way back to Earth.

This is the basic premise of the Legendlore RPG. You Cross into the Realm, where you become a hairfoot Bard, or maybe an elven Sorcerer. You can change any characteristics you like. For example if you have hay fever and glasses, you choose if your Legendlore self keeps or drops those. Your identity might not always match your outward physique, but your Legendlore character does. We’ve also updated the 1980s setting so Realmborn characters represent all ethnicities, genders, and sexualities. No one in the Realm will bat an eyelash at your agender panromantic self.

This comes hard on the heels of our fantastic Kickstarter campaign for Hunter: The Vigil 2e, which ended up at over 500% of the funding goal and just a couple of folks away from 2000 backers! Truly, the Vigil was a rewarding one, and we’re thrilled so many folks came along with us on the hunt.

Even though we’re jumping right into the new KS for Legendlore, Hunter 2e‘s campaign left us with a number of Stretch Goal projects to continue with, and, for us, Legendlore is such a different kind of project that creatively it is a nice break in our recent string of Kickstarters in the Chronicles of Darkness and V5 game worlds.

Legendlore will also be our newest game line to use the d20 system for 5e fantasy gaming, along with Scarred Lands and (much-simplified) the Realms of Pugmire, so that also gives us a chance to stretch some system creative muscles we like to keep toned up.

If you’re a fan of D&D, etc. then I think you’ll find a lot of fresh spins you’ll enjoy in how Legendlore treats genre expectations and tropes while still providing a sweeping setting ripe for adventuring in. And if you aren’t so much, I still think you may find value in supporting developer Steffie de Vaan and her creative team’s 2020 take on this multi-decade saga and setting.

Like almost every one of our Kickstarters these days, Legendlore is pretty much finished in the writing stages, and backers will get sections of the finished text during the course of the KS campaign. Steffie is working with at least one Twitch streaming group to create actual play episodes showing how Legendlore plays at an actual gaming table, and we’re really looking forward to airing those (and they’ll be linked on the KS page).

So, anyone interested is going to have multiple chances to check this project out in a way that works for them, as we’ve been working to set up with each of our KSs. And, James Bell, our Kickstarter Concierge will be back for this KS to once again provide information and guidance, as well as his patented affable banter!

V5 Chicago Folio art by Felipe Gaona

Items From Our Monday Meeting:

In no particular order, which is a lot like our meeting style!

DriveThruRPG‘s massive GM’s Day Sale has another week to go, and hoo-boy are there a lot of our PDFs for sale over there! All of our game lines are represented, as well as offerings from the Community Content sites!

This was a Twitter note sent out during our meeting by Eddy Webb:

“Thanks to Justin Achilli, I got to be in a work meeting where we talk about the aesthetics of urine and throwing bears at the moon.”

Which is pretty much true.

Mighty Matt McElroy was scheduled to attend Emerald City convention this coming weekend, but the whole con was postponed due to concerns about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). He’d already had a bunch of meetings cancelled out from under him and was figuring on cancelling, when boop! the convention cancelled instead!

You folks all take care of yourselves out there! We’re a virtual office, so aren’t going to infect each other, and we don’t have anything currently being manufactured in China, so I’m just encouraging all our folks to stay in and work 20 hour days at their computers. (I’m kidding.) (But not really.)

Mirthful Mike Chaney wonders how that’s any different than his usual day, anyway?

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Heroic Land Dwellers art by Brian LeBlanc

We’re still getting folks asking about whether projects that come out as Advance PDFs will be released in PoD versions or if Backer PDFs will be sold to the public, along with PoDs, on DTRPG. First, we’re always glad to answer folks’ questions, and second, yes, our sales strategy has always been to deliver PDFs and PoDs of projects on DTRPG and so we have been releasing them that way for the whole time we’ve been in business.

The only caveats to that are projects we might do like printed Screens offered on Kickstarters, which DTRPG can’t create in PoD form, and recently with the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods Stretch Goal rewards which will only be available in PDF as the V5 managers at Modiphius do not want PoD versions made available.

We’ve scheduled a nice surprise for the backers of Exalted 3rd‘s Dragon-Blooded KS that should put some folks’s concerns to rest about getting their rewards. So keep your eyes open for that, DB backers!

I’m out next Monday, so Dixie Cochran will be in as our guest MMN blogger! Please be nice to her as she wrangles the rusty and arcane controls for this blog, and I’ll talk to you in two weeks about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

On Thursday, March 12th at 2pm Eastern US Time we start the Kickstarter for Legendlore!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday the Onyx Pathcast Terrific Trio take a deep dive into Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Spilled Blood! Messy, but fun!

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

We’ve got a stupendous number of shows on Twitch this week! Tune in for V5, Chronicles of Darkness, Scion, Pugmire, Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition, Scarred Lands, MORE Vampire: The Masquerade, Changeling: The Lost, Mage: The Awakening, even more Scarred Lands, Werewolf: The Forsaken and a third Vampire: The Masquerade game! We’ve even got Eddy Webb’s Workshop, which takes you through the development process of our books! Hail Ming!

A big shout-out to our three Vampire: The Masquerade games running this week, which have been running week-in, week-out! You can subscribe to our channel over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to catch up with any episodes you missed! This Ming’s a psycho.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find the following videos uploaded last week alone:

The Onyx Path News: https://youtu.be/zKo1h7bLPE0

Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/v9Wo38rl5-Y

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

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale: https://youtu.be/gKAm-zGxTW4

Even more Scion: Behind the Screen: https://youtu.be/QDSIS_ClFbE

A special shout-out to the Scion: Behind the Screen series, which has provided a wonderful entry point for people new to the game! Flying blind on a rocket cycle!

Do subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online! Spare me the madness.

In case you missed it last week, the Story Told RPG Podcast continue with their excellent Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition chronicle right here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/the-78-laments-episode-3-riders-in-the-sky

And back once again, the Story Told‘s review of Trinity Continuum: Aeon http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-40-trinity-continuum-on-overview

Red Moon Roleplaying‘s V5 Cults of the Blood Gods “The Family” chronicle continues on their YouTube channel, Spotify, their website redmoonroleplaying.com and everywhere else good podcasts and New York City girls might be found! https://youtu.be/J1qCIhMPn7Q

Now, the tributes from Ardentia.

Even more shows from Occultists Anonymous for all you Mage: The Awakening fans out there!

Episode 86: Risky Business Wyrd the Seer prepares to found a legacy and shape her soul. Songbird makes contact with the Carthian Movement. Atratus meets with the Phantasm Society who have a daring plan.https://youtu.be/9XWLaxl_B-Y

Episode 87: New Lives Wyrd the Seer pays the price for tying herself to the Rookery. Songbird makes himself useful at the Arrow Armory. Atratus kills Emily Miller.https://youtu.be/ZZklb6-fC7o

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

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

Update: the devs are working on the updates for the roller in both Android and iOS – here is the rundown from them:

1) Redo the UI for system for android.  It will look the same as the current design.  My goal is to have something ready by Saturday to send out to the Facebook users, asking them if this fixes the issues.  This will be a beta type thing.  This will break several of the fancy dice.

2) If the above worked out and the android users give all the clear, we’ll redo the graphics system to fix the fancy dice that got broken.  We’ll do another android beta through Facebook.  This might take up to two weeks, as my schedule allows.

3) If everything worked well, we’ll release to android for real at that point.

4) Port all of the existing stuff to iOS and release on that.

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

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

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

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

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

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

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

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

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

The massive GM Day’s Sale continues for another week with huge savings on PDFs from all of our game lines!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/rpg_gmsday.php

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

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we will be releasing the Advance PDF of Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed for Mage: The Awakening 2e AND the electronic, PDF, and physical book PoD releases of Haunting Shadows: the Wraith20th fiction anthology on DTRPG!

Conventions!

Assuming these conventions are not postponed due to plague, here is our current list:

UKGames Expo: https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

GenCon: https://www.gencon.com/

Tabletop Scotland: https://tabletopscotland.co.uk/

Gamehole Con: https://www.gameholecon.com/

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

And now, the new project status updates!

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

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

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

RUST (Working Title) (Scarred Lands)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

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

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Redlines

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

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

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

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

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

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

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

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

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

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

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

Editing

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

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

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

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

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

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

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

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

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

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

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

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

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

Indexing

They Came From Beneath the Sea! (They Came From…!)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – Awaiting replies to pings.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e (KS)

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Mummy 2 – Starting to contract the rest of it.

City of the Towered Tombs

Let the Streets Run Red – Some finals in.

Deviant

Legendlore (KS) – KS prep of bits.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

TC: Aeon Terra Firma – Contracted.

WoD: Ghost Hunters (KS) – Cover in, getting rest of KS art set.

Tales of Aquatic Terror

Pirates Extra Adventure – Loboyko lined up for this one.

Scion Titanomachy – Contacting artists.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Ongoing.

Contagion Chronicle – With Josh, interior proof coming.

Vigil Watch – Ongoing.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

TCFBtS! Screen and Booklet

Ex3 Lunars – Yep, pretty much my March right here.

Scion Companion

Proofing

Dark Eras 2 – Sending back to Aileen for errata input.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

Chicago Folio – Creating PoD files.

Pirates of Pugmire – Fixes in, working on cover.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – At WW for approvals .

Geist 2e fiction anthology – Backer PDF out to backers for errata.

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 – The Silence of Our Ancestors (Exalted 3rd Edition) – Backer errata being gathered.

Distant Worlds – Errata being gathered.

VtR2 Spilled Blood – Errata being input.

At Press

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Prepping to go live with PDF/PoD versions on DTRPG a week Wednesday (the 18th).

DR:E – Shipping to backers, PoD files uploaded.

DRE Screen – Shipping to backers.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties

Memento Mori – PoD proof ordered.

Scion Mythical Denizens – PoD files uploaded.

Wraith20 Anthology – ePub, PDF, physical book versions all live Weds on DTRPG.

MtAw2 Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Advance PDF on sale this Weds on DTRPG.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and that’s certainly worth celebrating today as well! (Especially since here in the US we lost an hour from yesterday due to the return of our Daylight Savings Time. Typical).

Today, we heard of the death of actor Max von Sydow at 90. The man who played chess with death, acted in just so many roles in mainstream and genre films that I’m not listing them here, and, just for Matthew Dawkins, starred as Ming the Merciless.

[thereluctanthedgewitch]

Mara Goes on a Late Night Rant

Started this last night. Finished it tonight.

Let me preface this by saying that I have been sick as all get out for the last week, I haven't been getting as much sleep as I should, and since the only other reliable employee is sicker than I am I have had to work. So, there will be some over the top ranting, more anger than is reasonable, and tangents that go nowhere. That said, strap in people, because I am pissed and I have a blog, so everyone is gonna hear about it. Okay. The five people that actually read what I have to say are gonna hear about it. So last week I stumbled across a cute little podcast about Greek Mythology that was absolutely lovely. But it was mythology, not religion. So that got me wanting. I want podcasts about religion. Specifically Greek and Norse. I found a wonderful YouTube channel that had some Norse myths and stories, but I wanted more. Besides, I didn't like the stories about Loki. This is where I get angry. Not because I can't find any, but because of what I found. Hate. Hate is what I found. I have become used to the hate and disrespect that Loki gets. I don't like it. I get frustrated. But the blinding anger has dissipated. When even fellow Lokeans show disrespect to their own God, who they are supposed to love and respect above all others, you finally lose your voice and sit in misery. I have begun to avoid most work that talks about Loki because I just don't want to see the hate and blatant disrespect anymore. So, I thought, let's check out the Greek podcasts. I need some love tonight. I did not find it. Let's start with Hades I found quite a few that told the story of how He gained His beloved Persephone. So. Many. Hateful. Words! Basically, what every single cast I found boiled down to was this: Hades was a poor, pitiful, lonely man who hated his position in the Underworld and wanted to drag someone down with him to keep as a possession. He saw poor, clueless Persephone and thought ''oh she is hot I want her." He went to Zeus who said sure you can take her but don't let anyone know, especially Demeter. So he pops out of the ground and scares away her guards and drags her away. Once he finds out that Demeter has found a way to save her daughter, he tricks said daughter into eating something so she has to stay. He is outsmarted because Persephone only ate 3 (or 4, or 6 depending on the translation) pomegranate seed, and so he has to let her go home for 1/3 (or 1/2) of the year. All is right with the world because evil Hades has been outsmarted and the defenseless flower child is free for part of the year. How fucked is that?! Hades isn't evil! Most of them justified this assumption by comparing him to Voldemort, saying no one would say His name even when giving Him offering. No. Just no. There were REASONS for not stating His name. And He has many names that He is called by. Just like everyone's favorite shiny God, Apollo. He has many different names, depending on His role at the time, and even depending on who is worshiping Him. So, that argument is invalid. Next. Another justification was (I quote here) "even when they gave Hades offerings, he was always given offering last, after all the other Gods". Um DUH. Idiots. He rules the realm of the DEAD! When you have nice fresh meat and veggies to give as offering, you give it to the Gods that want that! Do you give lemon to a God that wants sugar? No! Certain Gods want a freshly killed deer as sacrifice. Others want desiccated meat. You give the God what He wants or the offering is pointless. So, you wait. Hades wants super dead stuff because, you know, that's HIS DOMAIN! Morons! Utter morons!! (I quote again) "and when they would give him offerings, they would bury it in the ground and look to the ground and away. They couldn't even bring themselves to look at him for fear" Nooooooo...... out of RESPECT! UNDERworld, people! UNDER. THE. GROUND! Of course they buried offerings! You gonna look to the sky if you believe your God is under your feet?! Of course they looked down. And averting your eyes is common sense. *growls in frustration* Hades is the God of the realm of the dead (don't even get me started on the idiots that were calling Him the God of Death. Do your basic research, dumbasses. He rules the realm of the dead. Thanatos is the God of Death. *sigh*). There are basic rules when one honors Him. Death is the one constant. It is the END OF THINGS. So, He would get offering last. Not in disrespect. In acknowledgement that He is the one we all go to at the end of our lives. He is cold and distant to us, yes. Because He truly has no reason to interact with us while we live. "I will see you at the end of your days. Live your life, we have eternity later." He is cold because death is cold. Emotionally speaking. Cold is not evil. Respect is not fear. Now. My Lady Persephone. Someone please please PLEASE for the love of Olympus and Valhalla, tell me how the FUCK someone can call a GODDESS weak and clueless and easily tricked. HOW?! Persephone is a dual Goddess. She is the wildflowers in the fields. She is the death of winter. She is a Goddess in Her own right and a motherfucking QUEEN of the Underworld. If Hades had kidnapped and raped Her, if He was keeping Her there against Her will, do you honestly think She would be RULING by His side? Do some minimal research and you will find that SHE had more say, more rule, more POWER than Her husband when in the Underworld. How is this possible if She is a defenseless little meek thing like they were insinuating? In all honesty, I would rather face down Hades, Cerberus, and Thanatos before facing The Queen. (please don't make me! I beg you. I was only saying it to make a point, not to invite trouble. I would rather not face any of them tyvm.) She is scary when angered. She is in no way meek. She knew what She was doing when She ate those pomegranate seeds. She WANTED to be there. He didn't kidnap Her and hold Her against Her will. She got on that chariot because she WANTED to. And don't even think you can say, "but He raped Her!" No. No He did not. Rape did not mean the same thing then as it does now. These words are translated from ANCIENT GREEK into Latin and from Latin into English (and possibly a few other languages between them). Languages evolve. They change. Words are updated. Definitions are altered. Look up the history of awesome. Or terrible. Or any other number of words. The word rape, even now, does not mean "to force sexual acts on an unwilling person", or at least that isn't all that it means. Now, it also stands for many forms of violation. But "the rape of Persephone" didn't mean what people today think it means. The title of the story is literally "The Rape of Persephone" but does the content of the story have sex ANYWHERE? Not anywhere I have found. Please, if someone finds a version, a HISTORICALLY ACCURATE VERSION, that tells of Hades forcing Himself on Persephone, show me. On the topic of rape, let's go to Zeus now. If I hear one more podcast that calls Zeus ''rapey Zeus" I am going to scream and throw my phone! Again, I say, RAPE DID NOT MEAN WHAT IT DOES NOW!!! Yes, He was what many people today would call a horndog. But please, stop placing your mortal and societal views onto the Gods. And why place all that judgement on Zeus? The other Gods and Goddesses got around as well. Admittedly, not as much as Zeus, but please. Would you rather tell everyone that you got it on with the King of the Gods, or... I dunno, Hermes? And it doesn't really matter how many Gods, Goddesses, or mortals he slept with. Our morals are a social construct. They are mortal views. Not the morals of our Gods. Beyond that, they are GODS! Who are you to judge Them?! Who are you to scoff and shame a God for what He or She may or may not have done?! I may not be as close to Zeus as I am to Persephone and Loki, but it still pisses me off. And.... since I am here, and in a ranting mood. Can I just ask.... If you call yourself a Lokean. If you say you are devoted to Him. Why. Why do you disrespect Him so? You say you love Him and then in the same breath, call Him a "little bastard" and a "shit" or even a "fucker". Why? You flippantly post online how some people give great pomp and ceremony to one God while giving a grand offering that took hours to prepare and you just toss a donut on the altar and say "here you go I guess. whatever". No. No no no. How is this respect? How is this devotion? Yes, there are days where Loki wants a donut as offering. But shouldn't you give that as much ceremony as if you were pouring the finest wine? Beyond that, why announce your rudeness to the masses? Disrespect Him privately if you think that is the relationship you have. Fine. I am not one to judge your relationship with your Gods. But don't show people this! It isn't funny. It isn't bragging. I have had moments in my relationship with Him where I have said things that could be seen as disrespectful. But do I post them online? NO! The closest I have gotten was posting a glitter bomb situation when He was being especially playful. And I removed the one disrespectful comment I made in the screenshot of the text messages. It doesn't make me angry anymore. It makes me sad. We, as pagans, are faced with hate and disrespect from many outside our religion. We shouldn't encourage the same among our own. Our community, our religion, should spread love and respect, not hate.

[xseedgames]

2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #5

It’s time for our last Q&A blog of the year. It’s been a fun time answering all these questions--you guys had some seriously good ones!--but now it is time for us to chill out and celebrate 2018. Hopefully we can give you guys good reasons to celebrate 2018, too!

For our final Q&A blog, we have answers from:

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Ryan Graff, Localization Lead Liz Rita, QA Tester Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Does working on a game affect your enjoyment of it in any way? Do you anticipate playing the full package after it is done or do you play through it beforehand anyway? Have you ever been spoiled on a game through work and if yes how severe was it? - @MizuUnNamed

Brittany: It definitely does. It's like the difference between babysitting a kid over the summer vs. giving birth to that kid and raising them till they leave the house. Even the most frustrating things about a game will somehow become something you love in a weird way, because it’s your kid and it's your responsibility to raise it right. When you're localizing a game, you're choosing every single word, and every single decision you make for that game will shape the experience for the thousands of people who play it. Characters I'd normally hate as a player become characters I love because figuring out their dialogue is a joy, and stuff I never thought about in localization are now very particular to me because I want my kid to go out into the world looking its best.

I will always play the games I work on. Sometimes I play them in Japanese beforehand, but there are days where I edit a file while playing line-by-line just so I can look at a character's expression and match the line written to the face. Then I replay it a few time as the English builds come in, tweaking it bit by bit, because it feels different to see the English on a sheet compared to seeing it in-game. It takes a ton of time, but I'd rather have a final product I can be proud of than to give up because something requires extra work.

Liz: When I started working here the first thing I tested was Corpse Party PC. I played it for like 200 hours and that game is much shorter than that haha. I loved every second of it, and recently got to test it again for the Linux + SteamOS release. Oh boy, that was a treat <3 I also got to work on Cold Steel II and at the time I didn't have the consoles the first released for, so I just watched playthroughs online... bless Cold Steel PC! I don't think I've ever been spoiled on a game through work before.... except maybe for Book of Shadows? But I don't even remember that spoiler so does it really count?

Nick: This is going to vary widely from person to person. For me...admittedly yes, working on a game does impact the enjoyment I’m able to derive from that game as a finished product. I understand, going in, that simply by virtue of working on a game, I will know its plot from beginning to end, see all the character development (including optional stuff that you might not even be able to view in a single playthrough), and in general become a subject matter expert on its world and lore. I’ll have knowledge of all the optional events and the items it’s possible to get – and sometimes, even a few that exist but were never implemented.

Working on a game is usually a months-long endeavor, during which we often end up playing the game in various stages of beta (or even alpha) readiness. We experience bugs we hope you never will; all the times text isn’t displaying correctly, voice or music isn’t playing right, or the battle system is falling over foaming at the mouth. By the time a game is ready to be sold, we’ve spent more time with it than would probably be considered healthy from a consumer perspective.

Outside of post-launch support/tweaking I’ve done for games like Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, I’ve never picked up a game I’ve worked on here after it launched. They’re good games, and I’ve been proud of each project I’ve worked on so far – it’s just that I’m someone with a low tolerance for repetition. You know – the sort who would get sick of even my favorite movies if I watched them every day for a week straight. As cool a game as Trails of Cold Steel might be, I’m in no hurry to sink 80 hours into an RPG that I focused all my attention on for the better part of an entire year.

While it IS perhaps a bit regrettable that I “ruin” my ability to enjoy a game in a normal-player context by working on them, I feel it’s a small price to pay if I can help deliver something that players will really enjoy their time with.

Question: When you brought over Rune Factory 4 to Europe, what difficulties did you encounter? How was the process? - @Marower

Brittany: Hey! This is perfect for me! We really wanted to bring RF4 to Europe, but with the developer now shut down, it wasn't possible. We spent ages looking for a programming team who would be willing to help us that also had Marvelous Japan’s blessing, and then it became my little pet project. I had zero experience with the process, so it was a lot of learning and guidance from my boss, Ken. We were able to update the text a bit to fix typos, but because we would never be as familiar with it as the original team, we wanted to touch the game's code as little as possible since we didn't want to risk breaking the game.

I tried to reproduce this one rare bug that causes the game to crash at the end of arc 2 (this is present in the Japanese, too, so it wasn't introduced in English), but it was impossible. I started the EU version from scratch and went up to that point. There were rumors that soft resetting the game caused the issue since it really wasn't programmed to handle soft resets too much, so I did that as often as I could. Nothing. Oh, man... I wish I could've found the pattern that caused such a weird crash. It's rare, but no one wants a crash in their game.

NA only has one rating, but Europe requires several different ratings, so that's an interesting process. The store pages all require various languages, too, depending on the region. I learned that because you could palette-swap character models to simulate gay marriage that the game had to be 18+ in Russia. 18+! For a Rune Factory game! All of the processes take a bit longer, but it was mostly a lot of communication, paperwork, confirmations and such. All worth it to finally get that game out there!

Question: What process leads to additional content in localized releases? Things like additional voices for Trails of Cold Steel on PC. How do you decide which titles get "a little bit extra"? - @Baust528

Brittany:

Me (messaging programmer on Skype: hey are you up Sara (programmer): Yeah. What's up? Me: lmao wouldn't it be awesome if we could put x in the game Sara (ten minutes later): It's in the game.

That happens a lot. As a more serious answer, since we try to localize games we're personally passionate about, it's easy for us to see what we'd want as a fan, too. So we'll sit around and go, "Wouldn't this feature be nice?", and we'll see if it's doable. If it is, we'll do it.

The extra voice acting in Cold Steel PC came about because we wanted to do it for PS3/Vita, but it wasn't possible. I asked if we could put the games on PC one day, the boss worked out the numbers, and we realized that avenue was perfectly possible. We thought adding new voices would be great, because the English cast was very well received in English. Turbo Mode and ultra widescreen were both Durante, though. Those were awesome.

Generally, if our programmers have an idea they'd like to add to the game, we allow it. They're programmers! They know if it's possible, and if it makes the game better, who are we to say no? That's how the Sky games have gotten so many improvements over the years, too. We're incredibly fortunate to have Sara as a programmer, because she takes each project very personally and still finds ways to improve them years after launch.

Tom: There are a lot of factors that go into things like this, but one that's come up a couple times now has definitely been our inability to license the Japanese voices. We figured, if we can't offer dual voice to players, why not use whatever budget we may have set aside for that to give them something a little extra? It may not be exactly what they want, but it's at least something we can offer them to show that we truly did put our best foot forward with this release

Nick: As weird as it may sound, it starts with just someone asking, “Hey, could we do this?” Sometimes, what we’ll want to do is evident due to what’s perceived as a shortcoming in a game. Trails of Cold Steel had a lot of voice acting, but weirdly left protagonist Rean silent in a number of scenes where all the other characters were voiced. That was the initial impetus for us wanting to get back into the studio for the PC release and record all the voicework we couldn’t for the PS3 release (in which we could only supply voices for lines that were voiced in the Japanese version).

Similarly, when I was planning out the recording for Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection, I thought, “We’re having people in to record these battle voices and we’re gonna pay them a minimum session fee anyway, so...why not add some story scenes onto that?” So in the end, we managed to include a solid amount of voice acting in there for a game that, in its original version, had very little.

Question: Have you ever considered localizing otome games? It would be nice if you can bring us some handsome boys. （*＾＾*) - @NymphNayade

Brittany: Hmm.

Question: Can you comment on the difficulty in trying to get Japanese developers to support same-sex couples/marriage in games like Story of Season or Rune Factory? - @atelier_michi

Brittany: XSEED's always been very openly supportive of adding that. I don't know what difficulties there would be in Japan, but I try to think of how much progress we've made to be able to openly ask for same-sex couples/marriage in games. It wasn't long ago that the idea was ludicrous. I remember when Ellen DeGeneres came out in the '90s and it affected me very strongly, especially since my parents would actively tell me, “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” So even if it's not in the current SoS games, I'll ask for the feature every time I visit Japan, because I think being open about it is an important factor to making progress on that front. Nothing will happen if you don’t fight for it.

I'd really like a whole variety of relationships in the SoS. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, or even a unique relationship outside of sexuality like dating a single parent or supporting your partner as they transition. It's that sort of variety that makes life interesting and great, and I think introducing these concepts in a series as darling as SoS normalizes them and helps children to perceive them as innocently as heterosexual relationships and concepts. It's very educational. Normalizing it more would teach people to ask more questions, too, instead of rejecting any type of orientation or relationship that seems foreign to them.

I remember for the first SoS game we published, Hashimoto-san said he had animals die in the game because he wanted children to be introduced to the natural process of life and death. It wasn't meant to be a bad thing, but something we should be comfortable with because that's part of what it means to be alive. Something to that, lol. Anyway, I'd like for just as much heart to be taken to represent more kinds of people in life, too.

Question: A rumor is going around that you guys are avoiding publishing fanservicey games outside of Senran Kagura. This came in wake of you guys seemingly passing on Valkyrie Drive. Is there any validity to this rumor, and if so, why? - @WaywardChili11

Brittany: did people forget we did a game with literal strawberries and a banana as a costume

That's a weird rumor. It’s also dumb. We've done fanservice games in the past, and we'll decide on whether or not to do them on a game-by-game basis. We're not necessarily passing on them because of fanservice, but I also don't think fanservice is core to the XSEED brand, so it shouldn't be a given for us to do fanservice titles just because we’ve done them in the past. Many of us enjoyed Onechanbara and we have some SENRAN KAGURA fans in the office, so we published those because we originally liked them as games that happened to contain fanservice.

We’re also not big on censoring games, so I’d rather pass on a game than work on it after it’s been censored. If I were to localize a title and actually choose to censor it, I’d piss of people who don’t like the fanservice content, I’d piss off the people who want that content, and then I’d be pissed off because if I felt something was so horrible that it needed to be censored, then I probably didn’t want to work on the game.

That doesn’t mean every fanservice game is off the table for me, but I would need to evaluate it to see if the game is for me, as I would any other genre. Like, Lord of Magna is overall a super-cute game, but it also has an out-of-nowhere hot springs scene. I felt that scene detracted from the game because the rest of the game was adorable and innocent. That said, I didn’t remove the scene, and I still loved working the game. It’s a game with fanservice I would still happily play again. 

Meanwhile, SENRAN KAGURA sells on fanservice, but the gameplay is pretty good. I admit that I prefer the older titles for DS/3DS which were more ridiculous titillation with a good story than the more overt modern titles, but again, that just means the series is no longer for me, and that’s fine. We still have SK fans in the office, and they enjoy working on the series. 

Another factor is gaming trends and our overall rep as a company. Fanservice games weren’t always as hot as they are now, and XSEED started off with a variety of genres, with our niche eventually falling to RPGs and such. Every trend has a rise and fall, and if we pick up every fanservice game regardless of quality just because it’s hot now, we’re alienating the audiences that love us for action, RPGs, and so on. We may even alienate retailers or future marketing opportunities for the games we license outside of that genre. We’ll have shot ourselves in the foot if the fanservice trend falls when we made it our bread and butter. I like having a job.

Tom: We certainly don't have any problems with fanservice, as I think we've proven quite thoroughly at this point. But we also don't ever back a game simply BECAUSE of its fanservice. When we release a game, we do so because (1) we like it, and/or (2) we see some really good potential in it. If it happens to have fanservice, great! If not, also great.

On the flipside, we also turn down games for a variety of reasons. Maybe we hated the story. Maybe we hated the gameplay. Maybe we felt it took its themes a bit too far, or that it had a lot of wasted potential that it never quite lived up to. Maybe we put in an offer on it but were outbid, or the developer appended unusual terms to the license that we weren't willing or able to accept. Maybe the developer simply didn't want to work with us for some reason, or we didn't want to work with them. Maybe we didn't have time to work on that title, or maybe we simply felt someone else would be able to do a better job with it. Tl;dr version, there are a LOT of factors that go into licensing decisions!

Our reasons for turning down a game aren't really something we can ever outright tell you guys, due to the NDAs we all signed when we got hired. But suffice it to say, it's never simply because of fanservice. Fanservice may potentially contribute to a larger tapestry of reasons for passing on a title in extreme cases (though they'd have to be pretty extreme!), but rest assured, we'll never say no to a game simply because it shows a lot of skin. Good games are more than skin deep, after all!

Nick: Here’s the Nick take: Most of us here don’t mind fanservice. It’s fun, it’s saucy, and folks can have a good time with it. If you look at our lineup, you can see we don’t shy away from games that have fanservice (Oneechanbara!), and games that push the boundaries, as Senran Kagura sometimes does, certainly aren’t out of the realm of consideration. A boob, a bulge; it’s all fair game here.

But here’s the thing. The games a company releases become part of their oeuvre. We have a reputation for quirky Japanese games because we’ve released enough of them that it’s a noticeable trend. The same would happen if we opened our gates to every fanservice-laden game that came knocking. Speaking personally, I don’t want us to have a reputation as a publisher whose stock in trade is mainly cheesecakey fanservice or smutty games. That kind of pigeonholing doesn’t help us as a company, and at worst, might even preclude some future licensing opportunities.

I think a lot of people get the impression that we turn down fanservice-laden games for some sort of censorious or moral reason, but that’s not especially true. There ARE cases where we might think, “If we licensed this, the ESRB wouldn’t let it through without forcing us to censor enough that the primary audience we were licensing it for in the first place would be upset,” and there are times when a game might simply be in bad taste and we decide we don’t like how it handles sexuality.

Sometimes, iffy material gets through in spite of all that. The SENRAN KAGURA series has done well for us, so we continue to publish those games even though a number of us in the office have concerns about how each new game seems to push the boundaries further and further in terms of what’s allowable (either by the ESRB or by common decency). We keep a close watch on that, and we’ve communicated our feelings to Takaki-san and his team. We strongly dislike having to alter content in this way, so if a game is so stridently sexual that we think we’d probably be forced to do so by the ESRB (as was a going concern with Valkyrie Drive, iirc), that factors into our decision-making process.

More often, the mundane truth is that we’ll turn down a game of this type because our evaluation play-tests show it to not be very fun to play. It’s not uncommon for games in this vein to just focus on piquing prurient interests or trading in tawdry titillation while the actual game underneath feels janky to play, or has no depth once you get past ogling your favorite waifu. That’s something that can’t be conveyed through a screenshot or even game video, which leaves hopeful players confusedly thinking we passed on a game for reasons more related to its content.

There’s a solid balance to be struck between acknowledging and publishing content for a mature audience and turning down projects that don’t jive with us, and I want you guys to know that we DO put a lot of thought into keeping this balance healthy.

Ken: When we first published SENRAN KAGURA Burst in late 2013, it was a much stricter retail environment so we had to approach the title with caution. We needed to see if there was a market for the series in the West, and even if there was the absolute worst thing that could happen would be to start manufacturing only to hear that retailers suddenly don't want them or want to return their units because of a complaint they got. Due to the success of the digital-only release of SENRAN KAGURA Burst we were able to release the next few games in the series physically at retail (so the "no physical no buy" people really need to thank their digital-buying colleagues), but that doesn't mean that we get a free pass to release anything in the future. As each new iteration seems to push the envelope further and further, we need to be careful exactly how far we push - at some point if we push too far and the whole levee breaks, it could have repercussions for games that have already previously been released.

Question: Who is best girl and boy? - @MizuUnNamed

Brittany: Can I get Crow Armbrust and Crow Armbrust for $500?

Tom: Narcia and Pietro, of course. But only for each other.

 Liz: Rottytops and Ludus! What did we do to deserve them?

That’s all, folks! It’s been a wild ride, but hopefully we answered your questions well enough. 

[fic-dreamin]

5.0 out of 5 stars The best yet!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic overview of the Pathfinder World with 270 Pages of information, maps, full-color illustrations, and commentary. This is a real "keeper" of a book! It is lavishly printed and Hard-bound, and well above the usual standards of "play guides". This is a superiority crafted guide that is a pleasure to read; a compendium of illustrations and cartography, and absolutely worth having in your gaming library.The Inner Sea World Guide is a detailed overview of the Pathfinder world setting, and it covers the Cultures, and Geography, as well as history and folklore of the regions surrounding the Inner Sea, as well as some specifics that can be incorporated into RPG play. Consider it the "Lonely Planet" Guide to central Golarion (the imaginary world that is the setting for the Pathfinder RPG and ACG). There are no spoilers, because the book does not address story threads, as much as the over-arching cultural fabric.Chapter one is the Inner Sea Races (actually 12 human ethnicities, and six non-human races), Chapter Two comprises most of the book and is the description of The Inner Sea Region, including a historical timeline, and a region by region description, aspects of the social situation in each land, and the points of interest. Chapter Two is 180 of the 318 total pages, and the real content of this book. If you read it cover to cover, you can practically put your finger on the included wall map and describe something about the area.The section on Religion is 30 pages long, and covers deities, philosophies and planes of existence. Faith and Religion in RPGs are very interesting because deities are so uniquely palpable! In an RPG, if you beat up too many of Baphomet's disciples, you're probably going to end up in a face to (goat) face meeting, and this potential is not overlooked.Read more › Go to Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars The Goods This is more or less all you really need to play in the world of Golarion in the Pathfinder setting when it comes to general background.Unlike some books that only cover enough to get you to buy another book, this one has real meat to it.It covers all the major areas, in detailed summary fashion, of Golarion.It covers the same with the various gods and even quite a few other fringe divines that might be encountered.It covers the main races of the game world and organizations you might encounter and even some new feats, critters to deal with and some interesting unique items.We've played two major Paths in Pathfinder (that's a fair amount of levels) and I'm still finding this book useful. Go to Amazon

3.0 out of 5 stars Great content, poor construction As a number of customers have pointed out, the material in this book is very good, and it does a lot to create immersion, for players and DMs alike, if you run a lot of games set in the default Golarion setting for Pathfinder.My major complaint is the construction of the book itself. I don't abuse my gaming books, but within a few days of opening the book I noticed the binding was starting to come undone. I understand that Paizo is offering digital sales of all of their books, but it would be nice if the physical copies were held to a slightly higher standard. Go to Amazon

5.0 out of 5 stars one of my favorite game books and my absolute top favorite Golarion book The Inner Sea World Guide is one of my favorite game books and my absolute top favorite Golarion book for overall content, new content, design, and flat out beauty.The book is masterpiece of content as each race, region, religion, and detail of the world is covered in decent enough detail that this book is the only truly essential book needed to run a campaign in Golarion. This book does not only give a starting place to place a game in this world, it gives a truly solid foundation.New content includes fantastic artwork, new detail in maps, new, updated information in regions including previously unseen adventure hooks, a lot more detail on Gods, and updated pathfinder stats for firearms, prestige classes, feats, equipment, spells, and magic items. The book even had room for a bestiary!.As far as the art, I was afraid this new world guide would just use previously used artwork; I was wrong as their is tons of artwork peppering the book including awesome images giving a glimpse at the feel of each region. Just being able to see the fashions of a certain region is worth the cost of the book.To sum it up the Inner Sea world guide isn't just an update to the pathfinder system, it is an upgrade from an existing high quality book to one that puts every other campaign book I have ever read to complete shame. Paizo has raised the bar with the inner sea world guide; a bar that I know that their awesome team will be able to lift higher and higher. The sky is the limit! Go to Amazon

[cameronwjones]

10+ Beautifully Designed Event Websites

Often the event website is an attendees first encounter with an event. It can cause the first rumblings of hype (or dread). The web designer’s job is to master the event’s aura before the event even happens, capturing the scene in fonts, colors, and design. These websites show us, uniquely, how to mold an event’s esthetic into something digestible, useful, and that accurately reflects an event’s story. Each person has a story, product, and business has a story—and so does each event. An event website acts as the storyteller and, if the story seems consistent and cool, then people will want to experience the story for themselves and attend the event. Here are the best and most beautiful event websites that function as great storytellers (in no particular order):

The Summit Dublin

No matter how awesome a website’s design looks, if navigating proves difficult and you can’t answer questions about the event in only a few clicks—something is missing. Summit Dublin’s website not only electrifies your eyeballs (you know, in a good way), but it answers questions you didn’t even know you had: if there are hotels—or, um, a casual castle—available for your stay. Plus, seeing Bono’s face immediately upon entering the website has to be one of their main selling points.

Air France Expo

The Air France Expo website is almost exactly what you’d expect from a French website, based on stereotypes of French style: minimalistic, chic, and sophisticated. In a way only the French can, they’ve made a website utterly sexy: the sleek fonts and color schemes, the elegant white space, and the gorgeous images that float gently onto your screen when scrolling. Even their copy has a sensual side: “We invite you into a world, suspended between the earth and the sky, to share passions and poetry from Shanghai to New York and Paris.” The Air France Expo’s website is just that—poetry. 

#Digitized

#digitized’s website shows users how to take advantage of the recent phenomenon of the one-page responsive design. From its simplistic colors to the playful marker-drawn font, the design throws the site users into the event, inviting them to interact with the hip interface and look at all the talented speakers for the event, wearing sweet button-downs and trendy black, thick-rimmed glasses. And it’s awesome.

Brand New Conference

Far different than the Air France Expo or #digitized's website, the Brand New Conference website immediately shows its colors boldly—literally. If you want to feel like a technologic bad-ass, this web design will fill that void, using confident reds, blacks, and grays to bring chutzpah into the world of technology and brand identity. Bitmap-oriented, the “identity” for this year’s Chicago conference has to do with the early 1984 Mac OS and (graphic design font nerds, rejoice) the Chicago font for that operating system.

Converge Southeast

Brightly colored illustrations of wildlife? Sure, the conference takes place in South Carolina, but the immediate images aren’t quite what you’d expect for a tech event—making it unique and intriguing in its own right. The wildlife theme continues further down the page, where each “track” (design, gaming, UX, etc.) gets its own wild animal. The overall melding of wildlife and technology proves to be endearing but sleek, melding fun kitsch with  simplicity. 

Buses at the Brewery

If the name of the event isn’t enough for you, then maybe the cover image will make you jump out of your seat, into the sunshine, and over to the nearest beer garden. This website works its magic on users, packaging the experience so perfectly, you can almost taste the craft brews from its muted and quirky color scheme and retro fonts.

Tribecon

The design is clean and simple, but the best part of Tribecon’s website lies in its fun, friendly vibe. The contact section: “Hit us up.” The last speaker listed: “You.” And the events are listed as “awesome.” Their excitement is contagious, creative, and, well—awesome.  Why aren’t we best friends with them yet?

  Design Week Portland 

Keep Portland Weird, right? Drag your cursor and scroll down slowly past the cover image to witness something…trippy (just do it…trust us). And, in truly Portland fashion, the website becomes beautifully minimalistic as you continue to scroll. 

Circles Conference

Take the best design from your Pinterest board and Etsy wish-list to fuse the coolest, authentic, hand-lettered goodness that is the Circles website. Its vintage poster-y feel maintains a silky smoothness as you scroll down. The site is 100% fluid and cool—even the pictures of the speakers make you want to give them a high-five and grab a beer. The style highlights its trendy earthiness—beards, flannel, and all.

Image Festival 

In a Zooey Deschanel, cutesy-yet-quirky kind of way, the Image Festival website (and all its gumball-colored freshness) has a big personality with text and bright colors, and it’s also super refreshing and forward-and different from everything else. This website showcases its fun nature in pops of color and funky fonts.

  Sisense: Eureka

  This event website for Sisense's Eureka conference makes sure to use the background loop video to their advantage. Seeing footage of previous Eureka conference helps the website visitor to envision themselves at the event. The remainder of the website holds true to the fundamental rule of simplicity as it uses few colors and does not use too much text. 

Branch.io: Branchout 

Not all event websites need to be flashy with impressive graphics. More than anything, the website has to resonate with the target audience and align with the event vision. Because Branchout is a conference focused on specific technical topics such as mobile fragmentation and cross-platform user experiences, the event website skips the fluff and gets straight to the point. By providing all of the previous year's event content on the homepage, this event website is a great example of designing with audience in mind. 

Google I/O 

  Though Google I/O's brand name alone is enough to pull anyone into their event website, they still took much time designing a stellar website experience. Having an eye-catching countdown clock as soon as you enter the page helps to build up anticipation for the event.  The weather widget overlayed on top of a beautiful image of the previous year's outdoor keynote session also does well to generate enthusiasm because attendees can expect to have similar great weather for this year's event.   

Blockchain Nation: Miami

Sometimes the best design can come from the actual event setting. Since this blockchain conference takes place a beautiful beach city, the website takes advantage of this by including a breathtaking skyline image of Miami. The image goes will with the event brand colors as well, creating a visual harmony while still making the CTA button stand out. 

  Insurection

While the company putting on the event surely has its own brand, the event itself should have a standalone brand as well. In the case of Insurection, the industry event put on by the French insurance company April Group, the conference does well to stay in line with the overall April Group brand while also bringing its own aesthetic. The eye catching header banner with a diverse palette of colors and shapes makes the event homepage memorable for anyone who visits. Making sure that your event brand stands out through distinct visual elements will help it to stay top of mind of attendees. 

Key Takeaways

These examples all exhibit strong qualities that can be replicated and implemented into your own event website. Though there a countless tips we can take from these examples, here are some of those tips distilled into key takeaways:

Make sure that your website colors, fonts, and visuals overall represent and cohesive and unique event brand that will be memorable to anyone who visits the site.

Less is more. Be efficient with the amount of words on the home page and let the design do the talking.

Keep your target audience in mind and make sure their questions and concerns will be addressed directly in the design/layout of the event website

Use images or videos from previous events as the homepage banner to have your website visitors envision themselves at your event.

Make sure the most important event details (date, time, venue) are viewable as soon as someone visits the event website

Mixing and matching the different tips and takeaways from this list of beautifully designed event websites will help you to create the perfect visual representation of your unique event. 

For more awesome event resources, click the button below. Your brain will thank you.

from Cameron Jones Updates https://blog.bizzabo.com/10-beautifully-designed-event-websites

[nicknamesforyourguysandgirl-blog]

The 3 Phases of Messaging a Young lady - A Guide for PUA's and Ordinary Folks As well

So you have her number. Also, you have a delightful memory of your first experience. Heaps of grins, alluring looks, and an extraordinary association. She appeared to be truly into you, and you completely enchanted her. Furthermore, now it's an ideal opportunity to proceed with that association and enticement with writings, to do it without flaw and set up the principal date. This is the place most folks experience difficulty and frequently botch it up. Where she simply doesn't answer or begins putting off meeting you. By one means or another, in view of terrible messaging, the start simply left; "Be that as it may, Why?!" These folks ask themselves futile. "We were getting on so well! What happened?" The thing is that after that first collaboration, her feelings were high and she recollected that you so well. In any case, as time passed, she approached her life and did numerous things and if your first messaging isn't similarly solid, she won't have the capacity to discover and feel again those first feelings that she felt with you, and if that happens she won't want to get together with you once more. Yet, not to fear my companion! There are some key, straightforward standards to take after with messaging that will convey back her feelings and fascination in you, and certification that you meet for a date. Before we get into it, here is one basic thing to recall with writings; The Precarious Thing About Writings With writings you need to pick your words deliberately, on the grounds that that is all you have - Words. 7% of correspondence is words, 38% is the tone of your voice, and 55% is your non-verbal communication. So face to face or even on the telephone, you are quite a lot more effective in your correspondence. Never surmise that messaging can contrast with that individual association - the objective with writings is to help her to remember the fun vitality and fascination you had, and after that work towards getting her on that date. All the time making that demeanor of fun loving nature, prodding and non-destitution. Never attempt to assemble compatibility by content, or do a more profound discussion. Without your eyes, voice and body behind it you won't make fascination. In any case, what you can do with messaging is bother her, get her somewhat energized and set up that initially date. Right away, here are the 3 phases of powerful messaging; Stage 1: The Main Content Your first content is critical. Make it solid, perky and plan to help her to remember the fascination and feelings she felt in that first collaboration. Send it a hour or two after you met. Similarly as she is foregetting about your meeting. Blast, you content and every one of those sentiments return. Try not to request a date here, we're simply making an association and being somewhat nervy, lively, amusing. The best thing is to bring a back a joke you both shared, maybe in her epithet, or some other piece of the content. On the off chance that you were kidding about how she's dressed each of the one shading, say; "Hello, woman dressed in yellow,... " if she's wild about French motion pictures say; "Hello Amelie,... " And afterward only a short, arrogant and amusing message to state hello there. That is all. Here is an incredible case from Tom Torero; "Hello sunbather Sophie, arbitrary however cool to meet you. It is safe to say that you are generally so benevolent to new individuals or would it say it was the blue sky? Tom" What's more, here is a cockier, more entertaining one from Gareth Jones (my undisputed top choice); "Hello, it's Gareth. Spare this number, it's the most imperative one you'll ever get" (with a winking face toward the end). On the off chance that she answers, extraordinary. Have a little discussion, 2/3 writings, not more. At that point say gotta go, talk soon. No compelling reason to try too hard here, simply keep it low weights, easygoing and amicable. She will be enchanted by the jokey, sure, yet laid back state of mind. On the off chance that she doesn't answer, you can send her a fun loving update content 1 or after 2 days; "That is it we're getting a separation. Call your attorney, you can keep the feline." Or something to that effect. "Gee, my mom cautioned me about young ladies like you... " Or you can simply send her the ping content in arrange two; Stage 2: Ping Writings A general run is it's great to keep in contact each other day or each 3 days. To keep in her brain. So two days after the underlying meeting and content, send her an amusing ping content like these; "Hello, just strolled past the Starbucks and thought of you. Getting a charge out of the daylight today?" "Just observed a feline that seems as though you." "In a recreation center with an espresso and a decent book." "Just observed something that helped me to remember you... stunning" "Speedy inquiry; red or white wine?". These are called ping writings, and they are excellent. You're not by and large making an inquiry of them, and you're not requesting that her go on the date you discussed. In any case, you're sending her a weight free, intriguing content that she will answer to. When she replies, you can have a touch of chat, at that point; Stage 3: Set Up the Date An awesome approach to set up a date is to consider what she prefers, from your first connection. It's dependably a smart thought to discover these things out. In this way, in the event that she adores craftsmanship, you need to meet in or close to a workmanship display. On the off chance that she enjoys sushi, think about an incredible sushi put, if she's a performing artist, consider something identified with acting, and so forth. At that point, when you propose it, say it like this; "They're demonstrating a phenomenal display at the Tate Current by the waterway, does that sound great to you?" or "I know an astonishing sushi put in Soho. It has the freshest fish, a Michelin star cook from Tokyo, and a cool, idiosyncratic environment. Does that sound great to you?" When she answers that it sounds great, to mastermind a period and date, ask when she's free one week from now. Or, on the other hand simply say; "Incredible, what's better for you - Wednesday or Friday evening?" Giving the decision is better. Try not to ask yes/no inquiries. I need to give full credit to Gareth Jones for this style of requesting dates, which have worked ponders for me and will for you as well. You see here that since you're picking something she cherishes and would love to see, she is slanted to state yes. You are demonstrating that you were focusing and that you as of now comprehend her great. You 're likewise offering the date in a way that allows her to think and oppose - it's all so smooth and enticing, much the same as the whole enticement process ought to be. What's more, there are your three phases of mind blowing messaging! For a free, more inside and out investigation of messaging ladies, including the Main Misstep folks make, go here; nicknames for your guys and girls