#just fulfil his needs maus! that's all he's asking for :(

[konigsblog]

König who has a high sex drive. (🌽 link)

As humiliating and humbling as it sounds, you're nothing but a fleshlight for König. He can't control how horny he becomes, especially in the morning, after a workout, and while drinking together. He becomes a giggling pervert who can't help but touch you all over, his hands reaching between your thighs to grope your tight cunt.

“Please, Maus, just one more round, that’s all I desire.”

He's obsessed with the gummy, sticky sensation of your walls wrapped tightly around the shaft of his meaty cock. He'll bend you over any surfaces he finds, whether that's the kitchen countertop, a desk, or the couch. He adores having control, but occasionally, he'll allow you to take control — well, he has to plead with you through whines and tears to ride him, stinking of booze and nicotine, too tired to take control, but too horny not to have sex or receive any stimulation. König is like a dog in heat. For König, the need is constant and perverse thoughts won't stop rushing through his mind until he's fulfilled and satisfied.

“Bitte- stop moving, please. Gottverdammt, you add fuel to my addiction, Liebling. How do you expect me to resist something so tempting? So addictive?”

König will use you for hours if that's what he feels like doing. He'll wipe the tears from your glassy eyes, thanking you between rounds by kissing your bare shoulder, sinking back inside before you can catch your breath. He'll whine about having to use protection, that it ruins the session he's having with his beloved angel.

König is uncontrollable when he's aroused and pent up, constantly trying to rip your clothing from your body, sometimes sobbing through drunkenness, desperation, and derangement.

[needtherapy]

soaring, carried aloft on the wind...continued 5

A story for Xichen and Mingjue, in another time and another place.

The Beifeng, the mighty empire of the north, invaded more than a year ago, moving inexorably south and east.

In order to buy peace, the chief of the Lan clan has given the Beifeng warlord a gift, his second oldest son in marriage. However, when Xichen finds out he makes a plan.

He, too, can give a gift to the Beifeng warlord, and he will not regret it.

The story continues...

Part 1: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / …  HOME

It’s on AO3 here if that’s easier to read. 

NOTES: This story starts out G but will eventually be E for Explicit.

For translations of the entirely fictitious Beifeng language, you’ll have to scroll to notes. I’m only going to translate something that’s not clear in the text. Sadly, there’s just not any other good way to do it on Tumblr! 

Chapter 5

Xichen has no idea what he’s supposed to do with himself. The guards outside his door make him believe he is not free to leave the tent. He considers unpacking his things, but as soon as he opens the trunk with his clothes, he panics and slams it shut. It feels like an acknowledgement that this is his life now. This tent, this language, these people are the rest of his life, and he can’t bear it.

So he plays the guqin, which is a fine instrument. The music soothes him, and he considers shifting to a song of power. Would it work to play Silence or Rest? Could he send enough of these barbarians into sleep to escape? He dismisses the thought. Even if he could, it would risk the treaty the warlord has already agreed to and maybe even endanger his brother’s life. He has chosen this, he reminds himself.

Hours pass, and the darkness in the tent deepens. His nerves jangle, and Xichen wishes he had at least played Tranquility. Huaisang did not elaborate on whether this tent was meant for him alone or whether he would be sharing it with the warlord, but Xichen is aware that he is a bride, of sorts, and he expects that sooner or later, the man is going to demand that Xichen fulfill their treaty. The thought makes Xichen lightheaded and his fingers stumble across the guqin strings before he can compose himself.

It is finally too dark to continue playing, and Xichen rummages through his trunks to find candles. He lights them with a touch of magic, one thing he has not lost, at least.

“Et orodit eko doro eta aranakeram,” a deep voice says from behind him, the sounds of the unfamiliar language harsh in his ears, and Xichen nearly drops the candle he is holding.

“Elder Brother says you look beautiful in candlelight,” Huaisang translates, flushing and shooting the warlord an aggrieved glare that tells Xichen they must be brothers indeed.

Xichen reddens too. He lowers the candle so it isn’t as obvious, but the grin on the man’s face says he wasn’t fast enough.

“Edi eta dikani eko? Da adi eidar eko em outam?”

“Elder Brother would like to know if you are hungry, and if you would join us for dinner,” Huaisang says. “Also,” he adds, “There are lights.”

The boy draws a pattern in the air with two fingers. Crooking them at the second joint, he pulls a kind of darkness from the air and flicks it toward the roof of the tent. Tiny golden globes illuminate around the perimeter of the tent and into the apex, almost as bright and welcoming as sunlight. It looks completely different from his own power, and Xichen is fascinated by the novelty before he remembers Huaisang’s question.

It’s not much of a choice. He hasn’t eaten since before he arrived this morning.

“Yes,” he says, forcing a smile. He chose this, he chose this, he chose this, he tells himself savagely, over and over and over. Eventually, maybe, it will be enough.

The food is richer and spicier than he is used to but not inedible, although the tea is atrocious—too dark and too pungent—and Xichen can barely keep it down as he listens to Huaisang. The warlord is surprisingly talkative, asking Xichen about the music he had been playing earlier, whether he needs anything for his comfort, his opinion of the art that decorates the tent, even about the local plants and animals. He very carefully avoids asking anything personal or anything about Cloud Recesses, and Xichen can’t decide if it’s strategy or kindness. 

It is strange to eat this way, answering questions and waiting for a translation. But, Xichen supposes, it’s no more strange than talking over dinner, which is forbidden in his home, or talking this much at all. He’s never used words excessively. The Cloud Recesses is a quiet place, and his brother is a quiet person, so their words were selected judiciously and sparingly.

“Thank you for allowing us to join you,” Huaisang says at the end of the meal. “Elder Brother asks if you will play the guqin?”

The warlord interjects, watching Xichen’s expression closely. “Odero ti mau odinga. Odero di he ti roka em ateipa.”

“Elder Brother says you may call him Mingjue if you wish. And you don’t have to play the guqin if you don’t want to.”

Xichen doubts that very much, but he nods serenely and returns to the guqin. It occurs to him that it very likely belonged to someone else recently, perhaps a resident of Qinghe or Ouyang. His stomach roils and threatens to spill the dinner he just ate, but he steels himself. He is not a squeamish child. His clan has taken spoils of conflict as well, and it is no more or less noble, even if the scale is different.

He plays for a few minutes before he looks up. Huaisang is gone. The warlord is sitting across from him, legs folded and arms crossed. When they had met earlier, he had been wearing the full leather armor of a man used to sitting a horse—thin and flexible, reinforced around the chest and thighs. His nearly black hair had been pulled back, a tight cap of what had looked like braids. Now, Xichen can see that they are indeed tiny braids, dozens of them twisted into thicker plaits and loosely arranged on the back of the warlord’s head. He is wearing black wide-legged pants and a deep blue tunic with an open jacket woven in vibrant shades of red and yellow. For Xichen, who never wears fewer than five robes, it is scandalously little clothing, and he can see the outline of the muscle on the warlord’s chest when he inhales. Xichen glances away, but he makes the mistake of looking at the man’s face.

The warlord is watching Xichen with that same flickering smile, there and gone before Xichen can properly verify its kind. His relaxation, and perhaps the lack of armor, makes Xichen realize he’s not as old as he looked earlier. His skin is the rich color of aged tea, whether natural or from the sun, Xichen can’t tell. A stray thought—you will find out eventually—makes his breathing stutter. With a flare of exasperation at himself, Xichen acknowledges that yes, the man is handsome, but it should make no difference to his behavior. He is cool water. He is a quiet breeze. He looks back down at the safety of the guqin.

He doesn’t hear the warlord get up—how can such a big man move so quietly—until his fingers touch the edge of Xichen’s long hair.

“Soft,” he murmurs, and Xichen jumps, knocking the guqin to the floor and scooting to escape his surprise.

His heart is pounding, and he stammers, “You...you speak my...my language?” It feels like a betrayal.

The warlord’s mouth quirks in what is definitely a wry and apologetic smile. He holds up a hand, an entreaty for Xichen not to move, and kneels forward. He runs his fingers through Xichen’s hair again, holding up a lock of it. This close, Xichen can see that his eyes aren’t the pitch black wells they had seemed, but a deep brown, like the color of rich earth after the rain, with flecks of gold near the pupils. They tip up at the corners, making him look curious. Or perhaps he merely is curious.

“Soft,” he repeats. 

Xichen is paralyzed.

The warlord brushes the back of his hand against Xichen’s cheek. “Soft.”

He touches his thumb to Xichen’s mouth. “Soft.”

This time, Xichen knows enough to expect the kiss. The warlord slides both hands behind Xichen’s head to pull him forward, but instead of Xichen’s mouth, he kisses his forehead, just below the band of silk that every member of Xichen’s family wears until their marriage. If this had been a contract with one of his people, or even another clan, Xichen would have removed the ribbon on his wedding night, but he is not certain of the protocol in this situation and anyway, the warlord can’t possibly understand its significance.

The man is motionless, not pulling away, not moving closer, but his breathing shifts, deepening, perhaps less regular than it had been before. Slivers of ice glide down Xichen’s spine. Warm breath tickles the space between his eyes, and the warlord seems on the cusp of a decision.

And then he kisses Xichen’s mouth. He isn’t cruel, but he isn’t chaste either, angling his lips against Xichen’s and pressing into him. He catches Xichen’s lower lip in his and tugs. It feels like a rope tied directly to his groin, and the sensation almost makes Xichen moan; he only barely stops himself before the sound escapes. The warlord’s long, straight nose drags against Xichen’s, a silent demand, and his tongue flicks across the line of Xichen’s lips. Xichen’s mouth drops open, either from surprise or desire, and he can’t hold back the muted groan at the feeling, the unbelievable fire, of the man’s tongue touching his. He leans forward, closing his eyes, willing to accept this duty, but with a soft sigh of resignation, the warlord releases him.

They stare at each other, the warlord’s eyes searching Xichen’s, and for once, Xichen has no idea what expression is on his face. The man raises an eyebrow. Asking permission? Critiquing his performance? Xichen doesn’t know. He hadn’t asked permission before, but either way, it seems safe to smile, so he does. Whatever the warlord had been asking, Xichen seems to have given an acceptable answer. The man smiles back, and Xichen is stunned, absolutely stupefied, by the way it transforms his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes and carving deep dimples into his cheeks.

“Da iko auha oriho,” he says before he leaves, and although Xichen has no idea what he’s said, it doesn’t really matter. (1)

He curses some ingrained notion of courtesy that won’t allow him to keep calling a man he’s kissed “the warlord” anymore.

Fine.

Huaisang had said his name was Mingjue. Xichen could say his name. 

It was only a word.

Mingjue.

Translation Notes

(1)  Da iko auha oriho. / I will return tomorrow.

[theonyxpath]

More Q&A – because YOU requested it! Well, maybe not you personally, but we sure did get a great response to last week’s blog…So We’re Doin’ It Again!

“But seriously, why is International shipping so high on the KSs?”

What backers are seeing from us on the Kickstarter pages are the shipping numbers we have received from our fulfillment partners, and no, they aren’t inflating them and we aren’t inflating them – those are what we are hearing from shippers like Fedex and USPS and others.

The fact is: we are not Amazon. We aren’t C’Mon Games or other companies that send out a massive volume of packages. We’re in the same boat as a lot of TTRPG companies, many of whom are dropping international shipping entirely. Instead, we made the call to give our backers the up-front info so they can make intelligent decisions, while we continue to search for less costly shipping options.

“Why aren’t all Storypath Games the same?”

I’m assuming that this is in reference to the Storypath System, and not the settings for each game line that uses it. Because that’s the only way the question makes sense to me.

One of my goals with the Storypath System was that it be flexible enough to work as the basis for any game we care to create with it, and part of that design was that the basic system would then have additional rules attached to it depending on the game line’s needs.

Or, here is more from Eddy Webb, who has been overseeing the Storypath games, as well as doing design work on the system. He sez:

Each game takes the core system and tweaks it in a variety of ways to better emphasize what’s important in that game. A game about myths like Scion doesn’t need comprehensive weapon mechanics, but a game about salvaging equipment like Dystopia Rising does.

Basically, Storypath was never intended to be exactly the same with every line that uses it, like a generic system, but to allow a base level of familiarity so players just need to look into specific, game line intrinsic, additional rules.

“Why won’t you publish all the Clan/Tribe/Tradition/etc books again?”

OK, that’s a multi-part answer, so let me unpack a bit on this one.

First, and very specifically, we aren’t recreating the “Splat books” as we do new editions because those lil’ books aren’t cost-effective to create with our current publishing model. We do however, love to gather the “splats” into larger books like we’ve already done with Lore of the Clans, or Lore of the Bloodlines.

Which brings us to the second part of this, which is what I touched on in last week’s blog, which is that we don’t have carte-blanche to create just any WoD (or CofD or Exalted) books that we want to create. We have to have their pitches approved by our licensor, White Wolf/Paradox, before we can do any work at all on projects.

So what I’m saying is that we wouldn’t just recreate the old splat books, but we would do a differently formatted version, and that version still needs to be greenlit by our licensor. And right now, that has not happened.

Aeon Aexpansion art by Pat McEvoy

“Why are there approvals stages for Scion or Scarred Lands- don’t you own those?”

The business productivity answer is that we try and keep our processes the same in game book creation to make them go through the stages consistently.

The RichT answer is that I want to be able to review, tweak, and fine-tune the game lines my company owns. I mean, I do it with our licensed game lines, so by crackee, I’m doing with my own durn games!

“What stores carry your books?”

Y’know, I don’t actually know all of them at this point! What we hear from our sales partners at Studio2 and Indie Press Revolution, is that more and more stores are ordering as they become aware that we are putting select books into the distribution/retail channel.

So the notices I see are focused on which distributors have ordered what, although I do still get a chance to chat with retailers who pledge during our Kickstarters. Some of those folks have been with us since our first KSs, like our friends at Trollune in France, and more come on board with each KS.

Mighty Matt McElroy is a lot more hands-on with stores and retailers, and maybe we’re at the point where he’d be willing to pull together some sort of Retailer list we could post on this site. I will ask him very, very, nicely if such a thing could be added to his already massive workload.

But be sure that we truly appreciate each and every order from retailers that our sales partners receive. A Friendly Local Game Store is one of the best places to learn about all sort of games, new and old, and we’re glad we were able to figure out a way to once again get books into those shelves!

And if your FLGS doesn’t yet know that they can order books from their favorite distributor like Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition, or Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero, or Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau and others, with even more yet to come like V5 Chicago By Night and the Trinity Continuum books, then please, let them know, let us know, let the world know, that you want them to order our books for you!

Witch Queen art by Nate Pride

“What are YOU excited about that’s coming from Onyx Path?”

Scion: Demigod and Titanomancy to continue the core Scion mythological experience, and Dragon and Mythos to show how Scion has potential beyond that experience. Trinity Continuum: similarly, very excited to bring back Aeon and Aberrant as lines and especially to revisit Adventure! and deliver an exciting game that emulates all the Pulp Genre excitement that I’ve loved during countless hours reading Doc Savage and The Avenger, but in a way that’s compelling for a modern audience. Then, to finally expand from the three original game lines to other time periods and genres with new games that we’re working on but haven’t announced yet.

Legendlore is another game line I’m really looking forward to. In fact, I think the developed text should be coming my way later this week, or next week, and I can’t want to see what Steffie De Vaan and team have done to take this long-established world and bring it up-to-date and relevant like I mentioned about TC: Adventure!

White Wolf gamelines: For CofD, I’m champing at the bit to start sharing Deviant: The Renegades during its Kickstarter. I’ve loved the concept of the wronged seeking revenge for what was done to them since the project was conceptualized, and Dave and Eric and crew have really delivered on that premise, and more! It’s gut-wrenching, horrific, but also empowering!

For Exalted 3rd, I’m really glad we’re finally doing the Storyteller’s Guide, which combined with another book we’re waiting to hear back on from WW, will provide players and prospective Storytellers with a lot of answers and material that fill in some of the blanks in the core EX3 rulebook. Hopefully, these sections will allow even more players to “get” Exalted 3rd, and so they’ll all want to GET Exalted 3rd!

And, of course, I really can’t expand on much for WoD without the OK from WW/Paradox, but we’ve been so thrilled by the reaction to the V5 Chicago By Night Backer PDF that I’m really looking forward to the next WoD projects from Matthew Dawkins, as well as finally delivering our outstanding 20th Anniversary projects!

Distant Worlds art by Rutledge

They Came From…!: Speaking of Matthew, he is gravely hard at work digging into new sources of fun and inspiration for the follow-up They Came From game, and I’m such a fan of the whole genre/time period it covers that I can’t wait to read it!

Creature Collection 5e: for Scarred Lands looks to be gorgeous! I’m both jealous that Johnny Hodgson was able to pull together so many fantastic artists, and thrilled that our efforts with his Handiworks Games is producing such a fantastic book. Look for its KS soon!

These aren’t advertising blurbs here folks! I truly am excited to be able to bring all of these game lines to life, and to be part of bringing them to all of you – as well as those poor misguided souls who don’t yet read this scintillating blog, or know of our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Keep an eye out in this space as well as on our social media for the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter that will be launching after August wraps up!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview with one of the unsung new talents of Onyx Path and one of the nicest people working in the TTRPG industry: Meredith Gerber! Go to https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/ or to your favorite podcast venue!

No Onyx Path News this week, with Matthew having been away at Tabletop Scotland! But here’s a nice photo of his group at that convention enjoying a session of They Came from Beneath the Sea!

Here’s our upcoming Twitch schedule, and as you can see, it’s getting very full of content! Between Travis Legge’s Myths & Matchmakers for Scarred Lands, Near Dark Studios‘ Chicago by Night, our very own Pugmire: Paws and Claws and Aberrant: Collateral Damage, and more, we think you’ll find something to entertain you! Even if you don’t, we’d very much appreciate a follow on www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath!

Outside our Twitch channel, the Botch Pit have started up a new chronicle for Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition! And if you’re not into actual plays, they also do breakdowns of lots of our other games: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQfcGvYILEV1vznP5__bOWg

Did you check out the www.gamerstable.com for their actual play of A Slippery Conspiracy? No? Well, now’s the time to catch up and give their actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea! a listen!

Devil’s Luck Gaming continues with Pirates of Bloodwater for Scarred Lands right here: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming Also check them out for an excellent Shadowrun actual play they’ve started. We know it’s not our game, but we’re happy to promote such a fine cast of players.

If you’re a fan of Scion, check out https://ragnarokandroll.podbean.com/, a podcast that tracks all the way from first edition Scion: Hero to Scion: Ragnarok, but is now looking into the second edition of the game!

We’re going through Wraith: The Oblivion character creation over on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/jflNxrN3i6o And part two will be uploaded this week!

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

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.)

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 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 are available to order!

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

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re offering our monthly Exalted 3rd Edition PDF for Hundred Devils Night Parade!

Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

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)

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

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

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

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

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

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

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

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

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

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

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

Development

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

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

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

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Manuscript Approval

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

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

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

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

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

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

Editing

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

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

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

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

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Post-Editing Development

Memento Mori (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e Companion)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Contracted. Sketches still coming in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

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

Deviant (KS) – Contracted. LeBlanc’s art already in.

Trinity RMCs – Contracted.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Sending out art notes.

Chicago Folio – Art notes going out this week.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Got Matthew’s notes.

In Layout

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – With Josh.

DR:E Jumpstart

Aeon Aexpansion

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams

V5: Chicago – Inputting errata.

Geist 2e – XX’s and then Indexing.

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen

DR: E – Inputting errata.

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – At Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipped to Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

Trinity Aeon – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

Shunned By the Moon – PoD proof coming.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

On this date in 1346 – Hundred Years’ War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armored knights is established at the Battle of Crécy. Thus spawning whole rafts of longbow lovin’ moments in gaming! (Also can be seen as a victory for the common man that will echo through history and turn out even more badly for the French nobility 400-some years later).

[theangry-ace]

currently playing: Charade Maniacs

quite possibly the most mysterious otome game I’ve played yet. and again, I’m having quite a hard time to follow the story. it’s as bad as Tengai ni Mau, but at least this one I can understand at most 30% of what’s happening. Tengai ni Mau I just don’t know what actual fuck was happening all through out the entire game.

the concept is in future Japan, our MC, Hiyori and her overprotective osananajimi suddenly found themselves in another world where the “people” there doesn’t seem like normal human being. it’s like they’re robots, or something that not used to be a human. along with them are 8 other guys and a mysterious masked person - the Director - who said all 10 of them are to be there, Arcadia, and to occasionally play a short skit or drama to gain points. the points can be used to ‘purchase’ anything they want, but if their points to reach zero, they will be erased for existence. finishing their forced job as an actor would grant them a wish to be fulfilled.

unfortunately, among 10 of them, one of them is the person who led them to be chosen to Arcadia; the Producer. who is the traitor?

part1: Kyouya, Tomose & Mamoru routes

though honestly, I don’t think I would continue clear other routes. maybe. my Japanese is way too low to understand the details of this fucking gamee

if anyone can explain to me the game plot, also the spoiler of who is the Producer and why the heck he’s doing all of these, that’ll be great. 

my first impression of this game was; “HOLY SHIT 9 CAPTURE TARGETS?!!” but then I found out “thERE’S A HIDDEN CHARACTER AS WELL???” I just know I’m gonna be a mess for this game. I expect it to be kinda dark of a theme but not entirely? I think most of the creepy vibes were taken off to some degree by the awesome BGM. still, I don’t really get some details of the entire plot, shameful to admit. no. correction; I understand exactly nothing from the plot so..

all I know that aside from the Producer hiding among them, there’s also a Sponsor who had been possibly working together to keep them all there. a

Kyouya

he is the genki guy of the 10 of them, and despite being kidnapped to another world, he's the most optimistic and motivated that they all will be out of this psychopath of a forced imprisonment. he sees himself as a superhero that will protect and help everyone. he even said, when knowing there’s at least 2 traitors (the Producer and the Sponsor) among them, that doesn’t mean that they should all start to doubt everybody and distrust them.

turns out the Sponsor among them is Kyouya’s parents. they were one of the main contributor (or supporter) of this whole ‘kidnapping people into forced reality tv to act in skits for the sake of amusement’. kinda. I’m pretty hazy about that... anyway. but Kyouya is there to stop the psychopathic project. he actually had two little sisters, both was also been made the Cast of the project but they failed to meet the necessary points needed and was deleted out of existence, and that includes from the Kyouya’s memory. it was said because being no longer remember what you lost is much easier. he was very devastated when he began to remember them, and felt so bad how he could ever forget about his two sisters.

Kyouya managed to gained enough points to have his wish, but there was a catch that asshole Director just suddenly announced; he could only wish one person to return to the real world, or but one to remain. he chose the latter, and Hiyori was mega sad. he stayed and he promised to continue to stop Arcadia, and retrieve his two sisters.

Tomose

dude is younger than Hiyori, and used to be the target of bullies. Hiyori, with her strong oneechan power, took the role of his protector. he came to secretly fallen in love with her as the years gone by, and he swore he would do anything to protect her in return. despite his near-obsession towards Hiyori, she never agreed nor encouraged this behavior. she simply said she saw him as just the osananajimi, and nothing else. 

with the little that I can understand from his route, there’s not really any new revelation aside that Hiyori suspected Tomose to be the Sponsor because he kept saying he didn’t mind staying there in Arcadia so long he could play the role of her boyfriend. you’re twisted, my dude. I might missed a lot of the stories in Tomose’s route, because, fuck, a lot of the ‘explanation’ was left to Hiyori. which means no narration, and fucking shit my reading skill is lower than an elementary kid so... oh. Hiyori got her ‘emotions’ yanked out of her when she refused to do the play and kept on telling Tomose how he was wrong, and that he was acting like not the Tomose she knew.

in the end, after a thrilling (/sarcasm) game of charades with the resident of Arcadia, Tomose was about to wish for all of them to return before the Producer dropped his asshole of a new rule. Tomose wanted to say that he would remain while everyone was to sent home, but Shouta stepped in saying he volunteered to stay instead. dude said he liked playing games so he didn’t mind staying in Arcadia. I suspect he might be the Director....?

after getting back home, Tomose and Hiyori decided to start all over again with their relationship.

Mamoru

a soft spoken and overall very tender guy, Mamoru didn’t stand out that much among the 10. he gave Hiyori a teddy bear to cheer her up when he think she was not feeling too good after the whole thing of them trying to find a loophole of Arcadia as an existence while they were doing a maintenance. they were supposed to stay at the house they’re staying but he and Hiyori went to another place. in result they saw the real form of the people in Arcadia. they were slimy alien looking creatures.

for some time, Hiyori was terribly traumatized by what she discovered and could no longer see the Another Worlders in the eye. then later Mamoru refused to act in a skit where he would have to stab the co-star. he begged to the Director that he could take anything of his, just not his right hand. so Mamoru got his leg paralyzed and had to walk with a cane afterwards. 

Mamoru’s personality changed since then, and the other kids started to think it’s proof enough he’s not the Producer who was supposed to be hiding within them. Hiyori caught him went out late at night and asked him where he gone, but he never answered and continued being cold and distant. then later there was a skit asking for Hiyori and Mamoru that involved a kissing scene. before it could start, Mamoru called the Director that he didn’t want to do it and would accept another penalty. he lost his sight this time, and as he was hurrying on his way away, Hiyori caught his right hand that he treasured more than his life and felt the slimy unholy texture of the alien she had seen before.

Mamoru closed himself in his room for days until Hiyori managed to talk to him. he admitted to be the Sponsor and also the person responsible for taking them all to Arcadia. he also admitted to be one of the Arcadian people through his dad and his mom was one of the past Cast. every other explanation he gave I didn’t quite get like why he became a Sponsor? also how could a child could be made from one of those emotionless alien who’s barely human and an actual human? from Kyouya’s end, Hiyori woke up on a bed connected to an IV, meaning she went to Arcadia only in her conscious so...??? well. anyway. because he is part Arcadian part Human, he never belonged to neither of them. the Arcadian makes fun of him and gave him less points for his acts, while at the same time he knew he is less than a human to familiarize with another human.

I actually didn’t manage to see to his route to the end because... the lack of my understanding of the plot really made the climax so boring.

and that’s it. I prolly won’t be able to go through other routes. I took a peek at each of them’s walkthrough and saw either Mei or Takumi being the Producer since theirs has multiple endings. I’m betting on Takumi because if any character’s gonna be shady, might as well be the most innocent looking one. 

I might clear Mizuki’s though because, let’s face it, they’re the most interesting person of all.

so in conclusion: I really need someone to explain to me this game’s story. I’m way underqualified for it.

[bubbleescape]

Closure —epilog part—

Butuh waktu yang tidak sebentar bagi Alma untuk mencoba menerima duka dari kenyataan yang telah terjadi. Iya duka, duka karena patah hati. Bukan, bukannya ia tidak bahagia mengenai kabar baik dari sahabatnya. Ia hanya sedang dalam proses menerima dalam tahap griefing. Ia tidak mau munafik, ada sedikit rasa getir dalam hatinya. Alma tidak salah atas apa yang ia rasakan, perasaannya valid. Perasaan jatuh karena pupus harapan.

Alma sadar betul ia berada dalam fase almost acceptance dalam stage of griefing. Ia telah melalui banyak hal sebelumnya; denial, anger, bargaining, depression. Ia sekarang sudah atau setidaknya pulih dari depresi. Sudah muncul rasa merelakan dalam dirinya. Merelakan apa yang telah terjadi dan apa yang akan terjadi. Sebentar lagi, Alma akan bisa menerima semuanya. She will embrace the feeling, certainly.

Selama dalam hidupnya, Alma tentu sudah banyak merasakan asam manisnya kehidupan. Hidup yang nano-nano. Tentu saja ia sudah pernah patah hati sebelum ini. Tapi patah hati di usianya saat ini tentunya menjadi hal baru baginya—bahkan kalau bisa memilih, ia tidak ingin merasakan kegagalan sekarang. Rasanya seperti mimpi yang sudah dibangun, diharapkan, bahkan didoakan hancur berkeping tanpa sisa.

However, the earth keeps rotating, the time keeps running, and life goes on. Life doesn’t care how hard you are struggling and how much you are hurting.

Life doesn’t wait for you to recover, that’s not how it works. All you can do is keep walking, even take a baby steps.

So she did it. She took a baby step at first. A beginning of awakening. Pelan-pelan ia belajar, perlahan ia bangkit. Belajar mengenali emosi dalam dirinya, bahwa apa yang ia rasakan ini nyata, perasaannya valid. Tanpa sadar, Alma mengenali dan menerima semua emosi yang ia rasakan. Alma tidak denial.

For a while, she thought what if she trying to communicate how she feels? What about being honest? She really needs an emotional release. She needs complete the uncompleted feeling inside. Even if the ending isn’t the better one for her, at least she feels less regret. Maybe she needs a closure.

Maka, Alma bertekad untuk memberikan Ben sebuah closure. Sebuah ‘perpisahan’ yang menandakan bahwa ia rela untuk melepas sahabatnya mencapai bahagianya, sekaligus tanda terima kasih dari Alma untuk Ben karena telah menemaninya dan mengajarkan banyak hal selama ini. He radiates positive energy vibes, he is a good man. Ben deserves a gift as a thank you. And at least for Alma, she deserves a peace of mind indeed.

Alma memberi Ben sebuah hadiah dan ada surat di dalamnya.

Hi, Ben my bestie!

How have you been? Thought we haven’t met for a while. Is it a a year ago we meet? Is it the new year ave the last time we catch up, no?

When I’m writing this, I feel perfectly fine. No secret motive, and please just read what I want to say ahead. I’m writing this letter to get my peacefulness mind and just let you know what happen to me. I need to do this.

You’re getting married soon, one of your life goals will come true. Kita mungkin ngga akan pernah ketemu lagi, ngga bisa hanya berdua—not in the café, not in the restaurant food you like, not in our favorite hangout places, not anywhere. We will totally live on our life separately. I thought you deserve to know, it’s the right time to reveal the truth.

Here we go. Ben, do you remember first time we meet and greet to each other? Yeah, it’s been long time ago—eight years ago probably. Lo inget ngga gimana cupunya kita dulu? Masih bayi yang belajar buat merangkak, melangkah, dan transisi dari remaja labil sampai jadi orang yang hampir dewasa—iya, kita saling membersamai masa-masa krusial di quarter life crisis. We grow up together, we are so close with one another.

‘Til that night—the night you admitted that you’ve found someone special in your life. Lo tau ngga Ben apa yang gue rasain waktu itu? I don’t know how to react, honestly. Kabar dari lo tiba-tiba banget and I need time to process them slowly. So I tried to keep a distance from you for a while. Lo sadar ngga? I’m so sorry for that.

Itu bukan salah lo Ben, I was the one who guilty. Gue memutuskan buat mengenali perasaan gue sendiri ke lo. Di sini, gue merasa jahat banget karena gue ngga merasa ikut bahagia dengan berita baik dari lo, padahal gue sahabat baik yang lo percaya. I was wondering, gue ini kenapa sebenernya? And then I reached a stage that I realized something. I had a romantic feeling for you.

Now thinking back, maybe I was stupid. I don’t even know since when this feeling getting deeper. Maybe I should have told you a long time ago, maybe I should have asked you and stop wondering. Mungkin harusnya gue ngga perlu terlalu lama buat bilang: I loved you Ben. I was in love with you, with so much denial and hesitation.

Gue emang orangnya pengecut. Ngga bisa dan ngga mau jujur sama lo—sama diri sendiri juga, because I think it’ll affect our friendship and both of us become awkward toward each other. I think that it’s not right to be in love with your own best friend. So I kept it myself. Gue emang ngga bodoh-bodoh banget, but I’m not really good when it comes to feeling. I am such a dumbass.

Gue selalu bertanya-tanya tentang semua yang terjadi, tentang lo.

“Lo dulu pernah punya romatic feeling juga ngga ke gue?”

“Lo dulu sering gangguin gue malem-malem kenapa?”

“Kenapa gue ngga jujur dan ngasih tau lo tentang perasaan gue?”

“Kenapa lo ngga pernah tanya?”

I had many moments to tell you what I felt, but I didn’t. Berakhir dengan gue berasumsi bahwa memang lo hanya menganggap gue sahabat lo, hanya hubungan platonic yang menurut gue juga ngga mungkin lo bakal jatuh cinta ke gue.

I was really stupid.

Sampai akhirnya gue open up ke sohib gue, she knew about you. Dia bilang kalau romantic feeling itu wajar dan alami. Lo ngga boleh menolak perasaan itu, even itu perasaan ke temen deket lo.

Gue bodoh—dan gue terlambat sadar. Ngga ada yang bisa gue lakukan selain menerima kenyataan yang telah terjadi dan berusaha bahagia.

Gue berusaha bangkit, embrace the feeling inside me. Mencoba merelakan bahwa bahagia lo ada di orang lain. Mengikhlaskan bahwa gue memang hanya bisa sebatas jadi temen deket lo aja.

Ben, once again, I have no intention to interupt your life for doing this thing. I just wanna confess all of my feeling and release many thoughts I’ve been thinking some time back. I wanna live in peace.

I’m so sorry I didn’t love you properly back then. And it’s such a relief that you didn’t end up with me. You deserved a person better than 24 years old Alma Zenecca that didn’t know how to love and treat the one she love appropriately.

Last but not least, gue pengen berterima kasih atas kehadiran lo di hidup gue. You were such a huge learning process for me. I know you’re a good man, you will be a great husband, partner, and father to your future family. You know, I always wish for your happiness and fulfillness. And of course, you will always get my back. Don’t worry about me, it just the matter of time and I’ll recover. I will be back as a tough and independent woman like I always do.

Doakan gue cepet nyusul lo ya, hehe. You rock, Ben. Happy wedding!

Your stupid best friend,

Alma Zenecca.

And I, no, I don’t mind

This is the last time

That I will show my face

One last tender lie and

Then I’m out of this place — This is the Last Time by Keane

June ‘21

Je

[angelissalivia]

Things I didn’t tell him

first of all, i really really treasure dee’s poem called “spasi”. please go google it.

second of all, i’m not the type who can fall in love easily. and i’m pretty aware of what i want and what i’m capable to do by my own. to put it in another words: i’m independent and i don’t really need men, or other human being, to fulfill my needs -yet. 

you know what i mean? it’s like i can go places that i want by myself, i don’t mind eating alone or even watching movies alone, i have my girl friends to hang out with, i have a pretty decent job and environment, i have my family. i’m pretty much content as per now.

well what i don’t really sure of is, my feelings. spend a lot of time in home makes me have the time to think, or to feel, or to search what’s in there. i came to a realization (or to finally admit) that deep down, i chose him. i always did, i guess.

i remember when we broke up the first time in college, there was actually someone who asked me to be his girlfriend. someone kind, someone i really looked up to. but i rejected him. then couple weeks (or months?) later i found myself gave you a birthday surprise, but then after that i cried in front of my girls, because i felt so stupid giving you those while we were not even in a relationship. haha

i remember those moments because the funny thing is, even after now, after we ended up our relationship years ago, when there are people come and go, and finally there is this someone kind who is brave enough to say that he wants us to be a husband and wife, who surprised me by gave me chocolates on valentine’s day... i found myself drove to somewhere i’ve never been before, through a pretty hell traffic jam, to trans studio cibubur to be precise (mana pake acara nyasar dulu lagi wk), the day after valentine’s day. 

only to met him for less than 2 hours, and then waited for him for the next 2 hours before i finally gave up and went home. i was so confused by myself. bahkan perjalanan PP nya aja lebih lama woy dibanding ketemunyaaa. mau lo apa sih liv gila ya?? hahaha

we are so good by our own. we grow separately and doing just fine without each other. i still think that our broke up 2 year-ish ago was the best decision at the time, that we needed that space, like in dee’s poem. 

but i figured that there are times when i had my milestones reached, i wanted to tell him, i wanted to share the good news, that i finally did something great today. it took me lots of my guts to tell him that i was accepted as cpns last year. i was (still am) SO afraid that he doesn’t care. that he doesn’t impressed by me the way i always impressed by what he achieved, that he doesn’t need me the way i need him, that he doesn’t feel what i feel about us anymore. 

whilst i also figured that, how can he possibly knows all these things if i don’t tell him? because honestly i never told him those stories, i didn’t let him know that there were (are) others but i. chose. him.

i didn’t tell him that after all these years, the first person i was searching for, in those good and bad times, was (is painfully still) him.

[mnovenia]

WAITING FOR MIRACLE TO HAPPEN 

(H-12 or 22? not so sure)

A week has passed since my last post. I did experience A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF FAITH. Never feel that God is as real as these days. And people? They have not been stopped being gracious to me. 

Monday

I hosted Step and her Singaporean friend at my house. I was waiting with a heart full of hope. Sherny came along and cheer us all. They seem interested with my house but our Indonesian law is not beneficial to foreigners. I went to work and suddenly remembered that all Indo bank will be closed from June 23- July 3. Basically I only have 12 days to sell my house, GREAT! I can’t help anymore and so I shared with my brother and father. My Dad said: “Ya kalau belum siap nggak usah dipaksaain La. Kita gak tau rencana Tuhan kalau hrs terpahit pun tetap jalan. Klw gak jadi pun itu juga rencanaNya yg paling baik La. Sabar aja La.”

Hmm, the first person that turned me down and discourage me, is my very own father. Dalem hati sih pengen ngedumel: menurut Papa Tuhan mau yg terpahit buat aku? Boleh gak sih, bantu usaha apa gitu Pa, doain supaya bisa optimist, act like a father... Sedih sih, karena bener-bener cuma papa seorang, yang selama perjalanan ini gak dukung aku.. But it is no surprise, I was just trying to see the good. But I can’t hold my tears at the office, my coworkers noticed and even Pak Suwandi got teary, so they all were trying to cheer me up. Thank you guys, biar gimana pun I know God loves me by giving coworkers like you all.

On the other hand, my brother was so supportive, he encouraged me to keep going and trying different ways in order to sell our house. He said: yang penting biar bisa berangkat dulu, hehe..  Thank you ya Pam, biar gimana pun, kamu adek aku yang baik and we’re siblings forever.

Then I tried to send email to Ms.Ekaterina, the admission office, asking for extension of time because of Libur Lebaran and being honest about the condition of house selling. Within few minutes she replied: I think it’s ok, we can wait until July 10.

TERIMAKASIH YAA TUHAN YESUS, selalu ada miracle di tengah-tengah segala kesulitan ini.. 

At night I met with my LCG Amel, who happened to live in Belgia few years ago, so glad that she told me about basic stuffs that I need (like taking intensive Dutch lesson, how open Dutch people are, etc) and more importantly, she prayed for me afterwards, thank you sis for your support all these time <3

And I texted Dinah, the singaporean ladies about the house -> She read without giving any response. Ah, it’s okay, let’s just keep this thing in prayer, so I prayed on bended knee, crying out to the Lord till my head got so dizzy.

Tuesday

Woke up with dizzy head after long hours of crying. HR officer handed me a reference letter that said: I am moved to take care of Meikarta for a while, which means I can’t stay at the office. Handling so many customers, coworkers, packing and arranging changes of Sole Galore shipment, answering different texts about the house selling, Michelle’s farewell, etc. All I remember is just, it is exhausting. QUESTION: Why does everything happen at the same time? 

People were helping out by sharing on Social Media, etc. I got few responses to, thank you guys, SO MUCH! I mean it! Highlight: Patrick & Fellys (Pak Suwandi’s childrean) called to say thanks for MAP vouchers I gave for their graduation gifts, lucu banget duo Halim ini :D

Wednesday

I was hopeless so I texted Karmila asking if she’s still interested to buy or not. She said: hi shel, sorry baru sempet bales. iya something came up in our business that require us to use the money. so we're gonna postpone to invest for a while. and i know u need it urgent. sorry....

During lifegroup I shared my story with Lydia and Launy, and how it related to the bible passage that we learned, ACTS 19. How God provide Paul through different trips (he stayed for 1 and a half year = my master study HAHA), people that He met, and so on. He is with Paul from the beginning and faithful till he finished the mission God put in his heart.

Post lifegroup I got to talk with Shannen for 5 mins drive, she shared her story about she got in to UPH 3 days before it started, and through a lot of miracles. I said: God, even some things turned me down, at the end of the day you always find me rest at your feet, gaining strength and being hopeful because You are the only one thing that I can hold on to. Thanks for sharing the words that I need Shan!

And before the day passed, Ci Riana texted me: Shel,I wish we can talk after LG, let me know how much u need to pay & by when? Pls dont give up, we'll work some thing out, U hvnt tell me how much? I can help pinjamin sebagian buat sementara, supaya your scholarship ga hangus, meaning u still need find help, aku yg dr dulu pengen see you fulfill your dream.

Yaampun ci, kenapa sih you baik banget.. udah ga ngerti lagi sebenernya what God put in your heart, tapi thank you ya ci for believing in me, even sodara sedarah ku aja gaada yang berniat or nawarin pinjemin ky cici.. you’re so generous, despite of many things yang juga happen to you, tapi cici masih mau pikirin aku.. thank you, wouldn’t make it this far without your support <3

Thursday

Hari biasa, kerja biasa, orang texting2 biasa tanya2 rumah, property agent called and so on. I was so sick because I put so much pressure on my chest and mind. I almost cancelled my meeting with Michelle’s parents, I went back and forth to the bathroom to calm my heart. Udah cape rasanya Tuhan, jawab2in pertanyaan yg uncertain hasilnya, kerja di lapangan, rasanya pengen deh skip this part. But then I still went to have dinner with the Nagels anyway, I felt God’s presence through Mr. David’s prayer. Such a lovely time.

Friday

Masih sama, so far yg texted and interested: temennya Sisca H, ci melissa, ci Irene, temennya fonny, Tansy, Caris, Sandra, temennye Niken, etc. Yang buat janji mau datang: Fenny, temen mama Maureen, dan Syan temen Fonny. Trus out of nowhere, Nongky texted: aku punya penawaran menarik, Sabtu ya aku dateng. Well, let’s see what will happen this weekend *masih edisi lemes* Sambil lembur ngedit video buat Michelle’s farewell the next day (WHY CHELLE WHY YOU LEAVE ME IN TIME LIKE THIS, super sad)

Saturday

Temen mama Maureen ngabarin kalo ga jadi liat rumah, karena ada urusan keluarga, well, sad ilang satu kesempatan, tapi mau gimana lagi. Ok bye! Let’s just have last McD brunch with Michelle.Then we prayed together at my house, then a fun farewell party at Klapa Ijo, Then I went home siap-siap mau ketemu Nongky and Thendra (old faithful friend from UPH yang selalu jadi teman setia buat cerita realita hidup yang pahit, nyampah2 dan juga manis. Ingat, bukan temen foto2 buat Instagram, she’s my REAL friend for life).

Coming all the way from Jakarta to see my house for the first time. I had no idea penawaran menarik macem apa yang mau mereka tawarin, I was just hoping to be a good host at that time. Nongky udah numpang ke WC, muter2 liat rumah until Thendra bilang: yuk kita pergi dinner, sambil kita ngomongin.

Sampe di D’Best kitchen (tempat bersejarah ahaha), ngobrol2 berhadiah trus Thendra bilang: La, jujurnya gw sm Vina itu hidup cukup aja, gak berlebih gak kurang. Tapi kita cuma mau bantu lu, kita mau lu bisa berangka,sekolah, karena lu punya potensi jadi ‘orang’ suatu hari nanti. Gw jujur ya, even sama sodara pun gw ga sepenuhnya bisa percaya, tapi lu udah kita anggep lebih dari saudara. Saat ini lu butuh dana, dan pas dana yang kita punya sejumlah yang lu butuh, kalo lu masih perlu, gw bisa cariin lagi 50-100 juta.

Gw: *bengong, terkejut, ga bisa berkata-kata* meanwhile Nongky cuma diem dan nimpaling dikit-dikit.. ‘jadi systemnya gw balikin dana dan bunganya gimana Then?’

Thendra: tadinya gw mau pinjem KPR buat sisa dana buat beli rumahlu, tp dengan bunga segitu gw prefer cara lain. Of course kita ada hitungan bunga, disesuaikan sm pasar (investor banget, kak), lu bayar kita dari uang sewa rumah, itu aja untuk 2 taun ke depan..

Gw: trus pokoknya ntar gw bayar pake apa?

Thendra: kita ga tau ya apa yang akan terjadi dalam 2 tahun, tp gw yakin, saat lu balik kesini atau saat itu lu stay disana pun, lu akan find a way buat balikin.. sejelek-jeleknya, nanti ya rumah masih bisa dijual.. gw lebih suka invest sama orang yang gw tau, dia bisa gw percaya.. Lu udah kita anggep lebih dari sodara...kita ga mau lu kehilangan asset La, kita tau lu butuh jual, tapi kita coba cari solusinya supaya juga lu tetep bisa pergi tanpa kehilangan asset yang dijual dengan harga BU karena keadaan terdesak begini..tapi ini bisa jadi your last option, lu doa dan gumulin, lu pikirin kalo ini bisa jadi jalan keluar supaya lu tetep bisa pergi ke Belanda.. Selama ini gw liat, masalah keluarga lu selalu holding you back, dari masalah punya pasangan, dsb. Sekarang, mumpung ada kesempatan, kita ga mau liat lu miss out lagi.. Lu juga udah harus start pikirin dan tata masa depan lu sendiri La...

Gw: mewek sejadi-jadinya

Then we chatted about a lot of things, how we’re striving to finance our family, our giving to the church, our jobs, etc. Thendra is so wise in spending money and arrange it for investment, so I said to Nongky: ‘Seneng ya Nong, beban mu satu udah beres, dikasih suami sebaik dan sebijak Thendra, doain aku nemu yang kaya Thendra KW2 nanti HAHAHA.’ Kalian bener-bener pasangan favoritku, adem ayem, gak neko-neko, pekerja keras, fun dan lurus.. Aku yakin Tuhan akan selalu berkenan atas keluarga kecil kalian.. 

Rasanya, ya Tuhan, ini berkat apa lagi, 2 minggu berturut-turut, You made me amazed, dan Tuhan kirimin couple yang dateng jauh-jauh ke rumah cuma untuk aku bisa ngerasain kl Tuhan tuh bener2 sayang, dan bukan hanya gak pernah menelantarkan aku, tapi You gave more than what I deserved, who am I to understand Your way God.. your love is so evident in my life, help me to never forget Your kindness and continue to give you praise for things you entrust me with...

And buat Nongky and Thendra, kalian tuh bener-bener couple malaikat, disaat kalian sibuk dengan kerjaan masing-masing, masih urus anak (bahkan Abrielle sempet muntah-muntah malem itu) dan keluarga besar, tapi sempet-sempetnya talked to each other (nongky nih bener-bner ya, entah dia cerita apa ke suami nya, setiap kita selesai lunch bareng) mikirin jalan keluar gw supaya bisa mencapai cita-cita tapi and at the same time gak kehilangan rumah.. I feel so humbled and honored bisa kenal dan dipercaya sama kalian, eventhough mungkin bener-bener ketemu dan ngobrol sama Thendra gak lebih dari 5x. Belum selesai impressed sama tawarannya, Nongky bilang: aku punya hadiah ni, happy belated birthday *sambil ngeluarin kotak tulisannyaa Hush Puppies*

Gw: ini gila sih, apa lagi coba ya.. ternyata Nongky beliin jam tangan yang sama dengan dia punya, dia dengan gayanya yang khas: ‘jadi kita kembarannnn’.. ‘kan kamu cerita terakhir beli jam udah berapa tahun lalu dan kamu dikasih sm orang tuanya temenmu’.. I was like, ‘ini beneran?’ Thendra, sorry ya ini istrinya malah spend money buat beliin gw jam tangan lagi.. Yaampun, bener-bener deh itu malem penuh keajaiban, penuh kebahagiaan..

At the end sebelum pulang, Thendra pimpin kita doa, dalam doanya dia bilang: Tuhan, kalau memang ini jalan-Mu, untuk Lala pergi lanjut sekolah, kami yakin tidak ada seorang pun yang bisa tutup pintu.. Gw ga bisa beraksi apa-apa lagi, gak cukup rasanya buat bilang terima kasih berkali-kali sama mereka, they deserve the highest honor as my God-sent friends.. I hugged Nongky and thanked her and we both cried.. thank you so much once again, aku ga bakal lupain kebaikan kalian, dan terutama kamu Nong... dibalik gayamu yang cuek itu, you are thoughtful in so many ways.. One day God, I promise you that I will find a way to repay their kindness.. :’))

[4lorne2]

Desire

I find that in conversation, when people ask me about myself in the future, I tend to answer in a detached manner: as if it were someone else. For example, when asked whether or not I believe that I will be able to make a living in the field that I am pursuing, I list all the potential opportunities I might have, but don’t express a strong belief in any particular future.

The reason for this is that I really can’t see myself in the future. I can’t imagine myself doing the jobs that I might qualify for. My personal philosophy is essentially “maybe I can do it”: which is to say I leave options open to see what happens. I don’t commit strongly to anything, and even what I do work towards I tend to do so in half-measures.

Now, society tells me this is a problem. “Give it your all” is the familiar refrain in a plethora of media directed at children, but also by the self-help gurus and life coaches. I have two ways of looking at this. On paper, I have been successful in many of my endeavors, but personally, I have been a frequent outcast. Does it really matter if I’m an outsider? So far I have succeeded in many other aspects of life that don’t involve my personal ingratiation with my peers. I suppose it only matters if I myself want to be closer to other people.

But returning to society, there is another question that goes how willing society is to include outcasts. In a way, I take American individualism to an extreme, beyond American Puritanicalism to a kind of individualism of pure dissensus. If life is a practical art, a socially mediated performance, in some ways it helps to think ones life as an ironic deconstruction of Democratic Ideals. But deconstruction is cold, and ultimately ends in death, and as such, I do not spiral towards it entirely willingly. I want to be part of society to the extent that it will have me, but what I fear with grim disquiet is that society will not have me at all.

Ultimately, the question becomes do I need the coherence found in the certainty of incoherent destruction expressed in an act of critical practice, or put more plainly, do I need to see my life as a “work of art”? Or is there someway to break the metaphorical glass that houses the exhibit and ensures “perfection” without me having to give up on one of the only things I belief in.

I’m incredibly sensitive about belief. In many ways its all I, or any of us have. I have often flirted with outright cynicism, but more so than in recent years I am beginning to lose the kernel of hope that is at the center of my favorite philosophy, Nietzsche and Deleuze. In fact, It has been a somewhat crushing experience listening to the music of Father John Misty. His beautiful album Pure Comedy was just released in which he presents his scathing rebuke of Western Liberalism. To summarize with the use of the first and final songs on the album, human life is “pure comedy, like something that a madman would conceive” ... “but I look at you, as our second drinks arrive. The piano player’s playing this must be the place and its a miracle to be alive, one more time.” Evoking the squeals of gleeful children demanding another turn, for FJM it’s the companionship and the fulfillment of his desires that make it all worth it. “Play it again Sam.” However, FJM’s nod to the eternal return is predicated on a fulfilled desire that I struggle to believe in.

After watching the film 20th Century Women (2016), I discussed with my parents the ways in which I felt the film worked towards establishing a re-conception of masculinity for the 21st century. There’s a character in film played by Billy Crudup, who despite being the one man living with Annette Benning, is the only one who is not asked to help her son played by Lucas Jade Zumann become a man. Crudup’s character is not quite self-sufficient, relying on Benning’s hospitality, but he is thoroughly independent and largely ignored by the women who live in the house. Crudup is an island, he’s stable and dependable, but also boring and predictable. Ultimately, in his favor, he is sensitive and kind and that seems to be enough. Women come to visit and they leave just as suddenly, but he keeps going, and he’ll remain a kind of constant, even after he starts his own pottery store and marry’s two time (the ending ascribed to him via voice over). I said to my parents that so much of society, and patriarchal society especially, has functioned through the commodification, exchange, and possession of women. From Marcel Maus’s accounts of the bond that formed early societies in The Gift (the gift is a bride, of course) all the way to sexual objectification of women in contemporary media, women’s bodies and agency have been disciplined through socially constructed economies of desire. 

We have a somewhat rosy picture of desire, often celebrating it and brushing aside its dark side, but a history of patriarchy informs us that desire is a force that is done to others against their will (or to the detriment of their potential agency) as much as it is someone else’s ability to exercise their will. I am dubious that what I might think of as “my desires” are truly mine, and don’t belong to something I want no part of, but regardless, “my desires” are not free of consequence to others any more than my ability to fulfill said desires is guaranteed. You might try to reassure me, ‘you as just one person can’t do anything about the restrictive structures of gender and the demands they place upon our bodies. You can’t deny that you have inherited our cultural lust for the female body, just follow it, try it, it will make you happy and feel fulfilled.” And while I would agree that many many many many times I have wanted to “try it,” I don’t believe in it. These desires don’t give me hope. Ultimately, whether it is my insistence on countering the imposition of desire onto women’s bodies, or merely that I’ve lived too long without it happening, each and every day my  belief in the satisfaction of my sexual desires gets more untenable.

Upon hearing what I had to say about Crudup’s character, my dad asked me, what about a geeky guy, a guy who women don’t seek out. I told him that that’s me, and that what happens is that they are alone on their island. My dad said that that was sad and that he hoped I didn’t feel like I had to hold myself to that, but unfortunately, that is more the way I feel everyday. Being alone for my principles is ultimately the only price left to pay. I may not believe in the ability to adequately address my sexual desires, whether practically or conceptually, but I do believe in desire. In A Thousand Plateaus, Gilles Deleuze describes desire not as a lack that needs to be filled, but as a force that is satisfied with itself and does not depend on any concrete end or external means. I’ve felt this kind of desire before, and while it pains me that in my life it is more frequently associated with media constructions than with warm bodies, ultimately I take some solace in Deleuze, who never puts one “Plateau” of pleasure above any other, and thus never dictates the forms in which may flow. This is the image of desire that I believe in and that I have only rarely found this desire in my interactions with other people, I find it in other places and it at least gives me something to believe in. 

If I insisted on exploring these desires and their relations to other people, I begin to enter into actions that I can’t intellectually reconcile. I think that despite all my knowledge, all my sensitivity, and all my desire to contribute something to this world that I am sexist and a mysogynist. That I objectify women and objectify myself. As it relates to myself, as I said above, my belief is in my life as a snow globe or an exhibition. But I’m a person and even intellectually I can accept at some level that I can’t protect myself if I don’t want to be alone. But when I think about letting down these walls I remember that I’m no better than any other man and my desire would just be a burden placed upon someone else. 

I started looking at pornography when I was middle school, maybe 5th or 6th grade, which would mean when i was about 11 or 12 years old. I learned to masturbate from porn, although my dad did tell me what masturbation was first. I though the men were peeing on the women until I saw that the pee was white. I also remember some pleasurable friction applied to my penis on my own before I knew what would happen, but I had never followed that through to the point of climax, if it had even been possible. I distinctly remember seeing anal porn very young. I looked at cartoon porn often as well. I went through phases with what kind of pornography I was interested in, but at a certain point as I gradually moved through categories I got into rougher and more humiliating kind of pornography. I have watched what is called “facefucking” pornography primarily for several years. It’s distinct from “oral sex,” “blow jobs” or even “deep throating” because the man is the one thrusting into the woman mouth, rather than the woman performing oral sex on him. It seems evident that this kind of pornography is pretty darn dehumanizing. Treating a woman’s mouth as a sexual orifice to be penetrated is certainly transgressive, but it also distinctly eliminates the woman’s pleasure from the act of sex and robs her of the agency afforded to her as the active performer of the “blow job.” But it actually gets much worse. Not only is the woman stripped of her agency and her pleasure removed from the sexual scenario, in fact the woman’s displeasure becomes necessary to the mans pleasure. Clearly it is infused with S+M tendencies, and I did actually begin watching bondage porn through my watching of facefucking porn, but there’s something distinct about the woman’s discomfort in facefucking that remains particularly arousing. (In bondage, I do respond to restraints, as in the girl is restrained in uncomfortable positions, but a huge part of bondage is spanking, whipping, and otherwise hurting women which is not something I respond too outside of the context of penetrations. Hair pulling or slapping during penetration on the other hand is a turn on, as is forceful sex in general) Beyond mere oral penetration, one of the focuses of this kind of pornography is on gagging, and act that I can attest to as being quite unpleasant if a history of stomach bugs and vomiting are anything to go on. As the scene progresses, the woman’s eyes begin to tear, her make-up starts to run, her hair becomes disheveled: the elements composing her feminine mask start to dissolve and the act of sex is that which can alter and transform appearances. This happens even more graphically in what has been standardized as the most frequently employed face-fucking position, in which the women lies upside down on a bed or a couch with her leg up in the air and her head hanging down just beyond the edge of the bed. In this position the man who stands at the edge of the bed/sofa has the greatest amount of leverage over the act of penetration, especially if he takes the back of her head with his hand in order to push her head up into the downwards penetration. Not only does this position put the man in the position to penetrate further into the woman’s throat with more control of her body, it also is the position which is most conducive to the inevitable spittle and potential vomit that can occur from this kind of penetration. In this position, the woman’s spit/vomit is only able to travel in one direction, which is straight up her face to dangle in beads off her hair and forehead. This only further contributes to the disfiguring effects of facefucking in any other position. Going even further, some pornographers specifically attempt to make the woman vomit so as to cover her face and their penis in vomit and then force them to continue felating them. (I’m less into it, it seems to be more like scat porn or waterspouts, i.e. urine, but it can be a part of very arousing facefucking). Ultimately this position take on a kind of goal in which the man attempts to enter the woman’s throat as deeply as possible and remain there until she gags, forcing her to expel her spit and his penis. It can get pretty degrading, especially when the man forces the woman to gag on his penis so that she is essentially leaking spit down her face while keeping his penis in her throat.

I’ve tried to be as specific about this as possible, and while it is graphic, its something that I feel like I could never tell anyone about, so its good to tell it to the keyboard and maybe I’ll be able to share this with them at some point. I went into such detail, because although I do watch other kinds of porn, facefucking is the most arousing/most difficult to reconcile for me by far. 

Obviously S+M is a somewhat accepted thing, and generally people are fairly accepting of other people’s sexualities, especially when those desires are not directed towards them, but there is something about my desires that I have always found painful and difficult to reconcile. It leads me into association with people I disagree with, who are proud of themselves and their belief that there is no harm in objectifying women. I also have to contend with the idea of rape and the semblance that my mysoginy would make me a potential rapist. Even though I would insist that rape is indefensible and rapist belong in jail, I find simulated rape arousing and I don’t really know a good way to deal with that. I guess that’s just something that you don’t tell other people, but it is the truth. And beyond that, what’s also true is that I don’t know what having sex with a woman would be like. Would I want to do all these things that I watch in porn? Would I be unable to get aroused by “regular intimacy?” Is my desire culturally wired and it’s too late for me to have anything else? As if there weren’t enough obstacles standing in between myself and intimacy, the entire question of my desire and what forms it might take as something unpleasant and wrong in some way makes it really hard for my desire to take me towards intimacy. It seems instead that through my desires, I actually get further away from intimacy and that feels a lot like being broken. That feels like something that’s going to prevent me from having relationships. And although I guess someone else could accept all these things about me, would they really want to? and perhaps more paralyzing, how could I even go about telling them?

[theonyxpath]

This week is a real hodgepodge of notes, which is pretty much just like our meeting today. A bunch of folks are under the weather – but still must attend! – and the rest of us tried to hit all the news we had pretty rapidly. So, we went over a lot of things, but there was no main topic.

So that’s what you’re all getting today, too!

Hunter: The Vigil 2e art by Tilen Javornik

We received our OK from WW/Paradox today for the Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition Kickstarter! WOOT! Looks like February the 6th at the classic 2pm EST is when our Vigil starts!

A reminder, since we continue to get questions, primarily about V5 Chicago By Night, that we are mostly doing Kickstarters to enable us to do an extra-good quality book and overprint the copies so we can get that game book into stores.

Tell your local retailer! Ask them to order our books from their distributor.

Speaking of Chicago by Night, just a note here to let folks know that, yes, we are aware that our non-US fulfillment shipper made an error and mislabeled a bunch of reward packages as boardgames. James addressed the issue in an Update to backers, so if you find further problems, please let James know via the KS message creator system so he is aware and can work to fix it.

But beyond that, I’ve been told that the backer packages will all be out at latest this week, so that opens the stage for Chicago to appear in stores in February, including the PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG. Next, the Dystopia Rising: Evolution and Geist 2e KS reward packages will go out in February, and should appear in stores in the following months.

Dystopia Rising: Evolution art by Sam Denmark

Veering wildly in a different direction, just a bit of a teaser to let you know that Eddy, Ian, Danielle, and myself are working on a secret Trinity Continuum: Adventure! lead-in project! If you remember, we did an TC: Aberrant webcomic leading up to it’s KS, so we think we’ve found a fun way to do a similar but different lead-in for TC: Adventure!.

For our Storypath Nexus Community Content site, we’re getting tons of submissions, and just ran into a problem we hadn’t anticipated. The Nexus is the first our our community content sites to contain multiple different gamelines (right now it’s Scion and the Trinity Continuum, but soon will include DRE and They Came From Beneath the Sea!), with very different themes and motifs. We realized that we need to be sure our community content creators don’t use material intended for one line in another.

This is a big deal art-wise, as both our illustrations and design elements are very specifically created to create a feel for a particular line, and we need that “brand identity” maintained. So Mighty Matt is going to underline in the Nexus “rules” the importance of creators not pulling images from one line into another.

We talked about being ready to release the first of the Yugman’s Guides to Ghelpad for the Scarred Lands line as the first of six bi-monthly PDF releases. Once these are all released, we’ll combine them into a single book with PDF and PoD versions. We learned a lot from the last couple of years’ worth of monthly Exalted releases (which are now over, and being finished and combined) and are applying that knowledge to this.

Yugman’s Guide art by Aaron Riley

Also, leap-frogging with Yugman’s, will be the Vigil Watch series of PDFs detailing the wild and the weird places around the Scarred Lands. So every month for the next year, we got yer Scarred Lands right here!

We talked about another secret project, but I never mentioned that here.

Discussions are being had for our Twitch 2.0 plans – basically we’re looking at more ways to provide more and cooler content on our wildly successful Twitch channel. Matthew and Travis Legge are forging this new plan, even as you read this! And until that happens, please check out the sched of our current stuff down in the Media section below, now with keen new Graphic! version!

We also talked about They Came From Beneath the Sea! and the next game in the series, They Came From Beyond the Grave!. I think getting TCFBtS! actual plays into streaming is vital, so I’m pushing for more of that in Twitch 2.0. The Terrific Trio of the Onyx Pathcast actually did a deep-dive into They Came From Beneath the Sea! on last week’s Pathcast, so take a listen on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue to find out all the steps Matthew went through in creating the game!

It is surprisingly in-depth (I can vouch for that, having been there for most of the creation process), even when the gang veer off into Vampire vs Twilight heated discussions.

And last but not least important, we discussed continuing to raise the pay rates for our creators, and how to best make that happen as we enter 2020. Hard to believe we are almost through the first month of this year already! But there you go: time flies when you do what you love and are making:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Next on Kickstarter, we are looking at Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition for Chronicles of Darkness starting at 2pm EST on February 6th!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview with famed writer and bon-vivant Leath Sheales! Check it out direct on Podbean, or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

A bulging schedule on Twitch this week with Vampire, Chronicles of Darkness, Pugmire, even more Vampire, Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Changeling: The Lost, Changeling: The Dreaming, Mage: The Awakening, and a special Eddy Webb Development Workshop video that will be of interest to fans and writers alike!

Or, in the new Graphics! version:

As ever, subscribe to our channel over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath

Our YouTube channel continues filling up with content, including the Onyx Path News! Do stay subscribed to youtube.com/user/theonyxpath to catch the news when it comes out live!

Occultists Anonymous get a little experimental this week with a how-to guide for building Mage: The Awakening legacies. Level Up Your Game – Making Mage Legacies: https://youtu.be/p7R6nmTzZ_g

The Primogen released a video previewing some of the upcoming content in Chicago Folios, which you can find right here: https://youtu.be/2JMV_VJrjwQ Do give him a subscribe!

Red Moon Roleplaying continue their actual play of V5 Cults of the Blood Gods, on their YouTube channel, Spotify, their website redmoonroleplaying.com and everywhere else good podcasts might be found! https://youtu.be/DeQfWH-EVD0

The Story Told Podcast have concluded the first act of their Exalted: Dragon-Blooded chronicle, the last episode of which can be found right here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-23

The excellently-named Keeper of the Archive has assembled a triple bill for Trinity fans, as he has videos right here on the following: The Trinity Core: https://youtu.be/3-MkRv7z37s

ÆON: https://youtu.be/CMRBAEGnHfE

The Storypath System: https://youtu.be/RJgN6sGr0CQ

Do check them out and give them a like and his channel a subscribe! 

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.)

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!

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

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we will be releasing the first of our bi-monthly PDF releases of Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad for the Scarred Lands on DTRPG! Collect them all!

Conventions!

More conventions will be listed for 2020 in the weeks to come-

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)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

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

Duke Rollo fiction (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

RUST (Working Title) (Scarred Lands)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Redlines

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

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

Second Draft

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

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

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

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

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

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

Editing

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

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

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

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

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

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

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

Post-Editing Development

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

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

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

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

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

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

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

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

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

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e – All KS art is in.

Ex3 Lunars – Art is in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – LeBlanc working on finals.

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Finals should be in end of month, lining up layout artist.

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Mummy 2

City of the Towered Tombs – Recontracted.

Let the Streets Run Red

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Contracted.

Deviant

Legendlore (KS) – Starting to gather art needs for KS.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS) – KS finals coming in.

Scion Companion – Working on art notes for that with Meredith.

TC: Aeon Terra Firma – Getting that rolling out.

In Layout

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Travis doing the layout on this.

Pirates of Pugmire – With Aileen.

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – First installment this week.

Scion Mythical Denizens – In proofing but need some full page art to come in.

Contagion Chronicle – Getting files together for Josh.

Vigil Watch – Going over layout proofs.

Proofing

Dark Eras 2 – Backer PDF out to backers, errata coming in.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Backer PDF out to backers, errata wrapping up.

VtR Spilled Blood – At WW.

Chicago Folio – Awaiting 2nd proof corrections.

Wraith20 Anthology – At WW.

At Press

V5: Chicago – Shipping to backers.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – At fulfillment shippers.

Geist 2e Screen – Shipping to fulfillment shippers.

DR:E – At fulfillment shippers.

DRE Screen – Shipping to fulfillment shippers.

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

Memento Mori – Awaiting errata for input.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Ending evil of that magnitude, freeing those who lost so much and were so brutally abused and dehumanized, that is truly something to celebrate. The crimes against humanity committed there and at the other camps will echo through time as a warning that we must listen to; a warning to be aware that people, not supernatural monsters, can do acts of such terrible evil. Never forget.

[theonyxpath]

A comment in the comments section, of all things, basically asked why every time they look here lately there’s dogs all over the place. The art samples have dogs in them, the Kickstarter news is about the dog card game. Dogs, dogs, dogs!

Part of that is, of course, coincidence or a coming together of multiple projects for a line with three Kickstarters and a bunch of projects which came out of those KS Stretch Goals. And it helps that Eddy Webb is the kind of developer who pushes to get projects finished as close to estimate, and sometimes earlier, as possible.

So, woof, woof, woof go the dogs.

In a week or so, maybe it’ll seem like only WoD books are mentioned, or CofD, or Exalted. And so on. It’s all pretty much coincidence as to how books of a particular setting come out together, as we have projects from all of our “worlds” going at all times at different stages of creation, and a lot depends on which projects you’re waiting for.

This also applies to Kickstarter news when you don’t back Kickstarters, or Onyx Pathcast news when you don’t listen to podcasts, or convention info and our plans for FangCon 2019 when you can’t get to the convention.

So for this blog, I try to mix the things I mention and art I put up to give a bit of a taste of as many game worlds and activities we’re doing as I can so that I’m touching on something, I hope, that is relevant to YOU. But, if coincidence gives me mostly Exalted stuff that week, I’m mostly going to be relaying that, with a mix of other things if I have other things on my radar to share.

No Marketing department, no professional writer here – just your dear old Uncle Rich and whatever we’ve discussed during the Monday Meeting.

(Which reminds me, not only is last week’s Onyx Pathcast a great inside look at the way we conceive, create, and publish our projects, but this Friday yours truly is grilled by Dixie and Matthew for a very special episode. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll learn secrets of the early days of White Wolf right into Onyx Path.)

    Wraith 20th Handbook of the Recently Deceased art by Michael Gaydos

  Which means, it’s time for some quick topic hits:

In a similar conversation to the one above, there was a poster that remarked how the first mention of Pugmire made him wonder just what Onyx Path was turning into. Then, he dug into the background of Pugmire and realized there was a lot more to it than a funny animal TTRPG.

My response must be that we aren’t turning into anything different than we’ve always been on track to be: a publisher who creates amazing and engaging worlds for folks to explore. And that the poster was dead-on right to identify that one of the threads that combine all of our projects is that there are depths built into our worlds that reward players who look into them.

Some of that is a heritage from old White Wolf we’ve been fortunate to bring to the fore, and use as models for what works and what doesn’t, and part of the depth is built in by our amazing creative teams who know they can do that kind of game and world building with us.

    Monarchies of Mau art by Pat McEvoy

    We’ve been having other great conversations on our Onyx Path Publishing Discussion Group on Facebook, which you might be able to get to through this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/419273928504341/ I haven’t had a chance to join in to the discussions yet, but hope to very soon.

    Boggans art by Brian LeBlanc

    I haven’t been able to jump in because these last couple of months have been a combination of working up and with contracts for new projects and licenses, putting in pitches for projects, and getting Changing 20th, Prince’s Gambit, and soon, V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary Kickstarter rewards out to backers. It’s a bit of an endurance challenge, so I’m lucky to have maxed out Fortitude.

Plus, I’m trying to keep up the communication with backers for the Scarred Lands Kickstarter that the late Stewart Wieck had started for our two companies, while representatives for his company, Nocturnal Media, work to get the KS fulfilled and shipped. So, four KSs shipping around a month from each other.

The flip-side is…we’re getting out four KSs’ rewards to our backers!

    Nerma Fetch Quest Stretch Goal card.

    Finally, I think I might have mentioned this before, but one of my working methods when creating a new setting, or establishing an overall art “look” for a project, is to take what Allen Moore calls a “high altitude pass” and gather all sorts of reference material and sift through it without trying to force any sort of viewpoint over it.

For visuals, this is very often seeing what registers as “right”. What feels like the sort of feeling we want the setting to give players. Although we can pull huge amounts of story from an illustration (picture=1K words), very often a far more lasting impression comes from the viewer’s emotional reaction. I’ve been doing this pass for Aberrant for about 3 months now, and we’re getting to the decision point on creating an artist list, and actually further back for when I did the initial designs for all four Trinity Continuum main books.

Right now though, I’m reading through a collection of 1950’s EC Weird Science comics in preparation for establishing the art for They Came From Beneath the Sea!. Developer Matthew Dawkins and I already have a strong idea overall based on the films of the time and some TV, but in a lot of ways looking at illustration when thinking about kinds of illustrations is actually more directly what I need.

Not going to go too far into the history of EC right now, although I could and it is a fascinating tale of the rise and fall of a publisher, but suffice to say that their comics were a gigantic influence on both the comics that came after, and on the generation of creators who wrote science fiction in all media (including TTRPGs) for decades to come.

So I get to read comics collections as part of my job. It is tough. But it’s what ya gotta do in order to explore:

Many Worlds, One Path!

    BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Fetch Quest, the adventure card game set in the Realms of Pugmire went live last Tuesday, May 22 and funded in under a day, and now we’re over 250% funded and have added a group of six cats from the Monarchies of Mau to the game as alternative adventurers via Stretch Goals!

This is definitely a game that needs to be spread by word of mouth, so please let your friends and family know about this game of good dogs (and cats!) out to fetch what Man has left behind!

      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 week, we’ll be releasing a cornucopia of merchandise and other items on Wednesday!

  This is our monthly release week for our ongoing series of PDF releases for Exalted 3rd Edition, and we have the Barrow Hound and Devilstone for Hundred Devil’s Night Parade www.drivethrurpg.com/product/242687, and Iron Siaka for Adversaries of the Righteous http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/242686 on DTRPG.com!

      CONVENTIONS!

Prep is also 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)

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

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

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Dog and Cat Ready Made Characters (Monarchies of Mau)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

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

  Redlines

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

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

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

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

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

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

  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!)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

  WW Manuscript Approval:

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

  Editing:

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 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)

  Indexing:

Wraith 20

Cavaliers of Mars

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero – Last art notes and contracts sent.

Trinity Continuum 

Geist 2e

The Realm

M20 Gods and Monsters

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – Wave 2 art in progress

Promethean Night Horrors: The Tormented – Sending out Artnotes and Contracts.

  Marketing Stuff

Storyteller System Brochure

Posters and Displays

Gen Con Cards

  In Layout

Wraith 20 Screen – I’ll pull this together this week.

Fetch Quest – Putting together the Mau Pioneer card previews.

EX3 Dragon Blooded – Firming up layout and tweaking some backgrounds.

  Proofing

Scion Origin – PDF almost ready for in-Onyx review.

Changeling: the Lost 2 – Meghan has the proof.

  At Press

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary & Beckett Screen & V20 Dice – At fulfillment shipper, prepping for KS ship-out. Shipping addresses to be locked down on Wednesday.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – Shipping from fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.

Prince’s Gambit – Shipping from fulfillment shipper.

Scion Dice – At fulfillment shipper.

Cavaliers of Mars – Errata input on Backer PDF, now to Indexing.

Boggans – PoD files uploading.

Monarchies of Mau – Errata gathering on Backer PDF.

Wr20 Guide for Newly Departed – Backer PDF should go out to backers this week.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon). A year later in 1784, Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated). In the future, people of all genders are able to fly in balloons and zeppelins to work and to visit friends, at least if any pulp setting ever can be believed!

[theonyxpath]

Like I mentioned last week, we’re off this week until the new year, or New Year, so here are a collection from a bunch of our Onyx Path crew thinking back on the year that was.

From Mirthful Mike Chaney, art director and graphic designer and the cursing, cantankerous, combustible, engine that keeps Onyx Path going:

The Goodz:

Pugmire is not only out but being well received. We delivered a beautiful book to the backers and marketplace… and I think we got it out ahead of schedule as well… despite making 60+ corrections at the press proof (again, sorry about that Rich).

We successfully KS’d two non WW related IPs this year… Monarchies of Mau and Cavs of Mars.

Exalted is moving again. We have delivered a dozen critters… some NPCs… a Jumpstart and the first real supplement to fans (although the PoD version will hit in 2018).

We wrapped up a couple of lingering KS’s … namely V20 Dark Ages and Book of the Wyrm.

I survived making Beckett’s Jyhad Diary.

We successfully KS’d our first CofD 2e line… and it did really well. CTL 2e outdid every CofD KS that has come before… and that gives me hope that HtV2 will also do well this year.

The Badz:

Losing Stew. Still having trouble really processing that one.

Artist losses earlier in the year. We ended up losing a chunk of non WoD/CofD artists in Q1 and Q2. None of it was our fault… some artists went onto bigger and better projects (which is a good thing). Then we had those who decided that they wanted double their original rate… 

From Monica Valentinelli, our marketing consultant par excellence and an outstanding freelance writer and developer:

2017 was significant for OP because this was the first year we released a creator-owned game, Pugmire, while focusing on delivering what we promised via our Kickstarters. We were also able to strengthen our partnership with White Wolf, and Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is one title that is representative of that collaborative effort. This year we also met a lot of new fans who’d never heard of Onyx Path before, and because we planned for bigger outreach with our expanded catalog this year we were able to quickly get the word out about what we do. That, coupled with new additions to our staff, means we’ve been able to adapt and take advantage new opportunities more quickly than we could have with fewer people. It was definitely a year of both change and growth, and we take the lessons we’ve learned to plan for 2018.

Fast Eddy Webb, Pugmire creator and our “Develop-At-Large”, and the guy that kept White Wolf alive through the CCP years, has some thoughts:

Wow. 2017 has been a rollercoaster ride of emotion, in both the worst and best ways possible. On a personal level, it’s been a chaotic year. Two international moves (one from the US to Ireland, and one back) hammered at my zen like a stubborn nail in a plank of wood. As much as we loved living in the Republic of Ireland, it was clear that now isn’t the right time for us as a family to make that move, which is why we’re now back in the States. Further, we lost our beloved Murray (inspiration for Senechal Murra of Pugmire) to a heart attack in late September. I’m writing this months later, and I still sometimes have nightmares about that night. I still miss him terribly.

It hasn’t been all doom and gloom, however. For one thing, living in Europe for six months was amazing. I got the chance to meet a number of Irish fans and peers while I was here and at conventions like Gaelcon. Further, I reconnected with my English friends at Dragonmeet in Hammersmith, London. I visited some amazing places during my time here, and picked up some idioms that will probably stay lodged in my vocabulary for years. Oh, and I gained an appreciation for Jameson and Smithwick’s.

But most of all, 2017 was the year when Pugmire went from being a thing in my head to a real, serious product line. The RPG came out on time in both PDF and physical copies, and it has already got a lot of positive comments at Gen Con and PAX Unplugged. More people asked for my autograph and my picture at this years Gen Con than in the past five years combined. Plus I got to hear so many great stories about people’s dogs — it’s like hearing about your character, but with dogs, which makes it better.

And we laid the groundwork for a great 2018. Everything from small-but-important strategic projects (like the Pugmire jumpstart) to big-and-exciting releases (like the Canis Minor community content program) will really help take Pugmire to the next step. Plus we’re hard at work on adding to the world of Pugmire, with products such as Monarchies of Mau and Fetch Quest.

Finally, I’ve been laying the groundwork for a new edition of a beloved game next year… but that’s a conversation for another time. (Here’s a hint, though: It’s not a game Onyx Path has ever published before!)

Yes, 2017 was a rollercoaster of emotion. Obviously, the loss of Murray and the stress of two major moves hit me and my family hard. But we know deep down that Murray and all of his friends continue to live on in the kingdom of Pugmire. And knowing that the game he inspired has reached so many hearts besides mine means the world to me. For that, I’ll always remember 2017 as the year when I truly understood what Pugmire could be.

Here’s Mighty Matt McElroy, our Operations Manager as well as an encyclopedia of WoD knowledge, and a maestro of RPG biz insider info:

2017 was my first year full time with Onyx Path, although I’d been a freelancer as a developer, editor, writer, and a few other things ever since OPP started. It has been quite a year. We launched several Kickstarters, continued our efforts to release at least one new product every Wednesday, attended a lot of conventions (more on that later) and have big things planned for next year. Some highlights:

Pugmire and Cavaliers of Mars:

I might be a bit biased as these are new games from Onyx Path, but I’m really excited we released Pugmire and had a great kickstarter for Cavaliers of Mars this year. Great games designed by awesome people.

Conventions:

Onyx Path went to more conventions this year than any year previously. Our year always starts with a great time at Midwinter Gaming Convention in Milwaukee, WI. We had a huge booth with White Wolf at Gen Con 50, and then again we shared space with them at PAX Unplugged last month. We also dropped by GameHoleCon for the first time this year with lots of Scarred Lands, Exalted, and Pugmire demos.

We’re reviewing and revising our convention strategy for the team and likely making some changes based on how this year’s shows went (so be sure to let us know what your favorite conventions are).

And finally, just myself, your fearless leader, RichT:

2017 was very much a transitional year for Onyx Path. We had planned out a five-year plan and 2016 was our sixth year of publishing, so we started adjusting what we were doing and with who. We no longer needed to be the heralds refuting that “White Wolf Is Dead!”, as the newly formed White Wolf was already letting people know that they were around.

We instead were able to start focusing our message on the amazing worlds we’re creating projects for; the WW licensed games of WoD, Chronicles of Darkness, and Exalted, our creator-owned game lines of Pugmire and Cavaliers of Mars, and our own settings of Scion and the Trinity Continuum, as well as our newest game: They Came From Beneath the Sea! All three powered by our new Storypath System.

We adopted the motto of “Many Worlds, One Path“, and it’s true!

We actually went light on Kickstarters in 2017, really just ones that extended the kinds of projects we can do because  it was important to stretch that capability, but concentrated on fulfilling as many of the KSs we had already run as possible. We also extended our reach into Amazon with our fiction waves, and into the Apple and Google stores with the Onyx Dice Rolling App.

Pugmire led the way into selling our books in stores for the first time, and we started a relationship with Studio2 to make that happen in a way that makes sense for us, not just to get into stores willy-nilly.

Internally, we saw some developers leave for various reasons, and new devs step up and handle things, while we began to work with Eddy as a full-time freelance developer who could help out any dev that needed a hand. Which he did, in order to get several projects moved forward. Jammin’ James Bell was brought on to run our Kickstarters, and trained up fantastically in 2017 in preparation for a strong raft of KSs in 2018.

Beyond the business strategies, it was a tough year for everyone and a lot of our creative teams struggled with creating excellent projects while being buffeted left and right by the winds of life (and social media). Onyx just tried to stay on course, not get get overwhelmed by, oh, everything going on in the real world and even our unreal world of tabletop gaming, and to avoid getting embroiled in internet conflict.

I’d like to think we did well, and that we’re sailing into 2018 stronger and better set up to create awesome new projects than we were this time last year. There’s some things I would have liked to have done better, but I’ll tackle those items in a post after the New Year.

Thanks everyone for facing front like the true-believers that you all are, because we just can not do what we do without all of you…I’ll talk to you next year!