#on a different note- hopefully i can release the official designs soon because i got all my slots filled!!! huge thanks to everyone who's

[the-otleus-parlor-archived]

Coming soon: Theater of Darkness

[illfoandillfie]

Hi again, I’m the one that requested about the romantic soulmate and when will it come and yes, please can you tell me more about them? I asked if I’d ever meet them because sometimes it feels like it won’t happen so I’m more like I could wait forever as long as they get here you know? But if you could tell me more, I’d be grateful. Also yes, I know that you can’t give me a specific time but I wonder more like if it’s in the near future or later on in life. Again, thank you💕

This was fun! Hopefully some of this will make sense, even if it’s not straight away lmao if you have any more questions or theres anything else you’re curious about let me know and i’ll see if any of my decks can give us some clues!

So to start I drew 4 attribute cards to try and get a sense of this person’s personality. Each archetype has light and shadow attributes, though it doesn’t necessarily mean all of them will be exhibited. More that they are negative aspects that this person has the potential to fall into (eg: just because the shadow attribute of trickster talks about manipulating others, it doesn’t mean this person is going to be overtly manipulative of you. but they might be good at playing the system to benefit themselves or something like that)

We got:

Trickster - Light attribute: Transcending convention, stuffiness and predictable behaviour / Shadow atrribute: Manipulating others through duplicity

Mentor - Light attribute: Passing on wisdom and refining a student’s character / Shadow attribute - Inability to allow the student to move on to the role of Master. Imparting false instruction

Exorcist - Light attribute: Freeing yourself and others of destructive impulses / Shadow attribute - Fear of facing your own demons 

Visionary - Light attributes - Capacity to envision what is not yet conceivable to others. Willingness to proclaim a vision without regard for personal gain. / Shadow attributes - Selling insights to the highest bidder. Compromising your vision to make it more acceptable.

So from these it seems this person will be a little outside the box, maybe they have a particular style of dress which is unusual or a special interest/hobby that is a bit odd. With both mentor and exorcist they may have a background in teaching or social work - even if they are no longer on that path. It might not even be an official degree they have, they might just be particularly aware of the system, maybe they know someone who benefits from AA meetings something like that. It could be as simple as them tutoring school/uni/college students. With the visionary archetype it seems they’d be a bit of a dreamer, probably a creative thinker.

Next thing i did was draw some letters and charms to try and get some more info on what they’re like.

For the letters we got D, E, I, F, R, L, I, O, P - there may be initials in here. with the two Is it might mean this person has double letters in their name. There might also be other words in here to describe them. 

I know I’m seeing DILF lmao but also Pride (so maybe they’re lgbt or just proud of who they are/what they have accomplished), Pie (maybe the like to bake?), Leo and fire (so maybe they’re a leo or a fire sign or have a fire dominated natal chart)

have a look what words jump out at you as well and see how you might be able to connect them (i can’t see any names in there but im notoriously bad at anagram things so maybe you can)

As for the charms:

The world on the dice and the eiffel tower both suggest overseas travel, so this person might be well traveled or they might have a specific connection to France. 

The shell could represent a connection to the sea or the beach. In dream interpretations shells have a few meanings. They can represent having a hard exterior but being soft on the outside so this person might come across as cold or closed off until you get to know them better. Shells can also be a symbol of wanting protection so it might be that this person has a defensive streak or they are very protective of those they love. Shells are also connected with the goddess Venus and so are seen as signs of sexual pleasure. 

words you got here are freedom, sassy and reach(ing) - freedom i think definitely makes sense with the trickster archetype above and maybe the visionary one as well. 

You also got the Make Poverty History badge so this person may donate money or time to a charity (or multiple charities). The badge also says Stand Up And Be Counted so it might represent this person being outspoken, especially about things that are important to them. 

The hand charm reminds me of the Hamsa symbol, even though theres no eye on the palm. the Hamsa is a symbol of protection or warding off evil. Aside from that, open palmed hands can be a symbol of open communication, so that is definitely a good sign. In dreams palms can also indicate a chance meeting with a stranger who may become a romantic partner so that just ties into what i said in the previous reading about you not having met them yet. 

And finally we have 2 different scissor charms. To me this represents sharp - sharp wit, sharp mind, sharply dressed. But scissors can also be a sign of decisiveness, or of a fear of being cut off for something. This person is likely the sort who knows what they want and will go after it. Once they make a decision they stick with it. And once they meet you, they’re not going to want to leave you. 

To try and get some more info on how you’ll meet I drew some tarot cards. 

7 of pentacles, 10 of pentacles, king of pentacles, 7 of wands, the tower, ace of pentacles.

Look at all those motherfucking pentacles. Just like I said in the previous reading, this definitely has something to do with work. With the king of pents there in the middle I’m inclined to say this person may work at the same place as you, maybe in a managerial role or at least someone higher up the chain than you. Or maybe they just have more experience in the role than you do. 

The last few cards are the most interesting. The 7 of wands is a card of conflict or struggles though it doesn’t necessarily have to be negative. It can represent standing your ground or defending yourself or others. The tower is a sign of dramatic and unexpected change, often negative. I pulled a clarifying card for it as well, to see if we could get some info on what this tower moment is and i got the ace of pentacles. The ace of pents is about new opportunities, especially related to money or work.

To me this says something is going to happen that will cause a dramatic change to your work. Now, I can see this going either two way. At it’s most negative this is a conflict, maybe with someone you work with, maybe just the work environment itself. Maybe it’s one of those things where every day becomes a struggle and you start to hate your job and you dont want to be there anymore. This leads to the tower moment of you quitting and finding a new job.

OR, at it’s most positive - the conflict moment still happens, but because of how well you handle the situation you’re offered a promotion or a transfer or something like that. It’s still a new opportunity, it still has the stress and sudden change that the tower indicates, but it’s not quite as negative.

Whichever way it goes, it leads to you meeting or coming into closer contact with this person, the king of pentacles, your soulmate. 

(As a side note, in the previous reading we drew the queen of pentacles and now we’ve drawn the king so if you wanted proof that they’re The One, that’s it. Also like, the story these cards tell matches so well with the last reading, the work, the new opportunity im like a little stunned by it)

In an effort to lean more about them and more about when you’ll meet I pulled some romance angels. You got:

Forgiving and Learning - as you release and heal the past, you experience more love in your present moments

Very Soon - clearly decide what you want so that it comes to you now

Keep an Open Mind - your soul mate may differ from your usual type and expectations

Trust - This situation is calling for you to have faith

So, in the context of when will you meet, trust is obviously asking you to have faith that the universe will bring this person towards you even if it seems to be taking forever. And also trust that this person is right for you, especially if they’re different from what you might expect as the keep an open mind card suggests. Obviously the most interesting is Very Soon which suggests that you’ll meet them sooner rather than later. I pulled a number tile as i was focusing on that card to try and get an indication of timing and you got a 3. Now, that could be 3 day, 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years. It might also be a number relevant to the time when you meet them (maybe 3 weeks AFTER something else or maybe 3pm or even you’ll just see the number 3 around a lot as a warning that they’re coming)

And finally. I have a deck of channeled messages. These are things that your person might be thinking or might be wanting to say to you. Take them with as many grains of salt as you like but I figured it could be fun. The white cards are messages from the person, light blue are messages from the deck/universe.

The one blue card we got is They are waiting for you and really I think that sets the tone of all of these cards.

I just dream and wish for everything, I just want you all the time, I lie awake thinking about our future. This person is ready to meet you, they are sick of dating around, sick of the wrong people, they want something real and long lasting. 

Please give me time I’ve never felt this way before. You’ll need to wait a little longer before you meet them but not much longer. It’s next to I think we should slow down in reverse, they want this to happen as soon as possible, they are as sick of waiting as you are. 

Definitely is designed to look like The Tower card which is very interesting but with this one there is no question of it having a positive outcome, even if it feels hard in the moment it will be worth it.

And finally, I’m too afraid to talk in reverse. It’s likely this person will approach you, there’s no fear there, no worry about what you’ll say. And once they start talking to you they’re going to keep talking to you. 

[onehellofababysitter]

Hearts of the Divine~Ghoulie OC

((A/N: Chapter 2 everyone!! Hopefully you’re still sticking with me. Apologies for taking so long between updates, but I got super swamped with IRL stuff :) As usual, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment <3 ))

((Tag list: @theheavycrown, @sweetpea-cc, @srainebuggie, @mrfangsfogarty, ))

Chapter 1 here

Carrie pulled her helmet off, running her fingers through her hair to work out the snarls that had worked their way in during the ride here. She’d almost put her hair up in a ponytail before she left, but she’d wanted to curl it and leave it down. She sighed heavily, pulling one earbud out and shifting her backpack to one shoulder before pulling her phone out and typing a quick text to Mal, who had insisted that she tell him when she got there.

Carrie: Since you insisted I tell you, I made it to school. And for the record, I feel like a little kid texting their parent to say they made it safe and I hate you for that.

Malachi: Smartass. Keep your chin up and show those Northsiders who you are. And for the love of god please don’t pick a fight. I don’t want to have to deal with Northsiders today.

Carrie: And you think I do? I won’t pick a fight, I’m not that stupid.

Malachi: Says the one who almost ate cereal with a fork this morning because she was half asleep.

Carrie: Shut the fuck up, it’s not my fault I was up until 2 in the morning because someone decided to go get in a fight with Serpents and I had to take care of his ass.

Malachi: Get to class.

Carrie: See, you know I’m right.

Malachi: Sure, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.

She slipped her phone back in her pocket, tugging her jacket tighter around her shoulders. She’d gone with the slightly less studded leather jacket this morning, and had stolen Mal’s wrist guards to make up for it. She slid off her bike and headed towards the front doors of Riverdale High, taking note of the eyes that were drawn to her and flitted away just as quickly. She couldn’t help the slight smirk that she could feel on her face, and she wore it like armor as she pulled the door open, officially sealing her fate. The first thing that struck her was the fact that there weren’t any metal detectors. She was so used to the sight of them at Southside that it threw her off for a moment.

There was sunlight streaming through the intact windows, shining warm and soft  over the walls and floors. The lockers was actually securely bolted to the walls, and everything was oddly clean. Carrie walked straight past the crowd of Northsiders who had gathered in the foyer to watch her come in, making a beeline for the front office, which she found due to the numerous signs pointing her that way. Her eyes took in her surroundings, from the door to the bathrooms to the cheerful billboards covered in bright flyers.

A pit of resentment settled in her chest at the thought of the difference between Riverdale High, with its shining, clean halls and Southside High, with its boarded over windows and lockers that looked like they were about to falls off the walls at any moment. The privilege of the Northsiders hadn’t officially sunk in until she was standing here, staring in disgust and awe at the trophy case right outside the office. With a sigh, she yanked open the office door and slipped inside, catching the eye of the kid standing in front of the desk. She was waiting for his eyes to flicker down to her jacket, and sure enough, they did. He still walked up to her, holding out his hand for her to shake.

“You must be Carrie Weylyn. I’m Kevin Keller, your peer escort.” She shook his hand, releasing him quickly due to the bandage still wrapped around her knuckles, which had split open again while she slept, but he barely seemed to react.

“Keller?” Immediately, she could see the flash of irritation in his eyes, so she didn’t finish her question. “Right. So you’re supposed to show me around this glorious building that screams privilege from every corner?” She was surprised when he laughed at her comment.

“Yep. Normally Betty Cooper does it, but she’s busy with the newspaper today, so I volunteered to escort the big bad Southsider around.” He was surprisingly blunt, something she couldn’t help but appreciate. She almost laughed, shaking her head.

“Ms. Weylyn. If I could speak with you for just a moment before Mr. Keller escorts you around.” Carrie turned to face the man who’d spoken. Everything from his clothes to his posture screamed ‘preppy high school principal’ so she nodded and stepped into his office at his bidding.

“You must be the principal, Mr. Weatherbee.” She observed him closely, watching his eyes, but he surprised her and held her gaze, his eyes not dropping to her jacket as she’d expected.

“I am. The administration down at Southside High spoke very highly of you, Ms. Weylyn. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to Riverdale High.” His mouth pursed for a moment, and he finally delivered what she’d been waiting for, his eyes lowering to her jacket. “They did tell me about the… unsavory influences down at Southside, however. One of which you associate with. They assured me you were nothing but a model student, but I am required to inform you that we will not stand for any sort of gang violence in these halls. As of now, I see no reason not to allow you to continue wearing your jacket, but if I hear of any issues, I will be forced to make you remove it. Understood?”

“Of course, sir. I have no reason to cause problems with the North- I mean, the students here at Riverdale.” He smiled warmly at her for the first time, reaching a hand forward for her to shake. She gripped his hand and shook it, giving him a polite smile back.

“Welcome to Riverdale High, Ms. Weylyn. Congratulations.” He motioned with a hand towards the door and she took her cue, slipping back out into the main office, where Kevin was still waiting.

“So, he’s still letting you wear the intimidating jacket? That’ll definitely keep people off your back.”

“That was the plan when I wore it. And this is actually tamer than the one I wore down at Southside, I figured I should tone it down. Don’t want to give you sensitive Northsiders a heart attack.” Kevin opened the door to the hallway, waving her forward. She followed behind him, moving next to him as soon as she was out the door.

“You could give some of the people here heart attacks just by looking at them. You look like you can murder someone 500 different ways with your bare hands alone, and the jacket just adds to it.” She surprised herself by laughing out loud, quickly closing her mouth so it died in her throat.

“You’re blunt, aren’t you Keller?”

“Call me Kevin. And yes, I’ve been told. I am both the token gay best friend and the token blunt best friend. Double sided coin.” She nodded, laughing quietly to herself again.

“I think I like you, Kevin.”

“My one great goal in life has been achieved, I can die happy now.” His voice rang with sarcasm, but he smiled, looking pleased. He took her around the school, showing her everything that Riverdale High had that Southside lacked. Working toilets, computer lab, a library (which she was excited about), lockers that actually worked, and walls clean of the spray paint that was all over Southside. Suspicious eyes were drawn to her left and right as they walked through the halls, and at one point, she caught sight of someone backing away from her like she’d threatened them.

“So. Who around here isn’t going to hate me just on principal?”

“Well… Betty for sure, and since her and Jughead Jones are dating, probably him too. Archie Andrews will because he’s a simple soul and if Betty tells him someone is ok, he listens. And that’s about it. Well… Me too.”

“Jones?” She recognized that last name from her work with the Ghoulies. Being as high up as she was, Mal let her in on a lot of the important meetings, and she’d heard the last name of the Serpent King multiple times. Granted, it was a common last name, but it seemed like too big of a coincidence.

“Yeah. He works with Betty on the school newspaper, the Blue and Gold.”

“Is it like a rule around here that school newspapers have to be named after colors?” Kevin laughed and Carrie couldn’t help but smile in response.

“Why, what was Southside’s newspaper called?”

“The Red and Black. And no, before you ask, I didn’t work on the paper. Not my scene.”

“I didn’t peg you as a newspaper type, don’t worry. Oh, crap… Watch out, here comes Cheryl Blossom, she’s bound to try to cause some trouble.” Carrie turned her head in the direction Kevin was looking, and her first reaction was anger clawing its way up her throat as she looked at this girl who was very obviously the definition of a Northsider. Clothes that were very obviously designer label, jewelry that Carrie could have sold and gotten a stupid amount of money for, perfectly styled red hair a few shades lighter than Carrie’s, and the signature sneer she was accustomed to seeing on the faces of Northsiders the few times she’d been unlucky enough to run into some of them. The Blossom girl walked with a gait that spoke of years of privilege and training, and when she stopped in front of Carrie, her smile was sickly sweet, and her voice was the same way, dripping sugar and poison.

“Before you get any ideas about using your status as a Southsider to gain you favor, let me warn you. Only one redhead can rule this school, and that position is filled. Even if it wasn’t, no way in hell it would go to a Southside trash, gang affiliated slut like you, clear?” Carrie almost laughed at the girl’s attempt at bravado, used to dealing with even more from Serpents, especially newer ones fresh through initiation who thought they could start shit with her and walk away unscathed. She didn’t rise to the girl’s bait, simply smiling at her.

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Northsider.” Cheryl’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t seem to come up with a reply, so she turned on a heel and stalked off, her posse following close behind. Carrie smiled in victory and turned to Kevin, who was staring at her with his mouth open in shock. “What?”

“You are the singular person I have ever seen shut down Cheryl Blossom that fast. My respect to you, Carrie Weylyn.”

“Why thank you, Kevin Keller. My one goal in life was to achieve the respect of a Northsider.” She almost worried for a moment that she’d offended him with her sardonic humor, but he laughed out loud. “Anyway, is she always like that?”

“Sort of, but she’s been a lot worse lately. Her twin brother, Jason Blossom, died a few weeks ago, just before school started. They never found his body.” Guilt instantly shot through Carrie, rapidly followed by the mix of anger and grief that rose up in her throat every time she thought of Kace. Her older brother by three years, he’d been a serious pain in her ass, but they’d taken care of each other. He had gotten into the Ghoulies when he was 14, joining with Malachi, who had been his best friend. A few years later, Carrie had followed suit, joining the gang at the same age as her brother and his best friend. It had been a normal night for them the night he died, wreaking havoc on the streets of the Southside when they’d run into a group of Serpents who had wanted blood. She hadn’t been there, she’d been busy with homework, but she would never forget the moment when Mal had come home, alone and covered in blood, bearing the worst news of her life. Pity flooded through her at the thought of Cheryl going through that, and in a moment of impulse, she turned to Kevin.

“Do you know where she’d be right now?” His expression was pure confusion, but he thought for a moment before walking off, nodding for her to follow him.

“Probably in the lounge with her ‘handmaidens’. This way.” He took her over to a small room off the main hall, filled with couches and vending machines. She shook off the slight jealousy and scanned the room for Cheryl, spotting her alone on one of the couches.

“Thanks, Kevin. I’ll see you later?” He gave her another confused look before nodding and turning to leave, promising to see her at lunch at the latest. Cheryl looked up with an expression of disgust as Carrie walked up to her, eyes assessing every item of clothing Carrie wore.

“What do you want, Southsider?” Carrie tipped her head to the side and observed the other redhead carefully. She could almost feel the pain in her eyes, and she quietly spoke.

“Kevin told me about your brother.”

“What, and you wanted to come to gloat?” The Blossom girl’s voice was as sharp as broken glass, but Carrie saw tears well up in her eyes and sat across from her, leaning forward with her forearms on her thighs.

“No. I wanted to tell you I know what it’s like to lose a brother, to lose the one person that you felt like was your anchor to this shit world. Like you were caught in a current, but your anchor was holding you in place, so you were ok. And then all of a sudden, it’s ripped away from you and there’s water all around you, tearing you in this direction and that direction until you don’t even know what way is up anymore.”

Carrie paused for a moment, clearing her throat and raising her eyes to the ceiling in an attempt to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. “And you fight until you can finally see the light, the surface that you know can save you. But when you swim up, fighting to breathe the whole time, your palms hit solid and you realize you’re still trapped under the ice. You can see the sunlight and the sky, but you’re screaming to be let out and no one can hear you. No matter how hard you hit, the ice never breaks. You’re just… trapped there, forever able to see the light, but never able to reach it.”

We’re opposites, that’s extremely obvious. You’re a Northsider who lives in a gorgeous mansion, and you have everything you ever wanted. I’m a Southsider who lives in a trailer with my dead brother’s best friend, and I get in fights with members from a rival gang because it’s really the only thing I can do. But in this? In losing someone close? In this, we’re the same. If you ever need anything, you can ask me and I’ll help you. For Kace and for Jason. OK?” Carrie had to admit, she expected Cheryl to laugh in her face, but she was surprised when the girl nodded, tears falling from her eyes. Cheryl quickly swept them away, careful not to mess up the makeup that had evidently taken a while to apply.

The first warning bell rand sharply, breaking the tension. Carrie stood, looking around for Kevin as Cheryl waved a quick goodbye and walked off, heels clicking against the ground. He waved from the doorway, jerking his chin in the direction of the hallway, “That was the first person I’ve ever seen be able to get through to Cheryl at all, let alone right after they met her.”

“Well, maybe things around here are starting to change,” Carrie’s lips curved into a half smile as she hoped to whatever Gods there were that things would really start to change.

Chapter 3 here

[theonyxpath]

Changeling: The Lost 2nd art by Michael Gaydos

Rich is away this week (see last week’s MMN) and I have temporarily taken over the blog! Speaking of the blog, we’re working hard to get a lot more content for you in addition to our new releases featured on Wednesday and our previews of fiction on Fridays. This includes more excerpts and previews of upcoming books, developer notes about games and settings they are working on (take a look at Eddy Webb’s Claws and Effect launch post for example), plus a new series all about creating characters for our RPGs. We’re kicking off this new series tomorrow with a post from Bill Bodden, who’s work you maybe have read in Ghouls & Revenants and Madison by Night for V20, plus upcoming books like World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters and Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers for Pugmire. Bill will start a bi-monthly series with a new character for Exalted 3rd Edition and then move on to other core books. Plus we’ll have guest posts from other Onyx Path crewmembers and maybe a few surprises along the way, too. Our goal with this series is twofold: first, take some of the intimidation out of building new characters and (hopefully) encourage new fans to jump in and play and second, nudge experienced players to dive deeper into their players and think about this important aspect of gaming.

In other exciting news, last week Rich announced the Salrecian Vault community content program for our Scarred Lands fantasy setting. Much like the Canis Minor community content program for the Pugmire RPG, we’re getting ready to launch this community content program soon. You can read the current FAQ for the upcoming program here on our forums. I’m really looking forward to seeing new adventures, classes, Ghelspad locations, and more! Remember, our Scarred Lands program will be open to both Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition systems. If you’re curious about this setting, all you need is the Scarred Lands Player’s Guide to get started.

Pan’s Guide art by Pat Loboyko

White Wolf’s V5 distribution partner announced.

Our friends at White Wolf just announced that Modiphius will be acting as their distributor for Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition. Since there’s already been some confusion about this deal, remember this is about distribution as opposed to publishing. White Wolf is still designing and producing the new corebook in hous, and Modiphius acts as the hub to ship this new rulebook out to stores and more. If you’re curious about this deal, you can read the press release on the White Wolf Facebook page, and further questions should be directed toward them. Stay tuned to the Monday Meeting Notes and our Gen Con panels for more Vampire news from the Onyx Path team.

Speaking of Gen Con…

Event Registration for Gen Con Indy just went live yesterday! You can search and sign-up for a ton of games, panels, and more! The Wrecking Crew will be on hand running all kinds of World of Darkness, Pugmire, Scion, Chronicles of Darkness, and other games the entire convention. We will also have a demo crew in the Onyx Path booth (#501 again). If you are going to be at Gen Con, we’d love to hear from you.

Kithbook Boggans art by Brian Leblanc

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

We’re in the final hours of the EX3‘s Dragon-Blooded Kickstarter and we’re over 400% funded with over 2000 backers so far!

We’ve hit 24 Stretch Goal rewards, and counting, including a t-shirt, two more silk bookmarks (at least!), increased art budget, a Dragon-Blooded novella, adding on the Storyteller Screen, opening up additional Reward Tiers for more custom charms and artifacts; new Charms, 2 sections of info on Lookshy, 2 sections on the Forest Witches, 2 sections on Outcastes, Cadet Houses, and Prasad to the Heirs to the Shogunate Dragon-Blooded Companion PDF and lots more! Phew!

Thanks so much for everybody’s support so far! Even though we’re doing great, the best is yet to come and we hope that folks can get the word out on their social media and to their friends. Everybody deserves a chance to check out this latest EX3 “fatsplat” for the most elemental of the Exalted.

Which every backer can do, because each week of the campaign we’re releasing a quarter of the Dragon-Blooded book’s text so that backers can check the whole thing out by the time we are done. We think you’ll really love what we’ve done with the DBs, but if for some reason you don’t, you can drop your pledge before the KS is over and walk away easy peasy!

So, here’s the link and see you there! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dragon-blooded-what-fire-has-wrought-for-exalted-3

  As we try and 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!

The devs have added a whole bunch of new game lines’ dice and rolling bg’s and got caught by a bug Apple needed to fix, so be sure to update your app and soon that should be fixed.

There’s been tweaks to all elements of the UI, you can now preview every die type in the store, and you can use multiple die types per roll! 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.

(The Solar Anima special Dice above)

  Promethean: The Created and Demon: The Descent dice on a Demon: The Descent tabletop

  Hunter: The Reckoning and Mage: The Awakening dice on a Mage: The Awakening tabletop

      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).

Our latest fiction offerings are a classic Scarred Lands fantasy book, and our latest Chronicles of Darkness anthology: the Huntsmen Chronicles for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition!

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 initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

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)

  And here are six more fiction books:

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)

  Andand six more more:

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

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

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

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

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

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

  And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

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/

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

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

Wave 3 of our extra Kickstarter projects is now on sale at IPR!

Here are the direct links for the Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras Prestige Edition: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Dark-Eras-Prestige-Edition.html

Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras Storytellers’ Screen: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Dark-Eras-Storytellers-Screen.html

Deluxe Exalted 3rd Edition: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Exalted-3rd-Edition-Deluxe-Edition.html

Ultra-Deluxe (Orichalcum) Exalted 3rd Edition: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Exalted-3rd-Edition-Ultra-Deluxe.html

Exalted 3rd Edition Storytellers’ Screen: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Exalted-3rd-Edition-Storytellers-Screen.html

EX3 Chibi Bookmarks: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Exalted-3rd-Edition-Chibi-Bookmarks.html

Deluxe W20 Shattered Dreams: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/W20-Shattered-Dreams-Deluxe-Edition.html

W20 Shattered Dreams Storytellers’ Screen: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/W20-Shattered-Dreams-Storytellers-Screen.html

Plus price adjustments on M20, Book of the Wyrm, Anarchs Unbound and a few other projects!

    DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

Ask the darkness, and it shall answer: the Beast: The Primordial Player’s Guide PDF and physical book PoD versions will answer your questions Wednesday! on DTRPG.com! http://drivethrurpg.com/product/236135/Beast-Players-Guide

The Beast Player’s Guide expands on the material presented in Beast: The Primordial, with additional information on the Families and Hungers, what it feels like to be a Beast and experience the Devouring, and how to commune with the Dark Mother. You’ll also find two new Families and two new Hungers!

The book also includes a plethora of new Atavisms, Nightmares, Merits, and Birthrights, as well as systems for creating smaller, subservient versions of the Horror, new forms of Inheritance, and details on the mysterious Obcasus Rites.

        There are some things that even a Demon fears – Night Horrors: Enemy Action for Demon: The Descent has arrived in PDF and physical book PoD versions: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/236133/Night-Horrors-Enemy-Action

“Fighting the Machine is like fighting the ocean. You literally cannot hurt it. Doesn’t matter how much poison we dump into the ocean. We’ll only kill the things in it. We’ll never kill it. Same with the God-Machine. Kill angels, traitors, stigmatics, cultists, cryptids, whatever, you’ll never hurt the Machine Itself. No, that doesn’t mean we stop trying. You stop trying, you drown. Screw that.”

—Mr. Bliss, Guardian Inquisitor

Night Horrors: Enemy Action includes:

• Dozens of Storyteller characters, including Unchained, angels, exiles, cryptids, and stigmatics, for use as antagonists, allies, or just inspiration

• Multiple plot hooks and story seeds for your Demon: The Descent chronicles

• A brief look at cults in Demon, including the Ten Thousand Names of God, a secret society fueled by the God-Machine

      When you need a Changeling 20th character and a way to get started with C20: here are the C20 Ready Made Characters in PDF and physical book PoD versions! Available on DriveThruRPG.com! http://drivethrurpg.com/product/225641/C20-Ready-Made-Characters

Running a one-shot game of Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition? Starting up a chronicle with new players who aren’t sure what to play? Looking for some examples of how the various kiths might look?

Thanks to our generous Kickstarter backers, these thirteen ready-made characters cover each of the Changeling kiths. Each character is provided with background, roleplaying suggestions, art, and some potential motleys and story seeds — everything you need to immerse yourself in the Dreaming!

        Coming NOW as both PDF and physical book PoD on DTRPG, we reveal The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb, a Jumpstart adventure for Pugmire. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/232337/The-Secrets-of-Vinsens-Tomb–A-Pugmire-Jumpstart

A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:

• An evocative and mysterious setting that’s both family friendly and deep enough to create compelling stories.

• A summary of Pugmire’s traditional fantasy rules system. It’s designed for streamlined play, with an emphasis on cooperation and action over competition and violence.

• A complete adventure for a Guide to run for three to six players. Also useful for Guides running a full Pugmire game of first or second level characters!

• Six ready-to-play characters, so you can jump into the action.

Can your good dogs discover the secret of Vinsen’s Tomb?

  Also available NOW, are two physical PoD spell card packs and PDFs for Pugmire: the Artisans‘ and the Shepherds‘ spells.

        Appearing now on DriveThruRPG are the PDF and PoD physical book versions of Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

      CONVENTIONS!

Fast Eddy Webb will be attending the East Coast Game Designers Conference (ECGC) all this week in Raleigh, NC, where he’ll be presenting a seminar called “Writing for Franchises”.

So 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)

Aberrant 2nd Edition (Trinity Continuum)

Lunars (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

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

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

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

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

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

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

  Redlines

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

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

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

  Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

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

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

Fetch Quest (Pugmire)

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

  Editing:

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

  Post-Editing Development:

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

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

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)

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

  Indexing:

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Hero

Changeling: the Lost 2 – Sketches and finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum

Boggans – Contracted.

Wr20 Guide for Newly Departed – Everything with Gaydos.

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Wraith 20 Screen 

Fetch Quest – Working on the logo. KS How To Play video was shot last week.

EX3 Dragon Blooded

Monarchies of Mau

  Proofing

Cavaliers of Mars – Splats and map should be in by end of the month.

Scion Origin

  At Press

Beckett Screen – At shipper.

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

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition – Rewards are shipping.

Prince’s Gambit – Being sent to the US.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– Deluxe edition files at printer. Interior proof approved, printing now.

Scion Dice – At fulfillment shipper.

Wraith 20 – Errata phase.

Beast PG – Final PDF and physical book PoD on sale Wednesday at DTRPG.com.

SL Champions of the Scarred Lands Anthology PoD – Uploaded and processing.

Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever) – Backer PDFs out, errata?

Book of Freeholds – Backer PDF out to backers, errata being posted.

  CONVENTIONS!

Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vaan, and I will be at the UK Games Expo in June running games and talking shop with fans and retailers. Prep is also underway for Gen Con 2018 in August, which takes place in Indianapolis, IN. In addition to our booth presence, be sure to check out the games and panels in the Gen Con Event Schedule.

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

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: With convention season in full swing and plenty of new games on the way this year I’m really looking forward to meeting many of you and trying out different play styles, genres, and more!

[furederiko]

Today's Random-News-Digest is of course related to the happenings of San Diego Comic Con International 2017. Some recent news after that event are also included. This is just part 1 of 2 though, with the second arriving... hopefully soon (the plan is tomorrow, but we'll see). LOL.

Death Note

I believe by now, fans of the original Japanese franchise (manga nor anime) should STOP wishing for a faithful and bit-by-bit adaptation in this Hollywood movie. At the very least, it might be best to NOT even expect it to be one. Director Adam Wingard brought some of his cast to Netflix first Hall H panel for SDCC 2017 (on July 20th), and once again stressed out that this movie is 'his personal take' on the source material. He even said he was interested to work on it, with the goal to "breath new life into a great premise". That pretty much summed it up, if you ask me. Wingard was accompanied by Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Masi Oka, and obviously, lead actor Nat Wolff who said that he wrote his own 'Death Note' as soon as he got the part. Creepy... much? Actor Willem Dafoe didn't attend, by his voice was featured to present a special clip from the movie.

The clip depicted the first meeting of Wolff's meek and angsty Light Turner and Dafoe's sinister-looking but clown-like 'shinigami' (God of Death) Ryuk. Light opens the 'Death Note', and Ryuk unveils himself to the boy, taunting him to write the name of his bully, Kenny Doyle. And the rest is history. For the clip, and not Doyle. No way Netlix going to spoil the movie's first R-rated scene, right? LOL. Said footage, which has been made available by Netflix via their Youtube channel, is precisely another (the first being the American cast and setting) solid proof to why this is not a direct adaptation of the manga. While Light and Ryuk still retain traces of their manga/anime characterization, they really feel like a different incarnations. Rather than consciously accepting the book, it felt like this version of Light was being 'tricked' to use it instead. I could be wrong on this, because I'm not an avid fan of the manga/anime, but I honestly remember it... differently. Also, this Light is giving off a strong vibe of Jughead from "Riverdale" if he was pushed too far, so picture that if you will. Ryuk was more or less similar to the source material, thanks to Dafoe's eerie vocal-tone. But the design... made it a bit hard to fear, nor even be wary of him. And here I am remembering how the anime Ryuk gave me nightmares for a good while when I saw him for the first time.

Wingard stated that audience can expect to see 'humor' in this movie too, so it won't be all-out horror. To put it simple, this movie will have its own 'dark comedy'. Hmmm... I'm not really sure what to say about that. I have to admit, I'm really curious to see this movie. Yet on the other hand, I'm not fully sold about it, for reasons I can't even really tell. The early reviews didn't sound too bad, but also NOT too good. So it hasn't really cleared out this personal doubt of mine. Go ahead and read them, perhaps it might convince you... better. "Death Note" arrives on Netflix, August 25th, 2017.

Spawn

Are you a fan of "Spawn", was disappointed by the 1997's movie (for the record, I thought it was okay, even if I never managed to get past the first half LOL), and has been itching to get a modern live action movie adaptation? Well, then you're in luck. Todd McFarlane has personally announced that he will be writing and also directing a new R-rated movie for Blumhouse Studio! If that wasn't clear enough, McFarlane is THE series own creator. This project has been pitched as a low-budget horror movie, and it's really an intriguing take on what's supposed to be a CG-heavy movie. Guess who he wanted to play the lead character, an NYPD detective named Twitch Williams? Leonardo Dicaprio. Wow, that's a really TALL order... for a now Oscar winner actor. Let's just see if it pans out.

Fantastic Four

Quite surprisingly, 20th Century FOX didn't brought out their Marvel franchise like "Deadpool 2" or "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" to their SDCC panel this year. Instead, they brought the sequel to "Kingsman" which I will talk about in the next category. That doesn't mean the studio weren't making headlines though. In the panel of the TV series "LEGION" (which I will also talk about later in the TV section... *sigh*) that took place July 20th in Ballroom 20, showrunner Noah Hawley made a major announcement. He's developing a movie for FOX, and it's going to be about... "Doctor Doom". That's not the title of course, but I'll use that instead.

Honestly, I'm not even sure how to react about this. As proven by his hit series "Fargo" and also "LEGION", Hawley is indeed a name you can trust. So the prospect of him working on a Marvel title for the big screen, would make his devoted fans cheer. On the other hand, do we really NEED another Doctor Doom story? FOX have tried to work with this character twice, and both failed miserably (though I'd gladly argue at least Julian McMahon's version was still much better than Toby Kebbell's horrendous version in that awful 2015 movie). So why, pray tell WHY must they continue milking this character eventhough the well of potential is pretty much dry? And that's where I'm starting to get a little pissed off. It's more than clear than FOX will do ANYTHING to keep the "Fantastic Four" copyright from automatically reverting to Marvel. The 2015 "Dis4ster Four" was a good example of this annoyingly negative behavior, and now this.

Making a Doctor Doom movie without a Fantastic Four, would be similar to what SONY is doing with Spider-Man-less Venom. It feels like a FATAL mistake. Would Victor von Doom work in a solo spin-off too, much like what they did with "Logan" and "Deadpool"? In the comics, the answer might easily be YES. But this is a movie, and I need not to remind you, FOX has an infamously BAD track-record in adapting this amazing antagonist to live action. So yeah, should I be cheering, or should I be jeering at this 'idea'? I can't even answer that. I don't think anyone in their right mind would! Oh well, let's just see how this develops. But really, this spells... DOOM!

Barbie

Have you been wondering where Anne Hathaway went? It felt like she somewhat faded away from mainstream publicity after singing herself towards an Oscar win... and got married. She's probably taking more Indie projects like "Collosal" though, and American indie movies don't really get much spotlight in a far away land like my country. But we can expect this to change in the near future with a potential high profile project on the way.

Latest report has it that she's currently in talks to star as in the live action "Barbie" movie. This Mattel toy line project has previously circled Amy Schumer for the lead role, who has to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Director Alethea Jones has been brought into negotiation, after being handpicked by Hathaway herself. Assuming the plot of the movie stays the same, it will tell the story of a woman realizing she doesn't fit into the perfect land of Barbies and thus journeys to the real world. So basically, "Enchanted" part Deux, which I think is a really good fit for her. With this project (assuming she takes it), as well as the "Ocean's 8" spin off, I think we can expect Hathaway to be back in the spotlight once again. "Barbie" is currently set for a June 29th, 2018 release, but that is subject to change to match with Hathaway's schedule.

Kingsman

Okay, let's leave that bizarre Doctor Doom reality aside, and talk about what's likely going to be good... "Kingsman: The Golden Circle"!!! The cast of the sequel attended the FOX panel, and entertained audience with a chug of beer and fresh mind-popping second trailer. And wow, was it really good! The actions, and all the style and swaggers? It was SOLID for me. Oddly, eventhough I've been a fan of Taron Egerton's Eggsy and his classy team of Kingsman, I'm slowly growing a weird fondness to the American counterpart instead: the Statesman. Particularly, that hispanic cowboy character with the electric lasso rope who is played by none other than Pedro Pascal. He's a real scene stealer in this trailer, and to think that he's not even getting his name top-billed for the movie. Ouch! "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" is set to be released on September 22nd, 2017. And it's TOTALLY on my watch list!

By the way, there's also an interesting animated short where Eggsy runs into... the infamous Sterling Archer from the FXX series "Archer"! If you're a fan of both worlds, make sure you see it. Because well, it's hillarious!

James Bond

You want a more serious, non-comic-adaptation spy movie? Then well... "Bond 25" (obviously a placeholder title) has been announced. The Hollywood Reporter first delivered the news, before it was officially confirmed by Eon Productions. Yes, the 25th James Bond movie has gotten a release date, of November 8th, 2019. Meaning two years from now.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the whole content of the news. There were no details whatsoever. Thus everyone got pushed into this weird 'curious' mode, with plenty of important questions being thrown around. What is the movie's title and/or subtitle? Does the movie have an actor? Is Daniel Craig really returning, and if he's not... who's the replacement? Will we be getting a female Bond, following what happens to the hit series "Doctor Who"? Come again, which studio has won the distribution bid? Because I totally haven't caught that announcement. Many sites began developing their own take, or should I say 'theories' about this announcement, and well... for now, they are nothing more than that, theories. Some have said that Craig is a done deal. Other said that the franchise will be sold off after this one movie. Then again, until there's another official confirmation (said to be announced at a later date), it's pretty much anyone's guess, right? So yeah... perhaps we should let it slide for now, and just look forward for "Kingsman" for the time being.

LEGO Movies

2nd trailer for the "The LEGO NINJAGO Movie" was premiered in the SDCC 2017 panel, and was later made available online by Warner Bros Animation. And well... I'm still mixed about it. The pseudo-brick animation style of "The LEGO Movie" is very clear here, moreso than "The LEGO Batman Movie"... particularly with that hybrid scene featuring a real life CAT. Which I'm positive wasn't CGed (assuming it's not the case of "The Jungle Book"). So fans of that first movie will be thrilled.

But at the same time, this felt like a drastic difference compared to the hit TV series. And that is the part that's not working for me. As I've said once before, having been invested with the show for SEVEN Seasons (which is a great achievement, since I normally wouldn't go pass Season 2 for other shows), it's just hard to make good sense out of this... 'ALTERNATE UNIVERSE' version. I'm not even sure how I feel about seeing Dave Franco's Lloyd as an awkward high schooler, with the others being hi classmates. It just screamed too... "Power Rangers"-y to me, and I truly never expected them to go that route *sigh*. Not to mention, Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" was just grating on my nerves, no matter how appropriate it was used to depict Lloyd's fractured relationship with Garmaddon (which seems to be the core plot of the movie).Perhaps, this movie is intended for those with ZERO experience in the franchise, then? Likely so. Anyways, whether you're digging this or not, "The LEGO NINJAGO Movie" will still arrive on September 22nd, 2017. Let's just see how the critics and audience will react to this version.

Ready Player One

If Walt Disney has critically-praised director Ava DuVernay and her "A Wrinkle in Time", then Warner Bros' secret weapon is none other than... legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his "Ready Player One". Nope, by all means, I'm not pitting these two people and their totally different movies. I just need to point out how they are SIMILAR to one another. Because both are working on a movie based on a supposedly famous and fan-favorite novel that... I haven't had the slightest idea about. No seriously, I have been seeing these titles being headlined every now and then, yet I was totally clueless about them. Were they good? Don't ask me. I've never even heard them before, so all I did was scratching my head wondering how they ended up being so highly talked-about. One thing for sure, it wasn't until I've seen the first trailers to those movies that I could say... "Aaaah, so THAT's what this book is all about". That's a genuine LOL moment right there.

Since I've dished out about my confusion for "A Wrinkle in Time" last week (thanks to the movie making a big splash on D23 Expo 2017), this time I'll shashay into the second title. Mainly because the movie was among the major features of WB's SDCC Hall H panel, alongside "Blade Runner 2049" and of course DC Films (which I will talk about in the next category). Spielberg attended the section of this panel with book writer and co-screenwriter Ernie Cline, co-screenwriter Zak Penn, and cast members Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn and T.J. Miller. The director shared his thoughts about the movie, as well as presenting the first official teaser. Since this is WB, obviously we could easily expect said video to arrive online right after the panel, and of course it did. Exclusives footage for attendees? That's not their thing... LOL

Turns out, "Ready Player One" is like a live action version of "The LEGO Batman Movie", or Disney's "Wreck-It Ralph". It's Cline's love letter to the 80s, and also the technology of Virtual Reality. The trailer didn't shy away from this premise, as it showed plenty of nostalgic stuffs like "The Iron Giant", Lara Croft, Freddy Krueger, DC characters to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and all. Though of course, most of them are WB's own properties, no surprise about that. LOL. We get to experience this massive virtual space where everything collides, through Sheridan's Wade Wyatts, a young man living in the year 2045. He'll go through a fantasy reality-bending adventure to locate an Easter Egg inside the OASIS, because whoever fins it, gains control of the virtual reality world. That kind of stuff. Yes, it's a grand concept, and the trailer seemed to wow practically everyone.

But I'm probably in the minority here to say that, it was not that... 'mindblowing' for me. Perhaps, because I've already seen this concept before, over and over again through other media? I'm not sure. It's the case of "The Hunger Games" I think, where western audience saw it as a new concept, whereas it's basically a 'been-there done-that' in Japanese entertainment. So in a way, I've been there before, hence it didn't feel that original no matter how glorious the CG effects looked. But don't let this subjective opinion ruins your hype. Not everyone saw "Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle", right? If you're digging the vibe of this movie, then good for you! If you're not, then we're on the same team. There's one for everyone after all! "Ready Player One" arrives on March 30th, 2018. And yes, that's 3 weeks after "A Wrinkle in Time". Coincidence much? Hmmm...

DC Films

"Justice League" is set to be released on November 17th, 2017. So should we even be surprised to see WB bringing the core cast to their panel? Nope. Minus Henry Cavill though, since he's busy filming "Mission: Impossible 6" with a troubling thick mustache (why? more in this later). Beside, he wasn't even shown in the latest appetizer official poster (available through the official twitter account). To which I'm not a fan by the way, even if it's been given almost unanimous praises all over the globe. "You can't save the world alone", the tagline said. A sarcastic statement towards Cavil's Superman's for "Man of Steel", perhaps?

Oh, and of course there would be a new trailer. Duh? Remember, this is WB we're talking about. If the first one that Zack Snyder (when the absent director was still solely in charge) debuted in last year's SDCC showed action scenes, CG flares, photoshoot poses, with a relatively small amount of story, this one had more balance between character interactions and battle sets. Longer duration too, clocking at more than 4 minutes! And yes, that means more of J.K. Simmons' Commissioner Gordon and Jeremy Iron's Alfred Pennyworth. To be honest, I'm also not a fan of this trailer. It didn't really made me want to see the movie, which has become a constant issue between me and WB's marketing department. I DO like it better than the poster though, because it's clearly taking many good cues from "Wonder Woman". In many ways, it also felt... a bit similar to Joss Whedon's "The Avengers". That scene with an antagonist arriving near a macguffin? Or the heroes talking in a meeting room esque setting? Yeaaah. No surprise, because the movie's pretty much in Whedon's hand right now. Sadly, similar to "Ready Player One", had this was released before the 2012 Marvel Studios movie, I would've responded in a much better manner. For this time, it felt like an odd dejavu instead.

However, the biggest takeaway from the panel, would be the other non-Justice League-related news. Because WB confirmed a parade of projects currently in development, as well as some new projects in the works. There are 8 big titles in the works! It's currently unclear if they are chronologically ordered, but they are: - "Shazam!". Prior to the panel, "Shazam!" was already reported to be starting production in early 2018. If not in January, in February. So it's safe to assume it might be released in 2019, that's the goal anyway. While WB hasn't revealed, or even cast the lead actor just yet (perhaps, Armie Hammer?), David F. Sandberg has been assigned to direct. - "Flashpoint". The new official title for Ezra Miller's solo movie. After losing directors over and over again, WB has decided to go ahead and just do an adaptation of the massive storyline. And this might be the most unexpected and shocking reveal of them all, that immediately raised up concerns and speculations in the fanbase. Why? In the comic, "Flashpoint" was used to... RESET the DC Universe!!! The event in that movie, ultimately created a new timeline, that sequed DC Comics into the New 52 era. Does this imply that... WB is attempting to do the same with their live action movies? So EARLY in the game? Is this their way to fix the mess that was caused by Snyder? Or a direct response to Marvel Studios' sequel to "Spider-Man: Homecoming"? Hmmmm. It's clear that this movie won't make it to fulfill its initial March 16th, 2018 release, due to Miller's commitment with "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2". But there's also no telling if the studio would be able to rush it for a 2018 release. No director is currently attached, but safe money is leaning towards Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after their departure from "Star Wars". - "Wonder Woman 2". This year's "Wonder Woman" is DC's first critical and financial success since "The Dark Knight", so a direct sequel is practically a no-brainer. Not to mention, director Patty Jenkins have been working on a script with Geoff Johns, that will put Gal Gadot's Diana Prince in the 80s. Jenkins might even return to direct the movie, though that part was not yet confirmed. This movie has recently been confirmed for a December 13th, 2019 release. - "Suicide Squad 2". Just earlier this month, we have heard that Jaume Collet-Serra has been the frontrunner to direct the sequel. Will Smith and Margot Robbie are expected to reprise their roles as Deadshot and Harley Quinn. - "The Batman". Yes, looks like that IS indeed the official title. And we know that Matt Reeves will begin working on this title as soon as he's done promoting "War of the Planet of the Apes". Hot negative report (not rumor) was running rampant prior to SDCC 2017, that current Batman actor Ben Affleck might be walking out of the DC Extended Universe. Especially with the fact that Reeves won't be using Affleck's script that he has written with Johns. Thanks to that, Affleck had to blatantly give a public response. He pretty much confirmed his involvement as a lead actor in the solo Batman movie. Oddly, he never blatantly denied that he's leaving the DCEU after this movie. So in a way, that's just him smart talking his way out of difficult conversation. Suffice to say, it was NOT a nice moment. - "Batgirl". Whedon has openly revealed to IGN that he'll start working on "Batgirl" next year as well. Likely after his obligations to 'help a friend' with the post producton of "Justice League" is wrapped. - "Green Lantern Corps". I think... David Goyer was working on this? The movie had been given a 2020 release window in WB's old announcement. It's unclear if it will still keep up with this plan. - "Justice League Dark". Last we heard, Doug Liman has walked out of this title. But that was due to his conflicting schedules and commitment with other studios. Since this is the last title on the list, there's always a chance that he might be back on board. After all, WB needs the self-proclaimed 'greatest director' in the world, right?

These announcements sounded GRAND and AMBITIOUS and all... but should we really be excited about them? I'm not sure. It obviously caused mixed reaction in the internet, triggering plenty of questions in various media in regards to DC Films' long-term plan. The way I see it, WB was just the KING of big talk as usual... eventhough they don't really have a good track record of keeping up with their words. I honestly doubt the studio came fully prepared for this panel, and that those titles were merely another temporary placeholders that might come and go without certainty. Several titles that have been headlining in the medias for a while now, were conspicuously MISSING from the lineup. Remember Dwayne Johnson's much reported "Black Adam", Ray Fisher's supposed solo movie "Cyborg", "Justice League Part 2" that originally was set for a 2019 release, the heavily rumored "Man of Steel 2", and David Ayer's "Gotham City Siren"? Not to mention, a recent entry in the rumor circuit that talked about a Harley Quinn vs. Joker movie, that started as soon as SDCC began? Yeah, those titles were a no show. They might even be gone for good.

With WB only releasing one movie next year in form of Jason Momoa's "Aquaman", we should expect most of these newly announced title to arrive as soon as 2019. I hope they won't get carried away and act bullish by releasing 4 titles a year. Even Marvel Studios took almost 10 years before finally deciding to release 3 per year. Then again, that's certainly their main intention, especially if we put into account that they HAVE 4 release dates for 2020 now! Does this mean, we get the first 4 of those movies in 2019, then another 4 in 2020? I don't know how I can even begin to fathom that...

Also, WB just can't catch a break. After sort of 'debunking' (technically, that's just smart corporate talking) a previous rumor about Batffleck, another one already hit the studio as soon as SDCC 2017 was wrapped. Variety reported that the reshoot process for "Justice League" has been causing issues for the studio. This report was backed by The Hollywood Reporter, that called it 'substantial'. Apparently, the extensive extra production took a toll of $25 million, roughly the cost of a separate mid-budget movie! Budget for additional photographies in big budget Hollywood movies generally cost between $6-10 million. Production duration was also dragged on for roughly two months, causing scheduling headaches to its cast members. Momoa and Gadot had to spend 2 weeks worth, while Affleck is still filming new scenes this week. In the case of Cavill, as I've mentioned above, a special post-production budget will be required to digitally remove his natural mustache.

Thanks to this bizarre new scenario, Whedon would also be getting a producing and/or screenplay credit, due to him spending more time than planned to finish the movie and add much-needed 'connective tissue' between sequences As I said, the recent trailer strongly felt like his own "The Avengers", so I sincerely hope Whedon will be getting the credit he deserves. Will this movie be another case of "Suicide Squad" or "Fant4stic Four"? Or will it come out unscathed like "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" or "World War Z"? Here's hoping it's the latter case. We'll know the answer in November.

DC Television

When it comes to live action adaptations, the TV side of DC actually fared much better than the tumultuous DC Films. Even shows that wasn't a hit like "Legends of Tomorrow", slowly getting better and became a favorite. Not saying I'm a fan nor avid follower to those shows though. I'm just fully acknowledging that they are indeed, the more favorable ones. Especially when compared to Marvel TV's products. As each The CW shows had their own panel, a new cool-looking mashup trailer for them was released during SDCC 2017. One show that was included in it, is their upcoming adaptation of "Black Lightning", set to debut in 2018.

Ironically, Black Lightning has been publicly confirmed to be its own thing, and not part of the Arrowverse. So general audience seeing this trailer, might be getting the wrong idea about it. As for my impression on this new show? Well, superhero SHOW's fatigue aside, it's getting more and more clear that this show is definitely not my cup of tea. Not saying it's bad, the concept and overall look felt just about right. It's definitely in the standard of other The CW superhero shows. I just didn't feel a personal connection to warrant a regular viewing for it. After all, I'm more of an animated guy...

Speaking of animated, the "Young Justice" Q&A panel debuted the official character designs for the much-anticipated 3rd season. The season will be officially titled "Young Justice: Outsider", and the concept art includes Static, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl, Spoiler, Blue Beetle, Arrowette, Arsenal, Beast Boy, and a new character named Thirteen. The absence of several characters from Season 2 will surely make some fans wonder, and co-creator Brandon Vietti reassured that characters like Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy won't be completely absent since they are still part of the DC Universe.

Vietti also confirmed that the series, planned to be 26 episodes in total, will be streamed in a separate channel, not on Cartoon Network like several existing DC shows. "There’s more creative room here for more adult themes and more sophisticated and challenging stories for our characters", he said. It's still unclear what form will this stand-alone DC only streaming take. But I'm sure we'll be hearing about it in the near future.

X-Men Universe

I believe the upcoming X-Men series "The Gifted" had a panel during SDCC 2017. That's because a new trailer has debuted for the show. But since I couldn't care less about it, I won't be talking about it.

Instead, I'll talk about FX's "LEGION" instead. First season for the Dan Stevens' starring mini series, was a huge hit. Even I have to admit, that I didn't see it coming. Showrunner Noah Hawley and the cast were present at Ballroom 20 for their panel, and of course talked about the upcoming Season 2. Saïd Taghmaoui, who was featured in the WB's "Wonder Woman" movie, has been announced to be playing another 'face' of Amahl Farouk, a.k.a. Shadow King. In the first season, this supernatural entity (I don't recall that he's a mutant, no, but I could be mistaken) was played by both actress Aubrey Plaza, and Stevens himself, since he's part of David Haller's consciousness. It's going to be interesting to see how Farouk cooks up his creepy plot in the new season, especially because he's getting a new form. We'll just have to wait and see the 10-episodes sequel when it arrives in 2018.

NOTE: By the way, I didn't consider this to be a Marvel talk, since it's developed and produced by FOX. Yes, the characters are Marvel's, but we all know that FOX never really cared about source material, right?

Netflix

No Marvel talk here either, so expect the category to be more... brief. LOL. Also, it's the reason why this category gets bumped down a few notch than usual. Though definitely not because it's lacking by all means.

The first full-length official trailer for "Stranger Things" Season 2 was debuted through their SDCC 2017 panel. And great goodness, things weren't looking good. I mean, in the show, due to Noah Schnapp's Will Byers death-defying experience in the "Upside Down". As many of us had suspected, Will's return to the real world might not be a good idea. Instead, it's likely he's opening up a gateway for more creatures from the supernatural place to visit and 'invade' the real world. CREEPY af!!! The panel itself could be seen as a success, with Patton Oswalt moderating, and Shannon Purser making a delightful surprise visit.

That suspenseful trailer did a really good job teasing the developments of the characters. We see pretty much everyone, including the new cast members like Paul Reiser's Dr. Owens, Dacre Montgomery's Billy, Sadie Sink's Mad Max, and others, as well as fan-favorite Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven who wrapped the video by discovering a way out... or should I say 'way back' to the real world. Go Eleven! Series creator the Duffer Brothers had promised the new season to be 'Bigger, Darker, Scarier' and it really showed. They had already mapped out the series end game, which could be even bigger than this, so that's certainly saying much. "Stranger Things" Season 2 arrives on October 27th, 2017, and obviously I can't wait to see it.

"Voltron Legendary Defender" also had its own separate panel, with producers Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery, as well as voice actors Bex Taylor-Klaus and Tyler Labine making their appearances. Aside from debuting the official trailer for Season 3 (possibly the reason why it wasn't available in the official channel before), the team also announced voice actor A. J. Locascio as the voice of new antagonist Prince Lotor. Lotor will have four half-galra female generals as his aides. First episode of Season 3 was premiered exclusively for SDCC attendees.

The panel confirmed that the 7-episodes Season 3 will arrive on August 4th, 2017. That's a strange number, huh? I wonder if several episodes will be... I don't know, 50 minutes or more? Remember, the first season was only 11 episodes, but its first episode had the duration of 3 episodes. So in total, it was still 13 episodes like Season 2! Anyhoo, what I didn't expect was, the event also confirmed that a 4th season will arrive much much sooner than expected, in October 2017! I'm curious to why it's announced so early? Could it be... the final season? Hmmm...

Overall, Netflix had a generally successful presence throughout the event. Even if cult-favorite "Sense8" was a no-show despite its much applauded finale renewal, and David Ayer's "Bright" had mixed reception, the other panels were considered to be a win. They are taking over Hall H this year, and who knows what will happen next year and so on. One particular highlight was of course Marvel's "The Defenders". But since it's Marvel-related, that's a story for another day... or to be precise, another post!

One Piece

Now this is a news that would get any anime fans feeling... mixed. Mixed as in, a joy with a hint of concern, or anger with a touch of delight. It's your call.

Yahoo! Japan (via ComicBook.com) reported that... we'll be getting a live action Hollywood TV show for Eiichirou Oda's "One Piece" series!!! It was officially announced during the manga's 20th anniversary. Yay, or nay, I'm sure this will make you speechless. In one side, the cast of One Piece is as global as it can get, so having international cast would be VERY fitting compared to Japanese actors who pretend like they are foreigners. But on the other hand... seriously? This is a big title that requires massive special effects, particularly characters with the effects of those Demon Fruits. Don't forget the numerous islands, with their own quirky colorful inhabitants that hints towards huge production cost for makeup and costume. Can a TV show, with a really limited budget pull it off such tremendous challenge?

Marty Adelstein is set to be in charge, and Tomorrow Studios will be working on it. And this is where things get more... concerning. Adelstein is also the one working on that "Cowboy Beebop" TV Hollywood adaptation! And he even has already boasted... er, I mean admitted that this adaptation will be the most expensive TV shows ever made in the US. "I have been a fan of One Piece for 20 years. It is an honor to be entrusted with such an important work by Shueisha and Mr. Oda. I am enthusiastic to give my all to make One Piece succeed. I think this project could set a new record for the highest production cost in television drama history. The work's worldwide fame merits this scale of production.", was his official statement. Confident, but knowing the rating system and stingy budget of US networks, will this approach even work? He hasn't even proven his worth with "Cowboy Beebop", how can he be so bold about a more difficult one like this?

Thankfully, Oda has officially expressed that he has taken a great amount of time to consider this. So basically, he has given his seal of approval. His promise to not let down his fans, is definitely reassuring. Beside, Oda is notorious for speaking out if he's not pleased. Which means, as soon as he's not 'feeling it', I'm sure he'll immediately pull the plug. Thus the franchise is saved! LOL.

Professor Layton

"Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy" has been released last week! Have you played the game? Before you ask, nope, I personally haven't. Sure, it's available on iOS and Android for worldwide release, but unlike "Layton Brothers: Mistery Room", it's not free. So of course I haven't had the chance (nor money) to play it. Ahahaha... ^^;. Its Nintendo 3DS version is also currently only available in Japan, so there's that.

Thankfully, western fans who are holding out for an English 3DS version, can now rest at ease. LEVEL-5 has officially announced that it will be available very soon, in October. That's good news, albeit a bit odd considering the iOS and Android version have already been made available in foreign language. Why would it require 3 months to transfer the finished product to a 3DS cartridge, right? Oh well, the important thing is, you only to be patient just a few more months to experience Katrielle's adventure in your region-locked 3DS! Good for you...

Of course, if you don't want to wait that long, don't forget! The full version (consisting of 12 complete cases, and the entire set of additional mini games), and not some random scaled-down clone is already available on the App Store and Google Play for $15.99. Just make sure you cleared up the proper space on your smartphone before you download, okay! Because I have a feeling the size is going to be preeeetty BIG.

Sonic the Hedgehog

That cool-looking new antagonist for "Sonic Force" that was teased by SEGA last month? He has been given his own reveal trailer, as well as his own theme music! Yes, Infinite, is just one of the villains that Classic, Modern, and Custom Sonic will have to deal in this game. But there's no doubt that he's definitely the coolest of them all. At least for yours truly. "Sonic Forces" will be released this holiday for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Street Fighter

Three more character costumes have been made available for "Street Fighter V". Ibuki, Laura, and Rashid have received sports-themed alternate costume, and they should have been released alongside the latest update on July 25th. CAPCOM announced this on their "Street Fighter 30th Anniversary" panel at SDCC 2017. Ibuki got a volleyball-themed costume, while both Rashid and Laura got football-inspired ones, all available alongside a new DLC character Abigail. Visit Gematsu to see their individual pricing.

ARIKA

The company debuted 50 minutes worth of gameplay from their... 'Mysterious Fighting Game'. It's available online via their official channel. Seeing EX characters like Garuda, Hokuto/Shirase, and Kairi is nostalgic and all, but I can't help but feel that the whole gameplay looks... 'rough around the edges'. The design was a bit blocky, somewhat "Street Fighter IV" inspired, and the movement wasn't as smooth as the "Tekken" series. Even the first version of "The King of Fighters XIV" looked nicer somehow. But this new title is expected to be released next year, so the company still have plenty of time to work on the visuals and controls. Here's hoping we'll get clearer idea of what this is all about in the near future.

[murasaki-murasame]

I was planning to make a whole post anyway about my hopes and predictions for Gala Leif if he ends up happening next month, but there’s also a whole lotta other stuff to talk about now with the FEH rerun, the Ciella fight teaser, and our first gala dragon, so I guess I’ll take the chance to just talk about everything all at once, lol.

I feel like I went through every possible human emotion in the span of like ten seconds when I saw the gala banner announcement a day or two ago and then saw what it was actually about. That sure was a roller-coaster.

I honestly don’t really care about Mars that much [mainly because I’m always just more interested in adventurers than dragons], but I’m really curious about the precedent this is setting, with this being our first gala dragon, and this also happening only one month after the last gala banner.

They’ll probably talk about it in the next This Month post in a week or so, but I’m gonna just assume for now that we’re gonna get gala banners on a monthly basis from now on, rather than every two months. Which is a little bit scary to think about since it gives us less time between each gala to save up for each one, but we’ll just see how it goes.

Everyone’s predicting that we’re gonna alternate between gala dragons and gala adventurers, but I’m not sure it’ll be strictly scheduled out like that. I feel like we’re just switching to a monthly schedule and we just happened to get a gala dragon as the start of the schedule shift. I think it’s more likely that we’re going to start seeing reruns of old gala units between entirely new gala characters. I mean, it’s pretty obvious how much revenue it’d get them if they ever decided to rerun Gala Cleo or Gala Alex, lol.

Mostly I just can’t even think of that many options for what they could release in terms of gala dragon alts. We might get some of the other dragons that the royal siblings have pacts with, but we only know of like two other ones.

Mars’ introduction is bringing up the whole hot button issue of powercreep in the fandom, but honestly I don’t think Mars being really powerful is that big of a deal. He’s not exactly essential for any content, and tbh at the end of the day I just think it’d be weird if our first gala dragon WASN’T notably powerful. People already complain about dragon banners as it is because they have such low value. I can only imagine how many complaints there’d be if we got our first gala dragon and it only ended up being a sidegrade to the existing options. From what I’ve seen of how Mars changes up things on the DPS sim, I think they struck a good balance of making him powerful without him being super gamebreaking. I honestly think that Marth’s mana spiral is a much more blatant example of powercreep, and has had more of an impact on the flame meta than Mars alone.

Anyway, on the note of Marth and co, the FEH rerun has finally begun, and I kinda have to agree with everyone that the defense gamemode just doesn’t really feel good to play at all when it’s locked to solo, lol. It’s so obviously designed for co-op instead. It’s not really that big of a deal, but it does feel like more of a slog than it should, especially since you have to do it like 45 times for the event endeavors, and since there’s so many valor rewards. I’m curious to see how it pans out when this becomes a regular gamemode for future events, though. Hopefully they get better at balancing it and making it fun to play.

Even though I still don’t have any interest in pulling on any of the FEH banners since I just want to save for Gala Leif, I did decide to 70MC Alfonse, because haha bad decision machine go brr :) But I honestly do like him a lot, and I’m excited to get Sharena from the upcoming event. I hope she’s a light lance since I don’t have H-Elly or H-Vanessa, but we’ll see how it goes.

We also got some more teasers of the new FEH event and how it’ll play out. It looks like it’ll be a wave-based arena mode of sorts where you fight lots of enemies, which apparently include boss versions of different gacha characters. I think they mentioned a while ago that they’ll be introducing a new event type to the event rotation along with defense battles, and I assume this’ll be the first example of it. If they do, I hope they keep the part with you fighting boss versions of gacha characters, since that’s a neat idea that makes them feel different from the other events we get and the bosses we fight.

They haven’t really said anything about what the new FEH units will be like aside from Sharena, and I can’t really make any guesses since I’m not a Fire Emblem fan to begin with, but I’m already bracing myself for the inevitability of us getting a two-part banner for the new units, lol.

We’re also getting Ciella’s fight at around the start of next week, and they posted a preview video of the standard difficulty version of it. It seems like she inflicts a unique debuff called Vulnerability, so I’m really curious to see if I end up being correct with my previous theory about certain wind units getting debuff cleanse mechanics added via mana spiral upgrades. I think there’s at least one part in the video where Lowen heals the team and it doesn’t cleanse Vulnerability like it does with Plague, and it’d be a bit weird if you’re just meant to deal with having the debuff until it eventually wears off, so it’d be neat if they do introduce a new debuff cleanse mechanic.

Though tbh I can’t actually tell exactly what Vulnerability is meant to even do, since I don’t think it seemed to have a big impact on how much damage characters took, even though it definitely sounds like it’s meant to be a defense debuff or something. Either way, it’s probably going to be the central mechanic of Ciella’s fight, so hopefully we get tools to deal with it.

They only showed off the standard version of her fight so things will probably get more complex in expert, but it looks like her fight’s going to be built around making you move around a lot to dodge attacks. She seems to have various purple attacks, as well as homing attacks, and one move that seems to fire projectiles that bounce around the map. I don’t know how much this will really impact things, but it at least seems different to how relatively little you have to move around in Kai Yan.

It also looks like she might have unavoidable freeze-inflicting attacks, which might be interesting. They probably want you to use at least one freeze-res character. Which might not really diversify the meta much from where it is now, since Hawk has freeze res, but we’ll see how it goes.

We haven’t heard anything about us getting more wind mana spirals, but I’d be kinda surprised if we don’t get any more for this. In general wind is in a bit of an awkward spot, and if we don’t get more mana spirals for it soon, I feel like the Ciella meta is just going to be Tobias + Hawk [and maybe Lin You] again, if only just due to a lack of good options.

I’m also still really interested to see what the wind Agito weapon buffs end up being, and how much they might benefit certain characters. I think that a crit rate buff might be pretty nice, at least for characters like Ku Hai, but that sort of a buff probably wouldn’t help people like Lin You or DY-Xainfried much since they have crit rate buffs in their kits already. A crit damage buff could be interesting, but unless you’re playing as Lin You or have a DY-Xainfried on the team, it might not be as good as a crit rate buff.

Either way, I’m slowly getting a 0UB wind CT2 of each type just so I have all my options available to me, but I feel like the first wind Agito weapon I get will probably be a blade or wand, since I’ll probably end up using either Tobias, Noelle, or DY-Xainfried against Ciella most of the time. I do have a 70MC Lin You, though, so I might get an axe too.

We’ll see how it goes when the fight comes out, but I’m gonna assume that Ciella will probably be about as difficult as Kai Yan. Though since she doesn’t seem to have the same ‘you deal twice as much damage to the boss as you normally would for some reason’ mechanic as Kai Yan, and since wind is way less broken as an element than shadow as a whole, it’ll probably take a bit longer to clear. Though tbh I’m still like 100% expecting people to be able to clear it notably faster with full shadow teams than wind teams, so there’s that to consider, lol.

Anyway the main thing I’ve been thinking about recently is Gala Leif, who I’m still hoping against hope will come out at the end of next month.

It’s not like we know for sure he’s gonna ever be released at all, but with chapter 13 he’s officially joined Euden full-time, and he got a whole new redesign and 3D model to commemorate it, which really seems like blatant set-up for him getting a gala alt. Like how Sarisse has her NPC design, and a 3D model based on it for Melsa’s event, but then she got a new outfit and 3D model for her gala alt. Even Mym technically got her design tweaked a bit for her gala alt compared to her regular NPC artwork.

I wasn’t even sure at first if Leif got a new outfit for chapter 13 or if it was just a different pose, but it’s definitely a different outfit. Or, more accurately, it’s basically his old outfit but tweaked and redesigned to be more ornate and fancy and detailed, which is pretty telling. And I’m pretty sure his 3D model from the Void Poseidon fight was a new one based on his new outfit, which is also just even more additional design work to put into someone who’s currently just an NPC.

I heard that in chapter 9 he was basically given the same sort of internal coding as Albert [like how NPC Zethia in chapter 1 was apparently based on Hildegarde’s data], but I don’t really think he’s going to be a light unit, at least if he does end up as a gala unit. We already have Gala Euden as a gala light sword adventurer, and I don’t think they want to double up on that. I also feel like one way or another Leif is going to be fairly support-based, which would make him overlap with Gala Euden even more if he were a light sword. So I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen.

In the long run I think that his role in combat will be more relevant to the question of which units he’d overlap with, rather than his element/weapon combo. I mean, we could have a purely offensive gala light sword and they wouldn’t actually conflict too much with Gala Euden because they’d do different things. The various changes we’ve gotten to how co-abilities work, and the introduction of unique co-abilities, means it’s not really a big deal to have two units with the same weapon type in a team together so long as they do different things.

Which is also why I don’t want him to be a wind or water element sword unit, either. Gala Ranzal is [kind of] defense-oriented already, and also he just doesn’t deserve to get directly overshadowed by a hypothetical new gala wind sword, lol. And even though Gala Elly is a different weapon type, Leif would definitely conflict with her in practice if he was a support-oriented water unit.

Funnily enough I think him being a shadow element gala sword built around team buffs could work fine, and he wouldn’t really overlap with anyone aside from maybe Patia, but realistically I doubt we’ll get another gala shadow sword so soon after Gala Alex, no matter how different they might be in practice, lol.

So basically due to process of elimination I think I’d want him to be a gala flame sword. On the one hand the idea of a gala flame sword doesn’t really interest me at all, but honestly I think he could be surprisingly interesting and really shake things up if he’s support-oriented. Nearly all of the flame swords we have are pretty much entirely offensive, and nobody uses Karl even though he can technically be used as a support-based flame sword with the right set-up. So I honestly think that Leif could have his own relatively unique niche in the flame meta even if he ends up with such a common element/weapon combo.

There’s also the fact that Volk seems like it’s going to end up being the hardest Agito fight by a substantial degree, so I think it’d make sense to start introducing more flame units designed to let people break into that fight. And from what I know of the Volk meta [from having never actually played eVolk myself, lol], it seems pretty obvious that the big hole in the flame meta at the moment is how H-Lowen is basically the only accepted support unit, and he’s an entirely support-focused unit who does next to nothing to contribute to the team’s DPS. If eVolk and HMS didn’t have unavoidable damage and high difficulty in general, he’d probably lose his place in the meta, which I feel like is kinda already happening as a result of Hawk and Marth’s mana spirals. So I feel like what flame really needs right now, rather than more good DPS units or more good healers, is a support unit who can also contribute to team DPS.

So basically what I want is for Gala Leif to be like a mix of Tobias, Gala Elly, and T-Hope. If he wants to be an alternative/replacement to H-Lowen, he’s going to need at least SOME healing, on top of offensive/defensive buffs. I wouldn’t actually want him to have enough healing to straight up replace H-Lowen as a healer, but if he wants to be an alternative to him then he at least needs enough to deal with stuff like cleansing plague.

In general my basic idea of how I think his kit could work in order to fulfill that role is that he could have an S1 that has a big strength boost and a smaller defense boost [so like a reverse of Patia’s S1], and an ability/chain co-ability that gives Team Healing Doublebuff. Preferably on the level of 5% HP per tick instead of 1% HP per tick like with T-Hope. I think that’d basically be all that he needs to be able to work as a team support unit who can contribute to team DPS while also providing enough healing to deal with plague and recover people from unavoidable damage, even though he wouldn’t be as good of a generalist healer as H-Lowen.

For both Volk and HMS there’s also the issue of interfering with melee baiters, and needing to do ranged baiting for certain moves, so in spite of him being a sword unit, maybe they could give Gala Leif an S2 that gives him a ranged attack stance like Tobias, so he can let the melee units do their thing.

This is all just more or less baseless speculation, but this is just what I’m thinking they could do to address the fact that Volk is the hardest Agito fight, that the support role is the most exclusive and difficult role in that fight, that H-Lowen is basically dead weight DPS-wise who seems to slowly be losing his relevance in the face of 4DPS team comps, and that Emma has basically never been meta for Volk and has become way less important for HMS with how co-abilities work now. So introducing a new gala unit who provides fairly substantial team DPS buffs along with adequate healing seems like it’s exactly what the flame element needs right now. And considering that Gala Alex has poison and buff dispel it’s not exactly impossible that we could get a gala unit designed to work against Volk. It might make more sense for us to get a wind gala unit next to go against Ciella, but I still think that Ciella won’t be as hard as Volk, and wind also already has more in the way of viable support units than flame does at the moment.

The fact that our first gala dragon is also a flame one designed for DPS units, along with Marth getting a super powerful mana spiral, also just makes me think that they’re still trying to address the Volk meta and give people more options for it, so I think it’s reasonable to assume our next gala unit might be designed to address the support/defense part of the flame meta.

It’s worth noting, though, that I’m pretty sure Leif had some sort of team defense buff when he showed up in chapter 9, which is basically the main reason why I’m assuming he’d be a support/defense-based unit rather than an offensive one. Patia also ended up being a team support unit so it’d just make sense if he ended up being kinda similar, lol.

Anyway this was way too many words to just say that I want my boi to finally come home :v

[waynekelton]

The Weekender: Eye of the Beholder 2 Edition

So I've been trying out The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot past couple of weeks. Fun Fact: This game originally launched in 2015 on PC as some weird blend of loot-tastic action/RPG and a Dungeon Master type deal as players built their own Castles/Dungeons for players to raid for said loot. It didn't last that long, closing down shy of two years after launch. In January 2017 it came back on mobile, soft launched in only a few territories. Whatever they were testing seems to have worked because it released world-wide in full the other week. 

The problem is, it's now just one Red Hot(TM) Free-to-Play gacha mess. Energy gating how long you can play in one go, chests that you can unlock by spending keys, which can be bought for money. Hey, want to double the loot you got from this chest? Watch an add! Can't be bothered to play? From Level-5 there's an 'Auto' mod, and you can even buy 'Instant Win' tickets that by-pass playing levels out entirely. I mean look at this non-sense:

The worst thing is, they've gotten rid of the Castle building elements, which I personally think was the most interesting part about it, but what do I know? Here I am, playing it anyway... It's an incredibly pretty game. Like, I really dig the production values that have gone into designing the character models and levels and I'm not going to lie, I've taken more-than-appropriate satisfaction from putting different pieces of bad-ass gear to my dude. 

Tl;dr - Don't play Might Quest for Epic Loot, you will probably end up hating yourself (while looking like a baws).

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile gaming... 

Out Now

Beholder 2 (iOS Universal) – Full review coming soon!

If this had already been announced, I must have missed the memo as I was not expecting to see Beholder 2 on the release docket this week. We reviewed the first game back in 2017 and while it had some interesting ideas in terms of the choices and trade-offs, it was too easy to succumb to ‘efficiency’ rather than trying to deal with morality. Beholder 2 seems to be a rather expanded affair, with your character a fully-fledged member of the Ministry of Security. You must work your way up the career ladder, spying on your co-workers and praising the leader at every turn. It’s only on iOS at the moment but the first game made it do Android eventually, so it’s hopefully just a matter of time.

Fluxx Digital (iOS Universal) – Re-Review Coming soon!

This is technically a ‘re-release’ rather than a new release, but you’ll remember the other week we reported that Playdek has decided to revive their digital adaptation of Fluxx from the dead. Originally released in 2012, it was lost in the Appocalypse a couple of years ago – now it’s back! This is a card game for 2-4 players where the rules and objectives can change at any moment. It’s chaotic and pretty unique, as card games goes.

We do have a review buried in the site archives, but it hasn’t aged well so I’ve got Michael on the case to re-review it for us, so watch this space. Also note – if you bought the game originally between 2012 – 2017, so long as you still have access to the iTunes account you bought it on, you’ll be able to re-download it on your modern iOS devices without have to re-purchase the game. The originally release was never on Android as far as we know, and we don’t know if there are plans to bring it to Google Play anytime soon.

Also released this week  of note was Cosmic Frontline AR, which we reviewed yesterday (it’s not very good, unfortunately) and Healer’s Quest: Pocket Wand (Android), which at first glance is a strategy RPG in the style of Final Fantasy, except it’s also got comedic themes woven into its DNA. It seems a little generic on paper, but we’re wondering if the light-hearted presentation makes it stand out.

Finally, for the more aesthetic among you, the developers behind 2013’s iconic Journey have released a new game this week. Sky: Children of the Light is a free exploration/adventure game where you can fly around, explore and go on adventures with other players.

Updates

A few update of note this week, so let’s run through them...

Chess Rush

Tencent’s version of Auto Chess received an update this week, which along with the usual tweaking of pieces and new rewards/content drops, also included a co-op mode. I’ve yet to test it out, but it sounds intriguing.

Santorini

The digital version of Santorini has had a few updates since launch. Two this week fixed a few bugs as well adding in an easy share feature for private matches, along with a discount for God of the Week promos. If you’re wondering, our review will be dropping on Monday – sorry for the delay!

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

The first official patch since the end of June, this week’s update offers a few quality of life teaks, such as making the Exstimulo potions a bit more effective, and showing how much Spell Energy you have left in more obvious places. You can also change your code name in the settings, if you want, but only once.

Star Traders: Frontiers

In this week’s episode of the Star Traders: Frontiers Update Show, the latest update adds a new ship, new salvage, replaces the Pirate template as well as a few others goodies that keep this game ticking.

Sales

On the sales front, here’s what we’ve got:

Warhammer Quest 2 is completely free on iOS all this week, but not on Android. It also got a new character to mark the occasion.

Solitairica is down to $0.99 on iOS.

April’s SFD Rogue is down to $3.99 on both iOS & Android for the first time. 

Beamdog’s Siege of Dragonspear is also down to $5.99 on both platforms.

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

The Weekender: Eye of the Beholder 2 Edition published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[technologyasyouwish-blog]

Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Started 'Mass Effect: Andromeda'

This week has been interesting. This is probably the most hours per day I have ever put into a game in order to hit an embargo in such a short time span. I woke up every day at 6 AM, started up Mass Effect: Andromeda, and played for 10 or 11 hours straight. 60 hours of the campaign later, plus some multiplayer, and here I am.

My official scored review went up yesterday, which is 3,400 words of detailed thoughts and opinions about the game. I suggest you go and read that if you want my full analysis, as today, launch day, I have a different task: To impart some practical wisdom from all that time spent with the game.

This is a game where you’re going to want to know a few things up front to help with your experience, so hopefully my advice will be useful. Here are ten things I wish I knew before I started Mass Effect: Andromeda. No story spoilers follow.

1. Don't Use Default Sarah Ryder

All anyone can talk about in the run-up to the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda has been the often awkward animations with human characters. While this is something of an issue, and I do wish more improvement had been made in the last five years, it does not define the experience. One thing I would recommend, however, is not using the game’s default Sarah Ryder model.

While Scott Ryder is a perfectly normal pre-rendered face, something is just off about Sarah Ryder’s visage. It’s based on a real-life model, but something got lost in translation, and it just does not look right in the game. A lot of the early game footage you’ve seen has her talking and it just looks uncomfortable. If you want to play female Ryder (as I did), I would definitely design your own rather than using Sarah. I spent a decent amount of time making my Ryder look acceptable, and lo and behold, that does translate into the game itself. While there are animation issues elsewhere in the game, I found that my custom Ryder never looked as strange as Sarah Ryder has in all these previews. Not to say whoever you make has to be some supermodel, but Sarah is not the ideal face for this game purely from an animation perspective, so I would suggest forging your own path in that regard.

2. Don't Quit After The First Two Planets

I said this in both my early preview and my review, but Andromeda does a very poor job introducing players to the new open world concept because of how bad the first two planets are. Eos is a radioactive wasteland that throws up invisible walls in the form of a toxic environment when you stray too far. Havarl is a confusing mess of a jungle planet where you cannot even use your car, and fighting enemies you can’t even see through overgrown shrubbery is a nightmare.

I’m here to say it gets better. Without getting into specifics, you’re able to make Eos a lot more friendly to exploration as the zone expands dramatically in size with its toxic barriers lifted. And the last three planets you find, Voeld, Kadara and Eladeen, are without a doubt the game’s strongest environments, both in terms of their visuals, and how fun they are to navigate. There’s also a bonus planet you’ll find later that’s the most fun to drive around by far, but I’ll leave that one a surprise. My point is that even if you think Andromeda has made a serious mistake going open world judging by the first two planets (which is exactly what I thought), power through and get to the other environments, which are way better.

3. Turn The Nomad Into The Mako As Soon As Possible

Part of how much you’re going to enjoy the open world is how much you enjoy driving around your Nomad, and for reasons that remain unclear to me, the vehicle is designed to make you hate it when you first start using it. It’s slow, sluggish and can barely navigate even the most basic of terrain like mild slopes.

You have the power to change this, and upgrade the Nomad into something more accurately resembling the Mako from the original Mass Effect. In order, the upgrades you should research in implement are six-wheel drive, which lets you climb slopes faster, a longer boost capability, better top speed, and a longer hover capability. Combine those together and you can race up pretty much every cliff in the game and get hang time over sand dunes and mountains alike. These upgrades were the key to enjoying navigating these planets, so get them as soon as you can. They’ll be in your R&D station, and new ones are added as time goes on or you find/buy more.

4. Invest In The Cache Finding Upgrade

As you play, you will get points to invest in the Nexus, unlocking different “cryo pods” that give you passive bonuses in the game, rather than specific bonuses to your character like the R&D system. A few of these are useful, like getting materials and such delivered to you regularly, but I would only deem one upgrade absolutely essential: the cache finder.

This upgrade will put a smattering of treasure chests across any planet you explore. These chests are in such remote locations most of the time, you would usually never find them without this upgrade, and they often contain very valuable gear that would have been much harder to find, craft or purchase otherwise. These caches will scale to your level, so don’t hunt them down all at once, and spread them out over the course of the game.

5. Here's How The Ridiculously Confusing Crafting System Works

I really, really hate the crafting system in this game, but by the end I mostly have it figured out. It’s convoluted and awful, but it can be used to make the best items in the game. Here’s what you need to know.

   The Research half of crafting uses three types of tech, Milky Way, Kett and Remnant. You get points in this tech for scanning objects in the wild. Everywhere you go, always check with your scanner to see if there’s something to add. If so, it will glow. Scan every type of enemy you come across as well, living or dead. Your controller will rumble if you’re by something very valuable to scan, but ABS – always be scanning.    You have to research each level of an item, and there are 10 levels of every item, not just five the way it initially appears. The problem with this system is that even if you have a lot of scanning currency, you will use up almost all of it on just a few items per class if you’re researching upgraded versions of items. Pick your favorites, and stick with them.    Do not bother researching N7 armor. It will obviously be attractive, but eventually you unlock a Nexus perk for vendors who will sell more “special gear,” and guess what? A full N7 set is part of the product line. I wasted probably 1,200 Milky Way research credits on this.    You can add mods to weapons and armor as you craft them, which will give you innate bonuses. But when you upgrade to the next level of an item, those bonuses are gone, right? No. The game does not explain this at all, but you can dismantle your old crafted item and get all those mods back for future use. You only get a fraction of the minerals and materials, but all the mods should come back. It is crazy this isn’t made clear.

That should get you started. I hate this system but focusing on a few specific weapons, I did manage to craft some pretty great stuff by the end of the game.

6. Squadmates You Don't Like At Hour Three You May Love By Hour Thirty

I’m going to take a guess and say that many of the characters, particularly the crew members, you meet in Mass Effect: Andromeda you won’t take to right away. I felt this way about the initial two squadmates the game gave me, Liam and Cora, and then I thought that the hyper Asari Peebee was going to annoy me all game. That was true at first, but you have to give them a chance.

Having conversations with everyone, taking them on missions, and doing their loyalty quests will make you bond with them. Liam and Cora became two of my best buds on the ship, and Peebee uh, well let’s just say we became more than friends, even though my original intention was to romance my science officer Suvi. I just spent so much time with Peebee that I liked her, and it seemed like the right path. These kinds of relationships take dozens of hours to develop, so don’t expect to love everyone right away.

Also, side note. At a certain point, your romantic “choice” seems to be permanent. While I could flirt with everyone for a long time, once Peebee and I declared we wanted to be “exclusive,” I no longer even had the option to flirt with anyone else in conversation. So if you’re presented with that sort of ultimatum by whoever you’re romancing, know that’s what it probably means. But yes, I know there is a way to have a three-way in this game, but you can find that on your own.

7. Loot Containers Are Very Easy To Miss

One thing I don’t really get about Andromeda is its desire to hide loot containers from players. Many games will highlight them either on a minimap or in the environment, but Andromeda does neither so they are incredibly easy to overlook.

One problem is that pretty much any shape in the environment can be a loot container, so you have to wander around pretty close to almost everything to see if you get a prompt to open it. Some containers have a light blue shading that highlights them a bit but many don’t and it’s often hard to see. Scanning does not reveal containers either.

Nearly all landmarks will have at least one “big” chest with more stuff in it, so don’t leave until you find it. Cleared landmarks with no more stuff to get in them will turn blue on your map, but I swear sometimes I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. Also, at the end of story missions during boss fights, look around for a big loot container that will usually have a hefty prize in it. I am positive I missed quite a few of these during my first few missions before I figured this out.

8. You Can Save Preset Skill/Specialty Loadouts

Combat is a lot of fun in Mass Effect: Andromeda, and it’s made even more fun by its flexibility. It took me a while to figure this out, but you can actually save up to four preset power/class loadouts for your character in the skills screen. This will save the three powers you’re using and their assigned buttons, but also your class. Unlike past ME games, you can actually switch classes on the fly, based on how many points you’ve sunk into Combat, Tech or Biotics. For example, I had a hybrid Biotic/Combat build which let me pick between Soldier, Adept or Vanguard classes that I could flip between. Pick your skills and your class and even in the middle of combat you can totally change your play style.

9. Shotguns Are Stupidly Overpowered

I would rarely call for something to be nerfed in a PvE game like Andromeda, but by the end, the damage imbalance between my shotguns and everything else I was using was absolutely crazy. If you have even a halfway decent sustain build (like mine, which focused on shields), you can shred pretty much every single enemy in the game with nonstop shotgun blasts. At first, shotguns are limited by their small ammo pool, but upgrades and skills fix that, and it got to the point where if I felt like if I was using anything else, I was just being inefficient. If you don’t know where to sink combat points, you really cannot go wrong with shotguns.

10. You Can Keep Playing Normally After The Story Ends

I am certainly not going to get into ending spoilers here, but in a game like Mass Effect, players are going to want to know if there’s a hard or soft ending -- meaning if they beat the game, if they can keep playing and do the stuff they missed. The answer is definitely yes.

The ending of Andromeda is structured that you can not only keep playing the game and doing missions you missed with no penalty, but it’s not even one of those situations where you’re playing in the final save point before being told to go to the last mission. No, the main storyline can end and you are free to keep doing stuff.

With that said, if you want to be safe, you may want to consider doing at least your crew’s loyalty missions and the main planetary story missions before the last few missions. I do not actually know if there’s a downside to not doing that, but that’s been the case in past games, so it’s possible you might be risking something here. But since I did them, I can’t say for sure what happens if you don’t. But yeah, the point is don’t worry about finishing every little thing before the end, which is what I did. It isn’t necessary.

Alright, that’s all the advice I have for now. I may be back with more, but that should be enough to get you started. Happy exploring, and enjoy.