July 2024 Monthly Update
5 months ago
– Tue, Jul 16, 2024 at 03:31:43 AM
Hello Scions,
It feels like it's been a pretty fast few weeks, but it's already time for our regular monthly update! Before I get to our project round up, I wanted to share two cool bits of Scion info with you today!
ONYX PATH CON PANELS
First up, as noted back in our May update, Onyx Path recently held their annual Virtual Gaming Convention about a month ago and I've got some cool Scion panels to share with you! If you've been looking for information on what's up with Scion and what projects are in the pipeline or more information about the game, these panels are for you!
First up, a big group panel where members of the Scion gang (pantheon?) discuss Scion with a focus on the tiers of play!
And then we get a look at what's ahead for Scion, with a big focus on the upcoming Scion: Mythic Shards book!
SCION: MYTHIC SHARDS
And that panel is how I segue into our big news of the day! The latest book for Scion Second Edition,
Mythic Shards, will launch it's crowdfunding campaign later today!
The World never truly ends, it merely shatters. Each fragment giving birth to new possibilities, new futures within whole new realities as they fall. Every time the World is saved, it continues on in one reality while other possibilities propel forward into another tomorrow. When we sleep, our souls travel to other worlds and realms. Our imaginations touch the shards and run rampant. They are not merely dreams. These Mythic Shards are as real as the Divine Realms, and the realm we live in. All myths are true.
Scion: Mythic Shards presents alternate realities for the World of Scion and provides new rules for players and Storyguides to incorporate into their games. Each chapter explores a single shard of reality at varying tiers of Scion gameplay. These chapters are standalone from each other and don’t need to be consumed with the other chapters in order to start playing. Mythic Shards requires the use of
Origin,
Hero,
Demigod, and
God in order to play.
Scion’s setting — the World — is an exciting place where heroes are larger than life, and Fate always lurks in the shadows, pulling strings. It is a place of urban fantasy where the legends and myths of our ancestors live in a world that’s much like our own.
But, there are some tales that belong to another world — stories that need another place to breathe and come alive — places like…
-
After the End: A post apocalyptic desert full of peril and opportunities for new beginnings
-
Cyber-Scion: A cyberpunk dystopia where Scions pilot mecha to fight corporate kaiju
-
Farewell to Heroes: Gritty noir cities where Scions are illegal
-
Four Color: A place of superheroes, alter-egos, and over-the-top excitement
-
Space Odyssey: An entire galaxy of starships and aliens
REWARDS STILL PENDING
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://scion-god.backerkit.com
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can find the
weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
June 2024 Monthly Update
6 months ago
– Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 05:52:28 AM
Hello Scions,
Before I get to this month's regular update, I just wanted to let you know about the latest Scion project that just came out today!
If you believe that as children of the Gods you are entitled to rule The World as you know it, you’re in for a rude awakening.
Scion: No Gods, No Masters is a tier-spanning chronicle for the Scion roleplaying game, providing a tale playable with pre-Visitation Scions all the way through to Demigods, and perhaps beyond. Contained within this book, you’ll find:
- An epic three-part adventure for your Scions to embark upon, wherein the fate of The World is in your hands.
- The emergence of a deadly set of antagonists in the form of the Keepers of The World and their many monstrous servants.
- Ready-made characters so you can embark upon this heroic journey immediately.
REWARDS STILL PENDING
Our Scion: God book is finishing up in Indexing and preparing the final PDF release, the Print-on-Demand version of the PDF, and the print run for our hardcover book rewards. Initial Art Notes are now being prepared for all three of our Stretch Goal supplements. That's the first stage of Art Direction, where the developer writes up the Art Notes and works with the Art Director to coordinate artists schedules and build a timeline for the illustrations before actual Art Direction begins.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://scion-god.backerkit.com
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can find the
weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
COMING SOON
Onyx Path's next Crowdfunding Campaign will be for Scion: Mythic Shards! Take your Scion campaign for a spin around some alternate settings and play the game you know in a new way.
CURRENTLY FUNDING - ONYX PATH ADJACENT
From
The Bodhana Group, the Branch Riders tabletop roleplaying game is currently in a campaign on Kickstarter. The Bodhana Group advocates for and utilizes tabletop gaming as a directed therapeutic and clinical practice that can benefit personal growth as well as enhance social and educational services to individuals and families. Gaming has usefulness in education, skill building and therapeutic applications.
Branch Riders is an RPG that came out of years of design and development - with the help of some of the Onyx Path team - to be a fun and compelling game first and foremost, but with the right therapeutic and skill-building tools "under the hood" for trained instructors to utilize beyond that.
If you're interested in a multi-genre action-packed easy-to-learn and -teach fun game with different approaches to problem solving and a variety of GM tools and player challenges, come check it out!
As if coordinating a three-day online convention wasn't exhausting enough, Onyx Path's Travis Legge as rolled right into launching his latest Kickstarter! Bizarre Kingdoms is a setting expansion for Odysseys & Overlords, though the lands and creatures introduced herein could be easily adapted to any Savage Worlds Fantasy setting. In this book you'll find four new kingdoms your adventurers can explore or even hail from! This book requires the use of the Savage Worldscore rules and the SWADE Fantasy Companion.
May '24 Monthly Update
7 months ago
– Tue, May 21, 2024 at 08:20:50 AM
Hello Scions,
Are you ready for your May update? We've had a couple of great previews from our Stretch Goal books over the last two months (
check out the past t
wo updates if you haven't seen them already), and this month I want to let you know about another way to learn more about upcoming Scion projects!
The best source for the latest information is from the Onyx Path team, of course, and you'll be able to hear about the latest Scion developments and projects direction from the team during the Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention!
Next month, on June 14-16, they'll be streaming panels on their twitch channel (
twitch.tv/theonyxpath). Here's the panel schedule
The big info panels are usually the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and the What's Up With Onyx Path? panel and Scion panel on Saturday.
In addition, you'll be able to see Actual Play sessions streamed via partner channel Rolling Nomads. Check out the Scion sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
REWARDS STILL PENDING
Our Scion: God book is finishing up in Indexing and preparing the final PDF release, the Print-on-Demand version of the PDF, and the print run for our hardcover book rewards. Initial Art Notes are being prepared for the Companion PDF.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://scion-god.backerkit.com
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here:
<April 2024 Project Status Summary>You can find the
weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
CURRENTLY FUNDING!
At the Gates is a high fantasy tabletop roleplaying game about burgeoning heroes struggling to survive, fighting for what’s right, exploring dangerous places, and saving the world.
Magic fuels all parts of Gaia, from fields of wheat to the people who sow them. Magic is rooted in the living nature of the world: the elements, the mind, the body, and the soul. The Void stands outside the world, and represents all the esoteric concepts such as order, entropy, and energy. Where the Void meets the world, Outlands grow. These places are warped by the intermingling of two opposite magics, and everything that lives there is tainted and dangerous. Hidden inside these Outlands are gates into the Void, standing as literal tears in reality.
You play as heroes who have chosen to buck the status quo and try to change the course of things. Your characters may attempt to change the course of the war, delve into the secrets of daemons and the Void, fight against tyranny to protect what they love in the world, fight to restore balance to Gaia, or all the above.
You can stand at the gates and hold back the tide, changing the course of history. Will you heed the call?
April '24 Monthly Update
8 months ago
– Tue, Apr 16, 2024 at 06:27:21 AM
Hello Scions!
No big announcements for you this month - our book is currently in Indexing before being the final PDF is released and print prep starts - but I do have a big preview today from one of our Stretch Goal projects -
Scion: Divine Inspiration!
We gave you a
sneak peek into some of Scion: Divine Inspiration’s plot seeds in our last preview. Now let’s delve deeper into one of the plot seed packs this book contains in abundance:
Plot Seed Packs
This chapter is dedicated completely to plot-seed packs, which span multiple acts and easily serve as a story — or even campaign — arc in their own right. The following is one such pack:
Stars and (Skunk) Stripes Forever
(Pre-Visitation Scion Origin)
Use this plot-seed pack to jumpstart a new campaign with Origin-level characters, drawing the players into the action and pushing them toward finding a way to deal with low-level threats before the stakes start to get higher. Perhaps they may even experience their Visitation during this plot-seed pack, likely in Act II when confronted with the Skunk of Unusual Size, which may or may not turn the tide of the events in their favor.
- Act I begins as the skunks invade and quickly overwhelm a local Gathering of Three Fires. The stench can be smelled from several blocks away and seems to be growing ever stronger. Nothing has driven the skunks out of the burrows as far as anyone can tell, but that doesn’t mean something supernatural isn’t in play.
- Act II reveals there is one Skunk of Unusual Size which seems to be the ringleader of a roving Band of skunks, roughly two to three times the average size. Even the bravest of canine companions are going “nope!” at it, and the Band will get caught up in a crush of humans, Denizens, and pets stampeding to get away. As far as anyone can tell, the skunks seem to be heading toward a convergence of sorts. The location can be wherever the Band is located. The Storyguide should choose whatever works best for the story or creates tension.
Act I: Who Let the Skunks Out?
Across North America, there have been reports of large migrations — and noxious encounters — with populations of American hog-nosed skunks. At first, no one thinks twice about it because skunks are a common sight, especially during late spring and early summer as many new kits are born. These surfeits of skunks have, quite succinctly, put a stink on traditional summer celebrations and folks from every walk of life and pantheon in the World have had enough.
Pulling Fate’s Threads
Trickster and nature deities, as well as pantheons allied to or are friendly with the Manitou have good reason to show up and be of assistance here — and they, in turn, nudge the pre-Visitation Band toward the problem. This plot-seed pack provides an excellent opportunity to introduce the characters to one of the Indigenous North American pantheons and discover their own connection to the land, perhaps developing better relationships therein.
Snags
- The biggest of these skunks is immune to Knacks involving manipulation of animals and seems to be sentient. Whether or not the Band can communicate or find a way to deescalate the stinky situation will require them using problem solving skills.
- A concerned citizen (Marisa Pillton) uploads a video to Nymphstagram that appears to show one of the skunks exhibiting rabid behavior, making the situation both more dangerous. This can also make the problem personal if it’s in their home neighborhood. Pillton’s broadcast also leads to an influx of curious onlookers, increasing the tension and severity of the situation unless they can get the video taken down.
- That very same “concerned citizen” who uploaded the initial video on Nymphstagram has also been spotted trying to get close enough to the surfeit of skunks to take several candid shots with them. This makes her a clear target for some very mad (and potentially rabid) creatures.
- A local dog got into a fight with one of the skunks, which — while being part of the surfeit terrorizing the area — is behaving differently. This one is an Animal Doadem (Scion: Titanomachy, p. 36) belonging to a (potential or current) Scion of the Manitou pantheon, the longstanding enemy of Aniwye. If the Band aids the Doadem creature, they may gain a new Creature Birthright. If they do not assist this singular skunk, they may find themselves in hot water with a Hero, Demigod, or even a God.
Act II: A Mighty (and Stinky) Wind
If the Band successfully manages to either round up or get the convergence of skunks into a singular area, such as a sports field or stadium, they may find themselves facing an even greater threat than they perhaps imagined — Aniwye, Manitou Titan and all-around pain in Nana’b’oozoo’s ass, is once again trying to assemble what others have taken to calling “Skunkatron.” That is, assuming his “final form” to prove to the Manitou (and humanity) once and for all who is the chief stinker of them all.
Pulling Fate’s Threads
At this point, the Bandmates may start to realize they aren’t just run-of-the-mill individuals trying to enjoy their summer events — they took charge of a stinky situation and others are looking to them for guidance. While no local Heroes (or Demigods) have made an appearance at this time to assist with the situation, that doesn’t mean they won’t offer a helping hand.
Snags
- During the course of the confusion and turmoil, and while needing to defend against possibly rabid skunks, the characters find a hardened pipe-looking object which they can use to swipe against the animals to keep them away. This item is a Pawaugun (Scion: Titanomachy, p. 36) — a Relic belonging to a Manitou God who may want it back.
- Elsewhere, there is clearly another mortal (Nero Delaune) who is trying to almost play a game of chicken with the skunks as they continue to amass in droves. If he gets too close to the largest of these (purportedly Aniwye himself), he will get sprayed, and it is up to the Band whether to assist or let him be.
- A deity from a different pantheon is attracted to the rumors and, believing the SOUS is an actual skunk, wants to claim it for their menagerie, not realizing what the creature truly is. They ask the characters to either capture the skunk for them or to smooth over the diplomatic mess they made trying to trap Aniwye.
Characters
Aniwye (he/him), Titan (Manitou). The OG Stinker. Even among Titans, Aniwye is not taken seriously — he is literally a skunk of unusual size — but he is determined to get the respect he feels he is owed and is willing to cause problems on purpose to get his point across.
Nana’b’Ozoo (he/him), God (Manitou). Nana’b’oozoo is a strong believer in folks figuring out things on their own — it builds character! But if things are truly dire, he can come appear in a pinch and take another whack at Aniwye — for old time’s sake — if he can just find his pipe…
Marisa Pillton (she/her), pre-Visitation Scion (Bogovi). The “concerned citizen” who uploaded the video of the skunk riot on Nymphastagram. She is constantly trying to be an on-the-ground, on-the-go type of guerilla journalist, but she fails because she lacks credibility. Pillton can either serve as foil or ally, depending on if the Band takes her aspirations seriously.
Nero Delaune (he/him), pre-Visitation Scion (Òrìshà). He attempts to play chicken with some giant skunks (it makes for a great story to tell later) — Nero clearly does things just because he can, and you never know if he’ll be a help or hinderance.
Back to our regular monthly update!
REWARDS STILL PENDING
Our Scion: God book is in Indexing and preparing the final PDF release, the Print-on-Demand version of the PDF, and the print run for our hardcover book rewards.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://scion-god.backerkit.com
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can find the
weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
March '24 Monthly Update
9 months ago
– Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 06:56:10 AM
Hello Scions!
It hasn't been a full month since our last update, when the distribution for our advance backer copies of the Scion: God PDF went out! This update won't be quite as exciting - how could it be?!
But I'll continue to touch base regularly until all rewards have gone out. So let's get to our update for the month!
REWARDS STILL PENDING
Our Scion: God book is getting all of the errata submitted via the Feedback Form sorted and set up, and then it'll be on to indexing and preparing the final PDF release, the Print-on-Demand version of the PDF, and the print run for our hardcover book rewards. Still many steps ahead, but so happy to have the backer PDF on my screen!
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at
https://scion-god.backerkit.com
ONYX PATH PROJECT TRACKING
You can find the
weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
ONYX PATH DISCUSSION CHANNELS
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
TO CONTACT JAMES
- Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
- Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
FINAL DAYS!
Trust your instincts. Reward loyalty. Respect an honest duel.
And always, always pounce on the minions of the Unseen.
The Age of Man is long over. Cats – uplifted from our clever feline companions to use tools and language – now rule the world. In the Monarchies of Mau, cats study relics the Old Ones left behind to create new wonders, expand their understanding of the world, and combat the monsters and minions of the Unseen that threaten catkind. Curious cats explore ruins and set sail on the Acid Sea, or participate in games of intrigue against other houses, the dogs of Pugmire, and other rival species.
The world is full of mysteries and dangers, which excellent cats are eager to face.
