In which Matthew interviews Satyros Phil Brucato, the developer for Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition.

* Content Warning: Phil discusses his experience with rape and abuse (33:00 to 40:00 and 43:00 to 45:30)

* Matthew talks about how the process works between him as in-house developer and Phil as Mage 20 developer

* Phil writes a lot on his own books. How does he stay objective?

* The Mage brain trust

* Phil gives some writing advice

* How to get into Mage 20

* Book of the Fallen and working with uncomfortable material

* How to run stories of mages coming into their power

* How Phil started on Mage and what he would do differently

* A quick peek at Gods and Monsters

* The Trio recap

* What books and media make you uncomfortable?

* Blooper after the music!

In which Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy talk about Beckett's Jyhad Diary and other bits of Vampire: The Masquerade

* Dixie asks Eddy and Matthew about their first Masquerade projects

* What is Beckett's Jyhad Diary? It's a celebration of 25 years of Masquerade metaplot

* The role of humor in the project

* Bloodlines is the new wrestling reference (RIP wrestling jokes)

* Who is Beckett? What is the Jyhad?

* The Book of the Grave War

* The look of the book

* Easter eggs and references

* The complication of what Activision owns

* The co-developer relationship

* The problem of silly Malkavians and the Joker

* Linguistics!

* Our favorite part about the book

* "Book boyfriend"

* Eddy asks everyone's favorite clan

* Is this the new running gag?

In which Eddy talks with the core of Eschaton Media about Dystopia Rising: Evolution

* Matthew is out this week. Probably self-reflecting.

* Ashley Zdeb and Michael Pucci of Eschaton Media

* Eddy admits to an error in the Kickstarter

* The history of Dystopia Rising

* Trying to do creative work while holding another job

* The merging of tabletop and LARP canon

* The shifting focus of rules over the past decade

* How Eddy and Onyx Path came into the picture

* Faithful licensing vs "throw it all away if you want"

* Disability as post-apocalypse trope

* The struggles of introducing inclusivity over the past decade

* The push and pull of abstracted social tension vs community building

* Games that work on two levels at the same time

* Passionate LARP fanbases

* New LARP system and the three year jump

* The switch from 20+ Strains to 8 Lineages

* Changes to resurrection

* It's (emotionally) hard to change things

* Sometimes we'll make mistakes

* Dixie talks about her experience about Dragon Con

* Eddy works in a wrestling AND Sailor Moon reference (but it's Xavier Woods, so that's pretty easy)

LINKS

* George Romero: https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/george-a-romero-pioneering-horror-director-dead-at-77-198502/

* Dystopia Rising Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dystopia-rising-evolution-tabletop-rpg 

In which Matthew and Dixie takes turns interviewing Eddy about Dystopia Rising: Evolution.

* Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dystopia-rising-evolution-tabletop-rpg

* Matthew has to leave, so he'll start off as host, but Dixie will take over halfway through

* How did Onyx Path come to be developing Dystopia Rising

* We (EVENTUALLY) talk about the elevator pitch for DR:E

* A focus on emotional connections

* What new and established Onyx Path players can get from DR:E

* Economy as told through story rather than logistics

* Zed, Raiders, and animals, oh my! The thrilling antagonists

* Dixie loves Borderlands 2 and has taken over as host!

* The importance of calling out asperational characters in tabletop games

* New Strains! But instead let's talk about the new approach to Strains

* (Slight mechanical bump -- we got all the audio, but Dixie and Eddy couldn't hear each other for a moment.)

* Is DR:E global? No, but Eddy has ideas on that front, too.

* Different post-apocalyptic genres

* The loss of original culture as a story element and a source of metahumor, and how it compares and contrasts with Pugmire

* Oral tradition and the Telling Visionaries

* How is missing information addressed in canon?

* Eddy talks a bit about diversity inclusion in DR:E

In which Dixie, Eddy, and Meghan Fitzgerald talk about the nature of freelancing at a panel during Gen Con 2018

* Matthew does his Dixie impression and moans a bit

* Being a fan and a friend

* The Ivory Towercast in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

* Onyx Path cosplay!

* Panel introductions

* Being contractors and working on projects as work-for-hire

* Dixie can't read Eddy's mind

* The development process

* Collaboration

* Kill fees

* Switching between lines and tones

* Contracting doesn't mean exclusivity

* Approaching freelancing as a hobby vs. a job

* Communication with (and about) your clients

* Following the rules and being professional

* Managing your time and work-life balance

* Q&A (again, not all the questions are clear)

* Matthew moans a bit more about his character

* A lot of our advice boils down to "follow the instructions"

* Matthew calls into the show to ask a question

* Onyx Path Submission Guidelines: http://theonyxpath.com/submission-guidelines/ 

In which the Terrible Trio talk about their Gen Con experience

* Since our normal recording solution was acting wonky, we switched to Skype. As a result, Eddy is a bit quiet in parts.

* Playing (and running) demos at the show

* They Came from Beneath the Sea demos (also, obligatory wrestling reference)

* Pugmire demos and lizard society

* More about Pirates of Pugmire

* Dixie asks a burning question about bird arms

* Demigod and more about Scion

* More about Mummy the Curse 2e

* Updates on other Chronicles of Darkness games

* More about M20 Victorian Mage

* More about Chicago by Night (and Vampire Fifth Edition overall)

* We talk about Dixie's love of the Lasombra

* More about Dystopia Rising: Evolution

* Harry and Izzy's shrimp cocktails

* We talk about inclusion and diversity

* ENnie Award Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UiAhyIBK9c

* Obligatory Sailor Moon reference

In which Matthew, Dixie, and Eddy present a recording of our "What's Up with Onyx Path" panel. But will their sanity survive low audio quality and recording software issues?

* Intro, and we talk about the audio quality and the applause next door

* Rich introduces the panel, and talks about the stuff that's not specific to games

* Changeover in process and staff over the past year

* Rich is on the board of the Bodhana Group

* iThrive and the Critical Strengths Engine

* Rich has to go, leaving us in charge

* Matt McElroy talks about fiction and distribution

* Community Content programs

* Talking about the Onyx Pathcast while recording for the Pathcast! Pathcastception!

* Matthew talks about World of Darkness

* Chicago By Night for Vampire 5th Edition

* Mage 20th updates: Book of the Fallen, Guide to the Technocracy, Victorian Mage

* Wraith 20th updates: Book of Oblivion

* Changeling 20th updates: C20 Player's Guide

* Dixie and Matthew talk about Chronicles of Darkness

* Innocents Second Edition

* Mummy the Curse Second Edition

* Exalted updates: Lunars, Heirs of the Shogunate, Sidereals

* Scion, guest-starring Neall Price

* Some initial ideas about Scion: Demigod

* Trinity Continuum

* John Snead talks a bit about Trinity: Aeon, Aeon Aexpansion, and Distant Worlds

* Trinity: Aberrant, as written by Steve Kenson

* Cavaliers of Mars status updates: Core, Witch-Queen, City of Towered Tomb

* They Came From Beneath The Sea

* Dystopia Rising: Evolution

* Pugmire updates: Monarchies of Mau, Fetch Quest, and announcing Pirates of Pugmire!

* Announcing the Legendlore RPG (based on the Caliber Comics series)

* Q&A - the questions are sometimes hard to hear, but we preserved this, just in case

* The outro descends into chaos, so Eddy quickly wraps things up

Links

* Onyx Path Brochure: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/246767/Onyx-Path-20182019-Publishing-Brochure

* Storypath System Preview: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/246766/Storypath-System-Preview-2018

* Bodhana Group: https://www.thebodhanagroup.org/

* iThrive Games: http://ithrivegames.org/

* Studio 2 Publishing: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products

* Indie Press Revolution: https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/home.php

* Canis Minor: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/17/canis-minor

* Slarecian Vault: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/cc/19/Slarecian-Vault 

In which Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy queue up and buy their badges for a chat about conventions

* Tangent 1: Dixie and Matthew argue about Japanese

* We're at Gen Con! But not yet. But we are now. It's very confusing.

* The food trucks are quite good

* Matthew's first con experience at UK Games Expo

* Dixie's first con experience at Dragon Con

* Tangent 2: Matthew as a DC fan at New York Comic Con

* Eddy's first con experience at Origins and the early 90s LARP scene

* Very few (US) cons these days are focused on just one thing, but gamers are sometimes very focused

* How often do we get to play games at cons?

* Dixie has never played a game at a con. Or has she?

* Fomo: The fear of missing out

* Playing and running con games/one-shots is different from playing and running a game with a regular group

* Midwinter is a great show

* What's the difference of attending as a professional over attending as an individual?

* The RPG industry is a drinking culture

* Tangent 3: People telling us we suck

* How to chat with pros and ask for autographs

* Tangent 4: Harry Potter discussion

* What we're looking forward to at Gen Con 2018

* Matthew got wrestled without consent. Consent is important!

In which the Terrible Trio talk about video games, how they've influenced RPGs, the overlap between both, and some of our history with both.

* Our first video game consoles

* Puzzle design in text adventures close to tabletop RPGs

* British game censorship

* Connecting to the characters on the screen

* A little history on the tensions between tabletop gamers and video gamers

* Where to send your hate mail (Eddy gets it wrong)

* Using video game language to attract people to tabletop RPGs

* What have we taken from video games and incorporated into our tabletop RPG experiences?

* Narrative choice into Chronicles of Darkness design

* Illusion of choice

* We all get fake Twitter names

* Eddy takes a controversial stance on Planescape Torment

* Dixie shifts the discussion to Bloodlines as a good example of blurring tabletop and video games

* Turning something from a video game into a tabletop RPG

* Matthew gets a cease-and-desist and realizes he's obsessed with water

* Which of the Onyx Path games would make the best video games?

* Dixie talks about MMOs, because the other two forgot

* Matthew snuck into an exclusive DC comics party

* Saints Row 4 as Demon the Descent

* Wrestling reference! The WWE RPG and the make-a-wrestling mode in WWE video games

* At the last minute Matthew mentions the Street Fighter RPG

LINKS:
We mention a LOT of games, so we're just listing the ones we talk about in detail.

* Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-game-30th-anniversary-edition

* Metal Gear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_%28video_game%29

* D&D 4th Edition: http://drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/44/Wizards-of-the-Coast/subcategory/9730_9739/Dungeons--Dragons-4e

* Mass Effect franchise: https://www.masseffect.com/

* Fable franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(video_game_series)

* Elder Scrolls franchise: https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en

* Bioshock: http://www.bioshockgame.com/site/us/

* Planescape Torment: https://www.gog.com/game/planescape_torment_enhanced_edition

* Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines: https://www.gog.com/game/vampire_the_masquerade_bloodlines

* Saints Row 4: https://www.saintsrow.com/about 

In which Dixie and Eddy interview Eric Minton about everything Exalted!

* Matthew is banished

* Eric's history with Exalted and freelancing (including a brush with Paranoia)

* Development of Infernals: The Manual of Exalted Power

* Starting as a fan and coming up through the community

* The Exalted stable, and the challenge of hiring new writers

* What drew Eric to Exalted

* Thoughts behind the design of Third Edition

* Some teasing of War in the West

* The experience of working on Dragon-Blooded

* Learning how to be developers, and working collaboratively as devs

* Some discussion of Lunars

* A fifteen-book plan!

* Eddy digs into Slack and the collaborative process

* How Trinity and Exalted have some similar challenges

* Inclusivity in Exalted

* NSFW: Eddy talks about the development process of Exxxalted

* Relating to the Exalted community

* A teaser of Exigents

* Matthew is impressed with the interview

* Listener feedback! Should we keep doing introductions and wrap-ups for our interview episodes?

* Matthews asks Eddy about Johnny Wrestling and his fued with Tomasso Ciampa

LINKS
* Exalted Third Edition: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/162759/Exalted-3rd-Edition

* Arms of the Chosen: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

* Exalted Discord: https://discord.gg/6WyJHPU

* Ask the Devs thread: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/1069023-ask-the-devs

* Geist 2e Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/geist-the-sin-eaters-2nd-edition