Onyx Pathcast

Episode 19: Magick With A K

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!

Episode 18: Deep Dive: Beckett's Jyhad Diary/Vampire the Masquerade

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?

Episode 17: Shambling with Ashley Zdeb and Michael Pucci of Dystopia Rising

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 

Episode 16: Deep Dive into Dystopia Rising Evolution

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

Special Episode Three: Freelancing for Onyx Path (Gen Con 2018)

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/ 

Episode 15: Gen Con 2018 Retrospective

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

Special Episode Two: What's Up With Onyx Path (Gen Con 2018)

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 

Episode 14: Conventions

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!

Episode 13: Video Games and RPGs

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 

Episode 12: I Know What Cars Are (with Eric Minton)

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