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Episodes
Chat, interviews, and banter by Onyx Path Publishing’s in-house developers. Join Matthew, Dixie, and Eddy on the Onyx Pathcast!
Episodes
Friday Jul 13, 2018
Friday Jul 13, 2018
In which Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy talk about Monarchies of Mau, Pan's Guide (with the usual digressions)
* Overview of Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau
* Intentionally leaving the map open, and musing about Forgotten Realms
* Canis Minor community content program
* Pugmire's voice (fur, paws, etc.)
* Humor is tricky, and how it differs between Mau and They Came From
* The fun of decoding post-apocalyptic imagery
* Intentions behind the choice of using a derivation of the 5e OGL
* How "technology as magic" adds mystery and texture to the game
* How Mau reimagines D&D-style monsters
* No species as "the evil race" and addressing problematic elements in genre fantasy
* Pan's Guide as a new kind of introductory product
* Matthew is very proud of our work on Pan's Guide
* The challenges of doing something new
* What we each love about the realms of Pugmire
LINKS
* Monarchies of Mau Early Access: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/211873/Monarchies-of-Mau-Early-Access
* Monarchies of Mau pre-order: https://monarchies-of-mau.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
* Pugmire: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/204313/Pugmire-Core-Rulebook
* Pan's Guide: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/239620/Pans-Guide-for-New-Pioneers
* Pan's Guide video adventure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dUUdvp2zM0
Friday Jul 06, 2018
Friday Jul 06, 2018
In which Eddy and Dixie talk to Danielle about vampires and pirates and networking, oh my!
- The transition to Requiem line developer
- What's cool about Requiem
- Working as line developer for 7th Sea
- Origin via neuroscience and LiveJournal
- Networking advice
- How Danielle trains new writers
- The industry is mainly contractors
- The struggle with turning down work
- How mentally draining creative work is
- Capitalizing words
- Trinity Core, Dystopia Rising, and the evolution of Storypath
- Working with Choice of Games
- Eddy ends up being awkward, again
- Vampire the Requiem 2nd Edition: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/123898/Vampire-The-Requiem-2nd-Edition
- 7th Sea 2nd Edition: http://7thsea.com/
- Trinity Continuum: http://theonyxpath.com/category/worlds/trinitycontinuum/
- Dystopia Rising: https://www.dystopiarising.com/
- Choice of Games: https://www.choiceofgames.com/
- More of Danielle's work: http://drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?x=0&y=0&author=Danielle%20Lauzon
Friday Jun 29, 2018
Friday Jun 29, 2018
In which Eddy, Dixie, and Matthew talk about the freelance life, both for Onyx Path and in general.
- How to get into freelancing
- The submission guidelines
- Importance of tone in submissions
- Matthew's curveball: Networking and social media
- The reality of emotions and personal conflict with clients
- Dixie's experience on great projects
- Eddy's experience on a difficult project
- The importance of communication
- Dealing with redlines and criticism
- Eddy's experience with redlines on Futurama: Game of Drones
- Dixie's experience with editing
- Juggling work-life balance
- Eddy's cuts a promo on Matthew: Do you feel better about yourself after becoming a freelancer?
Friday Jun 22, 2018
Friday Jun 22, 2018
In which Dixie and Matthew interview one of our newest developers, Steffie de Vaan!
- How Steffie got involved
- Started on web games and Promethean 2nd Edition
- Steffie talks about Matthew's development style
- What it's like to work from the Netherlands
- UK Games Expo and the trouble with rail
- Steffie and the hosts do a detailed dive into Promethean: The Created
- Matthew cuts a promo on Dixie (again)
- How to handle Disquiet in Promethean
- The Onyx Path games Steffie is most drawn to
- Monarchies of Mau, Pugmire, and Scion at UK Games Expo
- Matthew interrupts
- Angry Hamster Publishing's games, and wandering through afterlives
- Pitch for Changling the Lost
- The emergency question!
- Promethean 2nd Edition: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/189395/Promethean-the-Created-2nd-Edition
- Changeling 2nd Edition at Backerkit: https://changeling-the-lost-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
- Angry Hamster Publishing: angryhamsterpublishing.com
- More from Steffie: http://drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?x=0&y=0&author=Steffie%20de%20Vaan
Friday Jun 15, 2018
Friday Jun 15, 2018
In which Eddy, Dixie, and Matthew talk about their experiences with Vampire the Requiem, and talk about some of the design decisions that went into it.
- We totally plan these episodes (not really)
- We each talk about our experience with Requiem
- The differences between Masquerade and Requiem, and between first and second edition
- The social dynamics of Requiem
- Planescape and the X/Y/Z axis
- The science of number of choices
- Eddy gets academic, but it doesn't last
- Dixie talks about how second edition mechanics makes you feel like you're struggling to not be a monster
- The focus on relationships, and ghouls in particular
- Breaking points
- The role of noir and the detective tradition in Requiem
- 19-2, the Wire, and the influence of police drama
- Matthew breaks down the power design, and how it avoids redundancy
- Eddy asks Matthew and Dixie what their favorite clan and covenant combinations
You can pick up Vampire the Requiem at DriveThruRPG: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/123898/Vampire-The-Requiem-2nd-Edition
Friday Jun 08, 2018
Friday Jun 08, 2018
In which Matthew and Dixie interview the boss, Rich Thomas. And Eddy gets put into a cupboard. Again.
- Eddy gets kidnapped into the cupboard again
- Matthew and Dixie talk to the boss, Rich Thomas!
- Rich talks about his time as art director (among many titles) in the early days of White Wolf Publishing
- Rich's work as an artist in Vampire: The Masquerade, as well as one of the first 49 on Magic: The Gathering
- Working on television graphics in Philadelphia and meeting his wife, Lisa
- CCP, the World of Darkness MMO, and the formation of Onyx Path Publishing
- The build up to the new World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness. Did the Chronicles of Darkness "kill" White Wolf?
- Creative highlights that Onyx Path has hit: W20 Ultra-Deluxe covers, Pugmire and worldbuilding, bringing back original creators, and second edition Chronicles of Darkness games
- How does Rich handle when a game loses a key figure midway through the development cycle?
- Richard Dansky, Wraith 20th, and the integrated nature of the game design community
- Matthew unleashes the emergency questions!
- Cavaliers of Mars, Pugmire, and They Came From Beneath The Sea!
- Humor in RPGs
- Your questions! Did we ask yours?
- The Salubri are the worst
- Rich talks about playing in Eddy's V20 game
- V5 products from Onyx Path being discussed
- Gangster Pitbulls!
- Rich is into the experiences and stories, not the design
- "White Wolf is not dead"
- Which of us is the favorite?
- Time for rapid fire word association!
- Matthew breaks Eddy out of the cupboard
- We talk about our convention schedule for the rest of the year
Friday Jun 01, 2018
Friday Jun 01, 2018
- Pitches - what is the book intended to do? What's the value to the reader?
- Cold pitches vs pitches from a known quantity
- Pugmire pitch as an example
- Outlines and hiring the freelance project developer
- What traits do we look for in a developer?
- Steffie de Vaan as an example of a great new developer
- Then we contract writers
- Some writers are unsuitable, but that's not the same as "bad"
- Matthew interrupts to say he never interrupts
- We often assume a writer is specialized, when that may not be the case
- Then on to team planning, research, and first drafts
- Collaboration is often key during the first draft stage
- Matthew uses the Contagion Chronicle as an example
- The first draft is not literally the first thing you write - there's an amount of polish needed
- Eddy uses Dystopia Rising as an example of redlines, and how work on that project differs from Contagion Chronicle
- Lexicon can be a real pain in the ass
- Redlines as a teaching tool for writers
- Then the final drafts go off to development
- Dixie talks about the editing process, and the kinds of things she edits for
- We sing the praises of the Chicago Manual of Style
- Dixie confesses to Googling style questions, while Matthew talks a bit about American vs British English
- You can't turn editor brain off
- The one-sided conversation between the editor and developer, but that's changing
- Style evolves, however, as Dixie mentions on the 20th anniversary books
- Meanwhile, art notes and layout
- The errata phase, because we're not perfect
- Finally, indexing and printer proofs!
- Why we take the time to make sure the book is as good as it can be
- Matthew explains how he got his Twitter handle
- Eddy tries to wrap things up, but Matthew steals the mic to issue a challenge to Dixie
- Next episode, we interview the boss, Rich Thomas!
Friday May 25, 2018
Friday May 25, 2018
In which we interview Ian A. A. Watson, Creative Lead for the Trinity Continuum and Community Manager for Onyx Path!
- Ian talks about his history with the Trinity Continuum pitch, through the CCP merger, and into the creation of Onyx Path
- Ian's love for the Trinity line goes back to 1997
- Rabbit holes and why we love what we love
- The dynamics of the Trinity design team, and how awesome Danielle Lauzon is
- How the Storypath system came to be
- How we reframe Storypath between Trinity and They Came
- Reexamining how we do the development process, and how we are trying new things for Aberrant
- Ian talks about his Community Manager role
- What's exciting about this new version of Trinity
- Aegis! Anima! (Maybe)
- Also, Assassin's Creed
- We answer some forum questions (did yours get answered? Listen to find out!)
- Trinity as a pop culture toolbox
- We talk about fonts! Fonts are cool!
- Comic Sans Project: http://gamersans.tumblr.com/
- Aberrant's diversity
- Ian's contributions to Vampire: Bloodlines
- Unofficial Patch: http://patches-scrolls.de/patch/4647/7/
- Trinity Backerkit: https://trinity-continuum-aeon-rpg.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
- Special bonus at the end!
Friday May 18, 2018
Friday May 18, 2018
In which Matthew and Dixie talk about how great the Onyx Pathcast is doing. But what happened to Eddy?
Friday May 11, 2018
Friday May 11, 2018
In which our three hosts talk about their personal gaming histories, what games we've played and been inspired by, and what we're working on now. Now with a curated list of references!
D&D and the Satanic Panic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATUpSPj0x-c
Why Nintendo Games are Hard: https://www.howtogeek.com/219142/why-old-video-games-were-so-hard-the-unofficial-history-of-nintendo-hard/
Cyberpunk 2020: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/50354/Cyberpunk-2020-The-Second-Edition-Version-201
Vampire: The Masquerade First Edition: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/62770/Vampire-The-Masquerade-1st-Edition
AD&D Player's Handbook: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/16868/Players-Handbook-Revised-2e
V20 Beckett's Jyhad Diary: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/225322/V20-Becketts-Jyhad-Diary
Pugmire: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/204313/Pugmire-Core-Rulebook
Chronicles of Darkness: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/168428/Chronicles-of-Darkness
Vampire the Requiem Second Edition: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/123898/Vampire-The-Requiem-2nd-Edition
Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149562/Mage-The-Ascension-20th-Anniversary-Edition
Monarchies of Mau Early Access: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/211873/Monarchies-of-Mau-Early-Access
Aberrant: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/3/Aberrant-Rulebook
Dystopia Rising (LARP network): http://www.dystopiarisinglarp.com/
They Came From Beneath The Sea!: http://theonyxpath.com/category/worlds/tcfbts/
Geist the Sin-Eaters First Edition: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/64033/Geist-The-SinEaters
Dragon-Blooded: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dragon-blooded-what-fire-has-wrought-for-exalted-3