Hello Shardstriders,
We've come to the end of another month, so it's time for our regular monthly check in. It's also the end of the year, so let's see what 2024 delivered i...
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James Bell
29 days ago
November 2024 Monthly Update
Hello Shardstriders,
Back with our regular monthly update. As noted, a lot of these will be quite similar... mostly "still working on it" notes. But it's important that w...
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James Bell
about 2 months ago
October 2024 Monthly Update
Hello Shardstriders,
We're about to settle into the regular routine of monthly updates tracking the progress on all of our rewards. We're still in the earliest stages of this p...
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James Bell
3 months ago
September 2024 Update - Existing PDFs Going Out
Hello Shardstriders,
It's been a week since we started sending out our Pledge Manager invitations. If you haven't yet filled out your backer survey, please do so as soon as pos...
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James Bell
3 months ago
Pledge Manager Surveys Coming Soon!
Hello Shardstriders,
It's time for our first update of the post-Crowdfunding campaign phase!
We finished up the Crowdfunding portion of our campaign just over four weeks ago w...
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James Bell
4 months ago
Crowdfunding over! Scion: Mythic Shards will become a book!
Hello Shardstriders,
We did it! We all came together for this book for of weird, new, exciting takes on The World for Scion second edition and made it into a reality!
Thanks t...
This is it! Our final manuscript preview for the campaign. Using the links below, all backers are able to read the entire current draft of the book, before any pledges are processed or payments collected. While these versions of The World are full of mysteries, there's no secrets here - you know exactly what you're getting into with this project.
Well, just about, I guess. The Onyx Path team will be adding two additional shard settings to the final book. Lost Time was added via Stretch Goal achievement and decided by backer vote. We've added a seventh shard via Stretch Goal, but the final theme of that last shard is still to be determined, chosen by backer vote when this campaign concludes on Thursday, August 15th around 2 PM EDT. There's still time to vote if you haven't, and time to plead your case if your choice isn't currently in first place!
Your options for a new shard:
Teen Drama: Scion High, but with a more action-y style and greatly expanded. More like Riverdale than other teen dramas.
Cartoon: Where being made a fool is worse than being Taken Out.
Sports Drama: Drawing inspiration from Ted Lasso, A League of Their Own, and the Sandlot. Personal growth through sports competition.
Journey to the Wild West: Journey to the West, but it's set in the Wild West. Wuxia cowboys!
Aquatic Adventures: An Atlantis meets Waterworld and pirate-themed shard. Dive into the depths to recover lost relics or awaken the slumbering Earth Gods to create new lands.
Right now, we have about 230 votes, which is only 30% of all backers. So there are still lots of votes that could come in and make some dramatic shifts over the next two days!
International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager
One quick reminder about Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews.
First up, it's amazingly expensive to ship, especially from Onyx Path's home base in the US. We get that, but there's not much we can do at this time. Onyx Path is in a difficult space where the company is big enough that they're not saving money by fulfilling out of Rich's garage, but small enough that they can't really set up international partners to handle portions of the fulfillment. So we are where we are - for now.
The best we can do at this point is to plan carefully, advise everyone up front that international shipping will likely be expensive (see our projections on the main page) and only charge what it costs us when the time comes. We’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. If you live outside the US and aren't sure you want the hardcover or other physical items, you can pledge to the PDF tier now and upgrade your pledge in the Pledge Manager once we know the final shipping costs.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Read The Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the title treatment.
WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
I've shared the manuscript in sections - or shards, even - over the past 4 weeks. Part of the reason for that is to keep focus on one section at a time so that the team can gather feedback to help guide the manuscript through the next steps of editing and development. To that end, they've created a special Feedback Form for you to submit your comments after reading each section!
We've come to the end of another month, so it's time for our regular monthly check in. It's also the end of the year, so let's see what 2024 delivered in terms of Scion Second Edition and then we'll get to our normal lists!
Sure, there are some smaller releases in there like the Scion merch options and all of the fun Tasty Bit releases, but there are also some big books that came out for Scion Second Edition this year, including Once and Future, No Gods No Masters, Path to Apotheosis, and Scion Book 4: God!
Many of those rewards exist thanks to ongoing fan support during Onyx Path's crowdfunding campaigns, and we had another successful Scion campaign this summer with all of your enthusiasm and effort put into Mythic Shards! Hopefully we'll see another exciting list of releases in 2025, and maybe even our book in PDF form before the end of next year!
Rewards Still Pending
Lost Time and Journey to the Wild West, our additional shards voted on during the campaign, have entered the final draft phase, where the writers complete their work before the pieces are hammered into shape by the developer! Can't wait to see what they've come up with!
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Scion Book Two: Hero PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Three: Demigod PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Four: God PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
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-mythic-shards.backerkit.com/
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <November 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.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
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:
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
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.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and year end, and I'll be back in 2025 to hopefully fill in more dots in our chart and sending out rewards to backers!
Back with our regular monthly update. As noted, a lot of these will be quite similar... mostly "still working on it" notes. But it's important that we're all on the same page and that communication from our end is constant and consistent.
REWARDS STILL PENDING
First up, I'll note that I've marked our Mythic Shards book as "First Draft" status. That doesn't mean any work has been undone, I'm just reflecting the status of the new shard sections that we added during the campaign. You can still download the draft manuscript from your Backerkit page to see all of the work that already exists. I'll continue to track it based on where the new shards are at, so we'll call that the "overall status" of the project.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
Scion Book One: Origin PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Two: Hero PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Three: Demigod PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Four: God PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
All of the existing Add On options were sent out last month. If you had any of these as rewards, they will be availble in your Backerkit Digital Rewards page, alongside the draft manuscript.
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-mythic-shards.backerkit.com/
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <October 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 everymonth 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:
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
Via Kickstarter: Click RichardThomas under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!
Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
The Alchemical Exalted are the Chosen of the Machine God, biomechanical demigods forged from divine metal and heroic souls. They do not rule the Eight Nations, but serve as Champions of the people, a sacred duty greater than any ambition. The eldest of Alchemicals transcend their human forms to become metropoli, living cities that offer the Eight Nations a stronghold against Autochthonia’s perils.
The Realm of Brass and Shadows is unforgiving, and the Eight Nations find themselves faced with many challenges: cataclysmic upheavals of Autochthon’s world-machinery, incursions of gruesome techno-organic gremlins, and the ever-present threat to their livelihoods. All the while, the slumbering Autochthon grows ever sicker, his corrupting Blight metastasizing throughout his world-body. Despair not. There is work to be done.
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God is an expansion for the ExaltedThird Edition tabletop roleplaying game. It’s set in a mythic world where spirits walk openly among humanity, warring demigods topple kingdoms, and the restless dead roam on moonless nights. Heroes granted divine power contend against one another for the future of Creation. These are the Exalted!
We're about to settle into the regular routine of monthly updates tracking the progress on all of our rewards. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Delivered" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
REWARDS STILL PENDING
First up, I'll note that I've marked our Mythic Shards book as "First Draft" status. That doesn't mean any work has been undone, I'm just reflecting the status of the new shard sections that we added during the campaign. You can still download the draft manuscript from your Backerkit page to see all of the work that already exists. I'll continue to track it based on where the new shards are at, so we'll call that the "overall status" of the project.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
Scion Book One: Origin PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Two: Hero PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Three: Demigod PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Four: God PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
All of the existing Add On options were sent out last month. If you had any of these as rewards, they will be availble in your Backerkit Digital Rewards page, alongside the draft manuscript.
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-mythic-shards.backerkit.com/
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 everymonth 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:
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
Via Kickstarter: Click RichardThomas under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!
Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
Curseborne is a game about being unapologetic monsters in a world where being monstrous is the least of your worries. In Curseborne, you play as Accursed, descendants of monstrous lineages lurking in a modern world that closely resembles our own. You rebel against the ancient feuds between these entwined families, as well as against the web of curses that bind you, while fending off inhuman antagonists seeking to claim — or reclaim — your power.
The world of Curseborne is full of intrigue, magic, and things that go bump in the night. It’s just like our world, except the reason that things don’t go your way or that bad things happen is that the people are literally living in a world of curses. Some people are cursed more than others, and these are our Accursed characters. They have a particularly large curse that hangs over their heads and makes them more prone to bad things happening to them and around them. The nature of this curse also makes them magical in nature. They have a sense of the thing holding them back, and they can manipulate it in ways that normal people cannot.
This book is comprised of two main parts. The first part is the setting of Curseborne, as well as more about the Accursed themselves through the view of the characters. It shows how they see themselves, their world, and their place in that world. Lineages represent five broad categories of Accursed: The Dead (ghosts and spirits), The Hungry (vampires), The Outcasts (angels and demons), The Primal (shapeshifters and werewolves), and The Sorcerers (magicians).
The second part of the book are the instructions on how to use this book to play a game. You’ll find the chapters on how to play the game using the Storypath Ultra system, how to create a character, all the cool powers those characters have, and information on how to run a game of Curseborne.
With 9 days left in the campaign, we've passed 500% of our initial funding target and unlocked several Stretch Goals - including three new supplements that will be added as bonus rewards for backers of this project!
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT: Over the course of the campaign, backers will receive access to chapters from the current draft manuscript of Curseborne. By the end of the campaign, backers will be able to read the entire book as it stands now, before any pledges are processed or payments collected. No secret curses with this campaign - you'll know exactly what you're supporting with your pledge. Read the manuscript and make sure the project is right for you.
It's been a week since we started sending out our Pledge Manager invitations. If you haven't yet filled out your backer survey, please do so as soon as possible - you can change it or update it right up until the books are printing and we're getting ready to ship. We use the Pledge Manager for all reward fulfillment, so having your backer page set up ensures you'll be getting your rewards in a timely manner.
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-mythic-shards.backerkit.com/
Many of the rewards for our Crowdfunding projects take a lot of time and effort to complete. Usually, the campaign is a means of moving the project from an idea (even when it's a mostly-fully-written idea) into the actual channel that turns it into a project/product. It'll be a while before we're ready to talk about delivery of Scion: Mythic Shards, and even longer for our projects generated via Stretch Goals (the digital wallpaper, the token pack, and the rest).
That said, there are a few rewards that are available now, as they were mostly add-on PDFs or bundles of existing products. And now we can work on getting those out to you over the weekend.
The following Add On Rewards WillBe Distributed This Week:
Scion Book One: Origin PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion Book Two: Hero PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion Book Three: Demigod PDF PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion Book Four: God PDF PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion: Dragon PDF PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos PDF PDF (and discounted PoD order link)
Scion: Dragon Digital Supplement Bundle
Scion: Masks of the Mythos Digital Supplement Bundle
It's basically this section from our Add On menu during the campaign.
If you want any of these and didn't add them on during the campaign, you can still update your BackerKit page and add them to your rewards list. See the BackerKit How-To instructions above.
REWARD DISTRIBUTION
Your link to claim these digital rewards will be sent out by our BackerKit pledge manager over the nextfew days. Since we are using our partners at DriveThruRPG as the hosts for these, you will need to set up a DriveThru account if you don't have one already. If you encounter any problems with downloading your rewards, please contact DTRPG's customer service to resolve the matter, they've always been top-rated for customer service. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/contact_us.ph
Thebest way to ensure these redemption codes work smoothly is to log in to your DTRPG account first, and then click (or copy) the link shown in your BackerKit.
Again, you will receive an e-mail from BackerKit with links for these rewards over the next 2-3 days if any of them are on your expected list of rewards. I'll be releasing them in waves, so don't panic if you only see a couple links at first... the rest are coming. (We're in a digital world, but there are still a lot of manual processes. And there are manylinks to go out!!)
The easiest way to see if you've got digital downloads available is to login to your backerkit account: https://scion-mythic-shards.backerkit.com/ and it'll show anything available. Your backerkit account should also confirm all rewards that you should expect from your reward tier selected.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT
In addition to redemption links for these digital rewards, all backers have received a link to the compiled draft manuscript. This link can be found in your BackerKit digital rewards page, and you likely received an e-mail linking to that with the Backer Survey invitations. Again, this isn't a new manuscript, it's just all of the pieces we shared during the campaign put together in order. It's the same link that I share at the bottom of these campaign updates, but I want to make sure you have access to it in any place that makes sense.
MONTHLY UPDATES
With the Pledge Manager up and running, this is officially the first "regular" monthly update for our project. I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Delivered" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
REWARDS STILL PENDING
With most of our Add Ons, they already exist in physical format, but don't really "exist" for fulfillment on this project until the final Mythic Shards books are ready to go, so they'll sit in the Print Prep phase until all physical items are ready and waiting together, since they'll all go out in one shipment. Really, I just listed them all here to make the list look impressive. Really, that top row is the most important.
I'll post this chart in each monthly update, and fill in dots as projects move along.
REWARDS DISTRIBUTED TO BACKERS
Scion Book One: Origin PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Two: Hero PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Three: Demigod PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion Book Four: God PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos PDF PDF (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Dragon Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
Scion: Masks of the Mythos Digital Supplement Bundle (Sept '24 Update)
Once a project finishes up on the progress chart and is distributed to backers, I'll move it down to this list and note which update talks about reward distribution for that item in case you want to go back and get more information.
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: <August 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 everymonth 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:
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
Via Kickstarter: Click RichardThomas under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!
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
In 2017 Onyx Path unveiled the Storypath System, the rules engine that has come to power many of our games: the sci-fi universe of hope, heroism, and peril known as the Trinity Continuum, the modern-day stories of old gods and titans called Scion Second Edition,and the trope-focused exploration of genres that is the They Came From! series, and more.
We're extremely proud of what we’ve done over the years with Storypath, but felt it was time to tighten up the rules, smooth off the rough edges, and get rid of anything that got in the way of telling amazing stories. As a result, we’ve created the Storypath Ultra Core Manual.
Storypath Ultra isn’t a new edition, nor is it a replacement rule set — many of the concepts we developed and refined from the Storypath System are still there, even as they rearrange or rename things to make them as clear as possible. Think of it as a new take on Storypath: It’s the same great game but spruced up and tweaked to be the best possible version.
Curseborne is a game about being unapologetic monsters in a world where being monstrous is the least of your worries. In Curseborne, you play as Accursed, descendants of monstrous lineages lurking in a modern world that closely resembles our own. You rebel against the ancient feuds between these entwined families, as well as against the web of curses that bind you, while fending off inhuman antagonists seeking to claim — or reclaim — your power.
The world of Curseborne is full of intrigue, magic, and things that go bump in the night. It’s just like our world, except the reason that things don’t go your way or that bad things happen is that the people are literally living in a world of curses. Some people are cursed more than others, and these are our Accursed characters. They have a particularly large curse that hangs over their heads and makes them more prone to bad things happening to them and around them. The nature of this curse also makes them magical in nature. They have a sense of the thing holding them back, and they can manipulate it in ways that normal people cannot.
This book is comprised of two main parts. The first part is the setting of Curseborne, as well as more about the Accursed themselves through the view of the characters. It shows how they see themselves, their world, and their place in that world. Lineages represent five broad categories of Accursed: The Dead (ghosts and spirits), The Hungry (vampires), The Outcasts (angels and demons), The Primal (shapeshifters and werewolves), and The Sorcerers (magicians).
The second part of the book are the instructions on how to use this book to play a game. You’ll find the chapters on how to play the game using the Storypath Ultra system, how to create a character, all the cool powers those characters have, and information on how to run a game of Curseborne.
