APOTHEOSIS
over 3 years ago – Wed, Oct 07, 2020 at 07:26:55 AM

Hello Champions of the World,

WE DID IT!

We funded Scion: Demigod, the next step in an epic journey toward immortality!

And not just that! We brought 18 STRETCH GOALS with us from the Underworld!

That's right! Remember yesterday, when I was all, "We've hit 16 goals. Can we get to 17?" Well, we did that and then another for good measure!

ACHIEVED! - At $135,000 in funding  – Scion Scenarios III – A third set of plot hooks and scenario will be added to the Scion Scenarios PDF supplement.

ACHIEVED! - At $140,000 in funding – Art Budget Increase! – We’ll be able to increase the art budget for the Scion: Demigod book, adding even more epic illustrations and legendary artwork!

We passed 410% of our initial funding target! That's an EPIC DEED for sure!

THANK YOU!

Thanks to your support, not only have we funded the production and printing of Scion: Demigod, but we've also added the Scion: Demigod Companion, a PDF supplement for new and expanded rules for Scion Second Edition. Yeah - expanded rules, because we added ELEVEN SECTIONS to the outline!

THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT, not only have we funded Scion: Demigod and added the Scion: Demigod Companion supplement, but we've also added another project to the docket: Scion Scenarios -  a PDF supplement full of plot hooks and story ideas for the Storyguide's toolbox.

AND THEN WE TRIPLED IT IN SIZE!

SO! Thank you for your support! And I'm so excited to see what epic abilities and legendary tales the writing team will add with these additional projects!

 AN EXTRA THANK YOU! 

So, thank you to all the backers who supported us and made this happen. And a personal thanks to everyone who participated online, either in the comments section of the kickstarter or on social media around the web.

There's obviously a lot going on in the world right now - a lot of uncertainty and unknowns compounding already challenging times - but it's been really great to see the community come together to support this project and turn it into a big success. This has been especially true for me over these past few days! Watching the backer count climb and seeing all of the support has been a real ray of light, pushing off some dark clouds! It's appreciated!

COMMUNICATION

So, as noted in the previous update, I'll be sending out updates once a month and whenever we've got a new goal, survey, or other item to cover. If you have any questions or need clarification on something related to the kickstarter, feel free to get in touch. I may take a bit to answer as I recover from this past month, but I'll eventually be in touch!

TO CONTACT ME

•  Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
•  Via Kickstarter: Click Richard Thomas under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!

For setting stuff and questions about the game itself, it's probably best to post to the Onyx Path Discussion Group here: ONYX PATH FORUM. The community there are quickly becoming the go to for Scion and Storypath questions, so it's a great place to check out.

So, thanks to everyone for helping build this community and this game and celebrating the next step in our heroic journey!

Now to attend to other business and eventually collapse for a few hours and recover from the awesomeness of the last couple days! High fives in the comment section, and you'll hear from me again soon...

#ScionDemigod

#ScionSecondEdition

Backers Only - Manuscript Preview for Chapter 6
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 06, 2020 at 10:33:19 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Brigitte Part VII & VIII
over 3 years ago – Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 02:12:05 PM

VII

It took her a month to see them all. These days, everyone was wrapped up in their own worries, and nothing short of monsters destroying a city was going to get them all in the same place at one time. Brigitte preferred it this way, these individual farewells. If she’d had to face them all together, they might have said something to make her stay. This way, she could take her time, say everything she needed to say.

She met Donnie in Athens, and he whisked her off to Olympus’ slopes. They drank ambrosia in his mother’s palace and scrolled through years of the photos he’d taken of the Band. Donnie’d never met a camera he didn’t like (or a photographer he couldn’t charm), but people wrongly assumed it was all vanity. His mother, after all, had been the one to punish Narcissus. His pictures framed the Band lovingly, showing them each at their best. Yukiko, radiant and defiant; Eric, laughing with his arm slung around Horace’s shoulders; Aaron, holding forth, eyes alight with knowledge he wanted to share; Brigitte herself, watching them all and smiling. They spent hours reminiscing and laughing. Donnie bade a nymph to snap one last picture of them, one he saved for himself rather than shared with his millions of followers.

She joined Dr. Tigrillo on a quest to retrieve a grimoire from a forgotten temple. He spoke of history — the Band’s, his pantheon’s, the World’s — and told her secrets of Mictlan she was sure he wasn’t supposed to share. He seemed on the verge of apologizing for something, but Brigitte stopped him when he tried. Their divine parents had all put pressure on them at first, given them tasks that might have driven wedges between a lesser Band. Whatever Tezcatlipoca had asked, Aaron was his own man, now. That was all that mattered.

She parked the hearse for a week and rode pillion behind Yukiko on her motorcycle down the southern California coast. They sped along twisty highways and stopped for breathtaking views, and each insisted the tears in their eyes were from the wind. On a quiet stretch of beach, they swam out farther than was wise and let the waves carry them back to shore. Every meal was the best Brigitte had ever eaten. If it were anyone else, she’d have thought they were trying to show her reasons to stay. But it was Yukiko’s way of giving her permission to go.

How she spent that final week with Horace is no one’s business but theirs.

Eric was the last. Her return trip took her through Kansas, where he was currently staying. They stayed up late, passing her flask back and forth and talking about old times.

“You scared?” He asked when they were both good and sauced.

“I’d be a fool not to be.” No shame in admitting it.

“Do you want me to come with you? There’s gotta be something I can do, some way I can help.”

“You can help by taking care of the rest of them. I imagine it won’t really hit them until after.”

“Yeah. Okay.” He ducked his head, struggling for composure. They’d already cried on each other once tonight and had promised one another that part was done. Eric kept his promises. He took one more swig from the flask and handed it back to Brigitte, but she waved it off.

“That’s yours, now,” she said. “Have a drink for me when you’re all together. And don’t you dare fill it with shitty booze. I willfind out.” That got him laughing, which got her going. It was a fine way to say farewell.

###

She came home to a funeral.

The neighbors told her in reverent tones that Joseph had passed in his sleep, that he’d gone quickly and naturally, and hadn’t he lived a good long life?

Brigitte excused herself, claiming she needed to freshen up and she’d be right along; so many people had come out to see him off, the procession stretched for blocks. The brass band’s tune carried through her open windows while Brigitte sank down at her kitchen table and sobbed. She’d bought him these extra months, she knew. Denying him to the Night Doctors meant he’d gone on his own terms, surrounded by love. But oh, it stung that she’d spent all this time bidding her friends adieu and hadn’t been here to say goodbye to him.

Except.

Except this was his body’s last trip around the town, but his spirit had a few stops left to make. Brigitte threw her head back and laughed, joy and relief and purpose all rolled into one long guffaw. She dried her eyes and changed her clothes, hurried out to dance with the second line.

Joseph’s spirit was easy to find. He was up at the head, dancing alongside his own coffin, clapping for members of his family as they celebrated his life. Brigitte stayed back a ways; she knew how important goodbyes were. When it was done, when the prayers had been said and Joseph’s praises sung, and everyone gone their separate ways, she approached him.

“Brigitte!” He said. “It’s so good to see you home again. Wasn’t this a wonderful day?”

“It was. I’m glad I got to be here for it.” She held out her elbow. “Walk with me a while?”

Joseph took it, beaming, and together they turned their steps toward the First Gate of Guinee.

She led him along secret paths, to the city’s sacred places. At each gate, a Loa waited: Baron LaCroix, Guede Nibo, Guede Plumaj, Baron Cimitiere, Guede Babaco, Baron Kriminel. What they discussed with Joseph Brigitte couldn’t hear; it wasn’t for her to know. But each of them regarded her as she approached, their eyes full of knowing.

At the last gate, her father waited.

Baron Samedi welcomed Joseph with arms spread wide. He smiled while the old man gave Brigitte a final peck on the cheek, then guided him beyond, talking like they were old, old friends. Before they disappeared, he turned. “I’ll see you again soon, Brigitte.”

VIII

A week later, she got wind of the witch.

Brigitte had spent the days getting reacquainted with New Orleans, checking up on her neighbors, settling back in. She’d gone looking for where trouble might be brewing and let people know they could come to her with rumors. Thus far, the Night Doctors hadn’t returned, but the worry they were planning something never went away.

Then people got sick, and no one knew why. It wasn’t something in the water. It wasn’t an outbreak of chicken pox or norovirus or anything so easily explained. In fact, the hospitals all thought they were unrelated cases: a bad meal, a nasty cold, adverse reactions to medication. But Brigitte visited the recovering victims, and she knew the cold smell of magic surrounding them. It buzzed like tinfoil on her teeth and stuck in the back of her throat like a pill she couldn’t swallow.

It didn’t originate from any magicians she knew. Harmful spells weren’t anything the priests and practitioners in her community would cast. It had the reek of cowardice about it, of someone who preferred to do their violence from afar — where they wouldn’t get dirt on their hands or blood on their hems. Where deniability was perfectly plausible.

Tracing its source was a matter of waiting for another strike, which came quickly enough. The witch lashed out in the dead of night, that hour when even Bourbon Street’s crowd had given up their partying for a couple hours’ nap. The spell left an ozone-tinged afterimage on the senses of anyone who knew to look for it and pointed Brigitte toward a location in the Central Business District.

Rented office space, posh building, round-the-clock private security. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when a little sniffing around named the lessee as one of the Night Doctors’ shell companies.

Cowards.

Offers of help came rolling in: people who could hook her up with fake IDs and keycards, a group of kids willing to start trouble and distract the authorities. She turned them all down — what would stop the Night Doctors from laying claim to anyone who got arrested, or found to be one of her accomplices?

The only team she brought with her consisted of the already dead.

Leaked security footage would later show the siege’s progression: the men at the main desk fleeing in fear and abandoning their posts, the guards pouring down from the 32nd floor into a mass of fighters who refused to fall to their gunshots, the woman in the top hat and sunglasses (one lens missing), who glided past them all with a pool cue tucked beneath her arm. The cameras followed her progress to the offices of Keene & Bradshaw, LLC, then lost her.

Inside, a white woman stood alone behind a massive mahogany desk. A wall-mounted monitor displayed a spreadsheet full of names Brigitte recognized. The color-coding split them into two groups. She didn’t need to decipher the coded headers to know they were current victims and potential ones.

A bolt of white-hot pain bloomed in Brigitte’s chest as the woman muttered a spell. The World fuzzed out for a moment, and when it came back into focus she swore the Cathedral bells were ringing.

“You don’t get to do this,” Brigitte said. “I told your associates this city’s under my protection.” They’d keep coming, she knew. She could easily spend a lifetime tracking down these diseased little branches of the Night Doctors’ operations, and there’ll always be someone else in their pockets, waiting to move in.

The woman knew it, too. She came around the desk to gloat over Brigitte, though she wisely stayed out of the coco macaque’s reach. “Nothing you do here will matter,” she said. “Why don’t you run home and wait for something you can fight to come along?”

But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Save who you could today, it mattered to them. Brigitte reached a hand toward the window. The witch’s gaze flicked toward it, as though reinforcements might be waiting outside. Who hadn’t seen that footage of Donnie swooping around on his golden wings, or Omolara rising into the sky atop a tornado?

But no one was out there.

“See?” the witch said, laughing shakily. “Nobody’s coming to help—” She shut up as every hair on her body stood on end. “What...?”

Lightning stabbed in through the window, past the women and into the laptop on the desk. The monitors fritzed out. You didn’t hang around with the likes of Omolara Muhammād and Eric Donner without picking up a trick or two.

“It’s all in the cloud.” The woman was grinning, triumphant. “So, you fried a computer. So what?”

But the pain in Brigitte’s chest was gone. She could move again, without her heart seizing and her lungs burning. Too late, the witch realized her mistake. Brigitte lunged forward and grabbed her upper arm in an iron grip. “Do you believe in Hell?” She asked the woman, and by the way the witch’s eyes widened, she knew the answer was “yes.”

Still, she tried to recover. “But your Underworld is... I’ve heard stories about it. It’s not fire and brimstone at all.”

“Ah,” said Brigitte, “but I know of some that are. Let’s find the one best suited to you. I’m sure there’s plenty you’ll want to tell me about your friends while we’re exploring.”

Some Gods didn’t appreciate intruders in their realms. She had no way of knowing whether she could find her way out, once she stepped through the portals she knew she could open. But she had a full pack of cigarettes and her father’s charming smile, and the rest would come to her along the way.

She raised the coco macaque, brought it down to strike the cold marble floor, and they were gone.

###

Omolara strolled through the French Quarter, past the tourist-choked streets of Bourbon and Royal, east past Esplanade and into the Treme. Business had brought her to the city, but curiosity set her wandering.

No one had heard from Brigitte de la Croix since the incident in the CBD. Police found an empty office and a burnt laptop — the data was (they said) unrecoverable. Keene & Bradshaw’s PR person only said the matter was under investigation. They denied hiring any security personnel beyond that which building management provided and had no further comment.

As no bodies were recovered from the stairwell, many came to believe the whole thing was a hoax — using leftover footage from some Tulane film student’s zombie movie, maybe, or some other, utterly boring explanation.

But the strange illnesses had stopped that night as well, and though the Night Doctors were certainly still in operation, they were being extremely cautious for now.

A cluster of people blocked Omolara’s progress along the sidewalk. They stood in front of a little yellow house whose steps and tiny porch were covered in offerings: flowers, candles, stuffed animals, a bottle of rum. Crouching in the middle of the crowd, ignoring the other onlookers, a young man drew a complicated symbol in white chalk.

“Whose veve is that?” Omolara asked, to no one in particular. She knew many of the Loa’s symbols, but she’d never seen one like this.

A woman in a flower-covered sundress beamed up at her. “That’s Baronne Brigitte’s.”

The young man finished and stepped back to survey his work. Some people in the crowd snapped pictures with their phones. The artist passed around his box of chalk, inviting anyone who wanted to draw the veve in other places around the city to take a piece. Several people did.

Omolara waited until the crowd dispersed a bit. She approached the porch and saw letters and pictures tucked under some of the items: children’s drawings of Brigitte, cards thanking her for her protection, slips of paper asking her to intercede on a loved one’s behalf.

“Well done, Baronne Brigitte,” she said, and set a pack of cigarettes down among the other offerings.

#ScionDemigod

#ScionFiction

Final Day Review - Stretch Goals
over 3 years ago – Thu, Oct 01, 2020 at 12:13:48 PM

Good Day Demigods!

We're in the final DAY countdown for Scion: Demigod on Kickstarter - it ends tomorrow, Thursday, October 1st at 2:00 PM EDT - there's the tiniest amount of time to recruit additional backers, but we're definitely approaching the finish line. With that in mind, I want to make sure that everyone has all of the information they need to support the project in the way that works best for them.

Review topics covered over these final days:

• Reward Tiers (See update #25)
• Add-Ons (See update#27)
• Stretch Goal Review (today)
• Final Checklist & Next Steps (Tomorrow morning)

Whether you're just starting on your heroic journey or have a long list of mighty deeds to your name, these are good items to review to make sure that we all end up where we want to be.

(An aside, if you're a new backer, make sure you check out the Complete Manuscript Preview and  Final Week resource post. It has links to actual plays, podcast interviews, and discussions!)

Refresher Course

We've had, and will have, a lot of new backers join in during these last days. I want to take a moment to highlight some key Update posts that new backers may want to check out (and existing backers may want to read as a refresher!).

MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW - As noted, the complete Preview Manuscript is available for you to review prior to the conclusion of the campaign. If you're a backer, you'll have access to this preview manuscript after the campaign. Remember, though, there are still some minor edits, development and proofing that need to be done. But, you can consider this about 96.8% finished. Making the manuscript available for review before the campaign ends ensures that everyone know exactly what our goal is - making this book - and are on board with our aims for this project. Thanks for your support, we're all in this together!

Maybe even more important - it allows you to provide  your feedback at the earliest stage ever! You can use the Scion Feedback Form to help Onyx Path while they forge the raw material of the manuscript into a legendary PDF

September 26 update - REWARD TIERS - your best starting point for figuring out which Backer Reward Level to choose to help support this project.

September 27 update - ADD ON REWARDS - the important companion piece to the Reward Tiers topic, including information on how to increase your pledge amount to maybe add the Storyguide Screen or maybe Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero to your list of rewards.

If you've been looking at the Premium Reward Tiers - the expensive ones that offer a bit more interaction with the setting, system, and design team - there's always some churn near the end so some rewards that were completely claimed may become available again before the end.

Choosing the correct Reward Tier for your desired rewards, and then filling in any "gaps" with add-ons, ensures that you'll be claiming all of your desired rewards as a thank you for supporting this project and bringing this world to life.

Remember, your TOTAL PLEDGE AMOUNT is equal to your REWARD TIER + SHIPPING + ADD ONS. And we will confirm your Add On selection with our post-campaign pledge manager, Backerkit, a few weeks after the campaign ends.

On Thursday, I'll be posting one further "Final Day" update, covering What Happens Next and outlining what to expect once the campaign ends.

But until then, we're going to hopefully summon forth a final Stretch Goal achievement (or two!) as we race through our final day of the campaign!

STRETCH GOAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Over the course of the campaign, we've achieved 16 Stretch Goals!  We've been doing amazingly well, crushing Stretch Goal targets throughout the entire duration of this campaign, and we're picking up steam again as we rush toward the finish line! And there's a solid chance to make that an epic 17 (or immortal 18 even!) before we end...

REWARDS, OPPORTUNITIES, CELEBRATIONS

Thanks to the success of the campaign, we've been able to unlock an Add On opportunity (the mighty Demigod Storyguide Screen!), some great opportunities to spread some Scion Second Ediiton love (a T-shirt, a desktop wallpaper), and new content in the form of the Scion: Demigod Companion PDF and the Scion Scenarios PDF!

SCION SECOND EDITION SUPPORT

ADDITIONAL REWARD OPTIONS

We've unlocked a Demigod Screen Add On option:

For only +$20, Add On a sturdy, three-panel screen featuring some epic new Scion: Demigod artwork on the outer side, and a selection of charts and other reference info on the inside to make running a Scion: Demigod game session a little bit easier.

Can be added on to any reward tier containing a hardcover book by increasing your total Pledge Amount by +$20 and then confirming your selection in our Post-Campaign Pledge Manager.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

All backers pledged to a reward tier that includes the Scion: Demigod PDF (all tiers $20+) will automatically have this additional content added to their rewards list:

DEMIGOD COMPANION

Not only did we add a new Demigod Companion book to the list of Scion Second Edition projects, we ensured it was crammed full of fun bits! Thanks to your support, Onyx Path will be creating and releasing a supplemental Scion: Demigod Companion  PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the Scion: Demigod Rulebook PDF. It will contain:

That's right - we added ELEVEN sections to this book, unlocking the final section on Monday!

SCION SCENARIOS

A set of plot hooks and related scenario will be created and released as a supplemental Scion Scenarios PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the Scion: Demigod PDF.

And once we were done outlined the Companion book, we started work on the next Scion Second Edition Stretch Goal project - a collection of plot hooks and scenarios to provide more tools for Storyguide's to craft their epic tales! And then we added a second section...

NEXT STRETCH GOALS

As we head into our final day, we still have time to land a another one or maybe two Stretch Goal achievements and add even more content  to our list of rewards.

At $135,000 in funding  – Scion Scenarios III – A third set of plot hooks and scenario will be added to the Scion Scenarios PDF supplement.

We're so close already to adding this third section to the Scion Scenarios supplement! And then another celebration for achieving 400% of our initial funding target:

At $140,000 in funding – Art Budget Increase! – We’ll be able to increase the art budget for the Scion: Demigod book, adding even more epic illustrations and legendary artwork!

That's right - if we can hit 400% of our initial funding target before the end, we'll reinvest in the final book, making it even more gorgeous!

At $145,000 in funding – Scion Scenarios – A final set of plot hooks and scenario will be added to the Scion Scenarios PDF supplement.

YOUR REWARDS!

That's right! You backed this project to help make and publish Scion: Demigod. Our primary reward - the big thank you that we'll send out in appreciation for your support - is a PDF and/or  hardcover copy of this book! BUT AS A BONUS, you may also have the Scion: Demigod Companion and Scion Scenarios supplements added to your rewards list as an even bigger thank you for our success in this campaign!

More Stretch Goals, Not Much More Time

I know these numbers may seem daunting, but they wouldn't be STRETCH goals if we didn't have to really STRETCH to reach them!

So, as every update concludes: let's keep the enthusiasm rolling! Keep spreading the word and letting others know about this project. They've got this final day to jump in and share the 16 (can we make it 17? 18!! ) Stretch Goals we've achieved!

And every backer who joins in as we approach the end is not only able to enjoy the additional rewards already added by the early fans and backers, but also help reward those early backers by expanding everyone's stretch goal rewards!

Remember, only the funds generated during the Kickstarter campaign go toward achieving these Stretch Goal targets, so the time to act is now! Together, we can bring this game to life and make great things happen!

THIS CAMPAIGN ENDS AT 2:00 PM EDT on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1st, 2020!

#ScionDemigod

Stretch Goals!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 08:39:35 PM

Hello Heroes, and Good Day Demigods,

Well, it's been about 5 days since I last updated our Stretch Goals, anticipating a chance to review where we stood on this coming Wednesday before the campaign ends. In that post, I was so naive - hoping to hit 1 or 2 more goals before the end. 

Of course you've already crushed all 3! 

ACHIEVED! - At $118,000 in funding –Digital Wallpaper! – Dress up your monitor with an epic scene from Scion: Demigod added to the rewards list for all backers.

ACHIEVED! - At $120,000 in funding – Scion: Demigod Companion – New Terra Incognita – Specific lands of myth related to the new pantheons in the book, including many areas that aren’t specifically Underworlds will be added to the Scion: Demigod Companion PDF supplement.

ACHIEVED! - At $122,000 in funding – Scion: Demigod Companion – Titans and Titanspawn – Titanomachy-style antagonist entries for the enemies of the new pantheons will be added to the Scion: Demigod Companion PDF supplement.

So, let's get some more goals on the board...

At $124,000 in funding – Scion: Demigod Companion – Titans and Titanspawn – Even more antagonist entries for the enemies of the new pantheons will be added to the Scion: Demigod Companion PDF supplement.

And, with that second hit of Titans and Titanspawn... we complete the outline for the Scion: Demigod Companion PDF. We've jam-packed it with Scion goodness, and created an awesome project for Neall and the Scion team to work on!

So... let's introduce something new!

At $126,000 in funding – Scion Scenarios – A set of plot hooks and related scenario will be created and released as a supplemental Scion Scenarios PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the Scion: Demigod PDF.

At $130,000 in funding – Scion Scenarios II – Another set of plot hooks and scenario will be added to the Scion Scenarios PDF supplement.

Let's see if we can't put a new supplement on the project list, something to help Storyguides come up with Scion adventures and some launching pads for epic tales!

We blew through those last three goals quickly - very quickly - let's see if we can't add another 2 or 3 before we review where we stand on Wednesday!

#ScionStretchGoals