Oddly, this is far and away the most optimistic World of Darkness book I've read. Sure, the forces of the Wyrm are powerful, even overwhelming. But the recurring theme seems to be "they can be beaten, if people get their act together." Half of them could be solved in minutes if the Garou could work with the Awakened to deal with them, for example. It goes into detail on the Urge Wyrms and the Maeljin Incarnae (including how to destroy them), then talks about Pentex (and all of its internal strife), then there's Tribebook: Black Spiral Dancer (they're a mess, it's almost confusing how they're still around), then other stuff (again, a chaotic mess that shouldn't be able to work together), and finally toys.

Overall, it's a great book, and can be adapted to other World of Darkness games as well as Werewolf, and somehow turns out to be optimistic (we can win!) and pessimistic (but we'll never get our shit together) at the same time.

As with the previous 2nd editions of Chronicles of Darkness games, this is a highly polished effort with improved art direction, excellent rules for magic and by it being a self contained game. Its also notable shifted away from the Atlantis backstory emphasis of the previous edition, which is a welcome change.

Notably, this Mage game is only half the size of it's intimidatingly huge cousin, Mage: The Ascension, and will be certainly easier to play for newcomers. It manages this by missing out on much of the more gonzo, philosophical and real world culture referencing material of the former - and may feel a bit bland by comparison for the original game's fans. As a toolkit for running modern magical stories, like those you might find in a Vertigo comic, its a highly polished product, but it's still an obvioulsy fictional world with comic book tropes rather than an exploration of real occult concepts in many respects.

Regardless, it's a great addition to the Chronicles of Darkness line or just as a stand-alone urban fantasy game.

I've been playing WoD games since early 2000s, been a Storyteller myself since 2004. I love all White Wolf games; that's why I was sad back when I found out about the "new" company taking over my beloved series. Little did I know that the change was for the better. Chronicle of Darkness is the spiritual successor to one of the better Role playing games out there, the infamouns new World of Darkness. nWoD had its faults, had its issues but it showed potential.

This is where Onyx Path Publishing steps in. Chronicles of Darkness was born, a revision of the nWoD that made it almost perfect.

Truth be told, for quite a while I preffered sticking to old games, like Apocalypse, instead of the firt itteration of Forshaken, but Onyx turned the tide. Chronicles of Darkness introduced so many excellent changes, like the best new addition in Role Playing games since we first used dice: its Majesty, the Beats! Whoever though of that needs a raise!

All in all, CoD is an excellent book, can be used with any SPLAT you want other than the "official" ones. Best basis for a RPG since for ever!

As for DriveThruRPR, you guys rock! My book was just delivered, mint condition, still smelling fresh!

Love you guys, love this series! I'll be getting the Awakening 2nd ed, Forshaken 2nd ed and Requiem 2nd ed in the not so distant future!

We'll talk again! :) Mike

These are the best token markers I've found for Pathfinder 2 on Roll20. The strong colors combined with the heavy outlines make them show up real well against the tokens, and the selection is good without being overwhelmingly large. My players also found them to be a lot clearer.

(Deleted my one beef with the product because I was made aware that Roll20 can do that on its own, so there's no need to have the markers do that. Today I learned.)

awesome resource for including many creative types of creatures and mythological entities in your mage game.

Legendlore Manuscript Preview from Onyx Path Publishing (@TheOnyxPath) & Steffie De Vaan (@100thingsilove)

First of all this is "not a complete PDF, this a preview of the draft text from the upcoming Legendlore RPG!" This is a draft of book to be created through Legendlore Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0?ref=android_project_share-0

It's also worthy to note: "Legendlore was originally a comic called The Realm, first published by Arrow Comics in 1986 and since procured by Caliber Comics, about four people who fall through a Crossing into the Realm. The Realm is home to fantasy creatures from elves to dragons, and the characters discover they too have ‘fantasy powers’ – the jock becomes a Fighter, while the bookish one becomes a Wizard, and so on. They go on adventures and some of them eventually find their way back to Earth"

The Legendlore book itself will be something far more modern with anyone having the opportunity to be any version of who they really are or would want to be.

You, Yourself Legendlore sees you Cross from Earth into the Realm to become a changed version of yourself. A songwriter might find themself a bard, a scientist a wizard, or an activist a fighter. You may find your body changing to better match your true self, even adopting a new fantasy appearance if you so choose. Your identity and memories remain wholly your own though, and you’ll find no gods or predetermined alignments forcing your actions. Crossing also imbues you with a Legend, which each player designs for themself, that propels you to greatness and a full embrace of your chosen destiny. A Diverse World The Legendlore Roleplaying Game presents a diverse and inclusive world based on the Legendlore comics. You’ll find people, including all non-humans, of all colors, genders, and sexualities in East Azoth. You are always welcome in the Realm.

• 18 backgrounds to play as yourself in Legendlore, such as activist or scientist • Legend mechanics to represent your destiny, plus 5 sample Legends • Seven player races, including pixies and orcs • Two new classes, the alchemist and gunslinger, and 15 sub-classes • A starting adventure with five pregenerated characters

Chapter 1: Welcome to East Azoth

Detailed history of East Azoth, reciting the many wars and relations between the different folk. After generations of ongoing wars the land finally sees peace, only for Lord Darkoth to rise in an attempt to claim the land. Will your heroes vanquish this deadly foe?

Chapter 2: Crossing

"The Realm touches many other planes, including Earth, and where it does, Crossings might appear. These are pathways, naturally occurring or coaxed through magic, where people may move between Earth and the Realm. Not every Crossing goes two ways, and people from Earth might find themselves inadvertently Crossed into the Realm and then stuck there until they painstakingly find a Crossing back home."

Such an awesome and (graphic) novel idea!

The concept of Crossings and Realms is incredibly rich for storytelling as elements from any setting, folklore, mythology or real world can be brought in within and in addition to the provided setting and adventure. This means we'll all have the perfect reason to hop about and bring in this we love and finally get to play with the settings and adventures we weren't sure we could fit in, as well as new ones that pique our interests.

The broad range of possible Crossings, from portals to relics, items of sentimental value and portkeys, and the myriad conditions around their use are an incredibly rich source of inspiration for adventures and campaigns with all manner of things to be found or done with one of more Realm/s or to finally be able to make possible to enter one. Possibly needing to collect a set of ancient Ioun Stones scattered to various Realms in order to rescue a prince or face a sorcerer obsessed with ressurecting a lost love who has created an army of dangerous undead in their experimenting.

Players pass into the Realm with everything they had on them when they entered the Crossing with a mechanic to see if the unlikely event of technology surviving the trip. This is such a cool concept!

The Many Possibilities of You

"Crossing brings out the You in you. That is to say, the fantasy version of you (or rather, the parts of yourself you wish to share at the table) as a Legendlore character."

Something I truly love about TTRPGs is the way it allows us to discover new things about ourselves and explore new identities to find our own. I know it definitely helped me be more open and to understand my sexuality and gender better. Every character I've played is a reflection or aspect of myself, and I truly love that this aspect is so baked into Legendlore as the character you play is yourself! But in a new chosen or true reflection of yourself. Not only does this, allow us to play with and explore identities more, but I think this will genuinely help some, especially new players who struggle with being in character.

"Crossing also effects physical changes in your character to match You best. A girl assigned male at birth might find her body changed or remaining the same, depending on the player’s view of herself. If a player has glasses, and their sense of self includes said glasses, the character retains them after Crossing — if not, they now have 20/20 vision. The same goes for hearing aids and other devices. Crossing ensures that contacts, wheelchairs, joint braces, pacemakers, and any other medical aids that might require power sources or precise and tiny electronics now run on a mysterious ancient magic so long as their bearer remains in the Realm. If someone has a chronic illness but wishes to live a life without such constant pain, their self after the Crossing simply does not have it. However, it is also possible for that same person to want to keep their chronic illness, feeling that their life has been shaped and formed alongside and inseparable from their condition. It is likewise possible for a person who experiences nonverbal episodes, such as via autism spectrum or trauma, to be verbal if they wish it, just as it is entirely possible for these people to be nonverbal in the Realm as well. Every Crossing accepts all without judgment, and changes each to their most inner self."

I couldn't shorten this quote because I have never read any rules/ world explanation thay has brought me such joy and emotion. I had to stop myself quoting the whole next section, "One you, many stories", which takes this concept of being the true and/ or whatever version of yourself you feel comfortable sharing at the table even further, introducing "You" and "Other You". This truly takes this concept even further, essentially stating you could always play any version of you both from your imagination or at any point in your life. This understanding of sensitivity to true self with full inclusivity is truly beautiful, and so very important.

I have so much more to say about how awesome this is and how you should go support the Kickstarter, but sadly my mental and physical conditions are severely limiting my ability to read, write and think. Suffice to say, I bloody love this and backed it instantly!

Legendlore RPG Setting for 5th Edition Fantasy Roleplaying, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0?ref=android_project_share-0

Good summary of the Storypath system, for those wanting an introduction to it. For a gaming session I'd likely print out pages 9 through 19 for the table, as it covers the new core mechanics of Storypath (dice pools are similar to the old Storyteller System but with a new focus on Skills and ways of modifying and spending successes). The vast majority of it the system overview section is pulled from the Trinity Continuum Core, condensed to the parts most relevant for an introductory session. In Storypath there are three main Areas of Action: Action Adventure (Combat), Procedural (Solving mysteries with clues), and Intrigue (Social systems and bonds). It concludes with a few system bits pulled specifically from Aeon, for running Psion characters. Five pre-gen Psion characters are included at the end of the Jumpstart: an Unshakable Doctor of the Aesculapian Order, a Freelance Psion Paranoid Superhacker, a Norca Transhuman Bounty Hunter, a Legionairre Professional Hellraiser, and an Aeon Society Detective from Section Juno. Character background for each is about a paragraph in length, with most of the write-ups providing explanation of the traits and powers for each character.

Overall, worth $2 entry, especially as a quick system reference.

Semi-Spoilers The included adventure is a call-back to the first Trinity adventure included in the Hidden Agendas supplement, as well as the original Darkness Revealed adventure trilogy. The setup remains the same (a Luna-based mystery involving missing persons, a dumped body, and an unconscious Legionairre), but from there it goes in a very different direction. Unlike the original adventure, this time the scope is much more self-contained, with the PC's intended to solve the mystery here rather than branching off into a shadowy conspiracy of betrayal. It is pretty bare bones, and I would primarily describe it as something of a tutorial session for those new to the system. It includes scenes which pull from each of the three broad Areas of Action. It starts off as a Procedural AoA (the murder mystery), with most of the middle scenes being furthered through interactions with NPCs. The finale is intended as a boss-battle combat scene, with some suggested mechanical changes based on how the players handled the previous scenes. There isn't a lot of description for the set locations, and some of the mystery itself feels like it could be better explained for the GM. Overall I'd say it serves its purpose as a quick intro using the setting's core conflict between Psions and returning threats from the past.

beyond just being a great resource for mage antagonists & setting material, this a book that 100% perfectly sets the mood for what's at stake in a mage chronicle. the nephandi aren't romantic badguys or cool, noble antinomians: they're assholes, plain and simple, and sometimes assholes are the ones who end up awakening, or sometimes the awakening makes people realize they like being assholes. this book lets a storyteller understand what the worst of the worst are like in the world of darkness and how to sensibly portray them as the ruthless jerkoffs that they are. it's a responsible book that gives storyteller appropriate tools & advice on how to incorporate this well-written material into their game. above all, it's clearly a personal work on the part of the authors, and they give the topic the respect & sensitivity it deserves.

well-worth the physical copy price i paid for it, this is a book i'll come back to again and again for my mage games.

(REVIEW BASED ON THE ADVANCE PDF ONLY)

While this is easily affordable, I would have to say that I was really underwhelmed by this product, based on what, as a quick start, it aims to do.

Just a short caveat: I am not going to review the mechanics of the game, purely this product in the context of it being a quick start introduction to Trinity AEon.

You get only three pages of background (an introduction and two pages of glossary) to introduce the setting and then eleven pages covering a summary of the Storypath system. This rules light overview might be the highlight of the book (and arguably it is selling point for people who might be interested in dipping their toes in further). It is clearly written, and I think it would probably give an experienced GM enough to go on to run a test game using he system.

However.

The rest of the booklet is the introductory scenario to use for this quick start and, frankly, it doesn't feel up to scratch. Avoiding spoilers, I can say that the Player Characters investigate a murder and the disappearance of some latent psions. All well and good so far and the pre-generated characters (another possible highlight, but more on that in a moment) are all given a reason to be interested in getting involved and solving the case. But this is where we hit a problem, given that this is meant to be an introduction to the setting and the system; All the PCs, as presented, are investigating the crimes for separate reasons and there is no consideration given or advice provided as to how they would come to work together, let alone if. It is just presumed that they all turn up at the scene of a crime and agree to work together. There's even a couple of characters at least who on the surface would be antagonistic to each other. There isn't anything wrong with a group of PCs who have friction, it creates great drama at the table, but that tends to work when there is a unifying rationale for them to stick together. Here you have five freelancers who for all intents and purposes could end up having fie independent investigations. Yes, a GM could pull all this together and make it work but a) that's work for them b) it implies some setting knowledge as to how that might work, which as a quick start your target audience probably do not have and c) this is a quick start, it should be presenting and easy to run simple set up that teases me to want to know more. This could easily have been rectified by having the players be part of an AEon Trinity team, and that would help introduce on of the key organisations within the setting. Back to the scenario itself. It isn't bad but it reads as confused and tonally not what I'd expect from a introduction to the setting. Let me elaborate. It's an investigation and as such there are people withholding details, others who aren't who they say they are and allegiances the players may not expect, however I don't feel that on first reading any of that is as transparent as it should be. First time storyguides need clarity and this product fails in that regard. This is sometimes a flaw of scenarios when the writer unveils the plot as they go, it would really be helped by a summary paragraph up front explaining the real goings on to the Storyguide and the villains plot and goals. We are not readers of a novel, or the players who will be taking part, please in future lay out the plot up front to avoid confusion and create clarity. Speaking of the supporting cast while the main villain of the piece seems to have clear motives the rest of the cast are paper thin at best and come across simply as plot devices. Seeing as what the villain may do to them, based on player action, or inaction, that seems to be validated as an opinion. I find it hard to see players empathising for most of the supporting cast and their possible ultimate fate seems arbitrary and intended purely to shock.

There is one exception, but they are problematic for other reasons. The players may may an unlikely ally during the adventure and they are of a faction deeply rooted in the lore of the setting. It is a nice, and surprising touch but one that seems ultimately misplaced. This is apparently intended as a quick start, why throw in something that needs a whole host of explanation that is not adequately provided in this product? Perhaps it is intended to lure the players and storyguide in to want to know more but with a setting as rich and complex as AEon I can't help but think that it could side-track the investigation and that same teasing effect could be achieved in a more effective way.

My fundamental issue with the adventure itself is one of tone. This feels like a scenario that was written for the grimmer, grittier and darker AEon Trinity of the '90s. Now that isn't to say that the current edition cannot be grounded in gritty stories, but it pushes optimism to the forefront. If I am going to introduce the setting to players (and prospective Storyguides) I want a product that showcases the core themes of the game. Investigative missions are a great idea for this but when it throws in mind control and body horror that seems much more suited to Onyx Path's World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness lines. As I have said earlier, this isn't bad it just feels like it fails to exemplify the main tone of the setting as presented in the main game book and as such becomes a bit of a misrepresentation when it could have been a showcase.

I also alluded earlier to issues with the pre-generated characters. For a start they seem unfinished (they are missing contacts and as many Edges as a regular new PC) but also none of the characters has any gear whatsoever. This might have been to simplify things but in a science-fiction setting technology is a key facet and contributor to the flavour. It is a crying shame that some of the key technological elements from AEon are completely ignored e.g. bioapps, minicomps and their agents. Also with the lack of gear players running through this scenario are going to have to rely heavily on Psi power use. While that puts the spotlight on their gifts it does present a skewed view of the game and its setting. For example, I have never seen a player of legionnaire character who didn't also pack a firearm (or three...), even if it was a non-lethal one. AEon is not a superhero game. It is a game about people who also have gifts and powers.

One positive about the cast of characters is that they are a diverse selection of nationalities, genders (kudos for the inclusion of a non-binary character) and cultures, however as mentioned above there is nothing unifying them. They wouldn't even need to be part of the same faction just some notes about how they know one or two of the other characters would really help the setup of the scenario, the cohesion of the group and add to the background of each of the cast.

In summary, for the price I don't regret buying this product, but it is likely that the only part of it that I will use are the pre-gen characters, after I've finished them off. Simply put, as presented this is just not what I would use to introduce new players to either the ruleset or setting, which is a huge shame.

Let me start by saying I love the Exalted setting, and the setting work done in this version is outstanding. However, after having played two campaigns as the storyteller I've finally given up on third edition. The system is overwhelming. Not only does it have a very steep learning curve, but the sheer number of charm (comparable to spells or feats from other systems) and their complexity forced the storyteller into a constant state of information overload. They introduced a "quick" npc system, but the system failed to streamline npc charms in any useful way.

Secondly, the system introduced the concept of fluid initiative. Initiative not only serves to determine your turn order, but it is also both a sort of hit point and your damage dice pool... and it is very swingy. It is extremely hard to turn the tables on someone, once you are behind. Further more action economy hits very hard in this edition. While "realistic" the core mechanics favor superiors numbers. This means that in order to challenge five players you need at least five NPCs of roughly the same power-level. Here the complexity of the game strikes again for running five NPCs of such power-level is extremely time-consuming. A such a battle can easily take around 5-10 hours in real time...

Thirdly, the quality of the charms vary wildly. Some of them seem very polished and integrate into the base system in fun ways, a lot of them are simply dice adders adding little to the actual story, and some seems to be wierdly out of sync with the base game. An example of the latter is the number of charms using what the game calls "defining intimacies". Defining intimacies are core values that your character would be willing to kill or die for, and realisticly a character should rarely have more than one or two of those. However, some charms seem to assume that you have a handful or more (integrity charm tree I'm looking at you), while other are capable of giving people a defining intimacy towards you with no resisted roll... We had one player in the group giving everyone else a defining intimacy of lust towards his character. That turned out quite anticlimatic because people had a hard time actually playing out the intimacy on a defining level. The charm in question would have been much more reasonable if it only gave a major intimacy. Also... the Craft rules... just don't go there. It is a dark place.

Speaking for intimacies they are at their core a very good idea, but the whole social conflict system can feel a bit artificial. Sure the gm can assign bonus and penalty dice based on the roleplaying performance (stunts) and the way PCs frame their requests, but for solars focused on social conflict it rarely matters. The excellency alone can give you such a big load of dice, that you can pretty much start building any intimacy you want in another character... it your suggestion isn't vetoed with a willpower point. So depending on your perspective it is either overpowered or completely useless.

In the end I would like to offer a piece of advice. If you want to play Exalted 3rd Edition I really recommend a small group. 1 to 3 players would probably work fine. Smaller numbers speed up combat, and make it way easier on the storyteller to construct challenging and credible encounters. Personally I will probably be using the Fate Core system the next time I want to run something in the Exalted universe... alternatively I will be waiting for the Exalted Essence edition, which Onyx Path has announce. It might be the Exalted Light that I've been wanting all along.

A high quality book with a fascinating setting. See my video review for a deep dive: https://youtu.be/p7vaTQ9KBW8

This is Onyx path and White Wolf at his best. Giving you a lot of possibilities and answers to a lot of things, even those you haven't asked. It's the perfect book to any edition of vampire, as it covers a lot of ground, and consequences to a HUGE load of old material like Transilvanian and Giovanni Chronicles, several by night, and other books. If you want to play with the old rules in the new setting of V5, want to know exactly how the world of V5 come to being from V20, or just a piece of fiction in line with the book of nod, this book is simply incredible.

Book came and so far it looks good (bought the econo print). Bindings look solid from I can see.

my only problem is the "turn-around time" for the product and the "zero explanation" for any delays. The order I placed before this one was done and in my hands in a couple weeks. This had been placed and a notification listex that it had beeen submitted to the printer within a couple days of ordering. there it sat with no change for a few weeks. It took a few days to be delivered. I get that delays happen and that the world is crazy right now. Still would have been nice to have some communication so i was not hanging in the lurch wondering if I'd get my book.

This Errata is woefully incomplete. There are many mistakes (minor in their nature but made larger by their multitude) still present in the final PDF that are not addressed in the errata document.

The overall feeling I get from this compiled Errata is that it's less an attempt at actually addressing all the many problems (most of which are minor typos, I admit) and more an attempt at damage control.

Also, the Origin book (the only one of the two that I've read so far) is not very well written. The order in which the informatin is presented, along with the writing itself, leads to quite a bit of unnecessary confusion and ambiguity. I was eventually able to make sense of all I've read so far, but not before reading other sections that presented the same information but phrased differently (and then managing to deduce meaning from the combination of both versions), or spending quite a bit of time puzzling over the meaning of various rules or just poorly presented information.

This is very sub-par for Onyx Path.

3 scénarios bien cool constituent ce joli livre ! De quoi passer des heures de bon temps dans ce super univers de jeu !

(3 very cool scenarios in this really nice book ! Perfect to spend good time for hours and hours in this great game context !)