An overdue announcement and a reminder

I mentioned this in my recent session write-up, but I felt it deserved its own post here.

The Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God crowdfunding campaign is about half-over as I post this, and a bunch of the previews are available to backers -- some of which includes material I've written, with more on the way! The book is, in a nutshell, about sweet magical robot-people who (for the most part) live inside a giant magical robot-god, and the robot-god world in which they live. The previews are available for backers only, though I'm pretty sure you can back the campaign, download the preview, and then cancel it, if you really want to. I can't stop ya.

(Also, as a side-note, while this is a 3e core system book, the setting material is also useful for the Exalted Essence rules, especially with the updates to the Adamant Caste.)

If you'd like to know more, episode 338 of the Onyx Pathcast has a basic explainer of Alchemicals. And past episodes include interviews with the developers and a couple of the writers.

There's also a slightly-outdated pair of episodes from the Systematic Understanding of Everything podcast, talking about the Alchemicals themselves and the magical machine-world in which they live. These two refer primarily to the 2e books, but there's a lot of broad strokes stuff that still holds up as those books naturally fed into the new one, and all of the podcast's hosts wound up working on it.

Or, if you'd rather skip the podcasts, I can answer questions if people have any.

In semi-related news, here's a reminder that another book I recently worked on, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide is available over on DriveThruRPG in PDF and print on demand. It's a supplement for the Trinity Continuum 'core' line, though the material in there is useful in any of the various timelines of the Continuum.

Anyhow, I hope everyone's holiday season is off to a solid start. Take care, and hopefully I'll be able to check in again soon!

Building a Character: Terra Surge (TC: Anima)

Welcome back! This is a little weird, I'll admit, because this is the second part of a character write-up. The game in question is Trinity Continuum: Anima, a tabletop RPG that plays in both the cyberpunk and LitRPG genres, and this post focuses on the latter. You really should have read the first part of the character write-up in which I created Erin Taylor, a youth counselor in the city of Cascade and know all this, but I'll quickly contextualize.

(Quick aside, reminding you that we're currently in the final days of a crowdfunding campaign to reprint the Trinity Continuum core and Æon books.)

In TC: Anima's setting of Cascade, there's a mystery involving missing players of a popular MMO called Terra Surge, linked to possible weirdness within the game itself. It may also tie in to rumors and mysteries surrounding the revolutionary neural implant, called Glass, that most people use to play the game and is given out to Cascade's citizens for free. Different gaming groups can adjust how much of the story is spent in the real world versus the virtual world, but by default the narrative is expected to move back and forth. Not only are there clues and leads in the game itself, but it's also going to be the best (and often only) way to connect with other people in the community who might know something, even if they're only using Terra Surge as a meeting spot.

In my previous post, I wrote up Erin as a character, but the game also has a well-crafted ruleset and setting for Terra Surge, and players are expected to write up at least one character -- called an 'anima' -- for the MMO as well. And since I'm really wordy and the previous post went on as long as it was, I decided to handle the creation of Erin's anima separately. So let's get to it.

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Anima

Been a while since I've done one of these, and I've been meaning to do this one for a little while now. Just been getting distracted working on other projects and getting my group's new Exalted series started. But I'm feeling like I need a bit of a palate cleanser, so let's get into it.

Trinity Continuum: Anima is interesting and a little experimental for a few reasons. To start, it's the first new time period introduced to the Trinity series after the initial three, taking place in 2084, between the end of the Aberrant War and the start of TC: Æon (and, in the default Æon timeline, a couple of years before the Shanghai Accords banned true AI and certain brain-computer interfaces). (Speaking of which, assuming I get this up in time, there's a campaign still up to crowdfund a fresh printing of the core books.) Second, it's very focused setting-wise -- while there's enough info to run a game elsewhere in the setting, by default the focus is on the city of Cascade, in the Federated States of America (the fascist military junta that the US turned into during the Aberrant War). Implied to be on the site of a war-destroyed Vancouver, Cascade is a newly-built city where the FSA is encouraging people to emigrate to start new lives. Third, it's got a pretty focused premise, which I'll get to after explaining the genre for context.

Where the other Trinity Continuum games present different genres, TC: Anima covers cyberpunk and a little something else (keep reading). See, as incentive to get people to move to Cascade, they're offering free implantation of the 'Glass' brain augmentation. Invented by a company called FulgurTech, Glass allows for the sort of mind-machine interface and virtual reality shenanigans long-promised by cyberpunk fiction. It also offers tools for better cyberware interfacing, managing a number of neurological or hormonal issues, and therapeutic functions like editing sensory input or one's own memories.

And yes, you can run Doom on it.

Which is where I'm getting into the 'little something else' genre-wise -- I don't want to get too deep into the weeds explaining if you don't know it, but TC: Anima is also a LitRPG game with the addition of Terra Surge into the setup. Terra Surge is a free-to-play MMO taking place in the fantasy realm of Synestia, in which players have adventures in a virtual world that's run by a number of powerful AIs called 'Narrators,' who are capable of greatly customizing the game experience to individual players' tastes. The Narrators can create custom quests and NPCs for players on the fly, all woven into a larger narrative being crafted by the game's developers. The MMO is actually playable in-game, with a proper ruleset and a fleshed-out setting of its own.

In a world still recovering from the Aberrant War and the Crash (the total destruction of the OpNet), Glass and Terra Surge offer much-needed options for coping with the fallout and trauma of the last couple of decades. (Incidentally, this game was pretty much entirely written in the early years of the Covid pandemic, and it shows in a lot of ways that make the game stronger for it.)

However, while TC: Anima is meant to be a more hopeful take on the genre, it's still a cyberpunk setting. Naturally, there's something wrong with it.

The game's premise, by default, revolves around a mystery surrounding Terra Surge and Glass itself: Popular players are going missing (sometimes with their game streams abruptly ending after the game's built-in spoiler warning system blanks the feed), and the ones who've turned back up have been behaving... differently. Conspiracy theorists link the phenomenon to the recent introduction of the Jahat, a mysterious new antagonist faction in Terra Surge. Some think it's all a planned marketing stunt, but others insist there's something wrong with the Jahat and the missing players learned something they shouldn't have. And then, of course, there are all manner of conspiracy theories in general about Glass itself and FulgurTech's relationship with the FSA, even before you factor in the possibility that there's a connection between this and the mystery of the Jahat.

So yeah, this is a lot of new territory for Trinity.

It's technically possible to play a psiad (a naturally-occurring psi-user) or even a low-power nova with the right supplements and a permissive Storyguide, but by default TC: Anima player characters are Talents, and I'm going to build one of those. Because there's a two-part character creation setup here -- one for the actual character in Cascade and one for their Terra Surge avatar (no, really) -- I'm going to split this up between two different blog posts for length and readability.

Before I get into it, in case it needs to be said, this write-up assumes you know the basic Trinity Continuum character creation structure, as seen in my first Trinity character build. I can't imagine it being indecipherable without having read that, but I'm not going to stop and explain every step as much as I do there (for better or worse).

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Assassins

Okay, so after spending all of five minutes thinking it over while bored, I've decided to do a Trinity Continuum: Assassins character after all as sort of a mental palate cleanser so I don't spend all of my time thinking about Exalted. I'm going to hold off on TC: Anima until the PDF's been errata'd, which should be soon, and I think that's going to be my standard for doing these in the future barring any special requests or suggestions.

TC: Assassins is sort of (but not quite) an alternate setting for the Trinity Continuum core's 'modern day' setting. It's the same world, with a lot of connections back to the core material, but like the core book it's very broad enough to customize or tweak to your needs. And while you could do a stories like these perfectly well out of the core, TC: Assassins is intended/geared specifically for stuff like John Wick, Hitman, Kill Bill, Assassins Creed, Metal Gear Solid, and so forth. In particular, this game draws on a lot of inspiration from the underworld subculture seen in the John Wick series, with Hotels Asylia as neutral spaces where Assassins can safely take care of business, and the Service which preserves the peace and balance between the Societies by enforcing a strict Code these flux-empowered killers must follow.

And yes, flux is still a factor. While the game doesn't explicitly describe them as such, I think it'd be a reasonable shorthand to describe Assassins as something like an alternate form of Talent, exceptional people who can draw upon flux. But where a Talent might 'simply' be a legendary athlete or the best hacker in the world -- impressive but not shaking anyone's grip on reality -- Assassins' abilities border on the blatantly superhuman but are heavily specialized, and anyone whose worldview might be threatened by seeing them are almost always nudged away by flux for both their own and the Assassins' safeties.

There's some other relevant setting stuff to get into for context on the character I'm going to make, but I think I'll save it for below the jump cut this time, for readability's sake.

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Adventure!

Here we are again, building a character that'll finish out the 1e Trinity timelines. I plan to do more after this, just marking the milestone.

Much like how Aberrant took place about a century before Æon, Adventure! turns the clock back another century-ish to delve into the 'pulp action' genre. The first edition book's 'day zero' was in 1924, a couple of years after Dr. Sir Calvin Hammersmith arranged for a scientific demonstration in which he was to activate his new 'telluric engine' for the first time, ushering in a new era powered by the theoretically limitless power it could harness. At least, in theory.

It exploded spectacularly, vaporizing Hammersmith (as far as anyone knows), and unleashing a wave of strange energies into the world. The people in the building (and beyond) were Inspired, infused with telluric energy, and given amazing abilities that could change the world. Premier among them were multi-millionaire philanthropist Maxwell Anderson Mercer, a brilliant young physicist by the name of Michael Donighal, and Hammersmith's lab assistant Sara Kaur, who got the most direct exposure to the energy (aside from the late Hammersmith) and were granted abilities far beyond their contemporaries. In time, Mercer, Donighal and others founded the Æon Society, to study and catalogue (and occasionally save the world from) Inspired people and phenomena that had been empowered by the energies thrown out into the world by the Hammersmith Incident.

The first edition of Adventure! is noteworthy in part because at the time it was being written and produced, the folks at White Wolf knew that it would be the only book in this era they'd get to release, and possibly the last Trinity Universe book entirely. And it was in fact the last that actually saw print until the d20 versions in 2004, though the time between included White Wolf's earliest dabblings in ebooks in the form of Terra Verde for Æon and Aberrant: Underworld for, um, Aberrant.

Anyhow, they wrote Adventure! with the intention that it function entirely standalone, making it as complete as possible (so in other words, no mechanics or setting info held back for supplements) with refinements to the system that came from lessons learned on Æon and Aberrant, and in the process created what is considered one of the best (if not the best) pulp RPGs ever printed. It's known to have been a big inspiration on Spirit of the Century, which lead to the full-blown Fate system, so that's quite the indirect legacy there. (Also, some of Fate's mechanics inspired elements of the Storypath system used for the Trinity Continuum games, bringing things full-circle.)

The Trinity Continuum edition of Adventure!, like the other two 'updated' eras, tweaks the timeline a bit. But unlike TC: Æon and TC: Aberrant, which reworked events and adjusted some of the dates, TC: Adventure! almost entirely adds to the earlier edition. Its 'day zero' is in 1934, and barring a couple of specific elements (notably the presence of Sara Kaur) all it does is advance the timeline. Events and characters described in the first edition still happened in TC: Adventure!'s history and the earlier book serves perfectly well as an 'early days of the Æon Society' sourcebook.

And with that little overview out of the way, let's get into making a Trinity Continuum: Adventure! character. As with my other TC posts, this one assumes you've at least skimmed my Trinity Continuum core character post for the basic structure. And as always, if there are any questions, comments, suggestions, so on and so forth, you know the drill.

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hey there, welcome back to the third in... well, I think calling it a 'series' implies that it's planned out, when I'm just kinda doing these when I happen to have the time and energy. Regardless, this is my third Trinity Continuum character, this time for \Trinity Continuum: Aberrant. As with my Æon character, this isn't going to linger as much on the character creation process as my core character post (aside from the Aberrant-specific stuff, of course).

Now comes the part where I describe the game itself in more detail than is needed for context, so if you want to skip ahead to the character I'm gonna build, feel free to scroll down to the jump cut.

Aberrant was the second game in the original Trinity series, and thus came second in the post-core 'tentpole' Trinity Continuum eras in the current edition. Æon was about humanity in the early 22nd century dealing with, among other challenges, delayed repercussions of the Aberrant War. But how did we get to the Aberrant War? We start with novas in the early 21st century.

While the 'core' Trinity Continuum book presents a world very much like our own as filtered through action-adventure media, Aberrant is kind of an alternate timeline because in Aberrant's version of 2018 (1998, in first edition) saw the tragic explosion of the space station Galatea, bathing the world in then-unknown, difficult-to-quantify energies that cause people around the world to manifest superhuman powers based on manipulating fundamental quantum forces. 

The book's 'day zero' picks up a decade later, in 2028 (2008 in 1e), after a decade in which these superhumans, commonly called novas (from Homo sapiens novus), have already begun changing the world. Over the course of that decade, the Æon Society set up an organization called Project Utopia to study novas (not just their powers but physical transformations that often accompany said power) and find ways to use their powers for the good of mankind. This has led to drastic reversals of climate change, cures for diseases, and massive technological advancements. A group of novas called the Daedalus League now lead efforts to explore beyond the Solar System with their powers and super-science.

But it's not all Arc Reactors and unstable molecules -- for some people, great power means great opportunity. Naturally, some novas use their powers for personal profit, leading to a class of independent superhuman freelancers called Elites -- the most prominent example being superhuman mercenaries who are drastically reshaping visions of warfare. And then there are those who argue humanity's acceptance of novas is based on a faulty premise -- the Teragen, who believe that novas should not be considered human but a separate sovereign species on their own journey to transcendence and should not be bound by human laws or morality. But keeping track of the various factions, regardless of their feelings about or allegiance to humanity at large, is the Directive: a secretive agency empowered by the UN to oversee nova activities and (in theory) protect humanity from nova-related threats.

Some decades after this point, as recorded in the history of TC: Æon, the novas were gradually corrupted by their powers, grew apart from humanity, and eventually a war broke out between the billions of humans and several thousand people with godlike powers. As more and more crises related to the Aberrant War stacked up and humanity's future was at its bleakest, China revealed it's trump card: A network of satellites capable of orbital bombardment, powerful enough to potentially wipe the planet's surface clean. With these satellites they presented an ultimatum insisting the Aberrants (as they were now regarded) leave or everyone goes down together. The novas/Aberrants backed down, and the mightiest of them -- Divis Mal -- immolated the UN Secretary-General, proclaimed "Your legacy is our future," and led the Aberrants to the stars. 

(This sounds bleak, I know, but bear with me.)

All of these elements appear in the old and new editions, with one major difference -- the tone. The original Aberrant, like 1e Æon before it, is very 90's White Wolf. It's not a superhero game as such (Exhibit A: the intro for the Aberrant Player's Guide, infamously titled "This Is Not The Super-Friends") but a deconstruction in the style of Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, or The Authority. I haven't read it or seen the series, but I'm told The Boys (which Aberrant pre-dates) is a pretty perfect match for its tone. At its best, the deconstruction is nigh-brilliant (though lots of it haven't aged well), but every now and again it's like a pizza cutter -- all edge, no point. 

It's a game about power and its corruption, heavily steeped in dark conspiracies that mean very few people can be counted among the 'good guys.' Said good guys are the titular Aberrants: a small resistance group trying to uncover and reveal the corruption and darkness within Project Utopia. The pre-eminent 'superhero'-type of the setting, Caestus Pax, is arguably the 'light beer' version of Homelander, the Teragen could be described as 'What if you combined the Brotherhood of Mutants with the Sabbat from Vampire: The Masquerade,' and the Aberrant War is all but inevitable.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, by contrast, actually is a superhero game. Again, it's not all quantum rainbows and quantum daisies, and there are guidelines for fine-tuning a given chronicle's sensibilities regarding the genre, but by default it's much more reminiscent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are people with powers across all political and moral spectra, but by and large there are more people doing good than not regardless of their motivations. 

It's still a game about power and consequences, but it's a setting where the good guys can win. Project Utopia, while not perfect, is a force for good and Cestus Pax (spelling change between editions, not a typo), the leader of Team Tomorrow, is a moral man with power beyond his reckoning still getting used to leadership. The Teragen's core beliefs are largely the same, but they are much more about exploring transhumanism than trying to speedrun their ascendance to quantum-powered godhood -- though in this edition the titular Aberrants are a militaristic extremist faction of the Teragen, arguably outliers in the opposite direction from their 1e counterparts. And while it's possible to see the rumblings of the Aberrant War on the horizon, this edition emphasizes that the War (and Æon beyond it) are possible (perhaps likely) outcomes, but it encourages you more to avert that future in your own games -- part of Trinity being a continuum, and explicitly a multiverse.

Incidentally, one thing both editions have in common is good LGBT+ rep (with a 'good for its time' qualifier for 1e, to be fair) -- there are several prominent novas in the quiltbag, mostly taken beyond simple stereotypes. When the first edition Teragen book came out and revealed that their leader Divis Mal is openly gay and in a relationship with another man in the setting, someone on the White Wolf forums flipped their shit with a post titled "Divis Mal is GAY?!? WTF!!!!" This was responded to, famously, with a thread entitled "Divis Mal has ARMS?!? WTF!!!!" that created a meme that persists to this day. As someone who was there for (and posted in) the Arms thread, it gave me the warm and fuzzies when Onyx Path announced early on that they were rebooting the Trinity games and literally one of the first things that came up was official reassurance that Divis Mal 'would still have arms.'

I played and ran a lot of 1e Aberrant with my friends back in late high school and early college, and it's a game pretty close to my heart. I still have all of those old books, some of which are worn to the point I need to be careful handling them, including the two copies of the Aberrant Player's Guide I wound up with because enough time passed between the book's announcement and its release I accidentally pre-ordered it twice from two different stores. (Technically I don't have my original hardcover core book any more, having loaned it to someone who vanished with it about the time the game line was cancelled, but a few years ago I found another copy at Half-Price Books, probably in slightly better shape than mine had been when I lost it.)

I could probably go on, but I've already gone on far beyond what's necessary or even interesting to read. So whether you're still with me or just jumped ahead to the actual character write-up, thanks. And of course, if you have any questions, comments, requests, etc., let me know either here in the comments or any of the social media outlets in my profile.

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum: Æon

Welp, nobody told me to stop after the last one, so I'm back with another Trinity Continuum character. This time for Trinity Continuum: Æon!

This shouldn't be as long as my Trinity core post, though like the Trinity Continuum game line as a whole it does assume some familiarity with the process as presented in that post. Not that I'm gonna skip important stuff, but I'm not going to explain as much.

As I mentioned in that prior post, Trinity Continuum: Æon (which I'm gonna abbreviate as either TC: Æon or just Æon depending on how the mood takes me) is a sci-fi setting that encompasses many genres. The book picks up in the year 2123, and Earth is staring down multiple threats from the stars. First there are the Aberrants, quantum-powered metahumans who first ushered in a golden age and then turned on humanity over the course of a few decades. (This is extremely reductive, but I'm trying to keep the elevator pitch short here.) They were driven away but have since returned with a vengeance, menacing Earth and a few of Earth's colonies elsewhere in space. Next are the Chromatics, an alien species that came out of nowhere with light-bending powers and declared war on humanity. And then there's the Coalition, extraterrestrial conquerors coming for Earth with dark designs.

But fortunately humanity has psions, humans whose natural psychic potential has been activated by tanks of biotech goo called the Prometheus Chambers, and with the help of the Psi Orders and organizations such as the Æon Trinity are the first line of defense against all of these threats.

But I mentioned before a broad range of genres, and that's because different corners of the setting lend themselves to different styles of science-fiction. You can take to the stars in the Leviathan jumpships for Star Trek-style exploration and diplomacy, you can do cyberpunk dystopia in the Federated States of America or Nippon. You can do military sci-fi in the style of Starship Troopers fighting Aberrants or the Chromatics, or even get into some kinda-sorta post-apocalyptic wasteland stuff dealing with the damage the Aberrants' return has done to central Europe. Or you can delve into the more secretive threats and mysteries of the setting a little more in the style of Babylon 5. There's others but you get the point.

The first edition leaned a lot more on the mysteries and conspiracies stuff. As good as the game was, it's easy enough to look back and see just how very... 90's White Wolf it was. While a much more positive setting than, say, the World of Darkness, it was laden with a lot of morally-gray conspiracy material typical of the era. Pretty much every faction had (or was implied to have) a sinister 'doing evil for the greater good' element to it. The closest thing to an exception was ISRA, the Clairsentient Order, who were led by someone whose plans were so circuitous and inscrutable (due to a complicated relationship with linear time) that it was difficult to trust them.

The modern edition, TC: Æon, does a 180º on this element, making it clear that even the sneakier good guys are still good guys. I mean, it's not all space rainbows and cyber-daisies, but by default a player character from the main allegiances isn't going to suddenly discover that they're the baddies.

Also, before I get into it, I've got a bit of a personal history with Æon. The original edition was the first non-D&D RPG I got into back in high school (yeah, that's right, I was familiar with Trinity years before I'd ever heard of the World of Darkness), and the first RPG I played where the group actually got past the character creation session and played a story. Not only do I still have my original core book, I still have the free quickstart I picked up at Waldenbooks that led me to it. Which made it all the more meaningful when I was fortunate enough to get to work on several TC: Æon books, including the core. In fact, that story we played back in high school was a major inspiration for the opening fiction I wrote for Prometheus Unbound.

And with that, I think I'll get into it. Again, if you have any questions, comments, so on and so forth, feel free to comment here or anyplace else I'm active online. (For example I wouldn't be averse to writing up a different type of character for TC: Æon, like a Talent, psiad, alien, etc., if there's any interest.) As with my previous character, I'm probably going to stick with material from just the TC core and Æon core, but we'll see.

Building a Character: Trinity Continuum

So as much as I enjoy running and writing about my Exalted game, I've been wanting to do more broad gaming content. I've got ideas I might blog about, but there's a lot of "I'm not sure I've got anything worth saying or anyone interested in hearing it" going on in my head, and while I sort that out I'm gonna toss out a couple more character building posts when I've got the time/inclination. In theory there's other stuff I could/should be working on, but these posts are easy enough to pick up and put back down as I work on them in chunks, and in the absence of any feedback or suggestions, I'm just gonna do whatever.

So with that in mind, I think I'm gonna write up some Trinity Continuum characters. Just one now, I mean, but there'll be more in the future.

Some quick-ish background: Trinity started with a game called ÆON in 1997, from original recipe White Wolf. It was put together at record speed after Mark Rein-dot-Hagen started work on a sci-fi RPG, and somewhere between the announcement and intended release he left White Wolf and took the game with him. So now White Wolf had a gap in their publishing schedule that was intended for some sort of sci-fi RPG and by some miracle produced a complete game, from conception to printed books, in about 10 months. To be clear, the miracle isn't that the game happened at all but in the fact that it was actually really good even before accounting for the production timeline. It used a version of the Storyteller system and kicked off a series of games known as the Trinity Universe. 

ÆON is a kind of a kitchen sink setting that allows for a lot of different sci-fi subgenres, from Star Trek-style space opera to Starship Troopers-style military science fiction to dystopian cyberpunk and more. Somehow, Viacom decided this infringed on Æon Flux and pitched a fit, but only after the books had been physically printed. Which is why, if you've seen a limited edition copy of ÆON, the infamous spiral-bound one with the plastic binder cover, it likely had a sticker on the cover renaming it 'Trinity.' (I know mine sure did) I'll get a little more into ÆON/Trinity when I write up a character for the modern edition, Trinity Continuum: Æon. 

(Yes, I plan on doing all of the Trinity Continuum games eventually, or at least all of the ones that are properly available. I'm waffling over whether to do posts for games where we only have the crowdfunding preview versions. Also, I haven't decided if I'm going to do Trinity Continuum: Assassins, but if I do I'll probably save it for after I've knocked out the games we have full books for. Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.)

But, moving on, ÆON/Trinity led to Aberrant (taking place about a century earlier and being about superheroes of a sort) and Adventure! (taking place about a century before that, and was a pulp adventure setting), and then some d20 versions, and all of this was called the Trinity Universe. Then, a little over a decade ago, Onyx Path Publishing acquired the Trinity IP from White Wolf (CCP edition), and they asked Ian A.A. Watson to blow the dust off an old pitch for a Trinity reboot. Spoiler alert, the game line was rebooted as the Trinity Continuum and has been taken farther than the original Trinity Universe ever got to go.

(By the way, there's some debate as to whether the d20 versions constitute an 'edition' in their own right, and by extension whether the Trinity Continuum should be considered the second or third edition. I personally count the d20 games as an edition, but I just refer to Trinity Continuum as the 'modern' edition for simplicity's sake.)

And that meandering road I've drawn leads us back to here, where I'm going to make a character for the Trinity Continuum core book. Trinity Continuum has a kinda-vague default setting (that I'm gonna call 'Trinity Core' or 'TC Core' for simplicity's sake) that takes place in a version of our world that runs on what I call 'narrative physics.' (I apologize if I'm subconsciously/unintentionally ripping off someone else's term, but doing a quick search on the phrase doesn't turn up any obvious sources I could have gotten it from.) In other words, the setting plays by the rules of action-adventure media where physics seem to conveniently ensure main/major characters can be back in fighting action in time for next week's episode. Think Leverage, The A-Team, Ocean's Eleven, Global Frequency, and the Fast and the Furious films. If it could be described as 'modern day pulp,' it falls under Trinity Core's umbrella.

But the Trinity Continuum as a whole does this in kind of a sci-fi way, and while the dial on that is set pretty low for Trinity Core it means that you'll get scientific breakthroughs and high-energy physics accidents and the like creating the sort of weirdness seen in media like Fringe, Agents of SHIELD, Atomic Robo, Eureka, or even Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. I'll get more into the source of this sci-fi weirdness as we go, but as I've rambled more than enough on the basics without even a single character stat mentioned, let's get into it!

(And of course, if it needs to be said, if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or wherever you got the link to this post.)

Reminders about books and other things

Okay, what order to do these in...

Let's start with the time-sensitive thing. Reminding folks that this Friday, April 14th, at 8pm Eastern time, I'll be reading the second half of "The Kit Gloves Are Off" over at the Blackwarren Books Discord. As a reminder, you can pick up the anthology in which it appeared, Samhain Secrets: World Premiere, at this finely-crafted link. (It's always best to buy direct from the publisher, but if you must go through alternate storefronts, you may find links to those over on my index of published fiction.)

Now, the more recent thing. Realms of Magic and Mystery, a Scion Second edition supplement I worked on, is now available in print on demand. If you bought the advance PDF and you're getting Onyx Path updates via DriveThru, you should have a link to a coupon for a discount on the POD as if you'd bought the PDF-POD bundle (as well as a notification of an updated PDF).

Last, and most certainly not least, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide crowdfunding campaign is going into its final week. "Falling Into Place," a piece of fiction I wrote, was posted as a preview here, and as of this post the backer-only manuscript previews have included most of the material I wrote for the book, with some mechanical bits still yet to arrive this coming Tuesday, the 18th.

And I think that's it. Enjoy and take care!

Announcements, reminders, and such

Barring incident, this Friday and next (4/7 and 4/14) at 8pm Eastern US time (UTC-4), I'm going to be doing a two-part reading of my story "The Kit Gloves Are Off" from Samhain Secrets: World Premiere. This is going to be on the Blackwarren Books Discord (lemme know if that link doesn't work right), and I'll post a link to the event listing when it's available.

Also, as a reminder, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide crowdfunding campaign is live! The Trinity Continuum Player's Guide is a supplement for the Trinity Continuum core book (though much of the material is applicable for other games in the line like Æon, Aberrant, etc.), with a lot of extra rules and setting material for the core game's modern pulp/sci-fi aesthetic.

And this last bit isn't exactly fresh news, but one more reminder that Realms of Magic & Mystery, a book I worked on for Scion, is recently out in PDF! It's a supplement about strange and magical places tucked away within the World, as well as assorted other pocket dimensions and planes of existence. As the term 'supplement' implies, it does require the Scion: Origin book to be able to use it, but if you're already into the game or have been planning to get into it, check it out!

Announcement! (and a reminder)

Okay, so first there's the announcement. If you missed it in my last Exalted update, a book I was working on, "Brave New Worlds," is being combined with the "Talent Player's Guide" to make the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide! It's going to be a supplement for the Trinity Continuum core rulebook with expanded rules for different types of the modern pulp action the core line is centered around, new Gifts for Talents (some of them revised and updated from other books to better fit the core), expansions on the core book's minor Allegiances, and a lot of material on traveling through time and space!

I mean, I think that description covers the basics, but if you need more, the Onyx Pathcast has recently put up an episode devoted to discussing it. But if you like what you've heard so far, you can head over to Backerkit and sign up to be notified when the crowdfunding campaign goes live on March 28th!

And now the reminder -- Realms of Magic and Mystery, a Scion Second Edition supplement I worked on, is available at DriveThruRPG!

And as just sort of a general reminder but while I'm here, I recently put together an index of my published fiction to complement the one for my game writing.

My Published Fiction

As you may have noticed, I've got a page where I keep track of gaming stuff I've written, that I update on occasion. I've been meaning to do so for my fiction work as well, and here we are. (Current as of 8/10/2026)

First, to get it out of the way, there's some stuff I have posted online, freely available. I have a bunch of furry fiction posted over at my FurAffinity page. (Note that while adult material is locked behind signing up for an account, the site may still trip some work filters.) Also, elsewhere on this blog, is a bunch of Chronicles of Darkness fanfic. There's also the 'writing' tag, but honestly I think the two pages linked already linked should cover pretty much anything listed there and more. This page isn't for highlighting those, but thoroughness demands I mention them while I'm here.

The intent with this page is serving as a central link to published fiction I've written. Some of it will be gaming-related (especially as of the initial writing of this), some will not, though for completeness' sake I am including links to gaming books where I wrote the opening fiction. (Free book previews on DriveThruRPG may extend far enough into the book that you can read the opening fictions for free.) I'm also mentioning stuff that's not out yet, but I'm not detailing those until they're available.

I'm going to loosely group these by genre, so let's get to it.

(As a reminder, some links may be affiliate links and I may benefit from their use.)

Urban Fantasy/Horror

Samhain Secrets: World Premiere, from Blackwarren Books, set in the Argent City. I wrote "The Kit Gloves Are Off," about a handful of Kitsune investigating an old mystery to prevent war between the City's Tricksters. Book blurb and alternate purchase links follow: 

In the Argent City, where supernatural creatures like dragons, fae, and tricksters live alongside blissfully unaware humanity, Halloween Night remains the craziest night of the year. A dragon who would be king struggles to establish his identity and find his passion in hosting a popular radio show, while the wily Kitsune seek to unmask a conspiracy against the feuding Tricksters of the City, where anyone could be the culprit. Across the City, a pair of Fae entrepreneurs stake their future on cleansing a murder site for the police, but a nosy Brownie can't accept the given cause of death and suspects murder. And finally, a hopeful actress takes a chance at scoring the lead in the reboot of a much-beloved vampire action series, only to find the audition process far more bizarre, and deadly, than even the most committed actor would expect.

Featuring contributions from Chris Shaffer, David DeMar, Vaughn R. Demont, and special guest Sierra Dean, the Argent City is explored through the eyes of the different denizens that call it home, and the one night a year where the brave and curious can discover the secrets lying just beyond the human eye.

Direct from publisher (as a reminder, the publisher and authors benefit more from buying direct)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Apple Books

Smashwords

In addition, if you would like to listen to me read the story as part of Blackwarren's 'Allora Public Radio' podcast, it's in two hour-long parts: Part 1, Part 2

Gaming-related

The Idigam Chronicle Anthology, from Onyx Path Publishing, set in the Chronicles of Darkness. I wrote the fiction "Legacy," about a werewolf with personal baggage about leadership finding himself in charge of his first Sacred Hunt. Book blurb follows.

On the hunt, your blood races. When something hunts you, it runs cold. Your blood carries the future of Uratha and the burning fire of kuruth. It’s powerful, but ultimately transient.

You know things in your bones. They change with your forms but stay strong. The power of your teeth and claws comes from your bone. It runs deeper than blood, a slow power that doesn’t fade.

So you hunt. It’s what you do, a key part of your psyche. You hunt people and spirits, hosts and other werewolves. But those things hunt you in turn. Werewolves are always one bad choice away from being the prey.

The Idigam Chronicle Anthology contains 11 short stories (7 original to this collection) of bestial violence and supernatural terror, in celebration of the second edition of Werewolf: The Forsaken.

Realms of Magic and Mystery, a sourcebook for Scion Second Edition from Onyx Path Publishing. I wrote the opening fiction, "Inside Out," about an investigator finding the unseen side of an apartment building and a secret hidden within.

Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God, a sourcebook for Exalted Third Edition from Onyx Path Publishing. I wrote the one-page fictions at the start of Chapters Seven and Eight.

Sci-Fi

Gaming-related

Prometheus Unbound, a sourcebook for Trinity Continuum: Aeon from Onyx Path Publishing. I wrote the opening fiction, "Interlocking Pieces," wherein a group of psions from the different Psi Orders come together to stop a monstrous threat.

Trinity Continuum Player's Guide, a yet-to-be-released sourcebook for Trinity Continuum from Onyx Path Publishing, combining what was originally known as Brave New Worlds, which I initially worked on, and another book called the Talent Player's Guide. I wrote "Falling Into Place," originally intended to be the opening fiction for Brave New Worlds, which has been previewed as part of the crowdfunding campaign.

Anthro fiction

ROAR Volume 8, an anthology from Bad Dog Books with the theme of 'Paradise.' I wrote "Bite the Apple," about a journalist trying to uncover the secrets of a hotel that's too good to be true. Book blurb follows. (ebook link)

Paradise can be the stark natural beauty of our own world; it can be the connections we have with the people we love; it can be a moment in time. Paradise can be a place we're seeking or a place that we didn't realize we already had until it started to slip away. It can have a dark side. Even shining science-fiction utopias can come with a price.

Read this book and take a journey through eighteen different visions of paradise—beginning with the personal and natural, traveling through the societal and technological, and all the way out to the supernal and divine. A great book can heal you when you're hurting, give you an escape that you desperately need, or even rekindle a lost spark of hope.

Let this book be a small piece of paradise for you.

FANG Volume 8, a M/M adult anthology from Bad Dog Books, also with the theme of 'Paradise.' I wrote "Too Good," about someone discovering a hidden truth of what feels like the perfect resort. Book blurb follows. (ebook link)

Paradise: An ideal or idyllic place or state

 

Well that would be boring to read about. Join the authors of Fang 8 as they tease your senses, tug on your hearts, and in some cases stab you right in the gut. Paradise can be lost, paradise can be gained, paradise can be found, and in some cases paradise can even be made. Be it an underpaid college graduate finally finding his own way, a lover taking the ultimate risk to keep their perfect lives, diving into the darkest parts of the unconscious to build a future, or the crushing sorrow of realizing it was all a fantasy.

FANG Volume 9, a M/M adult anthology from Bad Dog Books with the theme of 'Bad Romance.' I wrote "Swipe Right, Now What," about an incognito celebrity trying to date like a normal person with hilarious results. Winner of a 2019 Leo Literary Award. Book blurb follows. (ebook link)

All your lovers revenge…

 

Fucking crazy can be crazy fucking hot. Bad Romances - we’ve all had them. Sometimes the sex is so good we can overlook the flaws in our relationship, sometimes a romance is bad because there isn’t enough time, and still others because we want to try and stop the train wreck we know is coming. Join the authors of Fang 9 as we explore doomed relationships and the hot times that keep them going. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll swear, and hopefully get turned on.

I've got a book out!

So I have a more general writing update coming, but until I can find the time/focus to crank that out, a gaming book I worked on has come out! It's called Prometheus Unbound, and it's for the Trinity Continuum: Æon line. As I type this, it's #1 on DriveThruRPG right now. It's a guide to the Psi Orders of the TC: Æon setting. I wrote the chapter concerning the Æsculapian Order, as well as the opening fiction! In fact, if you load up the PDF previews on the DriveThruRPG site, they have enough pages available that you can read said opening fiction for yourself (as long as you can cope with a 'Sample File' stamp).

Now I should point out that this is currently an 'Advance PDF' release, which means there may be a couple of typos here and there, and there are still "Page XX's" in. Also, this book was initially meant to be released right after another supplement, called Mission Statements, and it just shook out that this one came first, so there are some Page XX's referencing Mission Statements as well that will need filled in. So this might be in the Advance PDF stage for a little longer than normal. But once that's done, the PDF will be updated and if you bought it as an Advance PDF you'll get a discount code for a print copy as if you'd been able to get both as a bundle at the same time.

Just as a reminder, if you want to look up what other gaming books I've worked on, there's an index of those here. And if you do pick up the book (or any others that I worked on), make sure to leave a review for them! That sort of thing really matters!

Under Alien Skies is out!

I don't think there's anyone following this blog that isn't also following my Twitter, but just in case -- Under Alien Skies is available in Advance PDF. What this means is that there's still one more editing/errata pass to be made, but also if you get it now then when it becomes available in print-on-demand you'll get a coupon for a discount on said PoD as if you'd purchased them together as a bundle.

You can find Under Alien Skies at this finely-crafted link!

New Release: Terra Firma!

One of the books I worked on for Trinity Continuum: Æon is out today! Terra Firma is a supplement fleshing out chunks of Earth and the moon as they appear in the future of Æon. I worked on the sections for China/Shanghai, Luna/Olympus, and I did some of the 'Relics of Mad Science and the Nova Age' section. I'm not really sure what else to say about it, but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.

Right now it's available as an 'advance' PDF, found here. What this means is that there's still going to be a round of errata and proofreading, but those of you who purchase the book will receive a link to report any problems you find. The print-on-demand version will be available when the final version of the book is uploaded, and anyone who purchases the book before it comes out will get a code to buy the PoD at a discount as if they'd been able to buy a PDF/print combo from the start. (Also, in case it needs to be said, using the book requires the Trinity Continuum core book and Trinity Continuum: Æon books.)

Trinity Continuum: Æon is available!

Okay, so the big day has come! The Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Æon corebooks are available in PDF and print on demand! As I've mentioned far too many times to anyone who'll listen, I worked on Æon and it's probably my best RPG work. I mean, I'd pitch you all on it, but to be honest I'd mostly just be repeating Ian Watson's descriptions, so let's skip the middleman...

The Trinity Continuum core is all-new. Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi many not crave these things, but you do.
Agents of SHIELD, Leverage, Global Frequency, Fringe, Human Target, and more. pic.twitter.com/7alF3xOgxX

— Ian A. A. Watson (@VonAether) December 4, 2019

Æon is a new edition of the Æon/Trinity RPG originally released in 1997. It's a kitchen sink RPG setting. The feel of it is very Mass Effect, except 10 years before Mass Effect came out. pic.twitter.com/KZoY91u3Fh

— Ian A. A. Watson (@VonAether) December 4, 2019

Anyhow, thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy the game if you check it out!

They're here!

So my KS copies of the Trinity Continuum core and TC: Æon arrived today!

 

"But wait," you might ask. "Haven't you been going on and on about how you worked on Æon?"

Yes. Yes I have.

Space Brigade's Legacy (Gencon special!) [Æon]

Hey there, folks. Another Gencon has come and gone. I'll probably go into a more detailed run-down of the convention's events in another post, but for now I've got a write-up of the Æon game I ran at the convention, "Space Brigade's Legacy."

This adventure is a sequel to the one that I ran last year, following up on the question of of "Has the Russian mob on Luna been totally compromised by Aberrants?" that came up in last year's session. That said, I'm wondering if running a sequel was the best idea since I had to spend time doing a recap of last year's session while also explaining the setting and system to a few players. I'm pondering my options for next year.

Again, the books aren't out yet and it's still kind of a new system for a lot of people. So if you read this and have any questions, feel free to ask me here or anyplace else where you can find me.

My Game Writing

I thought it'd be good to create sort of a central list of RPG (and related) books I've worked on, basically so I've got something I can point people to if I need to. This is going to get updated as new stuff comes out, in case it needs to be said. I'll keep in-progress book status up to date as best as I can, but at least on the Onyx Path books the most recent information will be in the Monday Meeting notes. (Current as of 08/10/2026)

A similar page for my published fiction can be found here.

(By the way, full disclosure, using any of the links here and then buying something shortly afterwards will get me some DTRPG store credit.)

Trinity Continuum
(For Onyx Path)

Trinity Continuum: Æon -- One of the big setting books for the Trinity Continuum (and does require the Trinity Continuum core book), presenting a world of sci-fi adventure and heroics in the future of 2123. I wrote the section on Luna, as well as the write-ups for the Chromatics and the Coalition.
The links above are for PDFs and PoD copies. Traditionally-printed copies of the TC core book can also be found on Studio 2's website, but they're out of Æon. A new printing of the traditionally-printed books is in the works.

Terra Firma -- A setting book for Trinity Continuum: Æon, fleshing out 10 nations described in the core with a significant city detailed in each. It also includes threats and weirdness facing Earth, as well as a bunch of technology both mundane and bizarre. I wrote the sections on China/Shanghai, Luna/Olympus, and half of the 'Relics of Mad Science and the Nova Age.'

Under Alien Skies -- A sister-book to Distant Worlds, a guide to the alien races of Æon, including a guide on using them as player characters. I wrote the setting and Storyguiding information for the Coalition chapter.

Prometheus Unbound -- A guide to the Psi Orders of the TC: Æon setting. I wrote the opening fiction (which you can read in the in-site preview) and the Æsculapian chapter.

Trinity Continuum Player's Guide -- Trinity core supplement combining the Talent Player's Guide and Brave New Worlds, the latter of which I initially worked on. It fleshes out a bunch of factions and includes extra Gifts and systems for characters as well as guidelines for travel to other worlds and times. I worked on the time travel stuff (with some associated mechanical material), and wrote one of the fictions.

Scion

(For Onyx Path)

Realms of Magic and Mystery -- A guide to Terra Incognita for Scion: Second Edition, detailing strange places within The World, as well as Midrealms, Overworlds, and Underworlds. (This will require at least Scion: Origin to use, and probably also Scion: Hero.) I wrote the opening fiction, "Under the Bridge" under the section on 'Realms Next Door,' the Midrealm known as the Thrice-Tenth Kingdom, and the Underworld of Yomi. 

Exalted

(For Onyx Path)

Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God -- A sourcebook for playing the Alchemical Exalted, Chosen of the Great Maker, as well as the realm of Autochthonia in which they and the communities they serve live. I worked on a little bit of everything in the book. I wrote the one-page fictions at the start of Chapters Seven and Eight, the write-up for the city of Loran, the 'Bygone Predator' and 'Prismatic Bulwark' artifacts, and the 'Fix Beetle' and 'Crystal Fly' machine-spirits.

Chronicles of Darkness
(For White Wolf/CCP/Onyx Path)

Night Horrors: The Unbidden -- A book of antagonists for Mage: The Awakening. I wrote the Abyssal Imprint and the Lucid.

Night Horrors: The Tormented -- A book of antagonists for Promethean: The Created. I wrote a big chunk of the 'regular' Pandorans: The Cavin, the Hitchhiker, the Scrub Talons, the Stack, and the Student Project.



The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (fiction) -- A collection of Werewolf: The Forsaken stories. I wrote "Legacy."


Classic World of Darkness
(For White Wolf/CCP/Onyx Path)

W20 Rage Across the World -- A supplement for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition, providing setting updates showing the state of the world in the 21st century. I wrote the "Weaver" Chapter.

W20 Umbra: The Velvet Shadow -- A supplement for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition, updating mechanics and settings for the edition and providing an easy resource for Umbral Realms. I wrote the sections on the CyberRealm and Wolfhome, as well as pretty much the first half of the "Spirits" chapter (like, all of the setting stuff leading up to the 'Denizens' section).

---

What Lies Buried (Gencon special!) [Æon]

Hey there, folks. So there will be a more complete and comprehensive write-up of my experiences at this year's Gen Con in a separate post, but I wanted to go ahead and put together a write-up for the Æon game I ran this year, using the new system.

I'll admit that I know the story title isn't too original or creative, but at the time it was the best I could come up with.

Also, it's worth noting that this adventure is a modified version of a one-off I came up with for a playtest session last year, updated and tweaked for the new rules (with one or two slip-ups in that regard on my part).

Now, as I know this is a new setting and system for a lot of people, if you read this and have any questions, feel free to ask me here or anyplace else where you can find me.