Over the years, I’ve spoken with Travis Legge, one of the busiest RPG creators in the industry, several times. Last time, we talked about two projects that were in development and, this time, we talk a bit about how those projects turned out. Beyond his work on Scarred Lands and Twitch for Onyx Path Publishing, we touch on his company, Aegis Studios and more.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Travis, we spoke about your move from Storytellers Vault creator to Onyx Path Publishing (OPP) freelancer and your work on the first parts of Scarred Land’s Vigil Watch and Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad for OPP. Both Scarred Land’s Vigil Watch and Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad are out so let’s talk about them. What is Vigil Watch Part 1: The Toe Islands (5e OGL) about?
TRAVIS LEGGE (TL): Each installment of Vigil Watch explores a different region of the Scarred Lands. Vigil Watch Part 1: The Toe Islands explores the Toe Islands archipelago off of the northeastern coast of Ghelspad in the Blood Sea. The Toe Islands are a neat little hotbed of pirate activity that has been touched on only briefly in previous Scarred Lands materials, so I wanted to take a little time to explore the region. Each island gets a write up that covers the various dangers and potential rewards of exploring the island, granting the Game Master a tookbox that can be used to flesh out stories in the area. Pirate companies that make their home in the Toe Islands get some extra detailing as well. Beyond these general overviews of the islands, the book contains a ready to run adventure called “Tears of the Weeping Maiden” by Celeste Conowitch, who also worked on the Blood Sea 5e book.
EGG: And Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad Part One (5e OGL)?
TL: Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad is more of an extended Player’s Guide, narratively framed as a series of notes and observations from the Yugman the Sage. Each part contains a selection of loosely related material that players and Game Masters can draw from for their Scarred Lands 5e characters. The first installment contains a new race: the half-elf, which we designed to function very differently than what has been done before with half-elves. The race functions as a sort of toolkit for customizing your character, as the half-elf can draw features from both parents. We also revisited the Hollow Legionnaire, which is probably my favorite race in the Scarred Lands, to give them expanded and clarified rules including new subraces. We also introduce the Broadreach dwarf, also known as the wood dwarf, which offers interesting roleplaying opportunities as the Broadreach dwarves have a very rich and utterly tragic backstory.
Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad Part One also introduces five new subclasses. The Venom Domain Cleric, generally followed by worshippers of the demigoddess Sethris, grants poison-related abilities. The Circle of Blood Druid uses blood sacrifice to enhance their magic. The Goreguard Fighter gains enhanced strength and appetite due to exposure to titanic corruption. The Liliandeli Archer Fighter is an archery-based fighter with a number of forest-based abilities. The Mother of Serpents Warlock, much like the Venom Domain Cleric, gains abilities related to poison.
We round out Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad Part One with new spells that support the subclasses introduced in this installment.
EGG: When we last spoke about Scarred Lands for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, I asked if you felt it was well known by 5e fans and you suggested there was a knowledge gap. What steps has OPP taken to spread the word about Scarred Lands?
TL: We have been taking to Twitch quite a bit to get the word out there. There are currently two live streams appearing regularly on the Onyx Path Twitch channel. Purge of the Serpentholds airs on Saturdays at 6 PM EST and Chronicles of Calastia from Second Wind Games airs biweekly on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST. We host a third show, Pirates of Bloodwater, by Devil’s Luck Gaming on Saturdays at 8 PM EST, but they are currently on hiatus as they are running a Werewolf the Forsaken limited series in the Bloodwater timeslot. All of those can be seen at the Onyx Path Publishing Twitch channel and each are also posted on YouTube about a week after they are broadcast. Outside the Onyx Path channel, I run Scarred Lands: Myths and Matchmakers on Mondays from 3-5 PM EST [on Twitch here] and will be launching a new campaign called Scarred Lands: Sins of Shelzar on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesday of each month at 9 PM EST starting March 18th. I also know that Roll the Role is running the Spiragos Saga on Sundays at 1 PM CST [on Twitch here] and WH Publications runs the Curiosity Cache on Fridays at 4:30 PM EST [on Twitch here].
Beyond actual plays, we have been doing everything we can to spread the word that you can get Scarred Lands books at your FLGS via Studio 2 Publishing or IPR. Just go to your local store and let them know these books (and many others from Onyx Path) are available!
I have also put together a QuickStart over at Slarecian Vault, which is designed to be picked up and played, with everything you need including ready-made characters. This QuickStart is a conversion of the original Serpent Amphora for 3rd edition and is available at [DriveThruRPG].
The Serpent Amphora 5e QuickStart is geared at folks who maybe have not yet tried out 5e, be they diehard fans of the 3rd edition setting, fans coming from other Onyx Path games with no prior interest or experience with 5e, or just brand new to table top, the Serpent Amphora 5e QuickStart can get the group up and running in Scarred Lands right away.
Lastly, between the alternating bi-monthly releases of Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad and Vigil Watch there will be new Scarred Lands 5e content every month in 2020. I also have a few extras up my sleeve that will be trickling out in the coming months. We aim to keep Scarred Lands out there and in front of everyone as much as possible.
EGG: At OPP, you have some open Scarred Lands playtests running. What are you testing?
TL: All the playtest materials are items that will be showing up in Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad and Vigil Watch including new races, subclasses, spells, monsters, and GM tactics. These materials are posted each Tuesday at [OPP’s website].
EGG: How should a fan sign up to join the play testing? What’s expected of playtesters?
TL: All you need to do is visit the page and download the free playtest packet for the week. Each document has a survey link which lets you rate your satisfaction with the materials and leave any comments you might have. When a playtest is uploaded, the survey remains active for three weeks, so if you missed a few, you can still go back and have an impact.
EGG: While talking earlier this week, you asked me about reviews for RPGs. As regular as mutts, I see creators debate if reviews of their RPGs actually help promote their games. What’s your take on the pros and cons of getting your RPGs reviewed?
TL: I think reviews are vital. It gives the creator another chance to spread the word about their project on social media, hopefully with a good pull quote from the review. It also gives the audience a bit more information about the product and that is never a bad thing. Even a bad review can help audience members who might have different expectations for a product find something they like. The only place I ever think reviews can be bad is if they contain inaccurate information, which is pretty rare, but it does happen.
EGG: On Halloween 2017, I shared an interview with CJ Hurtt about Glimpse the Beyond 2nd Edition from Aegis Studios, your company. Since it’s been over two years since I asked you about the game, how is it doing? Any plans for it in 2020?
TL: Glimpse the Beyond did pretty well for us and is still slowly chugging along. I do periodically play with story ideas for it, but my schedule just has not had room for it. Hopefully this summer I’ll have a little time to crank out a few supplements.
EGG: Travis, you’re never idle, what other projects are you working on?
TL: Aside from Scarred Lands and Twitch, I am doing a bit of writing on Trinity Continuum, including for Adventure and a few other projects TBA. I recently co-developed Technocracy Reloaded for Mage 20th Anniversary Edition with Satyros Phil Brucato and Danielle Lauzon, and that was a dream come true, highlight of my life kind of experience. I cannot wait to share that with folks. I have also been doing a lot of work on my OSR setting Odysseys & Overlords, which is available digitally at DriveThruRPG and will be in print very soon.
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. Where can fans learn more about OPP and your work?
TL: Thank you for having me! I am @TravisLegge pretty much everywhere, though Facebook and Twitter are probably the easiest places to connect with what I have going on. You can also visit the Aegis Studios DriveThruRPG store to see most of my non-OPP work. I still contribute regularly to community content as well via DMsGuild and Storytellers Vault in addition to the Onyx Path community content programs. You can keep up with Onyx Path by following @TheOnyxPath on twitter, following (and subscribing) to twitch.tv/theonyxpath and at their official website.
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