Grayshade TTRPG entering playtesting soon, and an update on a new Atthis project!
8 months ago
– Sun, Aug 27, 2023 at 11:26:39 PM
Hi all,
Summer is gradually winding down, but the world of Grayshade is spinning up as we head into the fall! The sequel to (the now award-winning!) Grayshade, Renegade, just released a few weeks ago, and reception to both it and the Grayshade audiobook from Tren Sparks has been excellent as we've attended release events and conventions over the past two months. During that last convention, Gen Con, TTRPG designer Brandon O'Brien and I had the chance to further plan and develop schedules for the game's release with the awesome folks from Alligator Alley Entertainment, and handed out a number of flyers with a few details about the game (already shared with all of you) for a general audience. The meeting was timely, as Brandon found out soon thereafter that he had been selected to be a POC Scholar at the upcoming Big Bad Con in late September--and will be playtesting the Grayshade TTRPG for the first time while there! Using the information gathered from that playtest and several others a little later, we'll be able to refine and finalize the game, and get it out to you (and then the general audience) as soon as we can. I promise it will be worth the wait--I'm extremely excited with what Brandon's put together, combined with Eric, Rich, and Chris's knowledge and insights, and I think you'll be as pleased with it as I am.
But both Atthis Arts and Alligator Alley are also working on projects in related areas, and I wanted to bring one to your attention which is as timely as it gets. Atthis Arts will be publishing an anthology called Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora, edited by Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Olha Brylova, and Iryna Pasko, an important collection of speculative fiction stories from a country under enormous strain, the effect of which will have major ramifications for the rest of the world. All of the contributors will be writers either currently living in Ukraine or within the Ukrainian diaspora.
The Ukrainian Book Institute will be providing a grant to the project, which is a significant help and honor, but to really get the book the attention and full support it requires, further assistance will be needed. So Atthis Arts is going to launch a Kickstarter on September 1st to support the project. Any help in spreading the word is welcomed, and for now, clicking that "Notify me on Launch" button on the Kickstarter preview page to join the nearly three hundred other followers would be much appreciated!
That's it for now--more updates and information to come as we head into a busy fall, with a lot of great Grayshade (and other) content on the way. Best wishes for a peaceful end to the summer and beginning of the fall, and we'll be back in touch soon!
Greg
A Grayshade RPG Update - and Renegade Release Day!
9 months ago
– Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 09:33:59 AM
Happy Release Day to Renegade
Emily here for a moment before I hand the mic to Brandon for some super exciting details about the Grayshade RPG.
I am so, so, thrilled to watch what we did here progress. To see everything moving forward is deeply wonderful to me. We really did it, together. And now: Renegade is out, in the world! As we get more blurbs, we'll add them to the website - did you see the two really awesome ones there now?
You've all heard me talk about how special this book is to me, so all I'll say today is I'm so glad it's out for people to read and enjoy. I hope other people enjoy it as much as I do. (And I will be eager to finally read the end of the story early next year.)
As for backer paperbacks, we apologize for the delay, but they will be signed at Gen Con and shipped out afterward. If you're at Gen Con and want to get it there from the hands of the author himself, the best way to pick yours up would be swinging by Meet the Pros on Thursday night. 6-9 in "Wabash 1" which is in one of the main first floor hallways of the convention center. Greg and I will also be in the back of the exhibit hall for two one-hour signings - Thursday at 4 pm, and Friday at 10 am. Otherwise, they will all ship the second week of August. (And everyone should have their e-books; let us know if not.) And if you're at Gen Con, I'd really love for you to say hi. What was meant to be a happy summer turned into a sad summer and I will very much be accepting smiles and hugs.
Oh, and on Bluesky? We are too: Greg, Brandon, Emily, Atthis Arts, and Gen Con Writers' Symposium.
RPG Updates
Hello, all! Brandon here checking in with more details about the Grayshade RPG!
I know it’s been a while since we’ve spoken—our last features update was a few months ago—but we’re still in the heat of putting the text together. While I’ve been working with the Alligator Alley crew to get the mechanics details ready to have a playtest as soon as possible, Greg and I have also been talking and composing setting information about the world of The Gray Assassin Trilogy, including neighboring territories of Cohrelle—some of which you’ll see more of in the recently available Renegade, some you’ll discover in the upcoming Heretic, and perhaps even more?
But I digress: I wanted to share a bit of one of the parts where worldbuilding and the mechanics of play intersect: soundshifting and combat arts. Many of these things are still subject to change, of course, but since both of these will contain tools that players of all classes can lean into as feats, let’s give you a brief glimpse into what some of those tools can actually do!
Soundshifting
As we’ve touched on in a previous update, soundshifting in the novels is a series of peculiar techniques and instruments that spies have in their arsenal to infiltrate hidden spaces and deceive their targets. While Acolytes will have access to many of those skills as a natural part of their kit, any class can gain them at specific levels, and even purchase the techniques’ specialty weapons (although at the price point of a rare weapon).
As an example of one of those soundshifting skills, here’s Inner Deception:
- Inner Deception
As an action, you may utter any statement and make a DC 15 Charisma check to direct this effect to a single enemy you can see within 40 feet. That creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or will believe that the statement came from their own mind as if briefly charmed. If they do succeed their saving throw, or you fail your check, they will be suspicious that someone is nearby, but will not immediately investigate.
Like many other skills, the goal with soundshifting abilities is to give PCs tools to control potentially tense infiltration situations like distracting guards from the room you’re about to steal from, but also very useful in combat circumstances, like redirecting particularly meddling enemies from a trying fight.
There are also some very interesting weapons and other instruments in store for those who want to spec into soundshifting, including the niscur which is as unpredictable as it is sharp, which you already know if you’ve read the Grayshade novel—but we’re going to save that reveal for the final text!
The Combat Arts of Cohrelle
A place as diverse and full of conflict as Cohrelle, it stands to reason that there are many distinct ways of fighting within its borders. Indeed, many of the regions have their own local styles of combat, taught through their communities as a tool of self-defense as well as a marker of cultural identity. Then there are the noble houses which have studied one of the many more complex and obscure fighting styles, either through a personal tutor or from the expensive academies within which they study in order to give themselves an edge in combat.
The Noble class in the Grayshade RPG has several features at which they learn a technique from any family of Combat Arts, but any class can take one of those features at their ability score increase level just as they would with a soundshifting skill. Each technique comes from a Combat Art school, which may either be a Regional Style or a Noble Style, each one unique in their approach to conflict. For just a minor example, here’s the description of the noble arts of the House of Wails, and one of several techniques that you may potentially learn from them:
- The House of Wails
This style is rumoured to be the work of a cruel and sadistic lord of the Merchant District, who perfected his combat skills initially against defenseless servants of his manor home before finally using it in battle. The lord rumoured to be capable of such cruelty changes with each season, and learning the style has brought with it the unsavoury reputation of being seen as thirsty for both power and blood at any cost, despite many of its academic teachers being otherwise benign or even generous in their own noble work. (On an unsuccessful melee attack, instead do 2d10 bludgeoning damage; on a successful attack, add this damage to the attack. Then, move the attacked creature 5 feet in any direction.)
Each house is different, of course—while this Noble Style aims to maximise pain and anguish in its enemies, some others focus on always controlling space in battle, or gaining attack momentum in single combat. The Regional Styles are similarly diverse but much broader, attempting to also capture the flavour of what a specific area of Cohrelle may be inclined to value in its historical experience of fighting.
We’re excited that two of these mechanic pools will not only add flavour to your game of Grayshade, but also be useful additions to any other 5E game at your table. As we keep working to add tools to these lists and making them as viable as possible, we hope that the finished product gives you lots of interesting and intriguing ways to play. As usual, feel free to let us know what you think so far about these ideas—we hope you’re as excited as we are!
Plus, if you’re gonna be at Gen Con in a week, so are we! Feel free to say hello!
About that Gen Con -
Gregory A. Wilson and the Alligator Alley Entertainment and Atthis Arts teams will be at the Indiana Convention Center and Downtown Marriott for Gen Con with even more info about the Grayshade RPG, participating in the Exhibit Hall and gaming events, and also offering insights on panels and teaching workshops at the Gen Con Writers' Symposium. Tickets are still available for the Symposium events; search Gen Con ticketing for "Gregory A. Wilson", "Brandon O'Brien", or "E.D.E. Bell" to check them out. Plus, if you missed the announcement about the first-ever Writers' Symposium Collectible Drive please do check it out! It includes works by many writers you will recognize, plus music from Gregory A. Wilson, and a thus unpublished story and poem from E.D.E. Bell.
Oh, those dice on the image? Those are from Emily's original 1992 set. She hasn't played D&D since (had to leave the group because of harassment and never found another set of friends to play with), and will be debuting her 30+ year return live at Gen Con - and on stream - alongside Brandon playing an adventure written by Greg. This will be ... a thing to watch? Everything will be fine. In-person tickets are still available for $4 - if you're there we hope to see you!
Cheers and best wishes -
Greg, Brandon, Emily, Chris, Rich, Eric, and Chris.
Coins! Awards! Friends! And the Year of Grayshade! (And hehe, even a little Graystick.)
12 months ago
– Sun, Apr 30, 2023 at 09:27:27 AM
I know I know, I'm excited again, but these are exciting days and so I shall not hold back. In other words, Emily here, back with some more glitter - and some more really exciting news. Did I not tell you this was the Year of Grayshade? It is the Year of Grayshade.
And not a moment goes by when I don't remember this is all happening because of you. But enough of that for now - check out all the ~stuff~ going on. (It's worth reading or even scanning on!)
Get your Daggers for your Swaggers
First, let's talk about those fancy metal coins from Norse Foundry. Check these out, fresh off my soggy, crooked porch:
They're shiny, they're vibrant, and they are symbols of what we did together. We're getting them all packaged today, and they'll be shipped to backers first thing Monday tomorrow.
I have some elements I'd like to apologize for. This, in the context that supporting a Kickstarter often means creators trying new things. In this case, there are things I intended that I didn't get right. They do not fit into standard 1.75" (challenge size) coin cases. They are just slightly bigger. The engraving is light; if you flash the coin in the light, it will stand out. The font is in a more modern style, and the numbers look the same from top or bottom; to know which number you have, hold the dagger pointing upward. The metallic enamels don't look metallic and the metal plating rubbed off onto some the greens and especially yellows - so the coins have varying levels of streaking. Lastly, the font for the "U" in JUSTICE is connected at the top. I have jokes I could make about this, but right now, I'm really only able to say I'm sorry, and I hope that you can worldbuild an antiquated spelling of JUSTICE, rather than...jastice.
As one of the reasons I colored them (despite that not funding) is that I was hoping it would help sell the extras in this minimum quantity run (the other was to send love), we're still deciding what to do with the rest. Probably nothing, which means at least the original numbered 99 are now even more exclusive. And if you'd like one of said remaining original numbered 99 - which includes Alligator Alley Entertainment thanking you by name in the RPG book, those are still available on the Grayshade Pre-Order Store. These coins will only be available until either they run out, or the pre-order item closes down during final RPG production. Hey, perhaps invest in this now even more unique collectible, which will surely be in demand to future Grayshade collectors. : )
And if you do check out our website (support is always super helpful to our struggling small press, and I still think Grayshade fans may enjoy my own short, readable, and dark-for-me Lord's Dome) a reminder we have a limited run of super cute, super sleek cucuri enamel pins available. What gift tells your friends you care more than daggers with a protruding sharp pin? Hmm?
Grayshade for the Gold!
I am extremely thrilled to say that Grayshade is (at least) a silver medal winner - and gold medal finalist - for the Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Category. This category, which spans specfic and the country, is quite competitive, and it's our first silver medalist in this category - you can imagine our collective excitement, as well as the suspense of who might win gold. The three medalists are quite different from each other: Grayshade by Gregory A. Wilson, L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 38, and Son of the Salt Chaser by A.S. Thornton, an author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts.
It will definitely be interesting to see who takes the gold. But you know what? I believe in Grayshade. I do. It's my gold winner, no matter what. And it deserves representation at that fancy party. It deserves to have someone strutting around holding a copy of our assassin like it's already a trophy. Not just publishers-with-money, but this little Detroit indie, out there with some purple hair, a cucuri pin, and lots of sparkles.
And so I'm going to San Diego! (And if you'd like to throw me a tip so I can be slightly less frugal when I'm out there, I'd love to buy something glammy to wear at the ceremony...that fits. I mean, I do have a long layover in Vegas. If you toss me a Lincoln, I'll think of you while I'm gazing at the ocean. Sigh.)
Rogue Stories
It does not stop there. Our 2022 anthology, Rogue Artists is a finalist for the Midwest Independent Publishers Association Book Awards, Fiction – Short Story/Anthology. If you check out the page, you will see, here, we are up against Twain Illustrated (yes, Mark Twain, and Emily Bell versus Mark Twain reminds me of that Chippendales skit) and Tall Short Stories from the Mind of Garbo - by, as you might suspect, Garbo. (Ok, Garbo has to be a ton of fun.)
This honor has a lot of links to Grayshade, not only because the collection was also edited by, you know, me, but also because it contains a really lovely story by Gregory A. Wilson, "Theft and Memory" (and many names you will recognize!) - and because I would never have been asked to edit this book (especially so soon after my mental breakdown and collapse of all self-confidence) had Greg not believed in me. I hope I did him proud.
Grayshade in your Ears and in your Eyes
The Grayshade audiobook by our own Tren Sparks is complete, and has been sent to backers. We hope you love it! (It's so good.) Want a copy? The a-book has propagated to various retail sites. We're still currently waiting on Apple and Amazon, but we'll keep those links up-to-date at atthisarts.com/audio. Or, as long as the pre-order store is up, you can pick it up there. (Right now you can also pick up an audiobook joyfully read by C. S. E. Cooney! I'm also working on recording my own Night Ivy and Inkbloom and will put them up when I can. And if you'd like to read Inkbloom early, I'm distributing e-books to backers of that campaign today. Want an early copy? Hit me up. It's the least I can do for all your support here. Plus, I'd love to have people reading my words. ♥)
Get your Charity On
It's Gonna Be May! And what that means is we are all gearing up for #ArvCon. This year, in particular, has a special meaning for Greg, which I know he'll be speaking a lot about. If you're not familiar, this wonderful event raises money for Advanced Cancer Research via the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. If you'd like to hear more, follow along with Greg's Twitch, Twitter, or Spoutible.
But! There is something you can do now. If you can travel to Southern Connecticut, consider getting tickets for this live D&D event (!) featuring Gregory A. Wilson (Arvan Eleron), Carlos Hernandez, C. S. E. Cooney, Zac Clay, Robert Austin James (DarkSideRahb), and the winner of a High School Essay Contest. In person. Touchable in the flesh! (I mean, ask first, but in theory.) If you can go in person (ahh), I've also sent a tiny little present for you of an exclusive release-week bookmark for my book, Inkbloom.
Not able to travel? Please join me and many others online, as the event will be broadcast. (Tickets at the same link.)
Now, Emily. What was this about Graystick? Hehe... For those not familiar, Graystick is a...fanfic character that I made as a cute joke resulting from a Just Chatting stream discussion, but has become, per Marie Bilodeau, "The People's Hero". You wanted more Graystick? You're getting more Graystick.
And it's for charity.
More details soon (gotta work it out with Triffid) but my plan is to allow people to bid Thursday and Friday on a custom Graystick comic, to a theme of the winner's choice, delivered digitally and in signed print. I'm also planning to offer a custom one-panel comic as a random giveaway to one of the people who donates on Graystick's behalf. (That way everyone has a chance, even for a dollar.) Then, I'll draw it Saturday, and Greg can unveil it on stream Sunday. I hope you all enjoy it, and I hope this raises some good money!
For more, follow along on my Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon, Spoutible, YouTube, Discord, or Instagram.
We're Just Getting Started
Oh, goodness, there's so much more. Our press just announced we are publishing an internationally-led collection of Ukrainian fantastic stories, exposing most of the authors and their works to English-speaking audiences for the first time. We're publishing a novella by Avi Silver, and the early feedback is absolutely, no exaggeration, flooring. (Like, Nebula/Hugo-winner type feedback from extremely credible, well-read people.) Clara Ward's wonderful Be the Sea will soon follow that. And we'll soon be announcing another book, edited by someone absolutely extraordinary, and including stories of even more people you'll know. A dream. You'll see!
I've already gone on and on (oh hell, and I'll continue to) about how good Renegade is, and you'll be seeing that soon. We're trying to figure out funding the a-book for that, but the Ukrainian stories crowdfund will take first priority on that.
Brandon O'Brien, Greg, and Alligator Alley Entertainment are working on the Grayshade RPG book, which, again, I have extreme grabby hands to play and break my 30+ year exile from RPG. (It sounds so good. So. So. Good.)
Most of us will be out at Gen Con! Greg and I are co-running programming for this year's Writers' Symposium and wow, what a project that has been. We're real proud of the program if you can make it out - and more soon on events that Greg, Brandon, and I will be doing along with many other Arvanaut favorites and favourites, cool book opportunities led by Chris, and sweet internet posts by Marie (she'll make us all look awesome). Anyway, the programming catalogue will be viewable May 7th. It's good. Really good.
And - Greg is writing Heretic. (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) And he's working with Brandon and the team on plans when and where to premiere the RPG.
Hey. It's still a hard world, publicly and privately, for many of us. But all these joys. All these joys. I'm so grateful. To Greg. To Brandon. To the team. And yes - yes - to all of you.
Wishing that you all find some joy today, and sending my best to you. And don't forget, you can chat anytime on Greg's Arvan Eleron Discord, My EmilyWorld Discord, or the Atthis Arts Discord.
♥ from your devoted editor and special pal -
Emily.
