A dark fantasy trilogy and a 5E-powered RPG based on the Gray Assassin world.
The first novel in The Gray Assassin Trilogy is available now and ships immediately. The TTRPG and remaining books in the trilogy will be delivered as they are completed.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Update on the Grayshade TTRPG, from designer Brandon O'Brien!
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Jan 15, 2023 at 02:35:58 PM
Hi all,
Happy New Year, and we hope you've had a good start to the season! Our work is proceeding quite well on multiple fronts; we'll have an update on Renegade, the sequel to Grayshade, soon, but first we wanted to chat about progress on the tabletop role-playing game. Hope you enjoy this update from game designer Brandon O'Brien, and we'll be back with more updates soon!
Greg
Hey there! While we’re very slowly working our way back from the holiday break to work on the Grayshade TTRPG, I wanted to talk you all through a tiny look at how Faith will work in the game and what we hope it will allow you to do in game.
Faith is a very important construct in Cohrelle and its neighbouring territories; even the citizens who seem to lack any obvious devotion to a god or ideology seem still bound to it, judged by it, and constantly interacting with structures built on it. So of course we were excited to see what that would look like as something you can interact with in play. We spoke quite a bit about what that would look like and how it impacts your actions in the world, and we’re really excited about what we’re working on so far.
Just like your actions affect who you gain trust with or how hostile a stranger may be, faith is an additional mechanical marker of how your very presence affects relationships with those you share faith with as well as those who clash with your devotion. Faith operates as a new player-character stat on your sheet—unlike an ability or attribute which improves as you gain experience, however, this is influenced largely by narrative roleplay. When your faith is high, your faith community sees you as devoted to their cause and will invest highly in your progress, but ideological or political enemies will see that same devotion as a threat to be mitigated. When it’s lower, however, those you share that faith with may feel compelled to guide (or discipline) you back into faithfulness, while others may feel inclined to trust you more as someone who may shake up the community from within or even defect entirely.
How does one gain faith, then? Faith fluctuates based on narrative play as well, as a discussion between the player and the GM. When your character admits that they are acting with conviction in the name of their god or making a risky move based on trust, the GM should see fit to reward that by offering a point of faith, along with a rich description of what miracles that belief has worked for you in that moment. Conversely, if a PC has just seen something that unravels the beliefs they hold dear, the GM may ask them to share what that makes them feel, and take a point or two of faith from them depending on the circumstances. But ideally, the world is always working on them in ways that makes their faith fluctuate—just like in our real world, sometimes we see things that replenish our assurance in something greater, and sometimes instead we witness things that sour those beliefs for us and complicate our relationship with the world we once knew.
One of the things we want to be sure about in our portrayal of the mechanic is that everyone believes in something, and that the mechanic isn’t merely tracking ‘how far you are from not believing in anything anymore’, but rather just portraying how our perceptions can shift from seeing something as good and righteous in our lives to seeing it less healthily than you did before. Low faith doesn’t mean you don’t have faith in anything—if we get it right, it should mean that you’re struggling to keep your rose-tinted glasses on and are seeing some things in a bitter light. The other thing is that faith shouldn’t operate solely as a place for the game (or your table) to make absolute value judgments about belief—just as it’s possible to tell a story similar to Grayshade’s own journey of discovery in the novel (which I won’t spoil!), you can just as well use the mechanic to tell the story of truly righteous acolytes being fooled by their rivals into seeing the worst of their comrades, or struggling citizens being given new hope in the world by discovering new merit in their past beliefs.
Another element of that ‘everyone believes in something’ philosophy is making sure faith means something of value to each class we offer in the game. Mechanically, it may seem kinda incongruous to have an Informant or Investigator tied to a belief in a god (not impossible, mind you—almost everyone in Cohrelle prays to something—but we can see why that wouldn’t feel consistent), but they are just as clearly linked to trust in a system of things. The Investigator, for instance, is very obviously someone who places high stock in the system of institutional justice. Playing with the ebb and flow of faith in the system for that class, then, gives you wonderful opportunities to tell stories of either strongly principled characters in complicated systems whose faith maintains (think of Judge Dredd, for instance) as well as characters whose struggle to maintain their trust in the system is either upended or reassured through action (for which there are obviously many examples: see the many clashes of ideology between Batman and Harvey Dent in the DC Comics, for instance, or the story arc of Detective Somerset’s character arc in the film Se7en).
So, I’m guessing you’re asking, “Okay then, that sounds neat and all, but what can we do with faith?” And before I make any obvious jokes about how we ask that question in real life too, faith does have narrative and mechanical implications in play as well. For one thing, when interacting with factions related to your faith—like the community you share that faith with, or their immediate rivals—the stat is pretty much a separate passive Charisma check; if your faith is high, it’s almost a given that your superiors will see you as trustworthy and deserving of investment, and mechanically that can manifest as easier access to necessary equipment and more reliable intelligence and physical assistance from your peers. Meanwhile, if another faction already doesn’t like your faith community, that means they don’t like you, either, which can make it a bit of a handicap to obviously indicate your affiliation to them, so if they know you’re a believer, you may have to work harder to earn their trust as a result.
Here’s a unique example to help you picture how it should work: if I were playing an Acolyte with a faith stat of +3, I would be reasonably well-respected within the ranks of my religious community—still growing as an initiate, but showing promise and obviously devoted. So if I went up to a higher-ranked member of the faith and asked for resources going into my next adventure, it is likely that the GM may lower any Persuasion checks I need to make because come on, why would a devout acolyte like me lie? But if during that adventure I run into a rival religious community and desperately need their help for the next stage of my adventure, I either can’t afford to let them find out I’m a member of their hated enemies, or at least should be willing to put up with a drastically harder task of asking for their help.
There are some other mechanical interactions as well, mostly specific to each class, but I’ll keep those a bit of a secret until we come closer to testing them! I have been really motivated to find new and interesting ways to present this and the rest of the cool things we have planned with you all, and I am eager to see what you do with it when it finally gets in your hands. Until then, feel free to ask questions and tell us what you hope the faith mechanic allows you to do in-game.
‘til next time,
Brandon
Project Updates - And Cucuri Enamel Pins!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Nov 01, 2022 at 10:54:07 AM
First, Project Updates
Hello, everyone - Emily here!
I have an update on the Founder's Coins. We are on track for the color hard enamel, and I expect to have the coins sometime in January. We will get them shipped out as soon as I can after that. And yes, they are still available (selling in number order) at the Grayshade Store. Remember, each coin is engraved with a unique number, and the four diamonds are cut-outs. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally hold this coin in person.
Things are going well with the RPG development - I am so, so excited to see and play this game! (I'm working on my character already. I'd tell you more, but she's rather secretive...) And yes, excitement is a theme, so thank you again for making this happen.
So, before we get to today's big news, here's where we are with fulfillment.
Items you should already have if you pledged for them:
Grayshade novel: paperback and e-book
Founder's Letter
Founder's Audio
Tales and Tomes from the Forbidden Library RPG book
Icarus graphic novel
Items still (lovingly) in work:
Grayshade RPG book
Grayshade novel audiobook
Founder's Coin
Renegade and Heretic novels: paperback and e-book
And don't forget about the Grayshade Store - more for you, or send the link to a friend. Everything is still available except for the exclusive Founder's Letter, and the in-stock items (see above) ship or post right away. Founder's Coins are selling in number order, until they're gone. Reach out anytime with questions - we're happy to help.
The Treasure Chest is Open
I'm really excited about this next part! We have a new campaign, just launched today, to fund an audiobook of our quirky paranormal fantasy The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus read by the actual and amazing C. S. E. Cooney. That audiobook plus the e-book is provided at all backer levels, starting at $1. Plus you can check out our treasures! More on the campaign page, but copies of Grayshade are available along with hard enamel pins, produced by Norse Foundry and designed with love by your friendly little quiet rock star ... me. ; )
I hope you'll give the campaign a look and let people know. (That would mean a lot to me!) Also, if it goes really big we can look at things like maybe even funding the audiobook for Renegade - we won't know until we see how it goes.
Thanks so much for being here, and for helping bring Grayshade's world to life - there is so much more on the horizon. So much! And we're grateful you gave us those tomorrows, and glad you'll be here for them.
A New Fantasy Adventure!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 01:26:05 PM
A new release we think you'll enjoy -
If you enjoy the world of Grayshade, we think you will also enjoy the world of Aelda, and the trials of Mavrin the performing magician, Eyasu the weary Requester, and Deyeri, the retired solider as they encounter beings that simply cannot exist and deal with the unraveling of their already broken world.
Also a tale of faith, and also of friendship, hope, and discovery, yet with a character all its own - we hope you will join us for Brandon Crilly's stunning (we think so!) debut: Catalyst.
And even more - this thrilling hopepunk fantasy was also edited by Grayshade editor E.D.E. Bell - both books caught the eye of Canada enough that they made Emily their Editor Guest of Honour - this weekend!
As for Grayshade, all the books, copies of Icarus, Founder's Letters, and Founder's Audio have been distributed. We hope you are loving them. There's a bit of delay on the Founder's Coin, but we hope to have a new estimate soon. (It's going to be so gorgeous.) Renegade is in the editing process, and if you'd like to hear the draft Prologue, Greg read it on our recent reading sampler. (While you're there, please give the You Tube channel a free, no spam "Subscribe" - it helps us out!) And we're hearing amazing things about Brandon O'Brien and Rich Lescouflair's work on the RPG. (Very, very excited about that.)
Thank you, again, for supporting us - and for supporting indie fiction. Letting people know about Catalyst and also the Grayshade Store helps us so very much. Thank you!
The Team at Atthis Arts.
A Book 2 Surprise!
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 09, 2022 at 07:18:56 PM
Emily here. I am loving (loving!) seeing the pictures of Grayshade, and hearing from people who have read it. The whole team is excited to see your pictures and joy. If you post anything and you don't mind it being shared, please tag me (links at edebell.com) or Atthis Arts (links at atthisarts.com) or Gregory A. Wilson on Twitter or join and post in the Arvan Eleron Discord.
Now, what is this surprise?
You may have seen that C. S. E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez, along with Atthis Arts and Arvan Eleron, are hosting a fun, snappy reading this Sunday (free to register on eventbrite and live at 2 PM EDT on Twitch), but that is not the surprise. Here it is: Instead of reading from Grayshade, Gregory is going to read the opening of Renegade, the second book in The Gray Assassin Trilogy. (!) While I consider hearing the intro of the book for the first time to be exciting enough, perhaps the side show of getting to watch my expressions live as I hear said intro for the first time will provide allure. (Side note: if you haven't clicked Subscribe on the YouTube, please hop over and click!)
And a Second Surprise!
We will also be making a surprise announcement at the end of the reading, but for being here with us, here's the hint: ... it's on Kickstarter. (Click follow and make us look cooler?) And yes, yes, I'm doing this again. I cannot be stopped! (*raises fists and makes awkward little thunder noise*) And a little teaser? This campaign will feature a Grayshade item, designed by me and working with my friends at Norse Foundry, that I'm pretty sure you won't want to miss. (*Emily claps excitedly.*)
The Grayshade Store
Remember, most items from this campaign are still available to buy now or pre-order on BackerKit, plus a few additional items.
Rogue Artists featuring "Theft and Memory" by Gregory A. Wilson (and "Grace, who sings" by me and "The New Pointillist Manifesto" by Esper Genesis legend Carlos Hernandez and "Art Holds Our Broken Hearts Together" by Expedition from the Mysterious Peaks superstar Cat Rambo, and many more familiar names!) in e-book or in trade paperback plus e-book
Things you can pre-order now:
The Grayshade RPG book hardcover or PDF! (I could not be more excited to watch as this develops.)
The metal Founder's Coin (now in full color and metallic hard enamel!) plus thanks in the RPG book
The Grayshade novel audiobook (at a lower cost than future retail)
I hope that you will find joy this weekend. I know that sometimes I can feel isolated, especially these days, and knowing that communities like this exist and celebrate the sharing of art together keeps me stepping forward in those moments the way feels heavy and the path obscured. Thank you for being here.
My best,
♥ - Emily.
Founder's Audio is Here! (REPENT!) - and on the sending of love.
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Aug 27, 2022 at 08:21:19 PM
Hello, Emily here! Got some excitement, some sunshine, and a few notes, including an announcement about an upcoming Marvel Comics collection. (Really!) Thanks for your time in giving this a quick scan! (Or a thorough, satisfying read. Down either way.)
If you backed as a Grayshade Founder or added Founder's Audio, your distribution is going out now through BackerKit. Check your email, and please message us if you have any issues.
My reputation is on the line. I guaranteed Chris that if he'd get these audio files out today (he's a busy man and I'm a hasty ent), I'd sell at least four of them today (or the equivalent in other pre-order sales). So if you know anyone, please pass the word! Let my faith not go unanswered! (This is cute, but also not cute - this was a very serious guarantee because I believe in what we are doing and finding fun ways to share prose and also my word is precious to me, so heck ifimgonna deliver. *twirls inhaler*)
We want to see your joy. Anything you're willing to do. A picture of your book, with your book, answering the phone to a Tren ringtone would make us so happy and help bring people in to the project. Same with Grayshade in the world. If you see it in a bookstore, if you order it for a library, all pics or videos or whatever (interpretive dance) is super. (On FB, TW, or IG, tag Atthis Arts or use #GrayAssassin to make sure I see it.)
Hear Grayshade from the author's mouth! Also, with a certain...other appeal...me performing my absurd comedy flash piece "Tragedia", complete with um, a certain noisy finale. Fourteen Atthis Arts authors are reading five-minutes each to you from around the world on the 11th, 2 PM EDT, all hosted by The Goddess Herself, C. S. E. Cooney. Please check out the registration - it's free, it'll get you event updates, and look at this list of writers! (We're quite handsome, I think!) Join us then to participate in the live chat, or watch later at your convenience.
Brandon O'Brien has given so much to this project. (More from the RPG team soon!) And while we're thrilled he'll be working on the RPG (sooo good) the bills don't stop. If you're able, would you please throw some love his way today? Sunshine love is perfect, and I know he'll feel that while on his weekend adventure. But also, if you've got cash money love, here's a whole bunch of ways to send it: Patreon, PayPal, Ko-Fi, Itch, Poetry. (<-- strong personal recco for the poetry book)
Hardcovers on atruck! Funded through my own little Kickstarter, these foil-stamped cloth-covered beauties of my own novel, Night Ivy, are on their way to the Mitten and will be shipped this week. Want in? Make me smile today? They are available to you on our website or through the BackerKit pre-order store. (Both ways include the e-book.) (And if you'd like to learn more about my personal writing, my links and bibiliography and discord and shop are at edebell.com.)
Update on coins ... is still pending. Hoping to close the loop with Norse Foundry soon and get you a mock-up of the glittery color design. (Can't tell you how exciting this is for me, honestly. Glitter and Grayshade. Dreamy.)
Live tunes, anyone? Gregory is holding a special music event today on his Twitch. Don't have a lot of details, just know there is jamming in his yard, and I'm sure he'll announce more on his Twitter. I know I'll be there. The Twitch, not the yard, sadly. As for Twitch, my previous alter-ego has been retired, though never in spirit, and you will now find me as EmilyTheHonoured, a little joke because a certain assassin writer is very proud of my first Guest of Honour, this fall at Can*Con. (p.s. If you haven't clicked Subscribe to the YouTube, it's a quick click that helps us out!)
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU MARVEL WRITER - I'm super excited to spread the word that friend of the project and long-time Esper Genesis player Carlos Hernandez has written an America Chavez story for Marvel's Voices: Comunidades #1. We can't wait to read this! (And if you'd like to read a little Carlos in the meantime, did you know he has an awesome story, "The New Pointillist Manifesto" in our anthology for the 2022 Origins Game Fair, Rogue Artists?
Last note, on why we're still asking for help spreading the word and why it matters. We did this, this amazing thing because of you. And no joke, none at all: This project wouldn't be happening without your efforts. Maybe not ever, honestly. And you did this for us, for this art, in a time when Kickstarters in general are ... struggling hard to fund. The added challenge of reaching the minimum (not all pledges went through so in the end we were right at that line) and having committed to the audiobook to get there, is that neither of our small businesses has margin on this. So getting the word out about the pre-orders with recommendations, posts, pictures - not only would we love to share that joy with you, it would help us tremendously as we continue with production in a really challenging environment.
This trilogy, this RPG, thecoins, the audio, the opportunities for so much more you've created - is allgoing to be so cool. I know you'll be thrilled with all of it, I really do. So anyhelp blasting this sparkle out to the world is very appreciated.
We know you've got us. And we know that's because you know that, creatively with all our creative little hearts and souls, we've got you. : )
Hoping you are finding joy today. Waving to you (yes, you) from my little porch office in Ferndale -
