Hello Talents!

Next Tuesday - April 4 - all backers will be able to download Chapter 2 from the draft manuscript. It's a pretty big chapter, and offers expanded rules and guidance on running investigations, taking actions in a heist, and vehicular combat and chases. Basically, the cool cinematic stuff that you can do in your Trinity Continuum game. Today, we're gonna get a sneak peek at some of the material built around chases.

But first, a quick celebration!


ACHIEVED! - At $28,000 in Funding - TRINITY CONTINUUM PLAYER’S GUIDE DIGITAL WALLPAPER- Exciting Trinity Continuum artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.

An Onyx Path classic, and a great way to help us keep up our pace over these first days! Let's continue with this great momentum as we work toward our next Stretch Goal...


At $30,000 in Funding – THE ART OF CRAFTS – The unlocked PDF supplement will be expanded to include a streamlined version of the crafting system, along with some examples, to help inventor characters make new toys for their Talents. 


The vehicle in motion is virtually synonymous with action. Car chases offer danger, high stakes, and a wide variety of threats and complications, while aerial combat presents a dizzying array of high-speed maneuvers and technological sophistication. The Trinity Continuum Core Rulebookalready offers the basic tools for vehicular mayhem and excitement, but this section will drill down to offer more options, tools, and toys for games and groups that want to lean into vehicular action.

A hunter chases after their quarry, hoping to catch them before the latter can escape. The core of every chase is that simple, but it’s the specifics that make them compelling. Tight city streets packed with irritable citizens; pursuers armed to the teeth and willing to inflict wanton destruction to get what they want; elusive targets causing as much chaos as possible to obscure their trail and secure their getaway. These rules endeavor to enable this, providing ingredients for kinetic conflicts and running pursuits.

Chases require a quarry, an individual or group who is fleeing, and a hunter, the party who wishes to catch, apprehend, or destroy the quarry. This is important: A quarry who’s willing and able to simply turn around and fight is instead a mutual combatant, and there’s no chase — instead “just” an opportunity for vehicular combat. 

This makes it important to establish the stakes and reasons behind the chase. The quarry’s goal is to get away, but why do they have to run and not stand and fight? Are they knowingly outmatched by their pursuers, or by forces their pursuers could call for reinforcements? It’s one thing to punch out a corrupt cop, after all; it’s another to stay and deal with an entire police force on the take. Do they want to avoid a direct confrontation for practical reasons, such as protecting a vulnerable hostage or piece of technology from being collateral damage in a stand-up fight? Especially against a numerically superior foe, the chances that an innocent is taken hostage or a suitcase full of advanced technology is nabbed increase dramatically if the quarry stays in one place. Are there social, organizational, or cultural pressures involved? Will getting involved in an all-out brawl on a Sunday make them local pariahs, or have their allegiances urged them not to get involved in blatant violence in public, even if they’re attacked? 

The hunter’s goal is confrontation. Perhaps they want to destroy or kill the quarry. Sure, they might be able to do it mid-chase, but it’s much easier if the quarry is standing still. Perhaps they want to apprehend the quarry. Stopping them nonlethally is the only way to arrest, kidnap, or otherwise have the targets at the pursuers’ mercy. Or perhaps they simply want to force an interpersonal confrontation; sometimes, you just have to let someone know how upset you are with them face-to-face. 

These specifics between escape and confrontation affect the nature of the chase. If the quarry is escorting a scientist and trying to keep shadowy pursuers from kidnapping them, those hunters don’t win by totally destroying the fleeing vehicles; they win by forcing the quarry to stop, so they have a chance to kidnap the scientist. If the players are pursuing a murderous assassin who’s killed a beloved ally, they may be fine with simply slaying them as they flee, reducing their vehicle to flaming slag…or they may want to take them alive so they can question them. 

Once both sides establish stakes and goals, the Storyguide sets the starting range between hunter and quarry, and the pursuit goal. This is the number of successful milestones either side needs to obtain their goal. This isn’t simply distance between the two vehicles; in the chaos of pursuit, it indicates movement towards a final, decisive moment, when the quarry is either caught or gives the hunter the slip. Short, quickly resolved chases begin with a pursuit goal of 3, while longer chases (such as those meant to be the centerpiece of a session) begin with a pursuit goal of 5. If there are other characters involved, they roll initiative for the scene normally (though quarry and hunter drivers do not.) 

Each phase of the chase, the drivers of both vehicles make opposed rolls, modified by Speed Scale. They compare totals after choosing to buy off Complications, the quarry choosing which to buy off first. The winner gains a milestone towards the pursuit goal and may spend any additional net successes on Stunts. On a tie, the chase immediately intensifies, shifting the local environment, and reducing the pursuit goal by 1 unless this would result in one of the sides winning. After resolving the chase roll, other characters may go, following the normal initiative rules. 

If the quarry wins, they’ve escaped for the moment. They’ve put even distance, real estate, other vehicles, or confusion between them and their pursuers, and they’re free of immediate physical threat or apprehension. Even against overwhelming pursuit or panopticon-scale surveillance, the quarry should at least have a scene to collect themselves, marshal their resources, and decide what to do next. 

If the hunter wins, they’ve forced the quarry into a direct confrontation, starting at the range band of the hunter’s choice. They may have driven the quarry into a dead end, run them out of road, or physically blocked their egress, whichever is most appropriate for the scene.  The quarry will need to outfight, trick, convince, or otherwise outmaneuver the hunter if they want to get away.  

Destruction of a hunter or quarry’s vehicle usually provides a different end to the chase, one way or another.

Drivers of both hunter and quarry may purchase the following Stunts with successful chase rolls. 

Flat-Out (4s): Immediately complete an additional milestone towards the pursuit goal. 

Jockey for Position (2s): Increase or reduce the range band between vehicles. May be purchased multiple times. 

Keep Her Steady (1s): Reduce any increased Difficulty or Complication for Action Stations by 1. This Stunt may be bought multiple times. Special: Purpose Action Station may buy this Stunt. 

Road Hazard (Variable): For every success the quarry spends, or for every 2 successes the hunter spends, create a Complication for their opponent’s next chase roll. If not bought off, the opponent’s vehicle must suffer the unmet total in Injury Conditions or lose one milestone towards the pursuit goal. They cannot choose to lose milestones they haven’t accomplished. Special: Any action station may also buy this Stunt. 

Scenic Route (2s quarry, 3s hunter): Immediately force the chase into a different local environment. Special: Navigation action station may also buy this Stunt. 

These Stunts chiefly involve close kinetic contact between two vehicles. They can also be used in regular vehicular combat as Pilot-based attacks, ignoring any chase specific effects. Normally, you must be within short range or closer to purchase these Stunts, which moves your vehicle into close range. Vehicular soft armor adds to the cost of damage-causing Stunts such as Sideswipe normally. 

Boarding Party (3s): A willing character from your vehicle is now on their vehicle. You may spend 1 success per additional character you wish to send over on a Boarding Party action, OR, you may retrieve any number of willing, unrestrained characters from the targeted vehicle. Special: Action stations may buy this Stunt. 

Critical Smash (4s): You may only purchase this if you’ve already purchased another vehicular attack Stunt. Inflict your vehicle’s Size in additional Injury Conditions to your target OR reduce its Speed Scale by 1 until it can be repaired. If a vehicle’s Speed reaches 0, it becomes immobile.  

Drive Defensively (2s): Increase the Defense of all characters in the vehicle by 1 against attacks from outside, and increase the success cost for vehicular attacks and boarding actions by 2 for the next chase roll or round. Special: Contact action station may also buy this Stunt, and it may be bought at any range. 

Kinetic Stop (3s): Attempting to use precision contact between vehicles to make the other vehicle lose control, hopefully bringing it to a stop. The target loses a pursuit goal milestone and counts their Speed Scale as being one lower for the next chase roll or round.

Ram (variable): Spend successes equal to the higher of your target’s Size and Speed. You put the full weight and power of your vehicle into their vehicle for catastrophic results. They suffer the higher of your vehicle’s Size or Speed in Injury Conditions. Your vehicle suffers their vehicle’s Size in Injury conditions. Neither you nor your target benefit from Speed Scale next round or chase roll. 

Sideswipe (variable): Spend successes equal to the target’s Size to deal an Injury Condition to it. If the target’s Size is larger than your vehicle’s, your vehicle suffers an Injury Condition. 

Beyond chase environments, all manner of problems can make life more difficult for either or both sides of a chase. Some high-speed hiccups interact directly with chase mechanics, but those that don’t fit into any scene where at least one character is driving or piloting a vehicle can be a Complication towards an action. Each Complication lists the successes required to buy it off and then describes the results if not bought off

Fighting within visible line of sight of the enemy, desperately fighting for position, trying to line up the perfect shot to send the enemy plane tumbling, burning to earth… the dogfight combines direct, one-on-one combat with the kinetic miracle of flight.

For Trinity’s purposes, the dogfight rules are appropriate for play whenever two or more (see Furballs, below) opposing vehicles within 2 Speed Scale fight it out in flight. A vehicle with a 3-Speed edge can simply disengage and reengage with impunity, making dogfighting them impractical for their outmatched enemies.

Dogfights are determined by relative position and energy, enemy pilots trying to put the other into kinetic checkmate. Each round that combatants are engaged in dogfighting, they make an opposed piloting “dogfight” check, modified by Handling rating and Speed Scale. The winner outflies their opponent, allowing them to spend extra successes on dogfighting Stunts, and then freely disengage, press the advantage, or immediately make an attack. The loser must then decide whether to try and escape, turn the tables, or another desperate maneuver. On a tie, both combatants must choose desperate maneuvers. 

The winner of the dogfight roll can spend their extra successes on any of these Stunts, though other general Stunts, those granted by equipment or situation (such as flux Stunts), or others may also be applicable. 

Blindspot (variable): Increase the Difficulty of any Desperate Attacks against you by the successes you spend.  

Break Lock/Break Jamming (3s): Remove a “Locked-On” or “Jammed” Condition. Special: This may be bought multiple times for multiple Conditions.  

Breathing Room (3s): Remove any bonuses your opponent has gained from Press the Advantage.

Force Repositioning (2s): Immediately change the environment the dogfight is occurring in.

Harry Them (variable): For every 2 successes you spend, increase the Difficulty of any Escape or Turn the Tables roll a specific target makes against you by 1. 

On Target (variable): Gain +1 Enhancement for every two successes spent for an attack or Press the Advantage action made this turn.



Again, this is just a sneak peek - a tiny portion of what's coming our way on Tuesday, when the next draft manuscript section is made available for backers to review. 

I'll be back next Monday with some podcast links and possibly information about an upcoming Twitch stream that we're in the early stages of sorting out. Until then, please continue to spread the word about this project, sharing in your social circle and on your social media. Let's see if we can't maintain our pursuit of that next Stretch Goal target and get some streamlined Crafting rules for our clever gadget-loving Talents!

Hello Talents,

We're just finishing up the 48th hour of our campaign... and officially about to start "Day 3" although it seems weird where I am to say our next day is starting in the middle of the afternoon. But Time Travel is a thing in the Trinity Continuum, isn't it?

So, let's look at our first 2 days and see where we are. Thanks to more than 550 Backers so far, we have

The main reason for this entire endeavor, we've successfully funded this project and will turn it from a draft manuscript into a fully-developed PDF and hardcover book. But that was just the start of our achievements. We've also added a fun Onyx Path traditional celebration with our first Stretch Goal.


ACHIEVED! - At $20,000 in Funding – TRINITY CONTINUUM PLAYER’S GUIDE T-SHIRT ON REDBUBBLE - An TCPG-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.

My original Trinity Continuum backer T-shirt is almost five years old now, and showing some wear. Looking forward to swapping it out for some new duds in the future!

Even more exciting, we've added our first bit of additional content with our second Stretch Goal!


ACHIEVED! - At $25,000 in Funding – TOOLS OF THE TRADE – A PDF supplement will be created featuring new tech items for Talents. Vehicles? Weapons? Gear? Help us decide in our poll! This PDF supplement will be added to the rewards list of all Crowdfunding backers receiving the Trinity Continuum Player’s Guide PDF as one of their pledge rewards.

That's right! We've officially unlocked the "TOOLS OF THE TRADE" PDF supplement. That is just a temporary name, as the product isn't outlined or written yet, but we're not quite done asking for your help on this one! Not only did your participation in this campaign help fund this eventual project, you can help the developers build an outline for the book by voting in the poll at the top of this update! We'll keep the poll running until next Tuesday, when our next manuscript chapter comes out for backers.

That's right! All backers will be able to read the entire draft manuscript for this book before this campaign concludes and before any pledges are processed or payments collected! If you haven't already read our first chapter, check out Update #1 from our campaign. We'll have new chapters for you every Tuesday.



While the First 48 Hours are normally the biggest part of a crowdfunding campaign, there's still lots for us to get excited about as we work together over the next three weeks. If we continue to spread the word and Inspire additional Talents to join our cause, and maybe get lucky with some task rolls, we can possibly unlock some more Stretch Goals! Let's set up two more goals for this campaign!


First up, another Onyx Path classic reward to help us keep pace over the next week...



At $28,000 in Funding - TRINITY CONTINUUM PLAYER’S GUIDE DIGITAL WALLPAPER- Exciting Trinity Continuum artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.

And then let's see if we can't expand our new content reward. This is a cool one...


At $30,000 in Funding – THE ART OF CRAFTS – The unlocked PDF supplement will be expanded to include a streamlined version of the crafting system, along with some examples, to help inventor characters make new toys for their Talents.  

SO! Vote in our Tools of the Trade poll! Read the manuscript. And please continue to spread the word in your social circles and on your social media and let's see if we can't forge a path to those two new Stretch Goals!

I'll be back tomorrow with a sneak peek preview from Chapter 2!

“You’ll never walk out of here with that thumb drive alive,” said Monsieur Giroux. He sat back on the divan, swirling a glass of bourbon in his hand. His unbuttoned collar and tousled hair made him seem utterly at ease. The only evidence he’d just been in a fight were his bleeding knuckles and the smashed glass that was once an exquisite coffee table. Artemis had thrown him through it only moments ago.
 
“Sit,” said M. Giroux. “Catch your breath.” In his other hand, he held a gun, its muzzle lazily trained on Artemis. The sight bobbed and wavered as he took a sip from his glass. “You’re welcome to hold that until my other bodyguards get here, but perhaps you’d like to join me for a drink instead. It’s much more pleasant, don’t you think?”

Artemis didn’t sit. Her own gun lay by the door, kicked there during the brawl. Beside it lay the heaping bulk of Giroux’s right-hand man, Stéphane. It had taken three solid blows to knock the massive man out, but her last hit ensured he’d be sleeping this one off for a long while.

Music drifted up from the busy Parisian café below them. It was the lunch rush. The din of conversation, a bustling kitchen, and clinking silverware probably weren’t enough to have covered the noises of the scuffle on their own. Artemis had tapped into the audio system this morning, gradually increasing the volume of the piped-in music — not enough to be a hindrance to conversation, but at just the level to make customers raise their voices to chat, adding to the noise. So the customers hadn’t heard them, but surely Giroux’s other bodyguards had? The ones who guarded the employee entrance on the street?

She watched the cocky grin slide from the criminal’s lips as realization dawned on him. “Where are they?” he asked. His voice was slurred. The muzzle dipped. Giroux tried pushing himself to standing but slumped back onto the divan. Bourbon sloshed over the edge of the glass; he hissed as it hit his bleeding knuckles. “What did you do?”

“To you, or your bodyguards?”

“Both.” His eyes slipped closed for a moment, then snapped open. “Tell me.”

“I lined your barware with a sleeping draught while I waited for the data to transfer. So much more efficient than watching a status bar fill. Your downstairs guards are in another arrondissement by now.”

“They wouldn’t leave me.”

“You’re the one who told them to go.” Giroux didn’t need to know more than that. Later, his team would swear it was Giroux himself who stormed out of the building and demanded they escort him to a spur-of-the-moment meeting with one of their financial backers.

The fine details were all part of an operation Alert Status 1 had been planning for months. So far, it had gone off with only minor hitches. All that was left to do was for Artemis to take the thumb drive and make a getaway. She just needed Giroux to fall asleep; she wanted to be sure he wouldn’t lurch to a phone and call for additional backup before she was out the door.

He made a soft, angry sound in his throat, then his eyes slipped closed. His gun hand dropped to his side. The bourbon glass slipped from his other, shattering on the floor.

Artemis slipped the thumb drive into her pocket, retrieved her own gun, and headed for the street.

The driver wasn’t there. 

The narrow street was packed with springtime tourists enjoying the pleasant afternoon, and busy Parisians on their way back to their offices or slipping out for a late lunch. Carrying out a plan in broad daylight was less than ideal, but Giroux was notoriously hard to pin down. AS1 had to take their opportunities where they could find them, and his apartment above the café was the easiest of his many safehouses and bolt holes to gain access to. But the longer she stuck around, the more likely his B-team would show up. The agency wanted to get in and out quickly and quietly. The sooner the drive was out of her hands and safely in the Defense Research division’s possession, the better.

She couldn’t reach out to command. Giroux had set off some sort of device while she was fighting with Stéphane, and it fried her comms. She’d been hoping the signal loss was only temporary, but as far as Artemis could tell she was completely offline. “In case I’m transmitting but not receiving,” she muttered, “where the hell is my ride?” 

As if in response, an engine revved up the street. Its roar echoed off the stone façades of the quaint buildings surrounding her. Artemis spotted it with a glance: a sleek little roadster, bright red and not at all subtle. But it was the very model the enthusiastic Defense Research agent had driven her around in a few days ago, proudly showing off all the bells and whistles their department had added. People might be looking at it now, but that was a good thing — they’d be watching the car rather than the person who got in it, and once Artemis and her driver were underway, giving surveillance the slip was the matter of a simple button push.

She stepped out into the street, reaching for the passenger side door as the car drew even with the café. For a moment, she thought the roadster was going to breeze right past, but the driver spotted her and jerked the car to a halt.

“Let’s go,” said Artemis, as she folded herself into the seat. “I lost comms twenty minutes ago, so if there’s anything I should know you’ll have to catch me up.”

This mission was a joint operation between AS1 and French Intelligence. Artemis hadn’t met her companion before, but the DGSE — France’s equivalent to the CIA or MI6 — had promised an expert wheelwoman, familiar with Paris’ streets and shortcuts in a way Artemis’ U.S.-based cell members weren’t. The driver, an Afro-French woman, had her hair in box braids that were pulled into a half ponytail. She wore a behind-the-ear hearing aid, its body the same cherry red as the car, and a pair of vintage sunglasses that made her look like she’d stepped right off a movie set. 

She gave Artemis a once-over at the same time, lifting her sunglasses and cataloguing the torn sleeve of her suit jacket, the gash in her arm beneath, her overgrown pixie cut, and her split lip. Her gaze flicked, briefly, to the spot where Artemis’ gun nestled in its shoulder holster. “Buckle in,” she said. “I’m Claire.”

“Artemis. You want to let HQ know the mission’s accomplished?”

“Can’t. I lost comms, too. We need to get moving.” The seatbelt had barely clicked before Claire pulled away with another roar of the engine.

Artemis frowned. Had Giroux’s device had a wider range, or had it alerted someone else in his circle, who’d kicked off a more widescale blackout? Had he been tipped off somehow? He’d returned to his office earlier than they’d anticipated, but that also fit with his penchant for paranoia. It’s why she’d drugged the bourbon glasses. 

Do we have a mole?

It was a question for later, for Intelligence Analysis to tackle, not for Artemis to go chasing after mid-mission. In the field, you had to be nimble, to know when to stick to the mission and when to go off-book. Right now, her part of the mission was complete, except for the last step: getting to the rendezvous point. Extra vigilance was crucial, but it wasn’t time to panic and scrap the plan just yet. “Let’s go.”

Buildings blurred as Claire hit the gas. Artemis resisted the urge to grab the armrest. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle a little speed. High-speed chases were part of the job. She was well-versed in how to shoot a gun while moving 90 miles an hour and had practiced hand-to-hand combat on everything from a speedboat to a bullet train to a jet. Still, it took a moment to get used to someone else’s driving habits: how hard they braked, how tightly they took turns. And some trick of the narrow streets made it feel like they were going faster than they were. 

While she acclimated, she glanced at the switch-covered console. Defense Research had installed a dozen modes that went above and beyond what your average flashy roadster could do: settings like hairpin and ice provided extra grip on dangerous surfaces or oil slick and smoke screen to throw off pursuers. There were more, and several that worked in combination with one another, but the one she was looking for was smack in the middle, neatly labeled: Refract.

“What do you think?” she asked Claire. “Time to go invis?”

Claire’s eyes didn’t leave the road. She shifted into a higher gear. “Do it.”

The metal switch made a satisfying clack! as she flipped it. A ripple shivered over the windshield, and a slight electric hum joined the engine’s purr. Artemis had seen the effect from the outside during the demo. The tech had rambled on about negative refractive indices and bending light and metamaterials, but it all boiled down to the same end result: They were, for all intents and purposes, invisible. Bystanders would see nothing beyond a faint shimmer as they passed, and Claire was moving too quickly for anyone to register much more than that.

“That should get us to the rendezvous point without any fuss,” Artemis said. 

“Yeah.” Claire sounded noncommital, intent on the road. It made sense; if no one could see them, drivers were likely to turn in front of them, thinking the way was clear. Pedestrians would cross at a stroll, not knowing several tons of iron was barreling toward them. “How’s that arm? There’s disinfectant and bandages in the glove compartment, if you need them.” 

Or maybe she was concerned about Artemis getting blood on her Italian leather seats. 

“It’s a scratch, really.” She dug out the first aid kit all the same and tore open an alcohol pad with her teeth. “I think the bleeding’s mostly st—” she hissed as the cut stung. When it receded a little, she chuckled. “Okay, more than a scratch, less than a gash.”

“Who gave it to you? Stéphane? Or one of the others?”

“Yeah. The big guy. He had a knife until I kicked it out of his hand. Then he put a couple holes in the wall when he swung at me. I’m lucky he only split my lip.” She glanced at her sleeve. “And wrecked my favorite jacket.”

Claire grinned. “It looks nice on you. A good tailor can fix it.”

“You know one?” 

“Of course.”

“If only I was going to be in town a little longer, I’d ask for an introduction.”

“Ah, well,” said Claire. She seemed to be on the cusp of more, but the comment died on her lips as she glanced in the rearview. “We seem to have a tail.”

“What? How?” Artemis glanced back and watched as a car a few lengths back matched their speed. Claire cut down a side street. It followed. Two more times, then three. “But they can’t see us. How did they even find us?” That car hadn’t been nearby when Claire picked her up. 

“Some kind of infrared, maybe. Or tracking the engine’s sound rather than the light. Or... could you have been tagged?” 

“I don’t think so.” Artemis replayed the fight with Stéphane and Giroux in her head but couldn’t recall any moments where it seemed likely. Still, she patted her collar and shoulders, and anywhere they’d made contact. Nothing. “It’s gotta be the car.”

Claire grunted. “All right. Let’s see if we can shake them. We’re going to have to go visible again. I’d rather people be able to see us coming and get out of the way.” Claire switched off the refraction filter. People on the sidewalk did double takes as the roadster rippled into view. 

Street after street, the other car remained stubbornly behind them. “Whoever this is, they’re good.” She reached over and gave Artemis’ seatbelt an experimental tug, making sure it was still buckled tight. “But not as good as me.” She flipped a few more switches. The sudden acceleration shoved Artemis back into the seat. Behind them, a wall of thick gray smoke billowed up. 

Artemis rolled down her window, ready to lean out and shoot anyone who appeared from the cloud. But their pursuers didn’t burst through. They weren’t waiting at the next intersection, or the next. Artemis almost let herself hope they’d lost them.

Then the man in a business suit stepped out into the street. His briefcase fell open, spilling papers everywhere. He grabbed for something inside as he turned toward them. When his arm came up, he was leveling a goddamned hand cannon.

There was no room to swerve around him, not without killing a gaggle of pedestrians. Claire swore as she stomped on the brakes. The car screamed to a halt, inches from hitting him. The air grew thick with the acrid smell of burnt rubber.

The man kept his gun trained on Claire. “Shut off the engine and get out. Hands where I can see them.”

Claire seemed to be on the verge of doing as he asked, but Artemis was damned if she was going to let the enemy get their hands on the car, the thumb drive, or most importantly, Claire. My mission, my responsibility. She pitched her voice low, her lips barely moving, knowing Claire’s hearing aid would pick up her words. Her hands were — as the gunman requested — up in the air. Slowly, she let her right hand drift toward the open window. “Trust me?”

Claire nodded, just the tiniest fraction.

“When I hit three, gun it. One. Two.” Artemis thrust her arm outside the car, keeping her fingers and palm flat. She made a swift slicing motion in the gunman’s direction, feeling the air currents coalesce around her hand before they rocketed toward him. “Three!”

The man swore as a cut opened on his cheek. The gun’s muzzle wavered as he scanned the area to see where the slice had come from. Claire hit the gas and spun the wheel, slewing the car around him. Artemis could see each individual pinstripe on his suit as they passed. She let out a whoop as they left him behind.

Claire cheered with her, but her triumph didn’t last long. “Keep your eyes peeled. They’re not going to give up so easily.”

Artemis nodded. She patted herself down again, but still found no trackers. Then it came to her. “Oh, shit. I think I know how they’re finding us. There’s a beacon in the car.” She hated saying it, because it meant her suspicions about a mole somewhere in AS1 or French Intelligence had to be right. The signal was encrypted, which was why she hadn’t even considered it earlier. But if someone on the inside had the key... 

Claire cursed. “Normally I’d say we should ditch it and find another ride, but that risks it falling into the wrong hands.”

“It’s all right,” said Artemis, even though her stomach felt like lead. “I’ve got this.” She pulled out her phone. The comms were fried, and she had no signal, but her apps still worked. It only took a moment of rooting around under the dash to find the beacon. Its red light pulsed slowly, indicating it was working. She selected an app, pointed her phone’s camera at the beacon’s plastic housing, and pushed GO. The red light burned brighter for a second, then came a tiny pop! and it winked out.

“I’m going to declare our rendezvous point burned,” she said. “I can’t trust it. We ought to get the hell out of the city entirely.”

“You got it,” said Claire. She looked strangely relieved. Maybe she’s been wondering about a mole herself. “Where to?”

***

Artemis didn’t relax until they were well outside the city. She’d re-engaged the refraction filter just in case, but the road behind them remained clear. No more surprises. The silence between them stretched, until she couldn’t stand it anymore. “I know this is probably politically... snarly,” she said. “But do you trust your people in the DGSE?”

Claire blinked, startled. “Do I trust the... Oh.” 

For a moment, Artemis thought the wheelwoman was about to cry, but then she realized her scrunched-up face wasn’t because she was holding back a sob. 

She was trying not to laugh.

She lost the battle and pulled over to the side of the road. Once the car stopped, she burst out with it: big, shoulder-shaking guffaws. It was a great laugh, if Artemis was being honest, but she couldn’t join in because she had no idea what was so funny. Until the cold dread of revelation crept over her. “You’re not DGSE at all, are you?”

Claire sobered up. She was still smiling, but it was kind, not cruel. “No, I’m not.”

Who else would have the skill, the connections, and the audacity to pull this off? And, if she were honest, the style? “You’re with Les Fantômes.”

The other woman beamed. “Oui.”

“But... you were right where my driver was supposed to be. When they were supposed to be there.”

“Let’s just say we have a mutual interest in Lucas Giroux. I wanted to see what his security was like. Then you stepped out in front of me and just... got in. To the car I’d stolen from a DGSE garage not ten minutes before. I had to play along.” 

“So, when you said you’d lost comms, too...”

“I improvised.”

“You lied.”

“Eh.” Claire sighed. “Fine. I lied. But for a good reason. And I’m not out to hurt you or your mission, so I’m going to ask that you don’t hurt mine.” Either she didn’t believe Artemis could hurt her, or she didn’t believe she would. “I’ll return the car to DGSE when my job’s finished. If we’re lucky, I’ll have Monsieur Giroux trussed up in the boot, and they can take the credit. All you need to do is let me drive away.”

Her higher-ups would probably chew her out for letting such a valuable piece of equipment go, but truthfully, they were the ones that lost it first. She’d be tangled up in paperwork and debriefings for a week, but... She’d heard of Les Fantômes’ work. They frustrated the authorities, but they had a reputation for doing good work even as they broke the law. If they were after Lucas Giroux, too, was that such a bad thing? Artemis touched her split lip. “I’m going to tell the bosses you gave me this. And when I get to a phone, I’m going to have to tell them which direction you headed in.”

“That’s fair.” Claire waited as she got out of the car. “The next town’s about an hour’s walk that way. I’m sure you’ll be able to flag down a ride well before then. Oh, and here.” She produced a matte black business card. M. Beaumont, Couturier, it read. “My tailor. If you tear another sleeve, look him up. Tell him you knocked out Stéphane Dupont. He’ll give you a discount.”

“Will he tell me how to contact you?” She didn’t know she was going to ask it, but as the question came out, she realized she wanted to see Claire again.

“No.” Artemis’ face must have fallen. Claire smiled. “But he’ll tell me how to find you. Good luck, my friend.” She put the car in gear and turned around. As she drove off, the light around the roadster shimmered, and it disappeared from sight.

Artemis grinned and tucked the card into her pocket, next to the thumb drive. She set off in the opposite direction, keeping her eyes on the horizon in hopes of a ride. 

Hello Inspired!

WOW! There's no shortage of Talents supporting this project, because we've achieved our first goal in no time!

But more exciting than simply hitting a goal - WE'VE FUNDED THE BOOK!



Now let's spend our successes and see if we can't add a Stretch Goal!


As we increase the overall funding and support for the project, we’re able to add additional resources to the project, expand the rewards listed, and add in new offers and opportunities. Each Stretch Goal will have a target that, once reached, will add a project to the reward list for backers of the relevant Stretch Goal path. Whenever we achieve a stretch goal, the image will be updated to reflect the achievement.

We'll start off with a fun opportunity (an Onyx Path classic), and then look to maybe add some new content via stretch goal supplement.


At $20,000 in Funding – TRINITY CONTINUUM PLAYER’S GUIDE T-SHIRT ON REDBUBBLE - An TCPG-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.



At $25,000 in Funding – TOOLS OF THE TRADE – A PDF supplement will be created featuring new tech items for Talents. Vehicles? Weapons? Gear? Help us decide in our poll! This PDF supplement will be added to the rewards list of all Crowdfunding backers receiving the Trinity Continuum Player’s Guide PDF as one of their pledge rewards.


Vote for what you'd like to see in a Tools of the Trade supplement, and let's keep spreading the word so that we can hit that goal and make it a reality!

Hello Inspired!

My name is James, and I’ll be your Onyx Path Crowdfunding Concierge for this Trinity Continuum project. I’ll be updating the campaign as we go, hopefully adding Stretch Goals, answering questions, and providing support wherever needed as best I can.

I’ll note that I’m not part of the creative team on this project – so I won’t be able to immediately answer some of the more intricate rules or design inquiries – but having me manage this Crowdfunding campaign allows Eddy, Ian, Danielle, and the whole team of developers and writers to keep their focus on the awesome projects that they’ve got in the works.

That said, feel free to make me your point person for any questions or issues you may have. I'll make sure to dig up answers as quickly as possible and clear up any issues that arise. Mostly, I'm just looking forward to an exciting ride along with all of you on this (and future) projects.

This comment section is for all members of this community – united by our shared desire to see this project fund and develop – to cheerlead the project and figure out how best to spread the word about what we’re building here. If you’ve started a thread on whatever social media platform exists today or a Discord conversation about the game or this campaign – let me know about it so we can share that info. If you’ve discussed the game on a blog or podcast, let’s hear about it! If you’ve got funny ideas for social media hashtags, well we can do those too!

I will also be the person who gets to share the updates and previews with you! As noted on the main page and in the pledge descriptions, I also get to share an exciting treat – the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide Draft Manuscript previews, so you can start reading the book immediately! Scroll down to the bottom of this post on the website to see the first BACKERS-ONLY update for a download link.

So, welcome to Crowdfunding by BackerKit! Welcome to Trinity Continuum Player's Guide! And now let’s see what fun adventures await us…


International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager

One quick note about International Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews. Unlike many previous Onyx Path projects, we won’t be collecting funds to cover International Shipping during this Kickstarter campaign. Instead, we’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. We’re still anticipating pretty hefty costs to ship the book internationally (see our current guesses on the front page) so be forewarned, but we’ll cross that enormous bridge when we get to it.

Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Read The Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the title treatment...