FOR THOSE NEW TO THE ACTUALITY, AND THOSE WHO HAVE LONG DWELT HERE
This campaign funds a reprint of the Invisible Sun Black Cube for the thousands of gamers out there who haven't had a chance to explore this enigmatic gaming artifact (along with the Vislae Kit, a key supplement for players). Plus, we're offering a bundle of existing supplements. If you're new to Invisible Sun, you can get almost everything ever made for the game through this campaign.
But what of those who escaped Shadow long ago, and have already peered into the Actuality? Fear not, vislae: we have an exciting new title for you as well! See The Wellspring, below.
Although the cost of production and freight has increased substantially, we are holding the line on the price of the Black Cube and Vislae Kit. Both retain the price of their 2018 printing.
You don’t. This world you see around you is Shadow—a world illuminated only by the Grey Sun. You think it is your home, but that’s because you have forgotten your true self. Awaken, and return to the Actuality and to Satyrine, the city under the Indigo Sun. You are a vislae, a wielder of magic; a shaper of reality; a student of secrets and the real truths that lay hidden within the Actuality. You sought shelter in Shadow to escape the war, but the war is now over and your home has called you back.
Invisible Sun player characters are vislae—wielders of magical power—recently returned to their true home: the Actuality, a world that seems like a surreal dream to those of us toiling aimlessly in the boring, grey realm you and I falsely believe is the real world. These characters face incredible challenges, visit breathtaking places, and discover secrets so astonishing that the only ones who can cope with them are those who understand the truth that powers the universe: Magic.
Magic: A power that can be pursued, studied, and even mastered, but never completely understood or controlled. It is fluid, unpredictable, and ever-nuanced in effect. Its secrets are boundless. But that does not mean it is without rules and methods. There are four orders, major schools of magical thought and training. Vances study their spells carefully, believing they are, in their own way, intelligent in and of themselves. Makers, as the name suggests, use magic to create powerful items. Weavers cast spells with a fluid and improvisational sort of sorcery. Goetics use their magical skills to summon demons, angels, and other creatures to do their bidding. Outside of the four orders, Apostates are vislae who find their own paths and methods for wielding the power of magic, rejecting the hierarchies of the orders.
It is a rare vislae who does not have a house. Your house is as integral to your being as your spells or character stats. The houses of vislae are often haunted, filled with mysterious unknown rooms, bigger on the inside, or possessed of their own intelligence. And in Satyrine, a house is defined as much by what goes on around it as by the contents of its walls (assuming, of course, that a vislae’s house even has walls). Local personalities, sites of interest (or danger), organizations or factions, and ongoing conflicts all affect a vislae’s house and life. And all of this is determined as part of the character creation process.
Bonds, character arcs, echoes of your life in Shadow, a secret Soul, your role within your order, and your relationship to other player characters are all addressed during character creation through a fun, interactive process that engages the entire gaming group. It also leads to PCs with incredibly rich backstories, inner lives, motivations, and relationships—and a vast array of adventuring hooks.
Finally, for Invisible Sun characters, even death is not the end. For in the Actuality, death is simply the realm under the Pale Sun, another world along the Path of Suns.
When exiled to Shadow, you probably believed there was just one sun—but there are, in fact, eight. Nine, actually—but even many learned people don’t know that, for the ninth is a secret. Invisible. As a vislae, that is one of many secrets you know.
The Path of Suns is a representation of the way magic works, the known levels of existence, the stages of a life, and the makeup of the mortal soul, all in one. It is a symbol. A metaphor. A diagram. A map. Each sun represents a different concept, a different “place,” and a different fundamental aspect of the universe. These different concepts are signified by the color of each sun, so that color ends up representing the sun and its attendant ideals.
The suns are also planes of existence—literal places that vislae can visit. Each realm reflects the nature of the sun that illuminates it, and is guarded by wardens and peopled by creatures great and terrible, mysterious and, very often, dangerous. Magical power flows like a rushing river from the Invisible Sun through the other suns. (While the main current follows the Path of Suns, not all do.) Powerful vislae travel the Path of Suns to master these different currents and better hone their spells, but to do so they must parlay with the wardens of the Suns and face the perils within their realms.
The Path of Suns connects all eight suns: Silver to Green, to Blue, to Indigo, then Grey, next Pale, and Red, and finally Gold. The Invisible Sun is not a part of the path, but rather outside, above, and around it. There are some, however, who follow the Nightside Path, which is the Path of Suns in reverse. In the Nightside Path, each sun has an altered, often darker, aspect. It would be far too simple—and erroneous—to call the Path of Suns “good” and the Nightside path “evil,” but some do.
As a vislae, you might travel the Path of Suns, visiting these realms, parlaying with their wardens, encountering the glories and horrors within, and unlocking their secrets. Or your adventures might never take you beyond the borders of Satyrine, a surreal city rife with intrigue and conflict following the terrors of the recently concluded war.
Conventional RPG gameplay, with everyone gathering for a few hours every week or two, is what makes RPGs a great experience. It’s also one of the greatest obstacles to a successful campaign, for our modern life rarely makes it convenient. Conventional play is the centerpiece of Invisible Sun, but the game also accommodates the realities of our lifestyles, rewards engagement with the game away from the table, and is deliberately made for differing player styles.
Play doesn’t have to stop when the session is over. Players can keep the game going—individually or in groups—by creating side-scenes that describe high-level actions that their character want to take. They can also create flashback side-scenes that reveal actions their characters have already taken. This also means that even if they can’t make it to the regular session, they can still move their character’s story forward. A side-scene might cover what Shanna’s character does while she’s absent from the regular session, for example.
Players can even play if the GM isn’t available. A side-scene could involve the entire group taking an action that they discuss in person and then communicate later to the GM. The GM resolves the action(s) by giving them a turn of a Sooth Card and then responding to the players’ actions and intentions.
While Invisible Sun is aimed primarily at those of us who love deep, complex characters, there are options for when your cousin shows up from out of town and wants to join in for a session. And whether you’re an out-loud extrovert who’s happy to tell the world about your character, or a quieter player who keeps your character development mostly to yourself, the game is deliberately designed to let you get the most out of it.
You can learn more about the Actuality and Invisible Sun gameplay at these links:
Here's an article about Weavers, one of the orders of magic, from the original Kickstarter campaign's updates. Flip through those updates for articles on Vances, Makers, Goetics, and Apostates, as well as other topics relating to Invisible Sun rules.
A literal black cube nearly one foot on a side, Invisible Sun is an unprecedented physical production, filled with massive amounts of content for a unique roleplaying experience. The Black Cube and its contents were upgraded through multiple stretch goals in the original Kickstarter campaign, and all of those upgrades will already be part of your Black Cube. It contains (and this is not an exhaustive list):
Invisible Sun is a game about discovery and secrets. There may be other content awaiting your discovery in the Black Cube.
In addition to the physical game itself, every backer getting the Black Cube also gets:
Invisible Sun in PDF, including digital versions of all the print components.
We Begin at the End, a standalone adventure for Invisible Sun optimized for new players and GMs, in digital format. (If you backed the original 2016 Invisible Sun crowdfunding campaign and already have the Black Cube, you'll get this reward, too, at any pledge level.)
The Rules Primer. A short introduction to the rules of Invisible Sun, to prepare you for the game with some of the general concepts. While it's not enough to play, it is enough to start thinking about your character or your campaign.
The Digital Rules Reference. This is an easily-searchable text file containing commonly-referenced rules and text.
Caonne carefully set the glass of ubara down on the table and cleared their throat to get the attention of the other members of the order. "My fellows of The Third Hand, I come here tonight to speak to you of the difficulty so many of us have experienced in recent months of calling forth the Black Cube to access its power. Unlike my esteemed colleague Niamblis the Timekeeper, I do not believe our troubles stem from the recent mutterings (arising from a Fartown neighborhood which shall go unnamed) regarding a certain "Darkest House." Instead, I put forth the following postulate: the currents of magic are altering, and their fluctuations are keeping the Black Cube from entering our sun. I have come up with a solution. A minor restructuring of the spell's casting, and the summoned cube and the wonders inside will once again be available to us."
A brief sip of the bubbling, whispering ubara gave the news a chance to settle upon those gathered around them. Caonne smiled, knowing what they had to say next was—at least to some—even more exciting.
"My fellow vislae, indulge me a moment to dwell momentarily upon those aforementioned fluctuations and the ramifications of their existence beyond the Black Cube. With the help of the Interlocking Ones, I have determined the source of the perturbations. It is none other than a phenomenon which has not been experienced since before The War. I refer, my friends, to The Wellspring. As a few of you may know, this wonder of wonders is a source of magic, concepts, thoughts, ideas, and inspiration unlike any we have known in our lifetimes. In other words, a resource of incalculable value to us all. The Wellspring bubbles to the surface of our reality once again, but according to our estimations, it will burst to life only with the assistance of the careful praxis of a few coordinated vislae such as ourselves. Oh, but the rewards we shall reap!" The Wellspring will be an entirely new product for Invisible Sun, containing a wealth of applications, particularly for those wishing to start a new narrative in the game. Inside, you'll find inspirations and ideas for use in establishing characters in the first session. When the players have all decided their characters' first goal (called the Desideratum) at the end of that session, The Wellspring will offer a number of detailed possible avenues for their story to begin and progress, utilizing locations, NPCs, creatures, and organizations both new and familiar.
Invisible Sun narratives always take on a life of their own based on the goals and character arcs of the PCs, but The Wellspring will help get things started with many sessions' worth of material to draw from—each with interesting props and handouts to help create the full immersion the game excels at. As a bonus, The Wellspring will also provide a variety of ideas for both GMs and players to foster the surreal nature of the game. If the enormity of the game gets overwhelming at any point, or you've just run out of weird ideas and really need one in the middle of a session, The Wellspring will be there with a quick idea in the form of a strange building, an interesting NPC, a magical effect, or some other surreal wonder.
We will unlock The Wellspring when we reach 656 backers, at which point it will be added to all pledge levels. (We'll also create a pledge level for just The Wellspring, so existing Invisible Sun fans can pledge for it even if they already have all of the other items offered through this campaign.) We hope to see it grow in scale and scope through stretch goals unlocked during this campaign!
Invisible Sun is supported by a line of supplements. You can get the six existing supplements, along with the Black Cube, at the Walk the Path of Suns pledge level. If you already have the Black Cube, add these to your Invisible Sun collection with the Expand Into the Actuality pledge level, which offers a great bundle deal. (Both levels also include The Wellspring.)
Looking for the supplements? Because inventory is limited, we cannot offer the supplements individually during this campaign. They are available in limited quantities only, and only through the Expand into the Actuality and Walk the Path of Suns pledge levels.
Here's the expected delivery timeline for this campaign's rewards. We've already done two printings of the Black Cube, so we know the process well. But the world is still experiencing a lot of post-COVID upheaval in supply chains and freight transit, so we've built some slippage into this timeline. We may be able to beat some of these dates, but there's also a chance we may see unanticipated production or shipping delays. We appreciate your flexibility!
Here’s the gist: shipping and global logistics are disrupted everywhere. That said, working within our own warehouse and with trusted global fulfillment partners in Europe and Australia, we do everything in our power to get your rewards into your hands as quickly, reliably, and affordably as possible.
All backers pay for shipping when they redeem their rewards. We offer a variety of domestic and international shipping methods from which you can choose. As of this writing, basic domestic shipping is $9 per shipment, but we do not control future postal rates, so that cost is subject to change. International shipping is based on postal and shipping rates at the time of the order, and varies by destination and shipment weight.
International shipping is expensive. We don’t have any control over shipping rates, and we can’t accurately predict what shipping rates will be at the time of fulfillment. To comply with international law, we cannot mark your reward as a gift or as a zero-value item. Here are details that apply to your region:
Canadian Backers: Your rewards will be fulfilled by our shipping center in the United States. You will be responsible for import duties, taxes, and brokerage fees (if applicable). Please note that our books are printed in Canada, and thus are not subject to import duties; however, they are subject to sales tax (GST/PST/HST). Items not manufactured in Canada, such as dice and decks of cards, are subject to import duties and GST/PST/HST.
The Rest of the Americas,the South Pacific, and Asia: Your rewards will ship from our shipping center in the United States. You will be responsible for import duties, taxes, and brokerage fees (if applicable).
The EU and UK: Your rewards will be fulfilled by our shipping center in the UK. UK and EU backers will not pay import duties and taxes.
Australia and New Zealand: Your rewards will be fulfilled by our shipping center in Australia. Backers in Australia and New Zealand will not pay import duties and taxes.
