Why Not an Onyx Throne? [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

Bear with me, I’m gonna digress a bit before answering the title of the blog.

My oldest son and I were digging our pet dog’s grave this weekend, and…

OK, maybe not the best opening.

Also, trigger warning about pets dying and cancer before you read any further.

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So, our 10 year old puppy Pedro was diagnosed with lung cancer about three weeks ago and it just must have come on like a freight-train because even though he was panting harder and harder, he never really had any overt pain, just tiredness, and it was obvious that he had to work to breathe. He seemed mostly annoyed at it, and looked as healthy and as handsome as ever. But he collapsed Sunday, although he rallied as we gathered to take him “for a ride” to the vet to see what they could do, if anything. He insisted on jumping up into the van next to our kids and collapsed again, but this time he convulsed and died. Which for him was probably how he wanted it, surrounded by his pack-mates the kids, and happy thoughts of a ride going through his doggy brain.

(I write lightly about this, but he was a very good dog and our family misses him terribly).

So, back to doing what we needed to do for him by digging his grave, and my son and I were talking about the responsibilities of pet ownership and taking care of them as they age, and eventually die. This is something I take very seriously, and hope I have passed on to my kids. I did mention to my son that I have talked to people who find those “end-time” responsibilities too painful to deal with, and who won’t own pets because of the pain it brings. Which I both understand and do not judge. I do think, I said to him, that they might be putting all the emphasis on the end and missing all the wonderful and great times leading up to that point.

To me, the end, as painful as it can feel, is inevitably going to come to someone we care about, and to ourselves as well. It is a known thing. What isn’t, are all those moments along the way to that point.

Which is why my company is called Onyx Path and not something like Onyx Throne. (Which is actually a pretty cool name too, come to think of it!)

I didn’t know how things would turn out, leaving WW/CCP where I’d been employed for almost 20 years, to start my own publishing company. Hell, I still don’t. But I knew I’d have to start taking steps into that unknown place, into that inky darkness. A bit of insight, a bit of experience, and some good folks to work with, and I might just be able to see a glinting black path at my feet that I’d travel along to parts unknown.

It’s the journey, not the destination.

The Path, not the throne.

And while travelling that path, making amazing projects and experiences and art for people. With people that I like working with. Trying new things and taking creative risks.

Trying our first Kickstarter was like that, too. Nobody knew how it would turn out, or whether what we were trying was going to be good or not. But I knew that if it worked we’d be able to create a project we wouldn’t have been able to without KS. And that was indeed the case. Now we’re looking at starting our 18th KS with the Deluxe Changeling 20th Anniversary Edition KS on this Thursday.

Another bunch of steps along the path.

How we roleplay together has changed, and there are other ways to gather together and play than meeting physically. Certainly I’ve had and am having a ball playing on Roll20 and their like. For years I’ve wanted Onyx Path to start putting projects forward that have online gaming as part of their thinking. Just last week, a group of official nWoD character sheets designed by a particularly dedicated designer at Roll20 were added to their site. They look very good, and I gave them a lot of leeway to make them in a way that would facilitate their interface more than cleave to our paper versions. Check them out, you might be able to use them to play with your old group even though you are all too busy to meet physically or are scattered too fair apart to meet.

A few more steps that way down the path.

This coming weekend, we’re hoping to join in on some announcements coming from the new White Wolf Publishing about some of the initiatives and changes they are working on for the original WW settings. Things that I have wanted to do for awhile, that can be done now that they are in charge, and things I never thought of. Assuming that all these things can be finalized and announced, it should be quite a bunch of excitement. After the dust settles, we’re planning an Onyx Path Reddit AMA later in December to answer what questions we can and give some context to all the hoopla! It’s going to be a year where lots of new things happen.

Maybe more steps, maybe even a jump down the path.

More news of new initiatives from Onyx will be coming in the New Year, but one I can mention now is that for the first time we will have multiple KSs running at once in January with the Changeling 20th KS ending, the Pugmire KS starting, and our buddies at Nocturnal Media running a Scarred Lands KS while the other two are stopping and starting. We may do some cross-KS rewards and such, and you will definitely see a different focus for each of them. C20 is for a Deluxe like the previous X20 KSs, but the other two are set up differently. And even C20 has some surprises in its Stretch Goals that move us to different rewards than we were able to offer before.

Moving right along.

The Path.

BLURBS!

Expect something special on Dec 25th, as we lead up through the 12 Days of Onyx Christmas with a contest starting on Dec 14th that I’ll tell you about next week!

KICKSTARTER!

Going live at 12 noon EST US on Dec 10th…the Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Kickstarter!

ON SALE!

M20 How Do You DO That? is coming to DTRPG in PDF and PoD versions hopefully next week!

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition PDF & Standard and Premium PoD physical book editions are NOW AVAILABLE on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149562/Mage-the-Ascension-20th-Anniversary-Edition

The Pugmire Pamphlet we had available at Gen Con is now ready for PDF download. Read about the world of Pugmire from the enthusiastic and optimistic pen of Princess Yosha Pug, as well as notes from the gruff and worldly hunter Pan Daschund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153518/Pugmire-Gen-Con-Brochure

There are also six Pugmire posters available as free PDFs or $.99 physical posters, suitable for framing:

Spike Mutt: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150845/Spike-Mutt-Pugmire-Poster-6

Pan Dachshund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150844/Pan-Dachshund-Pugmire-Poster-5

Jack Rat-Terrier: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150944/Jack-RatTerrier-Pugmire-Poster-4

Sgt. Leo Bulldog: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150843/Sgt-Leo-Bulldog-Pugmire-Poster-3

Princess Yosha Pug: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149750/Princess-Yosha-Pug-Pugmire-Poster-2

Sister Picassa Collie: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148516/Sister-Picassa-Collie-Pugmire-Poster-1

Start spreading the Code of Man!

CONVENTIONS!

We’re one of the Contributing Sponsors at Midwinter Con this year this January in Milwaukee! RichT, Fast Eddy Webb, and Newlywed Neall Raemonn Price will be there at our booth as well as running demo games of Scion and Pugmire. We’ll be talking more about panels, but I think you can count on a Pugmire one and a Scion/StoryPath System one, at least. In the meantime, check out the show here: http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes (Beast: the Primordial)

Scion: Alpha (Scion 2nd Edition Playtest Alpha Slice)

Dagger of Spiragos (Scarred Lands)

EX3 Quickstart (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Shattered Dreams in-book stretch goals (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (Scarred Lands)

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

V20 Ready Made Characters (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Cavaliers of Mars

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Second Draft

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

WtF The Pack (Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

WtA Kinfolk (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Development

StoryPath System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

nWoD Hurt Locker (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)

VtM Lore of the Bloodlines (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Beast Ready Made Characters (Beast: the Primordial)

Editing W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dark Eras Expansions (nWod Dark Eras)

Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad (Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Beast Fiction Anthology (Beast: the Primordial)

Dark Eras Companion (nWod Dark Eras)

Post-Editing Development:

Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)

V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Anthology (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

V20 Ghouls – Awaiting text.

– Awaiting text. W20 Shattered Dreams – Awaiting artnotes for Ch. 5.

– Awaiting artnotes for Ch. 5. Mage: the Awakening Second – Art is in. Awaiting approvals from Paradox.

– Art is in. Awaiting approvals from Paradox. Promethean: the Created Second – Waiting on the last five splats to come in and approvals from Paradox.



– Waiting on the last five splats to come in and approvals from Paradox. Scarred Lands PG – sketches rolling in and a some finals as well.

– sketches rolling in and a some finals as well. Dark Eras – Working on that. Expanded chapters have been AD’d and I managed to keep the same artists working on their respective chapters.

Pugmire Early Access – sketches rolling in.

In Layout

Dreams of Avarice – in proofing.

– in proofing. Guide to the Black Hand – Working on it.

– Working on it. NWoD 2 Cards – Once NWoD 2 is done.

Once NWoD 2 is done. Clan Novel Assamite (PoD and epub update) – Reviewing PoD proof. On sale this week?

– Reviewing PoD proof. On sale this week? Clan Novel Ventrue (PoD and epub update) – Proofing.

– Proofing. Ex 3 Anthology – Dropping in formated file.

– Dropping in formated file. Beast Screen – Doing up the text side this week and getting it wrapped up as much as possible.

Proofing



Beast: The Primordial – Going to indexing and Paradox for approval.

– Going to indexing and Paradox for approval. nWoD2 – At Paradox for Approval

At Paradox for Approval Demon STG – Going to Paradox for Approval

Going to Paradox for Approval Ex 3 core book – From RichT: Devs working on notating changes to a clean PDF to send to me and Maria for review. Art corrections finishing up.

At Press

M20 – Deluxes printing (Screen is finished and awaiting book).

– Deluxes printing (Screen is finished and awaiting book). M20 How Do You Do That ?!? – Waiting for new and corrected PoD proof.

– Waiting for new and corrected PoD proof. V20 Lore of the Clans – PoD uploaded and awaiting proofs.

Special- projects on hold in the art and production area until an external factor is resolved

Wraith 20 – Can’t go further until art notes come in, still being developed by Rich Dansky.

Can’t go further until art notes come in, still being developed by Rich Dansky. Pentex Employee Indoctrination Manual – Some added and amended text needs to come in.