Cataloguing, Our Thoughts. [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

We had set aside today to discuss this next year’s Onyx Path brochure, and we almost forgot until the end of the Monday Meeting. Fortunately, one organized soul remembered, and so we began our talks.

I expect these to continue for a couple of weeks.

Why, you may ask – I certainly do – does it take so long to whip together a bunch of descriptions of your products and knock out a brochure or catalog?

Why indeed?

Well, first, it’s important to determine why you are even making the thing in the first place. Why do we need to have a physical takeaway from conventions for folks to refer to?

Well, that depends on what you want them to do with it after they’ve left the con, and focusing on that is a large part of our discussions.

Previously, when we first started Onyx Path, we wanted to show in print and in a concentrated way that the White Wolf game lines were not dead and buried. So we emphasized the new WW-IP projects that we were going to come out with in the year to come.

Since Eddy and I had been doing our “What’s Up With WW?” panels at Gen-Cons and other conventions prior to Onyx Path‘s creation, and continued with “What’s Up With Onyx Path?” since then, and we usually released the next year’s schedule there, we incorporated a schedule with the first Onyx brochures.

C20 Players Guide art by Drew Tucker

When we realized that a classic schedule wasn’t working with how we were getting the projects out, and we stopped the practice of announcing release dates, we also took that opportunity to move away from the “schedule” brochure to more of an “announcement” brochure.

This was a brochure that still emphasized all the lines, but which included the next couple of releases for the lines. No release times specified, just that we were working on them for that line.

While this was happening, we also were ramping up our own Onyx Path-owned game lines, and so including that they were coming was also part of the “announcement” focus. And that led to us realizing we needed to move from presenting the info in the brochure from “Look at those guys keep WW games alive!” to “Look at Onyx Path do WW games!”.

Which then led to Onyx Path having had enough successes with the WW-IPs, and enough new game lines with Pugmire, Scion, Cavs, Trinity Continuum, etc. that we wanted to emphasize all the worlds we had to offer.

So, a couple of years ago, we began using the “Many Worlds, One Path” tagline, and debuted it in the brochure for that year. Our emphasis was to go through all the game lines and give a feel for them in prose descriptions and visuals, and note a little bit about upcoming products – but really not much more than the title.

We figured anybody interested could get more info on our website, DTRPG, and the other vendors and social media listed in the brochure. Because that’s another thing that grew, the number of sales partners we were working with – and it made sense to use the brochure to provide contact info for all of them.

In Media Res art by Tom Denmark

Now, we’re looking again at what we want the brochure to do. We’re still proud of all the game lines we are working on, but having so many, and adding more every year, makes it hard to choose how to set up the brochure. That’s a lot of info to provide and it is hard to minimize any of them since we know they all have devoted fans.

Why is this hard? Here’s the list of all the game lines we’re currently working on, not to mention earlier editions we created a ton of books for:

Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

WoD 20th Anniversary Edition (Ghost Hunters)

Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition

Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition

Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition

Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition

Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition

Deviant: The Renegade

Dark Eras 2 (contains material for most CofD lines)

Contagion Chronicle (contains info on most CofD lines for crossover)

Exalted 3rd Edition

Pugmire

Monarchies of Mau

Cavaliers of Mars

Dystopia Rising: Evolution

Legend Lore

Scion 2nd Edition

Trinity Continuum: Core

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Trinity Continuum: Aeon

They Came From Beneath the Sea!

So what we’re thinking about now is some sort of core brochure that just describes the game line worlds, notes which system you need to play, maybe has some other useful tips that help define that line. This would be made for cons, game stores, the like, and would back up our tagline with explanation.

Then we’d use a combination of sales sheets and other info to highlight which specific projects are coming out near each con we attend, so those can be the timely takeaways, with the brochure being the evergreen one for the year.

Curious Cats art by Claudio Pozas

But we’re still talking about it, and I’m sure we’ll come up with a bunch more ideas in the weeks to come. But, that’s where you come in if you have thoughts about this.

Give us a yell here in the Comments and let us know what sort of brochure idea you would find value in. What would you like to take away from seeing us at cons, or from your Friendly Local Game Store

We’d appreciate any input you can share with us, AND you’ll also be helping us define more concretely this here tagline:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

With just over a week to go in our Kickstarter for the Deluxe version of EX3‘s Lunars (that funded in less than 40 minutes) and we are well over 300% funded and have over 2000 backers! Multiple Stretch Goals have already been achieved, and we’ve just gotten started. So c’mon and get your beast-form on and join the fun

The Story Told Podcast has a wonderful interview about Lunars: Fangs at the Gate: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/bonus-episode-5-exalted-lunar-ks-interview-with-eric-minton

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features a fascinating interview with the one and only Deadguy: Rich Dansky! Listen in as our team pores through Rich’s memories of his time at White Wolf, and how he made the jump to be one of the most-regarded story experts in computers games, and much more besides. https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

If YOU have a podcast, YouTube or Twitch channel, or talk about games on a blog or other website, and want to perform actual plays or make reviews of our games, please reach out to the Gentleman Gamer on the Onyx Path forum. From there we’ll share emails and get you started, so when you do start producing content we’ll be able to promote it on our blog and YouTube channel!

We have a lot of links to share with you today!

The excellent team at Devil’s Luck Gaming continues with their utterly fantastic, costumed actual play of Scarred Lands: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming

Caffeinated Conquests has uploaded another part of their fun Scion story, and it’s definitely worth checking out what they’re up to: https://youtu.be/q79XooiVAes

A new addition to our list is TastiGMmaster2099, who is constructing a playlist of fantastic Chronicles of Darkness videos covering each and every gameline: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLixJK8l5vk5kMuEfYiG97O2_T39EeCycH

ForgottenDreamsGaming are another newcomer for us! On their Twitch they’ve been running V5, and it won’t be long before they’re running some more of our games: https://www.twitch.tv/forgottendreamsgaming

And speaking of V5, Random Encounter Productions progresses with their chronicle of Vampire and will likewise soon be embarking on some more of our games! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlzHI-dywTqVIen5qfeboA

There’s more!

Blades & Blasters has concluded a Chronicles of Darkness chronicle and will shortly be on to Changeling: The Lost 2E https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWuQ35EIFeJDt1_FGnOIz3Q/featured

And let’s not forget the fine, fine, superfine folks at Red Moon Roleplaying, with their well-produced high quality actual plays of Changeling: The Lost 2E and They Came from Beneath the Sea! https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com/podcast

The ExalTwitch crew’s new Exalted3 game begins tonight at 7pm EST too, at twitch.tv/beanduck

And finally, check out one of our translation partners’ gorgeous new game Gods, as presented with this Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/731310612/gods

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here’s an update from the App devs:

Onyx Dice! We’ve recently released the Changeling: The Lost, Trinity Continuum: Aeon dice, and now the Geist dice. Next up on our radar is: Demon: The Fallen, Mummy: The Resurrection, Kindred of the East, Vampire Dark Ages, and Mummy: The Curse.

We have a serious issue on the Pixel and Motorola phones that prevent the user from using the app correctly. A fix is coming shortly. A temporary workaround is to minimize the app without shutting it down, and then restore it.

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

And available this week! Deluxe Changeling: The Dreaming and Deluxe Beckett’s Jyhad Diary! The additional books we have after the Kickstarter ship-outs are done are now at IPR!

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

At DTRPG…THERE IS A GIGANTIC SALE running there across 57,000 PDFs – including almost every Onyx Path product there- up to 40% off! There’s a week left, so check it out!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re putting up blank Scarred Lands Journals on our RedBubble store for all of our Scarred Lands community to use at their gaming tables, and anywhere else folks need to jot down ideas into gorgeous SL-themed notebooks!

CONVENTIONS



UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd

Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th

Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14

GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd

We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (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 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Redlines

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval:

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Editing:



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

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Scion Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Post-Editing Development:

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel: Cup of Dreams (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Chicago By Night – AD’d.

AD’d. Aeon Aexpansion – Sending contracts & notes to artists.

Sending contracts & notes to artists. They Came From Beneath the Sea!

EX3 Lunars – KS going.

KS going. Hunter: The Vigil 2

Shunned By the Moon – Still contracted as of today.

– Still contracted as of today. Contagion Chronicle – AD’d for KS.

AD’d for KS. Scion Jumpstart – Art buy configured.

Art buy configured. VtR Spilled Blood – Going over notes.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Dystopia Rising: Evolution

Book of Oblivion

Signs of Sorcery

Proofing

M20: Gods and Monsters – Errata finishing in layout.

Errata finishing in layout. Pugmire Roll of Good Dogs and Cats – Corrections being input.

Corrections being input. Adventures for Curious Cats – Art is arting.

Art is arting. Trinity Core – Putting in Mind Meld changes.

Putting in Mind Meld changes. Trinity Aeon – Putting in Mind Meld changes.

Putting in Mind Meld changes. Ex3 Dragon Blooded – PoD files uploaded, waiting on OK to order proofs.

PoD files uploaded, waiting on OK to order proofs. Geist 2e – 2nd Proof.

2nd Proof. C20 Player’s Guide – Waiting on fixed piece of art to do 2nd Proof

Waiting on fixed piece of art to do 2nd Proof In Media Res

The Realm – First proof, still need some art.

At Press

Scion Hero – Printer proofs returned. BackerKit site orders getting locked Weds.

Printer proofs returned. BackerKit site orders getting locked Weds. Scion Origin – Printer proofs returned. BackerKit site orders getting locked Weds.

Printer proofs returned. BackerKit site orders getting locked Weds. Scion Dice – At Studio2.

At Studio2. Scion Screen – At Studio2.

At Studio2. Fetch Quest – At Studio2

At Studio2 False Images – EX3 novel – PoD proof ordered.

PoD proof ordered.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE:

Have a tipple of your favorite beverage for gaming in memorial for Gary Gygax, who died this day in 2008. As with all creative ventures, many folks contributed in different ways to the start of TTRPGs with D&D, but Gary certainly officiated (DM’d) over its rise to the brand name of our hobby.