Mid-Winter Resolutions [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting

As you might have guessed by looking at the big ole logo up there, this week I’m headed off to the Mid Winter convention in Milwaukee as Guest of Honor. This is my first time going, but both Fast Eddy Webb, and Mighty Matt McElroy have spoken so highly about how it is becoming much more of a broad focus gaming con in recent years (I believe it has very strong roots in the local live-action community) and how it’d be a cool place for Onyx Path to attend, that I’m really looking forward to checking it out. Thursday gets me in there, and since I haven’t been to Milwaukee since the last time Gen Con was held there, we’ll be headed out to the legendary Maders German cuisine restaurant- where many a raucous White Wolf Gen Con dinner was held back in the day. (Poor Josh Timbrook was served a pork shank as big as his head!) Just had to go back for some salty bread and a boot-shaped glass of weissbeir.

Friday is pretty much a day of panels for myself and Eddy, as we go over the cool releases Onyx have planned through 2015 and maybe some hints for ’16, and ends with a Pugmire playtest session that we’re both really looking forward to.

11am: What’s Up with Classic World of Darkness

12noon: Crowdsourcing Panel

1pm: What’s Up with By Night Studios? (I won’t be on their panel, but just plugging friends here)

2pm: What’s Up with Onyx Path?

3pm: The Art of the World of Darkness

5pm: (What the hell is) Pugmire?

7pm: Pugmire playtest

Saturday I’m hoping to walk and talk to folks, play in a game or two, and I’m betting there’s a dinner and/or party that night. So if you are there, and want to chat, I’d love to talk with you – whether fan, retailer, or game industry professional.

Meanwhile, we ended the Deluxe Wraith 20 Kickstarter last week at almost $300,000, which buys a lot of ashtrays, and I’d like to thank everyone who participated. It is really heartening to see how Wraith has stuck with folks for so long. Truly a testament to how WW‘s “darkest” game got under people’s skins and stayed there. We’re pulling together the video and graphics for our next KS, the Dark Eras Prestige Edition Kickstarter, right now.

The Onyx Path crew talked about Gen Con and our plans for it this year. Yes, we really need to start this far out from the end of July, as panel descriptions are due end of this month.

At lunch, Eddy and I discussed the inevitable moments that occur as your pet reaches old age. (If you are a pet owner, you know the painful adjustments and ultimate decisions we were discussing). That did lead us, as we waxed emotionally about our furred friends, to something he and I have touched on previously, which is the idea that Pugmire, while ostensibly a slightly light-hearted adventure RPG, actually contains similar moments of pathos and understanding of the human condition. We think, and playtesting will prove whether we’re reading too much into things, that the pet/owner and animal/human connections free up players to deal with a different kind of storytelling in a similar way that “you play the monster” changed the expectations of roleplaying when Vampire and classic WoD first came on the scene. Not exactly the same way, mind you, and the stories you can tell are liable to be very different, but there are expectations and assumed roles built into Pugmire that we hope lead to some truly engaging moments.

So as we look towards the new year of 2015, and actually 2016 as CCP just this afternoon approved our schedule for 2016-2017, we at Onyx Path have a few Resolutions we’d like to share.

From Mirthful Mike Chaney:

Update the Art & Design Blog at least once a month (OP related) Learn After Effects (OP Related). Enter the Gen Con Painting competition Wear a shirt with buttons and non-camouflage shorts at Gen Con (of course all my shorts and 90% of my long pants are either forest, snow, or urban camouflage). From Rollickin’ Rose Bailey: Get the schedule more closely under control (OP related)

Keep up regular updates for Cavaliers of Mars (OP related)

Learn the basics of InDesign (personal) From Monica “The Marketeer” Valentinelli: Get somebody new hooked on Vampire: the Masquerade. From Fast Eddy Webb: Build an Onyx Path Vampire: The Masquerade development team that reflects the quality level and modern tastes that VtM deserves. Continue to be better about inclusivity without aggression in my work. Design and pitch a game that isn’t an RPG (possibly using one of the Onyx Path properties). From RichT: Be more hands-on. It’s great I now have talented people to delegate to, and there’s been a lot of publisher stuff I’ve needed to do these last few months, but that has taken away from my fun posting with you all, and actually working on projects. The Gauntlet of Spiragos cover art was a breath of fresh air…need…more… I too want to learn to create animations. My buddy and fellow Art Director Jon Hodgson created the awesome animated sequences for our 2015 Gen Con video, and I want to be just like him. Mage 20, Exalted 3rd, WtF2, V20 Dark Ages, MtAw2: I need to make these go out to all of you. They are crowding Promethean 2, Wraith 20, Beast, and CtL2 and Changeling the Dreaming 20th are feeling them crunching towards them too. Play more, in every sense. It’s a new year, so feel free to share your personal resolutions in the comments, or the resolutions you’d like us to make! (I can’t believe I asked for that.)

And now, a word of warning: I am fighting off a fever and I think I got all of these updated to this week’s updates but maybe not (ugh):

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (Projects in bold have changed listings)

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

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

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

Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)

Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) – In Open Development

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

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

Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent) Extension to writers was given.

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

“Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)

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

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening) – In Open Development

W20 Novel by Mike Lee (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Second Draft

Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)

Development

V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

World of Darkness Dark Eras- Vampire chapter (WoD Dark Eras)

Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created)

M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing

Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)

Exalted 3rd Fiction Anthology (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Development (post-editing)

World of Darkness Dark Eras core book (WoD Dark Eras)

Exalted 3rd Edition core book- From Holden: “All files are now with Maria” (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Fallen World Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Mage: the Awakening)

V20 Lore of the Clans (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE