“don’t run home to mama!” [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

I don’t remember who came up with that tagline for the advertising teasers we did for the first edition Wraith: the Oblivion release, but I loved it then and I love it now. (My memory is that it was graphic designer Michelle Prahler who did those first ads and she might have even come up with that line). I can’t even say why I love it so much. It really doesn’t make any sense, yet it just gives Wraith a bit of aggressive spirit that really stirs up the game about being dead. So it feels right, even if when it is looked at analytically the line doesn’t quite explain anything factual from the game at all. A bit of “in your face” was something we wanted for Wraith, something to emphasize the punk in what may be our most gothic of the classic WoD “big five” game lines. That emphasis was, if I recall correctly- and somebody jump in and tell me if I’m off, one of the chief reasons we changed the original title, Ghost, to Wraith. It sounded more angsty to us.

So obviously, from the image above and how I started this blog, the big news this week is the Deluxe Wraith: the Oblivion Twentieth Anniversary Edition Kickstarter that is starting tomorrow at 12 noon EST Tuesday December 2. We’re all pretty excited about the KS, and we’ve got Rich “Deadguy” Dansky, the Wr20 developer, ready to answer questions and generally be the erudite and fun guy that he is in the Updates and the Comments sections. Because we are by necessity going to run this over the holidays, we’re extending the duration to 35 days, which should let folks get past the New Year and still be able to pledge. That’s one reason this KS is a bit different for us, and another is the fact that the original Wraith never had a Revised (or third) Edition, so Rich is approaching the creation of this 20th Anniversary Edition as both a love letter to classic Wraith: the Oblivion and it’s fans, and also as a chance to revise the text as if it was a new edition.

And you can help! In order to allow fan feedback and Reward Tiers that include rewards that will affect Wraith 20 itself, we are launching before the writing is completely finished: at an average the book is in “redline” stage. This leaves more room for Rich to work with backers and not have to wait for a further book down the line. Of course, that leaves us open for… The Wraith Curse.

Long-time Wraith: the Oblivion fans will recall that both previous editions of the main book were plagued by various problems including an exploding transformer (not Megatron) outside a playtest during the writing of first edition. These problems became so prevalent that it seemed that…something…wanted to stop us publishing the books. The Wraith Curse was born. As crazy as it might sound, we have actually entered into the creation of this 20th Anniversary book with The Wraith Curse in mind, and have taken precautions to make sure that we can keep rolling with the project barring anything less than a nuke taking out the Kickstarter servers. (So if that happens, you’ll know why). More realistically, we’ve had our fair share of learning curve road-bumps with our earlier Kickstarters, and so those precautions are far more about those challenges being covered. But The Wraith Curse is more fun to talk about!

Also tomorrow, DTRPG is extending their Cyber-Monday sale of WW PDFs because so many folks hit the server wall. So pop over there (particularly if you are a Technocracy fan…Cyber and Technocracy…get it?) and check out all of their amazing sales!

The Onyx Path crew talked about reviewing pitches for the 2016-2017 schedule, and how we are handling them this year. Meetings will inevitably ensue. Mostly we are all looking at getting back into the swing after Thanksgiving. Thanks to all of you who wrote in with your thanks last month, you really proved it was a month of thanks giving. The whole month’s worth of blogs were really designed to be a tonic for our Onyx Path teams to the stress of dealing with waves of internet commentary that just tends to the negative- hope they helped some of you that way, too.

Finally, in the spirit of the holidays, I have in my possession a small number of extra Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Editions (no Heavy Metals though, sorry) and W20 Screens, as well as a few Deluxe W20 Changing Breeds books and W20 CB Screens. If you’re interested, we can still get them out before the holidays, so give me a yell at richt@theonyxpath.com with what you’d like and your address and we can figure out costs and shipping based on where you live.

And now, a bit o’ progress below:

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)

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

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

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

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

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

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

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

Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent)

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Exalted 3rd Fiction Anthology (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Second Draft

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

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)

Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)

Fallen World Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Mage: the Awakening)

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

Editing

Exalted 3rd Edition core book- From Holden: All first-pass editing is finished, though, and he’s currently doing second passes through Charms, Evocations, and Martial Arts to nail down consistency issues throughout– editing is in the very final steps, in other words. (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Firestorm Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition)

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

Development (post-editing)

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

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition core book (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition, featuring the Idigam Chronicle (Werewolf: the Forsaken)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE