Things That Go BUMP…[Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting

There’s a whole lot of things that go bump in the night, or on our schedules, or in our brains. And end up in our Monday meetings.

This week I’m using a weird occurrence that happened over the weekend for a theme. At one point the top six threads at RPG.net were about our projects. Three about Beast, one about the Sardonyx System, one about M20, and one about Exalted.

First, the Beast Kickstarter did and continues to do, really well. Part of the KS presentation was to provide the almost complete text to the book for folks to read through. This has provided a lot of debate and a lot of excellent points as to certain ambiguities of good/evil, Hero/Beast, and victim/persecutor within the text. Part of that is a needful bit of nuance in a game where you play a member of a “family” of monsters who were the inspirations for such legends as ogres, dragons, and krakens. And part of that ambiguity was because the writers were wrestling with just how to present the material to enable those nuances. Beast takes risks. It tries to turn a few preconceptions on their ears. So if we need to go back into that text to clear up some unintended ambiguities – we will, and we are talking about it. Both today in our meeting and further this week.

Some folks have said that there’s no way they can back a game where the PC’s are so monstrous, so evil. Well, I hope everybody who feels that way actually did read the text we provided, because if folks did, and they still feel like that, then I’m glad we put up the text so they could know it’s not to their taste now. Not a few months from now when we send out the backer PDF, or even worse, even more months later when they get their Prestige Editions and are upset at the game they pledged for. Not all games are for all people- and that’s a good thing.

On the other hand, if you aren’t sure what to make of all these things you are hearing about the game, and the comments come in every kind of pro and con variety, I do hope you’ll take a read of the provided text on the Kickstarter page yourself. At the least, you’ll see that there is an intended difference between the other Beasts out there and the PCs, and that the PCs can choose to revel in the potential for what we humans would call evil, or choose to mitigate those acts and curb the excesses. Is the fiery Beast in the art above punishing an awful person, threatening an innocent, or is this a depiction of something more complex? You decide.

After Naughty Neall Raemonn Price released the first look at our “Sardonyx” System, the rules basis for the new versions of Scion and the Trinity Continuum, we’ve had excellent comments on both of our forums for those games, as well as on RPG.net. We’ve been thrilled with so much positive feedback for a system we’ve been working on for so long, and Naughty Neall tells me to expect another blog post this week. Incredible Ian Watson is also talking about putting up a blog post about the Trinity Continuum, for which he is the uber-developer- the developer who is tasked with keeping track of all the lines in the Continuum. He also wants to remind everyone that it is a continuum this time and that there will be some adjustments to how the previous three settings meshed, or didn’t, together.

Then there was the M20 thread about whether the backer PDF showed a game that was too political. Well, your “too” political and mine are probably different, so that’s pretty subjective. For me, there might be a half a page to a page of writing I think directly touches on Satyr Phil’s personal and heartfelt take on the world we live in. Out of about 700 pages. I think I can live with that since that means I get 699 pages of pure golden awesome. And the Exalted 3rd thread continued to examine what folks have heard and which might be in the final text but might not be, but still needs to be discussed in the usual good-natured and convivial way Exalted fans are known for. I kid because I love.

Finally, to let you readers in on one of the emails that just put all of this in perspective, that really ground us through the crazy creative pace we set, that remind us why we do what we do, we have a question from a Mr. Rocco Garibaldi of Ft. Lee, New Jersey:

I purchased several months ago copies of nWod Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, and Mage, and I noticed that each of them had a distinctive smell. Are the World of Darkness line books perfumed at all, and will Beast: The Primordial have its own “scent”?

I know during the meeting, I started hearing sniffing sounds over Skype as we all checked our books. So, we’ll get back to you on that one, but I’m betting it’s the cologne of whoever popped the book into its shipping packaging. At least, I hope that’s it.

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And now, the BLURBS!

Fear the dark places: the Beast: the Primordial Kickstarter went live last Tuesday and we funded in just over half a day! Thanks everybody who backed! We’ve just passed a Stretch Goal that means we’ll create a Beast: the Primordial Dark Era that will be included in the Dark Eras Companion book (and that PDF will be given to Beast backers). Many more Stretch Goals to hit as we ooze and scramble through the next three weeks. The complete text (mostly) is up there on the KS site, and will be updated for any tweaks we might make to the document.

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition KS backers: M20 PDFs went out to backers, and the response has been amazing! Thanks to all of you for your support and accolades. And also thanks to all of you intrepid eagle-eyed backers sending us notes on possible errors using the “Contact Me” button next to my picture on the M20 KS page. Your comments are great and very appreciated. We’re going to shut down the errata thread this week, so get your notes in there ASAP!

The second Pugmire poster, Princess Yosha Pug, is now available along with the first of the six Pugmire posters on DTRPG.com. Start spreading the Code of Man: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148516/Sister-Picassa-Collie-Pugmire-Poster-1

The Art of Changing Breeds for Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition is on sale in both PDF and physical book PoD versions! Check it out and see how the art for the Fera was commissioned and created.

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And now, new project status updates!:

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)

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

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

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

Pugmire Gen Con Materials (Be a Good Dog.)

CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dark Eras Expansions (nWod Dark Eras)

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

Pugmire Early Access

Dark Eras Companion (nWod Dark Eras)

C20 core (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

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

Cavaliers of Mars Quickstart- Gen Con Edition

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)

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

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)- In Open Development

nWoD Hurt Locker (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)- In Open Development

Second Draft

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

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

Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent) (Some drafts turn out to still be out)

Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad

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

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

Development

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

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

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

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

nWoD 2e core (New World of Darkness)

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

Editing

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

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

Development (post-editing)

Demon Translation Guide (Demon: the Fallen and Demon: the Descent)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE

In Art Direction