Pre-Election Day Coverage [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

Naaaaaah.

We’ve all got enough of that going right now with the US presidential elections – let’s talk about games instead!

Yay!

Today in the Monday Onyx Path Meetings, here’s what we were talking about:

Monarchies of Mau and the 9 lives of cats.

and the 9 lives of cats. Some PoD issues, our recent books’ PoD proofs swirling around and around on the wait screen of eternity (I was able to order a couple today), and the glitching of the Exalted 3rd Charm Cards PoD versions (they are almost back up for sale as I write this).

PoD versions (they are almost back up for sale as I write this). The relative value of game company forums. PS: we’re keeping ours right now; I mean we just got a new chief administrator.

Gen Con 2017 . I know, really, so soon? Oh yes.

. I know, really, so soon? Oh yes. Rose Bailey, our Development Producer, is thrilled with our re-built cadre of freelance editor-type people. She has spent the last several years building this roster of talent, so kudos!

Getting our Extended Media crew up and running. Contracts and which fiction to ebook first and things like that.

The different kinds of boxes and how to make a Deluxe or Prestige version of Prince’s Gambit .

. What we’ll be doing until the end of the year and the holidays. Vacations were mentioned, the need to extend the Prince’s Gambit Kickstarter over that dreaded last week of the year into January, and the need to remind folks that if you want our physical books and merchandise for gifts for the holidays, you’ll need to order them soon in order to leave room for shipping times.

In fact, today might be a good day to break out the kinds of projects Onyx Path is offering and where I’m looking for us to develop in the next year.

PDFs: Electronic versions of our game books and fiction that are readable on most computers and hand-held devices. Available on the Onyx Path publisher pages at DriveThruRPG.com and during our Kickstarters (and sometimes after, now that we are using BackerKit for our post-Kickstarter orders). Our fiction books’ electronic files also include other ebook format files.

Print on Demand (PoD) Physical Books: Working with our friends at DTRPG, these physical books are printed one at a time and shipped direct to you. Our game books, fiction, cards, and small posters, are available on the Onyx Path publisher pages at DTRPG, and its sister site DriveThruCards.com. Some discounted PoD books are offered at a discount during our Kickstarters. We have a Retailer PoD Program where store owners can order a selection of our PoDs at a discount. The quality of the color interiors was recently increased greatly, and we expect other continuing improvements as well. Right now, these books are printed with the quality we had at White Wolf during our first decade, which is really good.

Traditionally Printed Physical Books: We have run several Kickstarters – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition, Pugmire, and Scion 2nd Edition – with the express purpose of funding traditional print runs that will be made available to distributors and retailers so they can get the books into stores. None of these have been printed and released yet, but we expect this will happen in 2017.

Prestige Edition Physical Books: We’ve run a bunch of Kickstarters to fund the creation of Prestige Edition (thicker paper, multi-color interior, embossed, foiled, and specialty inked covers, and even some gilded pages and/or silk bookmarks) books that are mostly available only through their Kickstarters. This last year we partnered with Indy Press Revolution in order to offer the extras from the KS print-runs for purchase on their site and at their affiliated stores.

Deluxe Edition Physical Books: These are the books that got us started on Kickstarter. It all started with our desire to know if our community would fund the creation of Deluxe Edition (thicker paper, full-color interior, leatherette or other specially formatted covers, gilded pages and silk bookmarks) books. And the answer was a resounding yes! Our Deluxe Editions are mostly available only through their Kickstarters, and Deluxe Changeling: the Dreaming 20th and Deluxe V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary are also available through their post-Kickstarter Backer Kit pages. This last year we partnered with Indy Press Revolution in order to offer the extras from the KS print-runs for purchase on their site and at their affiliated stores.

T-Shirts, Other Clothing, Phone Cases, and Other Merchandise: Available on our Onyx Path store on the RedBubble site. Basically, these are all PoD printed, like our books, one at a time and shipped directly to you. Soooo many shirts with symbols and logos and featuring our amazing art from Onyx Path and classic White Wolf books and projects. Some of our Kickstarters also offer discounted exclusive shirts. See the link over to the right on our main page to go right to RedBubble.

Dice and Screens: We have used Kickstarter as the sole place to get both the various Storyteller Screens and now dice, for quite some time. Those projects where we have used BackerKit also allow adding to pledges for both of these things as well as “pre-orders”, and we have also sent the printer overruns of the Screens to IPR. We haven’t done so yet…but it is my intention to manufacture more dice than are required to fulfill the Kickstarter pledges in order to see how IPR does with dice, and also to explore whether QWorkshop, who creates the deluxe dice, might want to sell our dice on their site.

Looking into the future, we have the three areas we’re going to explore as the mission of the Extended Media team:

EBooks: Up until now, we have not fully explored how the eBook market has grown and changed, but our Extended Media team “Amazon Explorers”, consisting of Extended Media Coordinator Valerie Tate and industry veteran Bill Bridges, will be working first to create the correct files to put our Onyx Path fiction and fiction anthologies into the Amazon market, and then to explore and expand on the possibilities of Amazon and other eBook venues.

On-Line Gaming Sites: Since my RPG gaming now takes place online using Roll20, I’m interested in seeing how much interest there is in Onyx Path providing support and materials for sites that enable online play. Our “Online Rangers” team, consisting of Valerie and online RPG veteran Mary Yeager, will be working with the sites we are already in discussions with, and keeping an eye out for both what those communities want and what else we can do to help our community use these sorts of venues.

Apps: We announced the Blacksheets character generator app during the Scion 2e Kickstarter, and we intend to have a base Storypath System and the Scion 2e version ready for both the Apple store and Android marketplaces. Valerie is working with that design team, and will also be talking with several other app designers who have approached us for licenses. There is a huge amount of potential here, and we’re only just starting out.

And then there are these two very different directions:

LARP Rules: We also announced during the Scion 2e Kickstarter that we are working with the gang at Damocles Thread to create Live Action rules for Scion 2e. This was something they had pitched me a while ago, but after we had all sorts of folks chatting with us about Live Action Scion 2e, I decided to go ahead and see just what sort of community interest there would be if we put out a ruleset for this. With Neall Raemonn Price’s guidance and Damocle‘s design chops, this is a direction that has a great start, but I have no idea where it could lead.

Interactive Audio Dramas: What interests me about this is that the concept is a lot like the choose your own adventure concept, but with acting, music, and sound effects. So far, we are working with our friends at Earplay on Pugmire and Scion 2e dramas, and the new White Wolf Publishing is working with them and us on a Wraith/Orpheus drama, and once those hit what for us is a very different marketplace, we’ll see if the concept has enough appeal to do more. But just for the experience of starting to push the boundaries of what we can do with our worlds, it’s worth experimenting with.

And with all those awesome possibilities echoing in the ether, I’m ducking below the fray until these crazy, crazy elections are over.

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

We’re exploring card game Kickstarters, packaging, and components, for Prince’s Gambit.

ON SALE!

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

Exalted 3rd Edition Charm Cards! In PDF and PoD physical card sets! Back on sale this week on DTRPG!

For sale in PDF, ebook, and physical book editions at DTRPG.com: The Endless Ages fiction anthology! Vampire: the Masquerade fiction featuring all-new, original, stories written to evoke the distinct feeling of each of VtM‘s four editions! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193199/V20-The-Endless-Ages-Anthology

Celebrating 25 years of personal horror, the eighteen stories in Endless Ages range in style and aesthetics from the very first edition of Vampire released in 1991, all the way to the latest books put out for the 20th Anniversary Edition.

“The Becoming” has stories grounded in the lonely struggle for morality. “Gothic-Punk” stories focus on sensuality and the conflict between young and ancient vampires. “Signs of Gehenna” shows what happens to Kindred society as it teeters on the edge of apocalypse. Finally, “Modern Nights” juxtaposes all of these concepts to present a comfortable illusion of status quo in a world of conspiracy.

Tilt Cards to go with the Chronicles of Darkness Condition Cards are now for sale at DriveThruCards! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194464/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Tilt-Cards

Tilts are a unified way of applying circumstances to both characters and scenes during violent encounters. Tilts are mechanically similar to Conditions, but they affect characters and scenes in combat only. Outside combat, use Conditions instead.

Tilts do not give players Beats when they end, but the effects of a Tilt can easily cause a Condition. For instance, a character in a fight gets a handful of road salt flung into his eyes and receives the Blinded Tilt. When combat ends, this shifts to the Blind Condition.

These Tilt Cards are a handy and elegant way to keep track of and incorporate Tilts into your Chronicle with each of the 21 cards featuring a single Tilt.

With a howl, W20 Kinfolk: A Breed Apart‘s Advance PDF is now on sale on DTRPG! Awooooo! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194952/W20-Kinfolk-A-Breed-Apart

Born to Run

The Garou are born of two kinds: humans and wolves. These are their Kinfolk — those “of the blood.” These special people — whether of two legs or four — carry in them the hope of the Garou: the promise of future generations. Although Garou are born to Kinfolk, nobody knows they’re different until they undergo their First Change. Until such a blessed (or cursed) time, they are just like their more mundane Kin. Most live as humans, suffering the foibles of humanity, all the while hoping they’re secretly special, that they harbor the wolf within. Even though that wolf will never howl for the majority of Kin, they’ve still got a vital role in the war, aiding the effort from behind the lines.

Kinfolk: A Breed Apart contains:

Overview of the Kinfolk, both kenning and callow, including some of the Fellowships founded by Kinfolk to aid the Garou cause — and to protect themselves from their cousins’ Rage.

Character creation for playing Kinfolk, including new Skills, Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws, as well as special Kin rites, Gifts, and fetishes.

Guidelines for running Kinfolk chronicles, as well as in-depth information on the Kin-Fetches, the unique spirits used by Garou to watch over their distant cousins and warn the tribes if one of them should undergo the First Change.

NOTE: This is the Advance PDF version. A final PDF version and PoD versions will be available at a later date. If you have purchased this Advance PDF, you will be automatically updated to the final PDF and receive a link to enable you to purchase the PoD at a discount designed so that your total price matches our usual PDF and Print combo offer.

NOW the long awaited opportunity to own Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition as a physical book is at last at hand! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/181754/Mage-the-Awakening-2nd-Edition

You are a mage, one of the Wise. You see, know, and explore what others can’t imagine, from the depths of the human soul to the hidden corners of reality. Armed with your spells, driven by an addiction to Mysteries, you delve into the secrets of the world. Knowledge has a price, and the dangers are many.

This book contains:

The complete guide to playing a mage in the Chronicles of Darkness .

. Reimagined Paths, Orders, and powers to create your Awakened characters and their allies, including an updated version of the most comprehensive free-form magic system in gaming.

Five example settings across the world, from Los Angeles to Salamanca, each with a central Mystery.

A brand-new look at all the strange places of the Fallen World, from the Lower Depths to the Emanation Realms, and what mages might find within.

Now available from DriveThruRPG in PDF: Mage: The Awakening Condition and Numina Cards.

Part of the new Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition rules, Conditions add an additional layer of consequence and reward to certain actions in the Chronicles of Darkness.

Various things within the course of a game can cause Conditions. These include exceptional successes, supernatural abilities, and really any situation where the Storyteller thinks they can be used to heighten the drama of a game.

Also available in this deck are brand new Numina cards featuring these rules from the Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition rulebook for ease of reference at the table.

On sale NOW from DTRPG: the Promethean Dark Eras chapter A Handful of Dust in PDF and PoD versions! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/178800/Dark-Eras-A-Handful-of-Dust-Promethean-the-Created

The Great Depression and the black blizzards of the 1930s turned the American Midwest into a wasteland. For the better part of a decade, thousands of people experienced deprivation and alienation right alongside the Created. They also clung to the faint promise of hope, that the rains would come and restore the land.

This is a single chapter from the larger work, Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras.

CONVENTIONS!

Onyx Path will be at Mid Winter Con 2017 in January in the lovely city of Milwaukee. Come brave the cold wastes to game and cavort with us! Please keep an eye out on the MidWinter site for announcements as to our very special beta test and Play With The Creator special events! http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/

Matthew “Gentleman Gamer” Dawkins and Dapper Dave Brookshaw will be representing Onyx Path at Dragonmeet in London on Saturday, Dec 3rd, so if you are in the area and want to have a chat with either of those gentlemen, please do pop by and say cheerio!

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)

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

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

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

VtM Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Stretch Goal Content)

GtS Geist 2e core

VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Redlines