Just Need a Kick to get Started. [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

As a follow up to last week’s blog (which you can get to in a click here: http://theonyxpath.com/a-pair-of-ducks-bought-white-wolf-monday-meeting-notes/, thanks Monica!), I had a very nice conversation with the CEO of the new White Wolf Publishing, Tobias Sjogren last week. The art above by Brian LeBlanc for W20 Shattered Dreams is the exact opposite of the nature of our call, although I’m sure Tobias would have jumped a Wyrm beast with me if I had asked. So far, there’s not a lot I can share with you folks, because really, this was more along the lines of getting to know each other and hanging out in a coffee shop than a first date.

We did talk a fair bit about Kickstarters and how they have tied into our WW IP efforts, though, and how I wanted to be sure he understood that these are ongoing deliveries and not a one book and done sort of thing for us. Our talk and a couple of follow-up emails with our old friend Martin Ericsson who missed the chat due to a fever from too much Halloween hoopla in New Orleans, and I think we are all on the same page. They’re working very hard to understand the extent of what our amazing crew here at Onyx Path has been able to do in just a few short years. We will have more meetings.

But all the Kickstarter talk made me realize how many great bits of news has come out of our KSs all last month, so I thought I’d recap them here:

Right now, we have the Deluxe W20 Shattered Dreams KS running towards hitting it’s first Stretch Goal and with about 10 days to go. We’re in the slowed down period that happens in the middle of every KS, and we’ll be pushing some advertising about this out to see if we can make a few more people aware of this book. Centered as it is on the pivotal War of Rage as well as some additional conflicts, and allowing play in both the modern day World of Darkness as well as an option to travel back through time to these war-torn Eras, the book is packed with drama for both the Garou and Changing Breeds.

We’ve also included Achievements such as sending us pics of you baying at the moon or your Werewolf tattoos as an added bit of fun during the Kickstarter. If enough folks send these sorts of things in, or if we hit a goal of FB likes or Twitter followers, backers will get added rewards! We did this during the Deluxe V20 Lore of the Clans Kickstarter and got tons of responses. Don’t let the leeches outdo you, Garou Nation!

Speaking of which, Deluxe V20 Lore of the Clans is getting ready to move to the next stage after its errata was gathered for the backer PDF. We were really thrilled by the response to this KS as the community really came together from the Open Dev Process before the KS, and then to commenting and doing Achievements during the KS, and finally with helping out by finding errata. Eddy is continuing work on V20 Lore of the Bloodlines, which was a project that came out of the Stretch Goals during the Deluxe V20 Lore of the Clans Kickstarter due to backer support.

As for the Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary Edition Kickstarter, well, we’re getting the errata for How Do You DO That?! input and the project is rolling along towards being put up on DTRPG. Again, this was a Stretch Goal project that really took off thanks to backer support (and there are many more additional projects to come). The Deluxe M20 cover, and the Ultra Deluxe M20 cover mock-up copies came in today, and:

Right now, they are just the covers, but this gives you a good idea of the way the Deluxe matches both V20 and W20 (although with a different texture to the black) and the Ultra Deluxe hearkens to all three previous editions of Mage. You can’t see it in one pic, but when you turn the book, the card starts to burn (visually, not for reals, yeesh!). Also, both books have an inset M20 graphic disk on the spine. From this stage we’ll be going to press with the interior this week.

When we’re talking about covers, we’ve got to bring up the cover for the Deluxe V20 Dark Ages as well, as I think it is one of our most beautiful, ever. This was another incredibly fun Kickstarter campaign, with lots and lots of backer involvement, and we have several additional projects that came out of it. Deluxe V20 Dark Ages is in the last stages of shipping out this week (as estimated for those keeping score at home), and here is the finished book:

The Backer PDF for Beast: the Primordial was actually out to its Kickstarter backers before we had estimated, and while that Kickstarter campaign was best described as tumultuous, we’ve had fantastic feedback on the errata and are moving forward with the PDF/PoD versions for DTRPG, and the Prestige traditionally printed versions.

The Kickstarter campaign for nWoD Dark Eras was another amazing ride for us as backers voted on which additional Dark Eras to add to the finished book. There were many strong arguments made for some of the possible Eras that folks really lobbied for, and ultimately the response was so huge that we created a whole ‘nother book of Dark Eras following the one we had the KS for! You can see the progress on both of the DE books in the updates below.

We were able to release another backer preview of a chapter for the Deluxe Wraith 20th Anniversary Edition as Rich DeadGuy Dansky continues to pull together the text for his mammoth labor of love. We won’t be winning any marks for hitting the estimated date on this one, due to unexpected day job responsibilities for poor RichD, but the chapters we’ve been previewing have received a lot of praise.

And then. Of course. There is the Deluxe Exalted 3rd Edition backer PDF. After all the ups and downs, the errata phase for the backer PDF closes on Wednesday this week, and we can begin to compile everyone’s fantastic notes. A bunch of art is being corrected or redone entirely, in particular those pieces that were not completely finished, or which “used reference directly” that we might not have known needed fixing without our community sussing it out. As things start to get pulled together, Holden has reached out to backers in the four Unique Charms reward tiers in order to get their ideas for the Charms that will be created and compiled as per their Rewards.

Finally, KS-wise, we have plans for something before the end of the year, and keep an eye out in January for a KS from Nocturnal Media run by original WW founder Stewart Wieck and featuring a Land wracked by Scars.

Finally, for reals, Impish Ian Watson sent me this capture to remind me that his project, The Trinity Continuum, is coming, even after my first mention of it to him four years ago almost to the day:

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

The War intensifies! We’re approaching the first Deluxe W20 Shattered Dreams Kickstarter Stretch Goal which is for the creation of a W20 Auspice Gift Deck (we’re starting with Auspices, but hope to do others as well). We have a bit more than one week left to go for this supplement detailing the multiple eras of the Wars of Rage as well as how to use the War in a modern Chronicle.

As noted above, for this W20 Kickstarter we’ve added Achievements to our usual mix of Rewards and Stretch Goals, with the idea that you can participate to unlock some rewards that aren’t part of the fund raising per se. We’ve already hit some of the Achievements! So, come pledge and send us pics of you howling at the moon or holding your pet rat(kin)!

ON SALE!

Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition PDF & Standard and Premium PoD physical book editions are NOW AVAILABLE on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149562/Mage-the-Ascension-20th-Anniversary-Edition

Vampire 20th Anniversary Edition: The Dark Ages is NOW available in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com! This massive full color tome is part of the V20 line but does not require V20 to play and enjoy.

The Pugmire Pamphlet we had available at Gen Con is now ready for PDF download. Read about the world of Pugmire from the enthusiastic and optimistic pen of Princess Yosha Pug, as well as notes from the gruff and worldly hunter Pan Daschund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153518/Pugmire-Gen-Con-Brochure

There are also six Pugmire posters available as free PDFs or $.99 physical posters, suitable for framing:

Spike Mutt: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150845/Spike-Mutt-Pugmire-Poster-6

Pan Dachshund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150844/Pan-Dachshund-Pugmire-Poster-5

Jack Rat-Terrier: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150944/Jack-RatTerrier-Pugmire-Poster-4

Sgt. Leo Bulldog: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150843/Sgt-Leo-Bulldog-Pugmire-Poster-3

Princess Yosha Pug: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149750/Princess-Yosha-Pug-Pugmire-Poster-2

Sister Picassa Collie: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148516/Sister-Picassa-Collie-Pugmire-Poster-1

Start spreading the Code of Man!

CONVENTIONS!

We’re one of the Contributing Sponsors at Midwinter Con this year this January in Milwaukee! RichT, Fast Eddy Webb, and Newlywed Neall Raemonn Price will be there at our booth as well as running demo games of Scion and Pugmire. We’re still working out panel concepts with the MidWinter gang, but expect at least one session where we ask for your feedback for Vampire 4th Edition. In the meantime, check out the show here: http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/

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)

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

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

CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes (Beast: the Primordial)