Summer, Summer, Summer…[Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

…It’s got me Upside-Down!

And this Fae creature here is definitely upside-down because she’s saying “Shhh”, when she should be saying: “Tell All Your Friends about the Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Kickstarter!”. All those folks in the fancy suits could be pledging!

Yes, I’m being a bit silly here, but we are down to the last few days of this awesome Kickstarter and we want to be sure that everybody who needs to hear about it, has. Because, I guarantee that the very first KS message we get after the KS is over will be from somebody who didn’t hear about it, and who wants to pledge. After Dark Eras 2, I got that kind of message less than one minute after it closed!

We ourselves are getting the word out everywhere we can. In fact, here’s an interview on Darker Days with CtL2 developer Meghan Fitzgerald all about the book, the line, the KS, Dark Eras 2, all sorts of stuff! Because she’s working on all sorts of stuff for us: http://podcast.darker-days.org/e/83-hedge-funding/

So, please do what you can do as well – thanks!

I note down there, way at the end of the blog in the Reason to Celebrate, that this coming week is our last full work week of the year at Onyx Path. We’ll meet as usual next Monday, but then folks are dispersing for the holidays. We’ll be back January 2nd, and we’ll still have something on sale each Wednesday, and backer Updates and all that sort of monthly stuff, we’re just setting all those up in advance.

Of course, our many, many, talented freelance creators will still be creating away, anyway! I used to get tons of freelance art done over the holidays from the regular job, and I’m sure they all will too.

I did want to touch base on a few projects we’re working on, since they are all “sort of” in a phase but also not quite as outlined in last week’s blog post: http://theonyxpath.com/no-spring-skips-its-turn-monday-meeting-notes/

Scion 2nd:

As we’ve mentioned before, and noted during its Kickstarter, Scion 2nd is kind of a big deal for us. It’s the first of our games powered by the StoryPath System, and also the first to take the hits and subsequent delays as that system was trial-tested. Nasty Neall Raemonn Price would have delivered the books months ago if he had an existing system to lay Scion 2nd‘s elegant mantling of mythological depth over top of. Or even a system just for Scion‘s own use.

But he, more than almost anyone, recognized the importance of getting our “house system” right, and has hammered away at getting it where it needs to be. For the good of Scion 2nd, but also for the Trinity Continuum, They Came From Beneath the Sea!, and [whoops, almost wrote that out] uh, other games in the future.

Now, though, we have added Fast Eddy Webb in as our StoryPath System guru, and right now he is reading through Scion: Hero‘s final text and I’m reading through the final, final Scion: Origin text before it goes to editing. Which is why I mention this, because our progress reports don’t really show all the effort, the added talents, the half-stages, the reviews and rewrites, that go into making one of our books.

The Trinity Continuum:

Speaking of massive efforts, and you’re going to hear more about this with the new year and our Trinity Continuum Kickstarter, but if Scion 2nd was the trailblazer for our system, then the TC has been the test case that proves that it is flexible and robust enough to power the game-play of a very different universe. Not that rebooting a classic game line is ever easy, but Ian Watson, John Snead, Danielle Lauzon, and all the Trinity Continuum creative teams, have done amazing work with taking the best parts of the original games and then adding our new system as it was being finalized. As above, Eddy is also reading through the text right now with an eye towards making sure the setting and system work hand-in-hand.

We’re not expecting huge problems with any of the text, but we’re also not going to go live with the Kickstarter until it gets our stamps of approval.

Signs of Sorcery:

As I have mentioned, pretty much all year and I hope that I’m not boring you all with this refrain, we’ve been re-configuring our “corporate” efforts to provide more support to our delightful freelance developers. Rollickin’ Rose Bailey has been working with Dapper Dave Brookshaw to help him with his projects after some unexpectedly crappy real life events. Rose helped Dave bring on an additional developer for Deviant: The Renegades to help bring this very different Chronicles of Darkness core line to the writing stage, and that provided some needed creative and logistic space that opened up for Dave the chance to concentrate on Mage: The Awakening 2nd again.

Which led to Dave and Rose now currently reviewing the text for Signs of Sorcery, and it sounds like they are really happy with most of it and have a battle plan for resolving any other bits that might need reworking.

Mage 20th:

We had several strategy sessions with Satyr Phil Brucato, and we agreed to push several of the M20 Kickstarter Stretch Goal projects forward while he concentrated on Book of the Fallen, and Gods and Monsters. Hence, the M20 Art of Mage book that was released a month or so ago, and the M20 Cookbook coming out this week.

Of course, these aren’t books that go deep into the Mage setting, or provide new rules, but we see the value in providing these sorts of M20 “lifestyle” projects, that can enhance someone’s enjoyment of M20 beyond sitting down and playing. There are fascinating insights into the creative process as well as all the art in the artbook, and the recipes in the cookbook are those actually used and tested by Satyr Phil and his creative team. (They look pretty good to me!)

While Rose has been mainly focusing on helping our Chronicles of Darkness, and Exalted 3rd, creative teams, Eddy Webb’s new full-time position also includes doing a similar thing for our other game lines, including the World of Darkness games, and in this case, M20. Eddy is working with Satyr Phil to dovetail M20‘s creative process into Onyx Path‘s production process, and so you see the beginning of M20 Technocracy Reloaded‘s writing process getting started, while Eddy’s also helping Phil with finalizing the text for Gods and Monsters and Book of the Fallen.

(And just to be clear, both of the developers and their creative teams for our two Mage lines are absolutely amazing and talented creators, and very little of what Onyx Path offers as help is content-based. We are mostly assisting with the logistics of dealing with the challenge of creating these projects (no small thing in itself) in the manner we as a publisher require to actually generate these books, while dealing with their real-life challenges. Like I’ve pointed out since Onyx Path started almost 6 years ago, we’re human beings doing the work we love, but it ain’t easy and we want to help our creators create, even when life starts throwing curveballs.)

(And to be even clearer, I’m mentioning these specific projects/lines because folks have commented on their concerns, and quite rightly, as the weeks and months go by. They are examples of our efforts, but not all of our efforts. Both Rose, and now Eddy as well, are working with all of our freelance creators and teams one way or the other in some capacity, and of course, Mirthful Mike is in a constant buzz of communication with our artists and designers, encouraging them on.)

They Came From Beneath The Sea!:

No problems here. Things are actually going really well, although I will say that even a developer who has worked on other books like Matthew Dawkins can be amazed at how different creating and developing a new game-line can be. He tells me. But I do want to point out that this game is really weird and different, even for us. Check out this first blog post: http://theonyxpath.com/pets-and-circus-clowns-they-came-from-beneath-the-sea/ I mean, what’s the deal with the clowns?

As should be obvious from our selection of projects above:

Many Worlds. One Path.

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

We’re into the measurement of hours now for our KS campaign!

Our story so far: We funded in about a day, and have already blown through 18 Stretch Goals! The goals include four novellas: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer, an art budget increase, a CtL2 Jumpstart, a new virtual CtL2 dice set added to the Onyx Path Dice App, three new sections for the Kith and Kin book that we’re calling the Book of Kiths, the first sections for the CtL2 Companion: Entitlements, Freeholds, and Courts, we added another 4 PDFs to our CtL 1st Edition PDF reward, and we’re headed rapidly towards adding another section, Shields, to the Kith and Kin book. With many more Stretch Goal rewards to come!

We’ve also revealed excerpts with notes from the developers, and ALL of the book text has been shown to backers so far.

Come along now as we hit the final days of this year and this Kickstarter!

Next, our Trinity Continuum Kickstarter will start in early January!

ON SALE NOW:

As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking! Right now, they’re working on implementing multi-dice and die previews in the store, after adding in a lot of requested upgrades and tweaks, which is going along nicely but is a ton of work. Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

(The Solar Anima special Dice)

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

(Kindle, Nook) Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

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/

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

Arriving at DTRPG.com this Wednesday, and soon to your tables: The M20 Mage Cookbook!

Food is Life

We are what we eat. As mages throughout history have realized, the foods that sustain our bodies sustain enlightenment as well. Such foods become extensions of the people and cultures that create them. Now Brother Oliver Lyon, Knight Templar and a humble baker’s son, travels around the world hunting the Fallen and gathering fine recipes along the way.

Enchanting Recipes

From Mandarin lion’s heads to alchemical booze, Brother Oliver’s collection of delicious recipes spans the cultural realms of Mage’s human world. Among these many culinary concoctions, you’ll find:

Lobster Bisque

Angel Torte

Chicken Nanban

Corn Fufu

Beef Wellingtons

Battenburg Cake

Cannibal Stew, and so much more

Feed Your Body, Feed Your Soul

The M20 Mage Cookbook is a non-canon but tasty culinary perspective on the world of Mage: The Ascension

The world of Pugmire comes alive in this full cast audio drama experience “Thank You, Darcy Cat” available now on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226921/Pugmire-Thank-You-Darcy-Cat

The police dogs have called Alistair Afghan to discuss the crimes of his valet, Darcy Cat. But this misunderstanding leads to the discovery of a deadly secret deep in the heart of Pugmire society. Will Alistair and Darcy be able to save Pugmire from this threat?

Created by Audioblivious Productions in conjunction with Pugsteady. Check out Audioblivious at https://www.audioblivious.com/!

We unveil Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Half-Damned as an Advance PDF on DTRPG.com!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227500/Half-Damned

I love her, she’s family, but I don’t love what she is.

– Antonio Ramírez, dhampir

This book includes:

• An exploration of what it means to be one of the Half-Damned, dhampir, revenants or ghouls.

• Mechanics for creating Half-Damned characters.

• Information for creating and running chronicles using the various Half-Damned character types, both with vampires and alone.

• Information on Half-Damned antagonists for vampire chronicles.

Legacy of Lies, the V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart, goes undead in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/222956/Legacy-of-Lies-A-V20-Dark-Ages-Jumpstart

TWO PRINCES. BITTER RIVALS. AND A COTERIE CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM.

Marcus Verus, the vampiric Prince of Chester, secretly prepares to go into torpor. Should his plans be made public, the Prince knows the wolves — both real and imagined — would launch an attack, threatening all within his domain.

That’s where you come in.

Legacy of Lies includes:

Basic rules for players and Storytellers

Introduction to the Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages setting

setting Introductory adventure

Characters for players and Storytellers

Appearing on DriveThruRPG is the Advance PDF for Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

What dark secrets do the eldest vampires hold? Find out in Thousand Years of Night for Vampire: The Requiem! PDF and physical book PoD versions available on DriveThruRPG.com. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214130/Thousand-Years-of-Night

You may think that with a multitude of people coming, going, dying and running away, we’d be tired, done, or ready to give up.

Instead, I find myself restless, looking for the next thing.

There’s always a next thing, and I for one am not yet ready to die.

– Elder Kincaid, Daeva Crone

This book includes:

• Detailed instructions on creating elder vampires, including how to base chronicles around them

• A look into the lives of elders, how they spend their nights, who they work with, and why including their roles in both their clans and covenants

• New Devotions, Merits, and Rituals for elder vampires

• The kinds of creatures that pose a threat to elder vampires, including Inamorata, Lamia, Sons of Phobos, a new elder conspiracy, and more!

Is a life of running and hiding a life worth living? We say yes. There’s always something between the running and the hiding, and those moments of grace make it all worthwhile.

The Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology is a perfect companion piece to Changeling: The Lost, 2nd Edition. These stories spin tales of the Lost, of those abducted and enslaved by fairies. Those who escaped, but whose captors will stop at nothing to find them. These fairies summon forth the Huntsmen, primordial hunters who understand nothing but pursuit and capture. The Huntsmen are unstoppable monsters, and the Lost can only look to each other for respite, rare comfort, and rarer trust.

The Hedge has parted and you can get the Advance PDF of The Huntsmen Chronicle Fiction Anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition at DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210042/The-Huntsmen-Chronicle-Anthology

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193014/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-Pathfinder

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

CONVENTIONS!

Planning ahead for 2018, we’re heading back to Midwinter Game Convention in Milwaukee, January 11-14, where we’re going to be bringing a big crew of many of your favorite Onyx Path designers and we’ll be running demos and making some special announcements at the show! http:// 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 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

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

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition) – see note above.

Redlines

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!) – see note above.

Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

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

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition) – see note above.

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Scion: Origin (Scion 2nd Edition) – see note above.

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition) – ditto.

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum) – ditto for me, too.

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum) – splunge! and see note above.

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

WW Manuscript Approval:

Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

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

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Cavaliers of Mars – New art getting assigned.



New art getting assigned. Ex3 Monthly Stuff



Scion Origins



Ring of Spiragos – Got Rich’s cover in.

Got Rich’s cover in. Changeling: the Lost 2

Trinity Continuum – Gonna ping artists this week to get updates…

Gonna ping artists this week to get updates… Ex3 Dragon Blooded – Sketches are coming in left and right…



Sketches are coming in left and right… Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever) – Syme is doing the splats.

Syme is doing the splats. Boggans – Reviewing art notes and figuring out the art buy.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Pugmire/Scarred Lands Community Content – working on the logo.



working on the logo. Book of Freeholds – With Mark

With Mark DtD Enemy Action – With Josh

With Josh Pugmire Fetch Quest – Playtesting samples uploading to order in time for MidWinter .

Playtesting samples uploading to order in time for . Pugmire – Vinsen’s Tomb – Notes are out. Need to input the changes on the first proof

Notes are out. Need to input the changes on the first proof Wraith 20 Screen

Proofing

Wraith 20 – Final layout proof to WW.

Final layout proof to WW. W20 Changing Ways – Second proof.

Second proof. Beast PG

At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Shipped to shipper. Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.



– To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG. Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. Waiting for Deluxe cover and the Screen proofs.

Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. Waiting for Deluxe cover and the Screen proofs. Prince’s Gambit – At WW for approval.

– At WW for approval. M20 Cookbook – On sale on Wednesday on DTRPG.com . See note above!

On sale on Wednesday on . See note above! CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology – Layout waiting for errata.

Layout waiting for errata. V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary – PoD proofs ordered.

– PoD proofs ordered. C20 Ready Made Characters – Errata fixing.

– Errata fixing. Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen – Errata fixing.

Errata fixing. Pugmire Artisan Cards – PoD proofs ordered.



PoD proofs ordered. Pugmire Shepherd Cards – PoD proofs ordered.

PoD proofs ordered. Pentex Indoctrination Manual – Ended Backer PDF errata gathering.

Ended Backer PDF errata gathering. VtR Half Damned – Out and errata gathering.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: This is our last full work week for Onyx Path, this year!

