A Bit o’ Beckett & a Gram of Gen Con [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting, News

“Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is the update for every single lingering plot thread of 20 years.”

A very nice quote, and we’re glad that our V20 community are enjoying the book in the way we intended. Beckett’s Jyhad Diary was the project we earmarked as the book that brought forward into V20 as many of the storylines from previous editions as could be fit into the project. We knew, originally, that we couldn’t cover everything just because of space considerations, but then we thought: how about using Kickstarter to enlarge the scope of what we could cover like we did for CofD Dark Eras?

Developers Matthew Dawkins and Neall Reamonn Price (who have both been incredible during this Kickstarter) first created a complete and compelling set of chapters that hold together as a fascinating narrative of the travels, trials, and tribulations of our Gangrel diarist Beckett, and then compiled a list of additional storylines that could be added depending on how backers would vote.

So far, we have added the first triad of three extra chapters, and backers are currently voting on the second group. With 4 (really 5 because of the way Kickstarter counts down) days to go, it is looking really good that we’ll get through all three of those Stretch Goals!

If you haven’t yet done so, please check out the Deluxe V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary Kickstarter and read through what we’ve already revealed. If you like it, give into temptation and pledge. You know Beckett wants you to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deluxe-v20-becketts-jyhad-diary

Here’s the cover of this year’s Onyx Path Brochure. The brochure itself will be available as a physical thing premiering at Gen Con in a few weeks, and then at other conventions like the 2016 Grand Masquerade in New Orleans at the beginning of September, and Mid Winter 2017 in Milwaukee in January.

We’ll also have the PDF version available on DTRPG on the first day of Gen Con.

One thing I do want to point out, and it really is something that applies to a lot of our thinking right now, is that just like we do every year we have tweaked the set up of the brochure, as well as just what information it contains. Because we are working with so many active game-lines, we have tried to concisely highlight each line and provide a few coming attractions to really represent the huge range of projects we are working on in a very clear and enjoyable to read way.

What we didn’t do was provide a list of all the upcoming projects we know are coming between now and Gen Con 2017.

We’re still going to be talking about them, teasing them, explaining lots of them on our various Gen Con panels (which we hope to record and get up on our You Tube channel). We’re excited by them and are really looking forward to talking to you about them.

But there are a chunk of them that we simply can’t talk about as they are connected to where the new White Wolf Publishing is going with its upcoming plans, so already we’d have some gaps in anything we put forward as a “schedule”. And for some game lines like Exalted 3rd, we’ve already printed the same schedule for the last coupla years, so that wouldn’t be new anyway.

Which all came together in our thinking together with the fact that I always insisted that we had to have a raft of new books listed every year for the first years of Onyx Path‘s existence to demonstrate against the pernicious idea that White Wolf‘s games were “dead”. It was a constant refrain across the gaming community when we started, and something we needed to put to rest so folks would be looking for new books.

Well, as we’ve seen, White Wolf Publishing ain’t dead: it’s in Sweden.

And I think at this point our community knows that Onyx Path has rejuvenated the WW game lines (even if you personally might have your own take on whether they were brought back in the way you might wish). So the need I saw for that big list , and the frustration some folks have felt as the books didn’t come out in the month/season/year indicated, can be things no longer relevant to what were doing now.

A thing that IS relevant to what Onyx is doing now is another brochure we’ll be premiering at Gen Con in a few weeks: the Storypath System Preview. This primer for Onyx Path‘s house ten-sided dice-pool system not only contains an introduction to the Storypath System, but also some sneak peaks of Scion 2nd Edition (that should prime folks’ appetites for the Scion 2nd Edition Kickstarter at the end of August) and for the Trinity Continuum.

Certainly getting to this point took longer than I ever expected, and I really wished I knew when we started that we knew writers who were actual mathematicians, but I think the road-bumps (or humps, depending on where you are from) have paid off with just the sort of base system that can be as simple to use as rolling Attribute + Skill vs a set difficulty and needing a certain number of successes, or as rich with cooperative story-based options as your gaming group wishes.

The cover image above is one half of a new Scion 2nd Edition piece of cover art that we will also be giving away as a poster at the Onyx Path booth during Gen Con. You might recognize a couple of those characters, but wait until you see the new Scions on the other half of the piece! Here’s a piece of that half of the illustration not featuring one of those new Scions:

So yes, we will be giving away…stuff at the booth again this year. Like last year, we will have buttons and willpower/reroll/fortune cards tied to the theme of each day:

Thursday – Scion 2nd Edition (10 large buttons featuring the pantheon symbols)

Friday – 20th Anniversary World of Darkness

Saturday – Chronicles of Darkness featuring Dark Eras

Sunday – Sword and Sorcery Day (Exalted 3rd, Pugmire, Scarred Lands)

We’ll have the new Scion 2nd Edition poster, and a new Pugmire poster to give away during the whole con as well.

Pretty sure I’ll have more details about Gen Con next week!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

We’re over 200% funded, and the Deluxe Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is down to our last week! Thanks to all of our backers who have added three chapters and a bunch more art so far as Stretch Goals! The more pledges we get, the more chapters we’ll be adding, so tell all your friends!

This is the first time we have offered V20 dice as part of our KSs and folks sure seem to be excited about them!

Check it out yourself here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deluxe-v20-becketts-jyhad-diary

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/

The Curse of the Blue Nile fiction anthology for Mummy: the Curse will be going on sale at DriveThruRPG in PDF/electronic and PoD versions this Wednesday!

Now Available! on DTRPG in PDF and PoD versions: V20 Ready Made Characters. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/185028/V20-Ready-Made-Characters

Running a one-night game of Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition? Wanting to start up a new chronicle, but your players aren’t sure what to play? Looking for some examples of how to use the material in Lore of the Clans? Thanks to our generous Kickstarter backers, these thirteen ready-made characters cover each of the vampire Clans. Each character is provided with background, roleplay suggestions, art, and some potential coteries and plot hooks — everything you need to start your endless nights as one of the Kindred.

This book includes:

Thirteen pre-generated player character, with both starting and experienced character sheets.

A brief break-down of the character’s history and roleplaying suggestions.

Six possible coteries for these characters, complete with coterie charts.

Seven plot seeds to help the Storyteller jumpstart her chronicle.

Servants of the Damned: the PDF and PoD versions for V20 Ghouls & Revenants are now available at DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/184039/V20-Ghouls–Revenants

Ghouls & Revenants includes:

Expanded and revised character creation for ghoul and revenant player-characters

Clan and Sect write-ups for ghouls who serve them

New revenant families including the Rossellini, Kairouan Brotherhood, and more.

New rules for ghouls and revenants including new Merits & Flaws, Backgrounds, Discipline Packages, etc.

A Storyteller chapter for advice on running ghoul-or-revenant focused chronicles.

…and more!

V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’ Mahe’ Ra is now on the attack at DTRPG in PDF and physical hardcover PoD forms! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/179023/V20-The-Black-Hand-A-Guide-to-the-TalMaheRa

The Tal’Mahe’Ra, the Black Hand, plays the long game. They’re fighting a war of millennia, and the stakes could never be higher than they are tonight. They know truths about the Ancients, terrifying truths, dangerous truths, and they know the fight will be long and tireless.

The Black Hand — A Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra includes:

An updated look at the Tal’Mahe’Ra, which brings the ancient conspiracy into the twenty-first century.

Tricks of the Black Hand’s trade, including new Disciplines, Backgrounds, Merits, and eldritch sorceries.

Insight into some of the Hand’s sects, including those who hunt the infernal, and the worshipers of Lilith.

There has always been…Darkness. Coming at you through time itself, the Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras PDF and physical book PoD versions are now available at DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/178583/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Dark-Eras

Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras reveals the world throughout its long and storied past. Through sixteen eras, you’ll learn the secret history of the world, from the flame-lit tales of the Neolithic to the drug-fueled rebellion of the 1970s. Delve into the past, and learn that the Chronicles of Darkness began long before the modern nights.

Dark Eras includes historical settings for Chronicles of Darkness game lines:

Vampire: the Requiem

Werewolf: the Forsaken

Mage: the Awakening

Promethean: the Created

Changeling: the Lost

Hunter: the Vigil

Geist: the Sin-Eaters

Mummy: the Curse

Demon: the Descent

Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition Advance PDF NOW available at DTRPG.com! 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.

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.

You must have your DTRPG account set to accept messages from Onyx Path Publishing before the link messages are sent out, though, so please adjust your settings if you want that discount.

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con 2016 Onyx Path events registration has now been posted on the Gen Con site! A LOT of our events have sold out already, so please jump in ASAP if you’d like to attend: https://www.gencon.com/event_finder/Host/Onyx%20Path%20Publishing

These don’t include the demos and playtests we’ll be having at the booth.

I’ll be at our panels, and also at this panel about Kickstarters and how to make them work: https://www.backerkit.com/blog/106 Please come by and say hi!

We’ll be at the 2016 Grand Masquerade in New Orleans over the Labor Day Weekend both talking about the early years of White Wolf and representing the tabletop part of the World of Darkness! Come play in games hosted by legendary Dave Martin and the Wrecking Crew and demos at the Onyx Path booth in the dealer area!

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)

CtL fiction anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

BtP Building a Legend (Beast: the Primordial)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

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

Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

BtP Player’s Guide

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

Redlines