Next week, we’ll be starting our Kickstarter for the Contagion Chronicle, which is a crossover chronicle featuring all of the game lines for Chronicles of Darkness.
Like all of our Kickstarter campaigns, you’ll be hearing a lot about this in the weeks to come, so I figured that this week, I’ll just go a little into how we came up with the idea to begin with.
We have received, over the years, many requests for crossover rules for the Chronicles of Darkness. Which makes sense, as CofD, unlike its predecessor, the World of Darkness, was created with the idea that all the game lines would have a similar, if not the same, rules set.
I’m not talking about the Storyteller and Storytelling Systems which are the rules for rolling dice, but the individual game line rules sets, like Disciplines, Gifts, cosmology, those sorts of things.
With folks asking for crossover rules and tips, I suggested to our crew here that a crossover book would be something that could also be really helpful in providing new content for game lines that we were putting out less projects for that year.
Pretty much the same thinking as the Dark Eras books.
I wound up talking with Matthew Dawkins at the Vampire convention in New Orleans – the same one where we agreed on the deal for They Came From Beneath the Sea! – and he made the point that a whoppin’ book of pure rules with a bit of advice wouldn’t necessarily be as much fun as a crossover book that featured a setting where those rules and that advice could be seen in action.
This tied in with my thinking on adding default Chronicles to each of the 2nd Edition CofD lines: provide an example that people could either use wholecloth or could take pieces of or just be inspired by for their own Chronicles.
Fun to read, and examples of how a Chronicle could work. So this crossover Chronicle would be the prime example of how to use all the various supernatural character types and their cultures in one big setting match up, usable as written and usable as examples and overall, no matter what, fun to read.
Matthew went off and came up with an external threat; something not featured in any of our previous material, but which could be part of any of our CofD game lines. Something that threatened the supernatural world so much that the various denizens would have reasons to ally themselves – no matter how treacherously – to deal with it. And so the Contagion was born.
We’ll bring you more concrete info on the Contagion Chronicle next week; I’m hoping to sit down with Matthew and chat a bit on the highlights of the project, and share that info with you. Meanwhile, here’s the link to the character creation sessions he has been recording (this link is also in a couple of other places on the blog today so you don’t accidentally miss it):
https://youtu.be/dFMjit-YTwQ
We’re all really excited by this project as we’ve never really done anything like this before. It’s a discrete Chronicle, but it’s appropriate for all of our CofD game lines, and as a way to illustrate how something can be built that encompasses all of a setting no matter how disjointed, I think it will be handy for other game settings as well.
I also want to call out last Friday’s Onyx Pathcast where the Titanic Trio take turns “selling” different game lines of ours. It is probably the most energized and fun recording that they’ve done. Something about the timed, short, pitches just seems to bring out the best in the three of them.
In order, these are the ones they hit:
- Dixie: Exalted Third Edition
- Eddy: Legendlore
- Matthew: Promethean: The Created Second Edition
- Dixie: Cavaliers of Mars
- Eddy: Pugmire
- Matthew: Werewolf: The Forsaken Second Edition
- Dixie: Geist: The Sin-Eaters Second Edition
- Eddy: Trinity Continuum
- Matthew: Demon: The Descent
- Dixie: Scion Second Edition
So even if you just want to be sold on one line you haven’t been sure about, or that you were curious about, or even if you already love the game but want to hear their take on it, it’s easy to go back and forth until you get to it. Link is here and below in the BLURBS! section: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
I really like the selection they chose for this batch of pitches, many of which were suggested by our community, and I think it’d be great if they did more in another episode or two. After all, we have:
Many Worlds, One Path!
BLURBS!
KICKSTARTER:
Next week on Tuesday March 26th, we will be starting the Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter at 2pm Eastern US time!
Matthew Dawkins has also started running the Contagion Chronicle for some of the members of his Discord, via Google Hangouts! Follow along to get some sneak peeks of the content coming up in the Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter: https://youtu.be/dFMjit-YTwQ
ONYX PATH MEDIA
This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is an interview with a writer for many, many of our projects and now a first-time developer Chris Allen! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:
This week in Onyx Path News with the ever-present Gentleman Gamer, Matthew Dawkins!
https://youtu.be/zFTknuOdHGk
If YOU have a podcast, YouTube or Twitch channel, or talk about games on a blog or other website, and want to perform actual plays or make reviews of our games, please reach out to the Gentleman Gamer on the Onyx Path forum. From there we’ll share emails and get you started, so when you do start producing content we’ll be able to promote it on our blog and YouTube channel!
We’re closing in on the conclusion of Red Moon Roleplaying‘s They Came from Beneath the Sea! actual play! Here’s the most recent episode: https://youtu.be/CeFYwRLtXQk
Matthew Dawkins has also started running the Contagion Chronicle for some of the members of his Discord, via Google Hangouts! Follow along to get some sneak peeks of the content coming up in the Contagion Chronicle Kickstarter: https://youtu.be/dFMjit-YTwQ
We’d be fools not to promote the excellent Devil’s Luck Gaming, as they’ve reached episode four of their Scarred Lands actual play: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING Their costumes really add to the roleplay!
The Story Told Podcast comes at us with two pieces of media this week! The first is their Wraith: The Oblivion Actual Play here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-22-wraith-the-oblivion-actual-play and the second is their Exalted: Dragon-Blooded actual play here: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-1-session-0
Don’t forget to get in touch with any of your actual plays, interviews, and reviews of our games! We’re always happy to promote them.
Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!
ELECTRONIC GAMING:
As we 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!
Here’s an update from the App devs:
Onyx Dice! We’ve recently released the Changeling: The Lost, Trinity Continuum: Aeon dice, and now the Geist dice. Next up on our radar is: Demon: The Fallen, Mummy: The Resurrection, Kindred of the East, Vampire Dark Ages, and Mummy: The Curse.
We have a serious issue on the Pixel and Motorola phones that prevent the user from using the app correctly. A fix is coming shortly. A temporary workaround is to minimize the app without shutting it down, and then restore it.
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).
If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!
Our selection includes these fiction books:
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
We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game
Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296
And available this week! Deluxe Changeling: The Dreaming and Deluxe Beckett’s Jyhad Diary! The additional books we have after the Kickstarter ship-outs are done are now at IPR!
DRIVETHRURPG.COM:
On Sale This Week!
This Wednesday, we’re yipping and purring to offer the Roll of Good Dogs and Excellent Cats, characters for Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau, in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG!
CONVENTIONS
UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd
Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th
Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14
GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd
We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.
And now, the new project status updates!
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (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 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
- Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
- Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
- Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
- Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
- TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)
- TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
- Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
- Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
- Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Blood Sea Guides for 5e (Scarred Lands)
Redlines
- Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)
- Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
- Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
- Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
- Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Legendlore core book (Legendlore)
Second Draft
- Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
- Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
- Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)
- M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
Development
- Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)
- Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
- Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)
- Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
- Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
- Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)
Manuscript Approval:
- Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)
Editing:
- V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)
- V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)
- Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)
- Scion Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)
- CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
- Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)
Post-Editing Development:
- Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
- Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)
- C20 Novel: Cup of Dreams (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Indexing:
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Monthly Stuff
- Chicago By Night
- Aeon Aexpansion
- They Came From Beneath the Sea!
- EX3 Lunars
- Hunter: The Vigil 2
- Shunned By the Moon – Final finals coming in.
- Contagion Chronicle – AD’d for KS.
- Scion Jumpstart
- VtR Spilled Blood – Going over notes.
Marketing Stuff
In Layout
- Dystopia Rising: Evolution
- Book of Oblivion
- Signs of Sorcery
Proofing
- M20: Gods and Monsters – PoD proof ordered.
- Adventures for Curious Cats – Waiting on maps.
- Trinity Core – Page XXing.
- Trinity Aeon – Putting in Mind Meld changes.
- Ex3 Dragon Blooded – PoD proofs ordered.
- Geist 2e – 2nd Proof.
- C20 Player’s Guide – 2nd Proof
- In Media Res – Inputting proof corrections.
- The Realm – Art is arting, book is proofing.
At Press
- Scion Hero – Printing. PoD proof ordered.
- Scion Origin – Printing. PoD proof ordered.
- Scion Dice – At Studio2.
- Scion Screen – At Studio2.
- Fetch Quest – At Studio2 prepping for shipping.
- Pugmire Roll of Good Dogs and Cats – PDF and PoD versions on sale this Wednesday!
TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE:
St. Patty’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day! Either way, we just had it Sunday, and while my celebration mostly takes the form of corned beef, cabbage, and green-dyed Birch Beer these days, once upon a time it was the old White Wolf tradition to meet for brunch and line up at the local Irish Pub to get in there as they opened and spend the rest of the day there drinking (or not) and having fun. It was a grand tradition of fellowship, and so here’s to the old gang!
Comments
34 responses to “Achooo! Hope That’s Contagious! [Monday Meeting Notes]”
Dear Richter may I know if this kickstarter will include the full tecmxt of the book like lunars did?
Yes, we’ll be providing the finished text as updates to backers during the KS as we’ve been doing with most of our latest KSs. No worries!
Thank you Richtt. and sorry about the garbled post. I type too fast sometimes
New Scarred Lands title ahoy! 😀
Like all Chronicles kickstarters, I’ll for sure be giving this one my money.
I very much hope that some day Onyx Path will fire off some splat-themed dice, and think that a cross-over book would be a great kickstarter to kick (hah) that off in, though I imagine it would have been mentioned at some point already.
Could happen!
Sadly I haven’t seen much movement from Heirs for a significant span.
Don’t suppose it’s close to reaching the next tier?
We’re not going to go into the stages and estimate time within them anymore than it’s a good idea to give estimates of final releases. You get into that and we’re going down the same road of “When?” that we’ve stepped away from. Thanks for understanding.
So yeah… I wasn’t at all excited for this Contagion Chronicle project. Its story and, you know, reason for being – as far as my not-paying-much-attention head understood it – didn’t appeal at all. Then? I read this post, and now I’m EXCITED for Contagion Chronicle!
It’s partly a “shouldn’t lose faith in Onyx Path” thing, but it’s MORE related to how well y’all live your brand. Many worlds (or many chronicles, as the case may be), but still one rad path.
Glad to hear it! Getting more info out there about what the project is really all about is a huge reason why I like to start pre-KS and go through our thinking before the project showed up in the progress reports. A bit of context before we dive into the actual text with the KS, as it were.
In redlines, right above legendlore, I see a blank spot. Is this just me? What should I see there?
There’s nothing there you are missing. It’s a glitch in the new WordPress setup and not something I’ve found a way to eliminate. I can’t even see it in the “page construction” mode I use to put together the blog each week.
I’ve recently resumed planning for a Geist 2nd Edition Chronicle. I’m eager for the physical book.
OH MY GOD!
Been waiting patiently but its finally here and so very close. the chronicle I am running at the moment involves a Mage, a Lost boy, a group of Geists, a pack of werewolves, 2 Beasts, and an Ordo Dracul Vampire running a school for gifted mortals as an experiment on how to breed better vampires. Surprisingly, it has not imploded under its own systemic weight.
I NEED THE CONTAGION CHRONICLES IN MA LIFE.
IT’S A COMIN’!
For non-kickstarted projects, does proofing come before or after putting the PDF up on Drivethru? I am asking specifically for Signs of Sorcery
While we do layout proofing between the graphic designer and the dev (or dev team) before we offer a PDF to the public, there is an additional stage after the first, the Advance, PDF goes up where we review and implement errata and there is some proofing there and then proofing of the PoD proofs from the printer. So proofing; it’s a general term for reviewing the project and looking for things that need changing at whatever stage it is in.
I’m curious about the fact that the new Scarred Lands title and the first Creature Collection are only listed for 5e. Is this specifically because Pathfinder is moving soon into its second edition ruleset, or is the Scarred Lands going to remain exclusive to 5e going forward?
We’ll need to see how Pathfinder 2e shakes out. Given the options of putting all the time and effort into creating what is effectively a whole ‘nother book, it really doesn’t make sense to do them for PF1 and have them barely sell, or wait to do them for PF2 and delay projects that we know have an audience of 5e players right now. And it’s good for all Scarred Lands fans if the absolutely gigantic and growing 5e audience is made aware of SL right now while people are discovering and digging into D&D in numbers we haven’t seen in years and years.
I agree that making books for 1st Ed would be pointless now. I’m glad to hear that the possibility of having Scarred Lands in 2e Pathfinder is still open. Scarred Lands is one of my favorite fantasy campaign settings and I was really looking forward to seeing it intereted through one of my favorite systems as well. I’ll just keep my eyes out after 2e prints, then.
Noticing that the Scion Hero and Origin books are at print… does that mean a pdf of the post eratta soon? Been waiting weeks while in print/proof stage?
We use the PoD proofing as our final chance to catch errors, so once they are confirmed as OK, the final PDFs should be good to go.
Is there any plans when Trinity Core/Aeon will be available for non-backers? Based on the Backerkit, print will hit the stores in October, but…what about pdf-s?
Aaaaand any hints about the Aberrant Kickstarter? Summer? I hope that there will be a backer level Core+Aeon+Aberrant new edition + 1st edition superbundle 😀
For non-backers, the PDFs will be made available with the PoDs on DTRPG. Summer-ish seems likely for the KS, but we’ll have to see. We’ll also have to see how James sets up any bundles.
Thanks for the answer. And those Aeon PDF-s..when will they be available at DTRPG? October as well?
I wouldn’t look to Kickstarter estimates as guides for when things will come out. Keep an eye on our weekly progress reports and you’ll see them as they near release.
I am getting eager for Geist 2nd ed. Any idea when proofing will be done?
Nope.
A massive CoD Crossover!!??? I hope we’ll be able to obtain core rule-books as an add-on (or maybe an “all in one” pledge level), so that I can get any lines I’m missing for this!
A release for Fantasy Grounds, (including base rule-sets), would be appreciated as a stretch goal. (I’m just allowing online play of the game similar to what Geek and Sundry and others are doing would be a plus….), as an alternative, PLEASE allow community content creation of material in Fantasy Grounds and other VTT’s.
Awaiting the moment this goes live (10 days and counting).
Oh, wow…is the thing with The Gentleman Gamer new? I do not recall seeing before this update.
I have actually been doing videos talking about Mage and Werewolf as part of my general tabletop games channel..I will definitely be reaching out to him when I am at my own computer later.
You can check previous Monday Meeting Notes blogs to catch up on previous links and check out the Onyx Path Youtube channel to browse our various news and actual play and deep dives into our games.
I see Geist 2e in Proofing, does that mean backers already has received? I ask because I don’t see it in my digital rewards of the backerkit
We can’t send the backer PDF to backers until it’s done. Proofing is part of getting it done. No worries, it’s coming.
Ahhh Thank you, Richt. I thought it was PoD proofing hehehe my mistake. Again thank you