Hey, sorry not to post yesterday- pieces of things that had to be handled all happened to land on Monday. Also, as an aside, you might notice we dropped a few graphics here and a few widgets on the Onyx Path site. We’re working with our webhost to manage our increased audience and pulled back on those things until we have it figured out- so thanks for checking us out and here’s a crappier looking site in return. 🙂
For now though- we’ll actually be prettier when we get back to normal.
A short lunch meeting with Eddy today as he’s neck-deep into project planning on the WoD MMO team, so we had to squeak a meeting in between planning sessions. Having gone through those sessions during my 3 years on the MMO team- I know how intense that is. Seems like there were some bigger issues than normal with the WW website, wikis, and forums, and Eddy tells me the IT guys at CCP are looking into it. And pretty much an hour after he told me that, I was able to get on the forums again. Thanks, CCP! With a bunch of approvals last week: art, God Machine proofs, and the Free RPG Day project all were OK’d, we had a fast review of the other things coming their way, and some old WW contracts and files were found by their office that Eddy’s going to send to me for Onyx‘s archives. While I was writing this, I was listening to an interview with Eddy that goes into the background of how Onyx Path came into being and how we work together now , check it out: http://dorkland.blogspot.com/2013/04/dorkland-roundtable-with-eddy-webb.html
Updates here:
– God Machine Chronicle (nWoD) Approved by CCP. At DriveThruRPG for file review.
– Strix Chronicle Fiction Anthology (VtR) Strix is into Editing.
– Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle (VtR) is in a crisis right now. Two of our writers had to drop out of the project because of very real personal issues, and Rose has been talking to replacement writers all weekend and thinks she has everything lined up, but these new writers are starting at square one for their sections of the book. More news next week, but I expect this will delay the book at least a month.
– Mummy the Curse – The single volume PDF and standard color PoD, as well as the “virtual box set” PDFs are on sale and doing great. We’ve added separate product listings for the Player’s Book, the Screen PDF, and the SAS. Cover template for traditionally printed MtC special edition in hand and soon to press.
– Exalted 3rd Edition: No change here as both John and Holden have been smashed down by nasty chest colds- hard to do voiceovers when you sound like a cartoon. We still have everything ready except for a completed video with voice-overs from the Devs, art, graphics and cool music working together. The Devs are still in the Charms section, and have assembled most of the text we’ll be teasing with Updates throughout the Kickstarter. We’re looking at sketches for the new Exalted map.
– V20 Hunters Hunted 2: New sections are in layout and almost all the art is in and in for approval. Rather than tacking them on at the end, we’ll be adding a chapter before the Appendix as that just works better for the flow of the book. Justin is reaching out to writers for the HHII Fiction Anthology and has signed Bill Bridges, Rich Dansky, Alan Alexander, Matt McFarland, and more to come.
– V20 Anarchs Unbound is in editing and we are getting art for it.
– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: Sent the Deluxe W20 files to the printer (both Standard Deluxe and the Heavy Metal Edition). The W20 PoD versions look good right now, and without promising to do so, I think this will go live at DTRPG really soon. Mike Lee is three quarters-way through the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel. The Storyteller Screen files are going to press with W20. Bill has prepared the W20 Anthology outline and contracting prospective writers. The Skinner is out of Editing and still in Art Direction. Jess Hartley is writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is being outlined. Check out some news here: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/2013/03/18/w20-cookbook-update-white-howlers-outline/
–Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has Phil Brucato writing like a maniac and developing his writers, also like a maniac. Art notes and contracts out to our full-page artist, once we have some feedback from him I’ll look a posting an art blog along with Phil’s developer notes. Phil and I had a huge talk about other artists we’d love to work with on the book.
– W20 Changing Breeds is in layout.
– W20 Rage Across the World: Most of the art is in but a bit continues to trickle in.
– Guildhalls of the Deathless (MtC) is being written.
– Conventionbook: Progenitors (cMtA) is at review at CCP.
– Mage Translation Guide is almost done in Editing.
– W20 Book of the Wyrm is being written and red-lined. Check out the W20 blog notes: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/
– Trinity Continuum: we’re talking about the big, big picture stuff that will affect the entire Continuum as opposed to individual games/settings. Big conference call this week.
– Scion: some very impassioned creators sharing their ideas at this very early stage. Scion: Extras, has had a huge number of downloads- thanks! We’ll be offering a PoD version later on that we’ll charging for, and will probably drop a small price tag on the PDF as well, so get it free now.
– Demon: The Frutang: lots of example of play commentary including from Black Hat Matt McFarland’s play test are up on the new Demon blog: http://whitewolfblogs.com/demon/
– Free RPG Day Project: Reap the Whirlwind, for VtR, is a combined 64 page booklet that combines a revised version of “Into the Void” and additional rules files from the Strix and God Machine Chronicles. This will be available at participating friendly local game stores June 15, I think, and is at press.
Reason for Drinking: Ahhhh, W20 files to the printer- now I think I need a double for when the EX3 KS is ready!
Can’t wait to get my hands on God-Machine.
Sad to hear about the delay for Blood and Smoke, but entirely understandable. Hope everything works out well for both the old writers and the new ones. I am curious about that process, does one scrap what has been done and start fresh or just continue on/rewrite it in their own style and continue on from there?
It depends on the situation- how much did the writer get finished, is it good stuff, is it a discrete section, etc? You do what provides the best answer to getting the best material and you have to be willing to go back to the beginning (at least for that section) to give the new writer space to bring their own best work.
Disappointing that there might be a delay, but I hope that everything’s okay with the writers in question and that real life hasn’t been too unkind to them. For you guys… I also hope Rose takes whatever time is needed to make sure the book’s the highest quality possible. Personally I’d rather it was delayed a few months and was as good as it could be rather than you guys worrying about getting it out as soon as possible.
Yep, Rich has the right of it. I’m taking the various pieces the writers who dropped were working on and splitting them up between different writers. The main thing this does is cost some time as I get all the right talent working on the right stuff.
It’s also not unprecedented… some of the most beloved Requiem books had writer drops. It’s a thing that happens, and you fix it.
So you are in fact bypassing the Kickstarter? Noted.
They have been saying that for months now, also with Blood and Smoke.
In which case, they should probably get someone to update the Schedule page on the Onyx Path website. It still says they’ll be doing a KS for it…
Kinda disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing what might have come out of a KS for GMC.
Some old WW contracts and files were found by their office that Eddy’s going to send to me for Onyx‘s archives.
Mrflgraflemah’whowhatzit?! Huh? Damn these tid-bits of teasing trickery! XD The Bastet demand that these secrets be shared… at least with me. 😉 Are they just the text, or complete book files for books yet-to-be scanned and added to the PoD/PDF Library, or are they bits and pieces, like artwork and notes for projects? Inquiring felines want to know!
As for the rest, well… looking forward to hearing more about the other W20 KickStarters in the works, and seeing what the Hunters Hunted 2 finally looks like too… there’s one piece I’m especially curious about. 😉
Good luck on the rest. 🙂
What Torakhan said… Any chance you can let slip the books?
If I could open the CDs without IT thinking it was malware because the files are so old, I would.
(Not even a joke. That really happened. So, I have no idea what’s on the discs.)
This calls for accessing from a personal computer. Aim being that if you nuke it, CCP can’t get mad at you.
Though it is best to back up your personal files if there is a risk,. >_>
I happily volunteer my computer for such a dangerous task. What wonders we might find! The risks are worth it.
*chuckle* What?! You can’t just pop a 100MB SyQuest disc for a Macintosh 7.1 into the computer you’re working on and open that QuarkXPress 3.1 file and pull those things right off to read them?
Maybe you’ll have to send them to the team who’s been rebuilding the old White Wolf books on the OLD computers?
We have no idea as yet, but the odds are that it’ll just be old contracts and other administrative details. Seriously, there aren’t secret books on archives somewhere that contain info beyond the dreams of avarice. Of course, that’s just the sort of thing I would say if there were such things…
… now you’re doing it on purpose. 😉
totally doing it on purpose 😛
…Is it wrong of me to say that sounding like a cartoon is /exactly/ when you should be doing voiceovers?
Either way, get well soon guys!
Not cool cartoons. Really bad ones.
I would really love if one of the stretch goals for E3 was a map app similar to Midgard Atlas.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/midgard-atlas/id557124240?mt=8
That’s pretty cool. We should look into that- but don’t expect it for the KS- we have other cool ideas planned.
Hopefully the Exalted devs recover from the Plague God’s curse or manage to use Rapid Respatory Recovery Technique soon.
How long does the KS approval process generally take?
I have had their approval come in under 24 hours and as long as two and a half weeks. They also are evolving their processes.
Wait a second. I knew that GMC had been taken off the Kickstarter block a few months back. What’s this about Strix not getting a Kickstarter though?
I think I might have blogged about this previously, but in case you missed that, the thing is that each project is different. Some need KSs to even be done like the Deluxe versions- without a successful KS we wouldn’t do a Deluxe version- and others would benefit from a KS campaign like the first or core book in a line. That gets mixed into the question of whether we have time to run the KS (and frankly, that’s mostly “I” since only a single person can currently run a KS) . We cannot by KS rules run a couple of KSs at the same time, so we are limited that way, and then there’s the fact that KSs are exhausting and a huge time sink to run. Amazing and fun and really worth it, but they’re a lot of work that means that other projects don’t and can’t get attention. So there are some projects we think might be cool to do KSs for and we note them and continue to evaluate whether its the best thing. Right now, a Strix KS seems unlikely, but still not impossible.
Which writers dropped out? This is kind of big news…
C’mon, man. It’s not big news- it happens. Its only mentioned because two had to bow out and it actually affects the scheduling, so I’m giving you folks a heads-up.
I have not followed the development of the GMC at all, but I am looking forward to seeing it. Particularly if Mage gets its own GMC update. How’s the 2014 schedule coming along *winkwink**nudgenudge*
Still looking forward to the Ex3 Kickstarter. I have a few years worth of (low-paid, but also low-expense) job security, so I can drop a lot of money on it if you make it worth my while.
2014 Schedule is approved and we’re working on parts of it. Let’s see how God Machine and Strix are received, but our intention is to reveal the Aug 2013- Aug 2014 schedule around and at GenCon this year. As for EX3’s KS- excellent!
Thanks for the news. Sad to hear about the writers. I hope all goes well for them. And for the book too. I prefer Mascarade to Requiem (no offence) but so far everything I read about Strix has BLOWN. MY. MIND. It’s seriously made me want to play Reqiuem, or at least try to adapt it to V20/Mascarade.
If you do try out Strix, either in whole or as part of your V20 gaming, we’d love to hear about it. Actual play or just your notes would be great to see. Thanks-
Of course. Actually, I can probably make that happen easily. There are 2 close friends of mine who each want to start Mascarade LARPs. I’ll see if I can interest one or both of them into implementing the concepts from Strix. It would breathe some very welcomed fresh air into a game we’ve been playing forever. And I can probably arrange for Table Top feedback too I know some Veteran Table Top Vamp players who would likely be very happy to test the hell out of implementing Strix concepts in their games if I get them the book.
If you’re serious about this, What means of communication would be best for you?
He should totally get some space on here to post actual-plays. 🙂
Pete: Interesting that you should make a remark like that. I’ve spend some time over the past several months thinking about finding a good formula for making a game (probably Forum-based on similar) open to the public to follow, read, comment and potentially influence in certain ways. Sorta like a TV Show/Book, but one in which you truly never can know what’s going to happen, because even the guy who wrote the script has no clue what the characters (players) will do.
I was just never sure there would be enough interest to really start laying the grounds. You are the first person I see showing in interest in reading the plays of other people.
I have been out of the loop on WoD games for a long time, but I am really excited about the prospect of Mage 20th Anniversary. I also see new Convention books being released and planned. I owned a very large Mage 2nd Edition collection, but I did not get the “revised” 3rd edition books. Should I be waiting for Mage20 to be completed before I pick up any Revised Tradition/Convention books? Times are lean and I’m concerned about buying books that could be obsoleted in a year. I’ve searched for discussion on this without success, so I thought I would shoot this question to the top. Thanks much in advance!
The new Convention books are specifically designed to be a look at the Conventions ala Mage Revised and so fulfill the roster of those books from back in the day. The writing is looking at the Technocracy from our viewpoint now, but with the idea that these are Revised books, and the art is using the same artists, mostly, that we would have used then. M20 is currently being written and will have a tone that is inclusive of all three editions of Mage, not just Revised, so it and the Convention books are two discrete projects that while compatible thematically, weren’t designed to work together.
Thank you for the reply Rich, very help and fair! I stepped away from WoD when nWoD was coming out, not due to with anything to do with the games at all, but to say I am much out of touch. I’m looking over the games now with interest. This God-Machine stuff and Demon look fascinating.
The New World Order book is Revised… but takes place today. It won’t use the M20 rules (or, at least, it’s not NOT necessarily M20 compatible, but was written for the Revised books), so if you just want to complete the Revised sets… NWO and the next couple of books are for that set.
But… it’s Print-on-Demand/PDF now. There’s no worry about the store running out, or having to wait for another print-run. Personally, I found it fun to read (even though Mage wasn’t my first love) and I kinda like the “Woah, we didn’t see THAT coming!” aspect of it, as the NWO is on an odd place of a bakery about to run out of a new flavor of cake: “Well, Humanity not only grasped ‘it’… but they’ve accepted ‘it’ so much quicker than we EVER expected… what the HELL do we do now?!” (at least, that’s my take on it.)
The book updates the setting a bit too, incorporating smart phones, Web 2.0+ and the likes into the setting that hasn’t been updated since 2004 (and, those were just end-time supplements, really, with the Revised core book being written before that, even.)
If you buy the PoD, you get the PDF for cheap. If you buy the PDF now, you’ll still pay full-price for the PoD (I’d love if DTRPG created a coupon with each PDF order to take a few $ off the price of the PoD in the future… but, alas.) So keep that in mind, depending on your finances and your preferred medium.
Preview Intro here:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/107217/Convention-Book%3A-N.W.O-%5BRedacted%5D-Preview
Actual book to buy is here:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/107693/Convention-Book%3A-N.W.O
Old Mage: To give you an idea of how worth it NWO is. I’ve been a LARP apocalypse storyteller for over a decade. Which cannot be further away from Technocrates in terms of… everything. I’ve played Mage but never got hooked. Now, I asked NWO for Christmas because, “hey! New OWOD books!”. I read it in a few days and now I’m going through the players’ guide to the technocracy planning my next LARP. A Technocratic union LARP.
Just for the feel of going back to the oWoD and get a updated viewpoint it’s worth it.
Does this mean that GMC is likely to release this week if DriveThruRPG doesn ‘t find any issues? Really looking forward to this book. Is there an update on possible rules guidance to modify the other nWoD games to work with the revised rules in GMC?
So, DriveThru checks the files, then sends them to the PoD printer if they hit the right parameters. From there we have to get the OK from the printer and then order our own PoD proof copy, which takes time to make and ship. Not the most expedient process, but it is one that assures stages of quality control.
Ah, okay, I had originally thought that meant that DTRPG just needed to flip a switch to go live, and I’d spent half the morning periodically hitting F5 on their “new products” page. 🙂 Past blogs about the PoD proofing process seem to suggest that it can be a bit of a ping-pong game, if we’re unlucky. Here’s hoping!
I’m tingling waiting for God Machine. As a Storyteller with a current game and future games in the works I’m very excited to try out some new things.
Cool- there are a ton of great ideas in GMC- I hope you’ll like them- let us know-
My previous comment seems to be hung up waiting for moderation, but I’m not sure why, ’cause it was polite, excited, and pleasant.
Ehh.. but it was about money.
I don’t have any of the revised Tradition and Convention books, and I was wondering if those were going to be a safe purchase for Mage20, or should I hold off until Mage20 is done? I see new Convention books coming out, but I don’t know if the whole line is going to be starting fresh for the 20th Anniversary Edition.
Sorry! Looks like my posts have been released. My apologies for the double post.
<3 W20 at the printer!
On a side note, I really really hope the WoD MMO is still relevant after so many years being developed. At least enough to where the sales can justify an expansion with player character werewolves and mages. Heart of Gaia as vaporware was super sniffly sad times. :
+1 I really hope I get to play a lupus Werewolves in that game one day. 😀
On the list my targets are:
Werewolf 20
Mage 20
Convention Progenitors…yeah the original book was not so good.
Changing Breeds
Hunters Hunted 2
Anarchs Unbound
Book of the Wyrm
Will there have to be updates to the translation guides to reflect the GMC changes?
Those have been mentioned by some of the authors, but haven’t gotten any ‘official’ nods AFAIK. Dave seems to have one for Mage; not sure about the rest. They might just post them once GMC is actually out.
(Or before? Pretty please? >.>)
I don’t think that’s what Tau meant, actually.
The GMC authors have a few of the games quick-converted (things like how much Armor Mage Armor should give you in the new combat system, or how to do Arcane Experience in the new Beats and Experiences model), and we were talking about maybe somehow getting those notes out once GMC came out, to give people a head start converting their own chronicles.
By “Translation Guide”, though, I assume Tau means the Vampire and Werewolf Translation Guides, which convert Revised-era cWoD to nWoD. They weren’t updated when the classic games involved got new editions in V20 and W20, so would they eventually be updated for the not-really-a-new-edition of GMC? Who knows? I certainly don’t.
That was exactly what I meant, as well as the upcoming Mage Translation Guide. I’d argue that the changes like Conditions, Beats, and Experiences are greater than the ones between 1st, 2nd, and Rev editions, almost as big as the ones between cWoD and nWoD.
I…just want my Hunters Hunted 2 Deluxe Edition. Then I can disappear quietly into the wind.