Gen (Pros and) Cons [Monday Meeting Notes]

Hi, everybody!

It’s good to be back after a week away post-Gen Con. So I’m going to tell you a little bit of what went on there, from my point-of-view, of course, but I’m also going to intersperse some quotes from some of our Onyx Path folks who were there helping us.

Of course, the first big thing we announced there was that we’re publishing Chicago By Night for Vampire 5th Edition!

We actually did feel kinda bad that we couldn’t tell you about it sooner, in that we do try and keep our inner workings pretty transparent for all of you. This was one of those times where the nature of working with White Wolf on this made it impossible to reveal it until the con. Their efforts and emphasis had to be on getting V5 out as promised, so we put our efforts towards getting V5 Chicago By Night written.

And as you see it mysteriously appear already in Redlines in the Progress Report below, you’ll realize we’ve been rolling on this for a while. Right now, we expect to have the text ready for editing in time to have a Kickstarter for it in October.

Kind of a fitting month, actually.

One of that Kickstarter’s goals will be to get this traditionally printed and into stores, where it can join V5 on the shelves. So, that’s a cool thing for us to try out with a WoD book, and we’re looking forward to how that will work out.

 

“It’s so refreshing to interact with fans in person and hear about all the games that excite you! Every one of our games got some love in conversations I had with you folks, and that was awesome to see. Thanks especially to all those Changeling: The Lost fans who came to chat with me. :)” – Meghan Fitzgerald

 

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, our booth was across the aisle from White Wolf‘s this year, and they, of course, were selling Vampire 5th Edition like fanged and bloody hotcakes. Or maybe just “bloodcakes”.

Besides V5 Chicago By Night, they announced several other projects from other licensing partners, including V5 Makeup, which was a huge hit with some of the folks I talked with. Others, who seemed to have missed WW‘s whole “we’re going to license all sorts of things for all sorts of fans” stated intentions, felt like this “cheapened” V5.

Back in the day at WW, we licensed out VtM zippos and license plates. Action figures. Just sayin’.

 

 

 

Scion: Hero illustration by Michele Giorgi

 

 

The gang at the WW booth were also fantastic at directing the throng buying V5 over to our booth where Mighty Matt McElroy had arranged that entire side of our booth with our 20th Anniversary WoD books on display. That worked really well, and further illustrated how the current team from WW are both gracious and fun to be next to for many, many, hours!

 

“I really enjoyed talking to fans about Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Fetch Quest, and Dystopia Rising: Evolution! I love watching people have fun around a table, and this year I got to see that directly, which is always wonderful. I just wish I had more time to talk to everyone and do everything!” – Eddy Webb

 

Our demo tables in the booth were really well attended, particularly on Saturday, and we were really glad to be able to walk folks through different games. I think this is even more important with games like Fetch Quest which is very much a card game, or They Came From Beneath the Sea! which adds a bunch of fun extras to the base Storypath System in order to create an “enhanced” TTRPG experience. It really helps to play through them a bit.

We’re used to getting gasps and excitement with a lot of our demos, it’s great to hear that both of these two games also had demo players laughing, as well.

 

 

PtC Tormented illustration by Tilen Javornik

 

 

We shared our booth with our friends from Eschaton Media, the Dystopia Rising creators, and not only were they great booth-mates who really helped make booth tear-down a breeze, but we were able to trade some fantastic ideas about rewards and stretch goals for our Dystopia Rising: Evolution RPG Kickstarter coming up next week. We think fans of our RPGs and fans of their previous DR projects like the LARP are going to find this Kickstarter pretty interesting!

We were also able to talk about the challenges of running a “franchise” business model for their LARPs, which is similar to licensing each venue out (as opposed to the “fan club” method used by old WW), and how they continue to evolve that system.

Since I am always trying to find ways for Onyx Path to evolve and improve, it is really good to be able to compare notes with folks who are also able to clearly look at how they did things in the past and actively try and improve on them. Maybe more on that at a later time.

 

“It’s always wonderful to interact directly with our fans and customers. I found myself answering a whole load of questions about They Came From Beneath The Sea! and V5: Chicago By Night, but also being able to just chat away about all our other games and roleplayer experiences is a joy. I had the chance to run several games, including They Came From, Pugmire, and Wraith 20 at the booth, and even Werewolf: The Forsaken in the hotel bar! In all, I had a fantastic, busy convention.” – Matthew Dawkins

 

We also announced our latest license, Legend Lore, based on the comic book world of “The Realm” and “Legend Lore” from Caliber Comics. The system is going to be D&D 5e based, and we’re sorry if an early press release said something different, but there is one key aspect of Legend Lore that we think will make it a very unique game.

The primary setting plot point is that the protagonists are people from our world transported to the fantasy world of Legend Lore. Now this is a pretty common trope in the fantasy fiction genre, but less so for TTRPGs. And pretty much the basis for that translation that I’ve seen in other games was to look at things like your Strength stat and ask how many weights you can bench press, or your real world IQ translated between 3 and 18.

We’re not doing it that way. More on how we are doing it as the book begins to be previewed. We’re also keenly aware of not minimizing anyone’s real-world challenges and disabilities. More on that too, in the months to come.

 

“As always, fans are why we do this Con, whether it was meeting fans of our stuff for the first time, making new ones out of interested folks, or seeing old friends after yet another year.” – Neall Raemonn Price

 

Our “What’s Up With Onyx Path?” panels went really well (although I had to miss most of the second one on Saturday), with some really excellent Q&A after the big points announcements. That was where we could delve deeper into the specific projects folks in the audience wanted to hear about. Both the “Freelancing for Onyx Path” panel and the “Developer Bootcamp” were super well attended and folks seemed really engaged.

Dixie, Matthew, and Eddy recorded both the “What’s Up With Onyx Path?” panels and edited them together into a semi-coherent whole that went up on the Onyx Pathcast last Friday. As always, you can hear them on PodBean or your favorite podcast venue.

They had to edit them, though. Even though we didn’t have whole swathes of the recording drowned out by trains like in previous years, we still had some outside noise break through, and I’m sure I talked away from the mic plenty of times!

 

“It’s always such an amazing feeling to get to interact with new and old fans, as well as my peers in the gaming industry I don’t get to see often. I love how excited everyone was! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth to chat or say hello.” – Dixie Cochran

 

Like every year, there’s never enough time to talk with everyone on a business level – nevermind all the friends and members of our community who want to chat and catch up. Like last year in particular, I think you’ll be seeing some amazing results from a bunch of the meetings and chats I did have as the year progresses. But there’s not a lot of details I can share.

In general, I talked with several translation partners about pretty much all of our game lines, sat down to hear a bunch of pitches for new games or licenses, discussed our upcoming art needs with several of the illustrators in attendance there. I had a very quick but very focused meeting with Jaunty James Bell, our Kickstarter Concierge in order to be sure that he was still loving his job. He is.

I counseled way too many creators with Imposter Syndrome, a different depressed artist, and let an old and dear friend know that I was going to be a grandparent like she has been for a few years already. “Any tips?”

I was sitting in the Indy airport finishing my last blazing shrimp cocktail and wondering how that thing we had planned for for so long could have gone by so fast. It is just so packed with sights and conversations and games and late nights and early mornings.

It’s Gen Con, baby!

 

 

Monarchies of Mau art by Pat McEvoy

 

 

Here’s a handy link list from Impish Ian Watson, who set up the blog last week. Thanks, Ian, and also to Matthew Dawkins who wrote the texty part.

Check them out and see the proof of our motto:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

 

Dystopia Rising: Evolution art by Mark Kelly

Our next Kickstarter will be for Dystopia Rising: Evolution starting on Wednesday the 22nd at 2pm EDT.

 

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 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.

 

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:

  • Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)
  • Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)
  • Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)
  • Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)
  • Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)
  • Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)
  • Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)
  • Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
  • Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)
  • Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (KindleNook)
  • V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)
  • Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (KindleNook)
  • Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)
  • Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (KindleNook)

 

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

 

 

iprlogo

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: https://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

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

SPECIAL W20 and M20 SALE! Huge savings on our Deluxe printing overruns until 8/31!

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/

 

 

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

 

This Wednesday, we will release a series of Wraith: The Oblivion Journals on RedBubble!

 

 

CONVENTIONS!

From Fast Eddy Webb, we have these:

Eddy will be speaking at Broadleaf Writers Conference (September 22-23) in Decatur, GA. He’ll be there to talk about writing for interactive fiction, and hanging out with other writers who have far more illustrious careers. http://broadleafwriters.com/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference/3rd-annual-broadleaf-writers-conference-speakers/
Eddy will also be a featured guest at Save Against Fear (October 12-14) in Harrisburg, PA. He’ll be running some Pugmire games, be available for autographs, and will sometimes accept free drinks. http://www.thebodhanagroup.org/about-the-convention

If you are going and want to meet up, let us know!

 

 


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 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
  • Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)
  • Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
  • Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
  • Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

 

Redlines

  • Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
  • Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)
  • CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)
  • Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)
  • V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

 

Second Draft

  • WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
  • Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
  • Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
  • C20 Players’ Guide (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)
  • Changeling: The Lost 2nd Jumpstart (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)
  • Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

 

Development

  • Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
  • Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)
  • Fetch Quest (Pugmire)
  • CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
  • Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)
  • Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

 

Manuscript Approval:

 

Editing:

  • They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)
  • Dog and Cat Ready Made Characters (Monarchies of Mau) (With Eddy)

 

Post-Editing Development:

  • Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
  • Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
  • Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)
  • M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)
  • Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

 

Indexing:

 

 

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

 

In Art Direction

  • Dystopia Rising: Evolution – KS finals rolling in.
  • VtR: Guide to the Night
  • M20: Gods and Monsters 
  • Geist 2e
  • The Realm
  • Trinity Continuum (Aeon and Core)
  • Ex3 Monthly Stuff
  • Ex3 Dragon Blooded

 

Marketing Stuff

 

In Layout

  • Scarred Lands Trilogy Novels – Converting to PDF and PoD.
  • PTC: Night Horrors: The Tormented
  • Fetch Quest
  • Cav cards

 

Proofing

  • Scion Hero 

 

At Press

  • Changeling: The Lost 2e – incorporating errata and getting it ready for indexing.
  • Monarchies of Mau – Press proofs signed off… now printing.
  • Scion Origin Out gathering errata.
  • Cavaliers of Mars Printing.
  • Wraith 20th – Prepping the Deluxe files.
  • Monarchies of Mau Screen Printing.
  • Cavaliers of Mars Screen Printing.
  • Wraith 20 Screen Printing.
  • Scion Dice – At fulfillment shipper.

 


TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: And we’re back! A bunch of us got some down time after/during Gen Con, and we’re feeling gooood.


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36 responses to “Gen (Pros and) Cons [Monday Meeting Notes]”

  1. Powerless Avatar
    Powerless

    I heard signs of sorcery was being shown off of at gen con, does that mean it’s almost out of development?

    1. Dixie Cochran Avatar
      Dixie Cochran

      That’s the plan! Dave had it with him sans final chapter, so I should get my hands on it soon. 🙂

  2. Geoffrey R Avatar
    Geoffrey R

    Hi, Rich – Welcome home!

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Thank you very much! Great to be here!

  3. Yodo Avatar
    Yodo

    Just mentioning the stunts you could pull in TCfBtS won my heart. Definitely hoping to impose my shoddy cinematography on my friends once the Kickstarter comes out!

    I was gonna say something about starting a Scion campaign in the meantime, but going by the images y’all keep sharing I’ll be too busy drooling over the books themselves to run anything.

    Thinking of Scion, Neall mentioned in the What’s Up recording that the plan was to head straight into Demigod once the Kickstarted books are done. Which I approve of, but is the plan to add in fluff for each level after God is finally out the door?

    1. Neall Avatar
      Neall

      Just because *I’m* headed straight to Demigod doesn’t mean we might not have other books coming out. I pitched a full slate of goodies besides Demigod to Rich and Eddy at Gen Con.

      1. Yiodan Avatar
        Yiodan

        Potentially more scion? That is good news. Good news indeed. 😀

        1. Yodo Avatar
          Yodo

          Can’t say no to more hero folks!

        2. richt Avatar
          richt

          We had a great chat at Gen Con, and things are looking good for Neall to concentrate on Demigod (and God, we assume after that) to keep his focus on the primary Scion core books, while we bring in other creators to work on Stretch Goal projects from the KS and even other Scion projects. We really needed Origin and Hero wrapped up before we could flesh out additional projects, and my feeling remains that Scion has so much more potential that we’ve barely scratched the surface of. Just to explore The World with more projects and options for play gives us a huge canvas to develop. And “You are a child of…” has incredibly strong resonance when tied to the Mythic pantheons of deities set-up we have focused on so far, yet there are equally strong connections if you explore other ways to end that sentence.

          1. Yiodan Avatar
            Yiodan

            Couldn’t agree more. Scion has so much potential, it is insane.

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      We aren’t going to wait for God or even Demigod to be published before adding in new Scion projects, but we did really need Origin and Hero finished first, though, to set the basic aspects and rules for the game line.

      1. Ian Sargeant Avatar
        Ian Sargeant

        Hi Rich, Glad everyone made it back home safe from the Con. It was good to talk to you guys and throw my money at you for your goods. lol. Anywho I wanted to ask you and Neall when we should see the PDF of Scion Hero? I know it’s at the proofing stage so I am humbly asking because I am excited for it. Not to Rush anybody. 🙂

  4. Dan Forinton Avatar
    Dan Forinton

    Has this stopped going out as an email?
    (I can’t see it in my spam folder, so it’s not that)

    1. Troy Avatar
      Troy

      Last week and this week both didn’t show up in my email as well.

    2. Ian A. A. Watson Avatar
      Ian A. A. Watson

      The last one that went out was the end of July, for some reason. Mailchimp’s not picking up on additional blog posts. I’ll look into it.

  5. James Hunt Avatar
    James Hunt

    I was curious since we haven’t heard anything about it in a while. Could you do an update or share a bit of text from WoD Ghost Hunters?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Maybe, that’s a dev decision, but I’ll mention it. Thanks!

    2. Matt-M-McElroy Avatar

      Definitely. I’m working on some content for the book that is replacement text from a writer that dropped off the project, so that caused a bit of a delay.
      Still, I’ll get an excerpt up as soon as I can.

  6. Dimitrae Keetan Avatar
    Dimitrae Keetan

    Hi! I don’t know why I stopped receing onyx path’s e-mail. =\
    I used to read every Monday meeting from there, and they’ve just stopped. And that also goes for the kickstarter books I’ve backed…. could anyone please help me?

  7. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    I’m excited for the Dystopia Rising Kickstarter so I can find out more about the game and setting. I’ve heard the broad strokes, but I want to know more of the nitty-gritty. Can’t wait.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Awesome! Here’s hoping you’ll be able to really dive in next week based on the KS info and art!

    2. Yiodan Avatar
      Yiodan

      You may want to look up the panel. They talk about it a little. It sure got me exited for the kickstarter.

  8. Chazz Avatar

    Lot’s of exciting projects moving through the cycle as always. So much so that I’ve realized I can’t play them all so I’ll have to podcast about them instead!

    Anyway, can we get a quick update about Scion Hero? I see it’s both in post-editing development and proofing. I’m hoping that means the backer PDF is coming soon!

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Well, really, this weekly thing is the update, y’know?

      1. Chazz Avatar

        Ha! Fair enough. I was mainly trying to understand what it meant that it was in both phases. Is is that dev changes are still being made as your going through the overall proofing process?

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          The two Scion books have a more involved back and forth than most other projects, so while proofing would be a back and forth between the graphic designer and the developer for any book, we’ve kept Hero in Post-Editing Development to indicate the more complex process.

          1. Chazz Avatar

            Thank you for the transparency. I know it’s a lot of effort to show all of this and I imagine it can feel thankless when we just ask for more. I think you guys have really set the gold standard for insight into the creative process and look forward to the updates every week.

  9. Roman Avatar
    Roman

    I really can’t wait to see Technocracy Reloaded move off of that first draft section. Any hope of a status report?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      That’s up to the devs, and my impression is that they’d like a bit more of the writing done so they can see what is coming together before releasing anything. But I could be wrong and you’ll see something go up this week! 🙂

  10. ThomasM Avatar
    ThomasM

    “I counseled way too many creators with Imposter Syndrome, a different depressed artist…”

    Rich,
    You seem like such a father figure to so many in this community. Thank you for taking care of the people and not just the business.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Well, let’s not get too far along that path, although I appreciate the thought. For “counseled” you can also read “mouthed off telling them what to do even if they didn’t want advice”. 🙂 After this much time in a business, you get to know a ton of people, and in my case a lot of them are creative folks whose creative impulses are often tied into other issues in their lives. So naturally we talk a lot at these things, drinks are drunk, concerns are expressed. Thanks!

  11. GenericMaleNPC01 Avatar
    GenericMaleNPC01

    Ooooooh, Lunar’s in second draft….
    Impressive. The hype is rising.

    1. Corey Avatar

      Yep! Looks like it’s moving along quickly! That’s very hopeful!

  12. Noisecode Avatar
    Noisecode

    Any chance copies of Wraith 20th Deluxe will end up on Indie Press Revolution?

    1. Tim Flannigan Avatar
      Tim Flannigan

      All of the deluxe stuff so far has. I’m betting it won’t be any different for Wraith. You’ll have to wait a while,though, I’m sure.

  13. Steph Avatar

    I’m looking forward to meeting Eddy at Save Against Fear. I know Onyx Path is a big supporter of the con, so it’ll be great to have him there! And I’m super excited about Changeling. Any idea how much longer before the backer copies get sent out?