Above you’ll see a gorgeous new piece of art from W20 Umbra that Mirthful Mike sent my way. One of things I want Onyx Path social media to do more of is presenting more examples of the amazing art we are getting for all of our projects. It doesn’t really match the theme of this week’s blog, but what the hey, I’d rather a beautiful illustration that will soon grace the pages of one of our books than another silly pic of Eddy Webb I altered in PhotoShop.
Speaking of Eddy, and the rest of the Onyx Path gang, we did not have our meetings this Monday (today). Our very good friend (and ex-president and CEO of White Wolf) Mike Tinney’s father passed away last week and today was the service and wake, which I attended. See below for how these sorts of priorities are part of what Onyx Path is all about. We’ll have the meetings Tuesday and Wednesday this week, but this blog must not be delayed. As it happens, pretty most of our projects are still at their stages from last week’s update, so a delay wouldn’t have changed anything.
Speaking of me, and by now you know I will, here’s the link to an in-depth interview I had with Jess Purdy over at GamerXP: http://www.gamer-xp.com/walking-the-onyx-path-with-rich-thomas/ We talk about how Onyx got started, and why we’re doing the 2nd Edition nWoD books, Kickstarter, and the trials and tribulations of Exalted 3rd.
Now to this weeks Thanks in our month of thanks giving. Last week I looked as far back as pre-Vampire the Masquerade at some moments that made me grateful for gaming and the lessons learned. This week, I’m looking closer to now with thanks towards the Onyx Path projects and moments that make OP so much a joy to be part of. Of course, these example will be from my owner and founder point-of-view, but please add in your own thoughts in the comments:
– This year’s Gen Con was a project unto itself, and standing there looking at all the hard work and planning pay off as folks came in and out of our very own booth and had a chance to talk with our creators was the sweet, sweet payoff. And it’s going to be even sweeter next year when we can improve on this first try.
– The Werewolf Translation Guide. Onyx Path just wasn’t real until I saw our logo on the back cover of our first book. Goosebumps.
– Kickstarter, for all that it is exhausting to run and for all the pains it brings, growing pains and otherwise, still was and is such a game changer for Onyx Path in terms of the speed with which we could bring on books to revitalize the WW game lines. My original plans, before we pulled the switch to Kickstart V20 Companion, were a lot more restrained. A lot more like the release schedule in 2011 with a few key books added. Using Kickstarter, the word got out about Onyx Path a lot faster than I had ever hoped, and that support enabled further and bigger projects.
– The God Machine Chronicle and Blood & Smoke: The Strix Chronicle releases. Personally, I never know if a direction I come up with is truly the right one for the game lines. I thought we needed a default chronicle and updated rules, but your response to those changes was so heartening, and the creative teams led by Back Hat Matt McFarland and Rollickin’ Rose Bailey respectively delivered a hundred times better than I could have imagined. And then, as a cherry on top, we got the chance to continue these and the other nWoD lines into true 2nd Editions.
– Like I mentioned above, being able to run Onyx Path in ways that reflect how I think we should work as a creative-driven house of ideas. Part of that is the business, but part of that is when the business parts give way to the needs of our lives. We have a built-in flexibility and understanding of the toll that being super creative 24/7 takes on our creators. I’ve seen, and have fallen into the trap of, creative burnout too many times in this business not to realize that there must be a better way to do all of this. Hopefully, with Onyx Path, we can keep our priorities straight. Matching projects with writers and artists I’ve known for years who need to create again, or who need a freelance project right then, or sending out a freelance check early so one of our team can pay rent the month they were robbed, gets balanced by my whole Monday Meeting crew understanding I need to postpone our regular Monday meetings in order to honor the passing of a dear friend’s father. Our work is important, but so are our lives.
There’s a million more Onyx-y things I’m grateful for and most have to do with our amazing creative folks, and our equally amazing community (youse guys), but those thanks are coming up later this month. Right now, the updates need listing:
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (Projects in bold have changed listings)
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
- Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)
- W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)
- Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) – In Open Development
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition) – In Open Development
- W20 Novel by Mike Lee (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
Redlines
- Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)
- Exalted 3rd Fiction Anthology (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening) – In Open Development
Second Draft
- Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created) – Playtesting
Development
- V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras- Vampire chapter (WoD Dark Eras)
- Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)
- V20 Lore of the Clans (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Fallen World Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Mage: the Awakening)
Editing
- Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition core book (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition, featuring the Idigam Chronicle (Werewolf: the Forsaken)
- Exalted 3rd Edition core book- From Holden: he’s expecting a run-down of what remains to be edited by the editor this week. (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Firestorm Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition)
Development (post-editing)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras core book (WoD Dark Eras)
- Idigam Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Werewolf: the Forsaken)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE
- White Howlers – Done and out. I have to say, I really liked doing an old school Werewolf book and the fans definitely seem to dig it as well. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137620/Tribebook-White-Howlers
- Book of the Deceived – Advance PDF done. Errata thread already seems to be cranking. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/139497/Book-of-the-Deceived
- Book of the Wyrm 20 – Done. Hopefully the PoD proof will be in and we can get this sucker up before Thanksgiving.
- DAV20 – I swear I am finishing appendix 2 this week. Mark is working on fulls, Trabbold is working on 5 of the 10 halfs I had to recontract. Gonna have the remaining 5 out the door this week.
- Anarchs Unbound – Saw the foil stamping on the cover and the sticker application…looking really nice.
- T-Shirts – Figuring I am going to be doing the V20 DA KS one this week.
- Art O’ The Changin’ Breeds – Holding off until I get DA in proofing.
- Umbra – Final proof with Stew. CCP has already signed off…so just need to make sure Stew doesn’t have anymore fixes.
- Ready Made Characters: Geist – Awaiting PoD proof. Encountered some funky color shift due to ink coverage. I’m sure similar stuff occured with the Geist PoD. Something I need to keep in mind for when we do Dark Eras (and figure out a work around…as well as one for Promethean, Changeling, and refigure out the one for Hunter since Photoshop crash ate my action for it.)
- VTR II – Finishing up the logo redo and proofing.
- Dark Eras and Second Editions – As the artists are wrapping up DA, Umbra, and various other projects I’d like to get them onto these before the holidays. Most artists won’t take on that many pieces during the Thanksgiving and Xmas holidays and all three of those titles are big books that will require quite a bit of art.
- WtF 2 – Artists lined up… now just emailing out notes and contracts.
- Scarred Lands – Cover is in the works. Got him a big pile of reference materials going. Also starting up on the [REDACTED] version of Spiragos.
- Idigam Chronicle Anthology – Just need to export the files out and it is done.
- Wraith 20 – Working on some KS graphics for the KS page. Aileen still on board to do the layout and design. Have a nice list of artists compiled…should be a good looking book.
- EX3- RichT here, once again tagging onto Mirthful Mike’s report, to repeat – because we are doing what we do now- that art director Maria Cabardo has assigned all the regular half-page art and I am looking at sketches and sending them on to the Devs, and Maria is now finishing assigning the fulls and the very special section. Sketches and more sketches and color comps.
REASON TO DRINK: To Jack Tinney. For all the late nite boozy gab sessions on his son’s deck. There’d better be scotch in the afterlife.
Comments
40 responses to “Onyx Colored Thanks”
Did … did I miss something?! Did I miss out on a Kickstarter for Umbra?!
Unless Rich has changed his mind, Umbra isn’t being Kickstarted.
Awesome art, Rich. I look forward to seeing where it ends up in the book.
That’s right, not all of our books can be Kickstarted. There aren’t enough months of the year. 🙂
No, that’s just the artwork for the book. They normally have some art and pages ready to show off before the KS goes live.
ohthankgod. I’m not sure if I’m on the right page for following such things, so I didn’t want to miss that!
Thanks, Shaoken!
I believe they won’t be doing a Kickstarter for Umbra.
Correct, Felipe. Umbra is a standard release book so it will show up first as an Advance PDF, then the PDF and physical book PoD versions on DriveThruRPG.
If you want to get on our mailing list there on the right of the page, we’ll send you emails directly that contain Kickstarter announcements.
Definitely agree about the art, Rich. OP pumps out the best art in the RPG business. Art teasers do a great job getting fans excited for a book, just like the written parts do. : )
And I’m sorry to hear about Mike’s father. I shall pour out a little liquor for his passing.
Thanks! I think Jack would have preferred you savor the drink, but you do what you think is right.
Any word on the DtD Storytellers guide? The DtF to DtD translation guide? And I was hoping to hear about the Hurt Locker project…
DtD STG is moving forward. It’ll show up on this list next week.
The Updates each week include projects once they are being written, rather than a full look at every book we’ve announced. The page would be hella-huge if we did that! 🙂
“The Updates each week include projects once they are being written”
So no writing has yet happened on 2E Scion or the Trinity Continuum? Or do they not appear in the updates because the updates are only for the White Wolf properties?
We mentioned this in previous blog posts, but there has been scattered writing done on both the Trinity Continuum and Scion projects. However, without the new system, which is being worked on, those bits of text are more like pre- first drafts.
That makes sense. Thanks for the reminder. *^^*
I’m always confused on what’s the progress order in the MM notes. Does it go from bottom to top, top to bottom, or jump around. Seems like it should go top to bottom. Any chance you could number them Rich?
I put the projects at the bottom as they move from the stage above. Numbering them would then suggest an actual release sequence and lead to all sorts of other issues. Each stage is not granular in terms of how far through the stage they are- just that the project is at that stage. Hope that helps.
How much longer will M20 be at editing? Is December still the expected release time? Hoping for a Christmas miracle….
Sure would. I think a PDF version for backers is still possible, but not a release PDF or PoD. There is still layout, proofing, and indexing to go, and we are still pushing two of our artists to get in their final pieces.
So would it be safe to say that the Wraith 20 Kickstarter will be dropping around Thanksgiving?
Better be earlier than that. All depends on how the pieces come together. The video looks really good right now, though.
So can we expect Dark Eras, say, on January?
Let’s see how we survive Wraith20…if we do…
That’s exciting! I love the cWoD 20th books!
Is there a single page that has all the upcoming books about to be published for all the Old/Classic World of Darkness games? I want to follow Werewolf20, Mage20, Wraith20, Changeling20, Trinity Continuum, Changeling the Lost 2nd edition.
Click the Current Projects link in the menu along the top of the page.
Thanks. But what about books that Onyx Path has already released?
Here is everything Onyx Path has already released:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing
Thank you.
I really like the 20th Anniversary mage t-shirt that is available on redbubble, is there any chance of a 20th Anniversary Vampire shirt being made? I would love to be able to add that to my Christmas list.
I will add that to our list- makes perfect sense. Thanks!
If being arguably delayed for an entire year made Book of the Deceived as good as it is, then I can probably teach myself to be a little more patient for every other product I’m looking forward to :p
Someone remind me what W20: Shattered Dreams is about again?
The Wars of Rage between the Garou and the Fera, and the time before them.
Once the Exalted 3e Core is finished editing, would it be possible to have a text only draft for the KS backers or does the book need to finish being laid out before you’re comfortable with anyone else getting it?
It is the considered opinion of the developers that a text only draft would not only not show off the true quality of the book but would also not allow readers to get the information properly. For example, there’d be no Charm Charts as those need to be created in layout. While there are certainly some backers who could still stay excited and interested in Ex3 with a reduced experience like that, we believe that many others would find the “just text” version very disappointing and this would be bad for the line.
Fair enough. Thanks for the answer!
If you want to put front & center more images from your illustrators, I would have two advices that seems more useful than “social media”:
– Use better, bigger images. To take your example, your image here is 612×396px after clicking in it. That’s already very small on old screen, on high density screen (newer desktop screen, tablets, etc.) it will be the size of a snail mail stamp.
– Increase the quality (less compression, color profiles, and the biggest issue far more dpi) of the images in the PDF you sell. This way your customers can fully enjoy said images 🙂
Well, I was only talking about social media, as that is the issue I was talking about in this particular instance, but I’ll consider your more general two points. Thanks!