Some New Stuff BESIDES Mage 20th…

brujahshirt

As this picture shows, we just this week launched our T-shirt store on RedBubble. http://theonyxpath.redbubble.com Right now we have the retro classic VtM Clan Shirts, a set of three Scion cover art shirts, and an Anarchs shirt for V20. We figure on slowly adding shirts as we have spare time, and as impelled by our Kickstarters, so expect to see the range of possible shirts grow. And as with everything, we’d love to hear your ideas as to what kind of shirts you’d like to see up there. And by “love” I mean we’d really like to know but would prefer you don’t start by telling us the ones up there already suck.

With Eddy away wrestling Pythons, I didn’t have my Monday dose of his unbridled optimism. Which really does help put some, repeat: some, comments from our community into perspective. Because if you think right now I’m talking about you, then you have enough reflexive empathy to not be who I’m talking about. Frex- our incredibly awesome 108 post discussion in the comments of last week’s blog about Stretch Goals was pretty sweet. A lot of good points were made, and a lot of clarifications and other info was exchanged. Not a problem.

Maybe I’m just peeved in general. Certainly sitting down with the tax man on Monday is high on my list of “not fun” moments. Good news, despite the obscure and arcane methods used by accountants, is that Onyx Path showed a bit of a profit last year. “But Rich”, I think I can hear you faintly say, “surely you’re being coy?” or even “You’re lying, you lying liar who lies! You live the dream and we saw what you made in Kickstarters alone last year- you dick!” Nope. It’s true- just a bit of profit. First of all, those eldritch arcane accounting practices only count your income and costs for projects shipped that year. And we, uh, well you know that we had some slippage.

Then, just in terms of KSs- we have percentages to pay to KS, Amazon Payments, and CCP right off of those posted KS funds, and then marketing expenses right after that. After those deductions, figure the biggest bulk of costs will come from the manufacturing and shipping, and then because we care, all those Stretch Goals we all have fun with have costs that get pulled from the total. So not a lot left: deliberately as we want to build the lines and have fun with the Stretch Goals, like we said last week.

But here’s something- to return to being peevish: I know why people post them, but that Fry pic with the “Shut up and take my money” tagline really irks me. I’m peeved. Maybe even vexed. You know why? It’s rude to say that to somebody working their ass off to make something cool. It dehumanizes us. I know that in most cases nobody posting that, or just the tagline, is actually telling us to shut up. But the end effect is that it seems like you’re saying that who we are, why we made this thing, the struggles to do so- none of that matters so much as the dollars in your fist and your almighty hunger to consume. Which I truly hope is not how our community sees this relationship- certainly it’s not how Onyx has positioned ourselves in regards to ya’ll.

Oh, and also, the Deluxe Mage 20th Kickstarter campaign is doing really amazingly well. Which doesn’t irk me. At all. Thanks to all of you for all the action in the comments section and for your support! 600% of the Funding Goal met, 2640 backers, an Ultra-Deluxe Edition added, and a ton of Stretch Goals passed. And with almost two weeks left to go.

 

And this irksome thing I have to fill out every week-grrr! :P:

– Mummy the Curse – Cursed Necropolis DC is in editing.

– Exalted 3rd Edition:  From Holden: Starting up the Craft Charms revealed some final tweaks that needed to be made to the core Craft rules. While those are being implemented, John has switched over to Occult Charms, and is over halfway done with them. Craft systems are undergoing final refinements. Valuable feedback is rolling in from the Phase 2 playtest and some time has been dedicated to sorting through that; so far the new social mechanics seem very popular, though we may need to mess with the Essence prerequisites for a few Charms, and several Keyword errors were caught. Final or near-final (depending on how Occult shakes out) revisions to the sorcerous project system were also covered in the last week, along with some design work on Evocations to prepare for Arms of the Chosen.

Zub’s EX3 Comic is more than halfway finished being illustrated and both EX3 novels are being worked on. Starting to get one of the EX3 Music Suites to a finished state, the Dragon Blooded theme.

– V20 Hunters Hunted 2:  US/Canadian missing packages being gone through case by case- at this point I should have messaged all of you back. Hearing every day from International backers who are getting their packages, so it does seem that all International packages have been sent. 

– V20 Anarchs Unbound : Backers had their chance to get the discounted AU shirt, and now the extra text on the added Free State is being worked on- plus an added Free State that Justin was so passionate about that we’re including as a bonus.

– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: As with HH2, US/Canadian missing packages being gone through case by case- at this point I should have messaged all of you back. Hearing every day from International backers who are getting their packages, so it does seem that all International packages have been sent. The Heavy Metal Deluxe W20 is slowly being assembled- the current delay being a glitch on the W20 disc on the spine that’s being fixed by the printer. Mike Lee has a new batch of chapters of the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel for Bill to review. Jess Hartley has the White Howlers Tribe Book in red-lining and is jumping back into inputting changes. W20 Wyld West patch writing is in editing and is being art directed.

– Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition- the Deluxe M20 Kickstarter KS went live just about two weeks ago and we have (as of this writing) 2640 backers, and $429,689 in pledges! We’ve passed 15 Stretch Goals including 3 early t-shirt designs, a Character Pack PDF Parts 1&2&3, a Quickstart PDF, a PDF on the way the Spheres work, an increase in the art budget, Book of Secrets PDF Parts 1&2, two more silk bookmarks, a Mage20 Fiction Anthology,a pay bump for the creative team and unlocked the Ultra-Deluxe M20 Quintessence Edition. Come check it out, the fun is just starting! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deluxe-mage-the-ascension-20th-anniversary-edition

– W20 Changing Breeds  PDF and PoD versions are on sale at DTRPG! Deluxe files are with the printer- proofs were shown to backers and are back with the printer. The cover emboss needed a tweak and has been. The Changing Breeds Fiction Anthology in editing.

– W20 Book of the Wyrm is in layout. This will be the next Kickstarter project if everything times out as expected. We think this book should appeal to W20 and W20 Changing Breeds fans alike.

– V20 Rites of the Blood: is ready for layout, but layout is not yet ready for it, art finals rolling in.

– Dark Ages: Darkening Sky (classic Dark Ages): PDF and Physical book PoD are available on DTRPG.

– Trinity Continuum: New System ideas continue being hammered out. Most of the Aeon setting material is in. Logo discussion has started. We’re looking at starting some preliminary blog posts. We’re looking at posting the New System for community review before we roll it into either Scion or the TC, so getting that ready.

 Scion: New Systems discussion continue. Both Scion and the TC above are now moving into active mode for 2014. Contracts and art notes out for the Scion: Origins cover.

– Demon: The Descent: We delivered the Demon PDF to KS backers before the end of December, and I’ll be sending PoD and other links to backers in the next day or so. Traditional printing files at the printer. The Demon: Ready Made Characters is one of the other links I’ll be sending to backers. Demon Seed Collection is in first drafts. DtD Seattle is in first redlines. Heirs to Hell is in second drafts. Demon Translation Guide is being written.

– Hunter: Mortal Remains: Art coming in and going in for approval to CCP, and is in layout.

– Book of the Deceived (MtC): Redlines. The loss of a writer means their section has to be given to a new writer, CAS is on top of it.

– nWoD: Dark Eras: Writers are following up on redlines except for one chapter which is having writer issues.

– V20 Dark Ages: Scribes are scribing 2nd Drafts. David Hill has recently moved to a new country and is still acclimating, more info once he is settled in.

– DtD Players Guide: Flowers Of Hell?: In layout and being art directed.

– V20: Ghouls: First drafts coming into to the developer for redlines.

– V20 Red List: In final draft stage.

– The Making of the Art of Children of the Revolution: Out to backers who pledged for it. Creating PoD files to go with PDF for sale on DTRPG.

– W20: The Umbra: In redlines.

– WtF: The Idigam Chronicle: First drafts being written.

– GtSE: Geist Ready Made Characters: Being written. Just thought we’d throw this in.

 

Reason to Drink: Actually don’t need a drink after venting here. Thanks!


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96 responses to “Some New Stuff BESIDES Mage 20th…”

  1. RobW Avatar
    RobW

    Heard from the official Facebook page and from Rose on the forums that Cursed Necropolis DC was now out of editing and into layout. Is that correct Rich?

    So is Demon likely to be on general sale for non-Kickstarter backers in the next sorta-week? Since its at the printers and you’ve mentioned sending out the POD discount stuff to Kickstarter backers?

    1. Rose Bailey Avatar
      Rose Bailey

      Rich gets that update from Mike and me, so you’ll have to take my word for it. 😉 DC is in layout, and art is coming in for it.

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Re: Demon. Soon as we can, gotta get through the discount messages, and there’s a lot of them.

  2. PookaKnight Avatar
    PookaKnight

    If it helps, I don’t think anyone means to dehumanize folks with the Futurama meme. I’ve always interpreted it as humorously showing love and excitement for what’s being created.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      I don’t think so either, but I’ve had four RPG professionals reach out to me already about how that meme bugs them, too. So from our side of the exchange, maybe less funny when the underlying message sounds more like what I mention above. OTOH- maybe it’s just a pet peeve of mine.

      1. Austin Loomis Avatar
        Austin Loomis

        Fair enough. Sorry.

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          No need. Part of the reason I posted was also to remind folks that me, the Onyx gang, and all our creators are just that, creators. And sensitive ones at that! 🙂

          I’ve had a fair numbers of messages these last couple of weeks that seem to forget that and come at things like we’re Amazon or some create to order storefront. And that meme seems to epitomize that to me.

      2. The Bear is Driving Avatar
        The Bear is Driving

        I can say i never thought about the shut up part being directed at the creators of a product. I don’t know why, but in the context of those forums I always thought of it being directed at the other forumites that endless complain about how their expectations are the right ones.

        And since the internet breeds dehumanizing behavior, my empathy never extended to them. certainly I never thought about how the creative forces might interpret them.

        Also, as an aside, I love the stretch goals that add more artwork to the products. And the sphere’s guide to the Mage KS is a great primer for people. Just glancing at those stretch goals really makes me want to pledge up. Keep up the good work.

    2. Austin Loomis Avatar
      Austin Loomis

      That was always my take on, and how I meant, the use of that great Earthican philosopher’s words.

  3. Drakhan Valane Avatar
    Drakhan Valane

    Shirts I’d like to see:
    * A shirt with a large Onyx Path Logo on the front.
    * A shirt with the EX3 logo.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Good ideas!

      1. Olivier Jobin Avatar
        Olivier Jobin

        Yes, logos are awesome to have on T-Shirts. Clans, Tribes, Sects, Traditions, Game lines, etc. People love them, or at least there are some they’re very fond of. I bevelive that’s one of the reasons why pins were so popular. Beside the collector dimension, there’s definitely one that translates emotional attachment to a particular group or concept within a game line. And symbols are a great way to convey this gamer “love”. 🙂

        1. Yiodan Avatar
          Yiodan

          That a valid. Truly, i’d wear a garoy tribe shirt more if it was just the kickass glyph then the full on tribal book cover.

  4. dallas stpaul Avatar
    dallas stpaul

    Any eta on info on the Wraith ks?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Nope.

  5. Nocte ex Mortis Avatar
    Nocte ex Mortis

    Little bit of time and a couple hundred grand to go to get to Exalted 3E guys!

    But on a more serious note, I am glad to hear that OPP is doing well, and damn excited to see those shirts. Just gotta scrape together the funds to get myself a Brujah one, and I can be even happier about it.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      I dunno what that first sentence means, but thanks for the rest! 🙂

      1. IanW Avatar
        IanW

        I think he’s pointing out that Mage20 has a couple of hundred thousand dollars to go to meet/beat Exalted’s KS numbers.

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          Right you are, Ian. Must be late and all the words.

          1. Nocte ex Mortis Avatar
            Nocte ex Mortis

            Partially that, and partially that I’m glad to see the Kickstarters doing so very well. It can only mean good things, especially now that you guys have most, if not all, of the logistics worked out for future ones.

        2. Ellen Avatar
          Ellen

          That WOULD be epic.

          In the Exalted comments it was mentioned that making “beat Numenera” an explicit stretch goal would be in bad taste. But it would be kinda funny to put a Mage 20 stretch goal at $684,756. It wouldn’t be in bad taste this time, right?

          If I had $100 to spare…

          1. Nocte ex Mortis Avatar
            Nocte ex Mortis

            I spent almost a grand on Exalted 3E, and I think it would be hilarious for that to be a stretch goal.

            I think it would be epic if it were hit.

  6. Dennis Avatar

    I am so, incredibly pleased to hear you guys managed to turn out a profit from last year. I certainly hope the trend continues on into this year and the years to come. As a huge fan from the time of the revised editions (which I know makes me a babe to some other people around), I am excited to see you guys continuing to carry the torch from White Wolf, and excited also to be able to continue to support you guys (and also local furniture stores as my need for bookcases increases…). Working in retail, I know “continuing to create/serve” oftentimes also means “staying in the black”.
    I never thought of that particular meme in that way, but I understand your dislike of it. Though I have said that thing in jest, I did mean it to convey a certain degree of excitement and appreciation of the work you’re doing. But having a degree in Literature means I should have no problem finding other ways to express my gratitude and excitement. 😀
    Wishing you guys health and continued growth for another year on this wonderful Equinox!

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Like I said, really a pet peeve more than anything. Thanks for your kind words!

    2. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      Revised editions started coming out in 1998, so would be turning old enough to learn to drive this year. 16 years is still about 70% of the time WW has been around, so don’t worry about coming across as a fresh-faced youngster. 😉

      Thanks for your continued enthusiasm and support!

  7. Unsilent Majority Avatar
    Unsilent Majority

    Okay. Glad to see there was a Monday Meeting after all. On Twitter, Ian implied that there wasn’t going to be one this week.

    Can’t wait for Mortal Remains!

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Actually, no Monday Meeting(s- there’s actually two every Monday, one with Eddy and one with the Onyx gang) this week, which was true. I just wrote this to add the Updates and complain a bit.

      1. Unsilent Majority Avatar
        Unsilent Majority

        No problem, Rich. You guys are doing great, by the way. The books/pdfs, etc. that Onyx Path has been releasing over the last year or so have been great. You, Justin, Rose, and Stew, as well as the amazing artists you’ve been using has resulted in top notch work.

        Keep it up!

    2. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      I didn’t imply anything. I directly linked to Rich’s Tweet about how there would be no Monday Meeting this week because he was spending time with his accountant.

      Which is true. There was no Monday Meeting this week.

      1. Unsilent Majority Avatar
        Unsilent Majority

        …I guess I should’ve simply said “meeting” instead of “Monday Meeting.” Got it.

        Thanks.

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          Ian can be tricky like that, you have to watch him.

  8. Karpomatic Avatar
    Karpomatic

    What about the Trinity Kickstarter?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      We should do one of those.

      1. marin Avatar
        marin

        Is Scion likely to get a KS too?

        1. richt Avatar
          richt

          That’s the plan right now.

          1. Darryl Avatar
            Darryl

            Would you be willing to offer up a ballpark date for the Scion kickstarter yet? As much as I enjoy Exalted, Scion is far and away my favourite.

  9. Unsilent Majority Avatar
    Unsilent Majority

    By the way, I ordered both the Anarchs Unbound shirt and the Brujah shirt and they just came in today. VERY quick shipping, guys. Seriously. I think I ordered both on Friday, and they arrived today and they look GREAT.

    Both came out beautiful(especially the Brujah one) and I’m seriously jonesing for more.

    Hunter the Vigil and Hunter the Reckoning, please!

    1. Jason Martinez Avatar

      I’ll put my vote in for Promethean and Mage: the Awakening (my old T-shirt has seen better days). I’m really excited that we can get T-shirts again. I’m glad things came together for you to do this.

      1. richt Avatar
        richt

        Us too. It took almost a year of trying to find a place that fit as well- still not perfectly, but well- into our business model as RedBubble.

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Glad to hear it!

  10. L. Garcia Avatar

    I can understand getting irksome in this line of work. I used to work for Disney and sometimes it was the same dynamic, feeling like people were just consumers, shelling out lots of money to see something new. It can be disheartening, I know.

    But simply, the work you and the team is doing is appreciated, at least by me and the people I hang and game with. One can go on and on how your work has touched people, but some other time.

    This is a people business and people get irksome, so go with it for now.

    Oh and Requiem themed shirts would cool.

    1. L. Garcia Avatar

      “the work you and the team is doing is appreciated, at least by me and the people I hang and game with”

      To clarify, I’m sure lots of people appreciate your work, but I was just speaking for myself and my gaming friends.

      🙂

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Thanks and appreciated. Of course, now I feel like I was trolling to get some of these wonderful missives of support. I was just kvetching for its own sake, but it does really help to hear appreciation to counter the less fun missives.

  11. Tiresias Avatar
    Tiresias

    Oh, tax season. Nothing makes me want to buy things quite like getting back the money I overpaid.

    Anyway, I’m happy to see Exalted moving forward and Demon wrapping up, at least on my end. Still looking forward to Dark Eras whenever it comes around. I’m also interested in seeing how the Trinity/Scion system preview turns out.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Me too.

  12. Brendan W Avatar
    Brendan W

    I believe I’ve shown time and time again that I am fueled only by my hatred of the products that you guys put out.

    Wait…

    No, the opposite ;). I only offered a “aw man” due to being a fatty and being outside the initial range of the shop. It is *still* an amazing thing and I hope it brings in nothing but gold for you all 😀

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      We will continue to look for other ways to provide a full range of shirts. Maybe RedBubble expands the choices if we show them enough folks are interested, maybe we take the OP store elsewhere if we find a better fit for our storefront. This is really just the start.

      1. Brendan W Avatar
        Brendan W

        Rich, that wasn’t even me trying to restart the QQ. I just wanted you to know that there were people out there with a positive attitude toward it all even when it doesn’t directly benefit them.

        On the personally positive side, I now have a new goal for my personal fitness regime, “Smilin’ Jack Hoodie” 😉

  13. ADRIA SV Avatar
    ADRIA SV

    I feel sorry about the Shut up joke, i think that is a way to show that we have so strong faith in the work of all your team that we will love, not because we can “eat anything”, but because we know that you will never make a product wich it’s not worth of our admiration.

    That what “shut up and take my money” means for me, and every now and then you talked, and i have to say that for me, that i’m in the M20 Kickstarter, the price of the product is minimum cause it allowed me to read you, and even exchanging some ideas, discussing a bit, and feel that those editions are someway a “community” feedbacked work.

    And that’s what made all of this amazing. I’m ashamed to be so poor that i cannot affor a higher pledge than one physichal book, because all of you deserve it.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Thank you so much and don’t feel bad. That Deluxe is expensive to make, so it’s expensive to buy. But in the end, you getting whichever version you can and enjoying Mage 20th is the biggest and most important thing.

  14. Cardul Avatar
    Cardul

    Yeah, I think the Frye meme is about trying to be humorous. When I use it, that is what I am meaning, as well: I love this! What you are doing is awesome! Let me buy it so you can make more awesome!

    (The flip side is also one company I know of has an awesome game about flying battleships. But, all they have been doing is talking about stuff they have in store. I want to buy stuff from them, but CAN’T because they have nothing to sell! So..how can I support the creative energies, and put food on the creative people’s tables if there is nothing for me to buy from them?)

    But I fully empathize with the sentiment.

    On another note: For T-shirts, I would love to see, well, Werewolf and Changeling shirts.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Yep, that’s the thing- funny show, funny picture, funny intent. I’m with you. But now at least you can see that sometimes intent doesn’t land as intended- thanks for empathizing!

  15. Brian Goubeaux Avatar
    Brian Goubeaux

    Since Onyx Path stated that they will design shirts for the gamelines that they pimped through Kickstarter, here’s what I think.

    Mummy The Curse: Pillar symbol (animal head) shirts, and Guild logo shirts.

    Demon The Descent: Purpose (Sword, Shield, Wheel, Trumpet) Agenda symbol, and if Catalysts have some, those as well.

    Werewolf The Apocalypse: What you showed us in the T-shirt thread in the forums look good.

    Mage The Ascension: The Full picture shots and the Tradition symbol that you showed in the KS look great, though I’m going to call the subtlest option “Fake Polo” since that option uses the same format that every polo shirt uses when showing their logos.

    V20: You said that there may be V20 versions of the clan shirts. I want to see that. Plus, if CCP/WW is okay with this, bloodline shirts (Samedi, Salubri, Baali, Daughters of Cacophony, etc.) would be great additions as well.

    Exalted: Since this did a KS, perhaps shirts containing the Solar caste symbols, along with shirts containing the symbols of the other Exalted would be great.

    1. Kim Avatar
      Kim

      Exalted T-shirts? Aw, now I really want aFalling Tears Poet- or a Maiden of the Mirthless Smile-T-shirt

    2. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      Rich’s statement about Kickstarters was mostly to point out that Anarchs Unbound, and now Mage, have had T-shirt stretch goals, so those designs are going to be a lot of the next ones in the queue. That’s not a statement that we’re limiting our shirts to the products we’ve Kickstarted already.

      Also to be clear, the Apocalypse shirts in the T-shirt thread came from a fan, not from us. Several of those designs can’t be done within the constraints RedBubble gives us.

    3. richt Avatar
      richt

      All good possibilities. And as Ian notes, sorry if I came across as tying t-shirts to the Kickstarters- we’re not limiting or locking in anything we’re doing with T-shirts to what we are doing with KSs. I only meant that “so far” we have used the KSs as springboards for some designs.

      1. GregN Avatar
        GregN

        The subtle designs listed on M20 were rather nice. If possible, a series similar to those with Tribe Glyphs would be cool.

        Hopefully with some potential to see a reduced cost stretch goal in Book of the Wyrm Deluxe.

        Would *puppy dog eyes* be a terrible pun? : )

  16. Roger (Teilzeithelden.de) Avatar

    Any hint on how the new TU/Scion dice mechanics will work?

    1. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      It uses d10s in dice pools.

      1. DaveB Avatar
        DaveB

        The character sheet has dots on it.

        1. Stew Avatar
          Stew

          Characters engage in conflict. This may involve rolling those dice pools, but it’s too early to tell.

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Oh, plenty. The team are after all working on pulling it together right now. But until it passes muster internally, any teasing could be totally wrong next week. Except for what Ian and Dave note.

      1. Roger (Teilzeithelden.de) Avatar

        Thanks, at least D10 again 😉 I’m very curious how it will work! Aberrant had some problems in a mixed power group (MegaStrength, Autosuccesses, etc)

  17. Christian Avatar
    Christian

    Hi there, just a question regarding the survey for Exalted 3 (popped up there in the KS comments).
    Some people are wondering if it is possible to send it out earlier, because KS allows address updates now?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      I have read that from KS but haven’t seen any evidence of the address change thing working- have you? I’d love to hear some examples that are working as they planned before committing by sending it out.

      1. Tiresias Avatar
        Tiresias

        According to the Kickstarter announcement (https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/new-feature-managing-backer-address-changes), address changes have to be enabled by the project creator when the survey is sent out, so it’s not retroactive. It looks like youll have to check if it works with the next survey you send out.

        1. PookaKnight Avatar
          PookaKnight

          It looks like in the comments section, they say that it can be retroactive. The project creator has to go into the survey settings and enable the feature.

      2. Christian Avatar
        Christian

        No, I haven’t seen it yet, just read the news from KS. As Exalted is atm the only KS I’m backing, sadly I cannot offer examples for now. Maybe someone else has experience with that point?

      3. richt Avatar
        richt

        So I did go in and discover that as the creator, I can activate an option that allows address changes on the Surveys. Of course, in true KS fashion, I have to activate it by Reward Tier, so a lot of clicking around to do a full project’s worth of Surveys. I changed Demon and the Heavy Metal option for W20 to allow address changes, and will do Changing Breeds next.

  18. Eddy Webb Avatar

    Since I was learning about classes and regular expressions instead of talking Rich off of a ledge, here’s my two cents on the meme:

    I think it started off as an expression of love: “Say no more; I’m willing to give you money.” Over time, however, certain people have taken it as a badge of entitlement: “Stop giving me excuses about why you are not doing this thing I love; my money should be all you require to do it.”

    The problem with the meme is its humor relies on the exact same structure placed into different contexts (like a callback in a comedian’s routine). As such, by design you cannot get the subtlety of the person’s intent when they use it. Without that nuance, it’s easy for creators to take the worst possible interpretation. Just saying “well that’s not what *I* mean” doesn’t help, unfortunately, because dozens of other people aren’t providing that context.

    Personally I’ve just tuned it out as a kind of white noise — if the person involved isn’t willing to put forth more effort in their comment than pasting in a picture, I’m not willing to put any effort into trying to discern their intent.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      God, you’re snooty.

      1. Jay Avatar
        Jay

        Best use of the word snooty this year by far.

    2. DaveB Avatar
      DaveB

      Bearing in mind the image’s original context, in the episode of Futureama satirising Apple launches. Fry’s line is in response to a sales drone explaining the pathetically small changes from the last version of the story’s ridiculous piece of consumer tech.

      It makes the relationship between seller and buyer to be that of an Apple fanboy, and I don’t want to be Apple.

      (posted, because irony, from my iPad)

  19. Walter Avatar
    Walter

    Purely for curiosity’s sake, any kind of delivery estimate on CB20 Deluxe? The cover emboss in the last update looked great, but it didn’t have any info past “they’re manufacturing now.”

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      I stopped giving estimates, they just drive people nuts when they are missed. Keep an eye on the Updates for progress reports and you can watch the project head to delivery.

      1. Walter Avatar
        Walter

        That’s fair and I completely understand. Like I said I was only curious. I’m really looking forward to getting it, and also to seeing the Wyrm20 KS get started after Mage. Any chance we’ll get an update on Braney in that book?

  20. Diogo Avatar

    What about Cavaliers of Mars?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Coming along, but I’ll let Rose jump in here with more details if she has time.

  21. Nikuchan Avatar
    Nikuchan

    Maybe I missed it, but whatever happened to the Demon Conversion Guide? Was it cancelled? Postponed? Cast into the abyss?

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Up there in the Update for Demon.

  22. Ellen Avatar
    Ellen

    I’m glad that SoE stands for Society of Ether now. The conservative SONS of Ether characters may wail and scream that they’re being “oppressed” now, but it’s good (and in-game fitting to the times) to remove the old sexist name from the game.

    1. Ellen Avatar
      Ellen

      BTW this post was sort of a response to a comment I saw on the Mage kickstarter updates, somebody saying they were sad that a significant conflict within the Tradition is over now. My immediate thought was “Ha! Like losing one measely battle will shut the conservatives up.” I don’t think that poster has anything to worry about, especially when some of the conservatives are like 200 years old.

      1. richt Avatar
        richt

        Pretty sure the change just insures there will be more internal conflict, myself.

  23. Marcos Avatar
    Marcos

    I realize that the game line is over but I would love to see (and purchase!) some Orpheus related t-shirts.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Possible, certainly.

  24. JezMiller Avatar
    JezMiller

    I’m English. I would never say “Shut up and take my money”. I’d be more, “I say, old chap, would you be so kind as to take my money, if that’s quite convenient?”.

    Ahem. I’ve never used that particular image, and never will, now that I know it bugs you. But if it helps, it would never have occurred to me to see it as a negative reflection on you. Look at it this way. Would you ever yell at the electricity company, the ‘phone company, the (this one’s topical) tax man, to take your money? I certainly wouldn’t. Insofar as I ever thought about it at all, what that image says to me is that you’re selling something so good that it’s driving people into a shopaholic frenzy. Mind you, I’ve never seen Futurama, so maybe I’d feel differently if I knew the original context.

    It’s pretty obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it that you’re focused on the creative side, not profit orientated. Why else would you be doing Deluxe Kickstarters at all? You were at the point of freeing yourself from all the headaches involved with printing and shipping books, thanks to DTRPG, and then you go and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. If you were going for pure profit, (and an easier life), I’d expect you to simply crowd-fund pdfs and not burden yourself with all the hassles of talking to printers and shippers a metalworkers and holographic card makers or whatever. For the record, I have noticed, and I have appreciated, that you’ve gone to an enormous amount of additional effort that you didn’t need to.

    1. Ellen Avatar
      Ellen

      Definitely.

      If they (or their evil overlords) were only after profit they’d churn out a quota of badly-written junk, finished or not, every quarter. And they’d retcon or change things on a whim if they thought it’d make the product more popular or trendy, who cares about the old-time fans? And they’d repeat elements that appear to be popular ad-nauseum. And the 50% of the artwork would be scantily clad, ill-proportioned sex objects.

      Or, you know, go into a business that pays better…

      Why yes, I am somewhat annoyed at how some other games I like are produced. What makes you ask? :p

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Well, there are a ton of benefits to doing the KSs, like I mentioned last week, so the angst of once more having entire companies that you can’t really force to do things as you want them to is balanced out. Thanks for the many kind words in your missive.

  25. Yiodan Avatar
    Yiodan

    Ugh. Crazy week. Totally missed this party too. Uh well anyway. I wanted to say that your reactions make sense. The internet can be insensitive and doesn’t always know when to stop but hes still a cool dude to hang with most of the time. I love your work. And so does the internet. he just doesn’t always say it right.

    On the topic of loving your work, I have to reiterate how much I enjoy reading the new convention books. I am almost finished and they truly do not disapoint. Which really brings me to the following statement: I know the convention books were an isolated thing. But I dearly want to express how awesome I think it would be to have new tribe books in the same vein set post an apocalypse that sorta fizzled like Ascension did for Mage. I hope the conventions book sold well and that this might be conceivable because it would be like 13 early Christmasses on each release.

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Glad you’re enjoying them. We’ll have to see- right now Eddy is outlining the Bloody Blood Diaries/Missives of the Blood Clans (not the real title), which looks at all the Clans in V20, so a Tribe volume for W20 might be possible.

      1. Yiodan Avatar
        Yiodan

        That would surely be interesting too and I’d buy the hell out of it. It makes too much sense in every way to do it in the W20 setting.

        I realise I might be a minority, but I was really into the idea of them being in the original timeline and picking hints dropped by the convention book like the possible Glass/Progenitor alliance.

        Please dont read too much into this. The book you mention sounds aeesome and if it exists one day you know i’ll glee all over it.

  26. Elcio "Daunt" Jr. Avatar
    Elcio “Daunt” Jr.

    I’m an Exalted enthusiast, so I’d like to see some T-shirts about this setting. I don’t know, a basic one with the logo of the game, or even some solar-caste-themed ones, possibly with the art of the characters that represent that caste like Harmonious Jade, Swan, Arianna and so on…

    1. richt Avatar
      richt

      Definitely. EX3 coming, and we’ll look at which make sense from the earlier editions.

  27. Cardul Avatar
    Cardul

    Interesting thing I noticed poking through DrivethruRPG. It seems that the only one of the Revised Tribebooks not available in PoD is the Children of Gaia one(planning a Werewolf game later this year, and wanting to fill in the holes in my print Tribebook collection for my players). Was this an oversight?(As in..you thought you had done it, and just missed it among the others) Or is it in the forthcoming planned PoD releases, and just hasn’t come up yet?

    1. Ellen Avatar
      Ellen

      That’s kind of ironic since it is often considered the worst of the Revised tribebooks.

    2. richt Avatar
      richt

      Its coming soon.