But before I talk a bit about a bunch of the Scion 2e KS Stretch Goals and why they are important to you, even if you’re not into Scion, I’m gonna mention that today starts the excerpts from The Endless Ages Anthology for Vampire: the Masquerade. https://theonyxpath.com/endless-ages-excerpt-1-tiger/
Like I mentioned last week, we will be running excerpts from this book of all-new, all-original, fiction stories that span all four editions of Vampire: the Masquerade all the way to Halloween, and the book itself will go on sale this Wednesday. Whenever you first got into VtM, there’s a story in here to evoke that time period and edition!
Now, let’s talk about the Scion Kickstarter, and specifically the Stretch Goal rewards we included that explore several types of media.
Long-time readers of this blog know that while I love making books, I’m also very aware that the audience who might enjoy our worlds gets their entertainment in a lot of different forms. Scion 2e‘s Kickstarter campaign’s Stretch Goals included our usual goals to create sections of an RPG book project or four, and then it also had Goals that were to create stories for the Scion 2e Fiction Anthology.
In general, I see fiction based on our games as a great way to stay connected to the game world when you can’t be playing, and in a way that often sets the tone or illuminates aspects of the setting that the game books themselves are not designed to do.
With Scion 2e‘s KS, we are adding a new spin to that thinking about fiction by including a Goal that enables us to work with Interactive Audio pioneers Earplay to create an interactive Scion story that will play not unlike a choose your own adventure book, but with music, and sound effects, and voice acting, responding to your choices as you listen and react.
We had another of these as a Stretch Goal for Pugmire, and I really think they are kind of unique in filling a niche that is not handheld gaming and not just audio drama, but something more interactive in a solo gameplay sort of way. So our interest in these Interactive Audio dramas springs from the same place, and with much the same intentions, as creating fiction anthologies for our settings.
Incidentally, towards the subject of why this is useful to know if you are not a Scion or Pugmire fan, classic WoD fans should keep their eyes open this week for an announcement from Earplay about a very cool project. ‘Nuff said!
Next, we at Onyx Path are interested in providing our community with useful or just fun gaming accessories, like say the various game Screens we include with our Kickstarters or recently we have started building dice into our business model, and here again we recognize that a lot of gamers keep their info on the tablets and smart phones. I’ve tried to pull together a couple of projects that would enter that space for us, and with Scion 2e I had a couple of talented app designers step up with some pretty fully realized programming and UI for a character sheet/character generator app.
For us, working on this sort of project is a question of using bandwidth we don’t have, but these designers are all kinds of self motivated, so the KS Stretch Goal amount enables us to justify the time we will spend on “managing” their process. I actually have a bigger-picture solution for this sort of management bandwidth issue that I hope to announce next week that should mean all the pieces are in place to bring the “Blacksheets” project to fruition for Scion, and then, maybe, other game lines too. And for any other app licenses we might get going.
Similarly, the idea of creating Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) rules for Scion 2e was never something I even considered as a project folks would be excited about. Yet I fielded the first pitch for LARP Scion a year ago last GenCon, and at last year’s MidWinter convention Neall had something like eight different companies talk about the possibilities. By then, I already had early agreements going with Damocles Thread design group for a pitch for the rules, but again, that bandwidth demon raised its ugly head. Now, thanks to the Kickstarter, we can afford to devote time to working with Damocles Thread and see how to realize rules so you can play a Live Action range from man in the street to Thor. And once we have those rules, who knows…
Finally, we come to the big one.
I saved it for last with the Kickstarter, because it’s the game-changer, the never been done before by us, never by old WW, the opening up of Scion to Community Created Content. And yet it is something that is so right for Onyx Path, and Scion 2e; a logical extension of our Open Dev Process, transparency, and accessibility on all our social media.
We just need to figure out how to do it right – how to open the door for all the amazingly creative folk out there to dazzle all of us, the whole community, with their ideas and talent, and yet to keep everyone focused on what makes Scion, Scion.
We have valuable models with WOTC’s DM’s Guild, and several other programs like the one for Monte Cook’s Cypher System. So we’ll be looking at those, and a few of the other community content programs other companies are using. It is going to be a lot of work, but we think Scion has such diverse and, dare I say it, huge, potential for community created pantheons, gods, system tweaks, setting modes and shards, and more, and deserves to have that potential realized.
We have a lot, I mean A LOT, of idea for developing Scion 2e beyond the Big Four books and The World setting, so we need to figure just how your efforts as one of our community content creators can fit alongside our own. We need to figure out how to have some sort of quality control, and just what are the liability issues in terms of questionable material on both the moral and legal levels. (And no, I don’t think claiming everything is a parody is good for us as a company or even the legal loophole some folks think it is).
But now, with the Scion 2e KS Stretch Goal, we have some justification in spending that time now in order to have Community Created Content pay off big time for all of us in the future. And again (I hope you are seeing the pattern here) because we are trying this out with Scion, we can see how well it works and look at The Trinity Continuum, or Scarred Lands for adopting something similar. We can speak to our Creator Owned folks like Fast Eddy Webb about where they might be comfortable with such initiatives. We might even be able to speak to our Swedish overlords at the new White Wolf Publishing about their licensed properties.
Like I said: it’s the big one, and has so much potential and could have massive impact on how we create and do business. All from a Stretch Goal during a Kickstarter you may or may not have been involved with.
For us though, it’s all connected. We learn valuable stuff regardless of the project and apply what we’ve learned to the next ones. That’s how we find our way down the Onyx Path.
BLURBS!
KICKSTARTER!
The KS campaign for Scion 2nd Edition is OVAH! At finish, we had 4,085 backers and were funded at 1338% with $334,714 in pledges. Scion‘s Stretch Goals created a fiction anthology, a Jumpstart, Ready Made Characters, the Scion 2e Companion, and portions of the Scion Bestiary. They also enabled us working with companies to create Scion LARP rules, a Character Generator App, and an Interactive Audio Drama solo experience with EarPlay. They also enable us to create a Community Content initiative – the importance of these Stretch Goal rewards is something I go into a lot more detail on in the blog above.
All in all, this was a record-breaker of a Kickstarter made all the more sweet because Scion 2e is the first Onyx Path owned RPG game line we have put out into the cold, cruel world, and folks welcomed it with open arms!
Now we calm down a bit, get our project sheets together and make sure everybody knows what obligations we took on with the KS, and start exploring card game Kickstarters for Prince’s Gambit.
ON SALE!
DriveThruRPG.com is having a spooky Halloween Sale! The savings are scaaaaary! And they come in a variety of offerings to the dark ones:
Watch out for the pumpkins!
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? 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/
On sale on Wednesday at DTRPG.com: The Endless Ages fiction anthology! Vampire: the Masquerade fiction featuring all-new, original, stories written to evoke the distinct feeling of each of VtM‘s four editions!
Tilt Cards to go with the Chronicles of Darkness Condition Cards are now for sale at DriveThruCards! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194464/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Tilt-Cards
Tilts are a unified way of applying circumstances to both characters and scenes during violent encounters. Tilts are mechanically similar to Conditions, but they affect characters and scenes in combat only. Outside combat, use Conditions instead.
Tilts do not give players Beats when they end, but the effects of a Tilt can easily cause a Condition. For instance, a character in a fight gets a handful of road salt flung into his eyes and receives the Blinded Tilt. When combat ends, this shifts to the Blind Condition.
These Tilt Cards are a handy and elegant way to keep track of and incorporate Tilts into your Chronicle with each of the 21 cards featuring a single Tilt.
With a howl, W20 Kinfolk: A Breed Apart‘s Advance PDF is now on sale on DTRPG! Awooooo! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194952/W20-Kinfolk-A-Breed-Apart
Born to Run
The Garou are born of two kinds: humans and wolves. These are their Kinfolk — those “of the blood.” These special people — whether of two legs or four — carry in them the hope of the Garou: the promise of future generations. Although Garou are born to Kinfolk, nobody knows they’re different until they undergo their First Change. Until such a blessed (or cursed) time, they are just like their more mundane Kin. Most live as humans, suffering the foibles of humanity, all the while hoping they’re secretly special, that they harbor the wolf within. Even though that wolf will never howl for the majority of Kin, they’ve still got a vital role in the war, aiding the effort from behind the lines.
Kinfolk: A Breed Apart contains:
- Overview of the Kinfolk, both kenning and callow, including some of the Fellowships founded by Kinfolk to aid the Garou cause — and to protect themselves from their cousins’ Rage.
- Character creation for playing Kinfolk, including new Skills, Backgrounds, Merits and Flaws, as well as special Kin rites, Gifts, and fetishes.
- Guidelines for running Kinfolk chronicles, as well as in-depth information on the Kin-Fetches, the unique spirits used by Garou to watch over their distant cousins and warn the tribes if one of them should undergo the First Change.
NOTE: This is the Advance PDF version. A final PDF version and PoD versions will be available at a later date. If you have purchased this Advance PDF, you will be automatically updated to the final PDF and receive a link to enable you to purchase the PoD at a discount designed so that your total price matches our usual PDF and Print combo offer.
NOW the long awaited opportunity to own Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition as a physical book is at last at hand! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/181754/Mage-the-Awakening-2nd-Edition
You are a mage, one of the Wise. You see, know, and explore what others can’t imagine, from the depths of the human soul to the hidden corners of reality. Armed with your spells, driven by an addiction to Mysteries, you delve into the secrets of the world. Knowledge has a price, and the dangers are many.
This book contains:
- The complete guide to playing a mage in the Chronicles of Darkness.
- Reimagined Paths, Orders, and powers to create your Awakened characters and their allies, including an updated version of the most comprehensive free-form magic system in gaming.
- Five example settings across the world, from Los Angeles to Salamanca, each with a central Mystery.
- A brand-new look at all the strange places of the Fallen World, from the Lower Depths to the Emanation Realms, and what mages might find within.
Now available from DriveThruRPG in PDF: Mage: The Awakening Condition and Numina Cards.
Part of the new Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition rules, Conditions add an additional layer of consequence and reward to certain actions in the Chronicles of Darkness.
Various things within the course of a game can cause Conditions. These include exceptional successes, supernatural abilities, and really any situation where the Storyteller thinks they can be used to heighten the drama of a game.
Also available in this deck are brand new Numina cards featuring these rules from the Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition rulebook for ease of reference at the table.
On sale NOW from DTRPG: the Promethean Dark Eras chapter A Handful of Dust in PDF and PoD versions! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/178800/Dark-Eras-A-Handful-of-Dust-Promethean-the-Created
The Great Depression and the black blizzards of the 1930s turned the American Midwest into a wasteland. For the better part of a decade, thousands of people experienced deprivation and alienation right alongside the Created. They also clung to the faint promise of hope, that the rains would come and restore the land.
This is a single chapter from the larger work, Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras.
A Festival of Blades, the swashbuckling new Jumpstart advance PDF for Rose Bailey’s Cavaliers of Mars available on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/191678/A-Festival-of-Blades-A-Cavaliers-of-Mars-Jumpstart
Live, fight, and love on Mars, a world of red death and strange mystery, a world of savagery and romance.
Includes:
- A complete adventure set in one of dying Mars’ greatest remaining cities.
- The innovative DEIMOS rules, for high-flying, swashbuckling adventure.
- Four pre-generated player characters, ready to get into the heart of the action.
CONVENTIONS!
Onyx Path will be at Mid Winter Con 2017 in January in the lovely city of Milwaukee. Come brave the cold wastes to game and cavort with us! Please keep an eye out on the MidWinter site for announcements as to our very special beta test and Play With The Creator special events! http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/
And now, the new project status updates!
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
- Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
- M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 Cookbook (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- VtM Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Stretch Goal Content)
- GtS Geist 2e core
- VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)
Redlines
- Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)
- BtP Building a Legend (Beast: the Primordial)
- BtP Beast Player’s Guide (Beast: the Primordial)
- CtD C20 Anthology (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
Second Draft
- The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Cavaliers of Mars
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- VtR A Thousand Years of Night (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)
Development
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
- Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
- SL The Wise and the Wicked (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- SL Dagger of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- Dagger of Spiragos (5e– Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- EX3 Jumpstart (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- CtL fiction anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
Editing:
- Pugmire Core Book
- BtP Mortal Remains (Beast: the Primordial)
Post-Editing Development:
- Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition
Indexing:
- Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition core book (Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:
In Art Direction
- Dark Eras Companion
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary
- V20 Lore of the Bloodlines
- SL Wise and Wicked Update
- Prince’s Gambit
- C20
- M20 Book of Secrets
- W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook
- V20 Dark Ages Companion
- Pugmire
In Layout
- Necropolis Rio
- CofD Hurt Locker
- Beast Condition Cards
- Beast Conquering Heroes
Proofing
- Secrets of the Covenants
- Scarred Lands Players Guide 5E
- Beast RMCs – awaiting further errata.
- Mummy Novel
- V20 DA Tome of Secrets – final layout proof
At Press
- Dark Eras – Shipping to shippers.
- Ex 3 Screen – Finished at the Printer.
- Ex 3 core book – From RichT: manufacturing continues. Still need two bound samples with covers, coming soon I’m told.
- Dark Eras Screen – Shipping to the shippers.
- Kinfolk – Ordering PoD proof.
- W20 Shattered Dreams – Ordering PoD proof.
- V20 Dark Ages Anthology – Gathering backer errata.
- EX3 Charm Card PDFs – sending out for PoD proofs.
- V20 Endless Ages – On sale this Wednesday!
TODAY’S REASON TO DRINK: Because it is in your “Wodehouse wheelhouse”.
Comments
38 responses to “Unpacking a Content Community, and Other Stuff [Monday Meeting Notes]”
About the Game Screens. As youve said, the kikstarter games have one. But hat about the 2nd Edition games (Requiem, Forsaken, Awakening) that didn’y had kikstarter? Do you plan to create some game screen for those games? Thanks.
You mean PDF Screens?
Or phisical screens on POD. But yes, PD screens could be a good idea.
We’re at the mercy of DTRPG when it comes to what can and can’t work as a PoD, and right now screens aren’t on the list. For PDFs, we need to look at where our time is best spent and whether we think the amount of effort to create one specifically and solely for the PDF will be covered by whatever sales come in. Right now, the answer is unsure, so it’s not something we prioritize. As contrast, t-shirts are really pretty easy for Mirthful Mike and Impish Ian to pull together, particularly if it is a series, and sell enough to cover their time spent. Screens involve a developer and even might need an editor, and the layout of all those charts is a pain in the tail, let me tell you from experience.
I’m pretty sure there are ones for Requiem and Descent (I know because I purchased them [the pdfs] and printed them myself).
I would love pdfs for the W:tF, B:tP [might have missed this one at DTRPG], M:tAw, etc.
I’ve been thinking about the Scion Kickstarter so I could make a useful comment, but I can’t quite put my finger on how I feel about it. Rewards were fine, stretch goals were fine, but there’s just something about running a KS for two books at the same time that just felt off.
While the KS was running, I felt like Scion: Hero was getting sidelined in favour of Scion: Origins. The system preview had a good overview of the basic system, but I didn’t get a good sense of how Purviews, Callings, Knacks and Birthrights worked. Then towards the end I started feeling the opposite, like we’d gotten a lot more information about Scion: Hero than Scion: Origins. I don’t know why. It might be because the previews tended more towards the Hero side. Or maybe neither book really got the attention it needed?
Anyway, it was a fun KS, but I’m not sure I’d like to see the same format for the Trinity Continuum’s relaunch. I was pretty much sold on Scion already, but I know next to nothing about Trinity, so I’d like to see a more focused pitch for the first KS.
Uh, riiiight. Basically the info from the two books was dealt with during the KS as if it was all one big bunch of text, so I really can’t see either book not having been given the attention it deserves.
That might be what made it weird for me. I usually think of Origins and Hero as two fairly different books rather than one text.
Scion: Origin is the book with the core rules, so we could have just KS’d that because there are tons of cool things in there along with the rules, but would have lost a huge amount of the appeal of the pantheons. Scion: Hero is needed to take the characters and setting presented in Origin, and turn that into the Hero-level play long-time Scion players are familiar with. But if we’d KS’d just Hero, you’d have a game you can’t fully play because you need Origin. Presented together, they are the start of a very strong game line that expands on the Scion the community is familiar with, and which rocks. And with the two book set-up, there are a host of potential different lines that could come out of Origin, just like Hero starts the progression to Demi-God and God that was the basis for Scion 1e.
Yeah. Neall’s already mentioned that he wanted to keep the books as minimal as possible, so combining them wasn’t really an option, and in any case, Origins and Hero operate at different tiers, so a book combining both of them would have come off as incoherent.
Origins’ pre-Visitation focus would likely have to emphasize the World more than the gods in order to generate conflict. The PCs don’t have a direct connection to the supernatural yet, so they’re in a position where they have to react to the supernatural as it comes to them, and the PCs wouldn’t have much in terms of supernatural powers on their own. The overall theme and mood would be different from Hero, where you have post-Visitation Scions who are pointed at supernatural problems by their divine parents, or who are compelled to seek challenges on their own initiative in order to uphold their Virtues or Legends. You really need two books to develop all that properly for both players and the Storyteller.
I can’t think of a way to set up a Kickstarter to convey all that though, and that’s what’s bothering me. The rate of updates is what it is and you can’t really change it, so more updates isn’t much of an option. Theoretically, it might have been possible to extend the campaign to 60 days and make one month Origins-only and the other Hero-only to better showcase what each book does, but realistically, maintaining a regular pace of updates for two months is insane and the amount of work involved would probably have added a whole month to every other project you have in the pipeline. Splitting the books into different Kickstarters wouldn’t have worked since, as you said, releasing Origins as a standalone doesn’t tap into the pantheons, so players wouldn’t actually be able to play Scions. Running the two Kickstarters at the same time sounds like twice the amount of work for no significant tangible benefits and an absolute shipping nightmare at the end.
The Origins + Hero format is interesting (or else I wouldn’t be writing so much about it!), but I just can’t shake the feeling that the Kickstarter platform can’t do it justice.
I spent far, far too much time staying up last night thinking about this.
Although you certainly have the right to torment over this, I really think the issue isn’t worth your concern. We had lots of updates and plenty of info exchanged in the comments. Thee wasn’t like double the updates just waiting that folks were left out of. Their purpose is actually to tease specific subjects and we did that. We really wouldn’t have shown every single pantheon, for example.
Another reason to drink is to raise a toast to celebrate Mr. Richard ‘Deadguy’ Dansky’s birthday. 😀
Hear, hear!
Since your working on putting the game in an electronic format, what about Hero Lab? I understand it would be hard to update the NWoD (now CoD) stuff, but seeing as Scion is all yours it means no 3rd party to have to deal with. I love using Hero Lab but am a bit dismayed I can’t fiddle with my favorite game.
In general, our policy is not to go out seeking licenses because we just don’t have the bandwidth, but to deal respectfully with them as we are approached.
I hope the Scion Community Content thing works out well. Admittedly, that’s because I’d like to see whatever you figure out able to branch out into all of the other games you make, especially Exalted, but I do hope it goes well.
Thank you, there are certainly really fun possibilities there.
“Special Earplay announcement next week”
*Potential Spoilers Ahead*
Rich! Is Dansky ok?! Did they – they did IT, didn’t they? Oh no…
RichD is involved, and he is “alive”, but that’s really all I can say at this time.
Great summary of the Kickstarter, Rich!
I’m really excited for the Community Content program to get underway. Something that I feel is missing from the DM’s Guild is they don’t allow stories (short or long). Everything has to be game related, whether it’s races, classes, monsters, adventures, magic items, etc. While I understand that D&D and Scion are TRPGs first and foremost, being able to create our own “anthologies” would be appreciated.
Expanding this out to other properties would also be exciting but I know I’ll have to be patient for that. 🙂
Thanks! Exactly what we’re allowing will be a big part of our discussions, I think. While I can’t come up with a reason to disallow fiction right now, myself, yet clearly somebody over there has one, and we’ll look at some possible reasons – like, and this just occurred to me as I was writing this, they may have fiction agreements to publish everything about a setting with vendor X and getting revenue from this would break that contract. But, that’s just the sort of postulating we do until we figure out the various possibilities and what works for us.
That may be the reason itself now that I think about it. I know that both R. A. Salvatore and Erin M. Evans have both just put out the final books in their respective series.
Tome of Secrets is coming soon? *talks to herself* Yes, very soon.
But seriously, I’m really happy to see it so close to being finished.
It is the stretchgoal I am looking forward to the most.
CONGRATULATIONS on Scion and here hoping for a bright future with it and the other lines in your domain. Speaking of which, what are the odds that we will see either TC or Deviant KSing this year? I like Scion but my main interest in it is a s a spring board for TC. And my interest in Deviant is all kind of Joker Grins big. Really, REALLY looking forward to it
We’re aiming for both of those KSs happening in 2017, with my thinking being that TC’s will be around this same time next year. With Deviant, I really want us to be well into if not finished the writing before we KS.
Ugh, a year away from the TC Kickstarter? I guess you can’t rush perfection. I guess the predictions for 2018 to get the books was correct.
Good things come to those who wait…
It seems like a lot of companies are moving towards a more friendly fan content platform or open gaming license. Which is great. I think it’s an exciting time to be just a fan of any gaming company.
I’m very happy to see onyx path at least attempt the idea of fan based content. It has a lot of potential.
I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing how it plays out.
Short version you guys rock!
Thanks!
And short version: Thnx!
I would love to see community content for all the Onyx Path and White Wolf lines, though I entirely understand that setting such things up are not easy things to set up or manage. I’m especially curious what will happen when (and if) these programs happen with the more popular game lines like Exalted and WoD.
For my unaware mind, what’s the difference between community content and homebrew posted online? Is it the simple fact that you can make money off of community content, and this causes all sorts of legal issues? I understand this may seem like a silly question, but I’m curious.
Well, you hit on one of the dividing lines in my mind certainly. Homebrew, as we’ve seen in other industries, could be considered copyright infringement. In tabletop RPGs, companies tend to see the dividing line on infringement as that point where your use of my copyrighted materials makes you money and not me. What this sort of Community Content program is about is enabling members of the community to create projects they can sell, with a royalty to the owning company. It could include a special logo/brand that differentiates this stuff from homebrew. The content creator might choose to put their stuff up for free just like a homebrew, although I think that is dumb only because they should at least make it Pay What You Want so that the customers feel that this book is worth something because they can spend for it. (That takes us down a whole rabbit-hole of buyer perception of worth, and all sorts of stuff).
Then on the legal side, it is a lot harder to go after the parent company if a homebrew project based on their game is pornographic, or racist, or steps on another company’s copyright, than it is if the item was created for a program the parent company is running. So we have to look at that.
In general, I think the negatives can be minimalized and the positives win out for this, we just need to set it up to insure that balance.
All great points, Rich. 🙂
When I was in college one of my teachers shared a story with us: A band he liked had just released a new album online as Pay What You Want. It was a full album with all-new content, not just remixes or “B-sides”. A lot of people were still opting to pay the full $15-$20 that physical CDs were still selling for at that time. That story was one of the reasons I’ve opted to make my DM’s Guild materials PWYW.
I agree that a lot of good can come from this Community Content program. Everyone here has stories to share.
It is just so exciting to see brazilians massively bringing COFD back to events. I hope that this grows and publishers around here start to translate the second edition books! Thanks for the support, OPP.
We keep talking to folks about it, so hopefully we can announce something soon.
Looking forward to the copies of Origin and Hero. Congrats on the KS. I loved the concept of scion and the original hero book is 5 feet from me as I type this. It and Exalted are just awesome games, and two sides of a coin for me.
Will Scion be getting text only backer PDFs like Beast did? Or are you waiting till its more clean and finished before sending it out to people?
I’m extremely happy that you’re looking at community-created content for Scion, and I hope it makes it to other game lines as well. People complain about poor-quality material published under d20, but we also got some really amazing things out of that time, including the Scarred Lands!
I’ve published under the OGL, d20, and M&M Superlink licenses in the past. I decided not to publish under the DM’s Guild guidelines because of the exclusivity clause and the provision that WotC owns all material.
Hi there,
I remember that there were a project of Mage Victorian ages 1 or 2 years ago. Still in your files?
Thanks for your great work!
If you click on Current Projects it’s still in the On The Horizon section, and I know they updated that page recently. So from one fan to the other I’m still assuming they’re doing it because man oh man do I want that book.