This week, Eddy’s under the weather, so I postponed our meeting until he feels better. Thus, rather than our usual jocularity, I’m diving right into describing in a bit more detail just why the two new Chronicles and the nWoD Dark Eras book are exciting for us and we hope for all of you.
We’ve been really gratified at how everyone has reacted to the God Machine Chronicle, and the comments and notes we’ve received for the Strix Chronicles: Blood and Smoke (or as developer Rockin’ Rose Bailey would say: Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle). Creating a new direction for the nWoD game-lines by providing a stronger central background storyline, as well as recreating the systems with the experience of eight years of releases, wasn’t a slam-dunk in terms of acceptance, so we’re really glad folks are saying good things about the books. A few people have asked why we just didn’t create officially announced 2nd Editions, and while that was on the list of possible directions we presented for approval to CCP, it was felt that this alternative direction maintained the overall sandbox philosophy of nWoD while still allowing us to make the changes we thought would strengthen each game-line and the overall nWoD. There certainly are changes like those you’d find in 2nd Editions, but they are much more malleable for inclusion in your ongoing games. With almost all of the nWoD books available on PDF/PoD at DTRPG, and so eternally on the shelf, we decided to make it as easy as possible to have a strong supported backstory ala the God Machine, or to pick and choose what aspects you incorporate, and to make the new rules available as a free PDF and added to Strix to further enhance how easy they are to use, pick from, or ignore completely.
So now, coming up, are the Chronicles for Werewolf: The Forsaken, and Mage: The Awakening. Forsaken‘s is the Idigam Chronicle (not Idigram as I insisted on writing it in the Gen Con promo info- doh!) and it’s central premise is “The Wolf Must Hunt!”. That phrase should give WtF fans a bit of a clue where developer Smilin’ Stew Wilson is going with the book, as it already shifts the overall theme from “spirit world beat-cop” as it was in the WtF core book. As with the other Chronicle books, we’re going to start with a fiction anthology first to give folks a chance to dip into the more focused backstory, and then launch the gamebook. We’re currently discussing just what needs to be re-imagined in the project, and whether we can incorporate the appropriate new GMC rules right into the book, as with Strix. The Fallen World Chronicle for Mage is a bit further out- so much so that a couple of folks wrote me wondering if we were only doing a fiction anthology for it since that’s all that was on the Schedule. Rest assured we are indeed going to have a Fallen World Chronicle game book as well as the anthology- it’s just slated for the part of the 2014 Schedule we haven’t yet revealed. What developer Dapper Dave Brookshaw has in store is still a bit further out than we can go into, but part of the overall re-imaging is that Mages delve into the mysteries of reality. As he said at Gen Con, and I’m paraphrasing here: “If Demons are the spies of the nWoD, then Mages are the detectives.”
Which brings us to nWoD: Dark Eras– or really just Dark Eras; you know what I’m talking about. One of the big challenges that Onyx Path has in terms of publishing the awesome White Wolf game lines is just how many of them there really are. Now Exalted is it’s own thing, really, although obviously Infernals are a fair bit different than Lunars, and cWoD is being rolled out with each 20th Anniversary Edition quite understandably setting the pace. But for nWod, every time we put out a schedule I get the same emails from concerned fans of GameX that didn’t have a new book on the schedule: “Where’s the love for GameX?” they ask. Well first off, it has nothing to do with withholding love from game lines but a question of what makes sense creatively and financially, and with the limited slots we have had each year for new books. Which is why for 2014, I decided we should have a book that visits each nWoD game line and gives each line something new for Storytellers to work into their Chronicles.
I thought that the historical Eras were a cool way to do that without stomping all over what we were trying with the Chronicle books or players’ ongoing Chronicles. Just doing the nine sections would make for a pretty big book, but since we would Kickstart a Deluxe version for sure, it seemed like we could control costs pretty well. Except, it hit me, what if we didn’t leave the usefulness of the KS system there, but pushed it further and used the KS Stretch Goal system to get other Dark Eras added to the book- maybe from big names, or dealing with obscure but flavorful Eras, or as Black Hat Matt McFarland suggested for WoD: Innocents, smaller “game lines” that weren’t one of the main nine? This sounded pretty cool, and would really nicely tie in with our use of the Kickstarters to allow our backers to directly determine how an individual book or even a whole line would develop.
And then, I talked with Multi-talented Matt McElroy and we came up with a few other ways we could use the KS process to determine how the book would develop. What if, the base “get a copy of the book” Reward wasn’t just one pledge Reward Tier, but there were nine of the same Reward- the book- labelled for each of the game lines and you would pick your favorite when you pledged? We could count the number of pledges in each of those nine Rewards and, for example, add 50% more content to the Changeling: The Lost Dark Era if that Reward had the most pledges associated with it. Or if we set a goal line of amount of pledges and the first line to get that number got more art in their Dark Era section. There really are a lot of interesting ways we could look at how Kickstarter is set up and play with that system to put the sorts of content into Dark Eras that you all are excited about. Which is really the point of any of our KS campaigns.
Would the nine Reward idea be too much of a popularity test? Would a bunch of Requiem fans pledge for the Promethean Reward Tier just to help out that game line? I don’t know the answers, but here’s a project that lets us play around with ways to experiment on the content of a book that would have been impossible even a few years ago. Let us know what you think about those sorts of possibilities. Thanks!
Not Possibilities, but Actual Updates:
– Strix Chronicle Fiction Anthology (VtR) The PoD, PDF, and electronic format versions are on sale now at DTRPG/DTFiction: http://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/117396/The-Strix-Chronicle-Anthology If you already purchased them you should have received an Updated notice in your DTRPG library as we made a few minor changes. This was one of the first books where we released the PDF about a month before the PoD version and while we didn’t get a huge amount of feedback, what we got really helped a fair bit to tighten up the text.
– Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle (VtR) Final dev pass. Remainder of art notes out this week..
– Mummy the Curse – Deluxe and Screen: Books and Screens at the shipper. The MtC Ready Made Characters Pack is finishing in layout and then it will be ready for approvals from CCP. Cursed Necropolis DC being written and its cover has been approved. KS backers have been approached about their character info needed to go in the book.
– Exalted 3rd Edition: While John hunkers down to rewrite the Charms chapter, the rest of the team is working on a couple of EX3 chapters that continue to be finalized for Editing: Stealth Charms just went into internal playtestings, and Chapter3 (Character Creation) and half of Chapter5 (Traits) and the combat engine are in editing. A big issue with Hearthstones was resolved, pleasing Holden no end. Dev notes for Matt Forbeck and Jess Hartley’s EX3 novels as well as Zub’s comic are to the writers/artist and their contracts are in various stages of completion.
– V20 Hunters Hunted 2: Deluxe is being assembled. PoD and PDF versions on sale at DTRPG. This is another book that really benefited from the PDF reviews that our community had a chance to let us know about. HH2 Fiction Anthology text is in editing.
– V20 Anarchs Unbound is in layout and we are prepping for its Kickstarter.
– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: At binding. Mike Lee is submitting chapters of the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel to Bill for dev review. The Storyteller Screen files are done and ready for W20. Bill has theW20 Anthology stories done and they are in editing. Jess Hartley continues writing the White Howlers Tribe Book and the W20 Cookbook is almost done in editing
– Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has Phil Brucato mostly developing now like a maniac and most of the book has been written and we are prepping an editor for this big ol’ thing. Still trying to get Mirthful Mike Chaney to start an art blog.
– W20 Changing Breeds Kickstarter expanded material has been written and is now being worked into the previous text and then to an editing pass and new layout, and the Changing Breeds Fiction Anthology is being edited/developed by Jess Hartley.
– W20 Rage Across the World: In layout.
– Guildhalls of the Deathless (MtC) layout is waiting on a couple of pieces of art and then its done and ready for CCP approvals.
– Conventionbook: Syndicate (cMtA) PoD and PDF versions are all live TODAY. The third book we were able to get community feedback on by releasing the PDF early, and it was much strengthened as a result.
– Conventionbook: Void Engineers (cMtA) is in an additional Dev pass as Ryan expands on this book’s lexicon in particular. Art is all in and approved.
– W20 Book of the Wyrm is prepped for editing.
– V20 Rites of the Blood: is in editing, Eddy is preparing art notes.
– Under the Darkening Sky (classic Dark Ages): Writers are writing second draft based on Dev notes. David is sending Mirthful Mike art notes for the cover.
– Trinity Continuum: We now have a whopping big Aeon outline and a Trinity Continuum Core Book outline and writers are writing.
– Scion: Joe’s team is hammering systems- big time. Joe is getting back up to speed.
– Demon: The Descent: In layout. Demon Quickstart PDF is free on DTRPG.
– Hunter: The Something About Monsters: Writers are writing. Con season has knocked a few of them back and they needed extended deadlines.
– nWoD: Dark Eras: Writers are writing, see above for more info.
-V20 Dark Ages: Scribes are scribing. See last week’s Monday Meeting Notes for more details.
– DtF Players Guide: Flowers Of Hell?: Being written in the mirrors of reality.
Reason to Drink: There’s a crisp tang in the air as nature prepares to die again.
So, here is where I am weird. I was not inspired by Vampire or Werewolf or even really Mage (though I am re-examined this) in nWoD. However Promethean, Changeling and now Mummy are super exciting.
I get the using the popular vote aspect but I fear some lines could be left in the dust (which I don’t want, even for those I am not a fan of). However, would there perhaps be ‘Shared Eras’. Meaning an era might focus on two to three supernaturals as central.
Dark Ages: British Kingdom may be Changeling, Hunters and Mages.
Dark Ages: Carpathia could be Vampires, Werewolves, Geist and Promethean.
Dark Ages: New World could be Changeling, Werewolves, Geist.
etc etc
This is just a off the cuff idea but I have always found the interactions between supernaturals fascinating.
As for pledging for different game lines, I imagine this would be too cost prohibitive but would different covers work? Say you pledge for your Cover of Era so if the above model, a pledge for the New World could show a Changeling and Werewolf with a ghost behind them battling a furious spirit. Or if you did them as one line gets an era, you could pick Vampire: Carthage, which would be possibly beautiful sprawling plazas filled with beautiful people, and various Vampires amongst them.
In my older age, I am finding I am a sucker for pretty books.
Bear in mind that every line will get the original amount we planned on regardless of “voting”, some might just get more. I like the Shared Era idea, very nice. If you are talking about variant covers- that might be a possibility. Rather than a “deluxe” maybe we might do versions. Thanks for the ideas!
Are you able to tell us the eras you currently have planned? I think the only ones that haven’t been mentioned are werewolf, geist and demon.
Yes, but I’m not telling right now. 😛
I can’t think of a witty response to trick you into telling me.
I really like the “pick a cover” idea for the Dark Eras KS. (That’s where I originally thought the concept was going, in fact.) I can see that there would be logistical issues, but maybe it could start with Vampire, Werewolf and Mage and the others could be stretch goals?
Maybe- I don’t expect we could do nine or more covers- but who knows? We’ll keep it as a possibility.
I think I speak for the entire obsessive-compulsive collector community when I say…please don’t publish 9+ different covers…
So, if M:tC is ‘at shippers’, does that mean we’re getting them here soon? And how soon?
As soon as the shipper gets them out and the transport to you takes place. Thanks!
I always wanted to work out some kind of Aztec/Werewolf setting.
Could be cool-
I’d be interested in a future setting, perhaps even a shared future setting.
Confession: I just finished reading Infinite Macabre.
Very inspirational. Certainly not off the table as a possibility.
I really hope the Anarchs Unbound KS waits until Mummy, HH2, and W20 ships out to backers before starting. I’d love to pledge, but that’s not going to happen(just like CB20) until people get their books that are 8 months late off the estimated delivery.
I totally understand if you’d prefer to hold off pledging until those earlier rewards get to you. We really can’t hold off on KSing in response to how long other Deluxe books’ processes take. Every project is different and we have a lot of lines that have a lot of fans anxious to have their books have Kickstarters.
Color me continually interested in anything V20, Dark Ages or Lost…
Green, black, and green?
I am so incredibly excited about the Fallen World Chronicle. I just know it’s going to be awesome. Well, I hope so. It had better be awesome! *glares menacingly*
No, no, that’s not fair. I know it’s going to be awesome… I hope. Aaagh!
*wanders off, mumbling crazily*
It’s going to be awesome.
I’ll have an Open Dev blog for it in the fullness of time, but as Rich says it’s a bit too far away right now. Give us a few months.
I really like the “choose-your-own-adventure” style of kickstarting. To be perfectly honest I will be happy with however it comes out (it’s a giant book of all 9 possibly more splats! That’s incredible!) but I also relish the ability to cast in my vote for word-count.
Cool- glad you think so. We’re still working out exactly how all that will come together, but making it fun and keeping the integrity of the lines in mind are two of our guiding principles.
To me, Blood and Smoke will always be Sex Murder. Early next year, I’m going to GM a convention game of VtR, showcasing the new stuff rules. I’m calling the game, Sex, Murder, Blood and Smoke.
Let us know how it turns out!
I second the idea of Kyle –
please add more than one splat per age !
To be honest I would just die for a Mage / Mummy book on the ending days of Atlantis and the Nameless City …
A changing breeds / Mage / Hunter book on the spanish invasion of south america would be awesome as well …
Or a Promethean / Vampire book about the cold war in Russia …
Well, don’t die for them- but those are cool ideas- thanks!
I can’t think of a more appropriate shared era than Geist and Vampire in New Orleans in the post-Colonial (Revolutionary War – Civil War) period. Especially if you present items as memories of a Mummy in the modern day. Seriously, there are tons of Egyptology-obsessed retailers in the French Quarter;).
With the further Chronicle books there seems to be a suggestion that there’s a possibility that they might not get the gameline appropriate GMC rules updates/condensed ruleset in the books? Am I reading that right?
I would suggest that for consistency across the lines and for the pick up and play aspect that B&S already promises it would be good if they could, if there is room that is.
That’s certainly one direction we are considering, ala Strix Chronicles. We have to see whether we need those pages for the basic line info itself though before we can make that call.
I’m not sure I like the ” choose your game line” KS approach. My guess is that most people will gravitate towards their favorite “core” game (Vampire, WW, Mage, Changeling) just to ensure that game would get a heftier page count. Maybe Demon is great, and Mummy too (still waiting for the book…), and I might want to know more of them, but if I am a Mage fan, I’m not pledging for a Promethean-enhanced book to “help out”.
Personally, I’d much rather have stretch goals to increase the overall page count for all lines (“at X $ we will add 1/2/3 pages to every section” or “increase the total page count by 10%”).
Thanks for the input, that’s why I asked- we don’t want to do a gimmick that actually isn’t fun for most backers.
Still anticipating Guildhalls of the Deathless and Demon.
I’m also really, really looking forward to the Fallen World Chronicle. I knew White Wolf existed for a while, but The Broken Diamond is what really got me to buy some books, although I’m mostly into Exalted these days.
Which reminds me, any word on the metal plate for the Ex3 orichalcum edition?
What word would you like?
Ideally the plate exists. Is there a design decided upon? Is manufacture of it planned any time soon? Shall I stir up fresh hysteria with a new thread on the forums?
Subject: “IS THE ORICHALCUM PLATE EVEN REAL?”
Body: “What is Onyx Path hiding from us? Wasn’t this supposed to be out in 2009?!”
Of course it doesn’t yet exist, the book isn’t even written yet. Will it exist with a new design- absolutely. I let one of the Exalted backer groups peek at the new glyph designs I was working on at one of the backer meals at Gen Con. Just sketches right now, but subtly altering the very meso-american influence to something more visually situated in the setting.
While I was being facetious, poking fun at past panicking (I forget to check if I’m obvious enough around strangers sometimes)…
Very cool to get the summary news on it! Thank you, Rich.
While I imagine details are still coming together, is the current hope to run the Demon Kickstarter through October?
If it is in layout already, seems like it will be poised to deliver its PDF very early after the KS close compared to some. 🙂
Can’t really say as yet, we have to run the Deluxe Anarchs Unbound KS first.
For Dark Eras KS, I hope for a “Mage : Fall of Atlantis” era.
I love the idea of this customizable book with Kickstarter ! Great !
Glad to hear it!
I don’t suppose there’s any way you’d consider Kickstarting a book for each line, with pledges beefing up the coverage of particular eras for that splat? (A girl can dream!)
You mean nine different books? That would run counter to the whole point of what we’re doing with the project. We’ve done individual Dark Era books before: New Wave Requiem, Mage Noir, and Victorian Lost, and this book is a chance to present the nWoD Dark Eras as more of a spectrum of the setting when seen in their entirety.
Is there a chance that V20 Blood Diaries of the Clans will come back on the Schedule i was really looking forward to this one.
Yes.
Yay!
I love big posts like this, though it means I have to consider alot with my comment.
I’m extremely happy with the name and theme for the Werewolf expansion. The Idigam are the entire reason why I’m currently running a Werewolf chronicle (which is turning into one of my player’s favorites ever). I really hope they make up a big part of the story.
Mage is probably my favorite game so seeing The Fallen World Chronicle written out in the blog post warms my heart.
As for the Kickstarter ideas, I’m in favor of all of the options you outline. Using a Kickstarter as a way to provide more of a certain product to those who really want it strikes me as a great idea. I’d be willing to chip in to see my favorite systems get a bit of a boost.
And, as always, on the edge of my seat for Blood & Smoke and Demon.
Both Dapper Dave and Smilin’ Stew are excited for their respective Chronicles, so I think you’ll get more of an idea once they get Dev blogs up as we get closer to the books’ releases.
Hi there. Was there any response from the printer in regard to updates on the status of W20? I saw a handful of people asking in the Kickstarter on the 8/23 post. Thanks!
Right now, they tell me that the books continue to be processed as I last indicated- I’ll Update both W20 and HH2 KS backers today if I still have not received the photos I’ve requested. Said photos being what I’ve been waiting for in order to do the Updates with something cool to look at.
Hi! Guess things were too busy last week, so, I’m re-posting some of my questions this week with an update because one of them was out-dated:
Hello guys!
Here’s a couple of Questions:
1. This one is for Eddy Webb, and as such I completely understand it may end up being unanswered. Here goes: Will the WOD game be Oculus Rift compatible? Because as far as immersion goes, there’s nothing else like it. I think there is literally nothing I’d like more than WOD including Werewolves at some point and playing first person with an Oculus Rift.
2. I got my survey for CB20. Thanks for taking care of that Richt. However, just to be sure nothing went wrong I did not receive any information regarding the regards that were not add-ons. Specifically being used as model for Book of the Wyrm. Is that for later?
3. This one is more for Stew if he’s reading. I was curious about the Umbra book. Any chance an outline might be posted on the blog or is that still a long way from now?
Thanks!
When I’ve got an outline together, I’ll post it up — it might be a few weeks yet, I’ve got to finish the Changing Breeds comic script, do some heavy world-bible-writing and outlining for the Idigam Chronicle, then take my first vacation in several years. If I don’t do that last, my wife will kill me. 🙂
Model shots- yes later, when Wyrm is being art directed.
Stew: Right vacation. I’m currently in mine. Feels great. Hope you enjoy yours and thanks for the answer.
Richt: Awesome. I’ll wait. Thanks for letting me know.
Will the Exalted KS bakers ever get some real updates like a preview of the combat system? Many of us feel like it’s some sort of “black box” where no one knows what’s going on. Obviously, some things (like the combat system) were already finished before the KS, so why haven’t backers been able to see any of this?
At this point, I assume that the Ex3 writing team has started a drinking game for every time someone asks to see that damn combat system.
Is it really so hard to respect their choices on what they want or don’t want to spoil?
@Oliver. I disagree as their combat system is something they used to “sell” the Ex3 KS. Since it’s been several months after the KS ended, it’d be nice to release that to the backers.
Having a working system and having the system that is going in the final book are two different things. Neither the Devs nor myself are going to reveal something that we know will have changes when it is as key an element as the combat system. Working off the initial design they had made, the Devs put it through a lot of internal playtesting before deciding that it could go to editing- and that is where it is now. Once they feel secure in revealing it, we will.
@ Richt. Thanks for the reply and for clarifying where things are at with that key element. I look forward to viewing it after it’s gone through editing 🙂
I think I like the idea of “voting” for content through pledges. At least if your goal is to make backers feel like they’re shaping the project. Putting in your $50 (or whatever) and watching the linear, predetermined strech-goals crawl up a track measured in the thousands doesn’t really feel like having a say in the project. It feels more like…placing a pre-order (dun dun DUN) and then crossing your fingers that you’ll get some more or less random bonus stuff.
As for what kind of additional content I’d like to see…well the best answer is probably “whatever the writers are most excited to write”. But with that acknowledgement, my preferences would be:
1) Additional settings rather than added page count to existing ones.
2) #1 choice for a tenth setting would be “Crossover”. Earlier in these responses, someone had the good idea of choosing 2 or 3 lines that mix together sensibly in a given era…but personally, I’d rather have a time and place where ALL the monsters are put in one big toy box.
3) As for settings beyond that, I like the idea of supporting smaller lines/individual books. Do you think it would work to have a historical setting for a book that’s not about a specific character type, like Asylum or Midnight Roads? These could double as crossover settings, I suppose, or could just focus on the environment of the period, rather than the type of character that’s played in it, or be a mortal historical setting.
* * *
On an unrelated note (because this seems like a shockingly good place for communicating with the developers):
Regarding the new H:tV book…is there any chance of seeing material for non-core compacts and conspiracies? In particular, I think VASCU is one of my favorite things in the WoD, and I’m always hoping to get some new toys for them. But maybe they’re perfect as they are…and I certainly understand the model of having each source book only reference the core…
Hi Rich, any chance on you giving us a rough idea on when the Anarch Unbound Kickstarter might be happening? Also, I’d like to add my vote to bringing back V20: Blood Diaries of the Clans.
Quite exciting news once more!
I’d like to add another vote to the crossover settings with multiple supernaturals as the focus for each era. It would be more useful to people running mainly one or few game lines: our group enjoys vampires and mages more than anything else, so having more than two Eras with stories for our favorite supernaturals would increase the immediate applicability of more of the book’s content.
nWoD Chicago is a great example of a multi-line setting that works perfectly both for crossover stories as well as stories that focus on a single game line. We enjoyed tremendously a politically-deep VtR story with numerous other supernaturals providing flavor in the background. Perhaps a similar model could be applied to the relevant supernaturals of each era and location, providing a multitude of options to mix and match (even contradicting ones) that can be applied selectively to multiple lines.
I’m not sure if this has already be answered elsewhere, but I’ve been loving the God Machine stuff I’ve read so far and I was wondering if there was any word on whether the rest of the lines are going to get the God Machine treatment after the Fallen World Chronicle?
All we can really talk about is what’s on the posted schedule.
There have been a number of proposals for Chronicle books for other lines, but that’s no guarantee of anything.
Thanks for the updates, looking forward to so much on that list. I’m in love with the wholeGod Machine direction you’re taking things in.
One question I have is with the other lines. I see you’re planning on WtF and MtA, which is great.
Is there any mid to long term plans to catch up the others?
Geist is probably my favourite setting (Changeling coming close on its heels), but it badly needs some attention and tidying up.
Am I hoping for too much here?
See my reply to Simon above.