First off, many thanks to all of you who expressed your enjoyment of this blog so far, and your many great ideas for what you’d enjoy seeing me talk about each week in the future!
I’m going to get right to the conversation Fast Eddy Webb and I had at lunch today about putting together teams for projects, but first I want to point your attention to the Blurbs! section right above the Updates section below. I decided that while I personally was feeling a bit like all my writings here were heading a too much towards sales info, there were still obviously folks who were looking for those reminders of sales and Kickstarters. And, they could actually use that info to be set off from my blathering instead of being stuck inside them; hence, the Blurbs! section.
Go ahead, scroll down and check it out. I’ll wait.
Dum, dee dumm…the lord, the loooord of the riiiings…dum, dee dum, dum dum dum duuum!
Back? OK.
Eddy and I talked at lunch today a fair bit about processes, partly about whether email or voice or google docs was the best ongoing communication between creative teams, but mostly more conceptually on how to create different consulting “brain trusts” that can come together at different phases at the start of a project and when and how these should evolve into the working groups of writers for the project. I likened into to how SNL has had both performers and more rarely performer/writers, while other comedy troupes tend to be made up of performer/writers, like Monty Python, SCTV, or Kids in the Hall.
We have folks with great knowledge and interest in our White Wolf games, either because they were the original creators or are fans of these long-lived games. They have ideas based on experience that can be drawn on to get a rough skeleton of what we want in a game. It’s not important that they are also writers, but them knowing at least a bit how these ideas they are presenting will eventually need to be written can be helpful. And if they really feel like they can run with their idea, and actually are the kind of writers we want, then they maybe should be given the assignment to make their idea work in the project itself. But at that point they would transition into the writing team. How to maximize the knowledge of the brain trust(‘s because sometimes different groups with different skill sets and experiences can be part of all this) to map out the features of the project, and then how and when to transition to a writing team in a way that enables that team to get the best guidance in their assignments from the ideas put together by the brain trust was pretty much the meat of what we talked about today.
But, since I promised to touch on this in today’s blog, I did go over with Eddy some of my research relating comedy troupes on tv with our creative teams. I started looking into this during my years managing and leading the Production and Design Department at old White Wolf. I was mostly concerned, at the time, with trying to discover how to enable a team to create high quality work while under unending deadlines and the scrutiny of fans, other departments in the company, and the bosses. It seemed to me that drama required a certain set of creative sensibilities that were certainly part of what we did (and still do) with gamebooks, but didn’t cover all of it.
Comedy, though, is more complicated to do really well, so it seemed a better conceptual model to look at. The idea of doing a show really well, week after week, and maintaining the creative energy to be funny, well that seemed to map well to my team needing to bring the creative magic to every project week after week. Anyway, it was an excuse to really research those troupes, too. I won’t say that I achieved any sort of master list of how to keep creative teams going, but I did get an overall better feeling for the environments that foster good ongoing work, and a few general trends.
As an example, I noted that being able to form creative groupings, often two person partnerships, was something these comedians gravitated towards and seemed to value, even if the groups sometimes fell or exploded apart. Belushi and Ackroyd in the original SNL troupe; Palin and Jones, and Chapman and Cleese in Monty Python; these were strong writing and often performing teams that also strengthened each other and served to create a united creative front. For my part, as manager, I would assign senior and junior designers, or different art directors with different designers, until it seemed something clicked. Later, I’d match art directors with line developers as partners for the game lines. Sometimes the people clicked and really created stronger projects because of it, sometime they didn’t and we’d reconfigure- I never really wanted anybody to be forced to work with someone they couldn’t stand. In any of the cases, either having that other person to relate to, to drive ideas to and know they’d be improved, or even just to say something stunk, it seemed like the creative spark was kept going by having that other person involved.
The other side of the coin, were the lone wolves, creators who seemed strongest when they could work something out on their own. Eric Idle functioned this way with Monty Python, as did SNL‘s Molly Shannon who famously would explain characters just with a sound and a gesture, and then run amok on stage with them. For me, I just made sure for our lone creative types that the structure was there of the larger group and that they never felt isolated, or more important than the team.
There’s a lot more there, but that’s an example of how I tried to apply ideas garnered from those troupes.
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And now, the BLURBS!
This week we are wrapping up the nWoD Dark Eras Prestige Edition Kickstarter, and what a fascinating and exciting trip it has been as backers are suggesting Dark Eras and then voting them into the book. The artwork at the top of the page is the full-page Elizabethan Requiem piece by Cathy Wilkins that we just got in. We’re 4 days from the end, $1200 away from the next Stretch Goal achievement of adding a new Dark Era chapter, which may be Werewolf: the Forsaken in the Viking Era, although Hunter: the Vigil during the time of the Biblical Book of Judges sounds pretty cool too, or Geist: Wild West! If you haven’t checked it out yet, and are itching to help decide what is actually in this book when it’s done, c’mon!
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DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (Projects in bold have changed listings)
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)
- W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition) (Going for open development soon.)
- M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) – In Open Development
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent) Extension to writers was given.
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition) (Preview post last night.)
- M20 Anthology (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Demon Translation Guide (Demon: the Fallen and Demon: the Descent)
- Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
- nWoD Hurt Locker (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)
- Pugmire (Be a Good Dog.)
- CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
- WoD nWoD 2e core (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)
Redlines
- Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)
- Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening) – In Open Development
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)
Second Draft
- Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)
- V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- W20 Novel by Mike Lee (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- “Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)
Development
- V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created) Being playtested.
- Dreams of Avarice (Mummy: the Curse)
Editing
- M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Development (post-editing)
- Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE
- Sothis Ascends – Finals starting to roll in. Couple of stragglers, but that was expected.
- Book of the Wyrm 20 – Made some minor tweaks to the art for the cover, but other than that things are moving along. Should start to see some stage by stage type proofs over the next week or so.
- V20DA – Errata collecting. Replaced incorrect backer rites with corrected ones.
- T-Shirts – Dark Ages shirts up. I’ll work on more once WtF 2 is through final proofing.
- Art O’ The Changin’ Breeds – Mage still a priority.
- Fallen World Chronicle Anthology – Uploading corrections to PoD and digital. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/143174/The-Fallen-World-Chronicle-Anthology
- WtF 2 – Interior in first proof with Stew. Working on the cover and the fiction interludes this week. Mainly have to find time to do up some woodcut style illos of rats. Also hunting for the working files for the logo so we can add the second edition to it. Leblanc got his art in late Friday night.
- Wraith 20 – Getting Mr Cobb started on remaining Guild logos.
- M20 – Proofing with Phil. Depending on how things go I’m going to try and work on the screen this week.
- Dark Eras – KS rolling along. (see above)
- V20 Lore of the Clans – Sending finals to Eddy this week. Couple of artists need until the end of the month, but that was expected. Might actually be able to start layout soon depending on how things go. This is our next Kickstarter.
- Lore of the Deceived – Uploaded to Drivethru and awaiting activation..
- M20: How Do You Do That? – Figuring out the art buy on that one.
- EX3- RichT here, once again tagging onto Mirthful Mike’s report: Waiting on the last few pieces of art. Waiting for Dev notes on the roughly laid out pages.
- Ex 3 Anthology – Guts of the book are in proofing.
REASON TO DRINK: It’s still pretty cold, y’know.
Sardonyx System up to 2nd draft? Hell yeah….. 😀
Lore of the Deceived is going to be awesome. I just wanted to say I was very impressed that the writer of that pdf mentioned on the forums he did the extra work for free. Which I think proves the level of dedication the team at Onyx Path has for their work! Massive respect all round.
As a backer of the Dark Ages V20 Kickstarter I am enjoying the preview edition sent out. I am curious as to how many “beta” releases there will be before the public one is released? Obviously the one with the corrected backer names was released a couple of days ago. Likewise the backer email mentioned another update likely sometime late this week.
Considering that errata may be flowing in for a while do you think it likely there will be a third update to the backer pdf before it even reaches public release? After which it will get the usual errata forum thread on top of that?
Alternatively do you think its more likely that the next pdf update will be delayed till late next week maybe and just the one additional update will be released for the backer edition then?
For Kickstarter projects, the advance PDF the backers receive is the one that gets errata’d, so there is no full public errata period. The public release is the final release.
From the V20 DA Update you mention: “or wait until we do the official “we input the changes you told us about” version in a week or so.” I was referring to us starting to make those changes, not when we’d release the final PDF.
Is everything ok with M20?Why is proofing taking so long,is this normal?
D:
*worried*
Why is proofing taking so long? In a book almost 700 pages long before the index and backer lists? Where the author is going through every page looking for things like a mis-spelled word that got missed, or a period out of place, or a duplicated line or any of countless issues that can pop up during writing and layout?
No, it is not normal for proofing to take so long. But, this book is not normal. Just breathe, and be patient. We will get it when it is ready. And, thankfully, not one second before.
Don’t forget to check for XX page references.
For a book this size, the proofing time isn’t unusual at all.
wish we could get a rough PDF, though. I guess it’s all marketing, gotta keep things simmering until they’re done.
Not a thing to do with Marketing. It has to do with presenting the work the writers AND artists AND layout person AND all the rest of us have put into this behemoth of a tome in the way we have intended from the beginning.
Can’t wait till Beast is far enough along that we get previews.
That should start happening next month.
Thanks! What about Scion: Origins previews?
Scion and Trinity development are in a holding pattern until Sardonyx is in a state we can use.
I just noticed that i have no idea what its going to be in the Exalted 3 anthology.
Are you keeping it as a surprise or did i just miss some article somewere?
Some really cool stories.
*mindblown* lol
Are they all new one or do we have some from 1ed?
Because if we do then i hope they were reworked, they way it described charms was weird.
All brand new for 3rd Edition.
What does ‘work on the screen’ mean?
It means there is a storytellers screen for M20. And work must be done on it.
Werewolf the Forsaken 2nd Edition and Mage 20th.
I can taste them!
Also, Lore of the Clans should be cool. Excited about it as the next KS.
Glad to hear it!
Nameless, no need to be worried. M20 is taking this long because it’s almost 700 pages. A book that long takes time, just as HDYDT ? and BoS is also a nice length according to satryos, not 700 mind you but nothing like the beast that is m20. Also according to Rich, we will gt m20, the backers on or at the second proof stage, so just give them time. Good things come to those that wait.
Well the kickstarter said march so I would wager sometime in a few weeks. My money is after the 20th.
Thanks for the info jason and dwight! 😀
To be fair, the kickstarter says March for the physical book, December 2014 for the PDFs, but of course, we know the gargantuan size of the project, and the vagaries of life slow things down. Seriously itching to get my eyes on the PDF, though. Running a campaign out of Revised, knowing that changes are coming in is…moderately frustrating.
I’m just hoping I get my deluxe edition by June. However this will be my last kickstarter for onyx path.
LORE OF THE CLANS V20!
I can’t wait to see what the Stretch Goals have in store.
I’m lucky – Kickstarter has come at the right time that I can pledge for a Deluxe tier. 🙂 (I’m not gloating)
About Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition: Is the SPHERE system of Magick going to be revised and improved? In the previous editions, it was very difficult to map the various paradigms to the various Spheres. I mean to explain the various sphere powers within the context of a given Tradition’s paradigm.
I thought that what the tradition books where for
Well the book “How do yo that?” that have just entered in the “edition” stage it’s a book about the spheres of magic and how to deal with them, so I expect to get that kind of information expanded there, as well as in some section of the m20.
Well, that’s a relief. I look forward to reading that pdf.
It always seemed the Sphere system best fit the Order of Hermes above all the other Traditions. (it also fit the Technocracy quite well)
For The Akashic Brotherhood, however, it doesn’t really fit. I mean what does Forces 5 or Life 5 mean for an Akashic Master, within their paradigm?
In-game, the system of Spheres — then called the Cornerstones of Creation — dates back to the rule of Thothmes III and Hatshepsut circa 1500 BCE, used by the Cupbearers of Aset (Isis) and the Reed of Djehuty (Thoth).
When the Order of Reason was founded in 1325, they adopted the system, referring to them as Spheres.
During the convocation which led to the creation of the Traditions in 1466, a number of different potential universal magical systems were discussed, not a few of which favoured the Order of Hermes above everyone else. Someone (probably the Solificati, who were also present during the founding of the Order of Reason) suggested the Spheres. It kept the most people the most happy, so it was ultimately adopted.
Damn politics!
Still, the history is interesting 🙂
NWOD 2nd edition core. is that invalidating the GMC book or is like the Vampire situation?
It’s not going to invalidate GMC, don’t worry.
The wait for Werewolf 2e has been maddening. Also gorsh I really have to check on my Kickstarter updates more often.
Also in the Forsaken board we had a thread about what books we’d like to see. Obviously it is going to depend on books bought but Mr. Chris Allen had some ideas that I and more than a few other fans really liked. Linked to it here:
http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/werewolf-the-forsaken/413270-if-you-could-make-a-werewolf-book?p=416474#post416474
Vampirefan, Yes. Satryos has posted an answer to this and a lot more on the facebook mage the ascension page, his page and also the m20 kickstarter alumni page too. M20 is more streamlined and everything is easier to understand among other things.
Cool, thanks
I have a nice collection of excerpts that satryos released about m20, as he has played it pretty close to the vest, releasing JUST ENOUGH to be a tease, to give us samples to stave off hunger for the main course.. I have also talked to other people and well, Mage 20 is going to rock IMHO and am sooo proud to have backed it..
For creative collaboration, have you ever tried using Evernote as a program? I use it at work all the time where we share notes and ideas with each other and it really helps
I love, love, love Evernote. Unfortunately, there are limits to sharing with free accounts.
Have you guys looked at OneNote then? There are no restrictions there for the free version.
Oh, to also add: there is now a high quality Mac version as well (as well as iOS and Android).
I will second OneNote, it’s a great program. If you have a tablet, it’ll even do handwriting conversion to text (or at least try).
Absolutely amazing of you guys to give Lore of the Deceived away for free. I would happily have paid you a couple of quid.
Looking forward to M20 and WtF2E. I’m officially unemployed today after being made redundant and will have a fair bit of time on my hands. Two new massive PDFs may be just what the doctor ordered to keep me from getting bored 🙂
What’s happening with Scarred Lands?