So first off, the Deluxe W20 Shattered Dreams Kickstarter campaign kicks off on THURSDAY, October 22nd at 12 noon Eastern US time.
We wanted to add a couple of things to this and needed a couple of extra days to bring it together right. For both Werewolf the Apocalypse Garou and the Fera from Changing Breeds, as it takes a long look at the War of Rage and other violent and unfortunate encounters between our shapeshifters throughout history right to modern times. Big news, big fun, tell your friends!
This Kickstarter was part of what we talked about today, as well as the Beast KS, the V20 Lore of the Clans KS, Dark Eras KS, Wraith and Changeling 20th KSs, and most especially the Exalted 3rd KS. A lot of links are going to be rocketing to the backers of those KSs in the days to come! The thing is, we are constantly reviewing our processes and performance with our KSs. Not for the relative monetary success, but our success in giving you all a great experience. And when I say us, I’m talking about the Onyx Path core team of maniacs, not the developers and writers and artists. They are a different part of the KS experience, and one we have to try and incorporate into our overall plans, but ultimately every creative team has different levels of interaction with the Kickstarters for their projects.
Which brings me to what Eddy and I talked about in our first meeting of the day (the actual Monday Lunch Meeting at noon). I’ve talked a lot about how every project is different for us, we treat each one as something special. Mostly, that has come up when talking about the difference between our methods, and why we’ll let projects take longer if we think that’ll make them better, and the deadline-driven, “production treadmill” that was the method used by White Wolf in its heyday. I think I’ve earned the right to critique that process as I was one of the most savage implementers of hitting our deadlines there was, but the bigger difference to consider here is that Onyx Path has incorporated changes into our methods of creating your books that might not be obvious from the outside.
For instance, we don’t mandate a specific development process to our Devs. We need certain things to happen in terms of how a book’s text needs to be set up when delivered to the editor and to the layout artist, or how art notes need to be sent to Mirthful Mike, but that’s basically to ease the hand-off to other folks in the process. How the developer works with writers is something we prefer to leave open for the developer to put together based on their work habits and how the project intersects with their professional and personal life.
Again, despite the immense footprint our game lines have in the minds and history of RPG gamers, Onyx Path is really a small publishing company. This is because the tabletop RPG area is simply not a large niche in publishing in general, but it is also by design. Our developers are all freelancers and most have regular day jobs that may or may not impose unexpected demands on their time. I like Onyx to be flexible enough to allow them the freedom to configure their methodology in ways that work best for them in order to compensate for the other demands on their time.
As Eddy and I talked about today, leaving our developers to work backwards from what we need from the text in order to match it to the editing and layout needs has usually resulted in superior books crafted with creators who are allowed to create as they need to and without needless oversight by “corporate”. Sometimes, our devs do get lost in the weeds and need a bit of an assist to pull a book together, which we do, and it really helps when they let us know the actual situation they are dealing with. That should be one of the first lessons any freelance creator ever learns: “Talk to the client!”. Our devs say this very thing to their writers, Mirthful Mike and I say it to our artists, and just like in those situations, when our devs get stuck and let us know, we can almost always figure out a way to make it work.
Of course, sometimes, a project just goes off oddly and needs to be reviewed, revised, and maybe re-staffed. That’s a tough call, as I prefer to try and find ways to keep the original team together, but it happens. Fortunately only very rarely, but it happens. So there is a possible down-side we’re aware of.
Being flexible with our developers also means that they can try out other processes and methods, and in fact, I encourage that sort of experimentation. I’ve been in work environments where failing because of experimenting was seen as a failure, pure and simple, and I want our creative teams to feel confident that they can try for something new and amazing with their art. And also with how they make that art. As Eddy pointed out, he just came off a project where the dev went into second drafts and traded one writer’s draft to another for comments. This trading went on throughout the whole crew of writers and is designed to get different eyes on the text, but it’s a very different way to handle the project. (And I imagine requires a team of writers who are neither shy nor overprotective of their writing.)
Some developers like the tried and true method of having a dialogue individually with each writer over their work, while others like the open conversations you can get on a project mailing list between all the writers. And some are maniacs like Satyr Phil Brucato and write most of a 700 page core rulebook by themselves. 🙂
What I’m saying is that there’s no set-in-stone method that Onyx Path uses and we think it makes for excellent creative work, but it does require us and our community to understand that when I say every project is different, that’s not a hand-wave, excuse, or rationalization. It’s policy.
Also, if you didn’t peek below, we’ll be getting a lot of our backer PDFs and Advance PDFs out in the next couple of weeks, like Beast: the Primordial, and the M20 How Did You DO That?! stretch goal, and, oh…Exalted 3rd Edition!
BLURBS!
We’ve started doing special blogs every day this month to celebrate October as the Month of Nightmares. Look for more snippets from various projects and notes from the developers on why they bits are their favorites and what went into them, as well as special sales. These will happen all October leading up to Halloween – because you know that’s our favorite holiday!
Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition PDF & Standard and Premium PoD physical book editions are NOW AVAILABLE on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149562/Mage-the-Ascension-20th-Anniversary-Edition
Vampire 20th Anniversary Edition: The Dark Ages is NOW available in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com! This massive full color tome is part of the V20 line but does not require V20 to play and enjoy.
The Pugmire Pamphlet we had available at Gen Con is now ready for PDF download. Read about the world of Pugmire from the enthusiastic and optimistic pen of Princess Yosha Pug, as well as notes from the gruff and worldly hunter Pan Daschund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153518/Pugmire-Gen-Con-Brochure
There are also six Pugmire posters available as free PDFs or $.99 physical posters, suitable for framing:
- Spike Mutt: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150845/Spike-Mutt-Pugmire-Poster-6
- Pan Dachshund: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150844/Pan-Dachshund-Pugmire-Poster-5
- Jack Rat-Terrier: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150944/Jack-RatTerrier-Pugmire-Poster-4
- Sgt. Leo Bulldog: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150843/Sgt-Leo-Bulldog-Pugmire-Poster-3
- Princess Yosha Pug: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/149750/Princess-Yosha-Pug-Pugmire-Poster-2
- Sister Picassa Collie: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/148516/Sister-Picassa-Collie-Pugmire-Poster-1
Start spreading the Code of Man!
CONVENTIONS!
We’re one of the Contributing Sponsors at Midwinter Con this year this January in Milwaukee! RichT, Fast Eddy Webb, and Newlywed Neall Raemonn Price will be there at our booth as well as running demo games of Scion and Pugmire. We’re still working out panel concepts with the MidWinter gang, but expect at least one session where we ask for your feedback for Vampire 4th Edition. In the meantime, check out the show here: http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/
Rich will be walking the floor at Illux Con in Allentown PA next week to talk with artists. If you are an artist attending, let me know at richt@theonyxpath.com and we’ll chat there.
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)
- M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
- Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition
- Cavaliers of Mars
- Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
- Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes (Beast: the Primordial)
Redlines
- Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)- In Open Development
- WtA Kinfolk (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Ready Made Characters (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Beast Fiction Anthology (Beast: the Primordial)
Second Draft
- Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)
- The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Beast Ready Made Characters (Beast: the Primordial)
- Dark Eras Companion (nWod Dark Eras)
- WtF The Pack (Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition)
Development
- StoryPath System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)
- Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad (Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- nWoD Hurt Locker (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)
- M20 Anthology (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Dark Eras Expansions (nWod Dark Eras)
- VtM Lore of the Bloodlines (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
Editing
- V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created)
- W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Pugmire Early Access
- Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)
Post-Editing Development:
- Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:
In Art Direction
- V20 Ghouls – Awaiting text.
- W20 Shattered Dreams – KS prep.
- Mage: the Awakening Second – Art in progress.
- Promethean: the Created Second – First set of splat illustrations in.
- Scarred Lands PG – contracting.
In Layout
- Dreams of Avarice – working.
- Demon STG – Starting once NWoD 2 is back in proofing.
- Guide to the Black Hand – Almost all the art is in.
- NWoD 2 – Back on that this week.
- NWoD 2 Cards – Once I get NWoD 2 in proofing, I’ll start putting these together along with the tuck boxes for them.
Proofing
- M20 How Do You Do That ?!? – PDF ready to send to backers.
- Ex 3 Anthology – Awaiting updated text file.
- V20 Lore of the Clans – PDF out with backers.
- Beast: The Primordial – PDF in approval with CCP, next out to backers.
- Ex 3 core book – From RichT: All corrections that we have found so far have been input. Maria is creating the backer PDF. We expect to send that out this week. We will have instruction in Updates for backers, but I do want to mention here that we’ll only be looking for errata from backers coming to us through the “Contact Me” button next to my picture on the KS page, and we can’t accept attachments or links in the messages. This is the method we’ve determined to be the most efficient for a project this huge as well as most likely to be something we can collate and implement without missing messages.
At Press
- V20DA – Deluxe finishing up printing, soon to be shipped to the fulfillment shipper. Waiting for sample completed books.
- M20 – Deluxe files for both interior and two covers at printer.
Special- projects on hold in the art and production area until an external factor is resolved
- Dark Eras – Expanded text from the KS has to get through the dev stages above.
- Wraith 20 – Can’t go further until art notes come in, still being developed by Rich Dansky.
- Pentex Employee Indoctrination Manual – Some added and amended text needs to come in.
TODAY’S REASON TO DRINK: EXfuckin’3.
Well damn. The day is coming. A colossal hurray and congratz to the Ex3 team! Can’t wait to bless my eyes with the art in that thing. 🙂
Thanks! Looking forward to everyone’s reaction.
I’m still working my way through Lore of the Clans and you’re already trying to distract me with new shiny things? It’s an embarrassment of riches I tell you. Glad to see Exalted finally come together at last. I suspect if it drops this week then my weekend plans are sorted.
We’re just getting started.
So much great stuff out soon…and been reading up on the Beast forums today in preparation for the pdf release. 🙂
I’m really looking forward to NWoD 2.0 – just to have it all nicely put together in one streamlined place. Hoping drivethrurpg UK printers can get the cards made here soon too – I’d buy a few trees worth….
I don’t think the PoD books folks are the same as the PoD card printers, but maybe they also have a UK office.
Any idea at all when we’ll see the PDF of M20 Book of Secrets? It’s supposed to have the full list of merits and flaws, which is one of my favorite parts of character creation.
According to the project progress part of our weekly notes, it’s still being written.
EXfuckin’3. I’ll drink to that! 🙂
Two drinks, even.
This might not be something you even have any control over, but: any idea when softcover versions of Werewolf 20 and Mage 20 might be available?
Is a soft cover of M20 even viable? That’s 700 pages, can a soft cover binding handle that without breaking?
We don’t currently have plans to do soft cover versions of either of those books.
Is the M20 screen slowly making its way via boat to backers?
The M20 Screen will ship with the M20 book, just like every single other KS Screen we’ve done.
Ic, here I thought it would be for sale along side M20 at drive thru, my apologies. Any hint on when backers should check their emails for How did you do that?
No, if I had that I’d have said it in the blog.
Quick question, will Mage or Promethean 2E be ready for the $35 Backer Reward for Beast?
Dunno yet. As we said during the KS, we will send whichever version is live at the time we send the PDF links.
Ex3…this…week…*twitch*
I crave it with every fiber of my being.
Hang in there, it’ll be soon.
Man, I don’t even play Exhalted, and I’m still stoked for them to finally get their game! I’ll drink to that!
Good idea.
wow, Rich you just dropped a huge nuclear warhead. I love October, my birthday month, the walking dead, halloween :P. ¡¡¡EXALTED 3TH!!!
One question Rich: Do you think we exalted 3 non-backers, could expect to get the regular PDF release this year?, is it possible?.
It’s possible, although we won’t set that live without the PoD.
The way this was worded I thought the Changeling 20th KS had been and gone. I had a minute of blind panic before I confirmed it hasn’t been run yet.
Anyway, really glad to see Exalted is coming!
Hope you didn’t blindly run into walls or anything. Yesh. 🙂
That Ron Spencer art is amazing.
Here’s a haiku:
Great week from The Path
Beast Mage and Werewolves Oh My
Halloween is Fun
Wow, poetry!
You year us by mentioning Changeling with no details. I’m honestly hoping C20 has the 99% done KS model. If love to see a spring KS.
The text will be but we might not show all of it, but show chapters.
I’m fine with the whole text not being shown. I think for a 20th anniversary that makes a lot of sense actually. I more just meant I’d like to see all the kickstarters go with the model of being much farther along in the creative process before the KS happens. I also desperately want to fix that horrid autocorrect in my last post.
Also Autumn KS for Changeling would be kind of foreboding. Spring KS for Changeling is just . . . well right.
I think we all agree with that in principle. And that’s specifically what we want to do with C20.
That is awesome to hear. I am probably more excited and nervous about Changeling 20th than any other product Onyx Path has released. I know so many people who love Changeling, but every fan I know wants the game to get a revamp, not just an update. I have no idea if my experience is typical though. I have so much love for the CtD setting, and such a mixture or love and confusion and frustration wrapping back around to love for swaths of the system. I would be much happier waiting longer for a really coherent product.
I’ll buck that trend. I VERY MUCH don’t want a full revamp on Changeling!!! A update, yes, an expansion, yes, the removal of the loss of King David and the repowering of Sluagh, YES PLEASE but no, no revamp necessary. That game is glorious as it stands.
Don’t be nervous, C20 is going to be amazing!
I can’t wait for the Kickstarter 😀
My group is going to kill me. Over the past few weeks I’ve have decided to run a Traveller game, changed my mind for a Mass Effect Cypher System game, changed my mind for a Changeling the Lost Carnival game, and now I’m going to have to drop that to run my Exalted vs NWoD game that I wrote up way back in the kickstarter happened.
Thanks 😛
Keep the screen the PDF is on between your group and you, maybe that will dazzle them and you can get away in the confusion.
Any chance that Mage, Promethean, Beast or Core 2e will be here for the holidays?
We’re trying to make as much of that happen as we can. Thanks!
EX3… this must be how Pheidippides felt. That should destroy any hope I had of getting work done.
We’re also really wishing hard for DtD:STG.
And such we’re hearing so much good news today… is there any chance of a Night Horrors: Tokyo?
There’s always a chance.
This is great to hear. Thanks a lot for keeping us up to date on these things and, especially, letting us know these things about the industry. It’s really enlightening and helps understand things better.
Glad you liked it. Thanks!
So, am I correct in assuming, as I have pledged for a bundle, that the other pdfs will be added to my account on Drivethru, or is the process a little more involved?
In general, that is correct, the other PDFs get their own links and you have to click on them to download them. Specifically, what KS are you referring to?
The Beast KS. I pledged for the Beast Prestige Edition, a PoD copy, and a bunch of blue books.
I’ll be getting to the additional PDFs now that the Beast KS Backer Surveys are rolling in.
You’re about dead on, based on my experience. At worst, you may need to follow a link for each one to add to cart, check out, and then they’ll show in your DriveThru Library for download… It’s pretty easy.
Can you release the list of authors working on the “Beast” short story anthology yet?
exalt SuvwI’, HIq ‘Iw Hoch chugh vaj biHegh
Hi !
I had a nice idea for a game supplement that would – at least for me – be a great help. And for you it would be probably something you could squeeze easily somewhere in your schedule:
Could you create an art book with just the best of your NPC portraits of the last 20 years ?
I really like to show my players the faces of the people they interact with. And I did this in the past by snipping out the WoD portraits from the different pdfs I bought over the time. But the quality is sometimes not so good – and sometimes cool pictures are framed with text and so on.
I hope that you have the pictures of the last 20 years somewhere stashed in a good quality 😉
You would make the life of a storyteller a bit easier with this and you could do this without much effort.
You could also think to bundle only the portraits for one game line in a stretch goal for a corresponding KS.
The existing art books are nice, but there is little practical use of them.
What do you think, is there a chance of a product like this ?
Regards
Discobutcher
It’s possible, although it is a significantly more complex job than you might imagine. The WW archives are huge, and are on individual CDs and DVDs. Sometimes one project, sometimes a whole bunch on the disk. Sometimes the individual art is saved, and sometimes only the printer file remains. We’re talking 20 years of archives and file formats.
In hope you consider This s a KS stretch goal in the future.Imho this would be very useful.
Something I always liked and thought very interesting for Werewolf was Rage across the Heavens.
Ever going to be a W20 version so there’s a modern version of all the celestial bodies.
Always a possibility.
Any idea when the M20 How Do You Do That book goes POD? I just got the PDF and I’m loving it, but Really want the physical book.
Keep an eye on the Monday Meeting Notes= we’ll let you know. Thanks!
With Exalted 3rd finally coming out, a Tifa V Yang Death Battle from Screw Attack broadcasting live today and RWBY season 3 starting this saturday… im just gonna mark this week as the ABSOLUTE BEST WEEK EVER FOR 2015. =D thanks guys, cannot wait to lay my eyes on that book.
Great to see Ex3 finally coming.
Rich, any news on the status of the cover art?
Today is THE day. Shattered dreams coming in a few hours! Huzzah!
Hello guys!I already got V20, red list,rites of blood,book of the wyrm and M20 and I have to say…Excelent work to each and everyone!!!!!!I need an answer though..Will you guys be making any dice sets for the 20th editions? That would be cool.