Funny, it only hit me now after writing it that the blog title means more big-picture, real-world than just Onyx Path’s publishing year. Huh.
Actually, next week I’ll be taking a look back at the whole year, but this week I’m just focusing on one thing. Our intrepid archivist, Impish Ian Watson loves to hit us with historical tidbits about past releases, and this week was a very cool nugget from our man north of the border: it was a year ago we introduced the Chronicles of Darkness brand to everyone after weeks of working with the very new at the time White Wolf Publishing.
If ya’ll recall, this was something that WWP needed us to do to further differentiate the World of Darkness and the New World of Darkness as they began their focus on a new edition for World of Darkness. Since we really feel that the second editions of lines like Vampire: the Requiem have evolved the lines into settings and games very different from their WoD inspirations, we at Onyx Path are very happy that we can shine a spotlight on those lines with the Chronicles of Darkness overall brand, while still nurturing the World of Darkness with our 20th Anniversary Edition lines.
Wow, that’s a lot of bolds and italics and branding talk. Pretty vital for us as we try and keep things straight, maybe less interesting for you.
So let’s instead look at this list of Chronicles of Darkness projects released this year, excluding merchandise items:
– Chronicles of Darkness: Revised Storytelling System Rulebook
– 12 Days of Onyx Condition Cards
– Chronicles of Darkness Condition, Numina, and Dread Power Cards
– Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition Condition Cards
– Dreams of Avarice
– Demon Storytellers Guide
– Beast: The Primordial
– The Primordial Feast Fiction Anthology
– Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras
– The Pack
– Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
– Curse of the Blue Nile Fiction Anthology
– Tales of the Dark Eras Fiction Anthology
– Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition Condition and Numina Cards
– Dark Eras: A Handful of Dust (Promethean chapter stand-alone)
– Chronicles of Darkness Tilt Cards
– Beast: The Primoridal Condition Cards
– Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition
– Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker
– Secrets of the Covenants
I think these are more or less in sequence through the year. Some smaller books, a solid raft of big core books and a gargantuan Dark Eras book for all the game lines, a few fiction anthologies so folks can dip into the lines when they don’t have a game to play, and a bunch of various kinds of cards to help smooth playing. This looks like a really healthy start for Chronicles of Darkness!
One thing I want to point out, and expect to talk a bit more about in the weeks to come (but not the week between Christmas and New Years as we are off that week), is how many of our projects have started as Kickstarter stretch goals and why. And also, why we need to talk more about these additional projects added to the schedule, as I think their coming out of KSs may be counting against them once they go on sale.
Out of this list, we have:
– Dreams of Avarice
– The Primordial Feast Fiction Anthology
– Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras (partially)
– Curse of the Blue Nile Fiction Anthology
– Tales of the Dark Eras Fiction Anthology
– Dark Eras: A Handful of Dust (Promethean chapter stand-alone)
Which is nowhere near as many as those coming from the WoD KSs or Exalted‘s, but worth noting anyway as a part of how we build releases and what goodies are out there for any given game line. But it does bring up two things. The first is a question: would you be interested in us starting to Kickstart projects like Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition for Chronicles of Darkness in 2017?
And second, last week we forwarded White Wolf Publishing‘s Survey to the folks signed up for our Onyx Path Mailing List. We got some interesting feedback, but the one issue some folks had that I’d like to address is the focus on WoD in the questions. Some of our community indicated that they felt ignored or dissed because of this focus. I just want to re-emphasize that WWP is focusing on WoD now, as the first brand they want work on, not forever. They chose to work on the part of the White Wolf IPs that they know best, and that had the largest media footprint outside the tabletop RPG community. Because, you know, they’d like to get some big-ticket licenses out there so they can keep exploring these game worlds for years to come, rather than having to sell them off if one of their plans falls through.
So that is the focus of the information WWP need from their Survey.
You might be confused because I didn’t choose to pick one of the WW lines to focus on when Onyx Path first got the WW license. That’s partly because I helped make all of these worlds back in the day, so how could I choose, but mostly because I recognized that we have a widely varied community in terms of who plays what lines, and needed to assure everyone that their favorites were coming back under Onyx Path‘s care. Whether that was the best or smartest choice, as we certainly have a lot of lines to juggle and dealing with all of them has certainly contributed to our delivery delays, we almost never hear that “White Wolf is dead” pronouncement that was a real tough PR thing to get past five years ago.
Just can’t overstate how deeply that “fact” had buried itself into the tabletop community’s brain back then, nor what a relief it is that we’ve driven that mantra away.
Check out the crazed Rage Across the Holidays! sale below in the BLURBS! section, and if you haven’t yet, the Advance PDFs for Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker and Secrets of the Covenants for VtR2. They are burning up the virtual shelves as they’ll selling so fast. And for WoD I’m hoping to have V20 Dark Ages Tome of Secrets available as a PoD and PDF for everyone this week if the US Mail doesn’t get jammed up with holiday packages and delay my POD proofs.
And finally, related to that, please let me mention once again that 99.9% of our projects, and certainly anything that is a good sized book, first come out as Advance or Backer PDFs so we can allow feedback from our whole community or KS backers, respectively, then we create a final PDF based on the feedback we get from everyone who got the initial PDF. From that final PDF we build PoD files for physical copy, Print on Demand, books. In almost every case our projects will come out in PoD form, because that is a vital part of our business model. And then we also will build traditional printing files from the same PDF file, if we are getting some books printed traditionally. Our Kickstarters are the focus for the traditionally printed books.
So, while we may not traditionally print every project, we will 99.9% of the time have PDF and PoD versions of every project.
Thanks for letting me point that out again.
BLURBS!
KICKSTARTER!
We’re exploring card game Kickstarters, packaging, and components, for Prince’s Gambit. We need to get the KS video, which will also feature the example of play, done. Right now, we are scheduling doing that the week before the holidays kick in and it is looking really cool. Plane flights have been arranged so we can get Justin into the proper setting and we’ve got a group of players ready to demonstrate how the game plays. Things look good, but if we can’t pull it together for starting the KS in January, then the Monarchies of Mau KS may be our next.
The folks who are working with us on the Scion 2e LARP rules, Damocles Thread Development, are running a Kickstarter right now for their card based game of community theater drama, hijinks, and betrayal called Curtain Call. It looks to be a fun party game, with a line-up of fake plays you need to put on like Big Box Store of Horrors or Nightmare on 34th Street. (Full disclosure: the gang asked me to do the playbill cover art for Nightmare on 34th Street, a mashup of Nightmare Before Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street!) If all the crazy hijinks that go into pulling together a stage production are your thing, check it out and get your name in lights: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/205007809/curtain-call-2
ON SALE!
RAGE ACROSS THE HOLIDAYS!!!
Starting today and running until December 26th (Merry Xmas!), you can save 50% for almost all Werewolf PDFs on DriveThruRPG! We’re talking Apocalypse and Forsaken, old and new! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/sale.php
Keep an eye on our FB, Twitter, and other social media, for more sales and deals during this holiday season!!!
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/
THEY are coming! This Wednesday, the Beast: the Primordial Ready Made Characters arrive at DTRPG in PDF and physical copy PoD versions!
If the cart from the besieged Ye Olde Postal Service makes it through, we will have the PDF and PoD versions of V20 Dark Ages Tome of Secrets available for all and sundry on Wednesday at DTRPG!
The Locker is open; the Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker, that is! The Advance PDF is now available on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/199275/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Hurt-Locker
Hurt Locker features:
- Treatment of violence in the Chronicles of Darkness. Lasting trauma, scene framing, and other tools for making your stories hurt.
- Many new player options, including Merits, supernatural knacks, and even new character types like psychic vampires and sleeper cell soldiers.
- Expanded equipment and equipment rules.
Hurt Locker requires the Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook or any other standalone Chronicles of Darkness rulebook such as Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, or Beast: The Primordial to use.
Discover the long-awaited Secrets of the Covenants for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition as we unearth the Advance PDF now on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/199280/Secrets-of-the-Covenants
- A variety of stories from each of the covenants, all told in their own words.
- Never-before revealed secrets, like the fate of the Prince of New Orleans.
- New blood sorcery, oaths, and other hidden powers of the covenants.
And for a physical book, this week we travel all the way to the Red Planet for the Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart: A Festival of Blades, available in PDF and PoD this Wednesday!
We have now added a B&W PoD version of the Endless Ages Vampire Anthology to the existing full color PDF and PoD choices! Celebrating 25 years of personal horror, the eighteen stories in Endless Ages range in style and aesthetics from the very first edition of Vampire released in 1991, all the way to the latest books put out for the 20th Anniversary Edition. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193199/V20-The-Endless-Ages-Anthology
Seek the Cainite Conspiracies, the fiction anthology for V20 Dark Ages, in PDF and PoD physical book formats! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195704/V20-The-Cainite-Conspiracies-Anthology
This collection of short stories features tales by Vampire developers such as Justin Achilli, Eddy Webb, David A. Hill, Jr., and Neall Raemonn Price along with award-winning horror authors including Maurice Broaddus, Catherine Lundoff, and Richard Dansky.
Here are the Beast Condition Cards Advance PDF version. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/198773/Beast-The-Primordial-Condition-Cards
Part of the Beast: the Primordial rules and a handy and elegant way to keep track of and incorporate Conditions into your Chronicle, Conditions add an additional layer of consequence and reward to certain actions in the World 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.
Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition comes to life in both PDF and PoD physical book versions NOW on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/189395/Promethean-the-Created-2nd-Edition
You are a pilgrim now, one of the Created. You rose to life from dead flesh or inert matter, under the ministrations of one of your own, or a mad scientist, or perhaps just the power of the Divine Fire. You wander the world, sometimes alone, sometimes in the blessed company of your own kind, driven by memories of events and facts you never knew, all in the service of one Great Work…
…to be human.
Humans don’t make it easy, though. The Divine Fire that animates you burns too bright, blinds people, and scorches the land if you linger too long. It masks your disfigurements and makes you appear human, but that mask slips and people see your hideous, true form. The Pilgrimage is a long, difficult road, but it is yours, and you know, somehow, that the salvation of the New Dawn waits at the end.
This book contains:
- The complete guide to playing a Promethean in the Chronicles of Darkness
- Reimagined Lineages and Refinements, and a redesigned system for Transmutations
- A more detailed approached to the Pilgrimage that presents players with more control over their characters’ path
- New challenges on the road to humanity, including deranged, greedy alchemists
With a snarl, W20 Shattered Dreams is now on sale on DTRPG in both PDF and PoD versions! Grrrrrrr! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/194649/W20-Shattered-Dreams
The Past Laid Bare
Shattered Dreams presents an in-depth look at the prehistory of the Garou and Changing Breeds, including both the threats they had to face before circumstances drove them to war and the War of Rage itself. Rather than one answer, it showcases many time periods and many ways in which the War could start, so that players and Storytellers can make prehistory their own. It also presents the circumstances surrounding the Second War of Rage, giving players the chance to take part, either as Garou Conquistadores or as the Fera desperately trying to fight off an invasion. Finally, the included chronicle structure allows modern characters to visit these crucial moments of history in an effort to stop the Wyrm’s most powerful minions.
Shattered Dreams contains:
• The first ever look at the World of Darkness before the War of Rage.
• The ways the Wars of Rage could start, and how enterprising characters could change what happened.
• Two chronicle frameworks that bring modern characters to the past, replete with new Abilities and new Storytelling tools that make the players the center of much larger stories.
With a howl, W20 Kinfolk: A Breed Apart will be on sale on DTRPG in both PDF and PoD formats! 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: If you have already purchased the 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.
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)
- GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)
- VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)
- Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
- WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
- CtD C20 Jumpstart (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Ex Novel 2 by Aaron Rosenberg (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- C20 Novel (Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
Redlines
- Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)
- BtP Beast Player’s Guide (Beast: the Primordial)
Second Draft
- The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Cavaliers of Mars
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- BtP Building a Legend (Beast: the Primordial)
- CtD C20 Anthology (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
Development
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary 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)
- VtR A Thousand Years of Night (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)
- Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
- V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Stretch Goal Content)
- W20 Song of Unmaking novel (Bridges) (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
Editing:
- CtL fiction anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
Post-Editing Development:
Indexing:
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:
In Art Direction
- Dark Eras Companion
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary
- Prince’s Gambit – AD’d
- C20 – Existing shenanigans dealt with… probably more on the horizon.
- M20 Book of Secrets
- W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook
- V20 Dark Ages Companion
- Pugmire
- Mortal Remains – Beast – AD’d
- EX3 Tomb of Dreams Jumpstart – AD’d, sketches already coming in.
In Layout
- Necropolis Rio
- Promethean 2 Condition Cards
- V20 Lore of the Bloodlines
- SL Wise and Wicked Update
- Beckett Screen
- Prince’s Gambit
Proofing
- Beast Conquering Heroes – Actually, back to Proofing for the pg XXs.
At Press
- Ex 3 Screen – Finished at the Printer.
- Ex 3 core book – From RichT: manufacturing continues. Gilding issues continue to slow progress so much that a new company has been brought in to help finish the gilding.
- Beast RMCs – PDF and PoD versions on sale next Wednesday, the 14th.
- V20 DA Tome of Secrets – PoD proof ordered, may be on sale Weds, the 14th .
- Dawn of Heresies Mummy Novel – Getting files together to go on sale, maybe Wednesday the 21st.
- Beast Condition Cards – Advance PDF version on sale, errata finishing up.
- CofD Hurt Locker – Advance PDF version now available on DTRPG. Gathering errata.
- Secrets of the Covenants – Advance PDF version now available on DTRPG. Gathering errata.
- Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart – PoD on sale Wednesday, Dec 14th if the new PoD proof comes in on time. Had a last minute issue with setting it on sale last week, sorry about that.
- Revised Reap The Whirlwind Jumpstart – Advance PDF on sale Wednesday, the 14th.
TODAY’S REASON TO DRINK: As above, a year with Chronicles of Darkness. Salut!
Yes to KS the Hunter 2E. Actually yes to KS every 2E Corebooks from here on out.
I was really hoping a while back for a Mage 2E. Oh, well…
KS, that is.
Seconding this something fierce.
I, too, want to see some support for Chronicles of Darkness on Kickstarter. I understand much of the operating reasons for their standing exclusion (newer editions needing to be “contained” in scope, as opposed to new games and the Anniversary Editions needing support for content as a groundwork, but would like to see as wide a support planned for the Onyx Path’s “native” Darkness, so to speak. That said, Simon Boucher makes a good point about imbalance of content as compared to older 2ed products, so finding a good balance is an issue.
Still, I’d prefer to see Kickstarters for gamelines with new editions or new game ideas, rather than say, a card game reboot for a line that already had 25% of current crowdfunding efforts, or even a sideline for an independent game still freshly funded but as yet unreleased. Perhaps that Cavaliers of Mars one mentioned before is approaching viability?
I’d really like a KS for a Prestige Edition run for all the 2nd Ed. CofD books.
The PoD “Premium” prints are fine – but just not as shiny as a traditional printed book with UV spots etc.
… and I would just die for a crossover campaign setting like Chicago for CofD.
During the KS the community could decide on which chapter to focus on … like with Dark Eras …
Is there any new word at all on Deviant?
We don’t put a project into the progress list until writers are actually working on it. Dapper Dave Brookshaw has been working on pulling together the writing “bible” that details the setting, themes, and what he needs from them.
Thanks, that’s more info than I expected 🙂
AHH, so it is Dave I should be stalking. BWAHAHAHAHA, cough cough, splutter splutter. That was the inside voice, right?
The 2 projects still on the horizon I am most looking forward to are Deviant and Trinity. Everything I have heard from either of them has stoked my fires a bit more.
Please, no stalking. Dave might get thrown off creatively, and then where would you be? Glad to hear those projects sound good to you!
Could we maybe see a preview of Dark Eras Companion or Thousand Years of Night sometime?
That’s up to the developers.
I would like to see more kickstarters for CofD, though my rationale is a bit odd. Due to how a majority of OPP kickstarters are more for a deluxe edition, with stretch goals either funding additional content or increasing the budget of the line/product,, I’d like to see more kickstarters more for stretch goals and other similar things, as 1) I can afford a PDF copy but not always the deluxe editions and 2) it’s a weird way (for me at least) to get a snapshot for what else to expect from the line or the book.
In addition, I do like the idea of what happened during the Dark Eras kickstarter, where backers got to vote on expansions and eras. It would be interesting to do that with other CofD kickstarters, though I’m not sure how practical it would be.
I’m basing this off of previous experience and how other kickstarters seemed to have worked more than any actual knowledge of the internal working of OPP, so if I’m wrong on some aspects please alert me.
Am I the only one seeing that the forrmatting as weird?
Never mind!
C20 Novel [Jackie] (Cassada)
Is this Immortal Eyes volume 4 or something else?
Yes it is!
C20 is rockin the timeline right now. I’m ridiculously stoked about how much Changeling is in process right now.
I’m actually intrigued by the Revised Reap the Whirlwind Jumpstart. RtW was a great intro to 2E vampire, so I’m looking forward to a more complete package.
Regarding moving to kickstarting 2nd Ed books, I dunno. There’s pros and cons and I’m not sure how I feel about it either way. I like that y’all have a “It’s done when it’s done” mentality, and I just want to make sure that’s respected even if you do move to Kickstarting.
I’d love new kickstarters for CofD, though my rationale is a bit weird.
Since most previous kickstarters have been deluxe editions rather than funding products from scratch, with stretch goals going to expanding the product or adding new supplements, I’ve developed more of an interest in the stretch goals. This is probably because 1) I often buy the PDF edition as the deluxe edition can be out of wallet range sometimes and 2) the stretch goals do provide a snapshot of what else to expect.
Stretch Goals or not, I’d probably still back the projects. I do enjoy CofD, and I do enjoy how it’s developing more of a unique identity from classic WoD, and would love to see more.
Apologies for the redundant comment, there was quite a bit of lag on my end.
As to your general question on Onyx Path products from Chronicles getting their own Kickstarters: Hell Yes!!!Especially would be stoked to back Hunter 2nd Changeling 2nd and Demon 2nd. Also, Book of Spirits if that’s applicable, that book was amazing.
Also excited to finally get Wraith 20 soon. Am reading through my Mage 20 now and it’s amazing!!
Definitely would be game for Kickstarting Hunter!
“would you be interested in us starting to Kickstart projects like Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition for Chronicles of Darkness in 2017?”
Yes, please! KS quality is superb. I can only marvel at how my Mage 2e would’ve been were it printed in deluxe format *drools*
Concerning the HtV 2ed KS, I am not against but I feel it’s late in the game and would be unequal to the other 2ed already published. I would have liked a VtR, WtF and even more a MtAw 2e KS with deluxe traditional print, with other goodies, but considering they are already published, I don’t think there’s a lot of fans that got the best PoD version of the core books again thru a KS. I would be a bit sour that HtV got a deluxe and not MtAw. Tldr: no to ks for core book, yes to other things CoD in KS.
Back at the end of November, C:TL Second Ed was put into Editing, but now it looks like it’s in Development again. What happened?
You must have missed last week when I put it back to Development with a note that it had been moved to Editing in error.
Hunter Kickstarter = very yes.
Especially if it’s a way to see whether it’s worth doing one / some for the previous 2E cores, at some nebulous point in the future…
The answer to the Kickstart question is YES. YES. GODS YES.
Under btp mortal remains it says AD’d, what does this mean? Also, is the just a addition to the htv mortal remains pdf?
The book is in the Art Direction section and it says AD’d: so Art Direct’ed. That means all the artists have their assignments and we’re waiting for sketches.
Yes, I will support your HtV2e Kickstarter, but you have to promise to get us some more Exalted 3e books coming down the pipeline! I’m going to wither and die without some 3e Lunars!
As the Devs finish them, we have plenty more waiting to be started. Looking forward to finally moving forward with some that we’ve been talking about for a while now, too!
I would absolutely love to replace all my traditionally printed nWoD core books (do I use CoD if they predate CoD?) with traditionally printed 2E versions. Kickstarters for these would be amazing!
Additionally, are there any more plans for new 20th anniversary editions? I have the 3 existing Deluxe editions and have backed the remaining 2. Would love to round out this line-up with the rest of the WoD line.
Are they twenty years old yet, because as much as I wish Rich would go for ten or fifteen year anniversary editions, he has previously been pretty clear on the twenty year part of the title.
Speaking of future 20th Anniversary Editions Rich, is there a possibility for Exalted?
Hmm, I would love to see the 20th anniversary of Exalted honored in some way in 2021. Probably with the release of the 3rd Edition Dragon-Blooded book, amirite? ;-D
Hoooo!
Would like to ship this first EX3 Deluxe book before even considering a 20th Anniversary Exalted. Ask me again after that happens. 🙂
Really just talking about KSing upcoming CofD books starting with Hunter: the Vigil 2nd. There’s not a good way that we’ve found, and we have discussed it, of KSing a special Prestige or Deluxe run for the other 2nd Edition cores already out.
We always have plans. What do you consider the “rest of the WoD line”, though?
Oh hell yeah, Hunter was an amazing game and I would love to see it reach even higher heights via kickstarter.
And if not too late PLEASE consider The Lost as well. That is SUCH a beautiful line that it would be worth kickstarting even if just for the extra art stretch goal.
That might be tough timing-wise, but I’ll look into a Lost KS. No promises.
That is already more than I hoped. I was sure it would be too late. Thank a LOT for considering it.
Also, obligatory comment because I haven’t said so in at least a year: PLEASE considering doing breed books for the lost breeds.
I was reading Shattered Dreams the other day and reading up on the prehistory fera culture and I felt I found the lore on the lost breeds there very interesting. Felt like “real” breeds with a certain cultural and psychological depth that wasn’t there in other books. And it just made it sharply obvious to me how much we still do not know/understand these breeds all too well, at least from a player/storyteller perspective, and how much I would love to.
I know, I know, we probably never will see those books but, eh, a man can keep the dream alive, right? 🙂
We are the makers of music, and we are the dreamers of dreams.
Oooooh! Nice reference. 🙂
The 2 lines that standout as simply superior to the WoD incarnations are Changeling and Hunter, so very much YES. Bring out that Hunter love and let us all get down on it!
I especially loved that Hunter included Non-lethal options. Network Zero can do more damage to a vamps machiavellian goals with a well placed camera than Project Valkyrie can with Plasma Grenades. Hunter groups that are Cryptozooologists doing camera safaris to study the creatures in their native habitat.
I am intrigued by making Slashers the inherent antagonists for Hunter and the question it brings of humans being more monstrous than the monsters.
We kind of prefer to laud cool things without smacking down the previous ones, if you see what I mean. I do think HtV2 is going to be very cool in what it keeps and what it expands, and the focus on the Slashers should really emphasize that as well as one of the base themes Hunter has always had of what is human and what is a monster.
I would like to see HtV (and other CofD 2nd ed titles) kickstarted. I wouldn’t necessarily back every single one, but I would just like to see more material, overall, in the 2nd edition volumes. They seem light compared to the “new” CofD lines (like Demon, Beast, etc.).
You’re really talking about two different release tracks when comparing new CofD lines and 2nd Editions. New game lines are usually set up for a more aggressive schedule for the year they release even without KS, and then they get the benefit of any projects born of out their KSs. 2nd Editions weren’t even something we were allowed to do for most of the last five years, so reconfiguring their release schedules after we were able to do actual 2nd Editions with all the improvements we wanted has led to some bumps in the road for them. This is really the first we could look at the 2nd Editions and plan out the ways a possible KS would evolve how we are presenting their projects.
While I love Hunter and plan on buying any and all Hunter 2E books, I am hesitant to support a Kickstarter for it. If a Hunter Kickstarter would mean more and better Hunter books than would otherwise be produced, then I would support it, but if it is a matter of print books, merchandise, and fiction anthologies, that doesn’t really hold my interest. Additionally, I am afraid that a Kickstarter could result in some stretch goals that I would not have any interest in and would hold up progress on things that I am interested in.
So basically, I would need to know more about what the Kickstarter would bring to the table before I would be willing to buy into it.
I would absolutely hope so. Personally, I think the whole KS experience would be better for everyone involved if backers considered, as you have, whether the whole thing is really for them. Are you backing for the stated goal to be funded? Then maybe anything in the Add-ons or Stretch Goals is gravy for you. Are you backing for all the extra cool stuff? Then really looking at the possible Stretch Goals and at previous KSs from the same guys should be an important step for you. (Although, always remember that just because an earlier KS handled things one way that is no real guarantee that the current KS will do things the same way).
I’m all in for a Hunter 2nd Edition KS.
And please, see if Monica V. will handle the development duties on it. I feel she is the best person for the job.
She is our Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition developer. She keeps sending me notes about it, at least.
Ai ya! The Exalted 3e deluxe edition continues to be cursed.
Anything that could go wrong, does.
So first off, yeah I’d be absolutely up for a KS for HtV2. Mostly for the extra goodies that come from Stretch Goals and Add-Ons.
Second…is this part of the reason why any updates on HtV2 has fallen radio silent?
Last update from Monica was way back in July. And how HtV2 hasn’t appeared at all in Dev Blurbs since it’s announcement. Which conversely has GtS2, a project announced a year later then HtV2, and it’s already in the First Draft stage, while HtV2 hasn’t even made it to that stage yet.
Not really. Monica wants to be sure that she is evolving HtV2 the right way, as we all pretty much agree that first edition did not really have a lot of damaging issues to fix. So her thinking is that any updates like adapting it to the current CofD system need to make sense with what HtV already is. That’s actually trickier in a lot of ways than creating new material out of the blue, and so she’s being very careful to take the time to figure out how to do that. As for Geist, bear in mind that all projects are created individually, and so any one developer may pull the pieces of part of the process together at a different pace than another dev, and then be slower somewhere else down the line. And, never forget, our devs aren’t employees in-house, they are working on our projects in the midst of the rest of their lives, and so full-time gigs, and family crises, and other projects, all are being juggled as they work on creating the books we love.
Hey, Rich & Co, as always thanks for the updates and all the support you provide. As for 2nd Eds, so happy to see that Geist is moving forward, and yes yes yes to Hunter2, esp w/a further focus on Slashers, as was mentioned above. You guys rock!
Thanks!
I’m not personally a fan of special edition kickstarters. I’ll pledge enough for a PDF, but a nice physical copy is usually too expensive.
Scion 2e matched up perfectly with what I do want out of a kickstarter. It: got new people excited about the game, allowed fans to show OP how enthusiastic we are, enabled creation of new ‘normal’ content (Bestiary, Companion), enabled stretching into other areas (LARP, fan content, audio drama), and supported fan-dev discussion on the game.
HtV2 (and other core books) don’t seem like they fit this model of kickstarter. Something more general (The Crossover Chronicle, CoD LARP rules, Hurt Locker-esque stuff) would get me more excited.
Yes, if you’re not into the physical product we are looking to fund, then any Kickstarter is mostly about extras for you. Either more stuff or added material to the book that you’d get in the PDF, and also the fun of the KS campaign’s community if you’re into that. The point of KSing HtV2 is to fund us printing traditionally printed books like say HtV 1st Edition, and then some cool stuff after that if we go through Stretch Goals. Otherwise we’d just create a PDF and PoD version and do a regular roll-out of follow-up projects.
Yes to Hunter: the Vigil 2e Kickstarter. I’m loving the 2nd Edition stuff so far, I’m very pleased with it.
I’m of two minds. I do like the results from Kickstarted projects quite a lot. But it feels like Kickstarted projects also take longer to reach the end point of physical media, presumably due to traditional printing and shipping.
After deliberation I have decided I will happily commit to Kickstarting future projects, such as Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition in 2017.
I’d love to see a Kickstarter for H:tV, maybe we can also vote on some of the compacts/conspiracies that make it. I will echo what someone else said about how long it takes to get physical media. I understand that the traditional printing will take longer, but I wonder if that part of the process doesn’t even start until after PoD’s have been shipped. I don’t fully know what I’m talking about but it doesn’t seem like it should be months after PoD that we get our copies.
Re: the survey. I did feel ignored… boo! ok, they can do whatever they want, there property, and depending on whether they actually ship a decent offering. I’ve purchased one game published by paradox that I didn’t care for, and another actually produced by them which I haven’t bothered to start.
but really what I found more curious, is the did mention some nWoD lines at one point, but they didn’t include any of the lines that have happened since Onyx Path started publishing. Does Onyx Path own Demon the Descent and Beast the Primordial in some way that they can’t (Mummy the Curse was also missing)?
The PoD versions aren’t holding up the traditional printing per se, but we do wait until we have successfully proofed the PoDs as a final test of those files. That’s a quality control effort, and we could skip it, but once several thousand books are traditionally printed, any errors we miss are there to stay. Also, any file problems are a lot harder and take longer to resolve once a book is going on press traditionally, than catching them with the PoD files.
In general, I terms of how WWP deals with the WW IPs they have, I think you can probably figure that they are building a new company and very little of how Paradox handles their stuff will relate to what WWP will do. Anything we created under the WW license belongs to them. I imagine they kept questions to earlier CofD projects because they simply didn’t want to deal with all the variables of directly listing every gameline. Getting good answers out of surveys is not as easy as just asking questions and getting answers; the questions need to work in a way that you don’t get drowned by info.
Yeah wouldn’t want you to skip quality control.
Glad you agree!
Also speaking of Hunter, would it be possible to get Dread Powers cards from Mortal Remains (including the Upcoming Beast chapter assuming it ads something)?
With the various cards, we either make them to fulfill a KS reward, or whenever the Mirthful One has time as he’s waiting for proof OKs or whatever.
a Kickstarter for H:tV 2E? count me in!
I will!
Absolutely YES!!!! to KS Hunter the Vigil