Deviant Creatures! [Monday Meeting Notes]

Our two Kickstarted projects are rolling right along, with the Deviant: The Renegades KS having recently passed 200% funding and a bunch of Stretch Goals. Backers really seem to be loving just how flexible this game line is – they’re really getting into coming up with media inspirations that fit the game!

Then there’s our new Creature Collection for Scarred Lands, which is heading into its last week.

Besides 20 pages of 15 new monsters – so far – our friends at Handiwork Games really took me seriously when I stressed how we’d like content not just added to the book, but to some sort of on-line gaming aid pack.

They have created a Digital Game Pack that has also been created and expanded with Stretch Goals, and backers have unlocked VTT tokens for the digital pack. That’s quite a significant stretch goal as they tell me that every single monster covered in the Collection will get its own token in the Pack – usable for online gaming!

Unlocking the first Encounter Pack also added 2 poster sized versions of the battle maps to the Digital Pack. You can print these at home.

Plus the Encounter Pack is 4 pages in the book itself featuring 2 locations, each with its own full page battle map. That’s another 4 pages. The total growth to date is 24 pages, so the 5e Scarred Lands Creature Collection is now at 184 pages!

Johnny and his crew seem to be having fun, our backers seem to be having fun in the “monster rumble” style voting, and I’m loving seeing this come together like we’d hoped. We have just over a week to go, some come by and check out the fun- Jon’s Updates are just chock-full of info, too!

VtR2 Spilled Blood illustration by Michele Giorgi

There’s a bit of controversy over Kickstarter the company and its policies right now, and currently we are taking the advice of the folks over there trying to join a union and so we’re not planning to stop using Kickstarter as a platform. But we are watching to see how the situation plays out.

As many of the folks reading this already know, we have a fair number of projects that we have plans to crowd-fund on KS, so this is a matter of some concern for us. We’ve looked into other crowd-funding options, and have always found that the KS network of backers has been a strong reason to stay with them. We’ll see if that remains the case.

Meanwhile, if backing one of our Kickstarters is concerning for you right now, but you love the project and want to contribute, remember that you can still contribute after the KS is over by visiting one of our post-KS BackerKit sites. BK has no affiliation with KS that I know of. I’m going to talk with our KS runners and see if we can make them even more like the reward tiers in the KSs.

Ian puts out this list each Wednesday of active BackerKit pages we have going, but here it is again:

CofD Dark Eras2 illustration by Brian LeBlanc

In the meeting today we went over the Production meeting from last week where we reviewed what projects we have scheduled. We adjusted when necessary our expected dates, and we’re seeing a lot of projects hitting or getting done before our estimated dates. Which means, with current projects started to get caught up and out to you all, we’re looking at new projects and licensing deals.

M20 Book of the Fallen illustration by Sam Araya

Our Terribly Terrific Trio of Onyx Pathcast hosts reported in on a new thing our podcast venue is doing: Podbean Live. This enables them to open up the Onyx Pathcast to call in questions – live, right when they are recording.

We’re not absolutely sure what we want to do with this new option, but the team did a test run and picked up four new subscribers who had never heard of us before! They are thinking of editing together the test run for a very strange April Fools Day episode!

For reals, they are looking at October 8th between 5-6pm Eastern US time to try this call-in thing for an actual show, so mark your calendars and get ready to call-in! Tell them all about your characters!

I’m told that there’s some form of Podbean currency that is involved, called Golden Beans. So maybe you’ll be able to earn some Golden Beans to strew along the Onyx Path so you can find your way back from our:

Many Worlds, One Path!


BLURBS!


Kickstarter!

Our Creature Collection Kickstarter for Scarred Lands 5e is slithering on fish-belly white, slimy, tentacles towards the next Stretch Goal to add more monsters – that the backers vote on – to the book! Over 20 pages of new monsters have been added so far, and an Encounter Pack giving players a place to use some of our collected creatures – the book is now 184 pages!

This book was designed with amazing art by our friends at Handiwork Games, and they’re running the Kickstarter for us on our brand-new Onyx Path Kickstarter page! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/scarred-lands-creature-collection-for-5th-edition-rpg

And, we’re running this Kickstarter, too!

The Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter is about half-way to go and it’s vengefully slamming through Stretch Goals now! So far, we have the classic Backer T-Shirt, unlocked the Deviant Screen, added the Beast core book PDF to the CofD PDF collection, and added three section of the Clades Companion book! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deviant-the-renegades-a-tabletop-roleplaying-game


Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview with Deviant: The Renegades developer Eric Zawadzki with just so many pieces of Deviant info he wasn’t able to reveal before!
Go to https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/ or to your favorite podcast venue!

Due to internet chicanery, the Onyx Path News will be going up on the Onyx Path Twitch channel tomorrow! Expect updates on our Kickstarters, new releases for last week and this Wednesday, and the usual array of Q&A items!

This Saturday sees the start of Character Creation October, with us creating characters for Scarred Lands, using the D&D 5th Edition system! Please check us out.

As ever, please follow our Twitch channel if you haven’t already done so! Our schedule continues to boast games including Vampire, Scarred Lands, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, Pugmire, Scion, Mage: The Awakening, and Hunter: The Vigil, as well as videos on Storytelling advice! Visit www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath and give us a follow, and if you have an Amazon Prime membership and haven’t already subscribed to a Twitch channel for free using it, just type Amazon Prime Twitch into Google and please use it on our channel! The first season of our Scion story concluded in the weekend, so thank you again to David for running it! All parts will soon be up on our YouTube channel!

Remember, if you miss any content on our Twitch channel, some of it finds its way to our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/theonyxpath Don’t forget though, that some of that content is Twitch exclusive or belongs to the Storytellers running their games, so don’t miss out and remember to follow us!

Utility Muffin Labs (famous for their VTM25 series, covering every book in the Vampire: The Masquerade series) interviewed Matthew Dawkins and Klara Herbol for their podcast a couple of weeks ago, where they discuss books such as V5 Chicago by Night and Cults of the Blood Gods. Find it here: https://utilitymuffinlabs.com/25-years-of-vampire-the-masquerade

The ENnie award winning Red Moon Roleplaying continue their actual play of The Sacrifice, from V5 Chicago by Night, with Klara Herbol as the Storyteller and Matthew Dawkins as a player! Please check them out on www.redmoonroleplaying.com

On the subject of V5, Near Dark Studios are uploading the videos from their superb actual play to their YouTube channel, soon after they’ve been broadcast on our Twitch. Find them here and enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH6QSv4fEtY8Hj1MM1qZopA

And here’s the newest Occultists Anonymous content right here, for you Mage: The Awakening fans:

Episode 47: Lustrous
Back in New York City, the cabal takes the Grimoire to the Mysterium’s Athenaea for a week of study. Wyrd the Seer checks in on her theater troupe while Songbird gets a call…https://youtu.be/af_S2h7A1Bg

Episode 48: Caffeinated Gears
Wyrd brings the cabal together for coffee and a discussion on their worldviews. The Leaf Theater has it’s first run through, and Songbird lifts the smith’s hammer once again. Atratus begins to research the making of golem.https://youtu.be/gTh5PffQJP0

If you’ve not been keeping up with our TC: Aberrant actual play, please do give it a look here on our YouTube channel! Collateral Damage is a superb way to introduce yourself to the Trinity Continuumthrough an Aberrant lens: https://youtu.be/WFBBZrUZVkE

And here’s Paws & Claws, our Pugmire actual play! Lots of content for you to watch and interact with: https://youtu.be/ga7wb3ESdEA

The Story Told Podcast continues with their fantastic Exalted actual play right here, with the new Dragon-Blooded episode for your listening pleasure: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-15

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!


Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)


On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:


Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!:
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!


On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re releasing the PDF and physical book PoD for Signs of Sorcery for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition on DTRPG!


Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th
GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd
PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th

2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th


And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

  • Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
  • Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
  • Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)
  • N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
  • Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

  • Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
  • Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
  • Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
  • M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

  • Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
  • Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
  • Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)
  • Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)
  • Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)
  • Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Development

  • Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
  • TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
  • Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)
  • Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
  • Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)
  • Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)
  • One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)
  • Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

  • Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
  • M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Post-Approval Development

  • Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
  • Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
  • WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
  • Scion LARP Rules (Scion)
  • Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
  • Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Editing

  • Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)
  • City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)
  • Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
  • W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)
  • Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
  • Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)
  • Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
  • Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Editing Development

  • Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
  • TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
  • W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)
  • Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Indexing

  • Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)
  • Dystopia Rising: Evolution core (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

  • Contagion Chronicle – Workin’ on it.
  • Trinity Continuum: Aberrant
  • Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Sam on the fulls.
  • Ex3 Lunars – Contracted. More sketches coming in.
  • TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – LeBlanc on this.
  • Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Workin’ on it.
  • Ex3 Monthly Stuff
  • Trinity RMCs – Contracted.
  • Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Contracted.
  • Chicago Folio – Sending contracts and art notes out, pretty much done.
  • Mummy 2 (KS) – Characters being worked on, fulls next.
  • Memento Mori – Contracted.
  • City of the Towered Tombs – Contracted.
  • Let the Streets Run Red – Right after Chi Folio art is in.

In Layout

  • They Came from Beneath the Sea!
  • Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen
  • Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds
  • VtR Spilled Blood – In progress.
  • DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties
  • Geist 2e Screen

Proofing

  • C20 Cup of Dreams
  • M20 Book of the Fallen – Josh wrapping up 2nd proof.
  • W20 Art Book – Sent to WW for approval.
  • DRE Screen – Sent to Eschaton for approval.

At Press

  • Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.
  • TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.
  • Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.
  • Trinity Core – PoD proofs ordered. Shipping to Studio2 from printer.
  • Trinity Aeon – PoD proofs ordered. Shipping to Studio2 from printer.
  • V5: Chicago – Files sent to printer. Waiting for proofs.
  • Aeon Aexpansion – Backer PDFs out, errata coming in.
  • CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel – Backer PDF out to backers, errata closing.
  • DR:E Jumpstart – Out to backers, gathering errata.
  • Signs of Sorcery – PDF and physical book PoD on sale Weds.!

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today is International Translation Day! Now, I’m pretty sure that this refers to the larger picture, helps our world to communicate better like in all the UN scenes in movies and on TV sort of translators, but for us it’s a great chance to celebrate our friends around the world who translate our games into their own language so that our worlds are even more accessible and more people get to play in them. It’s even called localization now. Which is a great thing – thanks to all of you who license our games lines and make them sound awesome in your respective languages!

12 thoughts on “Deviant Creatures! [Monday Meeting Notes]”

  1. “I’m going to talk with our KS runners and see if we can make them even more like the reward tiers in the KSs.”

    Eh? That’s confusing. There’s nothing stopping y’all from making the Backerkit tiers identical to the Kickstarter tiers. That’s entirely under your control.

    Reply
    • Since they’re not exactly like our KSs now, we have to alter them if we want to make them more like the tiers. And since I haven’t raised the idea with them yet, I need to talk with them first so I’m not just saying we’re doing it until I talk to the guys who have to do it. Hope that helps clarify the quoted bit.

      Reply
  2. I know Deviant is supposed to be as crossover agnostic as anything that’s not Beast, but at the same time, I see a lot of games (especially online) that like the dynamics of crosssplat play. Will there be any information about what levels of power would keep a Deviant on par with, say, a vampire, demon, or changeling, or anything else that would help get barrings there, or how to keep Deviants competitive as xp rises?

    Reply
  3. I know you dont spoil release dates…but…Aeon Core has “PoD proofs ordered” status in the last 4-5 weeks. Whats happening in this stage exactly? Is it possible that it will be released via Drivethru in October?

    Reply
    • Both Trinity Continuum Core books will appear on DTRPG once they are available for retailers after the KS rewards have shipped out. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Any word on Aeon Aexpansion? I only recently heard about it, so I’m not entirely sure if it’s a small PDF-only thing or a big POD-thing. Any idea when it’ll be up on DTRPG for folks who didn’t back Aeon?

        Reply
        • Once we review and incorporate whichever KS backer errata the devs find relevant, we’ll offer it up on DTRPG in PDF and PoD versions. Keep an eye on the progress reports each week here on the MMN blog. Thanks!

          Reply
        • As a comment on the size, the PDF backers got access has 111 pages (including the covers).
          Its not as big as a hardcover, but is still larger than the old clan/tribe books, and don’t have all the pages dedicated to sheets and example characters.

          Reply
  4. So an idea just occurred to me with the blazing intensity that only the most obvious-in-retrospect can have, and I needed to ask – when Ghost Hunters comes out in a few months will its main characters be… a force to reckon with?

    Reply

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