So, I was running late with some holiday errands and our lunch meeting was somewhat shorter. We didn’t talk at all about The Hobbit, but I’m sure we will. At length. (Around 50% of my fantasy gaming characters are dwarven, and I think I can forgive Peter Jackson for allowing Gimli to be a punchline in much of LotR. But, more on that later). Today, Eddy and I went over the fact that CCP NA will be on vacay from Sat to Jan 2 or 3, so the Mummy: The Curse proof they are reviewing will probably be the last thing OK’d this year. I’m just looking at the next, maybe last but maybe not, proof of Werewolf 20th, so I don’t think that’ll be out this year. Which is unfortunate but I’m glad we had an event for this 20th year of WtA with the wild Kickstarter we had for it.
But we will be doing the Mummy Kickstarter starting tomorrow Tuesday the 18th, at 12 noon EST. It took longer than I expected for the KS approval, but we got it this morning. So this alert will give everybody almost 24 hours to be ready for it to go live so that you all can pledge the reward tiers you want. Now, we are doing something a bit different with this one and I want to explain it a bit here: unlike the last three Kickstarters we have done, this one doesn’t start out as a Deluxe project. Instead, we’re asking contributions to help us create a traditionally printed, hardcover, two-color interior book that has the same look and feel as books like the core nWoD book, or the core Vampire the Requiem, or Changeling the Lost, or other core game-line books. That way, we can keep both the goal amount and initial buy-in reward tier for a physical copy less expensive than the deluxe books we’ve done via KS before. The cost will be comparable to what VtR or CtL ran back in the day. THEN, if we can pass the Stretch Goals, we’ll add Deluxe Features like gilded page edges, silk bookmarks, and eventually a cool embossed leatherette cover treatment. (And there will be other fun Stretch Goals in there too, like with W20). So, in the interest of continuing to respond to and work with our great community, how deluxe we get is up to the backers, and there’s not such a high barrier to folks pledging for a physical copy. It’s an experiment, so we’ll see how it goes.
This will probably be the last Monday Meeting post of the year, although my intention is to post a Year In Review post in this space between now and our next meeting. I’ll look at what we did this last year, and look forward towards the great things we’ll be doing next year.
And here are some of them now:
– God Machine Chronicle (nWoD) is done Editing and into Art Direction now.
– Strix Chronicle Fiction Anthology (VtR) Strix is still being written.
– Mummy the Curse is waiting for word from the CCP Review Board this week and the index is being compiled- check out our Facebook page where Genevieve Podleski asks for your thoughts on the Mummy index: www.facebook.com/TheOnyxPath . The Kickstarter will go live at 12 noon EST, Tuesday, December 18th! Check the notes above for more details.
– EX3 to say again: Slated for Feb 2013 now. Looking to talk with the Devs this week to get a tighter look on where all the moving parts are. Not Kickstartering this this year-we’ll get back to you on when, but Feb 2013 looks good.
– V20 Hunters Hunted 2 is done Editing and in layout as the art comes in for review.
– V20 Anarchs Unbound‘s outline is out to writers and on the V20 blog: http://whitewolfblogs.com/v20/.
– Deluxe V20 Children of the Revolution is shipping and should be done shipping today except for a couple of Reward Tiers that need personal handling. The PDF and PoD versions are on sale at DriveThru RPG. If you didn’t get involved with the KS for this, now is your chance to pick up this beautiful and cool book. Justin and company went all out to present awesome characters, and the art is stunning.
– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition Kickstarter Compiling Surveys. Mike Lee is writing his novel. Looking at second proof of layout today.
–Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has been confirmed for September-ish 2013 and Phil Brucato is on the case!
– W20 Changing Breeds is also in Art Direction and Editing. We have to get backer info and photographs from the w20 Deluxe Kickstarter backers so that folks who are going to appear depicted in the art can get us in photos for reference.
– W20 Rage Across the World is done development and needs to be AD’d and edited- check out the W20 CB blog notes: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/
– Guildhalls of the Deathless (MtC) is being written.
– Conventionbook: Progenitors (cMtA) is being written.
Reason To Drink: Tis the Season. Also Thorin Motherfuckin’ Oakenshield.
So how likely is that mummy will finally see the light of day this week?
As noted above, it needs to pass CCP approvals, and the index needs to be compiled.
If both of those things were to finish today, Rich would still need to order a print proof, which would take about a week to produce and ship. So the absolute earliest it would possibly be done is next week, which I wouldn’t bet on.
Is a Mummy book on sale at Drivethrurpg dependent on the KS? In a slightly self-serving situation, I have a coupon I’ve been saving up just for Mummy and it expires at the end of the year 😉
All Kickstarters we have done so far, and all Kickstarters we’re planning, are for deluxe editions only. They do not affect plans for sales of PDF and print on demand solutions.
With a cautious question; Is W20 PDF going to go out this month?
Nevermind, read the full post. Sorry.
No. Every book we announce is set to be available as a PDF and a PoD on DriveThru. Every one. The Kickstarters are for versions of those books that are other than PDF or PoD. Deluxe or traditionally printed hardcover or whatever. So a Kickstarter does not affect whether a project comes out in PDF or PoD form, although the release timing may or may not be as we’re still experimenting with KS structure. Hope that helps!
Ah, cool beans. Now I’m torn. I like my standard hardcovers, but there’s a large list of pro’s for getting Mummy as soon as it’s on DTRPG
Of course, if the free pdf from the KS is available to backers as soon as it goes up on DTRPG (I’ve never done a KS before), then I’d be more likely to support the KS for my hardcover and reluctantly use the coupon for something else (ooo, God Machine Fiction you say…)
The mummy KS announcement has made my day!!
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet A Mummy xmas!
It’s only a Mummy x-mas if Mummy will actually be published prior to Christmas. Looks like it won’t.
This is disappointing.
I am sad that we won’t get to see a W20 PDF by the end of the year. I understand that things happen, and I’m sure you guys aren’t any happier about the delays, but I still wish it could be sooner. *sigh* Oh, well…
It also sounds like W20 Changing Breeds will miss its mark for December too, so you’d better come back swinging in 2013. 😉
I’m a little curious about W20 Rage Across the World. If I remember correctly, V20 Companion took input from folks from the V20 release to help fill in areas players thought needed attention, but if W20RAtW is already in editing… it sounds like we won’t have that opportunity to help, which is kinda sad, but I suppose, but we’ve been privileged to have some input in the past and not every book is going to be “Open Development” (even if I wish we could get our greasy fingers into each book to add our own thoughts to them.)
Good luck with your approvals, and other work over this upcoming holiday season (Who do these Icelanders think they are, taking more time off than most colleges for Winter Break? Don’t they know we have WORK to do? Hah!) But, seriously… good luck. 🙂
Given the eagerness for a Mummy Christmas, once the CCP review is complete, is there any chance that Mummy could be released on DtRPG straight away as PDF only, and then enable the PoD option later once the print proof has been approved? That way those of us who don’t want PoD won’t have to wait, and given the KS is about to start, it seems likely that most people who want a print version are probably going to go for the KS version rather than PoD anyway.
Well, we could always talk about it here! (The Hobbit) 🙂 Spoiler free of course. Personally, I found the second half immensely superior to the first one. The battle sequences were exquisite, with such huge motion and impeccable timing on all parts. It was quite beautiful to behold.
In regards to other matters, I’ve suddenly found myself doubting something I had taken for granted. Will the upcoming W20 books be kickstarted at all? By that I mean the changing breed book, Rage Across the World and Book of the Wyrm.
Thank you,
Our planned Kickstarters are all labelled as such on our release schedule.
All going to be kickstarted then. Thank you.
I really like this new approach to Kickstarter. Some of the books might not be able to reach deluxe edition levels but a lot people would still want to buy the traditional hardcover print version. Maybe titles that were not necessarily slated for a Kickstarter treatment might get one with this model, too. Not to mention that I might not have the cash to go for a deluxe version of every single book you guys publish, so having a traditional print option will help out in that respect as well.
In any case, thumbs up for this new experiment and I really hope it works out!