This was us all last week, charging from meeting to meeting reviewing the upcoming 2016 White Wolf project schedule ideas. We were determined to get all the suggestions together (and thanks for your outpouring of ideas in the comments of last week’s MMN Blog) in order to have a “first-pass” schedule ready for discussion with the line developers by Dec 15. And we did! Whew! Now we will discuss it all with them.
And the art is of course the cover for Book of Legions by one of our old favorite artists, Guy Davis. Topical for the yelling, but also because we are over 300% funded for the Deluxe Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition– and we still have three weeks to go! Stretch Goals have added some awesome Orpheus material and added Arcanoi powers to the book itself, unlocked an introductory “Handbook for the Recently Deceased”, and Rich Deadguy Dansky is reaching out to the many writers he has connected with over the years to power up a super Wraith Fiction Anthology. Hoping those of you who haven’t been able to join us there will be able to as the holidays come and go.
Most of what Eddy and I talked about today was the “vertical slice” of Pugmire that he has recently completed. This is sort of a very focused prototype of Pugmire that is designed to give a taste of the game and hit as many of the basic play moments as it can. It’s still pre-writing, but it tests a lot of Eddy’s ideas and allows the rest of us to check it out for feedback. One note, for those of you who caught my slight rant about Pugmire detractors earlier, Eddy has actually found that there were a few folks who just totally didn’t get what the game was about, and while they were negative at the beginning, they got on board once Eddy went into more detail about the game. Which is an awesome illustration of how preferring to communicate (rather than gettin’ all verbally violent) can actually make a positive difference.
Now here are a couple of things that are more about the holiday season:
We wanted to suggest to you wonderful folks out there that T-shirts would make cool gifts for your gaming friends, so we checked with our online T-shirt partner at RedBubble, and they actually have a chart on shipping. It’s pretty late right now unless you add Express shipping, but here you go: https://help.redbubble.com/hc/en-us/articles/203263215 Basically, and sorry we only just checked for this, but if you want shirts for the holidays: order NOW!
Finally, next week I’m going to post at least the first part of our 2014 Top Ten List of Onyx Path Awesomenesses! So, then, as this is our blog where we actually share ideas a lot, what do you think should be included on this list? Books we put out, parts of books we put out, a particular piece of art, a Kickstarter…you name it!
And here are much more than ten items we’re working on:
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)
- M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)
- Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) – In Open Development
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
- V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition) – In Open Development
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent)
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- “Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)
Redlines
- Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)
- Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening) – In Open Development
- W20 Novel by Mike Lee (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)
Second Draft
- Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created) – Playtesting
- Exalted 3rd Fiction Anthology (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Development
- V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras- Vampire chapter (WoD Dark Eras)
- Fallen World Chronicle Fiction Anthology (Mage: the Awakening)
Editing
- V20 Lore of the Clans (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)
- M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Development (post-editing)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras core book (WoD Dark Eras)
- Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition core book (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition, featuring the Idigam Chronicle (Werewolf: the Forsaken)
- Exalted 3rd Edition core book- From Holden: “Didn’t quite get the edit implements finished by Sunday, but I am close-” (Exalted 3rd Edition)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE
- Book of the Deceived – PoD proofs ordered and on their way.
- Sothis Ascends – Needs art notes.
- Book of the Wyrm 20 – PDF and physical book PoD versions on sale now at DriveThruRPG.com: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/138407/W20-Book-of-the-Wyrm Tweaking quote from the printer still- holiday schedules there making info slow.
- DAV20 – Remaining heraldry in progress. Remaining art in progress. Still awaiting proofing notes.
- T-Shirts – Working on Revised Mage shirts. If someone can find a good scan of the Euthanatos art from 1e, I’d be up for remaking the old Mage shirt.
- Art O’ The Changin’ Breeds – Got a chunk done. If Mage doesn’t show up this week, I should be able to get this thing into proofing.
- Umbra – PoD Proofs ordered.
- VTR II – New PoD Proofs ordered.
- Fallen World Chronicle Anthology – Awaiting the last of the text and trying to get the logo worked out. Still torn about the cover as line art doesn’t work well with our fiction cover format and the grayscale art we do have for Mage isn’t the greatest for this cover (very specific to the book it was made for is what I mean).
- Firestorm Chronicle Anthology – Getting into 2nd proof Monday morning.
- WtF 2 – Finals starting to roll in. Emailed Abrar and Spencer as I haven’t seen sketches from them yet. I have the text files.
- Scarred Lands – Spiragos [REDACTED] ed is done and now waiting…
- Idigam Chronicle Anthology – On sale now. http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/138981/The-Idigam-Chronicle-Anthology
- Wraith 20 – KS a going.
- M20 – Still with Dev.
- Dark Eras – Saw sketches from Hepworth.
- V20 Lore of the Clans – Awaiting replies from a few artists. We have some time on this so we are fine.
- EX3- RichT here, once again tagging onto Mirthful Mike’s report, Maria Cabardo and I are starting to slow down now, only two or three sketches/finishes are coming through a day. Looking with anticipation for the text files so Maria can start her layout magic. <= Whut I said last week.
REASON TO DRINK: Holiday parties!
for that beckett book, will we finally get a sheet for him ?
Not sure the book is that kind of book. But maybe if you ask Eddy nicely…?
Rich….I was just wondering if you know what kickstarter you are hoping to do after WOD–Dark Era and when you think it might be up.
So far, it looks like V20 Lore of the Clans. But one KS to finish and another to survive before we get there.
Thanks Rich……I was just curious as to what we get to look forward to. So far I’m really enjoying the Wraith kickstarter.
Awesome- great to hear! I always think it’s such a cool opportunity for folks to talk directly with the developer, especially cool if like Rich Dansky, they were instrumental in a lot of the classic books. Anything else we can do with the Wraith KS to make it more fun for you?
Top 10 list?
Not in any order:
1. Mage 20th blowing the roof off of Kickstarter(and rpg’s in general)
2. Onyx Path’s Red Bubble Store(World of Darkness memorabilia once again!)
3. Hunters Hunted 2 deluxe edition! A thing of beauty, it is.
4. Book of the Wyrm 20. The Wyrm, bigger and nastier than ever.
5. Onyx Path’s strong presence at Gen Con.
6. Onyx Path’s continued growth as a company(which kind of goes with #5). Hirings! More product! Excellent product! More awareness! More beer!
7. Anywhere Ron Spencer, Steve Prescott, Borja Puig Linares(sp?) or Brian LeBlanc get art duties.
8. Mirthful Mike for showing me some Hunter love.
9. Richard Dansky and Wraith 20. I realize it hasn’t been released, but the KS is in full swing and I think that’s certainly something that belongs on a top 10 list.
10. Pugmire. Excellent idea. I hope it meets expectations!
8.
Not sure why there is an extra “8.” Dammit.
Also, just saw that Beckett’s Diary is being worked on.
YEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!
Please consider a deluxe edition for it, Rich.
Already considering. 🙂
O_O
Excellent list! Thanks!
Is Guy Davis too expensive to invite back to do a funkton of art for Wraith20? Is Guy Davis going to contribute art to Wraith20?
Guy Davis would be awesome on some Wraith 20 art.
Actually, a few of the newer artists Onyx Path has been using would be awesome, too.
He will be asked. Depends on his schedule, I’d bet.
“Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)
In the immortal words of Spider Robinson, a great express-train has been lifted from my testicles.
That’s gotta smart! If we’d known what was at stake, we’d have moved faster on this. Sorry, man.
Ouch…. and also, great to see this show up in the updates finally. Any chance of seeing that draft for feedback before we hit 2015 or is that wishful thinking? 😀
Unlikely with it being written right now. But as soon as we can, for sure.
Is there any way for fans to submit writings for that Wraith anthology.
https://theonyxpath.com/do-you-want-to-walk-the-onyx-path/
Are the Employee Indoctrination Handbook and Beckett’s Jyhad Diary going to be prop books?
How do you define prop books?
Illustrated, trade paperback size (not a hard requirement), containing little in the way of mechanics, but containing more or less canonical information about the setting, like The Book of Nod, or The Rites of the Dragon, for example?
I don’t have a full list but I feel like Open Development needs to go on there somewhere. The blogs for Werewolf, Mage and Promethean have all got me incredibly excited for the future of New World. It finally tempted me, a non-fan of Requiem (and not a particularly big fan of Masquerade) to pick up a copy of Blood and Smoke and now I get it. Its amazing what, to my eye at least, is not a dramatic change in the mythos so much as a shift in tone can do. It pushed me to make Kindred a more active part of my Hunter game, feeling like I can make them interesting to both my players and to myself. The blogs for the aforementioned games are incredibly rich in novel ideas, whether they be new ideas for the new edition or the old ideas, repackaged in an eye catching way. 2015 looks to be an expensive year for me if all three of those 2e games get released during the year. If, as it looks like it will be, Awakening 2e is the novice accessible, easily taught edition of Mage I’ve been hoping for, I may be in the market for a hard cover to pass around so I’ve got something besides my tablet should I decide to run it.
Fantastic- so glad you’re getting real value out of the Open Dev posts. And thanks for your post- I really wasn’t expecting full lists so much as posts like yours that point out things Onyx did last year that worked really well for you. Thanks!
I agree, although my real turn around moment was the Dev blogs for Idigam. Once they fixed my main buy-in problem, Tribes, I got real excited.
I really have been impressed by the volume of projects you guys are putting out and how fast they are moving. It seens that every week there’s some changes in development status, it really feels you guys have found a really good pace.
Getting there. Progress comes in fits and starts overall. But definitely moving forward.
“WtF 2 – Finals starting to roll in. Emailed Abrar and Spencer as I haven’t seen sketches from them yet. I have the text files.”
Abrar… Spencer… WtF… :O
Thank you, for this. Made my day.
Well, no sketches yet though…we won’t know if they are on board until the work comes through.
Cannot wait for Dark Eras! How are the the other chapters (Hunter, Vigil, etc.) coming along for this book? Also, will it include a chapter on the Demon game?
BTW – I just bought Mortal Remains for Hunter: the Vigil. An AMAZING job in writing the associated game-lines from a unique Hunter perspective.
There will be a chapter for each supernatural nWoD game line to start off, and then we’ll see what backers want in terms of expanded or additional chapters. All the chapters are done except for Vampire I believe. Glad you liked Mortal Remains!
Any chance to sneak in a Beast chapter?
Can I make a suggestion that when it comes to M20 we’d deal with backers getting a version with no index? theres precedent (I’m sure) and if not then everyone would live.
There’s a good chance we will go that way with a backers-names-in and no index PDF for backers to start with.
I would be massively in favour of that and extremely grateful. I know you guys have been knocking it out of the park in terms of index work but the sooner I can get my hands on this book the better.
I’ve played more Vampire throughout the years but Mage was the game that gave me my favourite chronicle I’ve ever ran. A combination of factors, not least a group of players who just got what I was trying to do and turned it into what WE were trying to do, made for a great experience and turned Mage into my favourite WoD game. Since Onyx Path became custodians of these lines I’ve not felt let down. I genuinely am more excited than a 38 year old man should get for this game.
I would very much appreciate it if you could give us an Ex3 KS update, once the text is done and the new layout format all figured out, organized, and everything, so that she can get started on actually laying out the book proper.
I think people will be excited about that and not everyone reads the Monday Meetings. Plus, while I know you guys don’t like to give release dates and the Wraith curse vigorously attacks Holden whenever one is given for Ex3, I’d hope that the final layout of the book (once the format is completed and the hard stuff figured out) is enough of an understood process that we could have a release estimate that targets a month or a week, rather than a quarter or a season, about then.
If not, I’ll be satisfied with the weekly updates.
There was an EX3 Backer Update less than a week ago that told folks what we knew then. There’ll probably be another before the end of the year. At the point we can estimate, we will, but we’re still waiting for the text to go to Maria. Thanks!
thanks for that m20 update rich.
Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)
I want to know more. like it’s premise and what kind of archetype it explores.
I also want to be surprised by not knowing
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
Onyx Path keeps rocking and rolling! Question though, has V20: Dark Ages not progressed far enough to make it onto the Development Status list yet?
It’s in layout, hence why it is mentioned in Mirthful Mike’s notes. Thanks!