Eddy and I had just the night before played in his “Better Off Dying” V20 chronicle over Google, so there was less jocularity than usual since we’d had a pretty good time at the game. We hadn’t played in months since “Season One” climaxed with a war against the Sabbat in Cleveland, and it was great to see everybody again (real people and their characters as well) and to welcome in a bunch of new players. This got Eddy and I talking about how far online tabletop tools have come in just a year- certainly something Onyx Path is interested in exploring. Along the same lines, I was interested in his thoughts on Chrome vs Firefox, and whether an iPad would make a better mobile communication station for me than my iPhone (I must confess that while I hoped the phone would let me email and check stuff while on the run, it has such limitations due to size and keyboard teensiness that I think I’m being failed by that plan). Feel free to comment on either of those things if you have thoughts about why I should go with Chrome over Firefox, or whether the iPad is worth investing in so I can do things like, let’s just say, Update Kickstarters while stuck in an airport for 6 hours.
Speaking of which, our Mummy: The Curse Kickstarter wrapped up last week and I have to say, I was thrilled with the response. We really have no way of knowing how much reach we’re getting with the social media marketing we’re doing, but the response to Mummy was great. It certainly indicates there are tons more folks out there we can still get our projects out to. We got hammered a bit on just how, and how much, we released the info about what was actually in the Mummy: The Curse book itself, and while we felt like we scattered tons of info on the infrawebs, it’s true that you can’t expect folks to search all over the place. So towards that end, we’ll be putting up the Deluxe The Hunters Hunted II Kickstarter for v20 in the next couple of days, and in the main descriptive text we include a link to 99% of the text pre-edit and art/layout. Certainly, giving you all a chance to read pretty much the whole thing is something we haven’t done before on KS, so I’m interested to see how people react. Will reading the text inspire folks to opt to back the Hunters KS for the PDF, or the Deluxe copy, or will they figure they got the info they want and not chip in?
We talked a fair bit of business about the 2014 schedule and to share generalities, one of the complications for 2014 are the two sets of changes to 2013 that impact the next year. First, we have the schedule slide that occurred through 2012. Even though a lot of the projects in 2013 are holding their release date positions, the fact that some major projects fell into 2013 does create a need for cleaning up and rearranging things. Then there are the extra projects we’ve committed to creating coming out of the Kickstarters. While most of them have no hard release dates as yet and have creators assigned to them, we still need to slot them into the schedule and get folks working on solid deadlines. That being said, the projects we can add are an awesome feature of the way Kickstarter is set up and I’m really glad it allows us to add in fiction and screens and city-books that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. So, to make a long story short, we’re still working on the 2014 WW Schedule to submit to CCP.
And away we go:
– God Machine Chronicle (nWoD) is in Layout and some art is being CCP Approved.
– Strix Chronicle Fiction Anthology (VtR) Strix is into Editing.
– Mummy the Curse is approved by the CCP Review Board and the index is almost done- illness over the holidays delayed things. The MtC Kickstarter is over and 10 Stretch Goals have been achieved, including a Screen, a fiction Anthology, a novel, two city books: Washington DC and Rio, a “Book of Nod” style book containing the words of the Arisen known as The Heretic, and a passel of other cool stuff. We’re waiting for the OK from Amazon Payments that every backer who can pay has, and then surveys will go out to the backers. Some people have asked, so let me repeat here: the Kickstarter is pretty much the only place to get one of these traditionally printed MtC books; we will not be taking orders or shipping these into stores outside the Kickstarter campaign, which is over. There will be Mummy: The Curse PDF versions (a single book, plus the Players, Storytellers, and SAS sections as individual files in a “virtual boxed set”) and what promise to be very nice looking physical PoD versions over at DriveThruRPG.
– Exalted 3rd Edition: Another big talk about the Deluxe EX3 Kickstarter, and if we can pull it off it should be the most amazing one yet, really integrating the Reward Tiers and Stretch Goals with the launch of the new edition. I’m working with my old friend Maria Cabardo, one of the most talented designers and art directors in the business (or any creative business actually-Google her) on integrating the Devs ideas with a bunch of brilliant artists that she works with as well as on a new Exalted logo and map. Our intention is to have some smashing new pieces ready for the EX3 Kickstarter in early February.
– V20 Hunters Hunted 2 layout is on the next round of tweaking and proofing, with most of the art in for review. We are going to try and get its Deluxe Edition Kickstarter live this week (if KS gives us the OK).
– V20 Anarchs Unbound is in post writing Development. I think Justin has been posting some things, or will soon, on the WWBlogs.
– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition Kickstarter Compiling Surveys. Mike Lee is writing his novel. Working on a new proof after some adjustments from CCP. Aileen is working on the Storyteller Screen and Wallpaper. Going to reach out to most of the backers expecting classic WtA PDFs today and get them their download links from DTRPG. Putting the W20 KS Stretch Goal projects into the schedule.
–Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has been confirmed for September-ish 2013 and Phil Brucato has started assigning writers and has started writing his part.
– 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. We had one piece of art that needed revision as a truly buff and menacing Kitsune just wasn’t right- although it looked damned scary.
– W20 Rage Across the World is in Art Direction and Editing- check out the W20 CB blog notes: http://whitewolfblogs.com/w20/
– Guildhalls of the Deathless (MtC) is being written.
– Conventionbook: Progenitors (cMtA) is off to Editing and Art Direction.
– Mage Translation Guide has begun being written.
– W20 Book of the Wyrm is being written and red-lined.
Reason for Drinking: I’ll be drinking Saturday night (and please feel free to do so where ever you are) at my “surprise” 50th BDay party. Hah! You can not surprise me! I have the wisdom of the ages <hack> <cough> <ptwoie>
I prefer Chrome to Firefox, but really there’s not much difference. The main thing for me is that Chrome runs each tab as a completely separate program, so if one tab messes up, it only crashes that tab and not the whole shebang.
As far as a mobile communication station, it really depends on whether you can bring something around with you that won’t fit in your pocket. If you can, then absolutely go for an iPad. I have taken to wearing a “technology messenger bag” to carry my iPad, camera, and various other accessories in. It’s basically a technological man-purse. If you think you can get in the habit of doing that (and not leave it places), then an iPad would be a much better mobile option than an iPhone. However, if you don’t think you’ll be able to train yourself into brining a not-pocketable item with you, then I say stick with the iPhone.
Also, I’m incredibly excited about M20 and EX3. 🙂
Thanks, Mike- we are too!
Good news as always!!
Regarding Chrome vs Firefox. I make my living by building web apps and Chrome is the best browser in the three most important operating systems (Win, Mac, Linux).
Firefox can behave different in Windows than it does in Mac or in Linux, and debugging that is a royal pain.
Safari is very good but it’s not available on Linux.
Internet Explorer… is a tool of the Wyrm, will drive you mad.
And about the iPad, it’s a very good investment. I was very reticent on Apple products until I bought the iPad, and now… now I’m broke 😀
The truth is that it’s a very simple tool, but you can do almost anything you do on a notebook.
You can really take a lot of advantages using cloud systems like dropbox and evernote.
I’ve had some good test cases of friends who are doing similar things as myself swearing by the iPad. Eddy also recommended the iPad Mini. I think I’ll need to get that in my hands before I know if it’ll work for me.
The IPad mini is very cute, my wife has it, but she is also mini and cute 🙂
Jokes aside, the mini is very good too, but as you said, you have to try it yourself.
Also checkout this site, macrumors.com, it’s been of great help when I turned to the dark side 😉
How likely is it that backers of the Mummy kickstarter will get to see the pdf in February and the physical book in March, if I might ask?
I’m curious about this as well, but in all honesty I’m more interested in an approximate time when we might see the W20 PDF. As much as I appreciate you guys are working hard I’ve been a bit unimpressed by the slow going (funded on the 1st November but no surveys sent out til the 29th – almost a full month later) and what feels like relative radio silence on the subject. I promise I won’t hold you to a specific date, but would appreciate a heads up as to whether we can expect to wait another week, or month, or longer.
W20 PDF- a few weeks to a month- but don’t hold me to that. I am not making a promise, but an estimate. I understand how you are anxious to get the results of your pledge, but rushing it out won’t make anyone happy in the long run. We still need an Index, which we can’t get until we know for sure that the pagination won’t change- which just happened with the tweaks we made to the layout.
And as for the “lateness” of the Survey- who told you it should go out near the Closing Date? Kickstarter specifically states that the longer you wait the better, because people move and it is a right royal pain to get their new addresses, and I can confirm this for our first two KSs. For W20 and Mummy, now that we are offering Add-Ons and such, we actually need the Surveys done earlier than KS recommends. So yeah, I held off as long as I could so that the most up-to-date data could go in there.
“Kickstarter specifically states that the longer you wait the better, because people move”
This. This one comment I really don’t agree with. By the time the book ships, it could likely be 5-6 months before people begin to receive W20. That’s a long time. That’s a lot of leases that end–regardless of how long you wait to survey. One month is really not going to stop anyone’s plans of moving 5-6 months down the line. People that own houses are one thing, but I’d wager a vast amount of people have the deluxe editions shipped to locations that simply don’t change. But hey, I guess if Kickstarter says so…
Regardless, I’m loving the KS, and have enjoyed what’s been put out so far, so keep it up Rich! I’m anxiously awaiting W20, and I know it’s going to be fantastic.
Made this comment after taking an Ambien and having two cups of coffee. Didn’t want to come off as an ass, but it appears I did. Sorry for the whining. Just got a bit of…rage…built up inside, I guess. : )
Not entirely true. Think of the health of the Housing Market and that a lot of the people coming out of college in the last decade have opted not to buy homes because of the crap economies around the world.
While I am sad I don’t have it in my grubby paws, its fine that they are taking their time to do it right.
See, I think Rich has been pretty open and honest about the status of the W20 book. Monday Meetings, the December 20-ish update stating the progress and the CCP wait, etc. While he didn’t tell us that CCP had sent back the file for updates, he let us know with this Monday Meeting. Unfortunately, at this time, it’s probably all of the info that he has–The files still need to be modified by Aileen, then given to Richard to look-over and make sure they’re right (depending on the alterations, pushing one word to another page can fuck things up across the board, etc., not to mention screwing up the Indexing) and then Rich has to send it to CCP and take another week+ to get approved/denied before he finds out for himself if he can go ahead and make it ready to share.
My guess is that he could make it available to KickStarter-backers within a day of getting approval after modifying it for download (lower-resolution, page modification, PDF restrictions, etc., uploading it to DriveThruRPG, and having them make it available to us through their site.) So… (again, my guess) minimum of next Monday? And depending on the number of modifications and approval time from CCP, at most (hopefully) the end of January? I hope it’s sooner *crosses fingers.*
Ack… I wish I could delete my last message. Damned page didn’t show Rich had actually posted. 🙁 My apologies for stepping on any toes, Rich.
Very good chance for the PDF in Feb, and then it’s a question of printer/shippers being accurate on their timing. But see, as I’ll explain in another comment, once I give an estimate based on what “should” happen, something will come along and delay things.
Thanks for your reply. “A few weeks to a month, but don’t hold me to that” is exactly what I was looking for. Only thing I’d ask is that if we’re getting past the month you consider a revised estimate to keep us updated. In terms of “who told me” that the surveys would go out quickly? The answer is no-one, but it seems a natural assumption when money is leaving my account literally one day after the KS ends. More and more as Onyx Path uses this model I’m failing to see the validity of it for me as a consumer. I can see why it works for you as a business, but personally I’m feeling totally unenamoured of the whole process.
I agree with most of what you stated. I’m hoping that Hunters Hunted 2 will be a bit smoother in regards to the timing. Especially since Justin is pretty much done writing the entire thing. Though with the start of HH2 Kickstarter–and it finishing, it would mean that there would be three(!) books that have completed the KS process and have not arrived to homes. W20, Mummy, and HH2. Nature of the business I guess.
I hate that the Onyx Path still has to go through CCP to review everything. Wish that would’ve changed, too. Maybe one day…
I would humbly submit that perhaps something in the short interval between now and the PDF release would do wonders for expectant backers as well as hopefully drum up more interest for those that did not participate in the Kickstarter but have some mild interest in perhaps getting it on PDF or PoD.
Also I was curious if we’d receive any sort of say 24 hour “warning” on the PDF release date. I ask, in part, as I’d like to gift a White Wolf Forum member with a copy and would like to give those hoping to win the copy a heads up notice.
You could always just bring a laptop. Its not so teensy and most airports, as far as I know, have some kind of wireless availability.
Have a laptop, it’s about to go up in a ball of flame. And the airport, which is a good place for one, is just one example. I need something smaller, more portable, I think.
iPad is the way to go, its pricier, but then you get a library of apps (many free) that you dont get with android. So my best advice: go and play with one before you buy, its what I did and I swear by my ipad.
nuff said.
Android Tablet is the way to go. Apple products are overpriced for no reason. I recommend an ASUS Transformer Infinity if you like the option of a physical keyboard dock, which i do for writing longer works.
I prefer Firefox because it’s open source and I like to support the community. Doesn’t google already own enough of our lives? Should we continue to let them? That’s up to you. =)
Its an Asus laptop I have that’s about to heat beyond tolerance. Glad your Asus is working for you, though. I’ve been a happy Apple user for something like 20 years. Can’t stand iTunes, but otherwise been very pleased over the years. That is something I like about Firefox too, one of the reasons I’m not just diving into Chrome.
Chrome is also open-source. After having been a Firefox user for years, I switched to Chrome and have generally found it to be considerably faster and more reliable. Only thing I really miss was Firefox’s Ubiquity plugin.
I’d also recommend an Android tablet. Definitely pop down to your local big box place to try one out, compare features and price points.
Chromium is open source, I don’t think Chrome specifically is. Chrome being Google’s implementation of Chromium. But there are other Chromium-based browsers out there. Not that I ever used one, because Chrome is what I run with. Much, much faster and more stable than Firefox. Can eat up more memory, but that’s just because every tab is a different process and a page crashing in one tab does not terminate the entire browser like in Firefox.
I sadly wouldn’t know what to say in regards to Firefox or Chrome. I love firefox, but most people seem to prefer Chrome.
In regards to the iPad, I understand you view. I thought the same thing when I got my smartphone. It did help a lot, I could read up my forum and mails in the bus and start thinking about what I would answer to players. But, the keyboard was too small for me to actually working on the game or actually answering. I’d think a Pad or one of those small laptops they have now would really be a graet idea. Not to mention, quite productive when stuck in an airport for 6 hours. 🙂
In regards to online gaming, I’d have to ask what you meant in the leaps it made this year. Can’t say I’m aware of any of it and that particular questions if of great interest to me right now. A friend of mine and me have regressed to the old Chat system called IRC, which you may remember from 15 years ago. We started gaming on that and let me tell you we are SOLD. It’s a powerful medium that is extremely adaptable to a DM’s needs thanks to the use of bots. A simple “!roll Dex+Brawl” and voila! A bot checks in the database what you stats are and tells you how you did right away. Like in a video game, the system becomes seamless as you no longer see the numbers. It all rolls itself and you just worry about roleplaying. We’re still programming all that, of course, but, the idea is there.
We’re also creating a tool that creates bot users, and lets the DM control them. So, all NPCs are visible in the chat room and can act. Which is great for immersion.
Anyways, online gaming is a fascinating topic with immense RP potencial. I’d love to hear more on Onyx Path’s view (and anyone’s really) of this all. 🙂
Thanks!
Dom
We were playing in a Google Hangout (sorry, Nico) and were using roll20 for the dice work. Eddy has a new dice-roller app he wants to use next time, but I’ll be using roll20 Friday on a game with Justin Achilli, so I can see more of what it can do. Past that, the general idea of playing with friend on a virtual tabletop is great for me, and I imagine that Chat players are even more in tune with how things have developed. I love the easy NPC thing you mention. I think we can see a time when the tools enable RPGing rather than inhibit them already upon us, much as you say, and let the casual player just play while being transparent enough that the gamer who enjoys the nuts and bolts can still get in and muck about. And everyone who still loves RPG books and other physical products can also still have them.
Thumbs up. Very much in agreement. I’m quite eager to see what the near future holds for online gaming. 🙂
I also agree it’s not a replacement to Table Top. It’s an alternative, like LARP. It’s just another way to play and all three have distinct advantages and weaknesses.
On an unrelated topic, I had a quick question that came to mind regarding Scion. I know it’s too early for most topic, but I think there’s a good chance this can be answered. Will it be open development too? I really enjoyed partaking in W20, and think Scion would be just as interesting.
Thanks.
Ha ha, don’t sweat it, I’m not that crazy. =) I do still use Android after all. =)
In fact, it’s the G+ Hangouts that is luring me back to Google! It’s such an amazing tool for gaming online! I’ll actually be using it in my near-future Mummy: the Curse game. The Hangouts are actually pulling a lot of gamers into Google+.
Back in the day WW was all about physical wares, and that was cool. But today what we really need are digital wares. We’ve got the pdfs, but what I’d love to see coming from Onyx Path is G+ Apps. Or at least working with the community in the development of G+ apps to facilitate gaming in the Storyteller system.
I’d love to see a comprehensive and friendly dice rolling app that caters to the Storyteller system, something akin to http://rpgroller.com/nwod/ .
Have you seen http://tabletopforge.com/ ? It’s a very ambitious suite that has tons of potential. I hope they finish the project. Unfortunately right now they’re suffering a bit from a lack of developers. Definitely check out their feature set!
and wow! thanks for mentioning roll20! it’s very similar to TabletopForge, though it looks much further along and has nice features like a music jukebox.
why did you split play between G+ Hangout and not just use the roll20 video chat? i may look at using this option for my game now! =D
Mummy was my first Onyx Path Kickstarter and I’m really happy with what I got for my $30, but I have to admit that it was underwhelming. I imagine a lot of that has to do with the timing, but I’m really looking forward to the Exalted Kickstarter and I wanted to give you some feedback based on my previous Kickstarter experiences.
First off, I don’t consider stretch goals to be that important. If I don’t like a project stretch goals are not going to change my mind. However, good stretch goals did make me increase my Shadowrun Returns pledge from $30 to $50 and my Project Eternity pledge from $35 to $165. I ended up increasing my Project Eternity pledge two or three times because they had stretch goals that I really, really wanted.
Both those Kickstarter projects also had good digital bundles. Like Onyx Path, I have shifted my interest from physical books to pdfs. Digital books are a lot easier to store and search through. As much as I’d like to drop $300 on Ex3, I can’t do that if there’s no reward tier for me to pledge at. Put a a good digital bundle in front of me and I will get it. I’m also really interested in buying copies of the Ex3 corebook pdf as add-ons to my pledge. People on the White Wolf forums gave away at least 34 copies of Masters of Jade when that came out and I think the numbers for Shards of the Exalted Dream where even higher. Buying the pdfs through Kickstarter and then e-mailing people coupon numbers would be really convenient.
Richt,
remember to put the 48/72 hours warining in the white wolf forums for the HH2 KS like you did with the last one!
It’s 24 hours.
For Chrome vs Firefox. I have loyally used Firefox for a long time due to early Chrome crashing constantly. Its really just personal flavor preference I think.
For a tablet, I like iPads. You can get fold out keyboard/stands to plug the iPad/Phone into that allow you to type on ‘real’ keys. At work I am blocked from most shopping sites so cannot link (but they missed the WWBlogs! HA!). I know one person with the new Windows Tablet, the Surface. They are really pleased with it and had expected it to be complete crap. It might be worth looking it over in a store.
I have switched from Firefox to Chrome personally, and can’t really look back. Faster, syncs with the mobile app, of course your mileage may vary, but I prefer it 🙂
For the Ipad, well, I’m an Android user since the htc magic and don’t own anything apple, so I am obviously biased, but the Nexus 10 looks great for your mobility problems.
I look forward to M20 and EX3, thanks for the update !
Chrome vs Firefox: Chrome for me, NEVER NEVER IE, the firefox, but i have to end using both, y a dev and the web pages you have to test with both.
The problem is only whit the keyboard ????? buy one they are cheap!!!!
Tablets always android or windows 8 it’s really cool stuff (I just say windows it’s cool stuff???? it’s sound weird).
Thnx for the KS, waiting for W”= and M:tC.
What sorts of changes did CCP want made to the book? Were they things like “spelling errors” and that, or were they “context” changes, or something else that didn’t meet their idea of the property? If it’s the later, was it at all surprising to you that they wanted those changes, or did they make sense to you?
So much good new stuff coming soon… Hunters Hunted 2, Changing Breeds, Rage Across the World, and more. It’s almost devious to my budget. :-/
Good luck on the edits, to the indexing, and I hope we’ll see the fruits of the KickStarter soon. 🙂
I am proud to say that I pledged aproximately $115 for this product and am very excited about the new line for NWoD. Something to consider is that the stretch goals felt rather rushed, especially after 90kish was reached. There was a couple day lull after 80k was reached and no stretch goals were added. I think that good stretch goals keep a lot of interest and vitality in the project and the going west book, a really cool addition, was added with less than 96 hours to go.
As a piece of constructive criticism I would suggest that having a stretch goal ready as soon as one is met might be a better strategy to raise more money on the project.
I’m super excited for getting the book and I’m excited for all the cool things The Onyx Path has coming for us.
There was a lull because Hurricane Sandy hit Rich, and he lost power for a week.
Im super excited to get the special printed edition of Mummy, but Im even more super excited to get the pdf soon, because Im ready to run this game and, well, you need the rules dont you?
My payment to KS through amazon is paid, so I want my Mummy!!
🙂