Happy New Year!

Glad to have you back for this, our seventh year of being in the business of creating amazing worlds for fantastic game lines!

Looking forward, with that side of the Janus head, we’ve got a fantastic year coming!

Expect some very cool announcements about new and ongoing projects throughout 2018, the first of which we’ll be making at next week’s MidWinter Convention in Milwaukee.

Actually, that’s not totally right, as I have a few cool things to mention right now!

First: over the break, and to the surprise of all of us who thought the PoD printer closed for the holidays, I got the PoD proofs for V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary. Very cool, and very thick. We’ll be making Beckett’s JD available next Wednesday for sale in PDF and PoD versions on DriveThru. The Deluxe Kickstarter version will now be going to the traditional printer.

 

 

Next: remember when I mentioned that a lot of talks were finalized at Gen Con? Well, here’s one of them: please welcome Matthew Dawkins as our second full-time freelance developer!

Matthew joins Eddy Webb as our in-house developers and troubleshooters, and we are thrilled to have The Gentleman Gamer with us to start 2018. One of Matthew’s first tasks is to write a blog post for this week talking about the adventure that was the writing and development of V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary, actually.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I just want to let folks know that late last year I joined the Board of Directors of the Bodhana Group, in order to help advise them on how to continue to grow their efforts in using tabletop gaming for therapeutic purposes. I’ve been in awe of these folks and their efforts for years, and have mentioned their efforts here for most of that time, so this seemed like a good fit.

I don’t expect my sitting on the board to change anything with Onyx Path, or take any time away from anything I’m doing here, but I’m glad to be able to say that even with all craziness of the past year we’ve still managed to find a way to step up and help people via gaming.

 

 

 

 

Now, as for looking back at the year that was with that other face of Janus, these tend to kind of be the downer parts because this week we’re examining what we could have done better last year. (That’s why I led with the looking forward to good things in 2018 stuff). We did the “look back at stuff we liked” last blog.

In general, we needed to get more projects out, particularly our big ticket, Kickstarted ones. We did spend the year catching up on a lot of projects, but Wraith 20 and Scion 2nd still missed 2017, and that grinds our teeth. For a look at the many. many releases we did do in 2017, here’s a link to Impish Ians’s Yearly Release Retrospective blog: https://theonyxpath.com/release-retrospective-2017/

Specifically, here is our Onyx Path crew relating their thoughts on what we could have done better. I have kept these brief, so you get the gist of the concerns, because we are going to unpack these and go into massively greater detail on them at our Onyx Path Summit after MidWinter next week.

– Mike Chaney, art direction and layout: Exalted should have been put back on track sooner.

– Matt McElroy, operations manager: We didn’t do enough convention support outside our attended cons. We need to give more help to smaller cons to enable more people to play our games at those cons.

– Ian Watson, social media manager: Frustrated last year because professional standards meant not being able to rebut nasty comments online.

– Eddy Webb, developer-at-large: In order to respond quicker and better to development issues with the books, we need developer replacement solutions like training and set procedures for when things go sideways.

– Monica Valentinelli, developer and marketing consultant: Less focus in-house on discussing and planning for negative issues. We got through a negative year- focus on the positive!

– Lisa Thomas, business manager: More clear communication with freelancers, particularly when and how they get paid and what info they need to provide to make sure that happens.

– Rose Bailey, development producer: More stream of content for individual game lines needs to be planned out.

– RichT: My niggling specific thing is that we were unable to get on-line gaming aids, like for Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or HeroLab, out there in 2017 as an ongoing thing we create material for. We got onto Amazon, and put out our first App with the Onyx Dice Roller, but not the on-line gaming stuff. Grrr.

 

 

 

 

As you can tell, we have a wide range of opinions on what we need to do in 2018 to evolve, as Onyx Path always has, to better create our games and get them into your hands. 2017 has set the stage for an amazing 2018, and we are all looking forward to harvesting the results of the hard work and decisions that we wrestled with last year.

Thanks for joining us on the Onyx Path for our seventh year, and for being a part of one, some, or all of our game worlds. Or, as we have said so much this year but which we will really prove out in 2018:

Many Worlds, One Path!

 

 

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

The Trinity Continuum Kickstarter will go live in January! Looks like a couple of weeks in, so you can ease back from the refreshes for a bit, gang.

 

 

As we try and find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now 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 both rolling and rocking! It just has had its biggest update yet! There’s been tweaks to all elements of the UI, you can now preview every die type in the store, and you can use multiple die types per roll! Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

(The Solar Anima special Dice)

 

 

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook stores 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). Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies:

• Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)
• Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)
• Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)
• Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

 

And here are six more fiction books:

• Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)
• Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

 

Andand six more more:

• Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)
• Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)
• Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)
• Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)
• Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

 

And even more books are now on Amazon and the Nook store!:

• Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)
• V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)
• Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)
• Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)
• Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

 

 

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire 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

 

 

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/

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

 

 

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

This week, we’re going to offer up a selection of new shirt designs on our RedBubble store to start the New Year with!

 

 

Next week, one of the most legendary of Kindred will share his personal journal with you! V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary goes on sale in PDF and PoD versions on DTRPG.com!

It’s ever been a loaded word among vampires. Jyhad is in force everywhere from lofty, perfumed Elysium to cloying, smoke-filled blood feasts. Jyhad’s the eternal game played by elders, Methuselahs, and worse — it’s the agenda of beings so utterly beyond humanity, one such as yourself could scarcely understand its movements. 

Luckily for you, you’ve picked up a copy of my diary. With my help you may just take a step on the first rung of understanding. Information worth having is information you must earn through blood, and oh, how I’ve bled for what’s contained within these pages. 

— Beckett 

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary serves as the definitive book of setting and plot for Vampire: The Masquerade, containing 30 chapters spanning different geographical regions, encountering vampires of every clan, profiling obscure and profound segments of the mythology, and providing countless story hooks on every page.

Masterfully written by the likes of Neall Raemonn Price, Joshua Alan Doetsch, Myranda Sarro, Steffie de Vaan, Malcolm Sheppard, Alan Alexander, Renee Knipe, and Matthew Dawkins, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is as fascinating to read as to use for your game Chronicles.

 

 

 

With a howl of RAGE, the W20 Changing Ways Advance PDF charges at you this Wednesday on DTRPG.com!

Changing Ways is an in-depth look at what it means to be a werewolf, both on a personal level and as part of a pack. It digs deep into what it feels like to have bones re-knit after breaking, the range of senses available across all forms, and the sudden heady rush of the Gifts and Rites bestowed by spirits. It also provides a look at what life is like for lupus and metis werewolves, characters who have had experiences alien to any person. It shows the many ways that werewolves organize in packs, and how those packs are designed as groups of warriors, rather than aligned to the behavior of wolves.

Changing Ways contains:

• A detailed look at what it means to grow up as a lupus or metis werewolf, and how that colors a character’s perspective.

• More information on what it feels like to be a werewolf, a creature that changes in both body and mind.

• Frameworks and organizations for packs, along with new tactics and systems for forging the pack as part of play.

 

 

 

Arriving at DTRPG.com this Wednesday, and soon to your tables: The M20 Mage Cookbook!

Food is Life 

We are what we eat. As mages throughout history have realized, the foods that sustain our bodies sustain enlightenment as well. Such foods become extensions of the people and cultures that create them. Now Brother Oliver Lyon, Knight Templar and a humble baker’s son, travels around the world hunting the Fallen and gathering fine recipes along the way.

Enchanting Recipes 

From Mandarin lion’s heads to alchemical booze, Brother Oliver’s collection of delicious recipes spans the cultural realms of Mage’s human world. Among these many culinary concoctions, you’ll find:

• Lobster Bisque
• Angel Torte
• Chicken Nanban
• Corn Fufu
• Beef Wellingtons
• Battenburg Cake
• Cannibal Stew, and so much more

Feed Your Body, Feed Your Soul 

The M20 Mage Cookbook is a non-canon but tasty culinary perspective on the world of Mage: The Ascension

 

 

 

 

The world of Pugmire comes alive in this full cast audio drama experience “Thank You, Darcy Cat” available now on DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226921/Pugmire-Thank-You-Darcy-Cat

The police dogs have called Alistair Afghan to discuss the crimes of his valet, Darcy Cat. But this misunderstanding leads to the discovery of a deadly secret deep in the heart of Pugmire society. Will Alistair and Darcy be able to save Pugmire from this threat?

Created by Audioblivious Productions in conjunction with Pugsteady. Check out Audioblivious at https://www.audioblivious.com/!

 

 

We unveil Vampire: The Requiem 2e‘s Half-Damned as an Advance PDF on DTRPG.com!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/227500/Half-Damned

I love her, she’s family, but I don’t love what she is.

– Antonio Ramírez, dhampir

This book includes: 

• An exploration of what it means to be one of the Half-Damned, dhampir, revenants or ghouls.

• Mechanics for creating Half-Damned characters.

• Information for creating and running chronicles using the various Half-Damned character types, both with vampires and alone.

• Information on Half-Damned antagonists for vampire chronicles.

 

 

 

Legacy of Lies, the V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart, goes undead in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG:

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/222956/Legacy-of-Lies-A-V20-Dark-Ages-Jumpstart

TWO PRINCES. BITTER RIVALS. AND A COTERIE CAUGHT BETWEEN THEM. 

Marcus Verus, the vampiric Prince of Chester, secretly prepares to go into torpor. Should his plans be made public, the Prince knows the wolves — both real and imagined — would launch an attack, threatening all within his domain.

That’s where you come in.

Legacy of Lies includes:

• Basic rules for players and Storytellers
• Introduction to the Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages setting
• Introductory adventure
• Characters for players and Storytellers

 

 

 

Appearing on DriveThruRPG is the Advance PDF for Arms of the Chosen for Exalted 3rd Edition! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226224/Arms-of-the-Chosen

Take up the panoply of legendary heroes and lost ages, and awaken the world-shaking might of their Evocations. Before the dawn of time, the Exalted wielded god-metal blades to cast down the makers of the universe. In an ancient epoch of forgotten glories, Creation’s greatest artificers forged unimaginable wonders and miracle-machines.

Now, in the Age of Sorrows, kingdoms go to war over potent artifacts, scavenger princes risk everything to uncover relics of the past, and the Exalted forge great arms and armor on the anvil of legend. These treasures are yours to master.

Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations. Wield weapons of fabled might and don the armor of mythic heroes, making their puissance your own. Claim Creation’s wonders: the miraculous tools of the Chosen, living automatons, flying machines, hearthstones, and more. And unleash the mighty warstriders, titanic god-engines of conquest and devastation, to once more shake Creation with their footfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

What dark secrets do the eldest vampires hold? Find out in Thousand Years of Night for Vampire: The Requiem! PDF and physical book PoD versions available on DriveThruRPG.com. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214130/Thousand-Years-of-Night

You may think that with a multitude of people coming, going, dying and running away, we’d be tired, done, or ready to give up.
Instead, I find myself restless, looking for the next thing. 
There’s always a next thing, and I for one am not yet ready to die.

– Elder Kincaid, Daeva Crone

This book includes:

• Detailed instructions on creating elder vampires, including how to base chronicles around them

• A look into the lives of elders, how they spend their nights, who they work with, and why including their roles in both their clans and covenants

• New Devotions, Merits, and Rituals for elder vampires

• The kinds of creatures that pose a threat to elder vampires, including Inamorata, Lamia, Sons of Phobos, a new elder conspiracy, and more!

 

 

 

Is a life of running and hiding a life worth living? We say yes. There’s always something between the running and the hiding, and those moments of grace make it all worthwhile.

The Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology is a perfect companion piece to Changeling: The Lost, 2nd Edition. These stories spin tales of the Lost, of those abducted and enslaved by fairies. Those who escaped, but whose captors will stop at nothing to find them. These fairies summon forth the Huntsmen, primordial hunters who understand nothing but pursuit and capture. The Huntsmen are unstoppable monsters, and the Lost can only look to each other for respite, rare comfort, and rarer trust.

The Hedge has parted and you can get the Advance PDF of The Huntsmen Chronicle Fiction Anthology for Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition at DTRPG.com! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/210042/The-Huntsmen-Chronicle-Anthology

 

 

 

 

 

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The Award-Winning Fantasy Setting Returns

Scarred Lands has been a favorite fantasy setting since the release of the Creature Collection for the d20 System in 2000. In subsequent years, over 40 titles were published for Scarred Lands, making it one of the most fully supported fantasy RPG settings ever and the premiere product line of Sword & Sorcery Studios.

Available in both 5th Edition and Pathfinder compatible versions! PDF and PoD formats available NOW!

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193014/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-Pathfinder

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

 

 

 

CONVENTIONS!

Midwinter Game Convention in Milwaukee, January 11-14 is next week! It’s where we’re going to be bringing a big crew of many of your favorite Onyx Path designers and we’ll be running demos and making some special announcements at the show!  http://midwintergamingconvention.com

 

 

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And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (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)

• M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
• Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)
• CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
• Guide to the Night (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)
• M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

 

Redlines

• They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

 

Second Draft

• WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
• Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
• Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)
• Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

 

Development

• Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)
• SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
• Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)
• Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition) – with Rich for review
• Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
• Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
• GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)
• Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

 

WW Manuscript Approval:

• Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

 

Editing:

• Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
• Scion: Origin (Scion 2nd Edition)
  

 

Post-Editing Development:

• Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)
• Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)
• The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

 

Indexing:

 

 

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

• Cavaliers of Mars – New art getting assigned.
  
• Ex3 Monthly Stuff
  
• Scion Origins
  
• Ring of Spiragos – Got Rich’s cover in.
• Changeling: the Lost 2
• Trinity Continuum – Waiting for finals.
• Ex3 Dragon Blooded – Waiting for finals…
  
• Pugmire – Pan’s Explorer’s Guide (or whatever) – Splats finished, more coming in.
• Boggans – Art notes out this week.

 

Marketing Stuff

 

In Layout

• Pugmire/Scarred Lands Community Content – working on the logo.
  
• Book of Freeholds – With Mark
• DtD Enemy Action – With Josh
• Pugmire Fetch Quest – Playtesting samples ready for MidWinter.
• Pugmire – Vinsen’s Tomb – Notes are out. Need to input the changes on the first proof.
• Wraith 20 Screen 

 

Proofing

• Wraith 20 – Making fixes from WW.
• Beast PG

 

At Press

• Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.
• Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – To fulfillment shipper. PDF and PoD physical book versions on sale at DTRPG.
  
• Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works. OK’d Deluxe cover and the Screen proofs last week.
• Prince’s Gambit – Sending files to printer.
• CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology  – PoD Files ordered.
• V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary– PDF and PoD versions on sale NEXT Wednesday, the 10th.
• C20 Ready Made Characters – Errata fixing.
• Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen – Errata fixing.
• Pugmire Artisan Cards – PoD proofs ordered.
  
• Pugmire Shepherd Cards – PoD proofs ordered.
• Pentex Indoctrination Manual – PoD proofs ordered.
• VtR Half Damned – Finishing up errata fixes.

 

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TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: It’s a NEW YEAR! Let’s do some damage.