Sorry for posting this so late tonight, it was a long but uneventful trip home from the Mid Winter Convention in Milwaukee, but I did so much and talked to so many people that catching up on meetings and talks today has been a bit like pushing a great stone uphill. Nevertheless, here we are. So since our meetings today were mostly about things we learned at the con (Eddy and Monica Valentinelli and Matt McElroy and myself), I’m going to start there.
This was my first year attending, but I’ve been hearing great things about Mid Winter for several years. What I heard was not wrong. Anne and Bill Holmes run an amazing crew and really made me feel welcome. There’s a dealers’ room, at least one big space for board/card games, and several tabletop rooms (I heard there was a lot of Pathfinder going on but didn’t see that). Since it started with Live Action RPing, there continues to be a wide variety of events as the core of the con. The real strength here, though, were the people involved. While I’m sure there was plenty of drama like any conglomeration of gamers, none of that was anywhere near as overt as I’ve seen over the years. Maybe there’s more of a relaxed feeling because the inner workings run so well, or maybe folks just appreciate anybody else who dares a MidWest winter to attend (our weather was cold but clear, btw). Whyever, I don’t know, but thanks to all of you who took the time to chat, to playtest, and to give me Riot Juice, my two Brazilian friends, the OWBN collective late Saturday night, the entire BNS crew who made it there, and all of Eddy and Michelle’s friends who were so welcoming.
We ran and sat in on multiple panels all day Friday, and while we enjoyed each and every one of them for various reasons, like seeing and hanging out with Ken Meyer, Jr and Shane Defreest again, panel attendance was much sparser than, say, Gen Con. Matt and I already gave some suggestions to Anne, and have a few ideas of our own, to maybe compel larger panel attendance, so we will see for next time. Here are some shots from the Pugmire panel before the playtest when I suggested the dice in Pugmire be named “dog-bones”. Here, Eddy seems…dubious:
But he realizes the brilliance of it after a second:
Both Friday and Saturday evenings Eddy ran Pugmire playtests. I sat in on the first one and had a blast. In fact, the sketch (just a concept sketch, kids, no details are at all decided based on it) above was based off one of the characters, Sgt. Leo Bulldog, and was inspired by how the players picked up on and used the first tenet of the Code of Man: “Be a good dog”. I’m thinking of a series of ads each featuring a different character that quotes the line in a different way. Obviously, Bulldog’s use is more of an aggressive one. One thing both Eddy and I were gratified about was that each of the player’s realized that despite the light adventure feel and humor built into the concept, there’s a real pathos to this race of uplifted animals wondering where their creators have gone. Eddy should have a much more detailed look at this in a blog later this week, but meanwhile, here is a link to some photos of the playtest in action: http://honestliardigital.smugmug.com/Midwinter-2015/Pugmire/
Saturday was pretty much meetings for me, including one where very serious fiction plans were seriously laid out. More on that in a different blog. Sunday came and I was pretty much a zombie, but after a delightful VIP brunch and meeting with Anne and Matt, Bill Holmes graciously drove Ken Meyer, Jr and I to the airport and I stumbled right into a huge crowd of football fans. I swear they were delaying their flights in order to find out the Packers’ fate (spoiler: not good). After a long drive home it was 12:30 Monday morning and I needed to collapse in my own bed. And did.
Meanwhile, back in Onyx Path land, plans continue on the nWoD Dark Eras Kickstarter project. Mirthful Mike sent Impish Ian this teaser for the KS as a kind of sketch for the KS video, and we thought you all might like to see it:
This week includes the Dark Eras KS work, and lots of schedule scheduling. And this stuff:
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
- Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent) Extension to writers was given.
- Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- “Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum) 3/4s of the first drafts are in.
- M20 Anthology (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
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)
- Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
Second Draft
- Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)
- V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
Development
- V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created) Being playtested.
- M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Editing
- Sothis Ascends (Mummy: the Curse)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras- Vampire chapter (WoD Dark Eras)
Development (post-editing)
- World of Darkness Dark Eras core book (WoD Dark Eras)
- V20 Lore of the Clans (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Exalted 3rd Fiction Anthology (Exalted 3rd Edition)
ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE
- Sothis Ascends – Art getting done. Definitely have to farm this layout out as I’ll still be hip deep in Dark Ages, Mage, and Dark Eras.
- Book of the Wyrm 20 – Deluxe files uploaded to printer.
- DAV20 – Having to do some tweaks in the Clans and Bloodlines section, adding ghosted symbology, and adding in missing artwork. Might take me a couple of days to get DA ready for Second proof, but should go back to David by midweek..
- T-Shirts – DA Clan Heraldry ones are ready to roll out. I’ll work on more once M20 is in the proofing phase.
- Art O’ The Changin’ Breeds – Mage showed up. Once I get it into proofing (and DA into second proof) I’m going to try and wrap this up.
- Fallen World Chronicle Anthology – Off for CCP approval.
- Firestorm Chronicle Anthology for Promethean 2– Finals uploaded and PoD ready for proofing.
- WtF 2 – Sto working on it.
- Scarred Lands – Cover for [REDACTED] finished.
- Wraith 20 – KS is done.
- M20 – Didn’t get much of a chance to work on Mage due to BotW 20 LtD prep, VDA proofing, video production, KS graphics and wrapping up a bunch of little projects that started before I got M20. I did manage to get a couple of hours in Friday afternoon though… which I used to do some general clean up in the chapters I’ve already done, swap out some of the older art with more appropriate older art, etc…
- Dark Eras – Cover Mockup for KS
- V20 Lore of the Clans – Filling in the gap in the artist roster.
- EX3- RichT here, once again tagging onto Mirthful Mike’s report: we asked the artists for a couple of redos, so new old new art is coming in. I was at MidWinter so have not touched base with Maria on how the layout is going.
REASON TO DRINK: Water only, must re-hydrate.
Were there any new announcements made during the panels at the convention regarding future products etc?
No announcements were made.
We did ask folks about Fiction- what they liked in the past and would like to see us do now. And we teased, just a bit, a major 2016 release.
Really need an audio or a video now…
Really eagerly anticipating Werewolf the Forsaken second edition. And Pugmire is starting to grow on me so I hope Eddy keeps up with the blog for that.
I think I’m going to ease back on Pugmire talk for a bit myself and let Eddy do most of the communication on the blog. It was fun to highlight since we ran the first playtest at MidWinter, but now I have a lot more to talk about coming up. It really is shaping up well, though, so you will hear more later.
I can appreciate that, or at least if you’re going to talk it up talk up Cavaliers of Mars too. I think while both developers have posted about it on their own, it’s nice to get the word out in things like the Monday meeting notes and such.
I can’t wait for Ex3, hopefully the layout process goes by quickly and without bumps!
What happens when layout is finished?
We start throwing celebrations in the streets and miracles rain down from the sky. Logistically the pdfs get put together and the finals should go to the POD print.
Pretty much the sequence is: Backer PDF delivered, an Index and Backer correx are made, the final PDF is finished, we use those finished files to create the PoD and Deluxe printer files, the PoD is OK’d, the PDF and PoD versions go on sale on DTRPG, the two Deluxes are finished and shipped with screens and maps and things.
Hi guys,
I don’t know if this is the right place for that kind of suggestions, but last weekend we were talking with friends about the books we would like to see for our favorite classic world of darkness. Some of these ideas appears to me very interesting, so i put it here. Maybe this could be interesting for the onyx path team to have that kind fo player’s hopes?
First of all, we talked about an Antiquity sourcebook for Vampire, like DA or Victorian ages. It would be awesome to have some material for Rome, Carthage, Athènes, Sparte, the celtic kingdom… Questions gone about format: stand-alone as DA or just a sourcebook. Anyway, should be a good KS in my opinion. 🙂
Another idea that i found so cool was one of my friend talking about a Wraith: conquest of paradise. A sourcebook for wraith based on the conquest of south America by the conquistadors and the slow ending of mayan and inca civilizations.
Last but not least, we’d loved to see a big umbral campaign, including werewolves and Mages.
Ok, sorry for the post if it is totally out of purpose, but i found these ideas interesting, so…
I hope folks feel like this place is always a great place to discuss their ideas. Lots of fun ideas there, and I’m glad your gang were thinking of new settings/historical settings that they’d like to see. Can’t promise any of them, but thanks for sharing them!
Any videos of the panels?
The Midwinter staff did video recording of all the panels (although one got cancelled due to no attendance). Once we hear about them, I’m sure Ian will post them.
Large videos would be so much easier to manage if I could “upload” them directly from Dropbox and not my computer.
If there are any Dark Ages Vampire 20 Deluxe Hardcovers I’d like to buy one. I missed the KS for DAV20. From what I’ve heard, it sounds amazing.
Has a decision been made as to whether the V20: Black Hand book will have a Deluxe Edition?
So the “Dark Eras” book is a NEW World of Darkness book?
Thanks
Sorry, we can’t accept pledges after the KSs are over.
We’ll need to see how Lore of the Clans does on KS before deciding on further ones.
NWoD Dark Eras, is for new WoD and not classic, yes. Being said, a lot of the historical eras in the book never had a cWoD version and wouldn’t be that hard to port over, setting material-wise.
Well, it was worth a try.
I’m going to have to light up Twitter with #LoreOfTheClans hashtags then. I am really looking forward to that Kickstarter.
Your best chance is to look for one on ebay or Amazon.
I’m already planning that. Thanks. 🙂
• Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
• “Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum) 3/4s of the first drafts are in.
I’m going to start a dev blog for at least one of these things in the very near future.
Beckett’s Jyhad Diary!
Probably my most eagerly anticipated book from OP. And there are a LOT of OP books that I want. : )
Thanks! Once you get it, or the others that sound good, let us know and/or write a DTRPG review- we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Beckett’s Jyhad Diary!
Very excited for this book!
And I’m interested in seeing videos for the OP panels as well. Not surprised attendance was lower than, say, GenCon. Has OP had a presence at DragonCon, yet? I’d go to that one as it’s the closest to me.
We added a trip to MidWinter this year, and may go to Las Vegas By Night, but the only sure attendance for Onyx this year is Gen Con. But you never know, as long as I’m revisiting conventions of years past, maybe DCon could be added.
Sardonyx System please!!! 😀
I agree!
Hoping for Sardonyx, if for no other reason than getting some ideas for what I’ll be playing with for my section of Æon.
Sorry to have had you in limbo for so long, Chris. If it’s any consolation, you are not the only creator holding on until the System is ready.
Oh, I’m aware and I can be patient. It’s just a very different sort of emotional investment to have in these kinds of updates and it’s a new feeling to me.
Feel the love, man. Sardonyx is another name for love. 🙂
In fact, the actual name of the system is the Love System*.
*Do not trust anything Ian says.
Sardonyx System, please.
I liked that Kickstarter teaser a lot!
When can I throw my money at Dark Eras and go bankrupt?
We plan this month for the Dark Eras Kickstarter.
Is there any word on if or when a World of Darkness 2nd Edition Core rulebook will be released?
I’ll second that. The rules update as is feels a bit rough. The more I refer back to it after converting my Hunter game over, the more I stumble upon quirks here and there like what if anything happens at Integrity 0.
Yes. We announced that we were doing one, and Rose has started but no writing has been done yet. Once that starts, it’ll be added to the weekly Update list. Hope that helps!
Skull + Clock Face = Favorite Logo Ever
It’s like you took two of my favorite things and made them *one thing*.
Mirthful Mike will be glad to hear that! Thanks!
Pardon my ignorance but if I understood correctly dark eras will cover more than one era? If so what eras are? and what information will deliver?
It’s an era per game line, with possible new stuff (like an Innocents one) from Kickstarter stretch goals.
VtR: Elizabethan England
WtF: 1970’s New York
MtA: Hellenistic Greece/Persia/India
PtC: 1930’s Dustbowl
CtL: 1600’s France
HtV: Salem Witch Trials
GtSE: 1950’s New Zealand
MtC: Turn of the century British/Ottoman Empires
DtD: Cold War
> VtR: Elizabethan England
This one I knew and was expecting since I heard about it. My cup of tea.
> PtC: 1930’s Dustbowl
Goddamn. It almost seems they were made for each other.
> GtSE: 1950’s New Zealand
Intrigued. Will need to read on this one.
> DtD: Cold War
Heheheheh. 😀
After taking a look at the “Bulldog” thing from Pugmire, I’m starting to get the feeling that Pugmire will be Bunnies and Burrows, but with dogs for some reason.
Eddy has a blog on this site about it if you want to read more about Pugmire. Might it be like B&B? I dunno, how do you describe B&B?
It is closer to Planet of the Apes than Bunnies & Burrows.
So…
V20DA likely to be out before the end of the month?
M20 before the end of February? 🙂
(I’m not asking for a date, just a ball park sorta idea)
Just that it would be an awesome way to start the year to have releases of things I’m chewing the bit for to come a month after one another.
(Not to mention Sothis in March, Promethean 2nd Ed in April, oh this year could be a good year)
As much as I love your enthusiasm, I’m going to stick with our policy: not gonna make any estimates on release times. Keep an eye on the Updates every week and you’ll see it happen as it happens!
what does it mean that Exalted 3ed is no longer in the list?
is it that you finish art and layout and it is out!!??
It’s still in the art/layout Updates section because the developers and editors have handed the full manuscript to the art director (Maria Cabardo). Sorry.
so there are still things to do after art & layout then 🙁
Yes, there are. But also, it is still in layout and art is still coming in.