You folks out there might notice that I start a lot of these Monday Lunch Meeting Notes by mentioning that Eddy and I talked about this show, or this book, or this game or movie, etc. That’s because we like to compare notes as to what we enjoyed in the previous week- you have to remember that when I was down in ATL working on the WoDMMO (doing very well, I hear, thanks) he and I hung out every day and even after when we were Transmedia we talked several times a day. So now we usually get this once a week opportunity to go over what’s new.
Now I could skip that part, I certainly edit other info that isn’t pertinent, but actually I think that it is of interest to understand that not only to we enjoy these things, but we look at them critically in the old use of the word- we break down what we’re enjoying into pieces that help inform us as to how drama, or comedy, or editing, or even the politics of what happened with a particular piece of media behind the scenes, can be understood and used in our own projects. For example, for years I’ve had the idea that the organizational process of creating our RPG books could be likened to the creation of a weekly comedy skit show. Lots of different creators with lots of different ideas that have to be combined correctly and with formats, a budget, and a deadline, but still the end result has to be really, really creative. Towards that, I took the time over the years to read “insider” info on SNL, SCTV, Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, etc. (I won’t go into the results of all that here- maybe another blog post on the Onyx Path site, or buy me a drink at a con and I’ll tell you more than you ever wanted to know about it.)
Today, Eddy and I started with how our daily routines are starting earlier and earlier despite us being night-owls for years and years. Job and family requirements and a willingness to bow to the needs of both and Get Things Done tends to alter your internal clock, I’ve found. In Eddy’s case, he finds he’s more creative before breakfast and the inevitable meetings start, for me, I wake up excited to get going- ever since I started Onyx Path I can’t get back to sleep in the morning as there are just too many cool things to work on. That led to talking about Full Metal Alchemist, which I suggested to him at Atlanta by Night, and how beautifully bleak and twisted it is, and then to Sports Night as another example of a series far more compelling than it might sound to those of us not into ESPN.
Eddy just finished this Aaron Sorkin beauty, and I’ve been a fan since its original run on broadcast TV (remember that, fellow streamers?). Eddy found that he was trying to figure out the protagonist of this ensemble cast- he thinks it’s Dan as he holds the conscience of the show, whereas I think it might be split between Dan and Jeremy as Jeremy seems to be speaking about Sorkin-y things more often. This led to talking about my concern that characters are often overwritten to the point where they lose important base concepts of the show itself. Case in point, the buddy relationship of Dan and Casey is not something that should have been touched as it defines why the fictional show could work. We believe that the same easy familiarity, fire from the hip, keep it light, but go intense on the things you love attitude that we see between them also makes the fictional show fun to watch- which gives meaning to the struggle for ratings and all that stuff. But writers, needing to write as it’s their job, can undercut a show’s basic building blocks in the search for more drama. Especially after the first season. We’ve all seen it happen, and we’ve seen the same thing happen with our RPGs. Just because it’s a cool idea doesn’t mean that it’s the right idea for a book or even an entire line- and the longer the run of books, the more likely one of these ideas slips in and undermines a line and players start to take off. See- told you there’s a gaming reason we talk about this stuff. 🙂
I’m reaching out to our Devs right now to ask them for pitches for 2014 WW books. What projects do they want to do for their lines, what projects might they want to do for other lines or new lines? What should our nWoD gameline be in 2014? Responses are coming in, we’ll take a look and compile what looks like a fun schedule we can make happen, and then it’ll go in front of the CCP Review Board. We need to do this now in order to have some rounds of iterations and still have something we can start using for hiring writers in time for the Jan 2014 books. And as for our current schedule:
– Silent Knife (VtR) This was the second awesome book to come out of the WW Fiction contest and it is now finally available on DTRPG and DTFiction. If you love WW fiction and would like to see more, check this out and take a few minutes to write a short review- it really helps get the word out!
– Conventionbook: NWO (cMtA) Check it out on DTRPG and write a review- let other folks know what you think about the first new official Mage the Ascension book in years!
– God Machine Chronicle (nWoD) and Strix Chronicle Fiction Anthology (VtR) Strix is still being written. As some folks might have read on Twitter, God Machine is in editing and tight, tight development.
– Mummy the Curse we hope to get this in front of 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 KS is with KS for OKing.
– 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 almost out of Editing and headed into layout as the art comes in for review. Anarchs Unbound‘s outline is out to writers and on the V20 blog: http://whitewolfblogs.com/v20/.
– Deluxe V20 Children of the Revolution is very, very close to shipping. 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 Surveys are out. Mike Lee is writing his novel. Waiting to see second proof of layout.
–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: December?! Really?! Office parties are coming or are here already and you need the practice to survive them.
Where would new writers apply?
Because the submissions addy at Onyx Path is down, please email me directly at richt@theonyxpath.com and I’ll send you a Submissions Form to fill out for you to include with any submissions. Thanks!
@2014 WW Books: I mentioned it once (v20 blog) and I’ll mention it again (cause I’m needy like that :-). I will shoot a man in Reno to get a V20 Sabbat Inquisition Book. They always needed the same amount of love that the Black Hand got in revised. But now is your chance to do that!
Won’t you please love them? If not, think of the children!
I would assist you with the murder. Put me down for a copy, too.
So close now to Mummy, awesome!
Very excited about the Changing Breeds book.
Things are looking great, can’t wait to see what comes out for 2014. Will you give us a sneak peek at some of the pitches? Or at least something to let us see what will be going on in the future?
I’m sad I missed the W20 KS, my budget was waaay tighter than I thought. But, I’ll be happy to get a normal book. It just won’t look as pretty next to my leather-bound V20.
I bet we will get a sneak peek, some time around August. 🙂
Not too sneaky, that Gen-Con peek, but it’s a tradition now. Maybe more before that, certainly.
Hunter the Vigil in 2014? Book for Geist/Mummy/Demon? Maybe a supplement covering teaming up with Monsters or inter-conspiracy conflicts? A book detailing a city, complete with monsters, cells, and story hooks?
Tal’Mahe’Ra V20 book, I’ll sacrifice 20 newborn babies to the Antediluvians if this is what it will take, especially if it involves more info about the Cappadocians that joined.
2014 Will be Wraith: the Oblivion’s 20th Anniversary I doubt we’ll see the same intensity put into that line as we have for V20, M20, or M20 (Not saying that Wraith20 can’t/won’t have something to honor it, but ). So, maybe is there a chance we’ll see some new CWoD products put out that are new for the Revised, or X20 systems that aren’t directly tied to the KickStarters and such? I’ve no idea what that might be… but there’s time to figure that sorta thing out. 😉
I hope we get to see a little more sneak peeks of the W20 book *coughSpencercough*. 😉
Maybe a few bits of the Changing Breeds book too? 🙂 What artists do you have lined up for it? 🙂
We’ve no idea yet whether Wraith 20th will actually happen, as it’s a lot more dubious than the Big Three. Remember, even Mage was something they had to weigh over. I really hope it does, but we’re going to need to wait a year to find out.
That’s right, we’re going to need to look at how Mage20 does before OKing Wraith20. A do hear that there’s a dead guy that might be interested in it though. Also, to Torakhan’s deluge of questions- Maybe. You might. Odds are good. Jeff Rebner.
Thank you for answering my deluge. Muah-hah-hah! I eagerly look forward to whatever I, er, WE can get for W20, Changing Breeds and new artwork! 😀
Yep. That’s why even though I’m not a fan of Wraith, I hope that the fans get something, even if it’s not a full-on W:tO20 uber-book. However, I’m a realist and we’ll just have to see how 2013 goes. 🙂 Still, even if it’s a 120-page update book with a KickStarter Deluxe Edition version, I think it’d make some fans happy… if nothing else than to complete “the set” as it comes out. 😉 But, we’ll just have to see how it all goes. 🙂
Dear Mummy:
I want to unwrap you for Sol Invictus day (aka Christmas).
Yours,
Joe Mummy
We’re so close….
Personally, I really hope we do get a full-fledged Wr20. I think the setting was incredibly rich and deep, and filled to bursting with profound role playing possibilities. Yet, I never really got around to read further than the core book. It was quite harder to find Wraight books around here and there were no LARPs of it where I lived. Still, I always fondly remembered what I did read. My point being: if there is a Wr20, like V20 and W20 that recaps pretty much everything I missed and then covers new ground, I’m going to buy it, over pledge it, and devour it like soulforged bacon-cupcakes.
By then, my current Werewolf LARP Chronicle will possibly be nearly over, and Wraight would definately be next on my list.
Oups, something went wrong. That was supposed to be in reply to Torakhan.
See… I told you guys thus would be perfect marketing lingo time for Mummy the Cursed. 😉
EVE RPG in 2014! Come on now, that’d be the greatest thing ever. Everyone knows that. Please, gods of CCP approval process, make it happen.
None of the conditions that halted the original stab at an EVE RPG has changed, so that project is still very unlikely. Sorry.
I figured that’s probably the case. But I keep hoping it’ll change anyway.
In any case, Onyx Path really needs to make some sort of a transhumanist sci-fi RPG, EVE or no EVE. Eclipse Phase is awesome and I love it, well written, great atmosphere, all that. But it lacks that particular WW/OP feel that makes every game book a delight to read.
Trinity has some of what you’re looking for.
Sadly, I missed Trinity back when it was current and I’m really looking forward to AEon Continuum. From what I gather, it’s an awesome, awesome game.
But in this context, I’d like to also have an Onyx Path game that was more along the lines of Alien meets Event Horizon. God Machine 3013: Now In Space. Or something. You know, Cyborgs questioning their personhood, trans-human contemplations, unknown things from the void of space challenging the sanity of everyone involved, that sort of thing. I realize this might conflict with Trinity and potentially mean you guys are making two competing products. But I’d really, really, really like to see something like that.
And now I’ll stop posting about it because I don’t mean to bother you all to hell and back with how I want the world to be. Please excuse my overly zealous approach to wishful thinking 🙂
2014:
Requiem for the Dark Ages
Yeah baby!
The [Mummy] KS is with KS for OKing.
And a great express train has just been lifted from my testicles.
Crazy that we are already thinking of 2014.
Lots of good stuff to look forward too.
We have to- figure a year to go from conceptualizing a book right through to layout and approvals. Can be done faster or slower, but Jan 2014 is only a year and less than a month away.
Not to mention, what are you going to entice and tease people with at Gen Con in 9 months for the 2014 season? 😉
Wait so book concepts eh? Does this hold with x20 editions? If so….is there atleast a tiny bit of consideration for a Wraith20? /eager
I asked the question above and Rich gave a little bit of an answer. You should check it out. 🙂
Want a new idea for 2014? Look on rpg.net and find the guies that wrote Legends of the WuLin. A Wuxia game with good mechanics and great atmosphere, but the company that put the book out is either having hard times, or it is run by one man and not up to the challenge. Hire them to do a WW wuxia game, the could refine WuLin easy enough to be a new game (it is a derivative of Weapons of the Gods, one of the prettiest rpg games ever made) and the rules are tight and great for their genre. The writers just need a company that can meet them half way and I bet it could be White Wolf magic.
Just a thought…
When you say that “Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has been confirmed for September-ish 2013” do you mean that the intention is to release the volume at that time or that you intent to have the Kickstarter for it at that time?
Intend to release. Kickstarter dates are still very fluid as we look at what we can do with that wild frontier.
I hate to sound like I’m trying to get attention, (I’m really just trying to help out) but in the vein of looking for fun ideas for books, a bunch of us started a thread on the White Wolf forum with a huge list of cWoD book ideas. Many of them I honestly think are excellent; Others are pretty out there, but then again we’re getting a cookbook, so, we didn’t limit ourselves 🙂 .
http://forums.white-wolf.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=69120
For the record, we’re not trying to tell anyone what to do. We’re just shooting ideas for stretch goals and expressing what we would like to see as players and storytellers.
I’m deliberately not commenting on any ideas you folks are putting up- not saying whether we’re considering them or not. So don’t feel bad if I don’t reply- none of them are bad ideas. 🙂
No worries. I understand perfectly. 🙂
And thanks for saying so, it’s very nice to know they’ve been seen. That’s enough for me.
I just saw the schedule on the website and notice the new probability/completion percentages (Mummy: the Curse in Dec 12 at 62% probability or level of completion) and I’m very impressed. That’s a level of honesty that I personally haven’t seen before in a company to its customer base. Thank you for setting a good precedence for transparency.
Those percentages are based on eight steps (outline, writing, editing, art direction, layout, CCP approvals, print proof, and completion). Since, for example, writing can take months, while CCP approvals and print proofs can take a week or less each, it’s intended as a rough guideline only. Each step is based on what I get out of the Monday Meeting notes. So we’re not really showing anything new, we’re just presenting it in a format which is easy to read at a glance.
That is amazingly cool. I definitely like the new presentation!
It’s at 75% now! Progress! 🙂