Time for BackerKit Surveys
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 28, 2022 at 11:22:44 PM

Hello Mages,

Starting next month I will send out the first of our regular month end updates. Near the end of each month, I will be sending out an update with status notes on our main project as well as the Stretch Goal projects we added. As noted in previous updates, these projects take a long time to put together. You've seen the manuscript preview PDF, but there are still many moving pieces and puzzles to solve in turning this into an awesome book. These month-end updates ensure that communication is constant and consistent, and that we're all on the same page with regards to where we stand.

That's info for the end of April, though. Let's talk about this now instead, because...

I will be sending out the BackerKit Pledge Manager surveys over the next 4 days!

But, before we begin all of that - I hope everyone's keeping safe and managing through our current times as best possible. I don't know how things will look as the world continues to change, but hoping the best for all of you.

BACKER SURVEYS

Over the next few days, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey (although that may help keep things organized if you've got multiple projects going.) When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey invitation link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!

The e-mail will look something like this:

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts, and that won't happen until the books are printed and we're preparing to ship.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://lore-of-the-traditions.backerkit.com/

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://lore-of-the-traditions.backerkit.com/faq

If you have any other questions or concerns, you can post them to the comments for this update, the comment section, or message me via one of these methods:

TO CONTACT JAMES

• Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
• Via Kickstarter: Click Onyx Path under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!
• Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.

If there are any issues you find with the Pledge Manager, please contact me as soon as possible to let me know. It rolls out in waves so that I can correct issues on the fly and make it work as best possible as people come on board.

Please send me an e-mail (to the address above) if there were any tweaks or changes that need to be made to your BackerKit survey that we talked about during the campaign. I have aged about thirty years during the past few months and my memory is... not as good as I'd like.

Within the BackerKit Survey and Pledge Manager, you can:

• Review your Pledge Tier Selection and Rewards
• Upgrade your Reward Tier pledge selection
• Confirm Add On selections
• Set up payment information for any failed payments from the Kickstarter campaign or to pay for any new Add On options selected.

When you click on your BackerKit invitation link, you should see something like this...

From the BackerKit welcome page you can choose to

• 1 - Review Your Pledge Level and Rewards
• 2 - Switch Your Pledge Level
• 3 - Start Your Survey, confirming pledge rewards, confirming or selecting new Add On options, and confirming any shipping and payment info that may be needed

If you've pledged to a reward tier that includes physical rewards, you can enter your shipping country at this stage to line up those terrible shipping costs.

If you select option 1, your Pledge Level, you will see a list of all items included in your Pledge Rewards, and also have the option to upgrade your Pledge Level, in case you've decided to get the hardcover instead of just the PDF for example.

Once you've confirmed that your Pledge Level is correct and where you want it to be, you can GET STARTED with your BackerKit Pledge Manager Survey.

Once we've got a fair response to our survey and collected a reasonable amount of info, I'll be working on fulfilling rewards that are available now - like the PDFs of the titles included in our Add On section (for example, M20 Rich Bastard's Guide to Magick, M20 Technocracy Reloaded, the WoD 20A Core Rules PDFs, and the rest...).

So, in summary:

• Look for an e-mail invitation to BackerKit sometime over the next few days
• Get Started on your survey
• Confirm your Pledge Level (or SWITCH your Pledge Level if you want to change it)
• Confirm and Select Any Add On options
• Confirm Your Shipping Information (if needed)
• Confirm Your Payment Information (if needed)

I will post an update in another week or so as I begin outlining the delivery of our first Add On rewards (the existing PDF titles, as noted above) and beginning distribution of those PDF rewards.

NOW ON KICKSTARTER

The They Came From... tabletop roleplaying games take your favorite movies, television shows, and pop culture touchstones and turn them into action-packed and wise-cracking opportunities to tell your own versions of these cinematic stories. Previous releases have explored B-movie atomic horror from the 1950s (They Came from Beneath the Sea!) and twisted tales of horror from the 1960s and '70s (They Came from Beyond the Grave!). With this campaign, Onyx Path is ready to introduce TWO new entries enabling you to take on quest-filled fantasy adventure stories with They Came from the Cyclops's Cave! and thrilling tales of world-saving espionage with They Came from [CLASSIFIED]!

Now you can help Onyx Path bring these games to life by supporting either - or both! - with this Double Feature crowdfunding campaign!

We've Ascended!
about 2 years ago – Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 10:49:22 AM

Hello Magi!

What an amazing campaign this has been. It came out of the gate like a lightning bolt and stayed shart right through the entire 30 day campaign. The past 48 hours have been remarkable. Here's the quick summary of the past month...

WE DID IT!

Forming a council of disparate opinions and different philosophies, we nevertheless came together with one major goal in mind - to fund the development and production of Lore of the Traditions for Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition. I know it's a thing I do, drawing parallels between the game themes and our efforts, but this one sort of writes itself. 

And not just that. We've had an amazing run for the past 30 days, and added several bonus rewards along the way. We worked together to add two new M20 supplements for the creative team to work on - and then expanded them a few times each so that they could really dig into their subjects. We've also added a bunch of celebrations and marked some milestones of our progress!

MILESTONE MARKERS + CAMPAIGN CELEBRATIONS

Redbubble Backer T-Shirt Opportunity – A Lore of the Traditions-themed Kickstarter Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. Only backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.

Digital Wallpaper– Dress up your computer monitor with some magick-packed artwork from the Lore of the Traditions. This reward will be added to the rewards list for all backers.

Mobile Wallpaper – Take your magick on the go with this mobile-sized version of the Lore of the Traditions wallpaper. This reward will be added to the rewards list for all backers.

Digital M20 Posters – A trio of M20 digital posters, including the Akashic Brotherhood, the Celestial Chorus, and the Cult of Ecstasy will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

Digital M20 Posters – A trio of M20 digital posters, including the Dreamspeakers, the Euthanatos, and the Order for Hermes will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

Digital M20 Posters – A trio of M20 digital posters, including the Sons of Ether, the Verbena, and the Virtual Adepts will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

ONLINE PLAY TOOLS

Lore of the Traditions VTT Token Pack – Digital assets will be created to support online play for M20 games using the Lore of the Traditions artwork. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

Lore of the Traditions Streaming Overlay Set – A set of overlays for your online M20 game will be created, for your use when running your Lore of the Traditions online game. This reward will be added to the rewards list for all backers.

Faces of Magick VTT Token Pack – Digital assets will be created to support online play for M20 games using the Faces of Magick artwork and characters. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.

ADDITIONAL + EXPANDED CONTENT

Faces of Magick– A tome of legendary and notorious mages for incorporation into your chronicle as allies, antagonists, or rivals will be created and released as a small M20 PDF Supplement. All Kickstarter backers receiving the M20: Lore of the Traditions PDF will automatically have this PDF added to their rewards list.

Faces of Magick II – This PDF Supplement will be enlarged, adding more mages for use in your chronicle.

Faces of Magick III – This PDF Supplement will be expanded one final time, filled with legendary mages to use in your chronicle.

Forgotten Ones & Forbidden Orders – A collection of lesser known but no less magickally potent orders, traditions, cults, and gatherings of mages, from the Ahl-i-Batin to Ngoma (and some in between) will be created and released as a small M20 PDF Supplement. All Kickstarter backers receiving the M20: Lore of the Traditions PDF will automatically have this PDF added to their rewards list.

Forgotten Ones & Forbidden Orders II – Additional orders, from the Bata'a to Solificati (and some in between) will be detailed will be added to this expanded PDF supplement.

Forgotten Ones & Forbidden Orders III – This PDF Supplement will be expanded one final time, with even more traditions and cults detailed within.

Increased Art Budget – Additional funds will be allocated to the art budget for M20: Lore of the Traditions, adding even more epic magick and more inspiring illustrations!

SIXTEEN STRETCH GOALS!

That's amazing! Only yesterday morning, I was hoping that we'd hit our 12th planned Stretch Goal, expanding the Forgotten Ones & Forbidden Orders supplement one final time. But we really dialed up the Paradox and shifted reality a bunch and unlocked that final goal... and another fun 4 beyond that, adding some digital M20 posters to our list of rewards and throwing some more funds into the art budget for Lore of the Traditions. 

And, remember, all of that is a bonus, above and beyond our main purpose for this campaign - the Lore of the Traditions book itself!

Look what we've conjured forth!

So a huge congratulations to the creative team on this project, and to all of the backers who've joined in to make this possible. I'm happy about the goals we hit and rewards we introduced, but I'm also excited about having more than 1700 backers join in during this campaign and demonstrating - once again - that there's tons of life left in Mage: The Ascension and tons of fans hungry for more content.

 AN EXTRA THANK YOU! 

So, thank you to all the backers who supported us and made this happen. And a personal thanks to everyone who participated online, either in the comments section of the kickstarter, and on social media around the web, to those who've participated in the online games, and to the team at Mage: The Podcast and the Onyx Pathcast crew. Thanks to everyone who's joined this council and helped us work our magick. Thanks to those who come out, time after time, to support Onyx Path and these projects. We had a ton of great discussion in the comments and a ton of sharing online, and I loved it all!

There's obviously a lot going on in the world right now - a lot of new and ongoing challenges to be dealt with - but it's been really great to see the community come together to support this project and turn it into a big success.

COMMUNICATION

So, as noted in today's earlier update, I'll be sending out updates once a month and whenever we've got a new goal, survey, or other item to cover. If you have any questions or need clarification on something related to the kickstarter, feel free to get in touch. I may take a bit to answer as I recover from this past month, but I'll eventually have an answer!

I will likely get in touch next week to share a compiled manuscript (mashing all of the chapters into one download) and also to remind you about the M20 sale as part of Onyx Path's 10 Year Anniversary celebration.

TO CONTACT ME

•  Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
•  Via Kickstarter: Click Onxy Path under the "Created By" heading on the main page, and then press the "Contact Me" button - the message will come to me!

For setting stuff and questions about the game itself, it's probably best to visit one of these Onyx Path discussion zones:

• Onyx Path's Mage the Ascension Forum
• Onyx Path's Discord
• World of Darkness on Reddit
• Onyx Path's Facebook

So, thanks to everyone for helping maintain this strong Mystic Council!

Now to attend to other business and eventually collapse for a few hours and recover from the awesomeness of the last couple days! High fives in the comment section, and you'll hear from me again in a week and then again later in March!

#LoreOfTheTraditions

#MageTheAscension

Updated Manuscript Link + M20 OPP10 Sale
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 06:39:00 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

FINAL HOURS: CHECKLIST & WHAT COMES NEXT
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 06:35:34 PM

Hello Magi,

Welcome to the final hours of this campaign! It's been a great ride and a fun adventure! This campaign shot out of the gate like a lightning bolt, has hummed along nicely throughout, and had a tremendous few final days.

As I prepare to post this, we are just a handful of hours from the end of the campaign and in store for a magickal finish!

Refresher Course

We've had, and will have, many new backers join in during these last days. I want to take a moment to highlight some key Update posts that new backers may want to check out (and existing backers may want to read as a refresher!).

MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW - As noted, the complete Preview Manuscript is available for you to review prior to the conclusion of the campaign. If you're a backer, you'll have access to this preview manuscript after the campaign. Remember, though, there are still some minor edits, development and proofing that need to be done. But, you can consider this about 94.8% finished. Making the manuscript available for review before the campaign ends ensures that everyone know exactly what our goal is - making this book - and are on board with our aims for this project. Thanks for your support, we're all in this together!

Feb 13 update - REWARD TIERS - your best starting point for figuring out which Backer Reward Level to choose to help support this project.

Your key decision:

• PDF Only - The CELESTIAL CHORUS Tier is what you're looking for
• Hardcover + PDF - The CULT OF ECSTASY Tier fits the bill
• Wait and See? - If you want access to the manuscript previews but don't yet know if you want the PDF or hardcover rewards, the The Akashayana tier also grants you access to the Pledge Manager after the campaign so you can upgrade your pledge in the future.

ADD ON REWARDS- the other half of the Reward Tiers update, including information on the second step of pledging. There are several Add On options that you can add as part of your pledge process. However, at this time, I'd suggest a few alternatives.

If you are interested in the Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary PDF or the Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary PDF, you should instead take advantage of the sale at DriveThruRPG this week only. You can find those titles, along with related books, here:

• Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition
• Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

Next week, DriveThruRPG will be hosting a similar sale for Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary PDF titles. We have a selection offered as Add Ons for this campaign, but you'll be able to get some of them much, much cheaper (like the M20 core book and the M20 Spellbook supplements bundle titles) next week. I suggest holding off and grabbing them as part of Onyx Path's 10th Anniversary sale.

1. Choose Your Pledge Tier Wisely

Choosing the correct Reward Tier for your desired rewards, and then filling in any "gaps" with add-ons, ensures that you'll be claiming all of your desired rewards as a thank you for supporting this project and bringing this world to life.

Remember, your TOTAL PLEDGE AMOUNT is equal to your REWARD TIER + ADD ONS + SHIPPING. You will also be able to select Add On options in the Pledge Manager after the campaign, but remember that only funds added during the campaign count towards Stretch Goal funding targets.

Also to note, only those who participate during the campaign are able to have Stretch Goal rewards added automatically to their rewards lists. If you're waiting to pre-order at a later time, it's better to pledge to the Akashayana tier now and then simply upgrade your pledge later to include these bonus rewards.

Shipping is calculated automatically by Kickstarter, based on your location. Remember, Add On rewards are listed in the second stage of your pledge process (before you confirm your pledge), and will also be made available to add on in the post-campaign pledge manager sent out in about 6 weeks.

SO: Ensure that you've selected the Reward Tier you want, and select any Add On options you wish to include. AND - make sure that you are comfortable with the Pledge Total amount, in terms of it covering everything you want and its' affordability.

I'm going to speak against my own self interest for a moment, and repeat myself one last time - though 2022 has been a bit better than the past two years, the world is still unpredictable and some futures are a little less certain. Ensure that your circumstances enable to afford this pledge at this moment - Kickstarter will begin processing payments after the campaign ends and neither Onyx Path nor I have any involvement in that process. If you are unsure of your financial situation but don't want to miss out, please pledge for a tier you can afford now and know that you will likely be able to upgrade to open pledge levels in our post-campaign Pledge Manager for some time before the book is completed.

• Choose a Reward Tier You Can Afford 
• Read the Manuscript and Make Sure You Know What You're Getting
• Be Aware of the Projected Delivery Date (Onyx Path will try to deliver earlier than this, but the book will take some time to get perfect)

2. PAYMENT AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Once you're comfortable with your pledge, please ensure that the payment and contact information in your kickstarter account is up to date and correct. Making sure your e-mail is entered correctly and your credit card isn't expired will speed up the next step process. (I have learned from experience!)

WHAT COMES NEXT?

3. AFTER THE CAMPAIGN ENDS

First, we celebrate. Kickstarter will send out a virtual "Hooray!" email confirming the campaign ended with final totals. We'll give socially-distanced high fives and digital fist bumps in the comments section.

Then, the Kickstarter payment process begins. Over the next week, kickstarter will begin charging your payment methods for the total amount you've pledged.

If there is an issue with your payment method (expired credit card or incorrect number or pre-paid Visa awaiting funds, for example), Kickstarter will keep trying to process payment during this time.

Once this step is done, which will likely be in the first week of March, Kickstarter will confirm everything with Onyx Path and I can begin to set up the project with BackerKit and link it to the Kickstarter data.

BackerKit is a robust fulfillment integration and pledge management program that will allow us to work with all of the data and distribute the rewards to you. It will take me a few weeks to set the project up. Once I've got it all entered and built, the team from BackerKit will review to ensure I didn't mess anything up too badly, and then I'll make any changes they've suggested and we can move on to the Survey stage.

4. BACKERKIT SURVEYS

Once BackerKit says I'm good to go, I will send out a survey to all backers. This is why confirming your e-mail is important!

The BackerKit survey is both a verb and a noun - it will collect data for the analysis of some aspect of a group (enabling Onyx Path to set print runs, prioritize new projects, and fine-tune future kickstarters), as well as providing a general review or summary of the reward tier you've chosen, confirm all of the rewards associated with that reward tier, and confirm your total pledge amount.

I expect Surveys to go out by the end of March 2022.

During the Survey period, you can choose to increase your reward tier or add on additional options. If you've gone back to work or found an alternate income source and decide it's time to trade up to the hardcover version of the book or include another add-on, you can do so at this time. Note, you will not be able to reduce your reward tier selection, only increase.

If there was an issue with payment to Kickstarter, you should also be able to address that at this point in the process.

The survey will ask you to confirm your shipping address, even though it'll be some time before we ship out the final product. Do not worry about moving before shipping begins - you will be able to update BackerKit right up until the point that we begin fulfilling the final book. We will send out a notice prior to lock down so you can update any information.

I'll also use the Survey to confirm some details for the premium reward tiers.

5. REWARD DISTRIBUTION

This is a long process, but I will send out regular updates (usually at the end of the month) to keep you up to speed on our progress. There will be strings of updates that are just "still working on it," but I will share new artwork or information when I can.

Eventually, we will have a completed PDF of M20: Lore of the Traditions. We'll take some time to distribute, review, and compile any errata or corrections that need to be made. When we've made any necessary changes, we'll send out updated copies of the PDFs and then begin creating print-ready files for the Print-on-Demand and the deluxe hardcover versions.

It's yet another long road ahead, but one that we wouldn't be on if not for your faith and support.

#LoreOfTheTraditions

#MageTheAscension

Backers Only - Manuscript Preview #10 - The Virtual Adepts
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 06:33:55 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.