Blood Gods Design Diary & Stretch Goal Update!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Jan 05, 2020 at 12:55:10 PM

Hello Bloodthirsty Backers!

A special treat for you today! Our Blood Gods developer, Matthew Dawkins, recorded a Design Diary during the creation of the Cults of the Blood Gods manuscript process. 

It's been made available as an episode of the Onyx Path's weekly podcast, the Onyx Pathcast, with an intro detailing the exciting events that our hosts were looking forward to on New Years Eve! So, give it a listen and jump back in time about a week... and then a lot more... as Matthew breaks out the design process.

ONYX PATHCAST!

Episode 85: V5 Cults of the Blood Gods Design Diary
In which Eddy and Dixie politely allow Matthew to expose you all to his design diary for V5 Cults of the Blood Gods, recorded during the creation of this book currently on Kickstarter.

* Put nothing larger than your elbow in your ear
* What we got up to over our holidays
* This War of Mine
* V5 CotBG Outline
* V5 CotBG Writer Assignments
* V5 CotBG First Drafts
* V5 CotBG Redlines
* V5 CotBG Final Drafts
* V5 CotBG Development
* V5 CotBG Approvals
* V5 CotBG Kickstarter

RUNNING THROUGH STRETCH GOALS

In Matthew's Design Diary, he details the work that went into the main project (the book) before the kickstarter launched. Now, we'll take a peek at the projects that will be undertaken after the kickstarter campaign concludes - those supplements and rewards we're adding via Stretch Goal!

At the start of the year, I was wondering how many more Stretch Goals we'd hit before the end, and 4 days later I should probably revise that guess upwards. 

STRETCH GOAL ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR

We've successfully unlocked TEN Stretch Goals in our campaign, with more coming rapidly into range. 

We've funded the creation of two PDF supplements (so far!), both containing multiple sections. These supplements will be automatically added to the rewards list for all backers receiving the Cults of the Blood Gods PDF (So, reward tiers of $25+)

We started with the Trail of Bone and Ashes, and successfully added FOUR sections, which include:

• An intimate playable story in which the bonds of family loyalty are tested, when the Hecata are forced to discern the loyalty and potentially punish the betrayal of a beloved and famed relative suspected to be consorting with cults outside their clan.
• A political playable story in which we explore the burning enmities of the Cappadocians, Harbingers, Samedi, Giovanni, and Lamiae, and whether, in the historic domain of Florence, they can ever be repaired.
• A mystery playable story in which the subject of Golconda is addressed, explored, and put to the test when a vampire with all the answers arrives in the city and somehow converts the Prince.
• A religious playable story, where the coterie takes over an abandoned cult eager for leaders, the members of which promise much but may lead to each of the vampires' fall.

Again, these 4 Stretch Goals will are all part of the supplement called the Trail of Bone and Ashes, and when this PDF is ready, it will be sent to all backers receiving the Cults of the Blood Gods PDF. 

Since then, we've added a second supplement called Forbidden Faiths!

So far, we've added THREE sections, with a final section likely to be added in the days ahead!

• A chapter focusing on cults dedicated to power through fear, influence, or devotion, including worshipers of the Nictuku, errant houses within the Tremere, and the ancestral obsession of the Ventrue.
• A chapter in which a series of cults, all believing they know the path to Golconda, are profiled with their flawed wisdom and powerful gifts on display.
• A chapter delving deeper into the thoughts of the most wicked Nagaraja, Harbingers, and other vampires of the Hecata who seek nothing less than the end of the world and a kingdom in the remains.

Let's round out this book with a fourth section:

At $122,000 in funding - FORBIDDEN FAITHS PDF — RUINOUS BELIEFS: Help us fund a chapter dedicated to cults that believe vampires are tools of the devil, demons, and evil spirits. These are not mustache-twirling villains, but Kindred who firmly believe their role is as hell's emissaries.

And then, beyond completing this second supplement and adding it to all reward tiers of $25+, we'll be celebrating the writers and their hard work in crafting this project!

At $130,000 in funding - CREATIVE TEAM REWARD: Additional funds will be allocated to pay a bonus to members of the writing team for this project.

Can we unlock this reward? Could we add another supplement if we managed to exceed these goals?

LET'S FIND OUT TOGETHER!

Remember to share info about this campaign in your social circle and on your social media. Let members of your clan, cult, and community know! And let's see how many more rituals ... I mean, Stretch Goals, we can unleash!

#V5BloodGods

#V5TENStretchGoals

BACKERS ONLY – MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW #4
over 4 years ago – Sat, Jan 04, 2020 at 03:58:48 AM

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

Preview: The Church of Means
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jan 03, 2020 at 11:56:46 AM

Hello Bloodthirsty Backers!

We're getting deeper into the manuscript, with the backers-only preview of Chapter 4 dropping tomorrow morning. I thought I'd sneak in a little taste this afternoon to keep eager for more.

That said, it doesn't seem like there's a shortage of excitement, does it? This campaign continues to heat up, even though we're supposed to be in the "quiet middle plateau" that typically hits a kickstarter campaign at the mid-point. Instead, we continue to gain new backers and work towards our next Stretch Goals! 

So, keep up the good work! Keep spreading the word! And let's see how far we can take this over these final 2 weeks!

The Church of Means

Only a few years old, the Church of Means is reaching an international audience through live internet broadcasts, a strong focus on proselytizing to friends and family, and the inhuman charisma of leader Joseph Dominguez. Presenting itself as a “nondenominational understanding of the divine and its plan for humankind,” the Church’s doctrine places a strong emphasis on the happiness derived from material wealth. Of course, to make money you have to spend money: new converts are expected to buy into the church, paying for pamphlets and workshops and proprietary devotional symbols. Successful recruiters take home a share of the proceeds generated by those they register, a pyramid scheme gilded in faith. Slowly numbed to the atrocity of conning desperate people out of their money, top earners are encouraged to commit greater crimes, eventually luring people to the Church’s lavish enclaves as slaves and blood dolls. Eternal life, presented to recruits as a metaphor for success, is eventually revealed as the ultimate reward for those who serve the leader best, though their eternity as ghouls gives their master one more string on his leash of control.

History

Joseph Dominguez was a young vampire with a low generation and high ambitions. Not yet dead fifty years before his sire was called to the Gehenna War, he was left in a very unpleasant position in Kindred society: too potent to be ignored, but too disposable to stay out of the cross-hairs of his sire’s enemies. He needed to find a way to protect himself, make himself invaluable, and quickly.

He found it in his voice, his sire’s accumulated wealth, and his old life’s history in advertising. With charisma, good business sense, and a thorough understanding of human nature, he began the Church as a means of assembling a loyal herd and a vast fortune as quickly as possible. The judicious application of Presence made finding converts easy, the trick was keeping things subtle enough to avoid breaching the Masquerade. Joseph copied heavily from the doctrines of kine churches and cults while creating his own, hiding himself in plain sight as just another fringe inspirational speaker. He used his seed money to hire a team of human assistants, including a convincing body double for daytime appearances, and let natural human greed replace the use of disciplines in almost every recruitment event. In many ways, the Church of Means was barely a vampire cult at all, though hints of Joseph’s personal beliefs about immortality inevitably colored the doctrines he wrote.

The Church of Means prospered quickly. Members were split evenly between those who were emotionally and spiritually moved by Joseph’s doctrine, and those who saw the Church as a chance to make money. The most ruthless congregated at the top, earning the title of priest, and forming a powerful and vicious inner circle of ghouls to protect their leader and exemplify the wealth he offered.

Doctrine

There is a Higher Power, who is conflated with the highest force of every major world religion (the Abrahamic God, the concept of nirvana, the Supreme being, and so on.) This Higher Power is benevolent and wants everyone on Earth to be happy, but He also believes in free will; humans must choose to be happy for the Higher Power to act upon them.

Choosing to be happy involves signing up for the Church of Means and completing the exercises detailed in the books you buy from them; opening yourself to prosperity through meditation, mantras, and the like. After that, the best way you can signal your readiness to be happy is by recruiting others to the Church, sharing the good news. Their attempts to be happy will magnify your own.

Some techniques of the Church are secret, for the safety of the world at large. New initiates aren’t spiritually advanced enough to understand everything about how the Higher Power works, and learning about everything the priests do before understanding all the basic material could be harmful to your physical and emotional well-being.

Money can buy happiness, but only if it comes from the will of the Higher Power. If you complete all the exercises correctly and do everything in your power to recruit others, you will become both rich and happy. If you aren’t rich and happy, you’ve done something wrong, and you should return to the Church of Means’ teachings and redouble your efforts.

Eternal life will come to those who are open to the Higher Power by way of good luck and medical advances. Though the Higher Power takes care of the faithful in the afterlife, His greatest gift to humanity is their time on Earth, and maximizing that time is what He wants for people.

#V5BloodGods

BACKERS ONLY – MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW #3
over 4 years ago – Thu, Jan 02, 2020 at 04:19:09 AM

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

Stretching into 2020
over 4 years ago – Wed, Jan 01, 2020 at 06:42:42 PM

Hello Bloodthirsty Backers!

And special shout out to all the Vampire Voyeurs who are checking us out and thinking about joining!

We're just starting a new year, but we're about to begin the back half of our kickstarter campaign! We're now in our final two weeks, with plenty more sections of the manuscript to reveal (check out our Backers Only manuscript preview tomorrow!), and lots of room to add new cultists (backers!) and expand our project.

Back in 2019 (ha!), I was wondering if we would add another Stretch Goal achievement or two before the new year. Well, we certainly did that!

LAST YEAR'S LAST MINUTE ACHIEVEMENTS!

ACHIEVED! - At $95,000 in funding - FORBIDDEN FAITHS PDF — PATHWAYS TO POWER: Help us fund another supplement, featuring a chapter focusing on cults dedicated to power through fear, influence, or devotion, including worshipers of the Nictuku, errant houses within the Tremere, and the ancestral obsession of the Ventrue. All backers receiving the Cults of the Blood Gods PDF will automatically have the Forbidden Faiths PDF added to their rewards list.

ACHIEVED! - At $100,000 in funding - ART BUDGET INCREASE: Additional funds will be allocated to the art budget for Cults of the Blood Gods, allowing Onyx Path to include even more awesome art in this sourcebook.

ACHIEVED! - At $106,000 in funding - FORBIDDEN FAITHS PDF — DREAMS OF GOLCONDA: Help us fund a chapter in which a series of cults, all believing they know the path to Golconda, are profiled with their flawed wisdom and powerful gifts on display.

2020 STRETCH GOAL TARGETS

Now that we've added a second supplement (don't forget, we've already added Trail of Bone and Ashes to the reward list for all backers receiving the Cults of the Blood Gods PDF), it's time to see how big we can make it!

After Pathways to Power and Dreams of Golconda, where do we go...

At $115,000 in funding - FORBIDDEN FAITHS PDF — ESCHATOLOGICAL THOUGHT: Help us fund a chapter delving deeper into the thoughts of the most wicked Nagaraja, Harbingers, and other vampires of the Hecata who seek nothing less than the end of the world and a kingdom in the remains.

At $122,000 in funding - FORBIDDEN FAITHS PDF — RUINOUS BELIEFS: Help us fund a chapter dedicated to cults that believe vampires are tools of the devil, demons, and evil spirits. These are not mustache-twirling villains, but Kindred who firmly believe their role is as hell's emissaries.

If we unlock the fourth section of Forbidden Faiths and add that automatically to the rewards list for all backers receiving the Cults of the Blood Gods PDF, we'll also have crossed another milestone - we'll have exceeded the kickstarter funding on Onyx Path's 2018 V5 kickstarter project, Chicago By Night! What a triumph that will be, and what a vote of confidence and sign of admiration for Matthew Dawkins and his team of writers on this project.

And, with that said, I'd like to suggest we work hard to spread the word and achieve a further Stretch Goal target, something we weren't quite able to make happen last year...

At $130,000 in funding - CREATIVE TEAM REWARD: Additional funds will be allocated to pay a bonus to members of the writing team for this project.

So, let's keep at it! We've got two more weeks to spread the word and invite others to join our Kickstarter Clan! Don't forget to spread the message in your social circle and on your social media! Let's kick off 2020 right and pay tribute to the Blood Gods!

#V5BloodGods

#V5KickstarterCampaign