Surveys Going Out This Week!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2019 at 09:10:16 PM

Hello Renegades!

It's been a bit quiet since the end of the campaign, but that was all about getting ready for the next episode in our ongoing adventures ... and here we are!

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. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey 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!

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.

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://deviant-the-renegades.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://deviant-the-renegades.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 contact the team via the Contact Creator link on the kickstarter page and Rich will forward it to me.

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 the "Celebration of Darkness" PDF list.

NOW ON KICKSTARTER - CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS FANS TAKE NOTE:

In Mummy: The Curse, players take on the characters of the Arisen, humans who were subjects of the greatest magic ever worked by mortal hands, the Rite of Return, in the long-lost Nameless Empire. As part of the Rite, they underwent ritual death, and their souls were eternally bound to their mortal remains. Consequently, while the Arisen can be killed, they will always return, their bodies reforming anew.

Mummy: The Curse Second Edition includes all the rules you need to play as one of the Arisen: Decrees and Pillars that reflect the transformation by the Rite of Return, Utterances and Affinities as the powers you wield and the price you pay for them, magical relics and vessels for use or sacrifice, and all manner of antagonists from immortals to Shuankhsen and others besides.

Pledge to help us create and get this Second Edition of Chronicles of Darkness' Mummy: The Curse into stores! The campaign has Arisen and is now on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/mummy-the-curse-2nd-edition/

Backers Only - New Compiled Manuscript Link
over 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 05, 2019 at 05:34:33 AM

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

FINAL DAY: Stretch Goals
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 19, 2019 at 05:59:55 AM

Hello Renegades,

As I'm typing this, we're coming up on our FINAL 24 HOURS for this Deviant: The Renegades kickstarter project.  As we zoom toward the finish line, this is our last opportunity to add backers and pledges and possibly unlock our final Stretch Goal achievements. And, with that, today's topic will cover Stretch Goals!

Refresher Course

We've had, and will have, a lot of new backers join in during this last day. 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 - I posted the final section of the kickstarter preview mansuscript yesterday. 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 92.8% finished. 

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

October 14 update - ADD ON REWARDS - the important companion piece to the Reward Tiers topic, including information on how to increase your pledge amount to add a screen or PDF versions of some of the other Chronicles of Darkness game line rulebooks.

If you've been looking at the Premium Reward Tiers - the expensive ones that offer a bit more interaction with the setting, system, and design team - there's always some churn near the end so some rewards that were completely claimed may become available again before the end.

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 + SHIPPING + ADD ONS. And we will confirm your Add On selection with our post-campaign pledge manager, Backerkit, a few weeks after the campaign ends.

On Thursday, I'll be posting one further "Final Day" update, covering What Happens Next and outlining what to expect once the campaign ends.

But until then, we're going to hopefully complete a final Stretch Goal experiment (or two!) as we race through our final hours of the campaign!

 STRETCH GOAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Over the course of the campaign, we've achieved 12 Stretch Goals!  We're doing so well as we rush toward the finish line! And there's a solid chance to make that a Lucky 13 (or Luckier 14 even!) before we end...

ADDITIONAL DEVIANT CONTENT

Thanks to our successful Stretch Goal achievements, we've been able to introduce and add multiple sections to the Clades Companion, an awesome setting and rules supplement for Deviant: The Renegades! As a reminder, we added a section/topics related to each of the 5 Clades introduced in this game:

•  CEPHALISTS: As Cephalists embrace wildernesses of the imagination, so we will create a section that moves beyond a purely human experience, introducing Forms designed for Storytellers and players who want to introduce Deviants who were not originally human beings (or at least not ones native to Earth). This includes sapient animals, androids, ephemeral entities trapped in human bodies, and exiles from alternate dimensions and timelines.
•  CHIMERICS: As Chimerics are at home with every species of animal, the Clades Companion PDF will be expanded to include a wide assortment of sample animals and Manticores - perfect for Remade with the Manticore Companion Merit or the Animal Transformation Variation.
•  COACTIVES: Coactives have connections to worlds not our own, and so The Clades Companion PDF will be expanded to include full ephemeral entities rules, including guidelines for creating new Numina and parallel worlds using Deviant’s toolbox approach, as well as guidance on how these beings interact with Variations such as Otherworldly Connection.
•  INVASIVES: Invasives maximize the effectiveness of every tool that passes into their hands, and so The Clades Companion PDF will be expanded to include more equipment, as well rules for high-tech prototypes and shoddy goods and services.
•  MUTANTS: No Clade embodies the strange and dehumanizing effects of Divergence quite the way the Mutant does, and so The Clades Companion PDF will be expanded with new Forms that transcend the singularity of the self and the flesh-and-blood body – a human consciousness uploaded to a mainframe, a talking mystical item, or an advanced A.I. with a drone for a chassis. Or, introduce Remade who are part of a line of clones or replicants who share memories, such that physical death is little more than an inconvenience; some even have whole wardrobes of new bodies, each one customized to match an urgent practical need (or just the Broken’s current mood).

This rules and setting supplement was created entirely based on your support for this kickstarter campaign, and grown in the lab we call "funding achievements!" Amazing work! And remember, this additional content will be coming to all backers for FREE! All backers receiving the Deviant: The Renegades PDF as part of their pledge level will automatically have the Clades Companion PDF added to their rewards list at no additional cost!

MORE AUTOMATIC REWARDS...

In addition to the Clades Companion PDF, we've unlocked a few more rewards that will automatically be added on to your rewards list as a thank you for making this project successful:

An awesome digital wallpaper for your computer desktop featuring art from Deviant: The Renegades. All backers will have this automatically added to their rewards list.

A short story written to better define the Deviant play experience and the world in which it takes place. All backers receiving the Deviant: The Renegades PDF will have this automatically added to their rewards list.

...AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES

A couple more options to bring Deviant: The Renegades into your life!

Hosted on the redbubble store for a limited time, a Deviant: The Renegades-themed shirt will be priced at a one-time discount. All backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available.

Deviant: The Renegade Storyteller Screen. We’ll create a Deviant: The Renegades Storyteller Screen. Can be added on to any reward tier containing a hardcover book for only +$20.

AND, A CELEBRATION OF DARKNESS

Maybe you want to fill in some gaps in your digital library, or all this talk of conspiracies and new themes has got you interested in incorporating some of the Deviant ideas/systems into another of the Chronicles of Darkness games...

Well, thanks to your support, we've been able to add more options and drop the price on these Add On options.

For +$10 EACH, add any of these CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS titles to your digital library:

•  +$10 for Chronicles of Darkness Core Rulebook PDF 
•  +$10 for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition PDF 
•  +$10 for Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition PDF 
•  +$10 for Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition PDF 
•  +$10 for Beast: The Primordial PDF 
•  +$10 for Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras PDF 
•  +$10 for Demon: The Descent PDF 

That's right! You backed this project to help make and publish a brand new entry into the Chronicles of Darkness line - Deviant: The Renegades. Your primary reward - the big thank you that we'll send out in appreciation for your support - is a PDF and/or  hardcover copy of this book! BUT AS A BONUS, you may also have these Stretch Goal experiments added to your rewards list as an even bigger thank you for our success in this campaign!

 12 EXPERIMENTS - I mean STRETCH GOALS! 

That's a  pretty cool accomplishment, and that's in addition to FUNDING THIS PROJECT in the first place! Your rewards list has likely grown since the start of this campaign. But we're not done, are we? With just over 24 hours to go, we've got another target or two we can look at hitting, and maybe another amazing celebration can be added if we really really STRETCH...

At $80,000 in funding – NEW SUPPLEMENT: The Devoted Companion PDF - We’ll create a new supplement that explores the Devoted in greater depth. This will include new Forms, as well as greatly expanded conspiracy and Devoted rules to give Storytellers and players the tools they need to portray the Renegades’ foils. All backers receiving the Deviant: The Renegades PDF as part of their pledge level will automatically have the Devoted Companion PDF added to their rewards list.

That's a HUGE reward - a new batch of Deviant goodies! I'm really hoping that we lock that down before the campaign ends! I'm confident we will - this campaign has been strong since Day One, and I think we'll finish in kind. So, let's keep at it, and remember to share your enthusiasm on social media and in your social circles, and see if you can recruit another renegade or two to join our cohort!

And, working together, if we somehow manage to complete that Lucky 13th experiment, why stop there? Let's add a couple more options and targets to really reach for and see if we can really push ourselves...

At $82,000 in funding – CELEBRATION OF DARKNESS ADD-ON UPGRADE: We’ll add Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition PDF to the list of +$10 Add On title options in the Celebration of Darkness Add On Reward list.

At $84,000 in funding – CELEBRATION OF DARKNESS ADD-ON UPGRADE: We’ll add Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition PDF to the list of +$10 Add On title options in the Celebration of Darkness Add On Reward list.

At $87,500 in funding – ART BUDGET INCREASE - Additional funds will be allocated to the art budget, adding more evocative art to the Deviant: The Renegades book.

If we somehow manage to hit 250% of our funding target - $87,500 - we'll make your book even better! More electric fish? Who can say, but the artwork we've shared during this campaign will be just a taste and the Onyx Path team will be able to contract even more evocative and inspiring work to stuff into this book!

More Stretch Goals, Not Much More Time

I know these numbers may seem daunting, but they wouldn't be STRETCH goals if we didn't have to really STRETCH to reach them!

So, as every update concludes: let's keep the enthusiasm rolling! Keep spreading the word and letting others know about this project. They've got just over 26 hours to jump in and share the 12 (can we make it 13?  14? 15? 16!! ) Stretch Goals we've achieved!

And every backer who joins in as we approach the end is not only able to enjoy the additional rewards already added by the early fans and backers, but also help reward those early backers by expanding everyone's stretch goal rewards!

Remember, only the funds generated during the Kickstarter campaign go toward achieving these Stretch Goal targets, so the time to act is now! Together, we can expose the conspiracy and make great things happen!

THIS CAMPAIGN ENDS AT 12:00 NOON EDT on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17th, 2019!

#Renegades

#IReallyWantThatDevotedCompanion

#CanWeGet13StretchGoals?

WE DID IT!!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 18, 2019 at 05:08:09 PM

RENEGADES!!!

WE DID IT!!!

What a campaign! What a journey to get here! Like a lot of you, I've been looking at that Deviant logo for quite some time, eager to see where Onyx Path would be taking the Chronicles of Darkness next. It seemed like forever since I first heard the title and eagerly awaited the eventual kickstarter launch. It also seems like mere moments since we began this campaign 4 weeks ago. But here we are!

We certainly made those moments count, though! Thanks to every backer on this project, we have funded the creation of Deviant: The Renegades!

And not only that! Did we unlock some Stretch Goals along the way?

You could say that!! RIGHT UP UNTIL THE FINAL HOURS OF THE CAMPAIGN!

Through Stretch Goal funding experiments, we added a brand new supplement, the Clades Companion. Not only that, we expanded it to include 5 sections - one for each Clade - covering a wide variety of topics and adding so many more tools to this toolbox RPG. And everyone who will be receiving the Deviant: The Renegades PDF as part of their rewards will have the Clades Companion PDF added on automatically!!

And why stop with just one supplement? Yesterday, we completed another experiment, adding the Devoted Companion PDF to the Deviant: The Renegades line! New Forms, new conspiracy and Devoted rules, and even more tools to experiment with in your game! Again, everyone who will be receiving the Deviant: The Renegades PDF as part of their rewards will have the Devoted Companion PDF added on automatically!! For Free!

And even more rewards...

And expanded options for Add On Rewards and Renegade Fashion...

For +$10 EACH, add any of these CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS titles to your digital library:

• +$10 for Chronicles of Darkness Core Rulebook PDF
• +$10 for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition PDF
• +$10 for Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition PDF
• +$10 for Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition PDF
• +$10 for Beast: The Primordial PDF
• +$10 for Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras PDF
• +$10 for Demon: The Descent PDF
• +$10 for Promethen: The Created 2nd Edition PDF

THANK YOU!

So, thank you to all the backers who supported us and made this happen. Thanks to everyone who checked out the podcasts and interviews and watched the Deviant bits on Onyx Path's Twitch channel! 

And a huge thanks to Eric Zawadzki, who's carried the development baton through the kickstarter, and was so gracious and generous with his time while I built the kickstarter pages and was helpful and thoughtful in answering so many questions throughout the campaign! Thanks Eric!

A FEW WORDS FROM ERIC

Eric, here. As the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter comes to an end, I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for being a part of this process - whether you asked questions in the comments section here, spun wild character concepts on the Discord channel, suggested ways to improve or clarify rules on the forums, spread the word on social media, or simply backed this project. This is my first time as the co-developer of a major project for Onyx Path, and starting out on a brand new game line was more than a bit intimidating. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the warm welcome the community here has given me.

I'll need ample quiet time to finish revisions and to begin work on The Clades Companion and The Devoted Companion, but I look forward to further conversations. Once the Deviant forum is live, let's see your awesome and bizarre character concepts, the conspiracies you build, and your homebrew everythings. I want to hear the stories you tell at the table together - the ones you will retell each other months or years later, be they funny or serious, glorious or cathartic. Because that's what roleplaying is all about, right? Even if only four or five people in the world were there for the showdown on the helipad and the electric fish, the story is part of the shared experiences that make a friendship.

COMMUNICATION

So, as noted in an earlier post, I'll be sending out updates once a month and whenever we've got a new reward, survey, or other item to cover. If you have any questions or need clarification on something related to the kickstarter, you can leave it in the comment section - I will be notified with every addition. Or, you can find the Contact Creator button and Rich will forward your message to me.

For setting stuff and questions about the game itself, it's probably best to post to the Chronicles of Darkness forums on the Onyx Path website: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness

So, thanks to everyone for helping fund this project and celebrating the history of the Chronicles of Darkness and future of Deviant: The Renegades! 

So, that's an awesome conclusion to this campaign, and a chance for everyone to catch up on some sleep! I'm likely to be quiet for the next few weeks, as I start work on the next project, but you'll hear from me when BackerKit is up and running and surveys are ready to go out! Until then, keep fighting the conspiracy!!

Let's take a moment, though, to celebrate this massive accomplishment! High fives in the comment section, as always! 

#DeviantTheRenegades

#Renegades

#ElectricFish

FINAL HOURS: CHECKLIST & WHAT COMES NEXT
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 12:41:56 PM

Hello Renegades!

Welcome to the final hours of this campaign. What an amazing ride this project has been!

As I prepare to post this, we are just about FIVE hours from the end of this campaign, and approaching an amazing finish!

Great job, everyone!

We've had a bunch of new backers join in over the past few days (hi, new backers!), and many backers adding on to their rewards or changing their reward levels. I wanted to  review the overall method to ensure you've set up your rewards, and then talk about what comes next.

1. REWARD TIER, ADD-ONs, PLEDGE TOTAL

Please ensure you've selected the Reward Tier that best represents your desired rewards for this project. An update breaking down all of the Reward Tier decisions is HERE <link>, summarized by this chart:

Once you're sure you've selected the correct Reward Tier, double-check to see if there are any rewards that you want to include via ADD-ON, as described in the update HERE <link>.

Your REWARD TIER determines what your base rewards are - you must select a Reward Tier to receive those rewards. Again, your reward list is based on your Reward Tier, not your total pledge amount.

Your PLEDGE TOTAL is the sum of your REWARD TIER + SHIPPING + ADD-ONs.

Shipping is calculated automatically by Kickstarter, based on your location. Add On rewards will be selected in the post-campaign pledge manager sent out once payment processing is complete.

SO: Ensure that you've selected the Reward Tier you want, and included funding for any Add Ons 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.

And remember - any physical reward Add On (additional books, Storyteller Screen) can only be added to reward tiers that include the hardcover book (DEVOTED reward tier and higher).

AGAIN: Review your pledge amount and make sure it is affordable for your circumstances. Remember, you are pledging this amount to fund the creation of the Deviant: The Renegades PDF + hardcover book. As a thank you, you'll be receiving the rewards listed for your chosen Reward Tier on the Reward Tier chart. We've come a long way on this journey, but there's still a long (and exciting!) road ahead of us, so this is the last chance to turn back before we press on!

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 "Hooray!" email confirming the campaign ended with final totals. We'll give high fives 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 late-October, Kickstarter will confirm everything with Onyx Path and transfer the funds over to them (less the Kickstarter fees, of course!).

Once the payment is confirmed, 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 mid-November. If you opted to include any Add-On rewards to your pledge, this is the point where you will select them. BackerKit will deduct the cost of your reward tier (+shipping) from your total pledge and show you how much you have to allocate for add-on purchases. You simply select the ones you want and proceed. From that point forward, those add-ons will be included in your list of rewards.

During the Survey period, you can also also choose to increase your reward tier. If you've managed to hit the lottery and decide it's time to trade up to get two copies 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 limited and 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 Deviant: The Renegades. 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 copy of the PDFs and then begin creating print-ready files for the Print-on-Demand and hardcover version.

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

#DeviantTheRenegades

#FinalHours