May 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:12:31 PM

Hello Cavalier Community,

It's true - April showers bring May updates, and this is the official update for May 2018.

Quick Update - proofing continues on the Cavaliers of Mars PDF; remaining art should be in over next few weeks; first digital postcard is available on backerkit.

Long Update -

Checking the Monday Meeting notes from Onyx Path's latest update, you can see that Cavaliers of Mars has moved nicely along the development track. The layout is in the Proofing stages, which Rose explained in the April 2018 Update. The few illustration placeholders remaining - usually gray boxes that just say "Art Goes Here" - should be replaced with actual illustrations over the next few weeks, and the map of Mars is almost finished as well!

Fun fact: While visiting a friend for a board game day, he was showing me some of the freelance rpg map work he's been doing on the side. On the top of the pile were some sample designs for a new map he was working on. Turns out, he's the artist working on the map for Cavaliers of Mars! And didn't think to tell me! One of those fun "small world" coincidences. (He also wouldn't show me the map in progress, saying that I had to wait to see it in the PDF! No fair!)

WISH YOU WERE HERE

The first of our Digital Postcard rewards has gone out! Digital Postcard - Illium should now be available in your BackerKit Digital Downloads collection, if it was included in your list of rewards for this campaign.

You should be receiving an e-mail with the BackerKit link, or the easiest way to see if you've got digital downloads available is to login to your backerkit account: https://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards and it'll show anything available. Your backerkit account should also confirm all rewards that you should expect from your reward tier selected.

KICKSTARTER CONCIERGE

As the Onyx Path Kickstarter Concierge, I'd also like to take a moment to let you know we're in the final 24 Hour countdown for the latest project, Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought for Exalted 3rd Edition.

This campaign will be funding the creation of a deluxe, hardcover version of this book, and has already achieved 500% of the initial funding target! Unlike the Cavaliers of Mars project, the campaign is not intended to launch this book into traditional distribution - backing this Kickstarter project will be the only way to get the deluxe hardcover from Onyx Path. As of this morning, we've hit a whopping 30 Stretch Goals and assembled an incredible Dragon-Blooded Companion supplement as well.

If that's at all intriguing, or you just want to see what the fuss is about, you've got about 24 hours to check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dragon-blooded-what-fire-has-wrought-for-exalted-3

ONWARD TO MARS

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://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com. You can also access your available DOWNLOADS from your BackerKit page, so check out your Illium postcard.

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://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com/faq.

If you want to keep up on Rose's latest projects and throw a little support her way, here is Rose’s Patreon link: <https://www.patreon.com/fantasyheartbreaker>

And, you can can sometimes find new information when you check out the Cavaliers of Mars section of the official Onyx Path forums here: <CAVALIERS OF MARS FORUM LINK>

Our progress so far...

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (Sent to Backers)

Redbubble discounted KS T-shirt link (Update #27, 11/20/17)
6 PDF mini-games (Update #29, 12/04/17)
Digital Postcard - Illium (Update #34, 04/24/18)

REWARD TRACKING - PENDING

Digital Wallpaper
Digital Postcard - Vance
Digital Postcard - Zodiac
Digital Postcard - Chiaro
Digital Postcard - Surtur
Digital Postcard - Ziggur
Cavaliers of Mars PDF Core Book
Cavaliers of Mars Hardcover Core Book
GM Screen
Signed Book Plate
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel PDF
City of Towered Tombs 1 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 3 PDF

As mentioned above, feel free to check out Onyx Path's Monday Meeting Notes posts (linked here) which will give you a weekly status report on ALL of the projects Onyx Path has on the go (you may see spoilers for my monthly updates, or see what other kickstarter campaigns are currently running).

All of that said, I'll continue to monitor the comment section for this campaign and answer any questions that come up. If you have any issues or problems with your digital downloads or other aspects of the project, you can let me know here and we'll figure out a solution. Additionally, I'll be forwarded any important questions that are sent in via the CONTACT ME button under the Rich's creator link on the main page.

- James

April 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 07:41:32 PM

Hello Cavalier Community!

This is the April update! Except, it's not April, because I didn't want you to think it was just April Fool's nonsense!

The Quick update: Status has been moved from "in progress" to "layout set, awaiting artwork, review and notes from Rose are incoming." That means, things are moving along nicely.

The Longer update: But, better than my quick note - here's an update from Rose-

Hi, Rose here. ^_^

I'm busy proofing the book. Mike and Rich put together a gorgeous layout, and Mike in particular thought of some things to do in Chapter 3 that hadn't occurred to me. My proof remarks are mostly small tweaks, which is the ideal when you're this far along.

Gotta say, I like to think I've always appreciated Mike, but as I've been learning InDesign myself, I have a whole new perspective on what dealing with nonsense from developers is like. So I'm looking at proofing from an entirely different perspective this time.

Meanwhile, while the core book is obviously our top priority, I'm outlining the stretch goal supplements. Since I know "outlining" is opaque and sounds like it shouldn't be that much work, I'd like to talk a little about what goes into the nuts and bolts of it.

First, you need a basic chapter structure for the book. This can often be hard to come up with, but our stretch goals provide a pretty good structure. Then, you have to allocate words. Again, the budget for each stretch goal provides guidance, but there's always a lot of tweaking and fiddling. For example, if you've got 3,000 words for a topic and it most logically splits into subsections that don't evenly divide, you have to adjust things.

You also have to match writer to subject matter. Some books need this more and some less, but I like to think Cavaliers has a distinctive style, so matching the correct writers to the correct chapters (and working with their availability) can be complicated.

And then, of course, there's the really hard bit, which is making things line up creatively. ^_~ A good outline has to capture (both implicitly and explicitly) the tone, style, and content you want your writers to produce. Some of that will end up being nice prose in the final book, but a lot of it's internal facing. For example, for the core, I'd say under 25% of the otherwise-final-book-level prose that's in the Writer's Guide made it unchanged into the book itself. Cores are a bit of an extreme case for that (the Writer's Guide is around 20,000 words and the outline around 8,000

You can go through all of this fairly linearly, which was the ideal back when I worked at White Wolf, but sometimes it needs some back-and-forth, both within the development team (which is, uh, me) and with the writers, who have their unique takes and interests.

Thanks for reading!

Best, Rose

If you want to keep up on Rose's latest projects and throw a little support her way, here is Rose’s Patreon link: <https://www.patreon.com/fantasyheartbreaker>

And, you can can sometimes find new information when you check out the Cavaliers of Mars section of the official Onyx Path forums here: <CAVALIERS OF MARS FORUM LINK>

Your Kickstarter Concierge

Not an April Fools joke - Onyx Path is actually letting me help with another one of their kickstarter projects! I know, can you believe they'd let me do that again?! :)

Anyway, we're in the first week of our campaign for the deluxe hardcover edition of Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought for Exalted 3rd Edition.

Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought introduces the Dragon-Blooded in 3rd Edition and all the rules necessary to feature them as player characters or NPC antagonists, including character creation rules and the element-based Dragon-Blooded Charm set of powers. This book will give an iconic view of the Dragon-Blooded, from their mythic origins as the armies of the gods to their place in the current era.

With the support of backers, Onyx Path will work to create a deluxe hardcover edition of Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought, featuring a red leatherette hardcover with 300+ full-color, silver-edged interior pages and a red silk ribbon bookmark. The front cover will be white/silver foil embossed with “Dragon-Blooded” written in Realm script, and the spine will be foil-stamped. This book will be a perfect companion to the deluxe Exalted 3rd Edition rulebook.

So if that sounds interesting, please check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/dragon-blooded-what-fire-has-wrought-for-exalted-3

ONWARD TO MARS

Our progress so far:

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

Redbubble discounted KS T-shirt link (Update #27, 11/20/17)
6 PDF mini-games (Update #29, 12/04/17)

Again, the easiest way to see if you've got digital downloads available is to login to your backerkit account: https://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards and it'll show anything available. Your backerkit account should also confirm all rewards that you should expect from your reward tier selected.

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

Digital Wallpaper
Digital Postcard - Illium
Digital Postcard - Vance
Digital Postcard - Zodiac
Digital Postcard - Chiaro
Digital Postcard - Surtur
Digital Postcard - Ziggur
Cavaliers of Mars PDF Core Book
Cavaliers of Mars Hardcover Core Book
GM Screen
Signed Book Plate
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel PDF
City of Towered Tombs 1 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 3 PDF

All of that said, I'll continue to monitor the comment section for this campaign and answer any questions that come up. If you have any issues or problems with your mini-game downloads or other aspects of the project, you can let me know here and we'll figure out a solution. Additionally, I'll be forwarded any important questions that are sent in via the CONTACT ME button under the Rich's creator link on the main page.

- James

March 2018 Update // Update from Rose
about 6 years ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 12:28:33 PM

Hello Cavalier Community!

Welcome to Almost March! I just wanted to post another quick Monthly update on the status of the project and provide a little more info on changes at Onyx Path.

The Quick update:

No major status changes, all systems go, project being worked on. (That's the "No News is Good News" bit)

The Longer update:

For those who have subscribed to Rich Thomas' Monday Meeting Notes <link>, you may have seen a note that Rose Bailey has left her current position with Onyx Path to pursue other opportunities. In the post, Rich assures us that everything will proceed as normal, but rather than simply copy and paste his words, I was fortunate enough to get a quick update from Rose to pass along:

A NOTE FROM ROSE

Hi, folx.

By now you may have heard that I've retired from Onyx Path, and you may also be wondering how this affects Cavaliers of Mars. Basically, it doesn't. My resignation was on good terms on both sides, and Cavaliers was never a project I worked on as an employee -- it's my own property, worked on entirely outside Onyx Path hours. I'm continuing to partner with OPP as always planned.

We're currently in outlining and writer recruitment for the stretch goal supplements, and I'm also doing some supplemental art notes as part of the art expansion.

See you all on Mars!

Rose

***

Awesome! Thanks Rose - appreciate the reassurance and info!

If you want to keep up on her latest projects and throw a little support her way, here is Rose’s Patreon link: <https://www.patreon.com/fantasyheartbreaker>

And, you can can sometimes find new information when you check out the Cavaliers of Mars section of the official Onyx Path forums here: <CAVALIERS OF MARS FORUM LINK>

This isn't March yet!

So I'm sending out the March update a day early, because the next day will be fairly busy for your humble Kickstarter Concierge! We're just about to start the 24 Hour Countdown on Onyx Path's current project, TRINITY CONTINUUM RPG & ÆON SETTING. I'd be remiss if I didn't post a quick blurb and invite you to join in before it's too late... tomorrow!

The Trinity Continuum is a vast timeline of adventure, speckled with dramatic points across the past, present, and future, where heroes - or villains - arise. While each setting supplement will explore part of the Trinity Continuum timeline, these points in time aren't dots in a straight line - this isn't a long-form metaplot to be simply read aloud. Instead, they're points of quantum probabilities. Anything can happen, so it's up to you and your cast to make it happen!

Check it out, if you feel so inclined! <kickstarter link> We've already achieved 21 Stretch Goals, and are looking to hopefully hit a bunch more, so lots of content offered as rewards! (But, again, act quick if you're interested...)

ONWARD TO MARS

Our progress so far:

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

Redbubble discounted KS T-shirt link (Update #27, 11/20/17)
6 PDF mini-games (Update #29, 12/04/17)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

Digital Wallpaper
Digital Postcard - Illium
Digital Postcard - Vance
Digital Postcard - Zodiac
Digital Postcard - Chiaro
Digital Postcard - Surtur
Digital Postcard - Ziggur
Cavaliers of Mars PDF Core Book
Cavaliers of Mars Hardcover Core Book
GM Screen
Signed Book Plate
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel PDF
City of Towered Tombs 1 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 3 PDF

- James

February 2018 Update
over 6 years ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2018 at 05:30:44 PM

Hello fellow Cavaliers!

Welcome to February! Just wanted to send a super-quick update to touch base and make sure that communication is constant and consistent.

Quick update:

No major status changes, all systems go, projects being worked on.

Longer update:

I read reports of gamers playing Cavaliers of Mars at the recent MidWinter Con in Milwaukee! A pop culture writer I've followed for a long time, Tasha Robinson, got to play and shared on twitter that it had a "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser on Barsoom kind of feeling" which just seemed perfect! Feel free to share any stories of games you've played or times you've seen Cavaliers "out in the wild" at a game convention in the comments section!

I've asked the Onyx Path team to pass along any artwork I can share in an update, so hoping that I might have an image or two for the March or April status check-in.

The March 1 update may come a day late (or a day early!), as I'm currently working on Onyx Path's current kickstarter project, the Trinity Continuum RPG & Aeon setting, which concludes on March 1st at noon EST.

If you've followed along on the three kickstarters I've participated with for Onyx Path (this one, Changeling: The Lost, and now Trinity Continuum), you can definitely see the lessons I've learned along the way. So, huge appreciation goes out to all backers who've commented here and shared input on their reward surveys.

Onward to Mars!

Our progress so far:

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

Redbubble discounted KS T-shirt link (Update #27, 11/20/17)
6 PDF mini-games (Update #29, 12/04/17)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

Digital Wallpaper Digital Postcard - Illium
Digital Postcard - Vance
Digital Postcard - Zodiac
Digital Postcard - Chiaro
Digital Postcard - Surtur
Digital Postcard - Ziggur
Cavaliers of Mars PDF Core Book
Cavaliers of Mars Hardcover Core Book
GM Screen
Signed Book Plate
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel PDF
City of Towered Tombs 1 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF

Also, feel free to check out Onyx Path's Monday Meeting Notes posts (linked here) which will give you a weekly status report on ALL of the projects Onyx Path has on the go (you may see spoilers for my monthly updates, or see what other kickstarter campaigns are currently running).

- James

It's 2018 - Happy New Year!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 02, 2018 at 07:21:44 PM

Hello fellow Cavaliers,

Hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration (if you celebrated), but most importantly, I hope you have an outstanding 2018.

No major news to share in this first update of the year, but wanted to touch base each month to update you on where we are with this project.

At this point, we've got about 97% of backers having completed their survey. 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://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com.

Going forward, on my monthly updates, I will include a full reward tracking list so that we're all on the same page regarding which rewards we're talking about and what's still to come. Our progress so far:

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

Redbubble discounted KS T-shirt link (Update #27, 11/20/17)
6 PDF mini-games (Update #29, 12/04/17)

The easiest way to see if you've got digital downloads available is to login to your backerkit account: https://cavaliers-of-mars.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards and it'll show anything available. Your backerkit account should also confirm all rewards that you should expect from your reward tier selected.

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

Digital Wallpaper
Digital Postcard - Illium
Digital Postcard - Vance
Digital Postcard - Zodiac
Digital Postcard - Chiaro
Digital Postcard - Surtur
Digital Postcard - Ziggur
Cavaliers of Mars PDF Core Book
Cavaliers of Mars Hardcover Core Book
GM Screen
Signed Book Plate
Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel PDF
City of Towered Tombs 1 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF
City of Towered Tombs 2 PDF

If anyone happens to be at the Midwinter Gaming Convention being held in Milwaukee on January 11-14, find the Onyx Path team to say hi and see what they have in store for 2018!

So, let's go 2018 - Onward to Mars!

- James

CAVALIERS OF MARS

Created by Onyx Path

Latest Updates from Our Project:

May 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:12:31 PM

WISH YOU WERE HERE

KICKSTARTER CONCIERGE

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (Sent to Backers)

REWARD TRACKING - PENDING

April 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 07:41:32 PM

Your Kickstarter Concierge

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

March 2018 Update // Update from Rose
about 6 years ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 12:28:33 PM

A NOTE FROM ROSE

***

This isn't March yet!

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

February 2018 Update
over 6 years ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2018 at 05:30:44 PM

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

It's 2018 - Happy New Year!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 02, 2018 at 07:21:44 PM

CAVALIERS OF MARS

Created by Onyx Path

Latest Updates from Our Project:

May 2018 Update about 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:12:31 PM

WISH YOU WERE HERE

KICKSTARTER CONCIERGE

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (Sent to Backers)

REWARD TRACKING - PENDING

April 2018 Update about 6 years ago – Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 07:41:32 PM

Your Kickstarter Concierge

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

March 2018 Update // Update from Rose about 6 years ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 12:28:33 PM

A NOTE FROM ROSE

***

This isn't March yet!

ONWARD TO MARS

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

REWARDS TRACKING - PENDING

February 2018 Update over 6 years ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2018 at 05:30:44 PM

REWARD TRACKING - Completed Rewards (sent to backers)

It's 2018 - Happy New Year! over 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 02, 2018 at 07:21:44 PM

May 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 07:12:31 PM

April 2018 Update
about 6 years ago – Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 07:41:32 PM

March 2018 Update // Update from Rose
about 6 years ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 12:28:33 PM

February 2018 Update
over 6 years ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2018 at 05:30:44 PM

It's 2018 - Happy New Year!
over 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 02, 2018 at 07:21:44 PM