Thanks, plus previews!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 02:47:37 PM

Hi, everyone. ^_^ Rose here.

We're funded! The team are all very thankful for your support, not only in backing the project but in all of the conversations on comments, social media and forums.

We've got some backers who didn't back the first Dark Eras, so I'd like to bring forward some example chapters from it and its companion.

Dark Eras: Requiem for Regina, for Vampire and Changeling.

Dark Eras Companion: Princes of the Conquered Land, for Mage and Mummy.

These two chapters represent a lot of what we're aiming to do with Dark Eras 2, but we'll also be evolving past that. Each of our eras will have a much more integrated approach to its various lines... I might even use the dreaded word "crossover!" Tomorrow, I'll be back with some of Monica's thoughts on learning from the first book. :)

Thanks again!

We are funded!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 01:52:28 PM

Hello Dark Eras 2 backer!

RichT here:

Rose will be along with some more thanks from all of us in a bit, but I wanted to both thank you all myself, and let you in on what we've added to this Kickstarter since it started. So I will:

Congratulations! Thanks to you all - we're funded!

Now the fun really starts!

In order to emphasize that fun, we have recreated the Golden Age of Piracy poll with stronger security. We know this won't stop anyone who knows how to work around such things, but it should provide us with a more effective voting process for folks who just want to cast their one vote for their preferred game line.

In order to get us going, we are going to ask all of you to re-vote for your preferred game line on this new poll. Our deepest apologies to those of you who already voted once, and in the spirit of the poll, for having to do things this way. We just don't think that drawing our info from the first poll makes much sense.

At $45,000 of pledges, we will look at which two lines have the most votes and those will be the ones in the Golden Age of Piracy (unless one of the top Reward Tier backers chooses it for expansion!).

You'll note we dropped the Stretch Goal amount for this, to compensate, at least a little, for the shenanigans in the voting. We've also added new core rulebook PDF Add-ons for those lines already using the 2nd Edition rules at about 50% the cost on DriveThru RPG in case you are missing them.

Thanks again- and we'll get a new and different poll up right after we hit the $45K Stretch Goal, so tell everyone you know!

The Many Faces of Conflict in Dark Eras 2
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 07:21:00 AM

Hi, folks. Rose here. ^_^

I'd like to introduce you to Matthew Dawkins. Matthew's contributed to the Chronicles of Darkness and the classic World of Darkness across a variety of books, including being one of the developer of the Dark Eras Companion.

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Matthew:

Hi, I’m Matthew Dawkins, and I’m one of the developers working on Dark Eras 2. War is ever-present throughout the course of human history. It is only natural that creatures hiding in mankind’s shadows ride the back of conflict to their own advantage, latch on to its underbelly to move their own plots forward, or take up arms and fight alongside mortal men and women to increase their chances of survival.  

As creators, we strive never to place the blame for a mortal conflict purely on the shoulders of vampires, werewolves, or the like. Yet it would be foolish in the Chronicles of Darkness setting to imagine these great battles, terrible genocides, and wastes of human life pass those same creatures by without a single feather ruffled.  

We explored many historical conflicts through the Chronicles of Darkness lens in the first Dark Eras and the Dark Eras Companion. Werewolf involvement in the Roman war in Germania, the Beasts in the Reconstruction Era following the American Civil War, and demons at the heart of Russian Revolution to name but three. To start Dark Eras 2, we will explore the French Revolution with Vampire: The Requiem and Demon: The Descent, and the Great War with Werewolf: The Forsaken and Geist: The Sin-Eaters.  

Each game line offers something different to the spheres of human conflict. Vampires may prey on the hapless inhabitants of POW camps as they find there is nowhere to run, while the Lost may find the carnage and devastation of war reminiscent of some of the realms beyond the Hedge. Perhaps the terror of battle might even make the whims of the True Fae seem sane.  

As a game handling spirits and rends from our world to the one beyond, Werewolf is aptly placed to explore the changes that occur to geography and humanity at a supernatural level. War is sometimes what the pack requires, when the Azlu bind things a little too tightly. Conversely, sometimes it feeds the hunger of frantic, spawning Beshilu, and werewolves must intercede to prevent the whole region collapsing. Geist is a particularly excellent game line for chronicles set in the heart of conflict. What happens when soldiers and civilians who by every human law should have died, stand up to carry on fighting? What happens when the voice inside tells them they must ally with their formal mortal foes to take on something far worse, all while shells and hell rains down around them? And finally, what happens when the conflict ends, and the Sin-Eaters have served their purpose?  

War will never be devalued in our books. The participants may be helpless, or brave, or scared, or fanatical, but their mortality is real. By examining real wars with our fictional characters, we highlight humanity’s fragility, and show that even when faced with Strix, Gentry, or Shuankhsen, sometimes the greatest horror is what humanity itself can wreak.

Working with multiple game lines
almost 7 years ago – Sun, Jul 09, 2017 at 07:03:50 AM

Hi, everyone! I'm Rose, Onyx Path's development producer. You'll be seeing a lot of me throughout this campaign, as we introduce new polls, stretch goals, and previews. :) Today, I'd like to introduce you to Meghan Fitzgerald, one of Dark Eras 2's developers. Meghan has written for a ton of Chronicles of Darkness gamelines, and is co-developer of the upcoming second edition of Changeling: The Lost. Today, she's here to talk about working with multiple monsters in each era.

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Hi, I’m Meghan Fitzgerald and I’m one of the developers working on Dark Eras 2. For Dark Eras 2, we plan for each era to include two game lines, as many of the previous Dark Eras did. Not only does this make each era more broadly applicable to a variety of games, it also lets us delve more deeply into how things are different for characters living in the past.  

“Princes of the Conquered Land (1501-1568)” for Mage: The Awakening and Mummy: The Curse in the Dark Eras Companion is a great example of how two lines interacting with each other, as well as with the historical period in which they reside, help showcase what’s unique about playing in the sandbox of another time. Asking questions like “what do mages think of mummies, and vice versa, in this era?” and “how do their collective unique powers play into the culture and beliefs of the time and place?” gives our writers the ability to explore the era’s themes through both lenses at once, and through the eyes of mortal humanity, to present a more complete and immersive play experience.  

And of course, our protagonists don’t exist in a vacuum. Many of them have shadow societies looming behind the mortal events unfolding in each setting, and they all have reason to seek out others like themselves. These groups all have opinions about what humans are up to, and we focus on time periods rife with conflict, alive with progress, and rich with change so that the ripples your characters make as they stride (or lope, or creep) through the era come through vividly. With two game lines in each era, those ripples can be as dramatic and complex as you can imagine. When war breaks out among mortals, do these shadow organizations take sides, or scheme to use the violence as a smokescreen for their own plans? Do they crack down the middle as alliances among and between them tear apart?  

In eras where the conflict is more subtle, we can focus on points of shared experience between the game lines and build points of departure as fodder for great stories from there. For example, in “The Sundered World (5500-5000 BCE)” for Mage: The Awakening and Werewolf: The Forsaken in Dark Eras, the Awakened and the Uratha share a relationship with spirits and with the People who work to appease them. From that shared relationship come roles in the era’s spotlight culture, and the chapter explores how these roles clash and how they complement each other.  

The evolution of our protagonists’ secret societies over time is another perfect avenue for showcasing an era through the relationship between its two game lines. When humanity’s rapid progress or tragic decline forces covenants, Courts, and conspiracies to shift focus or fight for their survival, their counterparts across the supernatural aisle are doing just the same. They compete over resources, battle for supremacy, and clash over philosophy — all prime material for good drama. They might even find common cause and team up to oppose some existential crisis…for a time, at least.