Onyx Path: Business As Usual... For Now, At Least

Onyx Path, the company which produces licensed World of Darkness games, amongst other things, has made a statement regarding Paradox's recent purchase of White Wolf. In that statement, they clarify that they did not know what was happening (although they knew something was happening), and that a meeting is scheduled for later this week wherein they will have a better idea of Paradox's plans for the tabletop RPG.

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As they point out, White Wolf does not own Scion 2nd Edition, the Trinity Continuum, Scarred Lands, Cavaliers of Mars, and Pugmire; these will definitely not be affected.

Other than that, Onyx Path does not yet know what's happening with White Wolf's tabletop RPGs, but notes that Paradox has been nothing but friendly so far. Those RPGs include classic and new World of Darkness, and Exalted.

For the moment, Onxy Path is carrying on as normal. You can read the full statement here.

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[Queer Venger]

Good to know, although the fact that OPP was kept in the dark never bodes well. Fortunately, my complete librabry of New World of Darkness books is still in pretty great shape and I regularly run a monthly Vampire the Requiem game. Hope Paradox will do a good thing with the IP, specially for the table-top game.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I'd prefer Paradox to offer the license to some other companies besides OPP.
I'd love to see what Margaret Weiss Productions could do with this, or Pinnacle, or Pelgrane Press, Kobold Press, or better yet; just hand the whole damn thing to Ari Marmell and let him put an all-star team together.

 

[Barantor]

If they link the tabletop games to the video games Paradox will inevitably make then they might have something that will bring more players to both series of game which could be a good thing.

 

[Jer]

I'd prefer Paradox to offer the license to some other companies besides OPP.
I'd love to see what Margaret Weiss Productions could do with this, or Pinnacle, or Pelgrane Press, Kobold Press, or better yet; just hand the whole damn thing to Ari Marmell and let him put an all-star team together.

At the risk of starting something - what's wrong with Onyx Path? The folks I know who play Vampire seem pretty happy with them for the most part.

 

[lynnfredricks]

This really doesn't mean a thing. Any time I have seen a company sold like this (assuming more than just the assets are changing hands), its followed by radical change in the following 6-12 months or so - no matter how calmly people say otherwise. The buying company often wants to recoup the cost of the purchase quickly, and usually those who have existing counterparts in the purchasing company exit on their own or with help. The writing was pretty much on the wall when CCP canceled the Vampire MMORPG - which was looking entirely hopeless long before that.

Most likely Paradox has a strong plan and recognizes that the WW IP is worth something (along with its fan base). It could however mean another change in direction of World of Darkness.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Jer,
i have just been unhappy with the chronic rehash of material, the release of al the 20th anniversary, then the announcement of 4th Edition recently.
For example, minds Eye Theater totally reworked VtM for LARPs. This was a small company that, to me, really revitalized and showed what COULD be done with the franchise instead of just rehashing old out-of-print materials.

Onyx Path is chronically late with Kickstarters, and has had spelling errors crop up in their Deluxe books that fans even pointed out via feedback.

I think it would be great to have a changing of the guard in terms of the property.

 

[delericho]

This really doesn't mean a thing. Any time I have seen a company sold like this (assuming more than just the assets are changing hands), its followed by radical change in the following 6-12 months or so - no matter how calmly people say otherwise.

The license agreements Onyx have no doubt have get-out clauses in the event that the IP is bought, but those will have time limits on them. So if Paradox do want to bring it back in-house, the clock is ticking.

The buying company often wants to recoup the cost of the purchase quickly, and usually those who have existing counterparts in the purchasing company exit on their own or with help.

That's true, but the money in WoD, like with RPGs in general, doesn't lie in the RPG but rather in the various potential spin-offs. I would be surprised if Paradox were particularly interested in the TT RPG - they're more likely to want to create their own video games, or license it out for a movie or three.

If they've bought the properties in order to make money from a TT RPG, I'm afraid they've wasted their money.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Jer,
i have just been unhappy with the chronic rehash of material, the release of al the 20th anniversary, then the announcement of 4th Edition recently.
For example, minds Eye Theater totally reworked VtM for LARPs. This was a small company that, to me, really revitalized and showed what COULD be done with the franchise instead of just rehashing old out-of-print materials.

Onyx Path is chronically late with Kickstarters, and has had spelling errors crop up in their Deluxe books that fans even pointed out via feedback.

I think it would be great to have a changing of the guard in terms of the property.

Just to say, as someone who owns all the 20th Anniversary books to date, it's not fair to say they are just 'rehash'. New material has been written for all these books - especially Mage - and the supplements too.

There have been lots of delays in Kickstarter campaigns, some of them bad, but they do at least keep regular updates of ongoing progress - and their catalogue is starting to develop some great shape now. So, I'm not disagreeing with what you say here - just trying to acknowledge the trials and tribulations of creative projects as well as the final outcomes which have been exceptionally good (for me!).

 

[DMZ2112]

Long after the world has forgotten that a game called EVE Online ever existed, it will still remember that CCP tried to murder World of Darkness.

Paradox can't be worse.