Beacon City METAs- From Vigilance Press!

[Shadowchaser]

Breaking news!



Since Dan and I have decided that the METAs project will be falling under the Vigilance Press banner, and he has big things planned for Stark City, we're re-branding this project. So, as a result, I think it's time to start a new thread for it.

Further, we have art to show! Yayyyy! Check it out on the Vigilance Press website! There's a whole gallery of sketches of the various characters. So far, we have Wulf, Cat, Gaia, Mr. Block, Kid Awesometastic, and Steve Perrin's "Mictantlocan" villain!

I'll be sending out some emails to people as more characters are sketched up so they can give us feedback, but I'm really excited to see this project moving forward now. Hopefully we'll have a print on demand version ready in a couple of months!

[Shadowchaser]

Alex Williamson just turned in the finished inks for Mictantlocan! Steve Perrin's entry in the "Beacon City METAs" project.



You can check out the gallery as we add to it here!

Dan "Alien Mastermind" Houser is working on colors for them right now, so expect new art soon!

[Shadowchaser]

*Post Removed due to changes in the METAs cast roster.

[Jameson]

Hey James, do you have a list of who's going to be in the first volume? Any ballpark released date you are trying to aim for?

[freeclint]

I seem to remember a list awhile back of the first volume based on who got their stuff in. Might have been in a backer email. (I don't seem to see it at the moment)

Since he re-requested the arf's (art request forms) I could see that having changed though.

Found it in the Stark City Meta Files thread:

Okay, folks! Big Announcement time!

I've finalized the list of characters for the first issue of Vigilance Press's META Files!

(Drumroll please)

...

Ratched
Mister Block
Viridian
Stormbreaker
Mictantlocan
Kotetsu
Cat
Gaia
Wulf
Dream Girl

This first list of characters includes Mictantlocan by Steve Perrin! Also included in the first issue will be an article by Jack Norris on how to run a Supervillain campaign in Mutants and Masterminds (though, as an article, it can really be applied to any rules system!). We'll start posting artwork as we get them done (I'm hoping to start on that next week), and I'll keep you up to speed on things as they develop. Thanks again for everyone's patience, and I hope to make this series of installments something really special for everyone. If the first three issues are popular enough, I may run a kickstarter to make a regular deal out of it.

[Jameson]

While true, he also implied that there may be some shuffle and/or additional entries in part because of the delay this project has seen and that some people had not given him their submissions. I figured I would ask since I have a vested interest.

[Shadowchaser]

I think the only three we don't have art for on that list yet are Stormbreaker, Kotetsu, and Dream Girl.

After those, I'm going to probably launch the first issue as a PDF-only book. I'll tunnel ahead with the other characters as PDF-only books until we catch up/overtake the player-submitted stuff. There are some folks who still haven't turned in their stuff, so we'll have to sort that out, but the goal is to fill out any 'blanks' with fun articles from authors like Jack Norris. The first book will have a great article on running a campaign with villainous player characters...

Once I'm back from Gen-Con I should be able to announce a solid character list for the first book, and then make further announcements. I do plan to turn this into an ongoing series if people are interested in having more characters entered. There may even be a tie-in with an upcoming kickstarter I'm planning for after Gen-con, too. We'll have to see how that works out, though.

In any case, we're looking forward to getting the colored pieces back from Dan Houser shortly, and I'll be posting the images over at the Vigilance Press website and keeping everyone up to speed on the progress of the layout once things get to that stage.

Thanks for staying interested, I hope the final results are worth the wait... I'm certainly really loving the artwork that Alex has turned in so far!!

James

[Shadowchaser]

Some new artwork from the METAs book, starting to get close to the layout stage!

Again, so glad for everyone's patience. I think the final product will be worth the wait. And next time we'll have the assembly line ready to go, so it won't take nearly as long.

Meet Mr. Block, in color!

[Shadowchaser]

...and Kotetsu! (One of my own players plays this one in my games)

[Shadowchaser]

...and DreamGirl!

[Shadowchaser]

The Beacon City METAs: Issue One pdf has (finally) passed muster and I'm giving it the go-ahead. Ruben just has to slap the back-of-the-book text onto the back cover and we'll be ready to go.

I'm travelling home from a convention tomorrow, but I don't expect it to be more than a day or three before the book goes live. I'll be sending people their free coupon codes by email, and setting up conversations with people who (still) haven't turned in their copy yet. I have plans to get issue two out as soon as possible, but it may take some time as Alex has had to bow out for the time being as artist (due to health concerns). I hope he gets better soon, because he was a dream on this project!

On the other hand, there's already a few great artists lined up in the wings to pick up where he left off, so it shouldn't be a big delay. If you're in issue two or three, email me and make sure we have your current contact info and if you've made your character submissions. I'll be looking forward to tackling the next book, this one was really fun to do! Once we get the first batch of characters done, we're going to be announcing how we hope to continue the series beyond the first few submissions!

Once the first PDF goes live on RPGNow, I'll be sending out coupon codes to those who have "Bought In" to the project already. If you don't get a coupon code, make sure you've got RPGNow in your 'no-spam' lists and then check back with me to make sure I have your correct email.

See you with the release announcement later this week!

James

[Shadowchaser]

An 11th hour shake-up in the roster of the book has necessitated a short delay as we remove some characters. The price on the book will drop (but still remain free to all who had participated in the original bargain). The page count will no longer be high enough to make a print on demand version of the first issue available (sigh), but there will be good news mixed in with the bad.

I'll have to send out some emails in a day or three to those who made submissions for the first book, and then to the larger audience, but it'll become clear shortly. I'm sorry for the stall, but it'll work out for the best.

[monele]

Any updates on this?

Admittedly I've just discovered the thread and I like what I'm saying. Plus, your previous releases seem to be high quality, so it's hard not to be a bit excited.

[Shadowchaser]

Any updates on this?

Admittedly I've just discovered the thread and I like what I'm saying. Plus, your previous releases seem to be high quality, so it's hard not to be a bit excited.

Hey Monele!

The latest update is that the layout is 99% done but we're tweaking the layout. Because this bumps into other projects we're trying to get out the door at the same time, METAs's schedule is stumbling a bit, but I should be getting the final version of the ebook version from Ruben in the next day or three, I hope.

-James

[monele]

Good to hear! What's the roster like after the last minute changes? I quite like the characters who have been shown so far (here and in the gallery). Are all of them in this upcoming release?