Hi, everyone! It’s Dixie here filling in for Rich so he can spend time with his family (Us?? Take time off?? What even is this??). That said, we did still have our usual meeting today, and therefore have notes and updates! Regarding the title, I think we should have that phrasing for every month, not just March, so July is about to be “In With a Squeak!”
First off, though, I want to spend some time recapping the Exalted: Essence Kickstarter that wrapped up last Thursday! After a whirlwind 28 days, we ended up having 4,086 backers who pledged a total of $349,260 out of our initial target of $35,000, leaving us just shy of 1,000% funded. I am still blown away by the amount of support and commentary this one got, so my heartfelt thanks to everyone who backed.
Additionally, we unlocked 38 stretch goals, funding a whole companion book, tentatively titled Pillars of Creation, as well as a slew of other things, including
- Exalted: Essence Jumpstart
- Exalted: Essence Ready-Made Characters
- Exalted: Essence Adventure Trilogy
- Exalted: Essence VTT Support
- Exalted: Essence Charm Cards
- Exalted: Essence Storyteller Screen
- Three Exalted: Essence Novellas by Lauren Roy, James Huggins, and Rai W. Cole
- A NerdyKeppie Exalted Bag Opportunity
- Increased Art Budget
- Bonus for the Creative Team
I’ve already had writers asking me about the companion, and the novella writers are throwing ideas around like tennis balls, so I think it’s safe to say we’re excited to begin work on those. As for Essence itself, It’s been wonderful to see the homebrew flowing and the discussion unstoppable in multiple places. I can’t wait to show everyone the final project once it’s done!
A few people have asked me if we’re going to include Essence content in later companion or mainline books for Exalted 3rd, and the short answer is no, not in the books. Essence was never meant to take away from Exalted 3rd, but to enrich it! Past that, we haven’t talked about any Essence content past the Stretch Goals, so we’ll leave it there for now while everything gets finished up.
Today’s (Somewhat Abbreviated) Meeting
Today’s meeting wasn’t really like juggling knives; it was actually pretty short and sweet, since Rich was connected via iPad in his car. A lot of the things we talked about are [REDACTED] (but not [CLASSIFIED] which is no longer [REDACTED]) but we are excited to put Squeaks in the Deep for Realms of Pugmire up on Kickstarter starting July 9th!
Personally, this is going to be a wild couple of months for me, Kickstarter-wise, as first Essence and now Squeaks (which I did some writing on!) are going up back to back. I can’t wait for everyone to see Squeaks in the Deep, and someday I will stop trying to call it Squeaks from the Deep!, TCfBtS!-style.
Another thing we talked about, and that you’ll see in the art throughout the blog, is that tomorrow (Tuesday, June 29th) we’re releasing Rich Bastard’s Guide to Magick as a pre-order!
We’re trying something new: Instead of a Kickstarter, we’re offering a chance to pre-order the PDF of the book (not the print-on-demand version) and show your support for the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary line. We’re working with our friends at DriveThruRPG to try out their PDF pre-order process, allowing us a chance to experiment with this process. When you pre-order the PDF, it will be added to your Library on DriveThruRPG automatically. So you don’t have to jump on the new release the day it comes out; it will already be in your Library!
Additionally, don’t forget that premium Print-On-Demand books are going up in price July 1st! There is still a DriveThruRPG site-wide sale for a limited time with all Premium Color PoD books discounted by 25% or so, so this is a great time to get some Premium PoD books, especially for some of the ones we didn’t put into stores.
Having so many fun projects going up in the near future just exemplifies, to me, what we love doing as a company, which is having…
Many Worlds, One Path!
BLURBS!
Kickstarter!
Starting Friday, July 9th, Squeaks in the Deep for Realms of Pugmire will be up on Kickstarter! Keep your eyes sharp, your ears clean, and your whiskers twitching as we dive into the Underneath!
For more about Squeaks, check out this Deep Dive Eddy and I did on the Pathcast recently!
We’ve also done a few Actual Plays over on Twitch; here’s one featuring Eddy as our Guide, with some of the writers and a very special guest from Vorpal Tales!
Onyx Path Media!
This week: The trio talks about our highlights and reflects on the various announcements from the recent Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention! There will probably also be tangents.
As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/
For anyone new to our media section, you can find us running and playing games over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath pretty much every day of the week! Plus, if you’d like your games hosted there, just get in touch with Matthew Dawkins using the contact link on matthewdawkins.com.
Please check out our media schedule for the impressive number of videos on our Twitch channel this week!
Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more. This week, we focused on our OnyxPathCon videos!:
OnyxPathCon World of Darkness Panel
OnyxPathCon Running Virtual Games Panel
OnyxPathCon Disability in Gaming Panel
OnyxPathCon They Came From! RPG Panel
OnyxPathCon 5e OGL Panel
OnyxPathCon Exalted: Exploring the Realm Panel
OnyxPathCon Freelancing Panel
Exalted: Essence – Vorpal Tales – Episode 3
Vampire: The Masquerade – Styx and Bones – Table Goth – Ep. 6
Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!
Actual Story Podcasting have kicked off an excellent They Came from Beneath the Sea! actual play involving some of the cast and crew from the movie VHS 2! You can find their play right here: https://actualstorypodcasting.com/podcast/rpg-anthology
Vorpal Tales have a lot of Onyx Path content for you to check out!
On Fridays at 5pm EDT experience Contagion Chronicle: No Time for Reality Season Two. Chicago is still flooded with the reality warping Contagion from strange spaces beyond the Supernal realms. The original team is still lost in Arcadia, but Macintosh alerted a new team to be ready to step in should he and his team disappear. It’s up to this new group now to leverage their vectors and contain this threat.
On Tuesdays at 5pm EDT experience their new overarching Chronicle of Darkness, Insurgence. Vorpal Tales weave an ambitious tale connecting 7 Chronicles of Darkness game lines in one overarching story of rebellion and the cost of self-awareness. Book 1: Defiance begins the tale with Mage: The Awakening 2e.
Join Vorpal Tales every Monday at 9pm EDT for They Came from Beyond the Grave! Enjoy their tale of derring do against the minions of evil in a six part summer tale! Also, join Vorpal Tales for a story of a pack’s Rite of Passage as they tell a terrifying tale of Werewolf: The Apocalypse every Saturday at 9pm EDT.
You can check them out at https://www.twitch.tv/vorpaltales!
A Bunch of Gamers continue their Werewolf: The Apocalypse chronicle here. The packs approach the grand Necropolis of Colorado Springs and are greeted by the Grim Legion. Odd ghosts that seem to police their own with tyrannical rules the Garou don’t quite understand. United in their common goal of ending a mutual threat the packs begin to search out Carson Faces-the-Storm with a legionnaire known as Hank Verger. Will they succeed in their hunt and end Carson’s grasp upon the Sept of the Sacred Stone? This is episode 74!
The Exaltcast continues its fantastic show kicking the tires of Exalted: Essence’s system!
Turning the key of all reality, the cabal start the time car. They navigate the arcane technology left to them by the previous owners and plot a course to change the world. Wards & Witchcraft reach Session 27 of their fantastic Mage: The Awakening chronicle right here:
Whew, that’s a LOT of media. I have no idea how Rich does this every week. Even with the wonderful Matthew Dawkins accumulating the list, the embeds take awhile! (In before someone’s like “actually it’s really easy; here is a trick.”) 😉
Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!
Electronic Gaming!
As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! The dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)
Virtual Tabletop!
We have two Virtual Tabletop adventures: the Gauntlet of Spiragos and the Dagger of Spiragos for Scarred Lands on Astral TableTop and DriveThruRPG!
Scars of the Divine War, which ended less than 200 years ago, have still not healed. One such scar is the Chasm of Flies, a rent in the earth created when the titan Spiragos the Ambusher was smote down by one of the young gods, Vangal the Ravager. Now, the Chasm is inhabited by spider-eye goblins and their spider allies, but it is also thought to be the resting place of powerful artifacts from that elder age.
Astral TableTop is the easiest way to play any tabletop RPG online, free. Astral already supports popular systems like D&D and Pathfinder, and Astral can support virtually any tabletop roleplaying game. Get started quickly with built-in support for most popular game systems. Whether you’re brand new to TTRPGs or a veteran tabletop gamer, Astral‘s ease-of-use and built in automation is designed to streamline gameplay.
Build your own adventure, or choose from pre-generated game kits like Gauntlet of Spiragos and Dagger of Spiragos. Create character sheets, craft maps, or just jump right in to connect with your friends and start your adventures!
On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).
If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!
Our selection includes these latest fiction books:
Our Sales Partners!
We’re working with Studio2 to provide our traditionally printed books out into your local game stores. Game stores can order via their usual distributors, and can also contact Studio2 directly. And individuals can check out our projects via the links below!
You can pick up the traditionally printed Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau main books, screens, and the official dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire
Now, we’ve added Chronicles of Darkness books such as Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost
Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online
Our Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition books are also available from Studio2 in the US: https://studio2publishing.com/products/vampire-the-masquerade-chicago-by-night-sourcebook
The Dead Summer Sale is happening right now! Select Onyx Path books, screens and dice are on sale through June 30th 11pm EDT!
https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!
As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!
The big Premium Color PoD sale on DriveThruRPG is still ongoing, as mentioned above! This is a limited time offer of all Premium Color books discounted by 25% or so. Now’s the time for folks to stock up as Premium Color PoD prices are going way, way up on July 1! Click here for our sale page: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/sale.php?manufacturers_id=4261
On Sale This Week!
This Wednesday, we have our Trinity Tasty Bit, Les Phantômes, going up for sale!
Also, as mentioned above, TheRich Bastard’s Guide to Magick will be available for pre-order tomorrow on DriveThruRPG!
Conventions!
Because dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, we don’t yet have a list of upcoming physical conventions. Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with! Maybe virtual Gen Con, anyone?
And now, the new project status updates!
Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):
First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)
- Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
- Tasty Bit: Car Lifting Competition (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Panopticon Novella (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- With Great Power (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- Trinity Continuum: Aether core book (Trinity Continuum: Aether)
- Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magick (M20 Victorian)
- Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters (M20 Victorian)
- Scion: Dragon Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Dragon Companion (Scion 2nd Edition)
- TC Aberrant – Terat novella (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- They Came From – Tasty Bit: RMCs (TCf!)
Redlines
- Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Tome of the Pentacle (Mage: the Awakening 2e)
- The Hedge (Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition)
- They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave! core book (They Came From…!)
- Scion: God (Scion 2e)
Second Draft
- No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)
Development
- Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
- Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
- Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)
- TC: Adventure! Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)
Manuscript Approval
Post-Approval Development
- Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
Editing
- Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)
- Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)
- M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
- Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)
- CtL2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
- Heroes in a World of Horror! (They Came From…!)
- Dystopia Rising: Evolution Fiction Anthology (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)
- Prometheus Unbound (was Psi Orders) (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Legacies of Earth (Legendlore)
- Scion Fiction Anthology (Scion 2nd Edition)
- They Came From Beyond the Grave! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
- Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Monsters From the Crypt! (They Came From…!)
- TC: Aeon Novella: Meridian (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)
- The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)
- Proteus Nova Compendium (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- TC: Aeon Novella: Dawn (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Tasty Bit: Pets (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
- Trinity Continuum: Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)
- They Came From Camp Murder Lake! (They Came From…!)
- Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)
- Trinity Continuum: Anima
- Tales of Depravity! (They Came From…!)
- They Came From [Classified]! (They Came From…!)
- They Came From [Classified]! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
- Realms of Magic and Mystery (was Terra Incognita) (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)
- Vigil Watch: The Kelder Mountains (Scarred Lands)
- Ghost Hunters Jumpstart w/RMCs (WoD 20th)
- The Paranormal Investigator’s Handbook (WoD 20th)
- Once and Future (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Apocalyptic Record (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
- M20 Lore of the Traditions (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
Post-Editing Development
- Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
- Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
- N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)
- Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)
- Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
- They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
- Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)
Indexing
Art Direction from Mike Chaney!
Art Direction
- Novas Worldwide
- They Came from Camp Murder Lake! – AD’d
- Scion: Realms of Magic and Mystery
- Scion: Saints and Monsters
- Legendlore: Legacies of Earth
- TC Assassin
- TC Aenima
- Exalted: Essence
- Dead Man’s Rust
- Squeaks in the Deep
- V5 Forbidden Religions
- M20 Victorian Mage
- M20 Technocracy Dossier/Companion – AD’d
- Scion: Masks of the Mythos
- Scion: Dragon
- SCION Demigod
- Adventure!
- TC Mission Statements
- TC Prometheus Unbound
- TC Aberrant N!WE
Layout Queue.
- Spiragos Collected Adventures
- They Came from Beyond the Grave!
- WoD Ghost Hunters
- Legendlore – Layout is rolling along.
- M20 Technocracy Jumpstar
- Hundred Devils Night Parade
- M20 Rich Bastards Guide – With Charles
- They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart
Proofing
- Hunter: The Vigil 2e
At Press
- M20 Technocracy Reloaded – PoD proofs shipping from DTRPG
- Mummy 2 – Getting ready for press.
- Mummy 2e Screen – Getting ready for press.
- Deviant – Waiting on printer specs.
- Deviant Screen – Getting ready for press.
- Technocracy Reloaded Screen – Getting ready for press.
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
We’re reaching the end of Pride month, and today marks the 52nd anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Riots. A year later, in 1970, were the first organized Pride marches, and today there are still fights over LGBTQIA+ rights. Remember, Pride may be one month, but people’s identities are valid and should be celebrated year-round. – Dixie
Comments
27 responses to “Out With an Essence, In With a Squeak [Monday Meeting Notes]”
M20 Lore of the Traditions is coming faster than usual! That’s wonderful!
This is really the year of Mage, which is fantastically exciting.
Am I blind or is the Contagion Chronicle Player’s Companion nowhere to be seen? Is that a good sign for this week or a bad one?
I noticed the same thing. It kind of vanished from the list, which was jarring, because I was looking forward to an update on that.
All grousing aside though, I am extremely pleased with the quick progress on Lore of the Traditions. Long live the Nine!
Coming this week, I think. One little bit to sort, it soon!
See what I said below! It’s quite likely I missed something, being mostly unused to WordPress.
Backer’s should be getting the Backer PDF and the errata very soon, maybe today. Thanks!
TC Aenima
This a new game? lol
I’d say it’s a colab project with Tool, And I am HERE FOR IT.
I think that’s a little joke from Mike I missed!
I mean… it my favorite album in their discography.
I do hope, and I know this is up to Paradox, that Lore of the Traditions gets a Kickstarter so it gets a nice matching copy like Technocracy Reloaded
That is the plan, yes!
Don’t see an entry for Under Alien Skies
I must have missed a copy/paste. There’s a reason Rich does this every week and I’m just filler. 🙂
For RBG, should we _not_ preorder if we want a PoD? Usually Print + POD is cheaper than both separate. Also, can we get literally anything for doing the pre-order like a special cover or the text “Pre Order Edition”? Or maybe it’s initially part of a bundle with it and literally one VTT for Iyeoka Sophia? Just an idea.
Pre-orders for PDFs usually get you a discounted POD. Kinda like the Backer PDFs.
Correct.
If we are putting up a PDF for ordering without the PoD, then we will put up the PoD later 99% of the time, and we will also have a bundle that contains both – with a discount offered with the PoD for those who already bought the PDF that is the same discount as the bundle. These are things we’ve been doing for years and years, and a new Pre-Order methodology isn’t going to change that. No worries!
I’m… confused. What’s the point of pre-ordering a PDF? Am I missing something?
Gets you early access, kinda like the Backer PDFs for Kickstarter. Also usually leads to a discounted POD copy.
The same reasons you would pre-order anything: To pay for it when you have the money, or to support a project, or to make sure you don’t forget to purchase it when it comes out. There are lots of reasons to pre-order.
The Aberrant Jumpstart also seems to be missing from the list. Here’s hoping that it comes out next week. 😉
Sometime soon, yes!
Heirs of the Shogunate…passed to limbo or I’m missing it somewhere?
May be out this week too?
Daniel,
They would definitely have announced that if it was going to come out. As Dixie mentioned above, she thinks it likely she missed a couple of things. Last week Heirs was in the Proofing stage, and inputting Errata is not the last step before release. They will have to upload the finished product to DTRPG and then get PoD samples to verify everything printed correctly. Assume a few more weeks *at least* before release if everything goes smoothly and there are no delays in shipping and no print errors and, and, and.:)
“Remember, Pride may be one month, but people’s identities are valid and should be celebrated year-round. – Dixie”
Preach it!