More on how the Onyx Path Virtual Convention went in a bit – first, we’re heading towards entering the final week for the BackerKit crowdfunding campaign for Exalted: Essence Storyteller’s Guide!
Much like our blobby friend in the art, we are lumbering towards 300% funded with over 870 backers! Thanks to all of you who have backed – and we’re looking forward to everybody else joining in on the fun, too!
We made mention of our new crowdfunding arrangement with GMS in the UK to fulfill our crowdfunders for our UK and EU backers – so if you are in those countries but unsure about backing, please do review James’ estimated shipping costs now that we have lowered them thanks to GMS!
Here’s another sneak peek at part of the text:
Powerful foes and deadly opposition are part and parcel for the Exalted. The Storyteller’s Guide includes advice for how to make powerful and interesting adversaries, along with some practical notes on how to scale enemy die pools for different play groups.
Antagonist Difficulty
Storytellers are not expected to be expert statisticians in order to run the game, but a basic understanding of how the numbers work is helpful in building Antagonists. If math isn’t your strong suit, no need to panic! You can always modify your Antagonists on the fly during play if you feel they aren’t working, and you can learn through practice what number ranges work best. This section offers more guidance on how the numbers work at the table, and how you can use them to make interesting challenges.
The Right Numbers
When comparing strengths directly, your players’ highest Attribute + Ability combinations should be weighed against your Antagonist’s primary dice pool. Averaging results in Exalted is easy: every two dice rolled generate one success on average, so you can also compare attack pools or social influence pools against an Antagonist’s Resolve or Defense by simply halving the rolled dice.
The players’ characters, by default, have more ways to add dice to a roll than Antagonists do. Players can stunt, use teamwork, or work to create situational or environmental bonuses in their favor. Antagonists can add two dice to any roll where it seems appropriate, but don’t use the full teamwork rules and it’s often easier to ignore bonuses and penalties than to work them out for each Antagonist roll. As the Storyteller, you seldom have as much time as the players do to think about all possible bonus sources for every roll. When a protagonist and Antagonist’s dice pools are equal, the player’s character will win the contest a bit more than half the time on an average roll, and can expend time or resources to win reliably. When the Antagonist’s pool is 1-2 dice higher, the player will have to expend moderate time or resources to win on an average roll, and more to win reliably. If the Antagonist’s pool is 1-2 dice lower, the player will regularly win contests without having to expend resources, though applying bonuses can make the win even more reliable.
Where Antagonists have the advantage is in flexibility. Their primary dice pool will apply to many different rolls, often nearly every roll they’d make if not forced to act outside their area of expertise. Players usually have only one or two Abilities at their highest rating, but should be encouraged to find ways to use those highest Abilities regularly.
Charms and Qualities
Mundane ways of adding dice (teamwork, stunting, situational bonuses) can be supplemented by using Charms. While the usual dice limit of 10 prevents these from stacking indefinitely, players can improve their rolls significantly with even Essence 1 Charms. An Excellency in a character’s top Attribute or Ability usually provides 3-5 dice for one mote, which characters recover at the end of each round of combat, so one roll per round could be 3-5 dice higher without expending any resources not immediately recovered.
Number doubling effects (Double 9s and beyond) are harder to calculate. Every additional number doubled adds 1 extra average success per 10 dice rolled, making them a considerable advantage added to large dice pools and negligible when added to small ones.
Some Charms penalize the opponent instead. Guard-Breaking Technique, for example, can reduce the target’s Defense by one, equivalent to increasing the attack pool of their opponents by two until the effect ends. By stacking bonuses, number doubling, and penalties, characters can significantly shift the balance of power.
Setting Values
Putting everything together, here are some guidelines for determining what numbers to assign your Antagonist. These are based on starting characters, and can go up slightly as your players’ own statistical values increase.
Dice Pools: 8-10 dice make the Antagonist competitive with an Exalt using their strongest Attribute and Abilities. 6-8 dice make the Antagonist competitive with an Exalt using less important Abilities they’ve still invested a few points into. 5 or fewer dice make the Antagonist possible for an Exalt to overcome in almost all situations, an antagonist with a primary pool in this range is probably a trivial character.
11-13 dice make the Antagonist difficult to compete with even using an Exalt’s strongest skills, bonuses from various sources are required to even keep up; winning a long-term engagement will require good circumstances, more resources, or considerable good luck. 14 or more dice make the Antagonist exceptionally powerful, they can compete unassisted with an Exalt using powerful Charms and likely decimate such opponents using Charms of their own.
Resolve: Halve a dice pool to get a comparable range for Resolve figures. Resolve can be decreased by up to three by learning and leaning on the Antagonist’s Virtues and Intimacies, so a high Resolve can be overcome through social engagement instead of, or as well as, through other bonuses.
Health Levels: Any number of health levels can eventually be overcome by a determined Exalt, their quantity is more a reflection of how long that will take. 1-5 health levels represent a fragile combatant (by Exalted standards) who’ll be weakened or incapacitated by even a single Decisive blow. 6-8 health levels represent an average combatant who can survive an average Decisive attack and continue to fight. 9+ health levels indicate a particularly sturdy Antagonist.
Defensive values play a major role in how much difficulty extra health levels add. An Antagonist with a high Hardness but only a handful of health levels forces players to build up Power, possibly over multiple rounds, to land a single, decisive hit. An Antagonist with low Hardness, Soak, and Defence but many health levels can be subjected to many Decisive attacks before they fall. Wound penalties have greater effect against characters with many health levels, consider whether you want combat to become easier over time as the opponent is injured, or more difficult through qualities like Well of Rage that convert wound penalties into bonuses. Note that an Antagonist won’t always fight until they’ve run out of health levels, intelligent enemies may retreat after taking a certain amount of damage.
Defense: Halve a dice pool to get a comparable range for Defense figures. All else being equal, a high Defense value incentivizes Build Power actions instead of withering attacks; on average a Withering attack will generate Power equal to (attacker’s dice pool/2) – (defender’s Defense) +1, while Build Power usually generates (character’s dice pool/2) – 3. Charms and other effects can alter this balance.
Hardness: A value of 3 or less is largely negligible, characters will seldom wish to wager any less on a decisive attack. A value of 4-7 may take a few rounds of accruing Power before a decisive attack can be attempted. A value of 8 or more makes each decisive attack a challenge, the culmination of several rounds of accumulating Power or many characters attacking the same foe to stack concentrated attack penalties (ExEss p. 140). Note that a character’s Power pool is capped at 10, an antagonist with a Hardness of 11 or more cannot be damaged without first decreasing it.
Soak: A value of 1-3 provides reasonable protection against decisive attacks. A value of 4-5 can completely negate the damage of a weak or moderate decisive attack, depending on luck. A value of 6 or more will regularly negate moderate decisive attacks and reduce even powerful attacks to minimal damage. Note that for decisive attacks, Power is spent on Step 5 while Soak is applied on Step 7, so landing a decisive attack that’s completely negated by Soak is significantly more devastating than a decisive attack missing (which loses the character only 1 Power).
Outnumbered Antagonists
It’s tempting to create one Antagonist with really high numbers to pit against your players’ characters. This works better with some numbers than others. A high Soak value might just mean characters fail to damage the enemy over and over again, leading to frustration, and a high Resolve could just stop players from trying social influence. If you’re using very high numbers, make sure your players understand how they can work together to overcome them using teamwork, Gambits, Charms, and more.
And now: the Con.
The last three days we ran the 7th Onyx Path Virtual Convention, with games being offered for play at StartPlaying, and APs on Plastic Age Play‘s Twitch, and a raft of panels featuring your favorite game lines on our own Twitch channel. Those panels are watchable with a Twitch subscription now, and we’ll be putting them up on our YouTube channel in the weeks to come!
During those panels, we made a few announcements of upcoming projects, which I’m not going to go into all the details about here, as well as reviewing, explaining, and answering questions from viewers about our ongoing projects!
First off, in the Opening Ceremonies panel, we were joined by Peter from Demiplane so that he could announce that the Scion 2e Demiplane Nexus was in Early Access, and he provided a link that folks are already trying out! More on the in the VTT area of The Blurbs! below.
But make no mistake, this is not just for online play – it’s a sophisticated character creation toolset you can use for offline play as well. To help everybody along, the Scion 2e Demiplane Nexus version of the Light Extinguished Jumpstart is free on the site, too! We were also joined on the Scion panel by Samantha from Demiplane who was one of the folks who actually worked on the Scion Nexus site, and it was great that she was there to demonstrate, explain, and share her enthusiasm for the project!
That’s not all for Scion, though, because at the Scion panel we announced that we’re currently working on Scion 3rd Edition! But don’t expect a crowdfunder until next year at the earliest. The biggest exciting change is that Scion 3e will be using the Storypath Ultra ruleset!
For Exalted, we announced that the Liminals “fatsplat” is slated to have a crowdfunder at the end of year in order to create a deluxe version to go along with all the previous ones!
The news for Curseborne was so hefty that we needed to have two panels to cover it! The second one, on Sunday, being the one where we announced Curseborne: Covenant, the next core book that adds the next tier levels of Entanglement and all the new powers, rituals, etc that comes with those tiers.
The book also allows for players to move from the street level, local concern, style of play presented in Curseborne itself, to city-wide and further! Power plays (or avoiding them) and politics between Families, Lineages, and political groups called Conspiracies are now part of what the Accursed can engage with, with rules and lore than go further and deeper into their world!
For the growing fantasy-verse that is the Earthbane Cycle, we announced a new setting called Jadestorm that promises to bring a higher overall power level to our Cycle! We don’t want to say much about it as yet, but Matthew and some of his writing team may have teased juuust a few bits of it during the Earthbane panel!
Next, while I think that while this announcement isn’t for a particular game line, it is pretty far-reaching in terms of the sorts of projects folks will be seeing in both our Community Content and using the StoryPath Ultra ruleset! We announced how the SPU License works and how it fits into what we are already doing with our Storypath Nexus Community Content site.
There are essentially three tiers of how a creator can do their own stuff derived from our IPs and offer it for sale:
- This is the basic Storypath Nexus CC for folks to create supplements that are set in one of our settings and using either the Storypath or SPU rules.
- Then, still part of the Storypath Nexus CC site, creators can use the SPU rules with their own settings. The standard rules for the site still apply, so Onyx Path would still own anything put up for sale there.
- The big new component then, is the SPU Third-Party License, which has different rules to it, including a different royalty structure, for creators who want to create and own their own IPs but use the SPU rules.
(We’ll have charts to make this more easily understandable, and an actual process for pitching your game to us, as well as the very important contract, and a lovely logo you’ll need to have on your projects under this SPU License, very soon).
Pretty sure those were the big new things we announced – although go ahead and yell at me if I missed any of them!
For now, here are the thoughts our gang of attendees had:
From Eddy:
It’s so wild to me that it’s been seven years since we started doing this! As always, the panels were great fun, and it’s always a blast to answer people’s questions (especially after sitting on the information for a while!). In particular, I’m glad we’re able to start talking about Curseborne: Covenant (not “Covenants”), as I think it’s a great evolution of the core game. A huge thanks to everyone for watching!
While Dixie has this to say:
As always, I had a blast at Onyx Path’s virtual convention! It’s always great getting to tell the fans what we’ve been up to, as well as making a bunch of announcements about upcoming books and fielding questions. I really enjoyed talking about Realms of Pugmire (the rat king!), Curseborne and its various books, and doing the four other panels I was on about general things. I can’t wait to see Scion Third Edition and Liminals, as well as Covenant!
Matthew adds:
At this year’s Onyx Path Con, my highlight was seeing the unmitigated enthusiasm for Jadestorm, Curseborne: Covenant, and Scion 3rd Edition! Everything we were able to say about these games was received with excitement and a flurry of questions, so going into the mechanics behind Chains (for your fistful of dice for Jadestorm), the ideas and implementation of conspiracies (in Curseborne: Covenant), and the teasers we can provide for Scion, was all a joy. Thank you to the fans who viewed live and interacted with us! You really make the convention worthwhile.
And this from a very tired Travis:
The 2026 Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention was a rousing success! This was the seventh time we’ve put together an online con, which is thanks to the ongoing interest and participation of the fans! I had the pleasure of running tech on most of the panels, so I got to see the excitement for our various announcements as they happened. It’s always a great privilege to see folks excited by the year’s news and field the various questions. Our community is lovely and it’s great to have everyone gather to share our love of gaming!
On a personal note, I’m very grateful for the opportunity to discuss ongoing developments in the Scarred Lands for Savage Worlds. We got to dive into the current state of the Player’s Guide and upcoming projects, including the first Savage Worlds original release, the Gluttonhold Gambit, from the mind of Matthew Dawkins!
Now, I’m gonna go take a nap!
(While Travis is sleeping the TravisSleep, we do have some Twitch programming this week with Awkward GM Corbin returning to the channel on Wednesday at 7 PM EDT with a new episode of Accursed in Boston! On Thursday Tom Murr will be on the channel for Guiding the Path at 3PM EDT. Hop in and ask Tom all about his Curseborne actual play from the convention!)
For myself, I touched on this aspect of the convention on just about every panel I was on in between joking around: it is staggering to think that we have been creating and publishing all of these books and games for 15 years now! That is simply amazing! 15 years of a labor of love, through thick and thin, and it is just something we could not be doing without your support! We are just so grateful for all of y’all out there who read this blog, post on our social media, comment on and talk about and play our games!
Thanks to you all for allowing us to do this thing of ours for 15 years of:
Many Worlds… One Path!
Blurbs!
Crowdfunding!
Funded in 2.5 Hours On BackerKit: Exalted Essence Storyteller’s Guide! Almost 300% Funded!
Follow this link to join over 850 backers!
https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/56e7c5a3-11a9-4eba-8c46-a4c306b51e57/landing
Onyx Path Media!
Check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week!
In today’s Onyx Path News, Matthew talks about Divine Inspiration and the Onyx Path Con just gone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjhLKWuHtc
And on The Gentleman’s Guide to Gaming, Matthew goes even further, delving deep into Onyx Path Con‘s upcoming releases and announcements: https://youtu.be/KjnBc3QsSGY
Virtual Tabletop!
Check it out now! The Scion Demiplane Nexus! Click here for Early Access:
And still going – the 15th Anniversary Sale!
Scion Demigod Available on Roll20 NOW!
The Scion: Origin and Scion Hero Compendiums are now available on Roll20!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing
The first of our official Scion sheets designed for Foundry VTT are now available! https://foundryvtt.co
They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea
Looking for more virtual tabletop resources? We have a selection of tokens, encounters, and more available now at DriveThruRPG! https://bit.ly/3SnrNJ7
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!
Select Chronicles of Darkness Screens and Monarchies of Mau books,
screens, and dice 50% off at Studio 2:
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/onx-onyx-path-publishing
Some more deluxe books have popped up on Studio 2, with more on the way.
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/onx-onyx-path-publishing
As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles in PDF and PoD versions at DriveThruRPG.com!
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).
On Sale This Week!
Now available in both PDF and bullet-resistant physical book PoD versions! Get to duh DTRPG this Wednesday!
On Sale Last Week!
Being a god isn’t easy, so here’s a book of story prompts to make your divine existence a bit easier! Scion: God‘s Divine Inspiration – on DTRPG in simply divine PDF and PoD versions!
Conventions!
Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
Origins Game Fair, June 17th – 21st (We’ll be in the Studio 2 booth)
Project Status Updates!
Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out May’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-may-2026/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
First Draft
Storypath – SPU Tasty Bit – Magic (September 2026)
- Another SPU Tasty Bit coming up! This one will focus on magical systems for your SPU game.
Final Draft
Curseborne – Second Novella from Player’s Guide KS
- Our second novella is in final drafts, further expanding the world of Curseborne.
The World Below – The Advent of Silt
- This piece of work is looking spectacular. You’ll see a whole new way of playing The World Below with the Advent of Silt. Check out the Earthbane panel from the weekend for more details!
Editing
Storypath – SPU Tasty Bit – Cybernetics (August 2026)
- A Tasty Bit focused entirely on creating and implementing cybernetics in your SPU game. The first draft was really good, so it’s zoomed along to editing!
Exalted – Alchemicals Companion: Avatars of Brass and Shadow
- Our stretch goal companion book from the Alchemicals crowdfunder was approved by all the people it needed to be approved by, and is off to editing!
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Infernals – Catching up on the art buy for the rest of the book today…
- Ex Essence PG – Checking in on artists as I’d like this to get done relatively soon.
- Curseborne Covenant – Checking with Maria about the cover and sending two pieces to Skan to work on.
- Curseborne Tangled Webs – Checking with Maria about those last two pieces…
- Curseborne Compact Edition – Art situation figured… might fit this in after I’m done with ATG.
- TC Danger Skies – Checking in on map situation.
- Ex Essence STG (BK) – It’s a goin!
Layout Queue
- Pugmire 2e Unleashed – With Ron Thompson.
- At The Gates – Still cranking on it. Making things purty also means making layout complicated AF.
- TC Aeon Tasty Bit Omnibus #2
- Izzy Curseborne Novella – I just need to finish up the cover today and we can get that ready for backers.
- Curseborne Screen – Pinging printer this week to get cutlines and to confirm size of the booklet that goes with it.
- ATG Bookmarks
Proofing Queue
- Curseborne Community Content Stuff
- Making of Curseborne – Looking up some artist notes from the original art buy…
At Press
- They Came From the RPG Antho – Shipping from printer to fulfillment shippers.
- Curseborne – Reviewing printer quote stuff. Now we navigate the murky waters of getting books and the peripheral stuff printed up.
- Ex3 Alchemicals – PDF out to Backers… errata ends Thursday…
- Branch Riders Facilitator’s Guide – PoD proofs ordered.
- Curseborne Jumpstart – PoD prep.
- TCF Cyclops Cave Jumpstart – Prepping Advance PDF.
- Scion God Jumpstart – PoD proof ordered.
- TCF the Danger Zone – PDF and PoD versions on sale this Weds on DTRPG!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Today we celebrate the life and career of Anthony Bourdain, American chef and travel documentarian (born 1956), who ended his life today in 2018. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition, with verbal and written aplomb, verve, lots of attitude, and righteous anger. Eat and/or drink something from another culture you’ve never tried before today in honor of his memory!