We made it!

Here on the very precipice of 2017, the first step of many along the Onyx Path in the new year, I first want to thank all of you for your support these past five years.

That’s right, Onyx Path Publishing is five years old, and 2017 will be our sixth year making books and the worlds featured in them!

And we could not have done it without you. Thanks so much!

The Company in 2017

In a lot of ways, 2016 was our year to build the structure that 2017 will be standing on and building from. We’re going to reap the benefits of last year’s work in this coming year, for sure.

We have a staff of five now, with both Rollickin’ Rose Bailey and Mighty Matt McElroy devoted to tightening our creation process in the coming year so that our talented creative teams can better roll through it in a timely manner without sacrificing quality.

We have several freelance graphic designers to call on this year so that Mirthful Mike Chaney has more options to cover all of our layout needs.

We have our Extended Media teams exploring getting our projects (first fiction) up on Amazon and other electronic publishing venues. They’ve been reading through your comments and emails from the past two weeks and are pulling together a battle plan for how we can help our community play our games on on-lines sites like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.

Getting Books in Stores

Last year, we ran three Kickstarters whose purpose was to get the traditionally printed books into game stores, with Scarred Lands, Scion 2e, and Pugmire. This year, we’ll see how that all works out even as we’re running a few more KSs that have the same goal. Plus, we are extending our list of available books being offered by our friends at Indy Press Revolution as both more Deluxe/Prestige books are added, and they distribute the traditionally printed books I mentioned.

(As an aside, some of you may not realize that Indy Press Revolution has both an online store that you can order from as an individual, and are distributors that your Friendly Local Game Store can order from to get a selection of our books into your nearest store. Please let your local game store owner know that IPR is one easy way they can get Onyx Path books for their customers.)

 

Convention Appearances

The last couple of years, we’ve been fine-tuning how we deal with convention attendance; do we go, and if so, what is our purpose? Other than smoozing with our fans and fellow RPG creators, of course. Without a warehouse jammed with books like in the old WW days, we have to order and ship anything we hope to sell, so having that rare book from 1995 for sale isn’t something we can really do as an ongoing thing.

What worked all last year was to focus on bringing the new books and other stuff, and re-arranging our booth so that we have more opportunities for demoing and introducing folks to how to play our games. We’ve started linking our booth demoing to the games that are being played in the gaming areas by the Wrecking Crew and other folks playing Onyx Path games, and we expect to more of that in 2017.

Especially since, this year is Gen Con‘s 50th Anniversary, so there is every expectation that the place will be a madhouse. If all goes as planned, we will also be in a booth twice as big as previously, along with our friends at Nocturnal Media; the better to highlight Scarred Lands in Pathfinder and 5e editions.

We’re thrilled to start 2017’s con season at MidWinter Con in Milwaukee next week – check out more info below in the BLURBS! section. And expect to see some sort of Onyx Path representation at even more cons this year coming up.

Kickstarters

Yes. We will do some.

Seriously, we’re continuing to look at Kickstarter not as simply a funding tool, although that is always important, but as a way to involve our community in the creation and outreach for a project. We want each KS to be more like an event that couldn’t happen any other way.

Our biggest experiment actually starts off the year, as we are prepping for the Kickstarter for the Prince’s Gambit casual card game. We’ve simply have never done a card game Kickstarter before, so there is a lot to learn. Should this work out, though, it could open the door for a Werewolf follow-up, and/or at least one of the Pugmire card games Eddy has been cackling madly over.

We have further potential KSs this year for Monarchies of Mau, and then maybe Changeling: the Lost 2nd and/or Hunter: the Vigil 2nd, Cavaliers of Mars, What Fire Hath Wrought: the Dragon Blooded, Deviant, Dark Eras 2, and most certainly the Trinity Continuum. Maybe one or more card games, maybe something new, and maybe something almost 20 years old.

 

Very Short Looks at Game Lines and Not Schedule Previews

World of Darkness: Like we said in August, in 2017 we’re really going to concentrate on getting the many KS projects we have started out to folks this year when we are still in kind of a natural break between major game lines that are at their 20 year marks. Plus, we’re preparing our ideas for projects that work with the new White Wolf‘s 5th Edition. There is a lot still unknown about all that, so we’ll all see how things develop together!

Chronicles of Darkness: We’ll be continuing the 2nd Editions with CtL2, HtV2, and Geist 2nd as well, and we’re looking at a series of Night Horrors books that bring back that idea of books featuring antagonists and other weirdness for the lines. We’re also looking at a list of projects still in the offing we need to deliver for the existing lines, and maybe a “bluebook” or two.

Exalted 3rd: We’ve been working with the Devs to create a schedule that works, and our team is committed to putting together a regular series of releases for EX3 in 2017. Everyone involved in the monumental task of creating the 3rd Edition core book devoted insane amounts of effort to it, and that very extended effort was exhausting. Time now, though, to get folks the new books they need to keep playing.

Scion 2nd Edition: We’re going to be making and delivering the KS’d projects. Gearing up for even more coolness beyond that.

Trinity Continuum: Kickstarter this year, with two whole lines starting there for the TC core and TC: Aeon.

Scarred Lands: PGs shipped out, along with adventures and the revised Wise and the Wicked. We’ve been talking about a new Creature Collection, if anybody might be interested in that.

Pugmire: Going to get it made and shipped, the KS projects too, and then the next books in the line. (Which we haven’t announced yet in order to focus on the KSd projects). Monarchies of Mau KS’d, and maybe a card game this year. This world has the potential to really go nuts, so we’re keeping a careful eye on both the RPG and the extra projects like the fiction and interactive audio drama adventure.

Cavaliers of Mars: KS’d this year, and we’re expecting a very cool and focused set of projects to come out from that for starters.

New Games and Game Worlds: Yes, we have a bunch in various stages of creation, from accepted pitches to being written. I’m not seeing a rush to release in 2017 next year with all we have happening, but who knows what might change?

Allright, that’s next year in a prophetic nutshell. If 2016 was any indication, any and all of this could be upended by surprise developments, so let’s figure that this is the path so far as we can tell, and start walking it and see where it leads.

It’s going to be fantastic!

 

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BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

We’re exploring card game Kickstarters, packaging, and components, for Prince’s Gambit. Justin, Eddy, a crack team of players, and our talented videographers have finished shooting the KS videos in Atlanta and are assembling edits even as you read this. Things look good, and we are all for starting the KS in late January so long as the process of pulling the KS together cooperates. If so, then Monarchies of Mau KS would be next, after Gambit.

 

ON SALE!

 

 

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: https://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

 

 

 

It is now the preordained time for Dawn of Heresies, the Mummy: the Curse novel written by internationally renowned author Brian Hodge to arise! Both PDF and physical book PoD versions will be available Wednesday the 4th on DTRPG!

 

 

Open the V20 Dark Ages: Tome of Secrets now on DTRPG! Both PDF and physical book PoD versions are now available! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197358/V20-Dark-Ages-Tome-of-Secrets

The Tome of Secrets is a treatment of numerous topics about Cainites and stranger things in the Dark Medieval World. It’s about peeling back the curtain, and digging a little deeper. Inside, you’ll find:

• Expanded treatment of Assamite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, Necromancy, and Setite Sorcery

• A look at Cainite knightly orders, faith movements, and even human witchcraft

• Letters and diaries from all over the Dark Medieval World

 

 

 

Travel with us all the way to the Red Planet for the Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart: A Festival of Blades, available in PDF and PoD on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/191678/A-Festival-of-Blades-A-Cavaliers-of-Mars-Jumpstart

Live, fight, and love on Mars, a world of red death and strange mystery, a world of savagery and romance.

Includes: 

• A complete adventure set in one of dying Mars’ greatest remaining cities.
• The innovative DEIMOS rules, for high-flying, swashbuckling adventure.
• Four pre-generated player characters, ready to get into the heart of the action.

 

 

The Advance PDF for Reap the Whirlwind, the Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition Jumpstart swirls into being on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/201127/Reap-the-Whirlwind-Revised-VtR-2e

You are a vampire, a junkie. Every night, you beg and you borrow and you steal just a little more life, just a few more sweet moments. But there’s a guy at the top. The Prince. He’s got everything. The money, the secrets, the blood.

Tonight, you’re going to take it from him. Tomorrow, there’ll be hell to pay.

This updated edition of Reap the Whirlwind features revisions to match the core rulebook for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition. Text edits and rules clarifications have also been updated.

Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes:

• Rules for creating and playing vampires in the Chronicles of Darkness
• The first two levels of every clan Discipline, the dark powers of the dead
• A complete adventure by noted horror author Chuck Wendig

This new revised Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes an updated booklet, 7 condition cards, and the interactive Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition character sheet.

 

 

The Locker is open; the Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker, that is! The Advance PDF is now available on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/199275/Chronicles-of-Darkness-Hurt-Locker

Hurt Locker features:

• Treatment of violence in the Chronicles of Darkness. Lasting trauma, scene framing, and other tools for making your stories hurt.
• Many new player options, including Merits, supernatural knacks, and even new character types like psychic vampires and sleeper cell soldiers.
• Expanded equipment and equipment rules.

Hurt Locker requires the Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook or any other standalone Chronicles of Darkness rulebook such as Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, or Beast: The Primordial to use.

 

 

Discover the long-awaited  Secrets of the Covenants for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition as we unearth the Advance PDF now on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/199280/Secrets-of-the-Covenants

 

 

 

We have now added a B&W PoD version of the Endless Ages Vampire Anthology to the existing full color PDF and PoD choices! Celebrating 25 years of personal horror, the eighteen stories in Endless Ages range in style and aesthetics from the very first edition of Vampire released in 1991, all the way to the latest books put out for the 20th Anniversary Edition. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193199/V20-The-Endless-Ages-Anthology

 

 

Seek the Cainite Conspiracies, the fiction anthology for V20 Dark Ages, in PDF and PoD physical book formats! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195704/V20-The-Cainite-Conspiracies-Anthology

This collection of short stories features tales by Vampire developers such as Justin Achilli, Eddy Webb, David A. Hill, Jr., and Neall Raemonn Price along with award-winning horror authors including Maurice Broaddus, Catherine Lundoff, and Richard Dansky.

 

 

 

Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition comes to life in both PDF and PoD physical book versions NOW on DTRPG! http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/189395/Promethean-the-Created-2nd-Edition

You are a pilgrim now, one of the Created. You rose to life from dead flesh or inert matter, under the ministrations of one of your own, or a mad scientist, or perhaps just the power of the Divine Fire. You wander the world, sometimes alone, sometimes in the blessed company of your own kind, driven by memories of events and facts you never knew, all in the service of one Great Work…

…to be human.

Humans don’t make it easy, though. The Divine Fire that animates you burns too bright, blinds people, and scorches the land if you linger too long. It masks your disfigurements and makes you appear human, but that mask slips and people see your hideous, true form. The Pilgrimage is a long, difficult road, but it is yours, and you know, somehow, that the salvation of the New Dawn waits at the end.

This book contains:

• The complete guide to playing a Promethean in the Chronicles of Darkness
• Reimagined Lineages and Refinements, and a redesigned system for Transmutations
• A more detailed approached to the Pilgrimage that presents players with more control over their characters’ path
• New challenges on the road to humanity, including deranged, greedy alchemists

 

 

 

CONVENTIONS!

Onyx Path will be at Mid Winter Con 2017 in January in the lovely city of Milwaukee. Come brave the cold wastes to game and cavort with us! Please keep an eye out on the MidWinter site for announcements as to our very special beta test and Play With The Creator special events! http://www.midwintergamingconvention.com/

Here are three reasons to attend, if you had any doubts!:

1. RPG Playing! We have once again convinced Dave Martin and his Wrecking Crew team of game masters to run a vast plethora of Onyx Path games. Everything from World of Darkness to Scion to Cavaliers of Mars and Pugmire, as well as a bunch of Prince’s Gambit casual vampire card game sessions. We have a whole ballroom dedicated to our games this year, so sign up and play.
2. RPG Playtests! Onyx Path loves to use MidWinter as a sort of test-lab for our games, and this year is no exception! Eddy Webb will be playtesting Monarchies of Mau, the cat follow-up to the smash-hit Pugmire, as well as a couple of card game projects he has been tinkering with. Rose Bailey will be running a playtest sneak-peak of Cavaliers of Mars, and Neall Raemonn Price may have some Scion 2e goodness to share.
3. The Onyx Path Gang! Yep, a bunch of us will be at MidWinter, and not only will we be at the intimate Onyx Q&A listed during the events, but we’ll be at our booth in the sales area, at other events, hanging out in our gaming room with the Wrecking Crew, or just sitting back and chatting around the hotel. MidWinter is a great venue to speak with us as it is nowhere near as hectic as GenCon, and we have fewer business commitments. So look for me, Rose, Eddy, Neall, Monica, Matt McElroy, and a bunch of our awesome creative contributors too!

 

 

 

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And now, the new project status updates!

 

 

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

• Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
• Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)
• M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)
• M20 Cookbook (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)
• VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)
• WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)
• CtD C20 Jumpstart (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
• Ex Novel 2 by Aaron Rosenberg (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• C20 Novel (Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)
• Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)
• Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)
• Monarchies of Mau Early Access (Pugmire)

 

Redlines