And no, that’s not a reference to what might be our next crowd-funded project; it’s a reference to today’s Monday Lunch Meeting where we had Matthew out, Mirthful Mike with a bad arm after his 2nd Covid shot, and Eddy coming in later after he took his dog to the vet.

So we had some holes in our Monday Lunch Meeting reports process, but managed to fill in a lot of them. And then Eddy did show up and we filled him in on the things we’d covered and he filled us in on the topics he needed the team to discuss.

Of course, one of his topics was how the playtests for Squeaks in the Deep – the next Pugmire book, and possible next crowd-funding project – were going. The answer is very well indeed, and you should be able to see them on our Twitch and YouTube feeds now and/or eventually.

I know a lot of our community are very, very interested in whether Squeaks or Exalted Essence will be our next crowd-funding project, and I almost went with a big teasing sort of post today because of that. But it’s not about teasing, really, it’s about being sure that all of what we want to do with either of the projects that could be crowd-funded is ready and prepped before we go live.

We often say that “we’ve learned a lot” after doing 50+ KSs over the years, and this is an example. We’ve learned not to rush a campaign until we’re sure that we have mostly finalized all the pieces that go together to make these things fun for everyone. ExEss is also a project that we need to run past Paradox when we have the crowd-funding campaign set up, so it’s even more important that there are no missing sections as they can’t approve what isn’t there.

So, please, don’t worry. We will let everyone know what campaign is going next once we have everything prepped and know for sure ourselves.

I know it seems weird after we’ve had KS after KS, but having some time between them is actually a good thing. Gives everyone a chance to take a breath and be sure things for our previous campaigns are rolling along the right way.

Not to mention all the fabulous projects that aren’t KS’d!

Some Cheese from the Meeting:

KS fulfillment is starting for both V5 Cults of the Blood Gods and Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, and folks should get their backer rewards really soon, if the shipping services are kind.

Even though we didn’t get these out earlier than originally estimated, like a lot of our recent KSs, we are really proud of our teams and the teams at the printers and shippers, who all managed to get through all of the job breakdowns and delays of 2020 and still get as close as we are to the estimate!

For some non-KS news, we talked a lot about the games and panels we’ll be featuring at the second Onyx Path Virtual Convention in June. In fact, I can tell you now that we’re looking at June 11th-13th, starting midway through that Friday the 11th and last until early Sunday night – the 13th. After the con is supposed to be done, Dixie has an “after hours” event all planned for folks to hang around and hang out.

Obviously, more on the con as we finalize things!

More on the virtual gaming front, we’re finishing up the month of Actual Plays having hit all but three of our Jumpstarts. These will all be up on our YouTube channel, so if (when?) you are interested in a game line, you can look up its Actual Play and check out how the players are playing it. We’re hoping it proves a useful library for curious gamers!

Circling back around to the beginning of today’s blog, our meeting was abbreviated, but the info we needed to share was shared despite the “holes” we had to maneuver around. Not as much to note here on the blog today, but I figure that some of ya’ll aren’t going to complain about that! 🙂

The holey meeting is kind of an example of the sort of flexibility we have always wanted to have as a company – with the point of it being that we want to help our creators function better, to deal with real-people issues that come up in the lives of our teams, and still get our projects done to the highest standards and out as soon as those standards are met.

Today, for example, the Backer PDF for M20 Technocracy Reloaded was sent out to backers a full seven months earlier than estimated during the KS. This is only possible because our teams are dedicated to bouncing back from 2020 and towards an even brighter future with all of you, and, of course, our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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BLURBS!

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Kickstarter!

Like I mentioned above, we’re still pulling together the graphics for our next couple of crowd-funding campaigns. More when we have it!

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: Here they go on a Deep Dive into the winding warrens, twisting tunnels, dank and dangerous dungeons, and laborious labs of the mice and rats of Squeaks in the Deep, the latest of the books for Realms of Pugmire!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

It’s the concluding week of Jumpstart month for Onyx Path media! We’re running one of every Jumpstart we can for our games, introducing them to new players and putting them in the hands of GMs skilled at some games, but new to these ones! We would love it if you checked some of these out, to maybe get acquainted for the first time with some of our games! Check out the schedule and tune in, and if you miss one, look it up on our YouTube channel!

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 attached 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, including:

Scion – Become as Gods – Episode 9 – https://youtu.be/qMkySY3YIP8

Changeling: The Dreaming – Yours to Keep Jumpstart – Episode 1 – https://youtu.be/1dvlo8OmnL4

Scarred Lands – Dead Man’s Rust – Episode 4 Part 1 – https://youtu.be/7QNcB9smpZ0

Scarred Lands – Dead Man’s Rust – Episode 4 Part 2 – https://youtu.be/YW1bQpsfV3s

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – Trouble at the Steel Pier Jumpstart – https://youtu.be/NPH7WWNbk9A

Deviant: The Renegades – A Cautionary Tale – Episode 15 – https://youtu.be/bim0NNm2A0o

Cavaliers of Mars – A Festival of Blades Jumpstart – https://youtu.be/DRmR97Vjpis

Vampire: The Requiem – Reap The Whirlwind Jumpstart – https://youtu.be/krrv1uZ693k

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

McStabber Studios run a whole hell of a lot of our games over on Twitch, so here’s one of their YouTube playlists for Vampire: The Masquerade, set in the lovely Chicago by Night: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNJbJLVC_ivzAdrmtpsbofOjF64utIV7q

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNJbJLVC_ivzAdrmtpsbofOjF64utIV7q

The Band of Badgers YouTube channel is now hosting their Vampire: The Masquerade actual play, which is just superb. A fine chronicle to watch: https://youtu.be/gWdj_LKolws

The Exaltcast continues its fantastic show introducing you to the wonders and horrors of the Realm and its various inhabitants. The next episode is for the South of Creation – https://www.exaltcast.com/2021/04/19/smoke-ascends-to-heaven-the-south/ –  The South of Creation is dense with varied kingdoms in a dozen equatorial climes. Monica and Chazz talk Chiaroscuro‘s ruins, Paragon’s creepiness, diamond deserts, and the First and Forsaken Lion‘s desire to just play Warhammer 40K.

Over on ExalTwitch they’ve been running some amazing games of Exalted, and even have a show wiki for viewers to follow along! ExalTwitch: Academy is set in The House of Bells, a prestigious school for Dragon-Blooded Exalted of the Realm to train in the ways of war. The chronicle follows three young Dragon-Bloods as they try to prove their worth to their fellow students, their Houses, and themselves.

Their most recent VOD, Episode 14 (“Runaway”), is here: https://youtu.be/M5kJqhgt4Lc

The playlist for the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zb3M2x8PJk&list=PLsZP95-GZNa0ynoCIVyliNF5rypCHvh0M

The show wiki, with synopses, character descriptions, etc: RPGClinic Wiki | Fandom

Wards & Witchcraft continue their wonderful Mage: The Awakening chronicle which you can watch right here:

In the shadow of an ancient ruin, the Consillium of Boston meet to witness a joining. The cabal are poor party guests and get into dangerous situations.   https://youtu.be/DrKzB79lEs8

Ekorren continues their excellent Exalted 3rd Edition series over on YouTube! You can find their latest video right here: https://youtu.be/ND1hqs716ks This video is all about streamlining rules, simplifying resource management, and making challenging fights!

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!

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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.)

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Virtual TableTop!

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!

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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:

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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

Here is the Studio2 portion of the Spring Changeling Sale!:

https://studio2publishing.com/collections/changeling-the-lost

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!

Here is the IPR portion of the Spring Changeling Sale!:

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

The DTRPG portion of the Spring Changeling Sale! You’ll need to scroll down for it!:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/saleguide.php

Plus, we’re also in the Great Cartography Sale:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/sale.php?manufacturers_id=4261

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On Sale This Week!

On Wednesday the Tasty Bit mutants all come boppin’ when the Heroes of the Waste PDF for Dystopia Rising throw down on DTRPG! More characters to challenge the wastelands!

Also on Wednesday we’ll be releasing 2 new t-shirts (for Hunter: the Vigil 2e‘s “Division Six” and Changeling: The Dreaming‘s “The Fool’s Luck” on our Redbubble store!

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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!

As announced, the 2nd Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention will be coming to you live starting Friday, June 11th and running until Sunday, June 13th (including a special post-con gamefest Sunday night hosted by Dixie)!

A collection of World of Darkness podcasters are putting together an online convention called TryItCon the weekend of May 14th-15th geared towards trying new games – including a lot of ours! We’re also setting up a few Onyx Path specific panels right now – more on those when we have the times!

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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)
• Tasty Bit: Les Fantomes (Trinity Continuum)
• Apocalyptic Record (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)
• TC: Adventure! Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Redlines

• Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Tome of the Pentacle (Mage: the Awakening 2e)
• The Hedge (Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition)
• M20 Lore of the Traditions (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Second Draft

• No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Ghost Hunters Jumpstart w/RMCs (WoD 20th)

Development

• Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
• Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
• Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

• The Paranormal Investigator’s Handbook (WoD 20th)
• Once and Future (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Vigil Watch: The Kelder Mountains (Scarred Lands)

Post-Approval Development

• Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)
• Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Realms of Magic and Mystery (was Terra Incognita) (Scion 2nd 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)
• Yugman’s Appendix: People of Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)
• 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)
• M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)
• 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)
• Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)
• 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…!)
• Tasty Bit: Zeus in a Bar (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Editing Development

• Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
• They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)
• Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)
• N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)
• V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
• V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)
• Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)
• Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)

Indexing

• Mummy: The Curse 2e
• Deviant: The Renegades

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Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

• Scion: Dragon (KS)
• Masks of the Mythos (KS)
• Scion: Demigod – All notes out to artists. Still need to lockdown 1 more artist for Pantheons.
• They Came From Beyond the Grave!
• TC: Adventure! (KS)
• M20 Victorian (KS)
• Dead Man’s Rust
• M20 Technocracy Jumpstart
• Exalted Essence (KS)
• V5 Trail of Ash and Bone – Bugging artists.
• V5 Forbidden Religions
• TC Mission Statements
• TC Aberrant N!WE – Talking with artists.
• M20 Technocracy Dossier/Companion
• M20 Rich Bastards Guide – Finals coming in.
• Hundred Devils Night Parade
• Squeaks In The Deep (KS)
• Players Guide to the Contagion Chronicle
• TC Prometheus Unbound
• They Came From Camp Murder Lake! – Art notes in.
• Realms of Magic and Mystery – Art notes in.
• Saints and Monsters – Art notes in.
• TC: Anima – Art buy configured.
• TC: Assassin – Art buy configured.

In Layout

• Deviant Screen – Working on it.
• Spiragos Collected Adventures
• Hunter: The Vigil 2e – roughed in and over to Josh as art trickles in.
• 21-22 Onyx Brochure – looking good so far.
• WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – putting together the layout.
• Legendlore – page design approved.

Proofing

• Deviant – In Indexing.
• Mummy 2 – In Indexing.
• TC: Under Alien Skies – 2nd proof.
• Heirs to the Shogunate – Proof back from Dev.
• M20 Technocracy Reloaded – Backer PDFs out to backers with errata sheet.
• TC Aberrant Jumpstart

At Press

• V5 Cults of the Blood Gods – KS fulfillment started.
• Aberrant – KS fulfillment starting.
• TC: Aberrant Screen – KS fulfillment starting.
• LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition) – PoD proofs on their way.
• Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness) – PoD proofs ordered.
• Children of the Blood – PoD proofs ordered.
• Vigil Watch Compiled – PoD proofs ordered.
• Mummy 2e Screen
• Tasty Bit: Heroes of the Waste (Dystopia Rising: Evolution) – PDF goes live Weds on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Two years ago Avengers: Endgame was released, and really it feels like at least five! Regardless of the 2020 time-warp, it was the capstone of a feat of cinematic storytelling unrivaled for the sheer number of films that were released with remarkably consistent characters, in interconnected storylines, in a common world, played by the same actors, over a span of 11 years. Because the films are amazing adaptions of the Marvel Comics’ universe, I think we are so used to all of that working in print for so long that we miss out on how fantastic an achievement the films are!