Our gang of miscreants works hard on our crowdfunding campaigns; so when one’s funded in 3 hours and is over 200% backed so far, then it’s OK to sit back with a cold one!

Of course, I’m talking about the Backer Kit campaign for our two book, “Buried Treasure” crowdfunder for The Delver’s Guide and Secrets of Kalm & Kaos, both for The World Below setting!

If you’re one of the folks who have backed so far, thank you so much for your support! If you haven’t yet, or just want to hear more about both books, well: read on!

Couple of notes from me, before Matthew jumps in with some real juicy details – Yes, these books require the core The World Below book to play. Just want that stated once more as a couple of backers (or potential backers) did ask. These are essentially a Player’s Guide and a Storyguide Guide, although as we pointed out last week and on the campaign page, both books provide tons of info that both players and SGs will be into!

And also, just wanted folks to know that we did achieve the Stretch Goal that starts The Advent of the Silt – a West Marches-style adventure for The World Below, focused on exploration and cave delving. We’ll continue to build onto that start with more SGs, so the more folks who pledge, the more chapters of the adventure will get funded! Please, spread the word!

Now, here’s Matthew with more thoughts about the books (I asked him to talk a bit about generations in these books, but he may have heard me wrong?):

In my view, Star Trek: Generations is possibly the worst of the Star Trek movies. I say this not as a Star Trek fan (I’m not one, not really), but as an enjoyer of cinema, character work, and well-written plots.

What isn’t the worst is the generational system in The World Below! We introduced the idea of The World Below having a generational system in the core book, and wore on our sleeve the fact that this is inspired by the fantastic system introduced in the Pendragon RPG. The Delver’s Guide and Secrets of Kalm & Kaos go even further, expanding the system further to give you so many options that cover the bridge between generations, the roll of years between your characters, the events, legacies, and artifacts that might affect how your next character emerges into the game, and so on.

Without doubt, our generational system is one of my favourite parts of The World Below. The setting is one where character survival is core, but the survival of your settlement, your family, your friends, and even your rivals and enemies are so important to the game (if you want them to be). The actions you take in one story can have a real effect on the lives of your successors, and that to me allows you to tell a really deep, immersive story of survival, hope, and growth, and those are things all of us benefit from in our storytelling and our lives.

In the Delver’s Guide, we provide rules and guidelines for crafting, harvesting, building homes and settlements, developing security and determining threats, inheritances (both personal and community), and much, much more. I really would love if you backed the Buried Treasures campaign and checked out the manuscript. Remember, this kind of material is so easy to adapt for other Storypath Ultra games, so if you want to make generational play a part of Curseborne, Steam Wars, At the Gates, and Monster Kingdoms, this will work superbly for you!

And yes, Star Trek: Generations’ ridiculous plot of “Come back with me, Kirk. Come back with me and help me punch this old man,” is worse than Shinzon and Sybok combined.

Okey dokey!

Here’s another cool excerpt from this crowdfunder, more on the Kaos Storms:

Braving the Kaos Storms

You have to be mad to go into the Kaos storms. They sandblast your mind, shred your body, and violate your memories. Is all of this worth it? We found a reliable source of water, and Jordak got this nifty third arm.

—    KamLyn the Tame, Hunter, mere moments before they face their last Kaos storm

The World Below is a different place when the storms rage. Under the influence of the currents, locations drastically change; they are replaced with versions from another time or something utterly foreign. You meet people you witnessed dying before, monsters emerging from your nightmares, and ancient temples coming to life. All of them have something to offer, so long as you’re willing to accept change.

Gambles Worth the Risk

Why would any sane person wander off into the Kalm? Often enough, it’s desperation that sets in as food runs low or a disaster devastates what seemed to be a safe settlement just a few days ago. But some reckless souls hunt down legends ripe with promises. These are some examples of unique places and creatures adventurers can find only in the eye of a Kaos storm.

Glidenir the Spectral Serpent

Glidenir is not a place you seek out, but a leviathan creature whose destructive power is often compared to Furundin. It’s elusive and, outside of Kalm season, a mere specter slithering through the Vast Underneath’s tunnels. During Kaos storms, the feathered serpent becomes corporeal and hunts small settlements and caravans that are arrogant enough to stay outside protective walls. Unlike Furundin, some Hunters speculate that Glidenir can be brought down and not only feed a settlement through several Kalm seasons, but it is said to grant wondrous powers to coat and armor alike. The real prize is a gemstone sitting in Glidenir’s brain, said to protect against dragon power and to fulfill a single wish. Some are desperate enough to hope the legend is true and don’t see feathers floating in the air as a horrific omen.

The Guiding Star Chamber

This cavern is usually known for little more than a high density of dripping stones and quicksand. During Kalm, the stones’ brittle crust peels away, and beneath a myriad of candles comes to light. Explorers can face off against nature spirits of fire and sand, overcome the treacherous terrain, and perform a rite to ignite the candles by directing a particular Kaos current into the cavern. When all three tasks are complete, the candlelight within the chamber rises to sing, and one character can choose the exact circumstances of their death. With the caveat that it will be exactly one year from the ritual’s day. Who would be willing to take this bargain, and how would one stop them?

Hall of Undying Whispers

If there is proof that the World Below has a memory, it lies in this hall. This beautiful grotto, shrouded in gentle streams of Kaos during Kalm, remembers every single being that has passed away. During Kalm, visitors can hear the voices of their late friends in this chamber, but must be careful to compose themselves; otherwise, they might never want to leave again. Some say you can find anyone’s spirit who has been swallowed by the Vast Underneath here. Others suspect the voices are mere echoes of the dead, nothing more than memories. If you manage to bring a corpse to the hall and rest it in the central pond, you can reunite this body with its mind or something very close to the original consciousness. Although beware, the waters reach far deeper than expected, and plenty of adventurers were dragged to their demise by the dead weight of those they wanted to save.

The Kalm Engine

Half naturally formed caverns, half engineered by uncanny genius, the Kalm Engine isn’t a mere machine or cave; it is a massive, byzantine labyrinth. Its tunnels are laid out with metal plating and ancient carvings to guide the flow of Kaos currents. The stone gates only open during a Kaos storm to let the engine hum and do its mysterious work. Some say it was built to construct an artificial well, while others claim it is meant to purify the surface, but only a few whisper that it keeps a dying god’s heart beating. What is for sure is that those who make their way to its central control room protect it with all their might. Apparently, the Well Liches or servants of the Rot set their mind to destroying the Kalm Engine, and several eruptions within its intestines send devastating seismic shocks throughout the Vast Underneath.

The Unnamed Archive

To enter the Unnamed Archive, one must solve the riddle of floating blocks that are ripped from their resting places in the ground by Kaotic outbursts. Discerning their age and numeric code is the key that allows visitors to enter a forsaken archive cut from a single vein of black marble, floor, walls, columns, and all. By this, it appears to be a dark mirror image of the Secermos museums. It is filled with the skeletons and dissected corpses of all kinds of creatures from the World Below, but each of the specimens is lined up between what seem to be physiological predecessors and descendants. Knowledge like this is yet unknown to anyone in the World Below, and who knows what kind of damage it might cause?

I mentioned last week that some Curseborne weird stuff might be showing up soon, maybe, but I can’t be too precise as to what or when – just keep an eye out!

And look, here’s Travis, who does know a lot of weird stuff, but is here now talking about new shows on our Twitch channel!

It’s a very exciting week at the Onyx Path Twitch! First off, we have another Trinity Continuum: Adventure actual play tonight from Mike Athey and the gang. If you missed last week’s episode, fear not! It will be on the Onyx Path YouTube tomorrow at NOON EST! 

Speaking of tomorrow morning, ComradeBubbles (who you’ll see as an author on the credits pages of some of our books as Ryan Wheeldon) will be returning to the Twitch channel with a brand new season of Behind the Screen! This show follows ComradeBubbles as they construct a new community content release each season! If you have any questions about community content, or want to watch, work alongside, or even influence their next project, don’t miss Behind the Screen biweekly Tuesdays at 9 AM EST! 

On Thursday writer and actual play veteran Storyguide Tom Murr will be talking The World Below, creating characters, and building a narrative on his weekly show Guiding the Path! With the Buried Treasures Backerkit underway, you won’t want to miss this show!

Speaking of the Backerkit, if you are on our Twitch channel and want easy access to the link, perhaps because you hadn’t gotten around to backing quite yet, or you want to tell your friends about it, you can summon it quickly by typing !backerkit or !theworldbelow in the chat!

I hope to see you soon in The World Below!

Travis didn’t mention it, but he is also hard at work putting the final touches on some updates to our Community Content guidelines that we think folks are going to be excited about! Plenty of other stuff going on as you can see from the Progress reports today, and all the art above, plus we have a good bunch of projects we’ll be putting on sale in March – which is unbelievably NEXT WEEK! Where does time fly to? I dunno, maybe it goes faster as we play and create in our:

Many Worlds… One Path!

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Blurbs!

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Crowdfunding!

For The World Below: The Delver’s Guide & Secrets of Kalm and Kaos!

Funded in 3 hours! Over 200% backed so far!

Sign up here to get in on the excitement! https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/66f29db7-4e18-4269-b48c-b93914a8a8be/landing

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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 covers the Curseborne Tasty Bit Omnibus, the Buried Treasures crowdfunder and more: https://youtu.be/gps5OQ3k1Sg?si=RYCxE1hicj5zze0i

On Friday on Matthew’s Gentleman Gamer channel, he covered the new Gem Master Calling for The World Below here: https://youtu.be/1g_MLyDaTis

And addressed the new Soulweaver Calling for The World Below here: https://youtu.be/CBwlsl86HHA

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Virtual Tabletop!

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

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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!

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

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books, dice, and screens? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Some last chance/clearance titles at IPR:

https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Last-Chance/

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).

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On Sale This Week!

February’s Tasty Bit PDF for Storypath Ultra: Nothing says I Love You like Troublesome Traps – Weds on DTRPG!

On Sale Last Week!

All last year, we delved deep into the arcane lore of Curseborne: presenting each month a small but Tasty Bit of the eldritch lore we uncovered! Now, we have compiled this unsettling and horrifying material into a single blasphemous volume: the Curseborne Tasty Bit Compilation! Available in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG!

Also on DTRPG, to further your Curseborne activities: we are also offering the Curseborne VTT Tokens and the Curseborne Streaming Overlays for your online gaming needs!

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Conventions!

Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!

GAMA Expo, March 1st – 5th (will be at Studio 2) *retailer industry show*

ACD Expo, May 27th – 29th (we’ll have a booth at this one) *retailer
industry show*

Origins Game Fair, June 17th – 21st (We’ll be in the Studio 2 booth)

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Project Status Updates!

Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out January’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-january-2026/

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!

Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:

Redlines

Curseborne – Peel Back the Bark (Izzy Novella from Player’s Guide KS)

• Matthew Dawkins enters the world of fiction by writing a Curseborne novella!

Final Drafts

Exalted – Alchemicals Companion: Avatars of Brass and Shadow

• Lots of Exalted updates! First, Alchemicals Companion is done with redlining and is off to final drafts!

Editing

Exalted – Sidereals Jumpstart

• Next, the Sidereals Jumpstart is off to editing!

Exalted – Infernals

• Finally, the big one: Infernals is off to editing! Woo!

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• Ex Essence PG – Contracted.
• TCF the Danger Zone – Gotta talk to Brian about doing the cover… Sheikman’s halfs are in and glorious…
• Curseborne PG – Sent art configuration to Eddy…
• Curseborne Jumpstart – Art configuration sent over to Eddy. 
• Curseborne Accursed Adventures – I got Denmark’s in, and Luciano is about done. I’m gonna poke Gaydos and see where he is on it.
• TC Danger Skies – Progressing… have yet to see sketches.
• TC From the Shadows – Getting stuff together for new guy… and I’m talking to Sheikman about doing some color.
• TC Gadget Guide – Artwork starting to come in.
• TWB Secrets of Kalm and Kaos & Delver’s Guide (BK) – Funded. 

Layout Queue

• Ex3 Alchemicals – I’m getting on this shortly, just clearing up some stragglers.
• Scion God Jumpstart – I’m gonna knock through it this week…
• TCF Classified Tasty Bit Dossier – I can knock that out real quick today…

Proofing Queue

• Curseborne Community Content Stuff 
• Scion Pandora’s Box – Wrestled with creating the ultimate TOC. Now I just gotta put a cover design together and it should be good.

At Press

• Ex 3 Exigents – Shipping to fulfillment shippers.
• Curseborne – Getting together some printer quote stuff.
• TC Anima AR – Errata collecting.
• They Came From the RPG Anthology VTT – I’m setting this and some other VTTs Travis had ready up to go.
• SPU Core Manual – PoD files uploaded… no thanks to Comcast.
• TWB Ed Greenwood Book – Prepping PoD files.
• SPU Tasty Bit: Troublesome Traps – PDF on sale Weds on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today in 1455 is traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type. It marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution” and the age of printed books in the West. So let’s celebrate Mr G and the start of mass book printing that leads inevitably to us being able to create printed books for all of you!