The gates that lead to Stretch Goals during the At The Gates BackerKit crowdfunding campaign, that is!

We’re not quite at the halfway point as I write this, and have blown past a bunch of SGs, including the first part of the At The Gates Companion book! It’s described thusly: More On Professions and Arts – The At The Gates team will create a small Companion PDF containing more information on each of the Professions and new associated Arts (special Professional techniques). All backers receiving the At The Gates PDF as one of their rewards will have the Companion PDF added to their rewards list as a bonus!

And we’re coming up fast on the $50K Stretch Goal: another chapter for the Companion! This one is all about New Advanced Paths – it’s a section with new Advanced Profession Paths for characters to take if they want to unlock new Arts specific to their mastery of these professions!

To get there, we need more backers – so please let folks know about this cool project! Danielle is popping up all over the place doing her part – in fact, here’s a link to an interview she gave to The Awkward GM all about At The Gates:

Plus, on last week’s Onyx Pathcast, Danielle ran the team through the first part of an At The Gates adventure, and this Friday is the premiere of the second half of that adventure!

Even though she’s been working hard to do all these things and more to get the word out, Danielle carved out the time to send me a little bit of info about an upcoming addition to the At The Gates campaign:

We’re nearing the halfway point of our campaign. We’re all used to crowdfunding projects slowing down during this time. So, I decided we needed to introduce something to spice stuff up. Rich gave me the go ahead to chat with one of our freelancers, Spider at NerdyKeppie, and they’ve been cooking up something incredibly cool for us to use as an add on for the campaign. I can’t say exactly what it is, instead, I’ll give you some hints.

– It’s something NerdyKeppie has made plenty of times before.

– It’s smaller than a bread box.

– It uses art that hasn’t been shared with the backers as of yet.

– The art is done in a style where a piece of art is made smaller.

– The items come alone or in pairs, they roll downstairs, they’re log, log… wait a minute. No. That’s not right. Scratch that.

I think I got away with myself there. Anyway, I continue to be blown away by the support I’m seeing. People are making characters (even before they can see what Arts and Spells they have access to), and that is giving me so much joy. I love every moment of it, so please keep sharing and let all your friends know how cool this game is!

Yep, we’ll certainly be letting y’all know more about what this new Add-On might be…and how to get it added to the campaign – really soon!

Smouldering Through the Monday Meeting…

Today, we talked about how Onyx Path Virtual Con is in less than a month! Much excitement and many invites to panels are being sent out so we can lock things down. I mean, as best as we can lock anything really down in terms of convention planning. It’s like drawing a diagram on jello!

Con is great, con is good…

In fact, here’s our convention organizer Travis, who sez this about three of our panels:

As we ramp up for Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention 2024, I wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the wonderful panels we’ve got on the schedule this year!

Bright and early Saturday, June 15th at 9:30 AM EDT we’re hosting the Branch Riders Panel where attendees can learn all about this new game we’re publishing in association with the Bodhana Group! Creators Jack Berkenstock and Doug Hagler from Bodhana will be joined by our own Rich Thomas and Eddy Webb to answer your questions about Branch Riders!

Those of you hungry for more information on At The Gates and The World Below should stop by the Earthbane Cycle Panel on Saturday, June 15th at 2 PM EDT to ask Danielle and Matthew all about these new worlds, how they interact, and the process of crafting the first fantasy games using Storypath Ultra!

On Sunday, June 16th at 3:30 PM EDT I will be leading a discussion with our own Mirthful Mike and a few creators from the community as we discuss the Storypath Nexus, Slarecian Vault, and Canis Minor at the Community Content Panel! This panel promises to be filled with tips and tricks for making the best possible community content as well as an opportunity to ask questions about these programs!

See you all there!

But Travis isn’t done yet! If you’ll note that he mentions the Community Content panel he’ll be on at the OPVCon, he’s following that up with a bit about our latest Community content project:

This Wednesday Bloody Boroughs goes live on the Storypath Nexus in Advance PDF! Developing this book has been an immense pleasure! I have a deep love for New York City, as do the authors who worked on this book, and we’ve done our best to bring the five boroughs to the world of Trinity Continuum: Assassins! Like Frostlands of Fenrilik, which was released in October of 2020 for the Slarecian Vault, Bloody Boroughs contains ample information for players and Storyguides to import into an existing chronicle or to inspire a brand new tale! However,  Bloody Boroughs is also designed as a springboard for other community content creators to build on. Create your own supplements expanding the city of New York, building on the materials in this book! Creators have room to expand on one of the minor societies we introduce, build new black boxes based off of the ones we introduce, or generate ready-made characters taking advantage of the new system information we provide!  Bloody Boroughs is both a playable supplement and a setting guide for further expansion!

Bloody Boroughs comes to advance PDF this Wednesday, and we will collect errata for 2 weeks before prepping the files for POD! 

Here’s a heads-up that the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Bundle of Holding deal has a week to go:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TCFBS

For only $12.95 you get all twelve PDF titles, including the complete They Came From Beneath the Sea! Core Rulebook, plus the Party Beach Creature Feature Jumpstart, the Beneath the Sea Quips and Cinematics Cards, and the Director’s Screen; the bestiary Monsters of the Deep! and the character book Heroic Land-Dwellers!; the scenario collection Tales of Aquatic Terror; and five “Tasty Bits” mini-scenarios that highlight the many places They Come From: The Bikini Beach Party!, The Bermuda Triangle!, North Herald Beach!, Outer Space!, and Plan 9!

If you ever wanted to give They Came From Beneath the Sea! a try, this is the watery deal for you! Plus, we’ve included a 50% off coupon for the traditionally printed hardcover version of the core book via our friends at IPR!

Finally, we went over all the books that Mirthful Mike and Maria went through and set up the art buys, artnotes, and artist contracts for last week – check out all the new entries in the Art Direction phase below. Kudos to them and their continuing efforts to get us caught up on existing projects!

I’m still suffering the effects of allergies, and I hope none of you are, so with itchy eyes and sneezy nose, I’m going to wish all of you a good week! I’m pretty sure it’s “rose fever” and will be over just in time for the Onyx Path Virtual Con. I really, really, hope so – I’m on a bunch of panels celebrating our community and our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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Blurbs!

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Crowdfunding!:

NOW LIVE ON BACKERIT!
At The Gates!

Here’s the link to take you through the gate! https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/onyx-path/at-the-gates

We’re working our way through a bunch of Stretch Goals, including the start of the ATG Companion! More coming up fast, as well as a very special series of goals based on our number of backers!

And let’s not forget this awesome Ashcan:

Check it out on DTRPG! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/475586

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: Danielle runs the whole Pathcast crew through the final part of an At the Gates adventure!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue!

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Please check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week! In particular, keep those eyes open for our Storypath Showcase, where we give an excellent profile of our various Storypath games and how to play them!

MEDIA HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:

What’s this interesting character creation video Queen’s Court Games have put out for a game called Curseborne?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOXjI9YnElQ

And Awkward GM Corbin conducted an in-depth interview about At The Gates with developer Danielle Lauzon! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFQKNqQ82U0

The Onyx Path News goes out every Monday and Matthew’s back for the broadcast! Catch up on everything right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPLso_BTQw

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Virtual Tabletop!

The Monsters of the Deep Compendium with all of the monsters added to the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Compendium core, including Tokens for VTT play, will be on Roll20 and DTRPG this Weds!

They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea

The Scion: Origin and Scion Hero Compendiums are now available on Roll20!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing

Scion is just the start! They Came From Beneath the Sea! and other
Onyx Path RPGs are in development for Roll20 virtual tabletop!

The first of our official Scion sheets designed for Foundry VTT are
now available! https://foundryvtt.co

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!

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

CofD Sale at IPR!

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

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!

They Came From the Cyclops Cave! VTT Assets and Wallpapers, accompanied by They Came from [Classified]! VTT Assets and Wallpapers, and joined by the Bloody Boroughs community content PDF: ALL LIVE WEDNESDAY on DTRPG!  

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Conventions!

As we are slowly returning to attending conventions in person after avoiding them during the COVID-19 outbreak, keep an eye out here for more physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!

Matthew and Eddy and a few of our other Onyx Path creators will be attending and even running games at UK Games Expo May 31st – June 2nd:

https://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

We will be repped by Studio 2 (and maybe IPR) at Origins Game Fair in June.

Onyx Path Virtual Con will be June 14-16. See the schedules below!

Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying will be the last Friday of each month! Come play some of our games that night! (But any of our game lines are welcome all day long!)

Here’s a link to give anyone $10 credit to play games on Start.Playing:

https://startplaying.games/referral/clog9y0v10006ju0968iev95m

Please spread the word about GMing games as much as
possible. Details on how list a game are at the bottom of the page in
the FAQ:

https://startplaying.games/event/game-night-onyx-path

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Project Status Updates!

Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out April’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-april-2024/

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY

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

EDITING

The World Below – Ed Greenwood’s Monstrous Ecology of The World Below

• Matthew: This book has more than a bestiary in it! A few people messaged me during the crowdfunding for The World Below to ask whether it would be possible to play mantodea: well with this book, you can play those lovely(?) mantis people!

The World Below – Underworld Adventures

• Matthew: If you picked up the Ashcan for The World Below you’ll know Glowstream’s in a sorry state. In this book, you find out why and get to explore the ruins.

POST-EDITING DEVELOPMENT

The World Below – Enter the Dungeon Jumpstart

• Matthew: Fungal infections for everyone! Unless you’re very lucky, which most people in The World Below are not.

Realms of Pugmire – The Curious Cats of Mau

• Eddy: The cats have been herded back from editing! I joke — the editing was turned around exactly on time, and I’m sure Lauren is excited to dig into the edits!

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• Ex Essence Pillars of Creation – With Maria and going to DAC.
• Ex3 Abyssals – Art buy configured.
• Ex3 Miracles of the Divine Flame – Art buy configured.
• The World Below – Unless something comes up, I’m gonna be working on getting the AD stuff wrapped up.
• TCF Cyclops Cave and Classified Jumpstarts – Okay… finally found someone to do the maps for Cyclops… so things are moving again…
• TCF RPG Anthology – Art buy Configured
• M20 Victorian Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters – Gaydos doing the fulls and the halfs.
• SCION Titans Rising – Proceeding. The two artists I had in mind are not part of the Shards art buy.
• SCION Mythic Shards (BK) – BK art buy proceeding.
• SCION Path to Apotheosis – Maria is pinging the artist about the finals… 
• SCION God Player’s Guide – Art buy configured.
• Scion God Divine Inpsiration – Art buy configured.
• Scion God Jumpstart – Art Buy configured.
• TC Player’s Guide – Finals rolling in.
• TC Aether Player’s Guide – Art Buy configured.
• TC Aether Companion – Art Buy Configured.
• TC With Great Power – Reviewing stuff…. and working with Lee on the comic.
• At The Gates (BK) – Live and funded. 
• Branch Riders (KS) – Getting graphics moving.

In Layout

• Ex Essence Charm Cards – Dixie working on it.
• Ex 3 Exigents Screen – wrapping it up and getting it proofing on Tuesday.
• CofD Contagion Chronicles RMCs – Almost done…
• Squeaks in the Deep Companion – with Pauline.
• Scion No Gods, No Masters – going over to Ron Thompson.

Proofing

• Ex Essence Jumpstart – 2nd proof.
• Ex3 Sidereals – 2nd proof.

Indexing

• TC Aether – putting in index and page xxs.
• Scion God – putting in index and page xxs.

At Press

• Reprints:
• Scion Origin – Proof has been gone through.
• TC Core – Proof has been gone through.
• TC Aeon – Quotes on the way.

• Exalted Essence – On the boat.
• Ex Essence Screen – At Studio 2.
• TC Anima Terra Surge Screen – Sending info to screen printer for quotes.
• TC Anima – Pinging printer about cover specs again.
• M20 Lore of the Traditions – On the boat.
• Ex 3 Exigents – Getting quotes for trad printing.
• TC Aether – Going ahead and getting that quote going too.
• They Came From the Cyclops Cave! – Press files uploaded and processing… should see proofs in a couple of weeks.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED! – Press files uploaded and processing… should see proofs in a couple of weeks.
• They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave Screen – Sending info to screen printer for quotes.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED Screen – Sending info to screen printer for quotes.
• M20 Victorian Jumpstart – Inputting errata.
• Deviant Clade Companion – Inputting errata.
• Cyclops Cave VTT Assets, Cyclops Wallpapers, Classified VTT Assets, Classified Wallpapers, Bloody Boroughs community content PDF – On Sale Weds on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Here’s one that most people will relate to: May 20, 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. Not me though, I’ve never worn blue jeans – can’t stand them. But enjoy, those who do!