…the Abyssal crowdfunder’s gettin’ lots of views!

Yep, we’re over 400% funded, have over 1350 backers, and have passed a neat dozen Stretch Goals. The Companion book is getting to be really meaty, with new soulsteel artifacts now added as of the latest SG achieved. Thanks to all of our backers for their support which got us this far, and we have more than a week to go!

We’re in full preview mode now, with chapter sections on the Abyssal Charms in backers’ hands and plenty of review, commentary, and discussion going on. Please do feel free to join in anywhere, including on our own Exalted section of our Discord and on our Exalted Forums which do work once again (if you had tried previously when they were busted).

At the same time, we just sent the Exigents Backer PDF out a few days ago, and with big progress on multiple other Exalted projects, it’s looking like this year into the next are good times for Exalted fans – including our Exalted Essence folks whose trad printed book is next to be printed and with a thumbs-up for future Essence books from Paradox!

The Doctor says that the patient’s vital signs are improving rapidly!

Our Unconventional Conventionists

This week’s meeting featured a lot of recaps, with the first being my very own report and Danielle’s from PAX Unplugged, but then we also heard from Matthew at Illusion Horror Con, and Eddy from Dragonmeet (which he tried to attend incognito).

First off, PAXU was big and noisy.

OK, there was more than that as a takeaway. LisaT and I popped in on Friday and not only wandered the exhibit hall touching base with folks, but we manned our section of the Studio2 booth for part of the day. A brace of our new banners were up:

As well, we had a hefty selection of our traditionally printed books, with lots of attention given by passers-by to the opened Scarred Lands Creature Collection and Scion: Masks of the Mythos. Plenty of questions about those and our games lines in general – both from our current fan community and from folks wanting to know about their old favorites.

My favorite: Is Scion still broken? Oh, it is so fixed, I was able to exclaim!

I also had the chance to talk with the crew at Studio2 while standing there handing out Storypath Ultra brochures. First, I wanted to thank them for their incredibly fast turnaround in shipping out the TC: Adventure! KS rewards – a still ongoing process that started the day after the books arrived in their warehouse! – but then I also wanted to warn them about our expected explosion of KS’d books that we expect to fulfill next year.

We need to do that because right now things are going along really well with our new traditional printer in China, and while things can always screw up, if they don’t we’ll have W20 Apocalyptic Record on a boat before the end of the year and Exalted Essence at press. Then, Lore of the Traditions, TC: Anima, Exalted: Exigents either together or very close to it. And then They Came From [CLASSIFIED]! and the Cyclops’s Cave going to the printer in the first quarter of next year. Whew!

These are all projects that got jammed up during the period that printers and shippers were reacting to Covid the most, although the effects are still being felt. And folks, if you have a theory on why book x is late that doesn’t include the effects of Covid, you’re just not looking at the facts. From creator illnesses, and uprooted lives during the quarantine time and even now, to a very different workforce in the printing and shipping industries, not to mentioned skyrocketing prices for materials around the world that have not “normalized” even now – there was and is a serious effect.

But, let’s get back to the fun stuff from PAXU, one of which was getting to sit with our friend Jack Berkenstock and scope out the next steps for bringing the Bodhana Group‘s ttrpg game Branch Riders to crowdfunding and then to players. It’s been great to watch the interest in this excellent new game grow in the ttrpg community, and I hear that the playtests that were run all through PAXU were wildly successful!

While we were doing PAXU things, across the Atlantic other adventures were afoot!

Matthew Dawkins was one of the guests at Illusion Horror Con, a virtual gaming convention where he ran They Came From! and The World Below! I understand that a climactic moment during the World Below adventure was loading up a fresh corpse with yummy mushrooms and less-yummy alchemical explosives and flopping it around enough that the big monster instinctively took a big swallow!

BOOM! went the monster…and apparently, BOOM! went the ceiling of the enclosed cavern! Kaos happens…pretty sure the PCs escaped.

Pretty sure.

Meanwhile, the wily Eddy Webb slipped into the Dragonmeet convention in London, even wearing a mask for some of it. But he was still caught and convinced to run one table of six players, which was one of six tables for an adventure for Kieron Gillen’s DIE ttrpg (with Kieron supervising and running one of the games!). That set-up gave Eddy and our crew a chance to consider that sort of big arrangement for our own stuff, so it was legit research.

I was reminded today that this is the 4th anniversary of releasing the Trinity Continuum Core rules and TC: Aeon on DTRPG! Wow, that’s amazing – where does the time go? Mercer!!! And if you look up at those banners from PAXU you can see a whole bunch of the follow-up titles that came after to expand on the Continuum!

Finally, if you’ll recall, last week I mentioned that the next couple of weeks until we take a break for the holidays are jam-packed with meetings. Well, one of them as a very informative meeting with a bunch of the folks at Roll20 that we hope is the beginning of getting more VTT projects for more and varied game lines up on their venue.

Don’t know how that’ll shake out yet, but, much like with the conventions, it’s great to be able to put names with faces and voices. Which was one of the great joys of being at PAXU: seeing and talking with all our fan faces, our creator faces, our biz partner faces – because face it, we’re all part of our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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Blurbs!

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Crowdfunding!

The Exalted: Abyssals Deluxe Edition campaign on IndieGoGo FUNDED IN 22 MINUTES! So far, we’re over 400% funded and over 1350 backers and just over two weeks in! Thanks to everybody who have backed so far!

Our backers have enabled us to pass over 12 Stretch Goals including: building an Abyssals Companion supplement with sections unlocked so far including: new soulsteel artifacts, new Underworld locations, an Underworld map, new Abyssals Charms and more Necromancy spells, an expanded section on Ghosts, Storytelling advice, Abyssals and Deathlord Quick Characters, and much more to come!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/abyssals-sworn-to-the-grave-for-exalted-3e/x/25772954#/

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: Eddy, Matthew, and Danielle do some more five-minute game pitches before the holidays!

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:

We go a little off piste with this week’s spotlit media, as we venture back to 2022 and an actual play we failed to shine our beam on back then: FateBreakers! It’s an Exalted: Essence actual play a lot of people seem to have enjoyed, and you can find the introductory thread about it here, on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/unjw0l/fatebreakers_an_exalted_essence_actual_play/

The Onyx Path News discusses recent and upcoming releases! You can find it on our YouTube channel (click the bell to be informed when we go live!) but if you missed the last episode, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5QshGF0-B0

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Virtual Tabletop!

New on the Roll20 Marketplace, it’s the Scarred Lands Creature Collection and Camp Murder Lake Tokens for Roll20 VTT play!

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

Here are some more shots from the They Came From Beneath the Sea! Compendium!

And there’s also the Scion Jumpstart, all ready for Roll20 VTT fun!

https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/21165/a-light-extinguished-a-jumpstart-for-scion-second-edition

More news and links when we have them!

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!

Direct Link: https://foundryvtt.co

Looking for more virtual tabletop resources? We have a selection of
Tokens, Encounters, and more available now at DriveThruRPG!

Get ’em here: 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/

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).

Check out Melody Through the Mirrorshade Lens and Facets of Truth, as well as Trinity Continuum: Terat and The Hollow Courts on Kindle in the Kindle store!

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On Sale This Week!

The Scion 2e Community Content Style Guide and art packs are expected to rise this Weds on DTRPG/Storypath Nexus!

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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!

Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying will be the last Friday of the month! Come play some of our games, especially Exalted! (But any of our game lines are welcome all weekend long!)

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 November’s full list report here:

Release Roundup: November 2023

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY

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

Redlines

Scion – War Games (Titans Rising Origin and Hero Adventures)

• Matthew: It is time… for WAAAAR GAAAAMES! in this wonderful collection of adventures for all your Scions and Titans to enjoy!

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• Ex3 Abyssals (KS) – Goooing…
• Ex Essence Pillars of Creation – Getting this rolling. 
• Ex Essence Tomb of Memory (Jumpstart) – Rolling. I got Mel to do the cover and one interior half.
• The World Below – Working up an art buy.
• TCF Cyclops Cave and Classified Jumpstarts – Notes out to Sheikman and Luis.
• M20 Faces of Magick – Rolling.
• SCION God 2e – Sketches and a lot of Pantheon questions coming in.
• SCION Demigod Companion – Getting this rolling.
• TC Player’s Guide – Getting this going as well.
• TC Aether – Sketches coming in.
• TC With Great Power – Working on getting the rest going…

In Layout

• Ex Essence Charm Cards – Stuff sent over to Dixie.
• TC Anima Terra Surge Screen – Working.
• SCION Once and Future – Rolling… finally.
• Ex 3 Exigents Screen – Putting this on the list as we need to start getting that rolling… so i can send it to press with the next batch of screens.

Proofing

• Ex3 Across the 8 Directions – Maps are being tweaked and corrected. Awaiting text corrections for book interior.

Indexing

• They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave

At Press

• TC Adventure – Backer copies going out!
• TC Adventure Screen and Booklet – On a truck bound for Studio 2.
• W20 Apocalyptic Record – Printing.
• W20 Apocalyptic Record Screen & Booklet – On a truck bound for Studio 2.
• Exalted Essence – Interior files prepped (finally) and getting specs for covers.
• Ex Essence Screen – On a truck bound for Studio 2.
• Ex3 Exigents – Backer PDF sent out to KS backers.
• M20 Lore of the Traditions – Interior files prepped (finally) and getting specs for covers.
• Ex3 Crucible of Legends VTT Tokens 
• W20 Icons of Rage – Errata closed.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED! – Incorporating errata.
• HtV 2 Jumpstart – PoD proofs ordered.
• They Came From the Cyclops Cave! – Indexing.
• TC Anima – PoD proofs ordered. Interior press files ready to go.
• Scion Community Content Style Guide PDF live on DTRPG/Storypath Nexus!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

As longtime readers know, I often look at the date for events, births, and deaths, for Reasons To Celebrate when we don’t have a holiday or release to celebrate. Today is just chock-full of births and deaths of famous and infamous people, but this birthday caught my eye: “Agnes Forbes Blackadder Savill (4 December 1875 – 12 May 1964) was a Scottish medical expert and doctor. Blackadder became the first female graduate of the University of St Andrews when she gained her M.A. degree on 29 March 1895. She was the first consultant dermatologist to be appointed in 1907 at St. John’s Hospital, an appointment which was also notable as one of the first appointments of a woman consultant at a hospital that was not exclusively for women.” Now, was she related to any of the other famous Blackadders through “history”? It’s this kind of thinking that informs and enriches any multi-generational gaming, but specifically the Trinity Continuum games, so “Hurrah for Dr. Blackadder!”