With more than two weeks left to its crowdfunding campaign on BackerKit, the Essence Player’s Guide has over 1100 backers and is over 380% funded! We’ve passed seven stretch goals and are well on our way to achieving an eighth: a Universal Charms Expansion as part of the Essence Expanded stretch goal-based project!
And as fate would have it, our note from Eddy today is all about Charms!
Charms! Everyone loves Charms. This book has lots of them, don’t you worry. While we’ve included plenty of fan favorites, we’ve also created some completely new entries unique to Essence. Here are a couple of my favorite original Sidereal Charms (each written by the late, great Terry Robinson):
Organization Wooing Overture
Prerequisites: Embassy 3, Essence 3
Skilled at navigating heaven’s manifold bureaucracies, the Sidereal goes to the heart of power to influence an organization.
Commit 2 motes. The Sidereal goes to a location representing the bureaucratic heart of an organization such as library’s catalog, a merchant house’s ledgers, or a monastery’s store of sacred texts. The Sidereal writes, sings, or performs an ode of love or adoration to the organization and gains double 9s on all interactions within the organization tied to the structure. Low-level functionaries perform simple administrative tasks without question and high-level functionaries are treated as though they had a Minor Tie of affection towards the Sidereal. This effect lasts for the maximum of a dramatic scene, a venture, or Essence + 2 days of downtime. Additionally, for the duration of the story, gain a secondary merit such as Allies, Backing, Contacts, Resources for rolls related to that organization’s mission.
Efficacious Emanation Invocation (The Key): In addition, the organization manifests as an embodied form with a Minor Tie of loyalty to the Sidereal and is immune to their arcane fate. They act as a primary Ally for interactions with the organization. At the end of the effect, if the Sidereal strengthened the tie to Major, they may take on that form as a resplendent destiny with encyclopedic knowledge of the organization’s history and operations. The Sidereal may spend 1 mote to learn anything not intentionally hidden or to get a clue towards uncovering a hidden fact about the organization.
Prow Mocks the Shoreline
Prerequisite: Navigate 3
Wagon, ship, and balloon are artificial divisions. A Sidereal sees them all as temples to Mercury whose beneficence is all any trip needs.
Commit 1 mote . A vessel suited for one environment is now suited for all. A boat may glide across roadways, a wagon moves easily over snow drifts, and a light skiff glides along treetops. The vessel continues to travel at its average speed as it does in its regular medium and functions as an appropriate vehicle of similar quality. Additionally, the Exalt may spend 1 mote during Step 2 of an attack against the vessel outside its native element to increase Defense by 1 as the attacker is befuddled by the strange craft.
Mirror-Shattering Method (Upgrade: Navigate 4, Essence 3): The vessel may undertake a trip to Malfeas, the Underworld, Yu Shan, or any location within the Wyld. The journey always takes five days. The vessel is immune to environmental hazards once it arrives. No immunity extends to its passengers.
Peculiar Medium Navigation (The Captain): The Sidereal may commit an additional mote to navigate on or through destructive or alien terrain such as a magma flow, along the sea floor, or over a lake of acid or oil. Passengers are protected from environmental hazards and may breathe safely.
I’m glad Eddy mentioned Terry, as his passing has made this whole process a bit bittersweet, but we’re still thrilled that his hard work and skill will be immortalized in the Essence PG!
On Thursday, we’ll be halfway through the crowdfunding campaign, and we thought it a perfect day to run a Reddit AMA over on https://www.reddit.com/r/WhiteWolfRPG/ at 12 noon Eastern US time! We’ll be answering questions about Essence and the Essence PG for sure, and also questions about anything else folks want to throw our way!
We’ve had a lot of fun with our recent AMAs over on Reddit, so we’re all looking forward to seeing any of you who can make it!
So They Are Go Bots?
We had a long and varied Monday Meeting today, so I’m not even sure what the above phrase I lifted from our discussion actually applied to – so feel free to attach your own meaning and significance to the thing!
We talked a bit more about how Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet for They Came From the Cyclop’s Cave! would be ready to go up on DTRPG this Wednesday and we added the idea of a T-shirt on RedBubble to celebrate publishing the work of the students of the Scorpions and Spiders classes at Greentrees Primary School. For more details on the project, here’s Matthew with a bit from the intro:
I visited Greentrees Primary School for a celebration assembly, where children who create, impress, and exceed expectation receive praise for their hard work and get a chance to tell the grown-ups (such as myself) about their achievements. It was while sat in the audience that one child read a poem she’d written about Homer’s Odyssey, and told us a story all about the cyclops Polyphemus, who as we know ends up on the wrong end of Odysseus’s wooden stake.
I was truly impressed by the writing and the reading of it. It was delivered with confidence and skill. It felt like attending a roleplaying game, where a Director sat at the table rendered the scene for the players in perfect verbiage.
I asked the teacher who led this lesson on Greek mythology if her class would like to hear about They Came from the Cyclops’s Cave!, how one might get started as an author, and good tips and tricks for writing style. The meeting was such a success that I returned soon after with a proposal: the children were so engaged with the idea of writing a game, why not divide them into groups responsible for different sections of a game book, collect their written ideas, and turn it into this adventure.
This is how Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet came to exist. The children of the Scorpions and Spiders classes at Greentrees Primary School wrote up their ideas, discussed them with me whenever I visited their school, and together we refined them down to what you now hold before you.
For a book I barely contributed to, I must admit I’m very proud of it. And the children who co-authored it, working together, referencing Cyclops’s Cave!, learning the game, and ultimately devising the story you now own, should likewise feel joy at what they’ve created.
So it’s an adventure for They Came From the Cyclop’s Cave!, but isn’t limited to that, of course. We’re putting it up on DTRPG on Weds as PWYW, as Onyx Path isn’t doing this to earn anything, but to give these kids the fun experience of having their ideas and work nurtured by a TTRPG professional and made available to the public. We hope a lot of y’all check it out and leave encouraging comments and reviews for the young creators!
We finalized and arranged the Exalted Essence PG AMA, I mention above, that’ll be at 12 noon EDT on Thursday the 10th here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WhiteWolfRPG/
We heard the news that the Roll20 version of Scion: Demigod would be available on their marketplace very soon – even as soon as this coming Wednesday! So I’ve included it in the releases this week, although when it actually hits is a bit out of our control!
We went over the two latest sales on our stuff:
Changeling Sprint Sale on Dreaming and Lost PDFs at DTRPG and STV:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?promo=1000268
https://www.storytellersvault.com/sale.php
Spring into Darkness Sale at IPR:
https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/
Which brings us to the topic that has a lot of people rightfully concerned: how will the tariffs being thrown at goods imported into the US affect TTRPGs. Damn good question, and a lot of TTRPG companies and their folks have been struggling to get their heads around just that. Unfortunately, the reason no one can actually say for sure, except that it’s going to be bad overall and bad specifically for tabletop games, is that the situation is a constantly moving target that shows no signs of stabilizing in the near future.
I’m not going to prognosticate on this one, but here’s some thoughts on what are still positives for our projects, at least.
So far, PDFs remain a stable medium in which to get your TTRPGs. The tariffs affect manufactured goods, and may not even be levied on gamebooks (maybe), but PDFs are not in that area at all, so: so far, so good.
Along the same lines, VTT, being entirely virtual, seems like it’s also outside the realm of manufacturing/importing tariffs.
The very nice people at DTRPG have even reached out to publishers to let us all know that our PoDs are printed in the US and also the UK and AUS. And also, that while our PoDs have recently experienced a price hike, this was before the waves of tariffs and weren’t brought on by them. So here’s hoping that those bigger general issues of increased paper/ink/machine parts costs don’t hit our PoDs in the near future.
We’re intending to continue our current efforts to get caught up on the PDF and PoD options for our games, and we’ll see how things turn out when Scion: God and Trinity Continuum: Aether reach the US in several months. As I’ve mentioned here in the MMN blog all this year, we’ve been investigating printing and manufacturing and shipping options for quite a while, and do have those options if we need them.
I did want to share a delightful note I received from one of our long-time backers. Backer Wade reached out to us via our crowdfunding email to let us know that he’s ready to cover the costs of the tariffs on his rewards, as he wants us to do well and knows these things are making it tough for publishers.
Thank you, Wade! We don’t know just how we’ll be proceeding, as I note above, but it really helps to know that there are folks out there in our community pulling for us!
So, quite the topsy-turvy blog this week, parts heart-warming and parts scary – just like today’s Monday Meeting! Although, to be fair, a lot of our Monday Meetings can get like that when we’re working on our:
Many Worlds, One Path!
Blurbs!
Crowdfunding!
Exalted Essence Players Guide
Fully Funded in Less Than One Hour on BackerKit!
* A book full of player options for Exalted: Essence
* Each of the ten Exalt type gets their own chapter
* Lots of new Charms for your game
We’ve already achieved these Stretch Goals!
* Exalts of Creation Expansion I (Solars and Sidereals)
* Exalts of Creation Expansion II (Lunars and Dragon-Blooded)
* Exalts of Other Realms Expansion I (Infernals and Abyssals)
* Exalts of Other Realms Expansion II (Liminals, Getimians, Alchemicals)
* RedBubble Shirt Design
* Exigents Expansion (2 new Exigents)
* Desktop Wallpaper
With more to come!
You can check it out here! https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/17e590f2-e5ed-428f-ab1e-fa3b178c6e84/landing
Onyx Path Media!
Check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week!
On this week’s Onyx Path News Matthew discusses TC Aberrant: With Great Power and Exalted: Essence Player’s Guide! Check it out right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RGJQ1zBNr0
On The Gentleman Gamer’s YouTube channel, we have a new Gentleman’s Guide to the Accursed with his video focusing on the Black Hearts family! Check out this official lore drop here:
Virtual Tabletop!
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
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/
Spring into Darkness 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!
Changeling Sprint Sale on Dreaming and Lost PDFs at DTRPG and STV:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?promo=1000268
https://www.storytellersvault.com/sale.php
The first part of the print shopping experiment is live on DTRPG:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?format=1000240-book-printed-publisher-fulfilled
This is limited to the USA only at first, but will expand later after
data crunching and review.
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).
On Sale This Week!
Lots going live this week with Lost City of the The Oracle’s Amulet going up on DTRPG in PDF on Weds! It’s Pay What You Want, in that this was a super fun project created by a class in the UK that we’re just tickled to show off! In fact, we’re offering a TCFtOracle’s Amulet t-shirt on RedBubble, as well as a bunch of TCFtRPGAnthology shirts this Weds!
Plus, there’s also a conversion doc for moving from Pugmire 1e to Pugmire 2e (Realms of Pugmire) that gives rules and tips for moving to the new version if you loved first edition – and who didn’t! Weds on DTRPG!
Conventions!
Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
This year’s Onyx Path Virtual Game Con will be happening on June 6-8! Mark your calendars!
Envoy will be running multiple demos of Curseborne at Gen Con, Thu, Jul 31, 2025 – Sun, Aug 3, 2025 in Indy, so sign up and get to actually play the game if you’re curious (but do it as soon as you can because Curseborn has been getting a lot of attention and is sure to sell out like happened at PAXunplugged), and we’ll have books and screens for sale at the Studio 2 booth.
Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying is the last Friday of every month! Come play some Curseborne 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
Project Status Updates!
Our full list of projects will be available monthly on our blog! Check out March’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-march-2025/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
FIRST DRAFT
Curseborne – Curseborne Fiction Anthology
- Our first fiction anthology for Curseborne is getting geared up. And we have a few writers new to us who are contributing! Stay tuned!
DEVELOPMENT
Storypath Ultra – Storypath Discord dice bot
- The dice bot is being bundled up and sent off to its new home before it goes through the rigorous approvals process.
MANUSCRIPT APPROVAL
Curseborne – Curseborne Antagonist – The Latendresse Brood (May 2025 Tasty Bit)
- Wondered about the strange ghosts that keep showing up in Matthew’s actual plays? You’ll see more about them in May!
Trinity Continuum: Gear and Gadgets
- The stretch goal for the Trinity Continuum Player’s Guide is… gearing up… for approvals!
EDITING
Exalted – Sidereals Companion
- What? You want more? Okay, fine, how about we send off the Sidereals Companion to editing? More progress for you this week!
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Miracles of the Divine Flame – Art approved…. map in progress.
- Ex3 Exigents Jumpstart – Minor tweak to one piece and then we proceed to color.
- Heroes of Action and Wonder – Getting this going.
- Curseborne – Just about done with the splat contracting and seeing if I can get a few more artists for other stuff.
- SCION Dragon Companion – Contracting.
- SCION Rock Gods – Getting this one knocked out.
- TC Danger Skies – Cover is done.
- TC the OTHER Anima Jumpstart – Trabbold working on the two halfs.
- Curious Cats – At HIVE.
- At The Gates – Continuing to look at sketches and contracting the rest.
- Branch Riders – Awaiting approval on art.
- Ex Essence PG (BK) – Campaign running.
Layout
- Scion Tasty Bit Combo
- TC Aether Screen
- SCION God Storyguide Screen
- Pugmire 2e Screen
- SCION God Storyguide Screen
- World Below Screen
- Ex3 Abyssals – Working on it.
- SCION Mythic Shards
- SCION Wild Hunt – To Ron Thompson.
- SCION Demigod Companion – Art is in. It can go to layout.
- Essence Novella Omnibus
Proofing
Indexing
At Press
- Reprints:
- Scion Origin – Shipping to backers. PoD proofs ordered.
- TC Core – Shipping to backers. PoD proofs ordered.
- Ex 3 Exigents – Quoting.
- Ex 3 Exigents Screen – At Studio 2
- Ex 3 Sidereals – Quoting.
- TC Aether – Waiting for proofs from printer.
- Scion: God – Waiting for proofs from printer.
- TC Aeon Reprint – PoD proof ordered.
- TC: Aberrant With Great Power – Awaiting Errata.
- Ex Essence Pillars of Creation – Awaiting Errata.
- SCION Titans Rising – Prepping PDF for backers.
- Pugmire Conversion Doc – Advance PDF available this Weds on DTRPG!
- Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet – Advance PDF version available this Weds on DTRPG!
- Lost City of the Oracle’s Amulet and TCFtRPG Antho shirts – Available on RedBubble this Weds!
- Scion Demigod Available on Roll20 this Weds!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
Happy Birthday to Fang Shilong (born Chan Kong-sang; 7 April 1954), known professionally as Jackie Chan, a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman. On-screen, he is known for his slapstick, acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself. In a film career spanning more than sixty years, he has appeared in over 150 domestic and international movies. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential martial artists in the history of cinema.