Yep, it’s that day again!

April 1st. April Fools’ Day. All Fools’ Day.

That’s today as I write this, and already the jokes and fake announcements and game licenses are flying. Which can be a lot of fun, but also, it’s all fun until somebody gets tricked in an unfun way.

So be careful out there.

The thing is, outside our own lil’ corner of the wider world, that’s pretty much how we all function every day online, right? Thinking about it, it’s actually pretty amazing how few actual hoaxes we all deal with in the TTRPG space.

Sure, there are some bad actors in terms of misrepresenting their products, but most are bad estimations of just what they can deliver, rather than wholesale attempts at conning fans. Bad marketing decisions more than overt attempts to lie to their audience.

I’m not talking about individuals and their posts, tweetxs, bad behavior, etc. Just that when a legit TTRPG publisher puts out something bizarre on any given April 1st, it tends to stand out since that’s not what happens every day.

Like, when we did the big smiley face logo up above, I really don’t think any of our fans thought it was real. It wasn’t a gutbuster of laughs, but it was, I dunno, “cute”. When we did the Overly Specific Condition Cards all of ten years ago (Ten! Years! Tenyears!), we think we made it clear that it was both a funny project, but also, maybe, you could still use it with the right group.

Because, what we’d found out after years of hijinks was that we weren’t in this to “trick” anyone. And a bunch of our fanbase are pretty sensitive to that sort of thing. Soooo, silly projects was what we focused on instead of rumors of the company being sold to evangelists (which was a WW marketing thing for Hunter back in the day), or the like.

And again, once you factor in the real-world disinformation campaigns that we are all subjected to every day – like the daily spam calls, and spam texts, about my expired car warranty – it’s no wonder that even hardcore World/Chronicles of Darkness supernatural conspiracy fans are over the company-based April Fools’ tricks.

As always, your mileage may vary. Call me a contrarian, but my call is that we get out the projects we’re working on for now, and not tie a potentially silly project to a single day out of the year. Or serious marketing campaigns, for that matter. 😉

No Foolin’, the Monday Meeting!

I gave the reasons last week, but it’s great to say that the physical book PoD version of Exalted Lunar‘s Many Faced Strangers will be on sale this Wednesday along with the Final PDF! Not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary tale!

And related, there’s a very sweet Exalted Solar Eclipse Sale happening right now until the 15th at IPR, so please do check that out! Also, not a hoax!

We reviewed our delightful gains on our expanded social media venues, and it was super cool to see the growth there in just a couple of months! We have our website (more news on that later this year), the forums and blogs. We have our FB pages, and TwitterX, and YouTube, and Twitch. We’ve got Discord, and Reddit, and Bluesky, and Mastodon. And now we have TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, and overall Linktree.

Feel free to pop by if one (or more) of those is your preferred venue! Short vids? We’ve got them, both serious and silly. Longer vids, yep – especially on YouTube. We are working to cross pollinate all those plus announcements, crowdfunding updates, and look-backs, and all the good stuff.

Speaking of online activities, we ran through some of the efforts, trials, and tribulations of working on setting up panels and games for the upcoming Onyx Path Virtual Convention in June. I caught Travis muttering about herding a dozen flaming cats into a dozen individual burning sacks, which I assumed was a metaphor.

But in this business, you never know…

We talked a fair bit about everybody’s reactions to the At The Gates Ashcan, which have been fantastic and thanks so much to everyone who picked it up already! Now we’re getting close to setting up the At The Gates BackerKit crowdfunding campaign, so we reviewed that process.

If you did pick up the At The Gates Ashcan, please do know that as an ashcan, it’s not supposed to be the complete book. It’s supposed to give you a taste and a starting point. Of course, it’s not going to cover everything the final book will, that’s not what an ashcan is designed to do.

It’s a bite, not the whole meal.

Speaking of At The Gates – there’s also The World Below, which is the first of the Earthbane Cycle of fantasy games. At The Gates being the second, and we haven’t announced the third. Yet.

We also haven’t announced the connection between all these game settings, the reason they are all grouped under the umbrella of the Earthbane Cycle. I imagine that someday we will, and you can garner some hints in the two books, but probably not a lot as yet. No matter when we do a “big reveal” or a Big Reveal, none of the settings will require the others. They are all discrete game lines, not supplements for each other. But, if this works as planned, having them connected in some ways will add a richness and depth to your games.

So many great new games, so:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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Blurbs!

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Crowdfunding!:

Coming Next: At The Gates!

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

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: Matthew and Danielle form the Onyx Path Writer’s Room to talk about what they like about some prose in our upcoming books!

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:

If you picked up the Hollow King last week, you may be on the lookout for a Scion: Dragon actual play! Well here’s part one of two of one of those very things! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-SOVRdG1AM

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=U6vgcvwmcFo

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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: Dark Eras 2 limited edition (and some Screens) is 75% off over at IPR:

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

The Exalted Solar Eclipse Sale is also live now at IPR. Only until April 15th!

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).

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!

Not a hoax, not a dream, not an April Fool’s joke! PDF and PoD versions of Many Faced Strangers for Exalted 3e Lunars goes on sale, really, this Weds 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 in May.

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.

Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying will be the this Friday the 29th! Come play some of our games, especially any edition of Realms of Pugmire! (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 March’s full list report here:

https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-march-2024/

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY

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

First Draft

Realms of Pugmire – Curious Cats of Mau Jumpstart

• Eddy: Well, Travis got his wish! He pitched me a jumpstart about halfway through the campaign, so I whipped up a quick outline, got it signed off on just as quickly, and set him to work expanding on his idea!

Redlines

Exalted – Exalted Essence Player’s Guide

• Danielle: First drafts have filtered in to Monica, who now has the enjoyable task of reading through what is likely hundreds of Charms!

Storypath – Storypath Ultra Core Manual

• Eddy: After many weeks of banging on this, I’ve thrown it over to my colleague Danielle to make sure I wrote the rules well and correctly, before I build out the rest of the book.

The World Below – Underworld Adventures

• Danielle: Danielle here, writing as though I were Matthew: The developer is delving deep into the circuitous routes the authors have taken, hoping to find treasure, or at the very least, edible prose.

Final Draft

Exalted – Exigents Jumpstart

• Danielle: MJ has sent this off to authors to get it polished up. Can’t wait for it to be ready for the backers’ eyeballs!

Development

The World Below – Enter the Dungeon Jumpstart

• Eddy: Since Matthew’s unavailable: “This amazing jumpstart for The World Below will really help people dive right into the gritty underground fantasy world.”

Post-Editing Development

Scion – Titans Rising Gifts of the Titans

• Eddy: Since Matthew’s unavailable: “This stretch goal from Scion: Titans Rising just came back from editing, and the developer can’t wait to see what the editor’s done to make the text as mythic as possible.”

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• Ex Essence Pillars of Creation – I’m sending this to Gong when the are done with BR and Paths to Apotheosis.
• M20 Faces of Magick – First set of sketches in.
• M20 Victorian Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magic – Gaydos sending in fulls.
• M20 Victorian Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters – KMJ sketches approved.
• SCION No Gods, No Masters – Awaiting sketches and finals.
• SCION Path to Apotheosis – With Maria. Gong is doing this. Already got cover sketch in.
• TC Player’s Guide – With Maria for ADing.
• TC With Great Power – With Maria for ADing.
• Pugmire 2e – WIth Navela.
• At The Gates (KS) – Talking with artists about sketches.
• Branch Riders – Sent more sketches over for feedback.

In Layout

• Ex3 Sidereals – Art approved. Starting layout.
• Ex Essence Charm Cards – getting them going again.
• DTR Clade Companion
• Exigents Screen
• CofD Contagion Chronicles RMCs
• Squeaks in the Deep Companion 
• Ex Essence Jumpstart – Got files over to Travis.

Proofing

• Ex 3 Exigents – Inputting XXs and index… then out putting PoD/Press files.
• M20 Victorian Jumpstart 

Indexing

• TC Aether
• Scion God 

At Press

• Reprints:
• Scion Origin – Should see press proofs in the next week or so.
• TC Core – Awaiting any prepress correction and printer proofs.
• TC Aeon – Cover layout.
  
• Exalted Essence – Printing.
• Ex Essence Screen – At Studio 2.
• Ex3 Exigents – PgXXs.
• TC Anima Terra Surge Screen
• TC Anima
• M20 Lore of the Traditions – Printing.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED! – PoD files uploaded and prepping printer files.
• They Came From the Cyclops Cave! – PoD proofs ordered and prepping printer files.
• TCF Classified and Cyclops Cards – PoD proofs on the way.
• CtL 2e The Hedge 
• Classified and Cyclops Wallpapers – Going to backers this week.
• At The Gates Ashcan – errata this week.
• Ex3 Many-Faced Strangers – Not a hoax, not a dream, not an April Fool’s joke! PDF and PoD versions on sale this Weds on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

We already talked about April Fools Day, so how about an April birthday for somebody who’s nobody’s fool? Our own Dixie Cochran turns 39 this week – which is 3 thirteens! Three times as lucky this year, Dixie! Congrats!