Bum, bum, bum, budda bum bum.

Last week, the Squeaks in the Deep Kickstarter funded in 3 hours and 45 minutes! Even after rushing to start the KS after being delayed from our original date!

Great work everybody who backed and spread the word! Thanks for all your help!

We still need plenty of noise out there letting gamers know about this game, and Pugmire in general, of course, so please do keep liking and forwarding, and all that good stuff. You never know when a mention could help let a group of players in on this amazing game world.

Especially if you know 5e D&Ders, as we would love more of them to have a chance to check out this very easy to jump into setting and version of the 5e rules.

In fact, you can let everybody know that, so far, the entire character creation chapter has been released to backers, so backers can play around with various characters, and the Psionics section is coming tomorrow (with an excerpt on Psionics released over the weekend).

We’ve passed several stretch goals, including adding in another type of character – uplifted rabbits!

Rabbits! Bunnies! Yes! You have to figure that some human uplifted their pet bun-bun before whatever happened to humanity happened, and maybe they were huge Watership Down fans. Could be.

What’s next if we get past its stretch goal? Are badgers coming?…

Just a reminder from last week that Realms of Pugmire also exists in different media: There the Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb adventure module on the Astral TableTop VTT platform, which you can find out a lot more about below in the revamped Virtual Tabletop section!

There’s also a new release of Eddy’s that is both game and fiction, sort of like the old Choose Your Own Adventure books but so much smoother than that. Choices you make aren’t just “A) Turn to page 23, B) Turn to page 99”, but are actually recorded by the interface and affect how NPCs react.

Very cool.

Inspired by Pirates of Pugmire, “Pugmire: Treasure of the Sea Dogs” is a swashbuckling adventure. When nefarious pirate cats murder your mentor and steal the famous Corgi Pearls, you’ll chase the cats across the seas to fetch and recover the treasure! It’s a 100,000-word interactive nautical tale by Eddy, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. You can play the first three chapters of the game for free, and it’s on sale for $2.99 until Jul 22!
https://www.choiceofgames.com/pugmire/

Now, some folks have questioned Eddy as to why this isn’t an Onyx Path game. It’s really simple: Eddy wrote a story game based in the world he owns using an interface Choice Of Games has – and Onyx Path doesn’t. We don’t do that sort of thing.

In general, I think folks should get used to IPs showing up in different media with different creators/publishers. There’s just such a range of media out there – let’s enjoy it!

Our Meeting Today Had Much Talking:

Talking process evolution: We talked about the dev process and some tweaks to different parts like when we need to do a kind of “kick-off” for projects that need art for their Kickstarters. Pretty much small adjustments to a system that is working.

Talking about Editing: Dixie also mentioned that she has devised a new way to keep track of editing. Because of the work already in-process towards being done we expect a lot of progress to come pretty rapidly in terms of getting our long-backlogged projects past the Editing phase. It’s been a long slog due to 2020 and Covid folks, but we’re doing all we can to get our internal stuff back on track.

The rest of the world? Might be outside our weight class, but we’ll do what we can there, too!

Talking about this very blog: Hey folks, we know there’s a weird glitch when it comes to some folks seeing the link for each Monday’s blog on our own web-page. Please do look at our other social media, other links elsewhere, or even go ahead and subscribe to our Onyx Path Mailing List. We don’t talk about it a lot these days, but you can join it right there at the right of the page, and it’ll email you this blog and other Onyx Path info right to you without you needing to do anything further.

Talking about Onyx Path Virtual Con: Like we talked about during the con, there are now vids of games being played during the con up on YouTube, links are below in the Onyx Path Media section.

Talking about other cons: We’ll be at the online version of Gen Con in September, and we discussed the timing on those panels and games, but since we need official confirmation and a link folks can use to sign up, we figure that this will do for letting folks know right now!

Talking about things besides cons: The Christmas in July Big PDF Sale on DTRPG starts on Thursday and pretty much all but our very latest PDFs will be on sale at some great discounts. Hope folks get a chance to check out some games they haven’t yet had a chance to!

Talking about selling other things: M20 Technocracy Reloaded goes on sale this week in PDF and PoD versions! We’re all really thrilled about the book in general, and as we continue to work with the traditional printer of the Deluxe edition to get past their Covid-related issues, we’re really glad folks can get a non-Deluxe book version for their table!

I know I keep mentioning how things are changing, specifically the challenges all across the TTRPG biz, and please believe me I will be thrilled when things are all working well again. For now, though, I really do think it is important that we be as transparent as possible about why we do things and why some projects move forward and others get slowed down.

Other than talking about personal things our creators would rather I not reveal, I try to give ya’ll as clear a look each week into what we do and why. From there, you should be able to get an idea of the ebb and flow of how we’re creating TTRPGs for your enjoyment, and ours, as we build:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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BLURBS!

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Kickstarter!

Squeaks In the Deep, for Realms of Pugmire! Funded in less than 4 hours!

Right now, we’re a few pledges away from 200% funded, and have passed Stretch Goals that unlock the Screen and T-Shirt, and have achieved a setting supplement focused on Rabbits!

Rats and mice join the world as player characters! Come explore the hidden depths under the skin of the world and below the City of Pugmire!

Our next Kickstarter is slated to be The Apocalyptic Record for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition!

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: An interview probing deeply into the deeply twisted and talented mind of one of our favorite writers: Joshua Doetsch! Come for his darkly beautiful compelling writing; stay for his stories of creating content for computer games and other media!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

For anyone new to our media section, you can find us running and playing games over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath pretty much every day of the week! Plus, if you’d like your games hosted there, just get in touch with Matthew Dawkins using the contact link on matthewdawkins.com. 

Please check out our attached media schedule for the impressive number of videos on our Twitch channel this week!

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more. This week, we focused on our OnyxPathCon videos!:

Scarred Lands – Dead Man’s Rust – Red Scar Gaming – Episode 12: https://youtu.be/B5WqUz0ggXE

Scarred Lands – Dead Man’s Rust – Red Scar Gaming – Episode 13: https://youtu.be/5VRyu9E-fE4

Vampire: The Masquerade – Styx and Bones – Table Goth – Episode 8: https://youtu.be/wXEnrUq8fyY

https://youtu.be/wXEnrUq8fyY

Trinity Continuum: Adventure – The Purist Evil – Finale: https://youtu.be/Knf_bioXEHs

They Came from Beyond the Grave! – The Haunting of Abbeyham Priory: https://youtu.be/saKbDexBmiI

The Contagion Chronicle – Time is Come Round: https://youtu.be/oDlStJ-jaKg

Exalted: Essence – Finale: https://youtu.be/ClkIfNPlFVw

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Ekorren made a new Exalted video all about Lunars, who they are, and how to play them: https://youtu.be/NeOQSe0qcQw

Actual Story Podcasting ran an excellent They Came from Beneath the Sea! actual play involving some of the cast and crew from the movie VHS 2! You can find their play right here: https://actualstorypodcasting.com/podcast/rpg-anthology

Simulacra TV have started up a brand new Aberrant actual play, named Atomic Youth! Please check them out and give them some support. This one looks like a fantastic story, starting with “New Gods – Part Two“: https://youtu.be/hPINvt0ExAU

Aberrant: Atomic Youth episodes premiere Wednesdays at 5pm EDT on https://www.twitch.tv/SimulacraTV

Some ExalTwitch news:
They’re about to start a second season of ExalTwitch: Academy on Sunday, 18:00 Eastern Daylight Time. This is a great place to start watching for new viewers — the start of a new chapter in the campaign, and people won’t really need to know what happened before. They did create a two minute recap of our first season in case people are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5O1-WpO7Fw

They also had a second Session Zero for our transitioning ExalTwitch: Academy to Essence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_FdoHtMels

The Exaltcast continues its amazing show with a systems roundup for anyone looking to get into Exalted or Exalted: Essence’s: https://www.exaltcast.com/2021/07/13/teaching-incomprehensible-truths-systems-round-up/

Vorpal Tales have a lot of Onyx Path content for you to check out!

On Fridays at 5pm EDT experience Contagion Chronicle: No Time for Reality Season Two. Chicago is still flooded with the reality warping Contagion from strange spaces beyond the Supernal realms. The original team is still lost in Arcadia, but Macintosh alerted a new team to be ready to step in should he and his team disappear. It’s up to this new group now to leverage their vectors and contain this threat.

On Tuesdays at 5pm EDT experience their new overarching Chronicle of Darkness, Insurgence. Vorpal Tales weave an ambitious tale connecting 7 Chronicles of Darkness game lines in one overarching story of rebellion and the cost of self-awareness. Book 1: Defiance begins the tale with Mage: The Awakening 2e.

Join Vorpal Tales every Monday at 9pm EDT for They Came from Beyond the Grave! Enjoy their tale of derring do against the minions of evil in a six part summer tale!

Also, join Vorpal Tales for a story of a pack’s Rite of Passage as they tell a terrifying tale of Werewolf: The Apocalypse every Saturday at 9pm EDT
A Bunch of Gamers continue their excellent Werewolf: The Apocalypse chronicle right here, with Episode 75: https://youtu.be/J0Wuw87n6LM

The pack’s return to the physical world to find Howling King quickly returning to his old self. The Sept is now a buzz with the prospect of a war against the leeches, who had remained hidden for too long. Excitement is in the air as the Garou perform covert operations throughout the city to weaken the leeches power base and declare war in the Garou way.

Wards & Witchcraft reach Session 28 of their fantastic Mage: The Awakening chronicle right here: https://youtu.be/89y-FKyNO1Y
The final session in Season 1. At the end that is truly just beginning, the venturing Fools encounter the Hydra that will shake their perceptions of reality.

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

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Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! The dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

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Virtual TableTop!

NEW on Astral TableTop is the Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb for Realms of Pugmire!

Play Now on Astral TableTop!

The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb module comes with all the maps and encounters, ready to play, along with pre-generated characters and character sheets wired up for automated rolling. It also offers the GameMaster some guidance on playing the scenario on Astral for those GMs new to the platform or entirely new to virtual tabletops (VTT).

Create a free account first, then the Quickstarts will be available on the Home page. If you are getting this via DTRPG, after checkout, look for the link to unlock your adventure on Astral.

Also on Astral TableTop, we have two free projects: Scion 2E: A Light Extinguished and Scarred Lands: Gauntlet of Spiragos and this Dagger of Spiragos module for sale: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/336406/Dagger-of-Spiragos-5e–Astral-VTT

Astral TableTop is the easiest way to play any tabletop RPG online, free. Astral already supports popular systems like D&D and Pathfinder, and Astral can support virtually any tabletop roleplaying game. Get started quickly with built-in support for most popular game systems. Whether you’re brand new to TTRPGs or a veteran tabletop gamer, Astral‘s ease-of-use and built in automation is designed to streamline gameplay.

https://www.astraltabletop.com/

How to guides and FAQ: https://help.astraltabletop.com/

Here is the main filter for all of our current VTT content on DTRPG:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/4261/Onyx-Path-Publishing?filters=0_0_0_45317_0

A few highlights of our platform agnostic content:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/309127/Scarred-Lands-Creature-Collection-VTT-Token-Pack
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/317690/Trinity-Continuum-Hunt-for-the-Red-Widow-VTT
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/340327/Trinity-Continuum-Aeon-VTT-Tokens
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311578/Scarred-Lands-VTT-Separation-Anxiety
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311580/Scion-2e-VTT-Origin-Signature-Tokens
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/311579/Scion-2e-VTT-Hero-Signature-Tokens

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On 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).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

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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!

You can pick up the traditionally printed Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau main books, screens, and the official dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Now, we’ve added Chronicles of Darkness books such as Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

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

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

Look out for the X-Mas in July Sale coming THIS THURSDAY! Huge discounts on all of our PDFs! (Except for new ones, y’know?)

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On Sale This Week!

Assuming they don’t block us and disable our tech, this Wednesday the M20 Technocracy Reloaded PDF and PoD versions will be available on DTRPG!

As the third decade of the 21st century dawns, the Technocratic Union stands on the cutting edge of a future imperiled. As science and technology draw humanity closer than ever before, certain factions within the Masses display gross negligence, undermining the Union’s work and endangering the world for shortsighted gains. Despite global telecommunications, new frontiers in virtually every field of study, and an understanding of the universe only dreamed of by earlier generations, humanity faces threats on all sides.

Can You Save It?

Technocracy Reloaded peels back the curtain and examines the role of the Technocracy in Mage 20th Anniversary Edition. The various Future Fates presented in Mage 20 are examined and this book introduces a few of its own. This book provides a detailed look at life within the Technocracy, expanded information on the Conventions, a wealth of equipment, Adjustments, and Procedures, a breakdown of the various shadow conspiracies and factions within the Technocratic Union, and tips for running your own Technocracy Chronicle.

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Conventions!

Because dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, we don’t yet have a list of upcoming physical conventions. Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!

Well be hosting panels and games at the Online Gen Con in September – more details as things firm up with the con schedule!

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And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

• Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)
• Panopticon Novella (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• With Great Power (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• Trinity Continuum: Aether core book (Trinity Continuum: Aether)
• Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magick (M20 Victorian)
• Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters (M20 Victorian)
• Scion: Dragon Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Scion: Dragon Companion (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Terat novella (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Redlines

• Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Tome of the Pentacle (Mage: the Awakening 2e)
• The Hedge (Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition)
• Scion: God (Scion 2e)

Second Draft

• No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Tasty Bit: The Autocracy (Scion 2nd Edition)
• They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave! core book (They Came From…!)

Development

• Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)
• Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
• Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)
• TC: Adventure! Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Manuscript Approval

Post-Approval Development

• Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• M20 Lore of the Traditions (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing

• Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)
• Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)
• M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)
• Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
• The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)
• CtL2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)
• Heroes in a World of Horror! (They Came From…!)
• Dystopia Rising: Evolution Fiction Anthology (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)
• Prometheus Unbound (was Psi Orders) (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
• Legacies of Earth (Legendlore)
• Scion Fiction Anthology (Scion 2nd Edition)
• They Came From Beyond the Grave! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
• Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Monsters From the Crypt! (They Came From…!)
• TC: Aeon Novella: Meridian (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
• Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)
• The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)
• Proteus Nova Compendium (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• TC: Aeon Novella: Dawn (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
• Tasty Bit: Pets (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)
• They Came From Camp Murder Lake! (They Came From…!)
• Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)
• Trinity Continuum: Anima
• Tales of Depravity! (They Came From…!)
• They Came From [Classified]! (They Came From…!)
• They Came From [Classified]! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
• Realms of Magic and Mystery (was Terra Incognita) (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)
• Vigil Watch: The Kelder Mountains (Scarred Lands)
• Ghost Hunters Jumpstart w/RMCs (WoD 20th)
• The Paranormal Investigator’s Handbook (WoD 20th)
• Once and Future (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Apocalyptic Record (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Post-Editing Development

• Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)
• N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)
• Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)
• They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)
• Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)
• Trinity Continuum: Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

Indexing

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Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

• Scion: Dragon
• Masks of the Mythos
• TC: Adventure! (KS) – Reviewing Danielle’s art notes.
• M20 Victorian (KS)
• Dead Man’s Rust
• Exalted Essence (KS)
• TC Mission Statements
• TC Aberrant N!WE – Maria ADing.
• M20 Technocracy Dossier/Companion
• Squeaks In The Deep (KS) – On KS.
• TC Prometheus Unbound – Maria ADing.
• They Came From Camp Murder Lake!
• Realms of Magic and Mystery
• Saints and Monsters
• TC: Anima (KS)
• TC: Assassin
• Legendlore: Legacies of the Earth
• Novas Worldwide
• W20 Apocalyptic Record (KS)

In Layout

• WoD Ghost Hunters (KS)
• They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart – Andrea is working on it.
• They Came From Beyond the Grave! – All art is in. Ron Thompson returns to do layout.
• M20 Technocracy Jumpstart
• Hundred Devils Night Parade – Art looking good.
• Aberrant VTT
• Scion: Demigod
• V5 Forbidden Religions
• Tasty Bit: They Came From Plan 9! (They Came From…!)

Proofing

• Heirs to the Shogunate – Inputting errata.
• Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Inputting second proof changes.
• Spiragos Collected Adventures
• M20 Rich Bastards Guide – With Charles.
• Players Guide to the Contagion Chronicle – Errata being gathered.
• TC: Under Alien Skies – Errata being input.
• Dearly Bleak – Deviant: The Renegades Novella – getting ready for Paradox approval.
• TC Aberrant Jumpstart – Errata being gathered.
• Legendlore – Proof over to dev.

At Press

• M20 Technocracy Reloaded – PDF and PoD versions on sale this Weds.! Deluxe getting ready for press.
• Mummy 2 – Getting ready for press.
• Mummy 2e Screen – Files sent to printer.
• Deviant – Getting ready for press.
• Deviant Screen – Files sent to printer.
• Technocracy Reloaded Screen – Files sent to printer.

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

A mixed bag in history for today, but here are some items that caught my eye and might be worth celebrating – YMMV:

In 1952, David Hasselhoff, American actor, singer, and producer, was born. The Hoff – ’nuff said! Then, in 1954, was born Angela Merkel, German chemist and politician, Chancellor of Germany. Two people with many, many fans in Germany. And also on this date, in 1902 – Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, New York.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Willis!