Just thrilled to report that the BackerKit crowdfunding campaign for SPU is still growing way past 300% funding and almost 800 backers and we’re not even a full week in!

We really didn’t know how excited folks would be about a book that is largely all about our house StoryPath Ultra system fine-tuned and hopefully super-accessible, but it appears to be that you’re pretty darned excited! So, very many thanks from us for backing and participating!

Eddy, too, is excited, and wants to share that energy with you now:

Holy cats, the campaign is doing well! I’m so excited not only with the numbers (although there is a great joy in WATCH NUMBER GO UP BRRRR), but also that people seem to be generally really happy with what they’ve seen so far. Obviously it’s not perfect — no product is — but most of the critiques are on the level of “I wish there was more of this,” which is a great problem to have!

We’ve also been talking about SPU a bit on our recent AMA thread on RPG.net, and I had a great discussion with Awkward GM Corbin on their YouTube channel, where I spent an hour talking about the book, the system, and why the NUMBER GO UP doesn’t go up as high as it did before, and what that’s a good thing!

If you want to take a gander at Eddy yakkin’ – er, explaining SPU wonderfully as only he can – here’s the link:

Ah, Bax, We Hardly Knew Ye!

(See notes in Reason to Celebrate.)

Today this section of the blog below the sub-head is going to be much heavier than the part above, as we just have a ton of folks wanting to talk about their efforts, explain things, etc – and who am I to say them nay? Especially since I’m adding my own little gushing about Threats and Curs right near the very end?

Eddy mentioned our ongoing AMA on RPG.net that we starting last Friday and has been running since the. Unlike other kinds of AMAs, this one is a thread on their forum, so you can pop in and ask a question at any time, and we’re equally free to jump on when we have time. It’s a nice set up if you’re busy!

The questions on it are pretty widely ranged, from the SPU crowdfunder, to Scion, Exalted, WoD, and CofD (and other game line) questions, to backstage “why did you…” style Qs. And of course, there’s plenty of Curseborne questions, which we love answering in preparation for the big KS starting October 1st!

Could I possibly have mentioned Curseborne? Did I mention this lil link? It takes you on the first step for your dark journey into the highly anticipated world of CURSEBORNE:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/curseborne-tabletop-roleplaying-game

Today I’d like to share with you a bit from our second blog about Adversaries that Matthew wrote, as I believe it underscores an important point about Curseborne and how we are releasing info about it. As you’ll note, Matthew points out that the previous info in the Ashcan, and these blogs are designed so that you can start to get a feel for how adversaries are put together, and even so you can start playing around with creating them.

We have a lot of info we are trying to get out into our community in a logical manner (as opposed to some of the massive and off-putting info dumps we’ve sometimes used before!) Here’s Matthew:

One of the reasons I ordered the blogs in this way was to allow you, the readers, to construct your own villains for Curseborne. If you already own the Ashcan, you now have access to the following Qualities and Dread Powers:

Ashcan Qualities
– Attentive
– Clear Vision
– Frightening Presence
– Immunity
– Invulnerability
– Reanimation
– Unusual Anatomy
– Vulnerability

Ashcan Dread Powers
– Bend Minds
– Consume
– Devour
– Hypnotize
– Spawn

Blog Qualities
– Feral
– Noxious Blood
– Regeneration

Blog Dread Powers
– Cannibalize
– Devastating Blow
– Elemental Teleportation
– Shapeshift

With this array of abilities, I’m going to make up a creature on the fly using the traits for a Fright (the zombie flesh-eaters from the Ashcan use this trait template) as follows:

Adversary: The Mad Hatter
“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”
This unfortunate individual acquired an artifact riddled with so many curses, it destroyed his mind and fixated him on the acquisition of objects, people, or experiences all of a particular type. Maybe he collects hats of a particular style, breaking into millineries around the country to supplement his collection. Perhaps he’s partial to fruity teas, scones, jam, and creams. Or maybe, if his obsession goes beyond mundane thievery, it extends to cursed items, magical relics, tasting hexes, or little girls named Alice. Whatever the case, the Mad Hatter can’t and won’t stop until the object that cursed him is destroyed. For Mad Hatters of age and power, they become more object than person; a living representation of the artifact that made them this way. Destroy it, and you’ll destroy the Hatter. He won’t go down without a fight though: Hatters know how to get into the minds of others, twisting them to their special brand of strangeness.
Template: Fright
Drive: Steal the finest items from the city’s most exclusive jewellers.
Primary Pool: 8 (Compel, Empathy, Hide)
Secondary Pool: 6 (Creep, Grapple)
Desperation Pool: 4
Enhancements: +1 Honeyed Words
Defense: 2
Integrity: 1
Injuries: 4
Armor: 0
Initiative: 4
Qualities: Clear Vision, Vulnerability (Cursed Gemstone) (Frights tend to have between 1 and 4 Qualities)
Dread Powers: Bend Minds ×1, Elemental Teleportation (Jewels) ×1, Hypnotize ×2 (Frights tend to have between 1 and 4 Dread Powers)

So there you have it: an adversary made in five minutes using the abilities you already have access to.

All this month, DTRPG is having a different sale each week, and we have a bunch of projects in their DTRPG Maps Sale. Check it out for all of your tabletop and VTT mapping needs!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/4261/onyx-path-publishing?promo=45731

Travis is going to jump in here for a sec to spotlight several of our new shows on Twitch:

I’d like to call attention to three new streams we have going over on our Twitch channel.

Mondays at 9 PM EDT Storyguide Chaz Callendar brings us Scion: the Tower. Chaz says, “As four Scions climb the path to godhood, they must contend with inter-Pantheon politics. All the while humanity attempts to claim the realm of the gods for themselves. Can these Scions secure their own divinity while protecting the overworlds from human ambition?

Fridays at 9 PM EDT Storyguide Krow weaves a tale of pulp action with Trinity Continuum: Adventure! Rumble! Krow says, “What started as a protection detail for a mysterious object and babysitting the Mayor’s son has turned into a conspiracy that will cause the city of Metro Union to cease to exist.
The city’s only hope is a trio from the Hope Alliance tasked with stopping the many strange events happening in the city. They are made up of Grey, a spy with a million faces; Bobby, with fists that go through walls; and a mysterious, overworked third member who is also the brains of their operation.

Along the way, they will encounter housewife boxing, kitty crime bosses, young superheroes, zombies, mysterious beings from the Arctic Circle, and they’ll punch a lot of Nazis.”

And biweekly Thursdays at Noon EDT Storyguide AsteriskVtuber journeys to a cyberpunk future with Trinity Continuum: Anima – Masks in the Mirror. Asterisk invites you to “Dive into a virtual landscape, a game within a game where the table navigates through a cyberpunk-esque cityscape while exploring a virtual MMORPG that both hold secrets that mysteriously bleed into one another. As their characters and their character’s virtual personas both get dragged into a web of lies and truths of their worlds, a simple question darkens the clouds above them. When you stare into the mirror, what truly stares back?”

All three of these shows have recently launched, so it’s a perfect time for new viewers to hop on board! Remember, Twitch subscribers get instant access to VOD and it’s currently Subtember, so subs can get up to 30% OFF! Also, if you use Amazon Prime, you get one free Twitch subscription per month, and we would love to be your free subscription!

And now, I want to highlight that Threats and Curs for Realms of Pugmire, which I’ve teased art for in this blog the last half a year, goes on sale on Weds on DTRPG with the Advance PDF. This is unusual for us as the Realms of Pugmire main book has only just released its PDF to backers.

Or, as Eddy sez:

Threats and Curs is an experiment in many ways. For one, it’s a second edition sourcebook that’s coming out before the core rulebook! (Although you can still pre-order it on BackerKit to snag a preview PDF.) For another, Rich was really excited by the idea of making this a visual and structural homage to the earliest manual of monsters for fantasy roleplaying. I even wrote the introduction to emulate that late 1970s style. Here’s a snippet!

It is with a massive amount of pride that I and the folks at Onyx Path Publishing bring you this new release for Realms of Pugmire, a collection of new and updated enemies called Threats & Curs. While we’re immensely proud of all the hard work we’ve put into the original edition, all of us had an itch to do a big book of antagonists… a manual of monsters, if you will. So I’m doubly excited that Onyx Path was keen to be more experimental with this book, making it an homage to the original book from 1977 that inspired many of us.

As time goes on, the Realms of Pugmire phenomenon grows in leaps and bounds — indeed, the popularity of the game and the world continues to expand from its humble origins a decade ago as just a short story and a handful of notes on my computer. This trend is immensely gratifying, both to me and Onyx Path, and encourages me to devote even more time and attention to all things Pugmire. I hope that, as long as there are passionate fans for it, we can continue to make more high-quality (and occasionally experimental) books for all Realms of Pugmire fans to enjoy.

It was surprisingly fun (and challenging) to get into that style of prose. It shows how much games have evolved over the years, while still having a consistent core we can love and enjoy even today. I can’t wait for people to get it into their paws!

That’s the cover right up there, which I had a lot of fun pulling together using my art from the creatures in the book, in a very famous bit of layout that I was tickled to be able to emulate. It was just fun to see if my monster art could be pulled out and colored to give that first edition feel to the cover, and also, Threats and Curs is the sort of monster book that reminds me, personally, very much of opening that very first hardcover D&D book and just being thrilled by the creatures within.

Plus, while the book was created to go with the Realms of Pugmire core, it is not limited to that. Although we use the Onyx20 system, it is not at all hard to use these creatures in any original Pugmire gaming you might be having fun with! Which reminds me, a lot, of how we used to take creatures out of that old D&D book and tweak them for our various game worlds.

Or, if you want Realms of Pugmire to go with Threats and Curs right now, please pledge for the PDF (or even more) on our BackerKit site and you’ll get that Backer PDF right then!

Really looking forward to what folks think with this homage and experiment that comes out of my many years of gaming, and hope that all the amazing stuff going on as we create new experiences for you can give you that same amount of joy (or terror, depending on how you’re playing). In a way, we’re paying it forward when we’re making:

Many Worlds, One Path!

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Blurbs!

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Crowdfunding!

Storypath Ultra Core Manual!

Funded in just over 1 HOUR on BackerKit Crowdfunding!

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/e1e8ffda-b5fb-485e-9b8c-4bed270ffde9/landing

We’re now at over 300% funding and have opened up a bunch of Stretch Goals including Expedited Community Content tools on Storypath Nexus!

NEXT!

Click on this link to start your dark journey into the highly-anticipated world of CURSEBORNE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/curseborne-tabletop-roleplaying-game

On Kickstarter, October 1st!

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Onyx Path Media!

This week: Dixie has an interview with Chazz Kellner about Exalted: Alchemicals!

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

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Also check out our attached media schedule for the videos on our Twitch channel this week!

In this week’s Onyx Path News, you’ll find Matthew talking about Storypath Ultra, Scion: Demigod, and The Game Jam! Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqlBE1QNNrc

Awkward GM Corbin continues with yet another pair of videos videos, starting with this interview with Eddy Webb about Storypath Ultra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrV5AsTgXA&t

And then giving his own first impressions of the Storypath Ultra Core Manual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaYQ8pSaoJM

Awkward GM Corbin has thrown down the gauntlet, people. He’s oiled up, has donned his ski mask and chaps, and is ready to challenge anyone keen on making media about our games.

Can you throw him down from his media pedestal?

Can you overcome Lord Awkwardus?

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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

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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/

OGL Books and Screens are 50% Off over 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!

This week the DTRPG Maps Sale is now live! Check it out for all of your tabletop and VTT mapping needs!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/4261/onyx-path-publishing?promo=45731

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!

The world of the Realms of Pugmire is filled with creatures and perils! Threats and Curs is a manual of monsters sure to make your explorations exciting! Designed to remind us of those tomes of creatures for days of yore, the Threats and Curs Advance PDF will be On Sale This Weds on DTRPG!

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Conventions!

Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!

GameHoleCon – Oct 17th – 19th

https://www.gameholecon.com/

PAX Unplugged – December 6th – 8th

https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying is the last Friday of every 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 August’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-august-2024/

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!

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

First Draft

Tasty Bit – Æon: Starship Fight (November)

• Eddy: A new Tasty Bit, and this one is a short scenario centered around a fight between starships! I don’t know much more than that, as I wanted to give the writer a lot of room to be creative, so we’ll find out what that entails together!

Editing

Tasty Bit – CLASSIFIED Villain #4 (October)

• Matthew: October’s the time you discover the secrets of the Agency! Ever wanted to know what happens in R&D? How about I&I? What about M&S? Or even S&M?! All the divisions are covered, or uncovered, as the case may be…

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ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

• Ex3 Abyssals – Getting that contracted out.
• Ex3 Alchemicals – Full page notes getting tweaked.
• M20 Victorian Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters – Fulls should be in on the 15th.
• TC Anima Jumpstart (Terra Surge) – Going over color comps.
• TC Aegis – Contracted.
• Curseborne Brochure #2 – Getting that rolling.
• Curseborne Gamehole Con Card – Also rolling.
• Curseborne (KS) – Making stuff for the final page and advertising.
• SPU Core Manual (BK) – Live!

Layout

• Trinity Continuum CC 
• Scion Tasty Bit Combo
• The World Below – Template creation and griping at artists.
• Ex Essence Pillars of Creation – Hammering out changes on fulls.
• Ex Essence Deeds Yet Undone (Dirt Cheap)
• SCION God Storyguide Screen – Working. Last minute art tweaks being done.
• TC With Great Power – I need to download all the hi res art…

Proofing

• They Came From Classified Jumpstart 
• Sidereals Novella – Approvals at Paradox.

Indexing

• Ex3 Sidereals 
• Realms of Pugmire

At Press

• Reprints:
• Scion Origin – At port, then to Studio2.
• TC Core – At port, then to Studio2.

• Ex 3 Exigents – Reviewing quotes.
• Ex 3 Exigents Screen – Looking at proofs.
• TC Aether – Reviewing quotes.
• TC Anima – Printing.
• TC Anima Terra Surge Screen – Proofs sent back.
• Ex3 Sidereals – Indexing.
• Ex Essence Jumpstart – Dixie inputting errata.
• Ex Essence Charm Cards
• Realms of Pugmire – Indexing.
• Scion: God – PoD proofs on the way. Reviewing quotes for trad printing.
• They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave – Printing.
• They Came From the Cyclops’s Cave Screen – Proofs sent back.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED – Printing.
• They Came From CLASSIFIED Screen – Proofs sent back.
• TC Player’s Guide – Backer PDF out to backers.
• Pugmire: Threats and Curs – Advance PDF on sale this WEDS on DTRPG!

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Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Coming up this week is Friday the 13th, always a delightful day for us! So, let’s look ahead to celebrate the day, and that 24 years ago WW announced the creation of Sword and Sorcery Studios, their entry into what would become the d20 craze, and the legendary Creature Collection! That the book that beat the D&D 3 Monster Manual into stores and led to our very own Scarred Lands! Plus, it would have been the 44th birthday of WW’s own late, yet unlamented intern, the equally legendary Bax Masterson. It seems like only yesterday he was spilling coffee all over original art, and accidentally erasing entire manuscripts.

We have enough here already, but as I was finishing this blog, word came that the great James Earl Jones has passed away. Let us celebrate an amazing and inspirational career – certainly his phenomenal voice launched a billion imitations in our TTRPG hobby, alone!