There are two ways to read that header, which is as intended: the first is a reference to our glee after months of planning came together this weekend with the 2025 Onyx Path Online Gaming Con! It went off smoothly, we had lots of fun, and we’re all thrilled today to be able to look back on it positively, and look forward to what’s up in the rest of this year!
If you missed attending, I’ll just give you a brief recap of the various announcements made during the Con. For full details, please check out the videos of the panels once they go up on our YouTube site. (You’ll also see snippets and bit on our social media).
But first, some thoughts from our Onyx Path crew:
Eddy: I always have a great time at OPP Con, even when I need to stay up late to hang out with people. It’s always fun to announce new things, obviously, but also talk in more depth about things we’ve already announced, like the latest Realms of Pugmire book, Pugmire Unleashed. I feel like the pace was a lot better this year, and the vibe was really good with lots of great questions from the audience. I look forward to next year!
Dixie: I had so much fun at this year’s Onyx Path Virtual Convention, despite getting over being ill! The initial Curseborne panel and opening ceremonies are always a good time, along with What’s Up With Onyx Path? and being able to talk about my beloved badger clans for Pugmire Unleashed. I’m glad people are now able to see and play through Olivia Waits, the beautifully written interactive novel by Matthew Dawkins set in the Curseborne universe. I’m glad so many people from across the time zones got to come and hang out, especially our various intrepid freelancers from across the world. Granted, by the closing ceremonies we were a bit tired and talked more about Broadway than books, but hey, I watched the Tonys right afterward, so it felt appropriate. Hope to see you all next year!
Matthew here! It was a fantastic Onyx Path Con this year, with plentiful questions (and almost as many answers) regarding the games I’ve been working on, including Monster Kingdoms, Curseborne, The World Below, They Came From, Scion, and more! I was especially happy to see so much enthusiasm for Monster Kingdoms and the idea of building legions and dungeons in that game. The third part of the Earthbane Cycle is coming, and it sounds like a lot of folks are hyped for it. Thank you to everyone who participated for being so polite, friendly, and eager. It really makes a difference for us when we run these things.
Mirthful Mike: First thing, I enjoyed the fact its virtual as I just don’t have it in me to stumble around a crowded convention hall and try to navigate my way to various panels. Second of all, it was nice to be able to chat a little bit about what we are doing visually for Curseborne… especially now that the art phase is going and I’ll be solidifying the format over the next month or so. We brought in a lot of newer talent for the game without sacrificing quality and hopefully the fans will dig the finished book in October.
And here’s a slightly longer note from Travis, who performed the twin tasks of appearing at the con and also coordinating the whole darn thing:
Travis: This year’s Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention was a blast! We had 16 panels full of exciting announcements, question and answer exchanges, and opportunities for the creators and the fans to interact directly. We also held 10 actual plays on our partner channel twitch.tv/plasticageplays, and provided opportunities for the audience to play with professional Storyguides from our partners at Envoy via Startplaying.Games. From what I could see, the attendees on both sides of the cameras seemed to have a great time! Once we’ve had a moment to catch our breath, we’ll be putting together a post-show survey for panelists, players, and attendees to provide feedback and let us know what worked best, or what could use improvement before the next show.
As the event coordinator for Onyx Path Con it’s always a great joy to see everyone coming together to talk about our shared love for games. The excitement accompanying new announcements is electrifying to witness, and it’s always a treat to see what the fans are looking forward to in the coming year. We also work to put together something special to release at the convention and this year was no exception. Matthew and Dixie worked tirelessly to bring Olivia Waits, the new interactive story for Curseborne to fruition in time for the convention. If you’ve not yet made your way over to curseborne.com and given it a few run throughs, I highly recommend it!
If you missed the convention, no worries! We’ve got you covered. We’ll be releasing panels and actual plays from the convention to YouTube starting tomorrow! Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@TheOnyxPath if you haven’t and check out all the amazing content to come from Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention 2025!
You might have picked up a few of the announcements in the crew’s notes, but here’s a list:
- We announced that the Scion Demiplane Nexus is coming this winter! It’ll be a site that you can use for both tabletop and VTT character creation and sheets that are programmed to simplify your gaming experience. You’ll be able to find out more about it as the rest of the year goes on from Demiplane, in fact, here’s the first of many ads:
- We announced that we’re holding a contest for fiction writing on the Community Contest sites for various gamelines that we’ve made games for! More on the rules and stuff later this week!
- We teased and then announced that there’s a Curseborne Interactive Novel hidden on the Curseborne website. Follow the moth…
- Also for Curseborne, we announced that we’re working on a setting book that details the city of Seattle and surroundings!
- We announced that we are beta-testing a Discord Dice Roller App on our Discord for Storypath and Storypath Ultra gaming that anybody on our Discord can try out!
- We announced that we’ll be creating an Exalted Essence Storytellers Guide!
- We announced that the upcoming crowdfunder for Realms of Pugmire has been renamed to Pugmire Unleashed!
- We revealed info about The World Below‘s Players Guide and Storyguide books, as well as some early info as to what Monster Kingdoms will contain (the project that will be funded after Pugmire Unleashed)!
- We revealed info about Toil and Trouble, the Curseborne Players Guide, which we’re hoping to crowdfund after Monster Kingdoms!
Is it any wonder that I said “Whew” up in the title? That’s a lot of stuff!
Thanks again to all of you who attended, and we’ll see you next year!
…monkey paw on the keyboard…
And now I’m sure you realize that the “Doggie” part of the title is referencing Pugmire Unleashed!
The gang here and James, our Crowdfunding Concierge, are busy getting the graphics for the campaign up on BackerKit, and we’ll be aiming for next Thursday, the 19th, to go live. The art from Pugmire Unleashed that we were intending to use for the campaign took a little longer to finish up than intended, but we’re going good now!
But to give you yet another peek at the book, here’s Eddy!
Hey all! It was so great to hang out with folks at Onyx Path Con, where I announced that the title has changed from Pugmire and Beyond to Pugmire Unleashed! But the content is still the same, so here’s another sneak peek at one of the new Callings: the barghest!
Barghests are controversial dogs who study the Unseen to gain power. They’re barely tolerated in the kingdom of Pugmire, often drawing scrutiny from the city guard as well as the Church of Man. Though the practices barghests learn are ancient, they’ve rarely been used by more than a pawful of dogs at any given time. In recent years, the secrets of the barghests have become more commonplace. An elderly barghest named Felix Mastiff opened an arcane school specializing in the study of the Unseen. This school, the Tower of Night, is located a half day’s walk off the North Road beyond Pugmire. Most practicing barghests learn the basics of their trade at this college. (More on Mastiff and the Tower of Night can be found on p. XX.)
Mastiff seeks to bring up a new generation of barghests to stand against the Unseen. With relations between Pugmire and the monarchies cooling as well as what he perceives as a massive uptick in Unseen activity, Felix believes a small army of barghests is exactly what the kingdom of Pugmire needs to survive the tough times ahead. This belief is woven into the teachings at the Tower of Night, and barghests are trained to use whatever tactics they must to attain their objective. Many barghests go so far as to employ tactics normally only used by the Unseen. Barghests see themselves as defenders of the realm, heroes of Pugmire, and protectors of the people. Whether or not anyone else sees them that way matters little to the barghests.
Typical barghest: Barghests gain magic by learning dangerous lore. From their first days of study, the responsibilities and dangers of their chosen craft are continually reinforced by Felix Mastiff and his staff of instructors. Many barghests act like they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders because they believe that is the case. This also fosters a sense of superiority in some barghests that other dogs find off-putting. In the barghest’s mind, they’re the only thing keeping the realms from being devoured by demons, and everyone else should treat them accordingly.
The high esteem barghests hold themselves in is not unearned. The magic they command is impressive, rivaling that of any artisan or shepherd. Their magic is especially effective on the Unseen, making barghest ideal demon hunters. Most barghests love the work, taking pride in their ability to drive off the Unseen. When others criticize their methods or treat them unfairly, most barghests are quick to bring up past victories over the Unseen. This generally shuts down accusations of communion with evil forces.
View on the Code: Barghests hold the Code of Man in high regard. Ask a barghest and they’ll claim their every action is motivated by the Code’s tenets. They seek nothing more than to protect other dogs from the ravages of the Unseen. While other dogs may question their methods, barghests insist their approach to magic demands a higher moral standard. Barghests often come under suspicion of colluding with the Unseen, though rarely is such corruption proven. On the occasion when a barghest is found to have broken the Code, other barghests are at the front of the pack hunting down the offender and seeing justice served.
Here’s a heads-up that the sales we ran during the convention are still going, for now, but will be ending soon! In fact, the VTT version of the Scion Jumpstart over on Roll20 that they put up as a free product for the con goes back to normal price after tonight! But over at Studio2, IPR, and DTRPG you can still get great savings for the next couple of days! (And you can still get the 2025 Onyx Path Convention merch over on RedBubble, if you’re so inclined!)
I mentioned the Mel Uran GoFundMe campaign last week here, and thanks to everyone who showed their support, Mel has capped the donations for now! Great work everybody!
Social Media Survey – We’ve been collecting data via our social media survey over the past few weeks and although the survey is still up we’ve taken a preliminary look at the data, which looks to be very useful in helping us get information to you in the best possible ways. That said, I encourage you to fill out the survey if you haven’t yet done so. We would love to be able to meet you where you are on social media, and this survey helps us know where to focus our attention. You may even clue us in to servers, forums, or platforms we’d not otherwise know of! Please help us reach out to our audience as efficiently and effectively as possible by filling out the survey!
Busy weekend, lot to chat about, and we’re all pooped. Thanks, again, it was a lot of fun to hold a get-together all about our:
Many Worlds, One Path!
Blurbs!
Crowdfunding!
Coming This Month: Pugmire Unleashed!…
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 the big Onyx Path sale, Scion Wild Hunt, and a free game of Curseborne on the Curseborne website…Check it out right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3KcjNG7jW8
On The Gentleman Gamer’s YouTube channel, we dive into the Ascetic family of Hungry in Curseborne:
Virtual Tabletop!
Scion Jumpstart Available FREE on Roll20 TODAY ONLY!
Scion Demigod Available on Roll20 NOW!
The Scion: Origin and Scion Hero Compendiums are now available on Roll20!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing
The first of our official Scion sheets designed for Foundry VTT are
now available! https://foundryvtt.co
They Came From Beneath the Sea! on Roll20 VTT!
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/22308/they-came-from-beneath-the-sea
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!
FINAL DAYS! Select Chronicles of Darkness Screens and Monarchies of Mau books,
screens, and dice 50% off at Studio 2:
https://studio2publishing.com/collections/onx-onyx-path-publishing
Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books, dice, and screens? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/
FINAL DAYS! Almost everything is 50% – 75% off! The Onyx Path Con Sale is hot 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!
FINAL DAYS! The Onyx Path Con Sale has rolling at DriveThruRPG:
DTRPG – https://www.storytellersvault.com/sale.php
Roll20 – https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/publisher/1716/onyx-path-publishing
Fiction – https://www.drivethrufiction.com/sale.php
STV – 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!
Three Banners Festival the Exalted Exigents Jumpstart uniquely appears in both PDF and PoD formats on DTRPG this Weds!
We also have a selection of new TC: Adventure! t-shirts and other merch on RedBubble this weds!
Conventions!
Here’s where you can find out more info on physical and virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with!
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. Here’s the signup link:
https://www.gencon.com/events?c=indy2025&host=Onyx%20Path%20Publishing
Game Night With Onyx Path Publishing at StartPlaying is the last Friday of every month! Come play some Essence 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 May’s full list report here: https://theonyxpath.com/release-roundup-may-2025/
DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY!
Here are the projects that moved to the next stage of production:
FINAL DRAFTS
Exalted – Abyssals Companion: Riders from the Sunless Lands
- The Exalted train keeps on steaming ahead! This time the Riders from the Sunless Lands have moved on to final drafts.
Curseborne – Curseborne Antagonist – Master Cat (Jul 2025 Tasty Bit)
- No, it’s not a crossover between Curious Cats of Mau and Curseborne. It’s something much more disturbing….
ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!
In Art Direction
- Ex3 Alchemicals – Awaiting art notes.
- Ex3 Exigents Champions of the Divine Flame – Getting this on the go.
- TCF Witchford – Art buy configured.
- Heroes of Action and Wonder – Contracted.
- Curseborne – More sketch review and feedback emailing. Reaching out to some new artists…. yes, still…
- SCION Rock Gods – Sketches coming in.
- SCION God Player’s Guide – I’ll get it going post Rock Gods.
- Pugmire Unleashed (BK) – Final art in, making graphics.
Layout
- Scion Tasty Bit Combo
- TC Aether Screen – This week.
- SCION God Storyguide Screen
- Pugmire 2e Screen
- World Below Screen
- Essence Novella Omnibus – With Travis.
- TC Aether Jumpstart – Jumped on Exalted book first.
- TC Anima AR – New artist revising art.
- Ex3 Miracles of the Divine Flame – Should be in proofing this week.
- Curious Cats – With Ron Thompson, looking to create first proof this week.
Proofing
- Ex3 Abyssals – Sending cover off for approval then going out to KS backers hopefully.
Indexing
At Press
- Ex 3 Exigents – Quoting.
- Ex 3 Exigents Screen – At Studio 2
- Ex 3 Sidereals – Quoting.
- TC Aether – Printing. Should be getting on a boat soon.
- Scion: God – Printing. Should be getting on a boat soon.
- SCION Mythic Shards – Inputting errata and pgXXs.
- Ex3 Exigents Jumpstart – PDF and PoD versions on sale this Weds on DTRPG!
Today’s Reason to Celebrate!
We’re still celebrating the Onyx Path Virtual Con that ran over the weekend!