Hello Essence Players,
I've got a bunch of information to share with you today, so let's get to it!
I'll start with progress on the projects that came out of our Crowdfundi...
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James Bell
about 1 month ago
April 2026 Monthly Update
Hello Essence Players,
Some incremental progress, a few dots filled in. Let's get to our review.
Pending Projects
Right now, artists are working on the preliminary sketch...
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James Bell
2 months ago
March 2026 Monthly Update
Hello Essence Players,
I'm going to post our regular update stuff, but I've got two quick notes before we dig in.
First up, I've been listing our two Stretch Goal novellas ...
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James Bell
3 months ago
February 2026 Monthly Update
Hello Essence Players!
It's time for our February Update. The TLDR summary - work continues on the manuscript before heading over to art direction, and progress has been mad...
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James Bell
4 months ago
January 2026 Monthly Update
Hello Essence Players,
It's our first update for 2026!
The developers have incorporated your feedback from the campaign into the manuscript, and now they're working with th...
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James Bell
6 months ago
December 2025 Update
Hello Essence Players,
I'm coming to you a bit early this month to hopefully give myself a bit of a break over the holidays and also to let you know that the campaign for In...
I've got a bunch of information to share with you today, so let's get to it!
I'll start with progress on the projects that came out of our Crowdfunding campaign, information about our current Crowdfunding campaign, and then stuff about the upcoming Onyx Path virtual convention!
Exalted: Essence Player's Guide - currently in active Art Direction. The artists working on the interior illustrations have submitted their sketches and the Art Director has provided feedback. Anything that doesn't need to be revised is moving towards final versions. Anything that needed revisions will have new sketches submitted for review and approval.
Sounds like thins are moving forward. I look forward to sharing artwork sneak peeks in the future!
And now, info about the two novellas we unlocked as stretch goals. They've both had manuscripts reviewed and approved and are now in editing. And with that, I have summaries!
Exalted – Essence Player’s Guide Novella: Even the Heavens Will Burn
In this one, Twilight Caste Exalt Djau Brazenreins and the Lunar Anthar Mirthless team up to save lifetimes’ worth of work while fending off ancient enemies. Together, they fight dangerous beasts, infiltrate an Immaculate monastery, and brave the revels of demon-run Dajaz.
Exalted – Essence Player’s Guide Novella: Murder on the Divine Carriage
In this murder mystery, a crew of Exalts travels across Creation in a goddess’ carriage in what should be a simple trip, until their leader is murdered. Can March Lord Exigent Lyra Compassrose figure out which of her fellows was the culprit in time? Read and find out!
JUST LAUNCHED - EXALTED: ESSENCE STORYTELLER'S GUIDE
The Exalted: Essence Storyteller’s Guide is a resource for storytellers and play groups to expand, refine, and customize their games of Exalted: Essence. This book is a reexamination and expansion of Storyteller-facing rules, system, and advice, offering guidance and options for Storytellers and groups of all levels of experience.
With powerful player characters, a wide world to explore, and incredible danger to defy, Exalted is a rewarding game to run, but it can also seem overwhelming. Exalted: Essence offers mechanical tools and storytelling advice to bring Creation to life, which the Exalted: Essence Storyteller’s Guide builds on to make running an epic campaign even easier.
In the Exalted: Essence Storyteller’s Guide, we present practical advice for managing powerful characters, helping players direct their characters’ own stories, and tailoring the campaign for the group. For those with ideas for their campaign firmly in mind, sections on how to more deeply engage and support Exalted’s themes may be helpful. For those who aren’t sure how they want to engage with Creation, campaign frames and adventure seeds can offer accessible places to start.
Whether you’re a brand-new Storyteller embarking on their first campaign, or just looking for new options to transform your game, we hope the Storyteller’s Guide will bring your adventures in the world of Creation to new heights.
Chapter 1: Thousandfold Tales of the Chosen focuses on storytelling advice and how best to run various styles of game. Resplendent Storytelling Arts covers everything from how to set, track, and support player agendas to broader game themes and playstyles, while Adventure Hooks and Campaign Frameworks offers campaign frameworks and adventures ready to be set down at the table and run.
Chapter 2: Machinery of Greatness: Systems and Subsystems presents explication and expansion of the rules in Exalted: Essence. From the basics of success and failure to ventures revisited and expanded, the chapter covers how to smoothly integrate Exalted: Essence’s rules for their greatest effect. For those interested in modifying the rules, Cut a Bloody Swath: Optional and AlternateCombat Rules offers a myriad of options to customize the combat experience, while Essence Combat Reforged offers an entire alternate combat systems centered around teamwork, opportunity, and tactical choices. Golden Tongues and Fiery Wit: Optional and Alternate Social Rules presents similar options for social influence, including an alternate social influence system presenting more granular resolution. Finally, the Shining Miscellany covers alternative systems for the strange magic of Creation, more options for stunts, and further mechanics for narrative control.
Chapter 3: Antagonists begins with the Machinations of Doom, including best practices for designing and using enemies, before introducing the Ferocious Teeming Legions, a great accounting of new foes of every sort. From demon-worshipping assassins to ancient automata, inhuman undead to disasters from the sky, a veritable new army of enemies is placed at the Storyteller’s command. This includes some of the most dangerous and driven enemies that a circle of Exalted must face: other Exalts.
Just like with our Player's Guide campaign, I'll be sharing the entire draft manuscript over the course of the campaign with backers, so anyone who joins will be able to read the entire thing before any pledges are processed or payments collected. A new manuscript section drops every Tuesday!
What's Up with Onyx Path on Saturday June 6 at Noon EDT
The Exalted Panel on Saturday June 6 at 6:00 PM EDT
Ask Us Anything Panel on Sunday June 7 at 2:00 PM EDT
Pending Projects
All changes from last month were noted at the top of the update. Also, our companion - Essence Enhanced - is just finishing up the first drafts. Hopefully we'll see it move to redlines soon.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Tomb of Memory PDF
Deeds Yet Undone PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Exalted Third Edition Core Rules PDF
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PDF
Exigents: Out of the Ashes PDF
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course PDF
Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted Music Bundle
Exalted Fiction Bundle
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://exalted-essence-players-guide.backerkit.com/
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
The Monday Meeting Notes will also be a good place to learn about the next Crowdfunding project as it gets closer. I'll give you a hint - it's the Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide. That's a pretty good hint.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
Some incremental progress, a few dots filled in. Let's get to our review.
Pending Projects
Right now, artists are working on the preliminary sketches for our main book. Those will be submitted to the Art Director and reviewed and approved to move forward by the Approval Team and then they can work on finishing them up and prepping for layout. So, active work being done to make it pretty. I'll share any sneak peeks of artwork that come out in our monthly updates.
The two novellas have moved forward to the Approvals stage, where they're signed off on by the IP Holders, the Exalted Dev team and the Onyx Path team. Also, the title has changed to Murder on the Divine Carriage instead of For the March Lords, but I forgot to update it this month. Next month I'll have it listed correctly, but at least it's in the right spot on the progress chart!
And our companion book has started in first drafts, so writers are actively creating stuff for "Essence Enhanced" which is the current title of the book.
I'll add in the correct titles for our May update! And hopefully have some more dots to fill in!
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Tomb of Memory PDF
Deeds Yet Undone PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Exalted Third Edition Core Rules PDF
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PDF
Exigents: Out of the Ashes PDF
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course PDF
Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted Music Bundle
Exalted Fiction Bundle
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://exalted-essence-players-guide.backerkit.com/
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
The Monday Meeting Notes will also be a good place to learn about the next Crowdfunding project as it gets closer. I'll give you a hint - it's the Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide. That's a pretty good hint.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
I'm going to post our regular update stuff, but I've got two quick notes before we dig in.
First up, I've been listing our two Stretch Goal novellas as For the March Lords, and Even the Heavens Will Burn, which are pretty cool titles. My tracking has them both in final draft status. That's info I pulled from Onyx Path's February summary, with Even the Heavens Will Burn moving into final drafts earlier in March.
But I've also come across the title "Murder on the Divine Carriage" which appears to be through final drafts and now in Development. I'm guessing that one of the earlier titles has changed (For the March Lords, possibly?) and moved forward, but I'm not 100% sure, so I'll get that clarified for our next monthly update.
The only other thing to note is Onyx Path's progress on a manuscript for the Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide. So, that's not part of this project, but certainly of interest to most Exalted: Essence players. I've probably mentioned it before, but it seems to be bubbling up in Onyx Path's weekly updates, so I expect to hear more about it before too long. I'll keep you posted.
With all my rambling out of the way, let's dig in to our regular update!
Pending Projects
Again, there's a chance that one of those novellas had a name change and has moved to development; we'll know for sure in April's update. Art Notes are being worked on between the developers and Art Director for our main reward, figuring out all of the moving pieces before artists are assigned.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Tomb of Memory PDF
Deeds Yet Undone PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Exalted Third Edition Core Rules PDF
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PDF
Exigents: Out of the Ashes PDF
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course PDF
Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted Music Bundle
Exalted Fiction Bundle
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://exalted-essence-players-guide.backerkit.com/
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <February 2026 Project Status Summary>
You can find the weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
It's time for our February Update. The TLDR summary - work continues on the manuscript before heading over to art direction, and progress has been made on our stretch goal novellas.
While the final hammer blows ring in the manuscript forge, writers have been hard at work on the novellas we unlocked via Stretch Goal achievements. We knew about For the March Lords, which is now finishing up in it's final draft. But now joining that one is Even the Heavens will Burn, which is in the redline phase before feedback is incorporated into a final draft. With just the titles, I'm already a fan.
Let's dive into our regular review!
Pending Projects
Some dots filled in but many more to go.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Tomb of Memory PDF
Deeds Yet Undone PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Exalted Third Edition Core Rules PDF
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PDF
Exigents: Out of the Ashes PDF
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course PDF
Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted Music Bundle
Exalted Fiction Bundle
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://exalted-essence-players-guide.backerkit.com/
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <January 2026 Project Status Summary>
You can find the weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
If you've got a question about your pledge or BackerKit page or any part of the process, you can contact me with any of these methods
Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
CURRENTLY CROWDFUNDING!
The World Below: Buried Treasures
The World Below is a game of adversity, heroism, terror, and awe. Your characters will overcome or be defeated by terrible beasts, environmental calamities, and Kaos storms ravaging their surroundings and the souls they encounter. They will chart their journeys, chronicle their tales, and pass their stories down to their descendants, who will, in turn, become your characters when your old ones perish or retire.
Now, two new books will let you delve deeper into The World Below and illuminate some of the darkness!
The Delver’s Guide is a Player's Manual for The World Below.
Delvers may be brave, but that doesn’t mean they don’t require help once in a while. That’s what this guide is: help for all delvers, explorers, and survivors in the World Below. New Callings and weapons, new Dialectics and powers, a new scenario and fresh rules for crafting and harvesting, and much, much more await within, so every delver can feel properly equipped for the adventures ahead.
Secrets of Kalm and Kaos is a Storyguide’s Handbook for The World Below.
There are hundreds of tales to tell of the World Below. From stories of adventurers braving Kaos storms to intrepid explorers who throw themselves into the dreamlike Obscura or harrowing Abyss. From chronicles of settlements rising and falling to those of bold delvers who go so far as to tame the beasts of their realm and call them pets. New playable options, new powers, new rules for Kalm, machinery, monstrous mounts, and more besides await within.
The developers have incorporated your feedback from the campaign into the manuscript, and now they're working with the Onyx Path team to figure out the general and scpecific artwork needs for the book before matching that to artist's schedules and assigning contracts. Meanwhile writers are working on drafts of our stretch goal fiction!
Not part of this project, but you may also note that Onyx Path has an "Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide" in their December monthly summary also working through writing drafts, so something to be excited about for the future!
Until then, let's get to our regular review.
Pending Projects
Forward momentum for our main book, as the manuscript is mostly done and thoughts turn to production. I'll continue to monitor Onyx Path's shared info and fill in dots as we move forward.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Tomb of Memory PDF
Deeds Yet Undone PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Exalted Third Edition Core Rules PDF
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought PDF
Lunars: Fangs at the Gate PDF
Exigents: Out of the Ashes PDF
Sidereals: Charting Fate's Course PDF
Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted Music Bundle
Exalted Fiction Bundle
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://exalted-essence-players-guide.backerkit.com/
You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <December 2025 Project Status Summary>. Check out the Storyteller's Guide listed in second draft status!
You can find the weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
