As a reminder, I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Distributed" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
Let's dive in!
Rewards Still Pending
Still in the earliest stages. I'll be sending over the last bits of Premium Backer submissions for the Infernals Companion to the Developers next week, so if you pledged for one of the premium pledge tiers, please make sure you've filled out your BackerKit survey!
Rewards Distributed to Backers
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 GravePDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
Hundred Devils Night Parade PDF
Adversaries of the Righteous PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Crucible of Legend PDF
Arms of the Chosen PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Miracles of Divine Flame PDF
Complete Collection: Exalted 1E Digital Bundle
Complete Collection: Edxalted 2E Digital 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://infernals.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:
Welcome to our first regular monthly update. At this time, I've earmarked the Wednesday before the last Thursday of each month as Exalted update day, just to keep me on my toes. I've already strayed from that schedule a bit this year, but it's a good target to aim at.
As a reminder, I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Distributed" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
Let's dive in!
Rewards Still Pending
Much like spending XP, we'll fill in dots as the Onyx Path team makes progress on the projects we funded. Right now, our main reward is currently in editing - the draft manuscript is being finalized based on the feedback you provided during the campaign. Then it'll go to one final round of development and the art side of the process can begin. We'll note the progress each month in an updated chart.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
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 GravePDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
Hundred Devils Night Parade PDF
Adversaries of the Righteous PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Crucible of Legend PDF
Arms of the Chosen PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Miracles of Divine Flame PDF
Complete Collection: Exalted 1E Digital Bundle
Complete Collection: Edxalted 2E Digital Bundle
As detailed in our last update, the existing Add On rewards have gone out to backers. If you added any of these on to your Rewards List and haven't yet claimed them, you can find redemption codes in your Digital Rewards page on your Pledge Manager.
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://infernals.backerkit.com/
In addition to redemption links for these digital rewards, all backers have received a link to the compiled draft manuscript. This link can be found in your BackerKit digital rewards page, and you likely received an e-mail linking to that with the Backer Survey invitations. Again, this isn't a new manuscript, it's just all of the pieces we shared during the campaign put together in order. It's the same link that I previousl shared at the bottom of these campaign updates, but I want to make sure you have access to it in a place that makes sense.
Onyx Path Project Tracking
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.
It's been a few days since we started sending out our Pledge Manager invitations. If you haven't yet filled out your backer survey, please do so as soon as possible - you can change it or update it right up until the books are prepping to print and we start locking down orders, so quite a long time away. We use the Pledge Manager for all reward fulfillment, so having your backer page set up ensures you'll be getting your rewards in a timely manner.
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://infernals.backerkit.com/
Many of the rewards for our Crowdfunding projects take a lot of time and effort to complete. Usually, the campaign is a means of moving the project from an idea (even when it's a mostly-fully-written idea) into the actual channel that turns it into a project/product. It'll be a while before we're ready to talk about delivery of Infernals: Crowned by Hellfire and the Stretch Goal projects.
That said, there are many rewards that are available now, as they were mostly add-ons for existing products. And now we can work on getting those out to you over the next few days.
The following Add On Rewards WillBe Distributed This Weekend:
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 GravePDF
Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God Draft Manuscript
Exalted: Essence Core Rulebook PDF
Pillars of Creation PDF
Across the Eight Directions PDF
Hundred Devils Night Parade PDF
Adversaries of the Righteous PDF
Many-Faced Strangers PDF
Crucible of Legend PDF
Arms of the Chosen PDF
The Realm PDF
Heirs to the Shogunate PDF
Miracles of Divine Flame PDF
Complete Collection: Exalted 1E Digital Bundle
Complete Collection: Edxalted 2E Digital Bundle
It's basically this section from our Add On menu during the campaign.
The redemption codes will come over the next few days. You'll receive an e-mail if you have any of these rewards on your rewards list, sending you to the Digital Rewards page on your Pledge Manager. The Digital Rewards page will have redemption links to add the PDF files to your DriveThru cart at $0 cost.
You may need to click the links two or three times to get them to add to the cart properly. In my experience, the first click ends up getting me to login to my DTRPG cart and I have to click the redemption link a second time while my cart is open to properly add it (in a new tab, usually). Just keep trying, you'll get there!
REWARD DISTRIBUTION
Your link to claim these digital rewards will be sent out by our BackerKit pledge manager over the weekend, as noted above. Since we are using our partners at DriveThruRPG as the hosts for these, you will need to set up a DriveThru account if you don't have one already. If you encounter any problems with downloading your rewards, please contact DTRPG's customer service to resolve the matter, they've always been top-rated for customer service. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/contact_us.ph
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT
In addition to redemption links for these digital rewards, all backers have received a link to the compiled draft manuscript. This link can be found in your BackerKit digital rewards page, and you likely received an e-mail linking to that with the Backer Survey invitations. Again, this isn't a new manuscript, it's the same as the one I shared at the bottom of our previous update. From this point forward, your Digital Rewards page in your Pledge Manager will be the place to access the manuscript.
MONTHLY UPDATES
With the Pledge Manager up and running, in February I'll have our first "regular" update for our project. I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Delivered" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
That's for the end of next month, though. For now, enjoy your Add On rewards!
To Contact James
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.
Since this is my first update of 2026, Happy New Year!
We finished up the Crowdfunding portion of our campaign just over four weeks ago with a successful run, adding many backers and a several fun stretch goals. Now it's time to start the next phase of the project - the Post-Campaign, where we track the progress of the various projects we helped fund and send out rewards as they become available.
To help with all of that we use BackerKit's Pledge Manager.
Today's Topics
Backer Kit Password Resets
BackerKit Pledge Manager SurveysComing Soon
CompiledDraft Manuscript (available in BackerKit Digital Rewards)
ComingNext
BACKERKIT PASSWORD RESETS
Earlier this month, BackerKit discovered that some customers had received Phishing Scam emails impersonating BackerKit password change email notifications. These messages were not sent by BackerKit and appear to be part of this external phishing campaign designed to collect login credentials. Please check that emails that appear to be from BackerKit come from backerkit.com, s.backerkit.com, or o.backerkit.com.
In an abundance of caution, BackerKit reset the password on any account they think may have been targeted. When you next access your BackerKit account, you may to reset your password.
How to Reset your Password
To reset your password:
Go to backerkit.com
Click “Log In”
Click “Forgot Password”
Do this from their website, not through any links sent in an e-mail. Clicking the Forgot Password button will send you an e-mail that looks like this:
Doublecheck this email comes from [email protected] and click the Change my password link and follow the instructions to reset your password.
To further secure your account, BackerKit strongly recommends that you enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA) on your account (if you have not already) to follow best security practices. You can learn more about how to do this here.
If you have any additional questions, please email BackerKit directly at [email protected], or follow their BlueSky social media account for additional announcements.
BACKER SURVEYS
Over the next handfulof days (Jan 12 - Jan 15), you’ll receive an email from Onyx Path (via [email protected]) with a special link to your Pledge Manager survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.
You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey (although you probably already have one from pledging to this campaign). When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey invitation link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available laterthis week via email!
The e-mail will have a button that looks something like this:
After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts, and that won't happen until the books are being printed and we're preparing to ship.
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://infernals.backerkit.com/
If you have any other questions or concerns, you can post them to the comments for this update, the comment section, or message me via one of these methods:
TO CONTACT JAMES
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.
If there are any issues you find with the Pledge Manager, please contact me as soon as possible to let me know. It rolls out in waves so that I can correct issues on the fly and make it work as best possible as people come on board.
I've been mostly in a zombie state over the year end, and the chances of a few errors in the Pledge Manager set up are ... greater than zero ... so let me know if you see something off and I'll fix it as quickly as possible.
Within the BackerKit Survey and Pledge Manager, you can:
Review your Pledge Tier Selection and Rewards
Upgrade your Reward Tier pledge selection
Confirm Add On selections
Set up payment information for any failed payments from the Crowdfunding campaign or to pay for any new Add On options selected.
Whenyou click on your BackerKit invitation link,you should see something like this...
From the Pledge Manager welcome page you can choose to
Review Your Pledge Level and Rewards
Start Your Survey, confirming pledge rewards, confirming or selecting new Add On options, and confirming any shipping and payment info that may be needed
Switch Your Pledge Level
If you've pledged to a reward tier that includes physical rewards, you can enter your shipping country at this stage. As noted during our campaign, we haven't set shipping costs yet - those will be calculated and added in when we're preparing to ship the book. That won't be for a long time, though, and there will be plenty of opportunity - and notice - for you to make changes.
If you click on your Pledge Level, you will see a list of all items included in your Pledge Rewards (including Stretch Goals and the Draft Manuscript), and also have the option to switch your Pledge Level, in case you've decided to get the hardcover pledge instead of the PDF-only pledge tier for example.
Once you've confirmed that your Pledge Level is correct and where you want it to be, you can GETSTARTED with your BackerKit Pledge Manager Survey.
Once we've got a fair response to our survey and collected a reasonable amount of info, I'll be working on fulfilling rewards that are available now - like the PDFs of the titles included in our Add On section (for example, The Compolete Collection 1E and 2E PDF bundles, as well as the other supplements and fat splats). Those will likely be coming to you by the end of the week, and I'll send another update with more info when that time comes.
So, in summary:
Look for an e-mail invitation to BackerKit's Pledge Manager sometime over the next 2-4 days
Get Started on your survey
Confirm your Pledge Level (or SWITCH your Pledge Level if you want to change it)
Confirm and Select Any Add On options
Confirm Your Shipping Information (if needed)
Confirm Your Payment Information (if needed)
I will post an update at the end of the week as I begin outlining the delivery of our first Add On rewards (the existing title PDFs, as noted above) and beginning distribution of those PDF rewards.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT
Looking in the example pledge list above, you can see a listing for the Draft Manuscript. In your BackerKit digital rewards page, you will have access to the compiled draft manuscript. It won't be different from the version I shared a few weeks ago. There's a link for that compiled version at the bottom of this update post (when viewed on the BackerKit site), but I'll also have a download link sit alongside your other rewards on the Pledge Manager's Digital Reward Page. The Draft Manuscript link may not be active when you first login to your BackerKit survey, but I'll throw the switch and it'll send you a notice next week after all of the invitations have gone out.
I will talk about how to access your BackerKit digital rewards links in an update coming early next month, when I send out the first wave of available rewards.
COMING NEXT
On Friday or Saturday, I'll send an update with details about the distribution for that first wave of existing Exalted rewards. I'll also get the compiled draft manuscript up and ready for you to download from your Pledge Manager page (though you can download it now from this page, as noted above).
At the end of February we'll begin our regular monthly check-ins, tracking the progress of this project as it moves through this phase. It'll take some time, but we'll have regular updates all through the process. I'll also have notes on how to check the weekly and monthly All Project Progress updates on Onyx Path's website.
TO CONTACT JAMES
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.
I'm sneaking in during my holiday break for a quick update.
Over the course of the Crowdfunding campaign, the developers shared the draft manusript for Infernals: Crowned by Hellfire in bite-sized chunks (or first circle demon-sized chunks?). Anyway, we had 11 downloads over four weeks to read through.
I've now mashed all of those sections together - and added in the Infernals fiction that we also received over the course of the campaign. There's no massive new material here, but there are a few tweaks to Chapter 3 and 4, just a couple corrections that slipped through in an earlier draft.
As per our usual practice, the manuscript download is at the bottom of this update when viewed on the BackerKit campaign page.
Before we get there, though, just a reminder that the Infernals Feedback Form will be open until we start 2026! So, if you've got notes to share with the developers and writers, make sure you've submitted them using this feedback form.
FEEDBACK FORM OPEN UNTIL JANUARY 1st
You can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on this manuscript preview! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: https://forms.gle/vXsoupab1AyG81H29
You can use this Feedback Form to share your thoughts directly with the Exalted creative team to help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, this download link is visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Learn More" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the Infernals title treatment.
