Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave is a core expansion for the Exalted tabletop roleplaying game. Exalted Third Edition is set in a mythic world where spirits walk openly among men, warring demigods topple kingdoms, and the restless dead roam on moonless nights. Heroes granted power by the mightiest gods war and intrigue against one another for the fate of Creation. These are the Exalted!

Never before has Creation known the perils of the Abyssal Exalted. They have emerged from the gloom of the Underworld as champions of death, sworn to the service of the Deathlords and the Neverborn. Each was offered the gift of the Bleak Exaltation at the moment of their own demise, and each chose to willingly become an agent of the apocalypse. Their motivations are as manifold as any others — they may seek destruction or domination, malice or justice, ancient secrets hidden and forbidden or sheer iron-willed survival.

In service to their lieges, these deathknights will grind the Underworld to heel and scour life from the face of Creation. Or…they might break from those oaths and set themselves up as death’s own Lawgivers, ruling empires of the dead as sages, arbiters, and reapers. All that can be known for sure is that with the Abyssal Exalted loosed upon the world, it will never be the same again.

The Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave deluxe edition will be an 8.5” x 11” hardcover book, featuring an enhanced foil-stamped cover with 300+ full-color interior pages. Metallic-edged pages and a ribbon bookmark will set this book as a worthy companion to previous Exalted Third Edition expansions, such as Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought and Lunars: Fangs at the Gate. Contents include: 

• Chapter One: The Abyssal Exalted introduces the Abyssals, those dark champions Chosen at the moment of their deaths.
• Chapter Two: The Deathlords details the nine unique and mighty ghosts who serve as patron and liege to the Abyssals — their deathly accomplishments, dark intentions, and plots of conquest and carnage.
• Chapter Three: The Underworld explores the grim land of the dead and the ghosts who inhabit it, providing strange vistas both harrowing and hallowed.
• Chapter Four: Character Creation provides rules for creating Abyssal player characters.
• Chapter Five: Traits details the Abyssal Castes and provides rules for the Great Curse and the chivalry of death.
• Chapter Six: Charms reveals the apocalyptic magic of the Abyssal Exalted, by which they may slaughter armies, bind the dead, and spread death’s dark gifts upon Creation.
• Chapter Seven: Martial Arts and Necromancy presents new martial arts styles employed by the Abyssal Exalted and unleashes the secrets of necromancy — a system of spellcraft based on the principles of the Underworld.
• Chapter Eight: Artifacts details soulsteel wonders fit for the champions of death.
• Chapter Nine: The Roll of Deathly Personages offers an array of characters who might serve as allies and antagonists, including powerful ghosts, undead behemoths, and Abyssal Exalted.

The primary purpose behind this crowdfunding campaign is to enable Onyx Path to create a limited edition hardcover version of Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave. Your support will allow Onyx Path to produce a this deluxe hardcover edition for Indiegogo backers, as well as a PDF and eventual Print-on-Demand standard edition released for purchase. 

Exceptional funding may allow the Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave team to explore more of The Underworld, possibly expanding into rules companions and other Storyteller and player tools and accessories. The greater our funding for this project, the more resources we can use to explore these scenarios and supplements.

Beyond those campaign-specific goals, the hope is to do what these games have always done — build a community invested in each other’s stories and shared imagination. Every person who participates is joining with the goal of bringing this game into the world, and that common goal is a powerful spark that can fuel many great things! When you back this project, you join us on this epic journey and become part of the extended Exalted family.

All participants who would like to make this project happen can pledge their support and add to the overall campaign total. If the campaign meets the funding target ($30,000), then we will have funded the project and it will become a reality. Your contribution will only be kept if we achieve our funding target.

In thanks for your support, we offer perks based on your level of funding pledged. The Perk descriptions outline the various rewards reflecting various levels of support pledged. 

Digital vs Deluxe: do you save some shelf space and go digital-only with the PDF version or go all in with the deluxe hardcover version? Are you just interested in the new book created by this campaign, or looking to add extras with the Add-On options available as well? Please note that international shipping costs ARE NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping after the campaign through the pledge manager.

While the world of Exalted is full of epic characters and larger-than-life adventures, we’ve kept supporting this project as simple and straightforward as possible. To pledge support to this project and receive the book in one (or both) of the formats offered, this Indiegogo campaign builds upon three core Perks:

• ACOLYTE OF THE DEATHLORDS: This is the PDF-only reward tier. So, if you’re saving trees or saving shelf space – or avoiding the shipping charges that are absolutely ever-increasing – this is the reward tier options that you should begin with. The PDF will be fulfilled by our partners at DriveThruRPG.com – when it is ready, you will receive a link to add it to your DTRPG library at no cost and be able to download at your leisure.
• CHOSEN OF DEATH: This reward tier includes the deluxe hardcover version of this book. Shipping costs ARE NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping after the campaign through the pledge manager.  In addition, this option also includes the PDF version, so you will get a digital copy as described above.

• STYGIAN CITIZEN: Not ready to commit, or just looking to offer general support? This pledge tier is for you. This does not include our primary reward, but allows you to select some digital optional Add Ons, as well as participating in the post-campaign Pledge Manager as a backer. You’ll also be able to read the draft manuscript of Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave that we post throughout this campaign.

A selection of Premium Tiers offer special limited rewards in addition to our core rewards for this campaign. These rewards will appear in an as-yet-to-be-written Abyssal supplement. Check each of the individual Reward Tier descriptions for more detail, but in summary:

• Student of the Old Laws asks you to suggest a new Charm for the Abyssal Exalted.
• Cartographer Transcendent lets you propose a new Underworld location to add to the land of the dead. 
• Master of Bleak Secrets has you suggest a new Necromancy Spell.
• Immortal Deathmask Muse asks you to describe your character so that Onyx Path artists can incorporate it into an interior illustration for an upcoming Abyssals supplement.
• Abyssal Exemplar combines two rewards – suggesting a new Charm as well as describing your character for inclusion in the art notes for a supplemental release.
• Black Nadir Concordat will have you and up to 4 friends participate in an custom-tailored online game session run by Exalted developer Chazz Kellner.
• Master of Dead Horrors asks you to suggest a new undead creature which will receive a Quick Character writeup.
• Screaming Panoply Bearer has you share your ideas for a new Soulsteel artifact that will get written up in an Abyssals supplement. Alternatively, pick an artifact from the panoply of one of the deathlords to get a full artifact write up.
• Death’s Lawgiver asks you to pick an existing Abyssal Exalted, either mentioned in the draft manuscript or previous Exalted material, who will receive a QC writeup. 
• Sworn Deathknight will have you pick a Deathlord to get a large QC writeup.

Finally, we love retailers, but modern publishing methods don’t always make it easy for them to get books into their stores. Any retailer who chooses to the Merchant of the Midnight Jewel perk will get five copies of the Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave deluxe hardcover book (as well as the PDF versions) at a retail-specific discount to sell in-store.

International shipping has become increasingly expensive and is often prohibitive to non-US backers. Several contemporary publishers have decided to discontinue international shipping completely. For this project, Onyx Path wants to keep all options open to our customers, though shipping costs will reflect the expense.

PLEASE NOTE: Shipping costs ARE NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping—and have an opportunity to adjust your pledge—after the campaign through the pledge manager.

The following are estimates for shipping a copy of the hardcover book with full package tracking, projected on current trends. Please note that these are estimates only and are subject to change by the time of fulfillment (currently projected by November 2025)

• DOMESTIC MEDIA MAIL (USA): $0 USD + $10 USD per additional book
• CANADA: $45.00 USD +$15.00 USD per additional book
• UNITED KINGDOM: $55.00 USD +$20.00 USD per additional book
• EUROPEAN UNION: $60.00 USD +$20.00 USD per additional book
• AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND: $75.00 USD +$25.00 USD per additional book
• BRAZIL*: $80.00 USD +$25.00 USD per additional book
• THE REST OF THE WORLD: $55.00 USD +$20.00 USD per additional book

Again, we will be charging the actual costs via our BackerKit pledge manager once the books are preparing to ship. These are estimated costs only, and the final costs charged will reflect the actual rates at the time of shipping.

*Orders to Brazil will be shipped with tracking numbers once only. Should the order become lost in customs processing or during last-mile delivery within Brazil, we’ll need full payment of a second order before any re-ships can take place. 

ALTERNATE OPTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL BACKERS:

If you live outside of the US, here are some alternate options for obtaining a physical copy:

• Pledge to the campaign at the $25 Acolyte of the Deathlords perk to get the PDF version plus a redemption code to purchase the print-on-demand version of the book at a discounted cost (plus shipping) from DriveThruRPG.com once it’s available (see Reward Descriptions, below, for more details).
• Pledge to the campaign at the $5 Stygian Citizen reward tier to get access to the preview manuscript. Later, you can buy the PDF and/or Print-on-Demand when eventually released.
• Contact your local game store and make sure you’re put on a preorder list so they know there’s demand for the game that they’re being asked to fill, and then encourage them to back at the Retailer Tier for this campaign!
• Look into a freight forwarding service that can give you a US-based shipping address, get packages delivered to it, and then forwarded to you.

COMPILED DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW – During the course of the campaign, we will be posting the ENTIRE manuscript for Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave over a series of preview updates. After the campaign, these draft previews will be compiled into a single document and made available to supporters of this campaign.

ABYSSALS: SWORN TO THE GRAVE BACKER PDF  – Indiegogo backers will receive a redemption link for an advance version of this book before it goes on sale to the public. This initial “Backer Version” will be used to get feedback from the fans to make the final version the best that it can be. When it has been updated to the final version, it will automatically be added to your DriveThruRPG library and available for download at your convenience.

ABYSSALS: SWORN TO THE GRAVE DELUXE HARDCOVER – – The main goal of this campaign is to fund the creation, production, and print run of a deluxe hardcover edition of this book. Note that all Perks that include the hardcover version also include the digital PDF version as a bonus. International shipping costs ARE NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping after the campaign through the pledge manager.

OPTIONAL DISCOUNTED PoD VERSION – For this Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave campaign, you will have the option of using DriveThruRPG.com’s Print-On-Demand service to purchase a printed copy of the PDF directly from their PoD partners at discounted cost (this cost is not included in your pledge, and you do not need to increase the cost of your pledge to use this option). When the PoD versions are available to order, you will receive links to purchase these versions of the books from DriveThruRPG.com. You DO NOT need to take advantage of this PoD offer as it does not affect in any way your pledge rewards.

In addition to the rewards listed in each pledge perk, backers can add extra options via the Add On Perk options associated with your reward format. Digital Rewards can be added to any pledge, while physical rewards can only be added to rewards lists that include a version of Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave deluxe hardcover book, and will therefore have a shippable order when information is downloaded in the fulfillment system.

​To include Add-On items, tap the “GET THIS PERK” button that appears with your desired contribution. Add On perks are available for you to select from the “Perks you may also like” section.

As we increase the overall funding and support for the project, we’re able to add additional resources to the project, expand the rewards listed, and add in new offers and opportunities. Each Stretch Goal will have a target that, once reached, will add a project to the reward list for backers of the relevant Stretch Goal path. Whenever we achieve a stretch goal, the image will be updated to reflect it’s unlocked status.

Additional Abyssals content will be added and expanded via Stretch Goal achievements. New content added this way will be released as part of a PDF supplement (or supplements), which will automatically be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the Abyssals: Sworn to the Grave PDF as part of their reward perks. Content created as part of the premium reward perks may also be included in this supplemental PDF.

ACHIEVED! – At $40,000 in Funding – New Underworld Locales

ACHIEVED! – At $50,000 in Funding – An Underworld Map

At $60,000 in Funding – New Abyssal Charms

Additional Abyssal Charms will be created and added to the supplemental PDF release.

At $70,000 in Funding – More Necromancy

More Necromancy Spells will be added to the supplemental PDF release.

After the campaign is over we’ll launch our Pledge Manager and invite the backers to set up their rewards via survey. This allows you to confirm your pledge and add on anything that you might have missed, as well as possibly increasing your pledged reward tier, should you choose to expand your reward selection. This option will give international backers additional time to investigate shipping options, should they choose, knowing they can confirm a physical reward at a later date. We will also use the Pledge Manager to charge actual shipping costs for hardcover orders when we’re approaching order fulfillment. Funding collected in the Pledge Manager after the crowdfunding campaign does not count toward any campaign Stretch Goals, however.

Onyx Path Publishing has managed more than 60 Kickstarter projects, and that experience allows us to maintain manageable projects and achievable goals. To read more about the knowledge that has been applied to this project, you can read the FAQ linked here: http://theonyxpath.com/about/faq/crowdfunding/