Evacuate? In Our Moment of Triumph?

It's Been an Interesting Couple Weeks Here at Autarch...

Nov 6, 2023

On October 24th I launched my Kickstarter for Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (ACKS II). The day before it launched, I prayed that it would hit $50,000 in the first day and $100,000 before it ended. To my great delight, it hit $50,000 in the first few minutes and has soared to over $280,000 in just ten days.

This is, for Autarch, a triumph of the greatest magnitude. I am profoundly grateful to all of the backers who have supported and continue to support my magnum opus. Thank you, truly.

Of course, the success of ACKS II attracted the attention of some of the more unattractive denizens of the /r/rpg and /r/osr subreddits, who promptly began to defame and slander me with their usual half-truths, falsehoods, and slurs. When some of the ACKS community refused to allow the disparagement to go unrebutted, it led to a flame war the likes of which has not been seen since the days of the Usenet. Ultimately, the moderators decided it was best to simply ban discussion of both the game and designer, citing “brigading.”

To be clear, I reject the moderator’s baseless contention that I organized “brigading.” I did not. Anyone who has been in the ACKS community has seen me repeatedly tell people over and over that I’m not interested in other people defending my life choices or fighting flame wars on my behalf. (And at some point I will myself make a post rebutting each and every one of the lies about me, but at this point I am too busy celebrating my unprecedented success to want to delve into such negativity.)

Leaving aside the pretextual basis for the ban, however, I have little issue with the moderators over the substance of their decisions. Having run a large game community for many years, there are sometimes topics that are so contentious that they preclude the possibility of mutual co-existence. There is no choice in such circumstances but to ban that topic, because otherwise the community will fracture. In such cases, moderators must gatekeep the topic.

I know many ACKS fans are deeply disappointed by the moderators’ decisions. I am reminded of Grand Moff Tarkin being asked to flee the Death Star moments before blowing up the Rebel Base.

But let’s not forget that Tarkin was, well, brewed up. If you want to talk about my games, just go elsewhere — the Internet is a vast place. There are several apolitical alternatives to both subreddits, plus venues such as Discord, The RPG Site, and more. (If there’s interest, perhaps I could compile a list.)

There are communities for everybody and every topic. But not every community is or needs to be for everybody or every topic. Gatekeeping is a necessary evil, and that doesn’t change whether one is inside or outside any given gate.

The ACKS II Promo Tour

The ACKS online promotional tour continues.

Completed: Interviewed by ZSum716
Completed: Stream with Nerdcognito
Completed: Stream with Howard_RyanGreg
Completed: Stream with DunderMoose
Completed: Stream with thetshirtedone
Completed: Podcast with Roleplay Rescue #OSR #RPG #DnD
Completed: Stream with legionofmyth
Completed: Stream with MrMaxBoivin_RPG
Completed: Stream with MildraTheMonk
Completed: Stream with WeeWheaton
Completed: Stream with UandURPGReview
Completed: Stream with Tenkar's Tavern
Nov 6 (4 PM ET): Stream with @Neckbeardia
Nov 6 (10 PM ET): Stream with Geek Gab
Nov 7 (7:30PM ET): Discord Chat with Randomworlds
Nov 13 (3PM ET): Stream with Iconic Production
Nov 17 (7 PM ET): Stream with legionofmyth again!

I may have one more huge guest appearance but I’m still waiting on confirmation. And, of course, if you have a podcast, stream, or show that covers RPG topics and you’d like to have me on as part of my ACKS II promo tour, please reach out via email or Twitter (@archon).

The Grey Brotherhood

In lieu of an episode of Arbiter of Worlds, today I have uploaded an episode of The Grey Brotherhood. Check it out below! We’ll be releasing several more episodes of The Grey Brotherhood in the next three weeks as nothing demonstrates the greatness of ACKS II better than Actual Play.

Actual Play of ACKS

There are more people playing ACKS today than at any point in the game’s 12-year history. It’s incredibly gratifying to me as a designer and it gives me hope that ACKS II will reach an even broader base.

With the help of the Autarch Discordians, I compiled some links to some other ACKS campaigns:

And here’s our flourishing Substack community:

If you have a blog or third-party product that supports ACKS or Ascendant, please let me know and I’ll be happy to include you in my next round-up.