PDF Option for Treasure Tome

Plus Live Streaming, DTRPG Updates, Photos of the Proofs, and a Best Boy

Nov 25, 2024

Friends, Aurans, Countrymen,

We're down to only four days left in the ACKS II Treasure Tome crowdfunding campaign. Tonight I’ll be livestreaming at 9:30PM with the co-authors of the Treasure Tome. If you have time, please join us for a lively discussion of treasure, terror, and terrible dice rolls!

Treasure Tome PDF Option Now Available

Throughout the campaign, many of you have emailed to ask about the availability of a PDF-only backer tier. As I've noted in email and comments, I'd held off because there is a minimum price point at which product advertising becomes viable and there are algorithmic benefits to having higher dollars per user. However, we are now at the end of the month, the algorithm has worked its magic, and the paid advertising campaign has come to an end.

Therefore I've just added a new reward tier: Wanderer in Distant Lands. This $20 tier allows you to get the ACKS II Treasure Tome in PDF. If you've been holding off waiting for a PDF option, now is the opportunity to jump in.

ACKS II Ozalids and Book Samples

On Friday I received the printed ozalids (pre-proofs) for ACKS II as well as three samples with blank pages to assess the size and weight of the books. The former was for me to review to assess whether any last minute changes needed to be made, and the latter was to measure for the slipcases.

The size and heft of the ACKS II books is hard to imagine until you have them in your hand. Fortunately, I had a 1+1 HD shepherd dog (6 st.) on hand for scale.

My weekend review did not discover any errors in the ozalids, so I signed the transmittal slips -- albeit with dread in my heart; far too easy for an error to be missed in 1,500 pages! All I can do at this point is trust that the books have been through more rounds of editing than any other project I've done.

Check DriveThruRPG For Updates

Speaking of "rounds of editing," we did one final pass before these ozalids were finalized. It resulted in some very minor fixes to the Revised Rulebook and Judges Journal. The updated files are in DriveThruRPG and should be downloadable from your account. (Don't be surprised if you don't notice any difference: When I say "very minor fixes" I mean things like remembering to change the term "confusion" to "madness" in the Enchantment spell table, change the duration "indefinite" to "perpetual" for one spell in the Illusion section, and so on.)

Some of you had mentioned that the form-fillable PDFs weren't form-fillable. This is due to how DriveThruRPG processes PDFs when they are uploaded to their backend. I have circumvented the issue by uploading the form-fillable PDFs as a zip file; that will now be available in your Revised Rulebook downloads as well.

Are You a Patron of the ACKS Patreon?

If you're interested in "what's next" for ACKS II, members of the Patreon are getting monthly updates and sneak previews from Before All Others: The Cyclopedia of Elven Civilization. One of the best perks of being part of the Patreon is the opportunity to help shape the design process by seeing the earliest drafts. Those who've been with us for the long-term know that Autarch (me, really) listens intently to the community's playtest feedback.

If you've never checked out the ACKS Patreon, you can find it here. The recurring revenue from the Patreon is what sustains the business during the long spells between Kickstarters, especially in 2023-2024 when sales of ACKS I have dried up during the transition to ACKS II. In today's economy, with inflation making every dollar count, I am exceptionally grateful to everyone who chooses to allocate some of it each month to helping keep Autarch in action.

Support the Community

Once you’ve pledged for the crowdfunding campaign, head on over to these community links:

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Arbiter of Worlds