Treasure, Tears, and More
An Update on ACKS, Ascendant, and More
Hello, everyone! Lots to talk about today.
ACKS II Treasure Tome
I am delighted to announce the Kickstarter campaign for the ACKS II Treasure Tome, the fourth book in the ACKS II rulebook trilogy. The ACKS II Treasure Tome has over ONE THOUSAND magic items for use in your D20 fantasy campaigns and a gorgeous cover by the modern-day Frazetta, Michael Syrigos. (You can see the fantastic cover Michael drew for us below. I’m not saying that’s Orm from AX3, but it’s probably someone in Orm’s family.)
Click the link or the image below to sign up at the preview page. The crowdfunding goes live on October 28, 2024. There’s several early bird rewards and limited tiers, so don’t miss the first 24 hours!
ACKS To Grind
I’ve launched a new YouTube show called ACKS To Grind. To date, I’ve been joined by Rick Stump and Brian Neumeier. Tonight I’ll be joined by Jonathan Oldenburg, who plays Andravus in The Grey Brotherhood actual play campaign and who is the author of the epic fantasy novel Tears From Iron.
Autarch is the publisher of Tears From Iron and we will soon be releasing it in audiobook for you podcast fans! Next year we’ll be releasing the sequel. Join me tonight for my chat with Jonathan about fantasy, worldbuilding, West Point (we were classmates!) and more.
Future guests will be Prince of Nothing (OCT 14) and John N McGowan (OCT 21), with John C. Wright, Tom Kratman, James Young, Jeffro Johnson, Red Room, and more coming thereafter!
Please let me know in the comments if there are people in the RPG, videogame, game design, or escapist entertainment communities you’d like to see me chat with on the show.
The Grey Brothers
The Grey Brothers continue their adventures with a slew of updates since my last newsletter! Remember, if you haven’t watched the whole series, you can easily catch up by reading the synopsis in the description.
Results of ACKS II Backer Survey
Last week I released the ACKS II backer survey, mostly to collect backer names but partly to ask about future projects that you’d like to see Autarch produce. Here’s some interesting data points.
Treasure Tome
Of 1,531 respondents, 614 (40%) have said they will definitely back the ACKS II Treasure Tome; 808 (53%) have said they might back it; and 107 (7%) have said they’ll have to pass. For those of you in the 53%, please let me know in the comments what will tip the balance on backing it or not!
Other Products
I ran an “approval voting” poll of various projects I’m considering. The outcome of that was as follows:
685 votes for Before All Others: The Cyclopedia of Elven Civilization
666 votes for After The Flesh: The Cyclopedia of Chthonic Civilization (really guys, 666 votes?)
594 votes for Ashigaru Daimyo Shogun (ACKS in Japan)
547 votes for Under the Dread Flag: The Compendium of Pirate Culture
537 votes for Aeon Star (space opera rpg)
407 votes for Armiger (mecha rpg)
389 votes for Amalgam (cyberpunk rpg)
312 votes for Ascendant: Power Overwhelming sourcebook
240 votes for Apocalypse Motorduel (mad max RPG)
What conclusions do I draw from this?
First, the main appetite among you guys (my community) is for additional sourcebooks for ACKS II. 3 of the top 4 contenders were ACKS II sourcebooks, and if one considers Ashigaru to be an ACKS II sourcebook the way Oriental Adventures was an AD&D sourcebook, then that’s 4 of the 4 contenders.
Second, since Ascendant has an audience that is approximately one-half the size of ACKS, an Ascendant sourcebook getting about one-half the votes of an ACKS sourcebook tracks with the other data points.
Third, interest for a new game system is rather limited - since this was approval voting, there was nothing preventing anyone from voting for all the games they’d be interested in backing on top of ACKS II products. The strongest vote came for Aeon Star, but even there it was only 35% of the votes — and given what I’ve seen on the Discord discussion, I’m not even sure that 35% all want the same game! Other systems received even fewer votes.
The outcome, in general, tracks the advice that Autarch’s investors and advisors suggested, which is that — having now spent two years building ACKS II and the prior two years building Ascendant — it’s time to grow the fruit of those trees rather than plant a new RPG tree. (I should have inquired about interest in an Auran Empire sourcebook as a whole, so in the next survey I’ll do that.) I’m grateful to everyone who voted in the survey - it’s invaluable guidance and I treasure the close relationship I’ve got with you guys.
But seriously 666 votes for After The Flesh? And that comes after ACKS II was 666% funded, too. I’m starting to get worried, bros.
ACKS on Substack
Be sure to check out 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.
Support the Community
Once you’ve pledged for the Discord, head on over to these community links:
Autarch Discord with one of the smartest, nicest gamer communities around
Autarch Reddit with a sub-set of the aforementioned smartest, nicest gamers
Ascendant Patreon with a new character and story hook every month
Autarch Facebook page with news and updates about our projects
Autarch Twitter channel with brief comments and witty quirks
Ascendant Comics Facebook page with sneak previews of the upcoming comics
Ascendant Comics Instagram page with tons of art and cosplay
Ascendant Comics Twitter channel with short messages and quirky wit
“But seriously 666 votes for After The Flesh? And that comes after ACKS II was 666% funded, too. I’m starting to get worried, bros.”
The Evil Legion of Evil, and the Supreme Dark Lord’s Vile Faceless Minions and Dread Ilk, have no comment.
Re: 'Maybe' backing the treasure tome and what would push me over the line
The biggest obstacle is that I don't have the books I ordered in my hands yet. I'm always hesitant to throw more money at someone who has not yet delivered on what I've already paid for. I understand that's not how company production lines work and if you waited you'd have writers and artists doing nothing while waiting for production and distribution, but trust comes from fulfilling promises not being pretty sure you're going to fulfill promises, so there it is.
Barring that, I want a solid look at the writing and art going into this. Most importantly, I want to see that this won't be redundant with all the other books of magic items I've got with mechanics tweaked for ACKS, I could just do that myself. I want to see that you're coming up with lots of concepts for magic items that I haven't heard of before that are interesting, imaginative and inspire stories for my games.