Sad to see Auran Empire moved down to the end of the line. Ah well. Looking forward to L&E and the adventure modules – make sure you get in a few setting tidbits! 
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 8
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 10
Guns of War - 4
Lairs & Encounters - 3
Secrets of the Undercity - 10
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara -10
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 6
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 10 Campaign settings!
Guns of War - 0
Lairs & Encounters -8ish
Secrets of the Undercity 6ish
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara -7ish
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 10
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 10
Guns of War - 5
Lairs & Encounters - 10
Secrets of the Undercity - 5
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara - 5
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 10
Auran Empire Campaign Setting -10
Guns of War -3
Lairs & Encounters - 8
Secrets of the Undercity - 7
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara -4
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 9
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 9
Guns of War - 5
Lairs & Encounters - 8
Secrets of the Undercity - 8
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara - 5
Really late to this party, but in case it still matters…
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - really depends on the exact flavor you’re shooting for with this one; if the references to magical corruption and such are an attempt to create an “Appendix N” approach akin to Dungeon Crawl Classics (another game I love and mix with ACKS), then put me down for a 10
Auran Empire Campaign Setting -5, but that’s largely because I don’t know enough about the setting to gauge my level of interest
Guns of War -8
Lairs & Encounters - 8
Secrets of the Undercity - 10
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara -10
[quote=archon]
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion 9
Auran Empire Campaign Setting 2
Guns of War 5
Lairs & Encounters 8
Secrets of the Undercity 1
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara 1
a little late… but…
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 10
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 10
Guns of War - 5
Lairs & Encounters - 6
Secrets of the Undercity - 7
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara - 7
We keep seeing these pop up every now and again, but never any actual news about progress. I’m beginning to turn my back on ACKS due to lack of support for the product.
I agree that there has been a slow down in releases, and that can hurt ACKS’ brand presence. I think there are several reasons behind this. (I’m not in any way connected to the Autarchs, but I just have some extra time to dawdle on the internet this morning.)
- Finishing the Dwimmermount and DoW Kickstarters had to be draining on the Autarchs. Some time to recharge is to be expected.
- Alex has had to spend some time dealing with some staffing matters (the kind where you have to reduce head count) at his day job the last month or so. You can’t just let some people go and be done with it. There is a whole lot of office politics and logistics that go along with such actions, and that tends to be draining on everyone involved.
- Related to point #2 above, I believe Greg is now looking for work. I don’t know what the division of labor exactly is among the Autarchs, but when you’re unemployed finding your next job sometimes becomes your only priority.
- I think 5E is still dominating the headspace of most gamers interested in any form of D&D. This might be the hardest factor to deal with since it is entirely out of the Autarchs’ hands for how long 5E will be the hot game everyone is trying out. I know that my group has is playing 5E currently in which I’m just a player. It has delayed me trying to get ACKS Dwimmermount started with my group.
You don’t want to start a Kickstarter while you’re Running on fumes emotionally. However, I think your point is valid. Even though ACKS is awesome, and it isn’t like the game has gone away, releases help keep ACKS in the public eye, and some of their planned releases would help fill some needs that people have. Maybe they can identify a “quick win” for them to put out soon to help get them back in the swing of things.
I appreciate that Autarch is no one’s day job and by Jove I can’t fault them.
It’ll take more than lack of “support” for me to “turn my back” on ACKS. I still think it’s the tightest OSR ruleset out there when it comes to building and managing a consistent campaign world, and allows for plugging stuff in almost seamlessly, so I already have a wealth of TSR and OSR material to play with. Anything else Autarch puts out is extra gravy on top.
In any case, it would be nice to get some news. If only to know everything’s all right with the Autarch crew’s personal and work lives.
Yeah, I mean, if Tarn Adams has taught us anything, it’s that once you’ve established your fanbase with actual content, fans will happily read the occasional updates that focus on your cat.
I’m worried about the same thing! I appreciate that our audience goodwill has lasted us this far. But we’re back in action.
Here’s an overall update:
- 2014 was a tough year. Due to domestic matters, Tavis had to disengage partly (he remains modestly involved). Co-designer Greg Tito as well as our graphics designers Greg Lincoln and Carrie Keymel both left the team. Dwimmermount was a deep drain on our capital (like 666 layers of Abyss deep).
- 2015 will be a rebuilding year. Richard Iorio has stepped up his involvement and joined as a permanent partner, a welcome addition. Also Bobloblah, CharlesDm, and Malo Monkey have begun to offer assistance on a regular basis, for which I am exceptionally grateful.
- In 2015 so far we have made some major accomplishments, including:
—Getting all of our product back into retail stores!
—Getting all of our product available POD on DriveThruRPG
—Getting all of our product available on Amazon
—Making progress on eBook versions of all of our product - I hope to release the following products in 2015:
—Sinister Stone of Sakkara
—Lairs & Encounters
—Guns of War
—Heroic Companion
HC has 54,000 words written (80 pages - aiming for 96 to 112).
L&E has 38,000 words written (59 pages - aiming for 64)
SSS has 27,000 words written (53 pages - aiming for 56 to 64)
GoW has 12,500 words written (22 pages - aiming for 24 to 32)
Since I managed to get that much written on all of them while working on D@W and DM I think it’s reasonable to see them completed.
Any other questions, please ask! Sorry for being slow as molasses. As WM pointed out, I’ve also had to handle some stuff in my personal job that has made things hard.
Just to validate Alex’s comment, I got to have lunch with him back in December and saw several of those drafts with my own eyes. I’ve read chunks of a draft of a product not even on that list, being able to offer only a tiny bit of feedback because I think it’s going in the right direction.
Thank you for the update. It looks like you have 4 products with drafts 80%+ complete. Perhaps you could get one to publication each quarter to carry you through to 2016 and help the Autarchs keep a steady presence in the buzz that occurs around new products.
I’m super excited for all of these. Are they all going to be kickstarters or do you think any of them are likely to be standard releases? On the one hand, why not give your hardcore fans the opportunity to make the final product better, on the other hand, might be nice to not have to kickstarter a cut. Either way, you can rest assured I’ll be there within the first 30 days.
ACKS Heroic Fantasy Companion - 10 (times 10)
Auran Empire Campaign Setting - 10
Guns of War - 3
Lairs & Encounters - 7
Secrets of the Undercity - 8
Sinister Secrets of Sakkara - 7
Holy cow, that’s exciting! I didn’t realize that EVERYTHING YOU’D MENTIONED was almost done! It’s a good thing we probably won’t see a release before my graduation this spring, haha.
Sorry to hear you’ve been having hard times at home though. It’s understandable that a hobby/sidebusiness like ACKS might be on the backburner for awhile.
Awesome! Thanks for the update.
Looking forward to all of this!