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On September 15, we launched Before All Others on Kickstarter with a $10,000 goal. We funded in two minutes; in one week we’ve reached $110,202. BAO’s sister book, By This Axe, only reached $51,636 while our most recent sourcebook, ACKS II Treasure Tome, only raised $116,957 in its entire month. Before All Others, then, is doing (I hate myself for saying this…) better than all others! We actually have a real fighting chance of unlocking the Bitter War stretch goals. Thank you, everyone, for making the book possible.

If this is your first time hearing about Before All Others, check out the special 16-page full-color sneak preview of the book. It has three sample lore entries, one sample class, and one sample monster. The full book will be this, but an order of magnitude more!

You can see almost everything that’s been written so far for BAO by becoming a Conqueror-tier member of the Autarch Patreon. If you can’t wait to start fighting the Bitter War for real, emperor-tier backers in our Patreon have already gotten full access to Domains at War: Battles computer game and are playtesting it now.

All the Videos, All The Time

Tonight I’ll be livestreaming with returning guest John N McGowan. John is the author of the book The Living Campaign and the blog The Crown’s Corner.

Coming up I’ll be interviewing Jeffrey Talanian (author of HYPERBOREA) on October 6th, while Brian Niemier will be returning in November.

But there’s more! Our friends at Black Lodge Games have launched a new ACKS Solo Play Speed Run series called I Have No Arms But I Must Conquer. The first episode has been unleashed today and its a must-watch! Floyd the Fighter and his band of henchmen seek to raise an army, conqueror the continent, and get absolutely ripped to shreds in this epic adventure series where no character has plot armor. The BLG gurus break down how to use some of ACKS II’s novel systems and show how it goes way beyond typical D&D.

Tomorrow night, Dunder Moose will be hosting a livestream featuring BK Gibson, Chubby Funster, Pulp Hummock Press and me as we discuss dungeon design. It’ll be happening at 9PM on This is Dunder Moose YT channel.

Population Growth in ACKS II

Over at the Autarch Patreon, I’ve released an article examining population growth in ACKS II. Does it accurately model historical rates of population growth in human settlements? In beginning my examination, I was immediately confronted by what we might call “Lenin’s dilemma,” namely that “[t]here are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen.” A mechanic for population growth that simulates “decades where nothing happens” risks being too inflexible to model the pace of change of the “weeks where decades happen.” Conversely, a mechanic that properly models the “weeks where decades happen” can easily end up being too frenetic to model the “decades where nothing happens.”

How does ACKS II stack up? Find out the results by signing up for the Patreon. The Adventurer tier is $3 per month and gets you access to scores of awesome ACKS and ACKS II articles. Higher tiers get additional content including my private campaign notes, sneak previews of upcoming books, invite-only chats, and more.

ArneCon Is Imminent

Next month I’ll be heading to ArneCon. On Friday 10/10 I’m running ACKS II at 6PM; then on Saturday 10/11 I’m doing a Special Guest Meet and Greet at 5PM and running Ascendant at 6PM. Please let me know in the comments or direct messages if you’ll be there - I’m looking forward to meeting up with everyone! My brother ArcanistWill, one of the stars of the Grey Brotherhood Actual Play series, is also going to be there.

Support the Community

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Before All Others Better Than All Others

All the Videos, All The Time

Population Growth in ACKS II

ArneCon Is Imminent

Support the Community

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