Reading · Arbiter of Worlds

Over the last decade, Autarch has done well on Kickstarter and DriveThruRPG, which have been our primary distribution channels. We have not done as well in the retail channel, for various reasons. Although some stalwarts always support us (Noble Knight Games, for instance), Autarch’s games aren’t generally easy to find in flagship gaming stores.

There are a number of reasons for that, but the primary reason is that the small size of my print runs makes it hard to profitably accommodate the necessary wholesale discount. Often I don’t even submit into the retail channel.

With ACKS II having a 2,000-unit print run, I was able to put it into retail, but I didn’t expect to see many orders. I certainly didn’t expect AAA-tier window placement. Imagine my delight when I saw these photos taken at Faraos Cigarer, the flagship game store of Copenhagen, Denmark:

I reached out to the team at Faroas Cigarer to express my gratitude. As a thank you, I will be sending them a signed copy of ACKS II Revised Rulebook. If you’re in their local area, I hope you’ll check out their store because it looks awesome.

The date is set. Before All Others will be crowdfunding on September 15, 2025. To celebrate the milestone, I’m releasing a 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!

Be sure to visit the preview site to sign up for notification on launch. There’s early bird offers that you won’t want to miss! If three weeks is too long to wait, you can see almost everything that’s been written so far for BOA 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.

I’m playing in a tabletop game session tonight, so I won’t be streaming ACKS To Grind. If you missed last week’s episode, be sure to check it out. It featured actor, comedian, and filmmaker Pat Kilbane as we attempted to answer the question: “Who was Gary Gygax, really?” With topics ranging from the nature of the modern-day Hero’s Journey to the ubiquity of cocaine in Hollywood, this one is not to be missed. You can catch it below:

In the month ahead, I have a number of awesome guests lined up, including Courtney Campbell (author of Sinless), Jeffrey Talanian (author of HYPERBOREA), and returning guest John N McGowan (author of the Living Campaign).

At one time, I was a regular at game conventions — I attended everything from DragonCon, E3, and GaryCon to GenCon and PAX, and even hosted several conventions of my own, including the Triangle Game Conference and Escapist Expo. Something in me died when The Escapist was shuttered and I stopped going about a decade ago.

This year, that changed. I’m a guest of honor at not one but two conventions. From September 5th - 7th, I will be attending BasedCon in Grand Rapids, Michigan and from October 10th - 12th, I’ll be attending ArneCon in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

At BasedCon you’ll find me on the schedule on Saturday 9/7 for a 3PM panel on Superheroes, a 4PM panel on Fiction and RPGs, and an 8PM session of Ascendant.

Meanwhile, on the ArneCon schedule, 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.

I want to express my gratitude to the organizers of both conventions for making me a guest of honor. It’s the first time I’ve been recognized as such. As a teenager I idolized creators like Dave Arneson as personal heroes. It this feels like being invited into the halls of Valhalla alongside them.

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

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