Launch and project revision
More than a week after the release of the first edition of VI·VIII·X, I am very satisfied. It seems that setting a price for the digital versions is not a problem (and I am referring to 1 euro or even less!), since the downloads are not zero, but every day at least 2 customers buy the manuals in digital format.
The variant cover version has sold 9 physical copies, and if you count the copy I own, we are already at 20% of the total available. I have to admit that I did not expect such a trend: you’d take into account that I did not do a Kickstarter and shared the news of the publication to 4 communities on the net and 3 telegram channels (a very light marketing action!). I think I'll continue not to push too hard on marketing and see if the game finds its own user base (even if it's tiny, that's totally fine!).
With this positive energy from the launch of the first edition, I leave you with a summary of the plan for the rest of the work in progress:
The first priority is to start writing a series of articles on the setting, the second is to start publishing adventures; as for the latter, I already have three adventures ready to publish, I just need to find the time to do the layout and everything else needed to complete them: unlike the core rules, an adventure requires much more attention to details such as maps, handouts, etc...
Then there are the second priorities: VIII·XII·XX (the Expanded Rules) and Fœditates (i.e. the fantasy creatures manual which should complete the topic along with Feræ); I recently revised the structure of the expanded rules and the book is ready... so far the "How to run a KUP game" part was missing, but now that is complete (or almost... I would like to do one last post if I have the time!) and again it is just a matter of time to transfer everything into a file with the correct layout (now at least half is in a file and the other half on handwritten notes). For Fœditates, however, I am still far from having a finished product - perhaps this is the least advanced book in the whole project.
Last but not least are the third priorities, the parts of the project that I do not consider urgent at the moment, including the universal rules engine, so that the KUP model can be adapted to games other than fantasy RPGs, and the cosmogony; on the latter, I admit that I regret it is the last priority, however I have to recognise what needs to be done first... I have the basis of the manual ready, I have a tiny bit of writing to do, and the layout is already done... it sounds crazy, but it is a book I could finish in a few weeks and it is at the bottom of the to-do list... I know for sure that sooner or later I will write a post announcing that the Cosmogony is finished way ahead of schedule!
Finally, there is all the 'wishful thinking', i.e. many ideas that are just a line on my notepad... a publication with 'seeds', the second part of the cosmogony and many adventures that are only minimally sketched...
The programme remains very substantial, so we better roll up our sleeves and get started!