Project update & Mock-up gallery

A little over a month has passed since the last update, and you haven’t seen any results! It’s true—I haven’t produced anything, or rather, I haven’t completed any work so far. Here are the details of everything that’s in progress.

The rule revision aiming to create a new set called “Hackssential” has been completed; there are only a few substantial changes, but the new manual will take on a new form, as the entire ruleset (including equipment and spell lists) will be under 80 pages. Now I need to get it reviewed, which is why I’ve also put out a call in the VI·VIII·X KUP RPG chat for help with this task. My work so far has been to cut out the unnecessary and streamline the rules as much as possible. I may have made a mistake in this process because I also removed the gameplay examples—but my guilt over this decision has led me to consider writing a player tutorial. This volume could be useful for reintroducing gameplay examples in a format that helps players understand the game. Right now, it’s just an idea, and I haven’t started writing yet, so for now, I’ll refer to this sub-project as ‘VI·VIII·X Player’s Primer.’

I’ve finished my level for the community dungeon called ‘Death by Dungeon’ and resumed writing my planned adventures. The first one is already completed and playtested: ‘Sumberdusk Eve’s Rave’ (which I mentioned in the last update). The second, currently in progress, is called ‘Promenade Macabre,’ and I’ll begin playtesting this week (a huge thanks to

Kaelwyr

for the amazing map he created for this adventure!). Without spoiling too much, this adventure will be a kind of freak show experience featuring undead. The third adventure is still being defined with

Ian Dunmore

, as it’s inspired by his short story ‘The Ghost’s Theater.’ My original plan was to develop a different adventure, but I’ve decided to postpone ‘The Ideal City’ for now. I’ll also need help with proofreading/playtesting these modules!

I’ve started reviewing the first three adventures to make them compatible with an OSR system (currently converting them to the B/X system—I still need to check if and how fully compatible they are). This work shouldn’t take too long, but the challenge is integrating these into the larger project. Needless to say, extra eyes and hands for proofreading are always welcome!

The VI·VIII·X setting, titled ‘Imago Mundi,’ is progressing slowly. There aren’t many posts, and there’s much more material in my notes than what’s been written so far… I need to find a way to speed things up, but that might mean putting other activities on hold. It’s a tough decision!

One potential sacrifice in favor of the setting could be the Cosmogony… but I’m not entirely convinced, as I see great benefits in writing both books in parallel. Looking at the last worldbuilding post, which covered the timeline, I was able to refine the moments when various characters ascended to Electus—precisely because I’m working on both texts together. Perhaps the only wise solution is to give each book the time it deserves and release them both when they’re ready, without rushing…

Now, it’s time for the “shame corner,” featuring all the projects that still haven’t started and are unfortunately piling up. The most notable ones include ‘Out of the Blue,’ the universal rulebook; ‘Foeditates,’ the monster creation guide for VI·VIII·X; and finally (alas!) the manifesto! And with that, this update comes to a rather somber close…

Before we say goodbye and meet again in the next update, I’m also leaving here the appeal I already made in the VI·VIII·X chat: there is a great need for support to publish VI·VIII·X material! I am not a native English speaker (I think you may have noticed from my style), and I would like to ask for help with the proofreading of:

1. The Hackssential rules

2. The 2 new adventures (the 3rd will come…)

3. The 3 revised adventures

My heartfelt thanks to

Zachary Harned

,

M. B. Heywood

and

ElectricEidolon

for your availability!

Anyone willing to support me, is free to reach me over the VI·VIII·X chat whenever he/she wants!