The Limbo Opens the Door to New Ideas
I’ve been stuck in a limbo for way too long… maybe I’m anxious, or maybe my expectations are too high, but waiting for the second (and hopefully correct!) print proof of the Hackssential Rules has really thrown me off track. I haven’t made progress in any other areas of the project; the only thing I managed to finish is the adventure ‘Promenade Macabre’. Maybe it’s the intense heat this summer, but I realize I haven’t been very productive lately!
As for what I need to get back to, finishing the final draft of Promenade Macabre is definitely at the top of the list. One of the things still up in the air is the cover of the adventure… which of the two versions do you prefer? I haven’t made a decision yet, so any suggestions or feedback are more than welcome! After that, I’ll resume writing the third adventure, the one inspired by the amazing story ‘The Ghost Theater’ by
, and I’ll also continue working on the setting and the cosmology. That said, this post isn’t really a “project update” — since there aren’t any real updates!
In this limbo I find myself in, I’ve come to the conclusion that this might be the perfect time to bring to the VI·VIII·X Substack the project I launched more than a year ago on Astrifiammante. For those who haven’t read my older posts: at the beginning of 2024, together with my friend
, we started Astrifiammante, a project aimed at using our collections of tabletop RPGs to offer the Italian audience a look at some of the lesser-known and lesser-played RPGs from the 1970s and 1980s.The format we chose was simple: weekly posts featuring images from different parts of a manual (the most intriguing or interesting sections) without too much commentary or review. The goal was to provide a transparent and unfiltered way for people to directly read excerpts from these games.
After more than a year, the project was put on hold (I won’t bore you with the reasons). Still, the work we did throughout 2024 remains, and I’d like to bring it back here on a still-to-be-defined schedule. I’m planning to publish the first post tomorrow to give you a taste of the kind of “reportage” on vintage RPG manuals I want to share with you!
Needless to say I look forward to reading your comments on the first post!
I prefer the cover on the right - more sombre colours and (to me) more macabre.
The Bruegel on the right shares the color scheme with most of the other books in the VI•VIII•X series and is a fantastic image. Death rides rampant across the land. An army of undead pillage the countryside. In the bottom corner the skeleton shows the king his "time is up". I absolutely love the de Burchis on the left, however. Death has calmly usurped sovereignty from the Pope and Emperor, both lying in the sarcophagus beneath him. The nobility, as is their wont, believe their gold will save them. The commoners below dance lockstep with the dead, for what other choice do they have but to accept their fate? The only issue I see is the text is difficult to see due to the lighter background.