Under Ashen Skies is now free!

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that my 2023 solo horror game Under Ashen Skies is now totally free. Why, you ask? Well, let's dive into it.

As some of you know, I first started working on UAS in 2020 (I think? It might have been even sooner). Back then, it used a different ruleset, and I got stuck halfway, being distracted by Across a Thousand Dead Worlds. I liked the ATDW ruleset so much that when I came back to UAS, I decided to re-write everything I had with that same ruleset, and that's what I did. This was already about two years after I had started working on the game, by the way... And then, I got stuck again. But this time, I really couldn't bring myself to finishing the game. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool game, but the combination of quite dark themes (not something I usually shy away from, but this just hit closer to home) and the fact that it took place in a version of our reality, during our time, just made it really hard for me to finish it. I tried, I really tried, but I couldn't, and forcing oneself to work on something creative is honestly pure agony, or at least it is for me. So I thought it would stay in development hell forever.

But then, Alan Bahr (the designer behind Gallant Knight Games), a good friend of mine and one of the most unique voices in the RPG scene, offered to take over, so how could I refuse? He is not only much more experienced than I am at writing games, he is also extremely creative and if he liked the game, so I knew it would be in good hands.

So the game was finally completed, we found someone to work on the artwork (which despite what some people say is NOT AI, it's just a lot of photobashing and such, which we felt suited the game's atmosphere and setting), I did the layout, and we had a nice little Kickstarter for it. It funded, it was sent to backers, and people started playing it.

Then, the problems started. Despite playtesting, it was clear we missed a lot of things, and after a few months, it was obvious that the game had a lot of issues. We fixed the most glaring ones, but in hindsight it was all a bit of a mess, and now I can see why. The answer is simple: lack of proper communication.

Despite talking to Alan daily, somehow we never really discussed our respective desires and design goals when it came to UAS. My assumption was that he would finish the game, and give me a finished, playable product. Alan's assumption was that this would be a fully collaborative project, something that we would finish together. The end result was (is) a kind of Frankenstein's monster of a game, with half of the rules and design philosophies coming from me, and the other from Alan, which kind of works, until it doesn't.

Both Alan and I know that the game has quite a fan base, and there's a lot of people who feel frustrated by its current status, because you can see there's a good game buried below the confusing and sometimes contradictory rules. As a matter of fact, Alan has proposed me a few times that we clean it up completely and maybe release a properly done second edition, or expansions fixing its issues. But we go back to the initial issue I had with UAS: I just cannot work on it. I know it's silly, and not very business oriented or professional, but I work on Blackoath 100% from a passion point of view, and if I'm not passionate about a project, it is agony for me to work on it. So, no, I was never going to go back to UAS, and Alan simply doesn't want to take over the game by himself and continue working on it alone, which I totally understand and respect.

With that said, we only had three options:

• We do nothing, and leave it as it is.

• We take the game down.

• We change its license to a CC-BY 4.0 one, upload all the content, layout and images, and leave it as a free download.

And as you see, we went with the third option. I know there's a few people working on not only gameplay aids and content, but full re-writes and updates. Well, having access to all the files and allowing you nice folks to release your content without any restrains should make it easier. It doesn't make up for not going back to the game and reworking everything that needs reworking, but this way it does make it easier for the people who are actually working on improving the game right now to do so. I know quite a few of you are going to be angry at me for this, but I thought it would be best to be honest with all of you and let you know that any future updates to the game will be coming from its community. As always, you can join us on the Blackoath Discord server to discuss UAS or any of my other games.