Simply amazing matieral! To exlain why this is amazing, I have to explain why I use Adventurer Conquerer King in the first place. There are plenty of options as a DM if I want to run a game where I constantly get told by the books, "Uh, yeah, you're own to figure that out buddy." Or where my players are straight jacketed into a narrowly defined role. Thanks, no. Or perhaps I want to choose between running a Grim Dark world that appears to have been written by a 11 year old Edge Lord, or a world where the players can never do anything wrong. Life, and good role playing games, shoot the middle ground. For RPGs this means a system where player's choices exist and matter. Where players get to encounter good, evil and the large amount in between, and figure out where they exist in that spectrum. The challenge with providing that sort of flexability, without just leaving it on the DM to figure out the particulars, is that the game designer has to put a lot of effort in supporting the DM. This is the challenge I see Autarch taking on, and the promise I see they extending to the players of ACK. It clearly started as a way to revive a version of D&D long abandoned by its creators, and has grown far beyond that beginning.

That all said, why do I love Axioms Compedium 1-8? It allows me to see the ongoing, living process of ACKs growing and expanding to fufill this promise to the players. Each chapter provides an answer to a question I already had, a solution to a problem I hadn't even looked into yet, or a brand new idea that I never would have considered otherwise. It is a tremendous tool for the Judge. My players haven't looked it over yet. If they had, they'd be getting me to hurry up with integrating some of the new ideas into our games. :-)

Another bonus from this book is that it provides a look into what you can get from being a Patreon of Autarch. My first Patreon membership is for Autarch, and I got it because of this book. This is NOT to say that this book lacks value without a Patreon subscriotion, nothing of the sort. Rather that this book gives the reader a taste of what they can get as a Patreon. I got this book in the printed format, and would have gotten it as a printed book even if I had been Patreon subscriber before hand.

Get the book, it'll blow your mind! :-)

First, the physical product was well-packaged and arrived without damage.

Second, it is a beautiful tome. My only quibble is that there was no hardcover option; this is merely a personal preference for hardcover vs. softcover.

Third, the content is exactly what it says on the tin. If ACKS is your bag, this is a must. While ACKS Core is eminently playable as-is, if you enjoyed the "rolling back of the covers" in the Player's Companion, this is your candy. Having all of Axioms 1-8 in a collected edition, with (I presume; I havent checked) the most recent errata and updates to same incorporated into the text is invaluable.

Finally, Autarch is a class act. If they publish it, give it a look. I have yet to be disappointed.