February 3 Update

Why do I keep picturing the Princess as the "bad girl" who somehow managed to drag/convince her "good girl" childhood friend to join her in breaking the rules.

Tanner

You have a new scene for the game! You know the princess would be all over that type of role-play!

No Escaping Destiny

And Lynine as cheer coach, Orlise as school librarian, Wynn as the goth girl, Balia as the nerdy scientist student who excels at chemistry, and Iris as the hottest school secretary ever. This would actually be a terrible school, though. I'd never get any work done :)

Retromancer

@ Trevor I like your expanding on the idea of TLS in a school - I picture Trin smoking the cigarettes behind the corner, Carina being the religious girl who everyone likes but also tries to avoid, Hilstara being the school security, and Aka and Riala being the punk girl and scary teacher everyone wants to avoid. Never gonna happen but fun to think about.

Retromancer

I just assumed Tradesmasher having 7 boosters with one being optional was the intended behavior.

DukeLeto7

a thing i stumble when i was searching in the world the synod change when i was going to the lady rose, it triggered the dialogue wit simon asking some informaton about stenai, trip i have done some time ago. Edit: i noted a little thing (it's not important now and can be 'works as intended, but...) in the chapter 4 iterate event there is a tradersmasher guild +1 if tak'kan major is triggered, but the cap for pron return it's still 6

Fulminato

It will be so easy for you to do random what if scenarios like this, your writing is so solid and funny when you want to.

Leveler All

Well, we do see more of her in the recent updates about the council of high priestesses, but I think the "see more" you mean is more applicable to Sarai.

Decanter

Hey Sierra, it's been some time since I played the game(Is topped when Simon got his castle, more or less). I heard that Bertricia is included in the last updates... Are there any plans to... hum... "see more" of her?

StalkerRoguen

The big one for me personally was that he didn't think publishers would think LitRPG sales data was compelling if I tried to pitch them an epic fantasy. Which had been my plan. D= More generally applicable, he said that small press is a much worse option than either large press or self-publishing. Sounds like it's sort of the worst of both worlds. One that surprised me was that publishers are increasingly trying to grab audio rights, which are apparently incredibly lucrative. For people with a certain degree of success, anyway. I also got more information about series vs standalones (all markets favor the former). Those are the ones that stick out to me offhand.

Sierra Lee

Well, Robin DID go to school for a good portion of the beginning. She probably still has the uniform. Now we just need Yarra to get the idea and present it to Nalili... Shame that we'd just be proving that "crazy guard" right after all this time. Heh, he really should have protected the girls dormitory better. ...Wouldn't it be ironic if he WASN'T projecting his perverted desires on everyone else, but instead was a relative of some girl who got abused and so went overboard? The nearby town does have that inn that is a high-class brothel after all.

Secular Reason

I don't see why this can't be canon. Common non-rich and pampered succubi have to learn the trade somewhere.

DuckTogo

I'd be interested to see what pitfalls he gave you advice on.

Darthjake

Unfortunately, as I understand it, being a successful author is all about working the ranking system and recommendations. And yes, they strongly favor volume. One of the ideas I'm working on in the background is potentially a serial of novellas that would help with that, but my epic fantasy is in a really awkward position. The cast in a school setting is a fun idea. ^-^ Orcent is the school janitor, overlooked by many but wise beyond his station. As for Robin's expression, in the original concept she was supposed to be shy.

Sierra Lee

While I might have bungled something, I believe it was intentional. The problem is that the line between "Non-Combat" and "Leader" categories isn't entirely solid.

Sierra Lee

Perhaps they are roleplaying.

Decanter

Qum is a healer-type, but I have a hard time envisioning her a school nurse. Maybe a doctor's assistant, but not a school nurse who has to operate autonomously. The picture doesn't strike me as true to character though for Robin; it seems like she's going for a slutty delinquent aesthetic, which really doesn't seem in-type for her. Earnest student with a teacher crush seems much more her style.

Desertopa

I've always disliked Amazon's ranking system and how it recommends titles. My "reccomended for you" is always full of infinity +1 squeals for books I may have only picked up once and never finished, while trying to search for new works is a nightmare. Definitely seems to favor established authors who can put out 5-22 books of average quality. Neat picture. Makes me think of the whole harem in a school setting. Qum as the sexy nurse, Yarra as another teacher, Janine as the student body president ect. The whole situation fits very well. Something in Robin's expression worries me though and I cannot place my finger on it. She almost looks bored?

Trevor

Change of pace question. The grognards in the speculation forum are speculating on the meaning of the fact that the non-combat harem members have gone from 7 slots to 6 and the leaders have gone from 7 slots to 8 since 0.40.5. Since there was reportedly a bug with the harem list in 0.41.0, it occurred to me I should check to ensure this was the intended behavior.

DukeLeto7

Yup! It's a big subreddit and many of the people who might see the book there would be outside the ones I've already shown the book to, so hopefully it will get a little traction.

Sierra Lee

That paraphrase sounds really familiar, was it about the Amélie Zhao situation? In any case, yeah, things don't look good. The industry isn't suffering so much as a whole - fantasy is pretty big right now - but conditions are getting uglier for authors who aren't at the very top. I've been spending time looking at Amazon rankings lately and decided to look up professionally published books, and some of them are shocking. Thank you for the kind words! Thanks to you and everyone else, I'm not in a position where I have to take terrible contracts from publishers. I'm not sure yet what path will be best for me going forward, but I'm in a good position to walk it.

Sierra Lee

I just posted a review of the book over on /r/fantasy if anyone wants to help increase visibility by giving it an upvote that would be super helpful: <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/amv25t/review_raising_allies_new_game_minus_2_an/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/amv25t/review_raising_allies_new_game_minus_2_an/</a>

I still remember! I need to get to the scenes where their relationship advances more before they'd get a synergy skill like that, though.

Sierra Lee

I appreciate the encouraging words!

Sierra Lee

I've heard some similarly distressing things about the present state of fantasy publishing. Paraphrasing one writer from memory, "I've never seen another environment this fucked up, and I've been in prison." I'd like to say, if there's anyone I think could make it in fantasy publishing, it's you, but honestly, more than most fields, I think it's a place where your past work might come back to bite you. But, it seems like the industry is in very bad shape financially, and maybe still in a state of flux trying to compete with various online media, so who knows if the state might not be quite different in a matter of years. If you don't end up getting involved in traditional publishing though, I don't know anyone else for whom the field would suffer as much from their absence.

Desertopa

Hey, it's the modern AU version of that "Devoted Daughters" synergy skill between Simon, Robin, and Nalili I suggested back when you were taking ideas for said synergy skills! Still hoping that idea comes back. :P

Taium

I appreciate the artist's craft, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that either Trin or Yarra is involved, since I can't imagine Robin being up for any part of that scenario... Sounds like you're going through a difficult period with the writing, but I think you're taking the right approach in honing your craft on lighter-weight projects so that you're better equipped when you decide to take on the heavier projects that are closer to your heart :-)

Lamsey