Is there a future for Western IV?

[Witigis]

Having spent this afternoon scanning through the forum threads, I cannot help the feeling, that Western IV somehow collapsed on top of the heads of its creators. After all the broken timelines and finally, the absence of Askfageln in this forum (apparently total silence since 2018!), even former enthusiastic supporters seem to have given up. There is a notable decline in threads since about 2018.

It was striking to me, how the messages I found (and translated with Googles help) mirror those on the Kickstarter page for the English version years later. They didn´t make me feel good.
Almost exactly one year ago, it was told on the Kickstarter page, that the printing of the books would start almost immediately, taking about six weeks.
Well, since that, silence.
Suspiciously, I have found many similar messages here concerning the Swedish verion....

Also, this message was sent by a woman helping Anders out. As far as I have learned, this lady herself has meanwhile dropped out of the business for health reasons.
As I have also learned from reading the books, that:
a) They are not completely print-ready (some chapters need re-working.
b) Some of the criticized points mentioned here during the last years actually were addressed in the English version, but not all.
c) Some parts, which were originally meant to be published in a third book (Amerika 1876) found their way into the current Core Books.

I wonder, that, despite obviously many more people working on various supplements, none off these have so far surfaced.

I did order the available Swedish material, which is (unfortunately) not available as PDF about two weeks ago and received that quickly, but nothing in form of communication (like I asked Anders about the gaming material I offered here in this forum).

So, I wonder what happens at Askfageln, where the problems are (money?) and what will become of Western IV.

What do you think about that topic?

 

[Rickard]

NYHET Thread 'Tove Gillbring har somnat in'

19 Apr 2022

Anders Gillbring postade på Facebook nyligen att Tove har somnat in. Hon kämpade in i det sista, men till slut nådde hon vägs ände.

Tove fick Rollspelsdraken 2014 med följande motivering:

För sitt brinnande engagemang för den svenska rollspelshobbyn, och för sitt outtröttliga arbete med att ge skribenter och illustratörer – såväl erfarna rävar som spirande nybörjare – ett forum för sin kreativitet genom Sveriges mest långlivade rollspelstidning Fenix, har juryn beslutat att tilldela Tove och Anders Gillbring Rollspelsdraken 2014.

Deras förmåga att knyta kontakter i rollspelsvärlden...

• Magnus Seter
• Replies: 24
• Forum: Recensioner, nyheter och promotion

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I have no personal contact with Anders Gillbring myself, but here is a recent post mentioning his health issues.

Post in thread 'Fenix 2025?'

20 Aug 2025

Matigt nummer med mycket läsvärt - hade för mig att Skadeskjuten kråka till Partisan skulle varit med, men den kommer i nästa nummer hoppas jag! @Mekanurg eller @Brödbane kanske vet?

Även jag hoppas så, men eftersom Anders Gillbring har plågats av allvarlig sjukdom under flera månader törs jag inte säga mer.

• Mekanurg

• 

 

[Witigis]

Yes, I know about the sad personal fate of Tove and Anders - it was subject to a lot of messages on the Kickstarter project. I also know, that he had to spent a lot of time last year nursing his health back. That is, why he got help.
But now, this help has obviously left him, as said above, also for her own health issues (which may just be an excuse, but without information, I take it as it is).
What strikes me as suspicious, is , that according to the last updates on Western IV (one year!), the books were planned to go in print. They are also available as PDFs (even if I personally deem them not really print-ready) - I bought and printed them privately, with fine results (pictures below).

So, despite his health issues, he COULD have printed them. The only other reason, I can think of, is not enough money!

Financial problems would not surprise me, after all he had to go through. The kickstarter project is a debt, not an investment. This, combined with a (understandable) loss of interest in the system by the community, seems bad prospects for the whole of Western IV AND Askfageln itself.

Even more suspiciously, the same already starts on his other kickstarter projects. I backed Lone Wolf -Magnamund, because it would be nice for Dragonbane and added the Western Core Rule Books to my pledge. There, again, regular updates, as long as someone else worked on the project. Wen that was finished (3 months ago), silence...

I am not (much) concerned of my money - I was suspicious before I backed Magnamund, but decided to take the risk anyway. I also only discovered Western IV after the kickstarter project, so I am not one of the disappointed backers there (and can also not post messages there).

I would just like to know - like probably quite a few people - what is up. So I hoped to get some answers here.

I am now in possession of anything at the moment available in Western IV - including the Swedish material. If nothing more can be expected from Askfageln in the future, I will start working on these, translating them to English (will not be perfect, but hopefully usable).

So I am right, there is no future for Western IV, neither in Swedish nor in English?

Oh, and here is the picture of my printed English version:

 

[luddwig]

Anders wrote on Facebook in late December that he was feeling better and that he had just finished writing a new Western adventure for GothCon 2026. In the same post he mentioned that he and Emilie Ihre, she who kept Åskfågeln going while Anders was in hospital, had visited Free Leagues Spelkongress in mid October. Hopefully that means she is feeling better too. With that said, I still believe the future for Western is uncertain. The team behind Åskfågeln is very small and they have many large projects to deliver on.