So. I've been working on the Reforged Edition of Champions, Craftsmen, Campaigns and Catastrophes (Long title, so I'm going to call it Arc 1). This will be the edition that's available when the Omnibus of Arcs 1-3 is released. (Tentative name: Becoming Reforged)
At first, the job was simple. Make sure that all the errors you guys have sent me are fixed. That was the original goal.
Then I started looking at sections with a more critical eye.
"Can this section be slightly expanded to explain something that might be obvious to me, but not to a reader"
"Can I add an interlude here to show how other people are reacting to the events that are happening?."
"Wait, I can use this to reinforce a mention in a later Arc that's already written."
And...
It got out of hand.
The Reforged Edition of Arc 1 has grown. Significantly.
SOL's word counter has Arc 1 at approximately 26,000 words
I did a word check on the completed Reforged version of Arc 1: 39,000.
Yes, 50% longer. Some of it involves the two interludes that show up after Adrian's section of Arc 1 (1-5), and one after Elias's section of Arc 1 (6-9). They're labeled chapters 5.5 and 9.5 in my current copy.
But I think it tells the same story. It just tells it BETTER.
Right now, plans of what to do with the Reforged Editions are up in the air. I'm currently thinking about having them be exclusive to the Omnibus edition on the store for approximately 60 days, at which time, I'll do either a repost of the story with the changes, or just create a Reforged Edition story separately. Not sure what the site will want/allow, so stay tuned for that.
I'm looking into services that will allow me to create an ultra-small print run, but that will be for friends and family. Any print editions of Reforged are so far down the road, I can't tell you when that'll be.