Writing Schemes on Realms of Chirak

I've been thinking about focusing --at long last-- on completing the revised Realms of Chirak campaign setting. The last one I published was in 2010ish and was statted for 4E. I had an unpublished document for use with Runequest, and an unpolished version for use with D&D 3.5 that was later modestly updated for Pathfinder. I never felt comfortable enough with my "stat block fu" to release a D20 Pathfinder edition of the setting, unfortunately.

I do feel confident enough to release one for D&D 5E, however.....but I also feel like getting it properly updated to D&D 5E is one of the hang ups I have had. Eight years ago I had a nice job but lots of free time, too. Eight years later I have a better job, ownership buy-in as a shareholder, and I'm a dad with a six year old at home. Finding time to write, let alone game, is something of a herculean task!

That said, a majority of the writing to be done is still on the order of "update the text, clean up the text, edit the text, organize the text." Stat blocks are almost secondary, and in many ways I could separate the lore of the setting from the mechanical elements and simply publish a system neutral book, followed by a "D&D 5E" book and a "Pathfinder" book (maybe for 2.0, who knows!) that work in conjunction with the system neutral core book. I think this is not unlike the format Green Ronin went for with their Freeport setting, and it looks kind of like what Kobold Press is doing with Midgard now.

I think I'll try messing around with the working draft to see if making a distinct delineation between "setting" and "rules" in the content will work well. I could simultaneously release the "Realms of Chirak system neutral setting" along with the "Realms of Chirak 5E Manual" and thus have both bases covered. One book would tell you all about animates, Sabiri, Zodiac Stones and so forth; the other gives you the stats for such.

If anyone knows a really good artist for some interior work that you'd like to recommend I would love suggestions, too. When I originally published this book in 2010 I used Simon Trantor for the cover art but used stock art for the interior. I like Simon's work a great deal, but would love to have a range of unique interior art. My personal budget for this vanity project would be larger this time, so paying for some quality original art would be my preference.