ACKS II vs. Runequest

Oh yeah, here we go. This is going to be a good one. We are putting the two best early-era fantasy games head-to-head today.

ACKS II and Runequest are both set in a period of time before what is commonly associated with D&D. As D&D has been published over the years, it has slowly crept forward in time, from the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, and now we are seeing a Victorian era feeling in the 2024 edition of the rules. The 2024 books are filled with Steampunk, Victorian, and magi-punk sorts of art where everyone wears fancy outfits, nobody wears a helmet, and style is king over survival.

ACKS II is more of a Late Antiquity game (350 AD), happening in a temporal-framework set at the end of the Roman Empire as the world slips into the Dark Ages.

Runequest happens earlier, in the Bronze Age (3300-1200 BC), in a world a thousand or so years before the ACKS II world's general technology level and historical model.

D&D? Here is where it gets complicated. We need to go by the availability of plate mail, which is about 1200 AD, far later than even ACKS II. This is the High Middle Ages, or about 1000 to 1300 AD. This transitions into the Renaissance, and then the Modern Era. During the Reinsurance, that is the "Age of Discovery" and the beginning of colonialism.

If I were to peg D&D editions to eras? B/X would be Late Middle Ages. AD&D 2nd Edition would be Early Renaissance. D&D 3.5 would be Renaissance. D&D 4E and 5E would be Early Modern Era (with magic supplanting technology). The new "Steampunk Era" of 2024 D&D and Pathfinder 2E is more Victorian in look and feeling. You can push things an era forward or backward, but some of the concepts are firmly rooted in one era or another, especially the concept of universities outside of religious training.

Granted, all of the above is a highly simplified breakdown, and there are better experts than I on this, but this is a more simplified gamer-oriented view of the timeline. Where ACKS II is more "Fall of the Roman Empire" inspired, Runequest is more "Greek Myths and Legends" inspired.

In ACKS II, not every character has magic, and we begin to see the formation of the standard tropes of fantasy, like the fighter class, the rogue, and so on. Magic is beginning to become specialized and rare. This sort of reflects a world where the art of magic is beginning to become a lost art, only available to the few, and on a historical decline. This sort of mirrors the Tolkien themes of elves, dwarfs, and magic leaving the world. That isn't a strong theme in ACKS II, but magic is not everyday, and there aren't elves and dwarfs everywhere. We can also trace the downfall of traditional magic and sorcery to organized religion and the Crusades wiping it out.

Plus ACKS II is more Late Roman Empire than any other game. All that fun stuff you see in the movie Gladiator? Yeah, you get all that with ACKS II. This game is all that and more. These two games are not the same thing.

In Runequest, every character has minor magic, an era where magic is not as specialized and powerful (unless you specialize in it), and the use of it is more commonplace. It isn't "fireball and lightning bolt" level artillery, but starting fires and mending minor wounds is common. It would be like if Star Wars had an "Early Jedi Era" where everyone knew minor Force powers and it was a part of everyone's lives, and nobody felt it was strange.

You don't need to develop a lot of technology, like how to start fires, since there are people that can "just do that with their fingers." You are getting into a speculative world here, where you need technology for some things (writing, wheels, inclined planes, construction, food storage and preservation), but not for others (medicine, repair, spirit communication, item enhancement, the telescope).

Also, this mirrors the common themes of antiquity, where it is generally assumed that "magic was more common in the early ages" and "we lost the ability to call upon it" in our lives. Where every village had a grandma shaman who knew the old ways and taught them to the children. Everyone has a little magic in them, and this was a more wondrous and connected age of spirits, the afterlife, shamanism, nature, and the flows of magic upon the world.

Runequest's "end days" would be in the fall of the Greek and Egyptian civilizations, but that feels like a long ways off and we are in the golden age of the civilization. With ACKS II, we are in the fall of the empire, and things are already going sideways. There is a stronger "call to action" in ACKS II and much more political intrigue, along with the collapse of local authority with beast-men banging on the gates. You have the crumbling empire and a senate trying to backstab each other and survive. You have the characters forging their own future and taking land for themselves.

In Runequest, your stories are smaller, like heroic tales, haunted sites, warring tribes, preparing for a festival, and often survival stories. We have rampaging monster stories, mysteries, thieves, farmers with problems, rampaging trolls, and the Lunar Empire are easy bad guys to use as the heavies. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great example of a Runequest story, sort of "the myth and tales" of a hero or small band of them, wandering the land and doing great deeds. The focus in Runequest is smaller and more personal, and a quest to smith a great weapon could be an entire adventure arc.

Runequest is a lot like Minecraft in a way, where you are building your own gear, finding things to buy what you can't craft, and exploring a wild and untamed land where civilization has not reached every place on the map, and many places are lost to time and forgotten. This is why some critique Runequest harshly as a "basket weaving game," but hey, if you had to go kill a dinosaur to get those rare colored reeds, bash some trolls to get the turquoise for the beads, and crafted baskets that were worth a lot of coins, it was all worth it in the end and you have a big sack of wealth to live nicely on. Bonus points if you enchant the baskets to slow food spoilage. I can see that story happening in some "deep crafting" Minecraft mods, too, and there are parallels there between the games that some get really into.

Also, you are not conquering land and building massive kingdoms in Runequest. You "can" in a story-sense, but if you like dominion building, ACKS II will be the better game for you.

Also, if I were to play a Roman or D&D-era game with the Chaosium rules, I would opt for the excellent Basic Roleplaying system, but you would have to do a little more work here to set that game up. This would remove the "everyone has magic" assumption of the earlier era, and allow you to simulate the "magic-less professions" a lot easier and keep that separation. With ACKS II, it is all done for you, and the system is d20 and easy to get into.

Both are amazing games! They are not the same thing, as some may think. Which one you prefer comes down to your preferences and what inspires you. If you like Gladiator and the Roman intrigue, go all-in on ACKS II. If you want the more personal stories of an earlier era where everyone has magic, Runequest will be your thing.

They are both fantastic games with unique focuses. Where D&D tends to try to be "everything for everyone" and do all things poorly, these two games do their focused areas perfectly.

I like the focused and themed games far better than the generalist. My stories here are far better and more meaningful to me. 

Before All Others Cover Reveal

The elven sourcebook for ACKS II got a cover reveal today, and check it out over here:

https://arbiterofworlds.substack.com/p/before-all-others-covers-revealed

There is also a wealth of great information in that post, including details about the livestream, the collector's cover, and much more - this is worth reading for fans and new fans alike!

ACKS II: System Compatibility Guide

I love these conversion guides that come with games, and ACKS II includes a great one.

"If you are arriving here by way of D&D Fifth Edition or Pathfinder, then this book may seem a strange and surreal tome, alien and perhaps even old-fashioned. As an OSR product, it emulates the design ethos of the golden age of role-playing games from 1974 – 1983." - ACKS II System Compatibility Guide, page 1.

ACKS II is an OSR game, and like any of the games, such as Labyrinth Lord, Old School Essentials, Swords & Wizardry, AD&D, ADAD, Castles & Crusades, or the ...Without Number games - they all play so well together.

One aspect of ACKS II that I love is that it flips the whole descending versus ascending AC argument on its head. The game uses descending AC, where an AC of 0 is excellent, and gives characters a target number to hit, such as a 14+ on a d20. Then, AC is simply added to the attack throw. A higher AC is easier to hit, such as an AC 7 target, which is a +7 to the roll.

ACKS II also clarified the language using a throw versus a check, which makes the game far easier to grasp and play.

"The throw mechanic puts the emphasis on the character, rather than the situation. A player understands that if he has “Listening 14+” in most circumstances his character can eavesdrop on a roll of 14-20. If there is a modifier to this chance, it’s transparent to the player: “A penalty of -4 to your roll due to the loud noise”. 

In contrast, systems such as 5E or Pathfinder, which use a fixed bonus against a variable difficulty, put the emphasis on the Judge’s decision as to the situation. In some games, the Judge is actually encouraged to calculate what chance he wants for success, and to then ‘customize’ the Difficulty accordingly (this is explicit in D&D 4E). 

These sort of accounting illusions are unnecessary in ACKS. Where we believed a task should be equally challenging for characters of varying level, we simply use a type of throw that doesn’t change with level (such as the proficiency throw to bash open doors)." 

- ACKS II System Compatibility Guide, page 1.

That explanation tells you all you need to know about ACKS II. The game isn't "grading on a curve" when it comes to high-level characters, and arbitrarily making all the locks in this castle DC 25 because there happens to be a higher-level adventure going on in here at the moment. Or else they would be too easy! Right? We can't have that.

I love how this example calls out D&D 4E for "massaging" the chance to succeed and "faking it" - well done. That game was so full of tricks and deceptions to make you feel more powerful than you actually were, such as the fireball spell, which was only valid as a "minion mop." That game was one of the largest shell games played in the hobby's history of D&D. In D&D 5E, they hid things a little better, but a lot did not change, especially getting weaker as you leveled, and fights still took forever.

A "Listening 14+" throw tells me precisely what my character can do, and gives me the odds right there. If the referee wishes to make it easier or more complicated, that is their decision.

That solid design ethos is baked into ACKS II, and the system will not let you down.

This game is not particularly challenging. The core concepts are the same as those of Old School Essentials and other games. To get started with ACKS II, begin by using the conversion guide and applying your existing OSR knowledge.

Kickstarter: Before All Others, The Cyclopedia of Elven Civilization

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/before-all-others/

The prelaunch campaign for the Elven book for ACKS II is now live, so you'll be notified when it launches. These are great sourcebooks, so sign up to be one of the first to know and jump in.

ACKS II as a Dungeon Game

ACKS II works as a dungeon game.

While a lot is said about the endgame options, and this is a strong and well-detailed part of the game, you don't really need to use it. ACKS II makes a fine dungeon-based game, and even more so when the Treasures book ships and is released soon.

The end-game content provides a wealth of campaign inspiration for the world around the characters. You could be searching for a lost tomb and wander into a regional war, or even a small-scale skirmish between two kingdoms that hate each other and are fighting over farmland. How do beast-men raiding parties work? Entering the Temple of Evil and Darkness nearby may be a lot more risky, considering a raiding camp is situated a few miles away and poses a constant threat to getting in and out with the treasure.

D&D has "wilderness encounters," but they are presented in a way that makes them appear as "random table results," and they function similarly to the random map encounters in a Final Fantasy video game. That double-rush sound effect plays, and the battle music kicks off.

Why are the beast-men here? Are they part of a bigger group? Do we usually see wyverns around here? Are there more giant ants in a nest somewhere? No, I rolled a 40. Please make some skill rolls or fight.

But as a dungeon game? ACKS II would do fine. This can be played at the low to mid levels without worrying about dominion building as a "hero game," and it would be a lot of fun.

ACKS II vs. Castles & Crusades

I love my Castles & Crusades game. There is no better game for doing everything that 5E does, but fitting it all on a 4x6" index card and tossing the rest out. I saw a few posts on ACKS videos commenting that C&C is still a great game, and guess what, it is! Don't drop C&C because you have ACKS, since I would play C&C in the classic settings of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, and be just as happy as I would in 5E. It feels close enough to the original game that it works, and it works very well.

And I love Troll Lord Games' business model, which is printed in the USA. They are building a new print shop factory and keeping jobs in this country. They are a fantastic group, ethical, and worth spending your gaming dollars with. They love the game and keep it for everybody.

Castles & Crusades kills any need for me to have any interest in 5E. It does the "D&D thing" well enough, and I do not notice the difference. If you want to play a game more like classic D&D, then C&C should be your jam. C&C is the D&D killer, and it was the last game Gygax was involved with. It is the true heir to the kingdom, where Wizards squandered its legacy and allowed the game to be tarnished by a mix of corporate interests and silly Internet psychology fads and memes, most of which have come and gone, but are now immortalized in the game.

C&C has maintained the course since its founding over 20 years ago, and the rules have remained unchanged across five D&D editions and various point versions. It costs a lot of money to rebuy your books every five years.

C&C, even without the OGL, is traditional. It feels like old-school AD&D and plays a lot easier. The characters are more expressive and fun. The SIEGE Engine drives the fun. Leveling means something. You grow in power to fantastic levels. You get that "high-level character" feeling here, and the optional rules are amazing. If you love C&C, there is no reason to switch.

If you like "what makes D&D, D&D," then stick with C&C. It does not change the formula too much, but improves it in every way, while keeping the things we love the way they are.

ACKS II is a different game. The focus at the higher levels is not "the most powerful monsters and biggest treasures," it is on domain-level play. You still get that high-level character feeling here, but you are more than just a hero. You are a possible conqueror and a future king. Your character can be a unit in a mass battle; you are that powerful.

Also, ACKS II is closer to its setting, a mythical "fall of the Roman Empire" setting of antiquity, where the lands are filled with chaos and strife. It is not your typical Dungeons & Dragons setting. It's sandbox play, starting in the dungeons and extending across domains. You can be a mad wizard and build a dungeon, luring in monsters and adventurers, and farming the dungeon for monster parts. Or farming adventurers. What the heck is this game? This is cool!

Found a thief's Guild? Build a kingdom? Run a pirate fleet? Be a merchant prince? Run a merchant fleet? Be a senator? Run a temple of good? Run a temple of evil? Do magic research? Build constructs? Breed monsters? Be mercenaries? Run a mercenary army? Fight in gladiatorial combat as a senator's champion? Work your way up the ranks and become a general? Be a spy or assassin? And the list of things to do in ACKS II goes on, and on...

Think of all these things as the "minigames" you get to do later on in Grand Theft Auto. Things open up, and hey, wow, I am sure having fun going out to get treasure so I can build my castle or hideout a little bigger. You may not want all these distractions, and you want your games to be more adventure-focused. While ACKS II can do that too, I see why you may want to stick with C&C.

Or play both, and have the best of both worlds.

ACKS II is like a traditional role-playing game that starts out exactly like you are used to, but slowly morphs into the macro-game of your dreams, be it a 4X build and conquer game, a merchant trading sim, a game of political intrigue, or a game about being a general and putting down rebellions. In this game, you can run a dungeon, explore the world on sailing ships, or live any other fantasy you have about the classic world. It goes beyond the dungeon and does all the things you imagined classic D&D could do, but the game never delivered rules for.

Where C&C focuses on the classic heroic adventures and dungeon crawling aspects of the game, ACKS II is like Breaking Bad meets Game of Thrones, with a little bit of GTA 5 in there in a Bronze Age setting. No other game lets you do this much "stuff" outside of the standard "find a dungeon and adventure" gameplay model of most OSR games, and that includes C&C.

Some may not want all this extra stuff! That is fine, C&C covers the basics and does a fantastic job.

I love both games for different reasons. It is also possible they co-exist, and you can use the ACKS II tables for C&C games. This is the OSR! Stuff works together here, and everyone plays well together.

The reasons I would play ACKS II instead of C&C?

• The ACKS II Setting
• Domain Play
• The End Game Activities
• Bronze Age Myth and Legend
• Playing a Game Different than the Usual

If you were tired of dungeon crawls in 5E, you will still be weary of them in C&C. The system is far better, though, and you may rediscover the fun in C&C.  If you want something more, then ACKS II deserves a look.

Stretch Goals, but ACKS Includes Them

It's fun to watch other Kickster projects for different games, which include stretch goals for features that ACKS includes with the basic rules. Some of them are even in expansion books and should be considered a part of the core game. The goal is missed, and we wonder what could have been.

But, again, ACKS has them.

No stretch goals needed.