ACKS 2 Kickstarter: October 24

The ACKS 2 Kickstarter begins on October 24.

This is a game I am really looking forward to, and I may go all-in on the pledge. I hope they have a leather-cover version. From what I see in the preview documents, we are getting renamed spells and many clarifications and improvements. We are also getting a lot of focus on domain management, along with better integration between the character and domain parts of the book.

This is the same game, just organized and clarified quite a bit and de-OGL'ed. Finally, the chains are broken. These days, I see de-OGL'ed games as more attractive than the OGL-holdouts, just because this gives designers a license to be free and express new ideas and deliver improvements to the experience - rather than endlessly repeating the past.

From my reading, ACKS 1e characters and games will convert right in with minimal effort. A few things will change, like spelling names and other OGL pieces of debris, but we are getting so much more to replace those old ideas.

ACKS 1e is still playable and worth experiencing. I have a game running, and like how it runs and feels.

If there is one thing the OGL disaster taught us, it is to never hold on to the past so tightly we end up being screwed by it. Time to move on. Do new things. And toss D&D aside for games that speak to who we are, our interests, and the worlds we like to build. That D&D Multiverse is as much a dead-end and overused idea as the Marvel one is. Don't hitch your wagon to a dying horse and a 2020s fad.

ACKS is a unique slice of history based on the Middle Ages style of the world instead of the overused faux-modern Renaissance. This is the era of domain building, before the nation-state and colonialism -  when the old Roman Empire fell, and those with dreams, armies, and gold could forge a kingdom. Most of the world can be an unknown, savage place where the ruins of the old, corrupt Empire slither, worshipping their other-worldly and reptilian gods while civilization and order try to beat back the darkness.

0e through 5E? Those games don't do that. ACKS leans into conquering and kingdom building, like a game of Crusader Kings and another great game set in the same era. Games like Shadowdark, Swords & Wizardry, and Old School Essentials focus on dungeons.

What if I want more?

An add-on book for 5E may do kingdom management, but it isn't tightly integrated into the base game. You will run into problems with cities lit with continual light, permanent gates to planes, and the power of characters being more remarkable than any civilization - comparatively.

ACKS 2 drops in a few weeks, and I can't wait.