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.
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.
I really like the ACKS II rules, and I have been following the Kickstarter and have the art-free PDFs to read. They removed all OGL content from the game, and the game is better for it. D&D has enshrined certain immersion-breaking tropes into the genre, and I noticed all ESP is gone from the game. Displacer cloaks, invisibility 10' radius, and detect secret doors are gone. Wizard eye and spell storing (spell and item) are gone. Wands of detecting secret doors and traps are gone.
A few ability scores have been renamed; intelligence is now intellect. Wisdom is now willpower. Clerics are now crusaders. The race-as-class entries are thematic and tighter-tied to the world.
One of the most exciting aspects of the changes is the removal of problematic, game-breaking spells and magic items. This shift requires players to engage in more strategic dungeon-crawling, relying less on spells and magic items and more on their own wit and skill.
If you make the SRD a golden idol over fun gameplay, you will inherit all of its flaws and weaken your game. If you approach fantasy gaming with a "completist" attitude, where you must have everything, you will bring broken things into your game and hurt the player experience.
Another improvement here is tightening the official world to the rules and eliminating the assumption of a generic world. I have enough generic B/X systems, and seeing something different is refreshing.
Of all my B/X games, this one looks like my "last one standing" after I put many in storage.
We are seeing B/X-style games break free of the OGL and CC and discover their worlds, magic, and monsters - which is a great thing. Too many OGL games are content to rewrite B/X, BECMI, 1e, 2e, and so on. They are forever mired in the same old monsters, magic, classes, and feelings - and they will always be compared to D&D.
None of them will ever live up.
OGL and CC games support D&D's position as the market leader.
Without the OGL or CC, there is nothing to compare games to, and they can be free and do their own thing. If they are numerically compatible, all the better, and you can pull in what you want - but you do not have to or need to.
A year ago, things would always stay the same until January 2023 came along, and Wall Street and their goons came knocking. All of a sudden, the true face was revealed. Nobody could rely on goodwill anymore.
Game after game, they started dumping the OGL.
Some went to the CC, which is cool, but those concepts are uncopyrightable rules anyway; only the CC requires you to kiss the ring.
Those who never kiss the ring are free to determine their own destiny.
This is where we are with ACKS 2, realm building, classic adventure, and domain management all in one classy package.
Congratulations again, and I am more than pleased I am a backer.
The ACKS 2 Kickstarter is in its final 24 hours! Wow, they did a fantastic job with over $319,000 raised, making this a bigger Kickstarter than the OSE: Advanced Fantasy. Congratulations to their team, and I am looking forward to this one!
My takeaways? There is a demand for domain-level play. There is also a strong demand for non-OGL and non-CC fantasy gaming outside of the influence of Wizards and their tangled web of licenses and 'we will pull this and that' shenanigans. There is also a desire to move away from 5E for many, or at least those who 'bought 5E once' and will stick with that while looking for something new.
To a lesser degree, there is a demand for non-planar gaming focused on one world and conflict, where the plot can't multiverse-sidestep into abstract and silly places - multiverse fatigue is here, and I don't see that improving. There is also a demand for games focused on the Middle Ages (world-building) rather than the oversaturated pseudo-Renaissance (nation-building, all but modern).
There are also fans of the old TSR Birthright setting wanting that 'Game of Thrones' style drama without all the superhero immortality and plane-hopping of 5E. I doubt 5E could do Birthright justice since the setting relies on aging, mortality, limited powers, and a closed sandbox.
ACKS 2 sits at the intersection of those demand lines. This is a strong niche to be in since this is the same place that the Crusader Kings videogame series resides in, so there is a strong cross-market interest. The spells and rules of ACKS are tailored to the domain management game, so it has a leg up on even a third-party 5E implementation of domain management. How is domain management critical in 5E if you are living gods with plane-traveling powers at level 20? What does it even matter?
So this is your last chance to jump in and participate in something fun. I have always liked ACKS as my 'serious B/X' that fulfills the BECMI domain management promise, and I look forward to the books coming next year!
And the PDFs coming very soon...
And this is a non-OGL and non-CC game, finally free of any chains to nebulous licenses and companies seriously lacking in ethics. There is a market in the OSR outside the OGL, CC, and even 5E. Years ago, that would be unthinkable, and non-OGL games in the OSR would be dismissed.
We are entering a new era of OSR games that are more the creator's vision of a world, magic, and monsters than the B/X view of those things. This is huge. We will see games maintain backward compatibility yet push forward with new ideas and worlds.
This is the fruit of the OGL scandal coming to bear; no longer will the SRD define fantasy gaming. For the longest time, the SRD served as the 'fantasy yardstick' by which many games were measured. If Wizards had left it alone, the SRD could have been the measuring stick permanently and kept D&D on the mountain's peak. Now, designers are thinking outside the SRD box, and gamers are looking for new ideas and worlds.
The ACKS 2 Kickstarter highlights the new market we are in, and the success of this Kickstarter will wake people up.
The game has changed.
There was some great information about what ACKS 1 books posted by Autarch in the Kickstarter comments about compatibility with ACKS 2, and it is worth sharing here:
Player's Companion is fully incorporated into ACKS II with the exception of the Elf and Dwarf classes. The Dwarf classes are already in By This Axe, and the Elf classes will come in the elf book.
Domains at War Campaigns is fully incorporated into ACKS II, but Domains at War Battles is not.
Lairs & Encounters monster mechanics are incorporated into ACKS II, but the comprehensive lair listings and maps are not.
Heroic Fantasy Handbook is partially incorporated, with Fate Points, Heroic Codes, Heroic Funerals, and various combat rules. However, ceremonial magic, eldritch spells, and spellsinging are not included. These will appear in the upcoming "Chuck Dixon's Conan" sourcebook.
Barbarian Conquerors is not incorporated, nor is Aryx's Almanac of Unusual Magic.
The Axioms articles on Strongholds, Mercantile Ventures, and Thieves are incorporated, as is some of the information on Beastmen (which is revised and expanded). The Axiom articles on stocking the wilderness and running abstract dungeons and wilderness are fully incorporated.
I would say if you want to have the books that would be most useful to ACKS II, you'd want Domains at War: Battles, Lairs & Encounters, Capital on the Borderlands, Sinister Stone of Sakkara, Eyrie of the Dread, Ruins of Cyfindir, Sepulcher of the Sorceress Queen. If you need to run with eldritch magic ASAP, grab Heroic Fantasy, otherwise wait for the Conan book. You can definitely skip buying ACKS Core and ACKS Player's Companion and Domains at War: Campaigns.
This is a great buyer's guide for the new game and lets you focus on the books that would give you the best bang for the buck when getting started. The adventures, dwarf book, lair book, and tabletop wargame rules are the ones you can buy safely - and that makes sense.
Wow. I am happy to see the ACKS 2 Kickstarter doing so well. On the first day, they raised over $200,000 and got over 1,100 supporters. They blew away that first-day goal, and this campaign looks to be entering the phase where the initial level of interest is causing an outside buzz. Some drives do moderately well, and it feels like an 'oh, that's nice' feeling to the campaign.
This one is raising eyebrows, and people are jumping in just because they see so many excited. There is a level of success you can achieve where you start to draw in interest from people who would not ordinarily jump in, and I saw this last happen with Shadowdark. I hope this does just as well, and even half as well would be mind-blowing.
A few observations:
The demand for non-OGL and non-CC fantasy that has no connection to Wizards is surprisingly strong. This is the first significant 'walk away' B/X compatible game. We have had other games like Dragonsbane and Forbidden Lands, but they are a few steps removed from the B/X core style of play. Some games, like the new Swords & Wizardry, are Creative Commons games and still have that lineage. This is the first major 'walk away' B/X style of game, and it does feel like Shadowdark in a way that appeals to a large core of disaffected fantasy gamers looking for something new.
The demand for high-level play other than 'bigger numbers' and 'planar challenges' is an untapped market. There is an actual demand here for domain management, mass battles, and kingdom building. The "4X style of B/X" is a chronically underserved market. 5E, as designed, is too focused on personal power and that "MMO power curve" for expansion books supporting kingdom management to be effective - since the personal power curve outshines any kingdom management dongle books. When domain management is built into the player power curve - that is a design people take notice of. You must grab land and people to do well at high levels, and power will not just be given to you by the rules.
You must take it.
5E is moving towards this mobile-game model of granting power, giving you a free bastion at level 5, like some sort of MMO player housing, and you wonder where it comes from? Who gave you this? What if I don't want it? Did I even ask for one? The game gave it to you. It is not a part of your story or a world. It is a dialog box that pops up, giving you an 'in-game' award, and when you think about it, all of 5E is based on this design. Nothing earned, everything given.
ACKS is the opposite, assuming a player is engaged with the world. If a borderlands region is being ruled by a collection of terrible, cruel rulers - it is up to you to take the lead and change things. Or not. Still, that collection of towns, population, dense forests, and lost dwarven mines could be the core of a solid and powerful kingdom - given the proper mind to shape it.
That mind comes from the player.
And after poking around in dungeons, you begin to fight the cruel mercenaries these thugs use to keep control of these towns. You begin freeing the towns from tyranny. You begin setting up a government and building your realm. You can choose any policy, should you want to pay for it - free college or healthcare for your people? Universal basic income? Overtaxed monarchy? Colonialist power? Evil kingdom or good? Warmonger or peacemaker? The game does not tell you what politics to have. All of this is your choice; just be able to pay for it in terms of gold and blood.
And if there are kingdoms out there you disagree with, like that colonialist slave-owning kingdom next door - they become the next target. Again, the game does not tell you what politics to have, so whatever you believe or think would be fun to try to make work, you can try to make it happen. If there are certain government types you do not like - make them the bad guys.
You can play high-level games without running a domain, but having a domain makes high-level play much easier and faster to advance in. You get to play with all sorts of cool things, like magical research. If an evil dungeon appears, handle it yourself, or put a 10,000gp bounty on clearing it from your treasury and watch the adventurers rush in.
Congratulations on the spectacular start of ACKS 2, and I hope this rises to extraordinary new heights. We need a solid non-OGL B/X alternative game, and this one is getting a lot of interest and excitement. If you are in the campaign, help spread the word! Talk about the campaign, and let's get the word out there about this eye-opening start!
The ACKS 2 Kickstarter is live! They have an early-bird special for backers today, so if you are interested or want to support this, now is the time.
I like this game; it is finally breaking away from the OGL and doing its own thing. The OGL mess is turning out to be great for creators who break away and decide to write from their hearts and realize the dreams for their world that do not involve other people's IP.
This is one of the first major B/X games to make the break, and this version is leaning heavily into the middle and end games into conquering and domain management. This is one of the first B/X games that do a campaign like Crusader Kings III, letting you go from zero to the ruler and manage mass battles worldwide - and take part on the battlefield as a hero unit.
To see a B/X game break these chains (and maintain compatibility) and do its own thing turns a new page for the OSR. Finally, a game that promises (and delivers) more than just 'high-level adventures' with more math and three-digit numbers.
And sorry, One D&D - giving us a 'bastion' as some sort of lame 'MMO player housing' you automatically get at the 5th level is just lame. I would prefer to clear the surrounding area, pay for construction and staffing, and have that stronghold become the capital of a new nation. And I want rules to support kingdom building and management to the maximum level - and for my hero to take part in battles.
I don't want a freebie gimmie (likely used to sell you VTT cosmetics); I want full rules and support to live that dream. The fact that a company that makes billions of dollars won't even touch domain management (even as an add-on), but a small OGL-free Kickstarter game can, is telling.
Demand more from your fantasy gaming.
Very excited about this!
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| AI Art by @nightcafestudio |
From the latest Ascendent email update, we got a lot of information for the ACKS 2 project and its goals, quoted below. This information comes from Autarch via that email:
I also need to make a special announcement - a new Kickstarter! If you enjoyed Ascendant for its robust simulation of a superhero world, you might be interested in my latest game, the Adventurer Conqueror King System Imperial Imprint (ACKS II), will be crowdfunding on Kickstarter on October 24, 2023.
Built on over a decade of additional playtesting and hundreds of hours of methodical research and development, ACKS II is a three-volume D20 fantasy RPG squarely focused on the long-neglected simulationist gamer.
Since the inception of the Old School Renaissance in 2008, there have been countless retro-clones of D20 fantasy games. Any gamer seeking an old-school RPG has a thousand options. But ACKS II isn't like any of those games. Because with ACKS II you get:
Endgame action that's more than just a treadmill of higher HD foes. Build and run domains, conquer your enemies in grand wars, break the laws of magic with ritual experiments, run a criminal syndicate, even anoint yourself a god and empower yourself with the worship of your loyal subjects. The experience point mechanics integrate campaign activities into the core gameplay loop, enabling your character to level up in new ways as his temporal power grows!
Epic pitched battles as grand as any in fiction or history. Don't settle for so-called "mass combat" rules that can't handle battles bigger than a few hundred combatants. With ACKS II you can field armies that measure in the hundreds of thousands and fight hordes that make the earth shiver.
Integrated in-game economics that make sense. Naysayers will claim that fantasy adventure worlds can never have plausible in-game economies. ACKS II proves them wrong with a robust economic system that's easy to use because we've done all the heavy lifting for you.
Sandbox setting design that emphasizes player agency. Our clear, comprehensive (and comprehensible!) guidelines, based on the top down zoom-in method in our book Arbiter of Worlds, help your world come to life.
Fractal design with modular rules. ACKS II is designed to let you focus on what matters to your campaign, diving as deeply as you want into any area of the game knowing that it just works at every level.
Customizable and transparent construction tools. We open up the hood and let you see how the ACKS II engine runs. Build your own custom classes, spells, magic types, monsters, and more, knowing that anything you create will mesh well and balance properly with the canon material.
Fearsome fighters that can change the course of a pitched battle. Say goodbye to "quadratic mages and linear fighters" and embrace epic heroism. Combat mechanics for cleaves, sweep attacks, and special maneuvers allow your fighters to conduct a symphony of slaughter on the battlefield.
Thrilling thieves that lead the way in dungeon delves and urban adventures. In ACKS II, thieves are skilled experts from level one. With special mechanics for shadowy senses, hasty searching, hijinks, and more, thieves can finally steal the spotlight.
Whatever you've ever wanted to do in a fantasy world -- ACKS II already does that.
Do you want to play a game with the breadth, depth, and verisimilitude of Ascendant optimized for sandbox play in a fantasy world? If that's what you want... Then ACKS II is for you.
Three volumes? That is news to me, wow.
Many of these concepts I watched develop in the zine-like releases from the Axioms expansions. I love the higher-level magical experimentation of mages that makes the class feel more than a cloth-armored artillery piece. Running your own dungeon to breed monsters, create crossbreeds, and lure in foolish adventurers is a playstyle.
It feels like a grand epic game of Crusader Kings at the high levels, which is amazing.
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| AI Art by @nightcafestudio |
I am excited for this game. Very few B/X clones do the high-level game that BECMI tried to simulate and do it right with an even distribution of 'fun stuff' to get involved with for every class. There is a trading game with a trading-focused class, which opens up a whole new area of play for OSR gaming.
And they are going all-in on their world for sandbox play. If you want to support your own, it works, but having a GTA-style sandbox to play in with the classes and themes strongly supported is a plus.
ACKS is my 'serious B/X' game and completely replaces 5E. For me, 5E focuses too much on blinders-on-player power, and the world is not part of your experience. With ACKS, the world is a part of your character, making a huge difference in motivation. As your character levels up, parts of the game unlock, and your class affects the campaign world - however you choose to do so.
Almost no B/X game does this, slowly turning into an epic sandbox wargame at high levels.
I am super-excited about this game, one of my most-anticipated of 2023.
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.
