Quote from: amacris;1047762You, sir, have made my day.

It looks like an interesting game and as is often the case, boycotts often raise the visibility of the product they try to hurt.

Quote from: RMS;1047773It's an excellent take on B/X D&D that expands classes, spells, domain management, etc.  There's been a recent kickstarter finishing up with an associated set of mechanics.  (I've received mine, but haven't looked through them.)  It was one of the real "games of the month" for several months at rpg.net a few years back.  All the OSR love seems to have dried up there with 5e so it wasn't getting much lover recently.

I highly recommend checking it out.  I ran a pbp game of B/X there and incorporated several ideas form ACKS into that game with great success.

I'm not a huge D&D fan, but it looks like an interesting take on the system. I'm assuming from the description that it has a fair bit of influence from Sword and Sorcery literature. The title seems to be a very thinly veiled reference to Conan and Kull.

Quote from: HorusArisen;1047745Sites a joke.

I had the temerity to suggest they ban talk of politics not games in the gaming forum, a point I made in their TT thread, and a mod jumped on me like a member of some secret police force.

I'm just glad there's a forum you can actually talk about *games without worrying about bloody politics.

I remember when political talk in open was swept over to Tangency, with that being the posted rule. Slowly and then suddenly, the rule was ignored. Between there, I mentioned the rule in a thread that was deliberately being derailed. Oof! The response was quite *ahem* interesting, where mods violated other rules to ensure that I wouldn't make that mistake again.  That's when I knew that it was only a matter of time.

Quote from: amacris;1047740Any other questions you'd like to ask, I will do my best to answer. Keep in mind that like all ex-executives these days I am bound by confidentiality and non-disparagement.

Alexander Macris

if we all buy copies of your game would you PLEASE pull a Gawker on rpg.net?  

Quote from: Toadmaster;1047777I'm not a huge D&D fan, but it looks like an interesting take on the system. I'm assuming from the description that it has a fair bit of influence from Sword and Sorcery literature. The title seems to be a very thinly veiled reference to Conan and Kull.

Early D&D was heavily influenced by Sword & Sorcery also, and we saw it as the main influence with some Tolkienisms tossed in - which retrospectively appears to be exactly what Gygax was doing.  However, a lot of other people see early D&D as being all about high fantasy.

ACKS is no more, nor less, S&S than OD&D and B/X D&D.  It has the classic races (no [strike]hobbits[/strike] halflings).  It has a common houserule for magic incorporated, which I approve of - basically what 5e (finally) implemented in D&D.  ACKS explands race-as-class, so you get several classes for each race to choose from.  It adds a skill-like system to give players a little more options.  It's most famous for greatly expanding the domain management - so called, "end game" of early D&D and making it very central to play.  That's where characters build castles, attract followers and peasants/workers, exploit resources, etc. to carve a niche out of the wilderness for themselves.  ACKS puts a lot of energy into  that and everyone who has played it has excellent things to say about it.

Basically, if you want B/X D&D (Moldvay/Cook) but want a few more class options, a skill/ability option, and more detail for domain management, it's perfect for you.  It doesn't vary too far from the baseline game conceptually.

Quote from: amacris;1047740Any other questions you'd like to ask, I will do my best to answer. Keep in mind that like all ex-executives these days I am bound by confidentiality and non-disparagement.

I don't have a question, I just wanted to pop in and thank you for making my favorite RPG. Keep kicking ass out there

Quote from: RMS;1047786Early D&D was heavily influenced by Sword & Sorcery also, and we saw it as the main influence with some Tolkienisms tossed in - which retrospectively appears to be exactly what Gygax was doing.  However, a lot of other people see early D&D as being all about high fantasy.

ACKS is no more, nor less, S&S than OD&D and B/X D&D.  It has the classic races (no [strike]hobbits[/strike] halflings).  It has a common houserule for magic incorporated, which I approve of - basically what 5e (finally) implemented in D&D.  ACKS explands race-as-class, so you get several classes for each race to choose from.  It adds a skill-like system to give players a little more options.  It's most famous for greatly expanding the domain management - so called, "end game" of early D&D and making it very central to play.  That's where characters build castles, attract followers and peasants/workers, exploit resources, etc. to carve a niche out of the wilderness for themselves.  ACKS puts a lot of energy into  that and everyone who has played it has excellent things to say about it.

Basically, if you want B/X D&D (Moldvay/Cook) but want a few more class options, a skill/ability option, and more detail for domain management, it's perfect for you.  It doesn't vary too far from the baseline game conceptually.

That's a great summary! I'd add that fighters gain a damage bonus that scales with level and the ability to cleave each time they kill a target. High level fighters can mow down minions in glorious style. That's a big change from B/X.
In the expansions:
- ACKS Player's Companion adds rules for custom-designed classes and custom-designed spells (like a point build system for both)
- ACKS Domains at War adds both an abstract and a Warhammer/Battelore-type mass combat system plus various rules for supplies, logistics, sieges, and so on
- ACKS Lairs & Encounters adds rules for custom-designed monsters, monster training, leveling monsters, monstrous ability scores, and various info on monster parts, lair frequency, etc.
- ACKS Heroic Companion adds rules for eldritch magic (a blend of arcane & divine that causes corruption), spellsinging (think Luthien in Silmarillion), and ceremonial magic (Thoth-Amon/Lovecraft stuff)
- ACKS Barbarian Conquerors adds rules for sword-and-planet technology research and discovery and a host of playable "alien" races (bugmen, geckomen, visitors, etc)

Quote from: remial;1047783if we all buy copies of your game would you PLEASE pull a Gawker on rpg.net?  

My policy is live and let live. Perhaps if they leak my halfling sex tape.

Quote from: Azraele;1047787I don't have a question, I just wanted to pop in and thank you for making my favorite RPG. Keep kicking ass out there

Thank you for the kind words!!

I've been looking for a good domain management system that I could drop into my games. Would people recommend ACKS's domain system, or is there other decent options that could work?

Quote from: HorusArisen;1047766I'm not an OSR fan but I sodding bought it just because I'll support any game someone tries to suppress because they don't like the author, I genuinely don't give a shit about your politics, you produce quality material that isn't offensive for the sake of it you shouldn't be getting excluded from a gaming forum.

Yeah, I bought ACKS and Domains at War partly because They didn't want me to. Plus they're pretty decent - I'm running 5e and S&W currently but ACKS has plenty of bits worth borrowing.

Quote from: Broken Twin;1047791I've been looking for a good domain management system that I could drop into my games. Would people recommend ACKS's domain system, or is there other decent options that could work?

I've successfully slotted it into similar D&D systems; like, my one campaign of 5th used the rules with minimal hacking.

It's got a strong tie to "gold as xp"; the idea being you adventure to acquire gold, and in so doing you acquire power and land. You then use the gold to construct a fort in the wilderlands and set up a little kingdom. Late game is then expanding and empowering your kingdom.

It's beautifully designed for what it's trying to do: namely, realize the "Arnesonian dream" of late-level characters conquering and shaping the setting in OD&D.

Be warned; I tried to lift the system into 5th ed, and found it so overwhelming fun and useful that I just started running ACKS exclusively directly thereafter. It really is a thing of beauty.

Quote from: S'mon;1047792Yeah, I bought ACKS and Domains at War partly because They didn't want me to. Plus they're pretty decent - I'm running 5e and S&W currently but ACKS has plenty of bits worth borrowing.

I'll have a flick through but it'll never use it.

Quote from: HorusArisen;1047794I'll have a flick through but it'll never use it.

You know I picked it up with that exact same idea?

One day I was between campaigns and was just like "You know, let's roll up characters for a lark!"

It turns out that this act is like picking up the original Legend of Zelda for the NES: I always start playing like "Oh I've got a few minutes to kill" and then bang it's the next day and I'm balls-deep in Gannon's castle, fighting a flying eyeball so I can get the blue suit

Quote from: Toadmaster;1047760Well thank you RPG net, I was not aware of AKCS until now, looks interesting.

Yeah, I was on the fence about getting it just for source material...but now I reckon I'll be buying it for this alone.

Quote from: Azraele;1047793I've successfully slotted it into similar D&D systems; like, my one campaign of 5th used the rules with minimal hacking.

It's got a strong tie to "gold as xp"; the idea being you adventure to acquire gold, and in so doing you acquire power and land. You then use the gold to construct a fort in the wilderlands and set up a little kingdom. Late game is then expanding and empowering your kingdom.

It's beautifully designed for what it's trying to do: namely, realize the "Arnesonian dream" of late-level characters conquering and shaping the setting in OD&D.

Be warned; I tried to lift the system into 5th ed, and found it so overwhelming fun and useful that I just started running ACKS exclusively directly thereafter. It really is a thing of beauty.

Agreed. My impression - it's very similar to the BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia system, a bit more involved. It's very 'steak & potatoes', I like it a lot better than other OSR, 3e etc systems that try to get tricksy and lose sight of the need for the domain system to support, not replace, regular play.