@amacris will my copy of heroic still work with the new core?

Quote from: amacris on October 08, 2022, 01:35:09 PM
8. THIEF value in the design system now affords more class powers; FIGHTER value trade-offs in the class design system now have less of an XP penalty (this has "buffed" some of the weaker classes and it makes low-AC highly specialized fighter-types more playable)

How much is this going to affect leveling costs for classes that use a lot of trade-offs or have numerous powers.  From the "official" classes, for example, is this significantly changing the cost of tradeoffs is going to be big for the Mystic, Barbarian, Shaman, and Witch given 5 tradeoffs for the first and 4 for the rest.

Quote from: amacris on October 08, 2022, 03:18:31 PM
I'll probably Kickstart it in mid-2023. Just in time for everyone to be maximally annoyed at One D&D if I'm lucky, and maximally distracted by One D&D if not.

Good luck ACKS was one of the first OSR game i bought and one of the best still. And so much of it is usable in any game.

Imperial Imprint sounds interesting.  Be sure to remind us sometime closer to the time, because some of us don't check kickstarter on a regular schedule.

Quote from: PencilBoy99 on October 08, 2022, 04:18:17 PM
@amacris will my copy of heroic still work with the new core?

Yes, it'll work just fine. I'll like create a short "conversion sheet" that will go out to all of the people who have copies of the product that will explain the (minor) things necessary to do for compatibility. It's mostly a matter of a few extra proficiencies, some lower XP, and a slight bonus to Paralysis saves.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on October 08, 2022, 10:02:32 PM
Imperial Imprint sounds interesting.  Be sure to remind us sometime closer to the time, because some of us don't check kickstarter on a regular schedule.

I definitely will, thanks!!

Quote from: PulpHerb on October 08, 2022, 05:03:12 PM

Quote from: amacris on October 08, 2022, 01:35:09 PM
8. THIEF value in the design system now affords more class powers; FIGHTER value trade-offs in the class design system now have less of an XP penalty (this has "buffed" some of the weaker classes and it makes low-AC highly specialized fighter-types more playable)

How much is this going to affect leveling costs for classes that use a lot of trade-offs or have numerous powers.  From the "official" classes, for example, is this significantly changing the cost of tradeoffs is going to be big for the Mystic, Barbarian, Shaman, and Witch given 5 tradeoffs for the first and 4 for the rest.

It only affects Fighting Style Trade-Offs for characters with Fighting Value 2. Essentially, a decade of playtesting revealed that taking Weapon Trade-offs had little downside except XP cost, while Armor, Damage, and Fight Style Trade-Offs had downsides that actually mattered. For instance, being limited to only using swords and spears, but not axes, doesn't impact you very much. But not being able to use shields or wear plate armor impacts you a LOT. So we've increased the XP cost for Weapon Trade-Offs and eliminated them from the others.

The Mystic is the character class that is most affected, since he took Armor Trade-Offs down to No Armor. Under Imperial Imprint, he'd become substantially less expensive to level.

Quote from: ZeroSum on October 03, 2022, 12:12:39 PM
Personally I hope the current attack/saving throw mechanic stays instead of turning into another BAB system. Having the number you need to roll right there on your character sheet sped things up wonderfully when I was introducing the game to people who'd never played RPGs before. First level character, 10+ to hit AC 0. Easy peasy.

Quote from: amacris on October 08, 2022, 01:35:09 PM
My intent at this point is to release a product called Adventurer Conqueror King System: Imperial Imprint.  ... ... and I abandoned any notion of swapping away from our AC and throw system. Both of those would make the game much less backwards compatible, and I just have no interest in doing that. RPGs benefit from network effects, and splitting my community into two networks with incompatible editions would be foolish; moreover, keeping ACKS close to its roots keeps all the great OSR and Classic D&D stuff compatible. ...

I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness and say that moving to standard ascending AC is the way to go. Having a unique attack roll just limits your potential future audience.

As to backwards compatibility - that can be done with a conversion chart. otherwise in my experience you can call the Imperial Imprint not a new edition all you want. People will still generally move on to the new hotness do to ease of use due to having all the cool stuff in one place.

As to splitting your network effect. It is a risk. The tradeoff is potentially alienating older customers, vs having your system more accessible to new blood. I'd err on the side of accessibility to new blood.

That being said; I do not know what your sales and metrics are, and it is all too easy to tell someone else what to do with their time and money.

Quote from: Jaeger on October 12, 2022, 06:52:47 PM
As to splitting your network effect. It is a risk. The tradeoff is potentially alienating older customers, vs having your system more accessible to new blood. I'd err on the side of accessibility to new blood.

And that attitude is the basis of just about every corporate suicide in the last 20 years.  Star Wars is the most popular IP in the past 40 years, but it doesn't attract girls.  So let's change it to appeal to girls... How did that work out?

Never chase new fans at the expense of the old fans...

Upthread there was mention of the age-old d20 to hit AC. We usually switch to a save for armor type and then rely on a d20 roll using an attribute as a base (then modifying for level). I wonder if ACKS would be amenable for such *with some thoughtful hacking* ?

I'm getting a copy, as I like what I have heard in this thread, but I wondered if anyone with experience with the rules has done some "to hit" re-tooling? Workable?

Quote from: Eirikrautha on October 12, 2022, 09:05:56 PM

Quote from: Jaeger on October 12, 2022, 06:52:47 PM
As to splitting your network effect. It is a risk. The tradeoff is potentially alienating older customers, vs having your system more accessible to new blood. I'd err on the side of accessibility to new blood.

And that attitude is the basis of just about every corporate suicide in the last 20 years.  Star Wars is the most popular IP in the past 40 years, but it doesn't attract girls.  So let's change it to appeal to girls... How did that work out?

Never chase new fans at the expense of the old fans...

Particularly the older, richer fans with plenty of disposable income.

Quote from: Eirikrautha on October 12, 2022, 09:05:56 PM

Quote from: Jaeger on October 12, 2022, 06:52:47 PM
As to splitting your network effect. It is a risk. The tradeoff is potentially alienating older customers, vs having your system more accessible to new blood. I'd err on the side of accessibility to new blood.

And that attitude is the basis of just about every corporate suicide in the last 20 years. Star Wars is the most popular IP in the past 40 years, but it doesn't attract girls.  So let's change it to appeal to girls... How did that work out?

Never chase new fans at the expense of the old fans...

I remember when D&D move to ascending AC, and it totally tanked their sales. Oh, wait...

And movie Star Wars is a different animal to RPG Star Wars. Which is one of the evergreen RPG IP that sells well regardless of what system it uses. Form D6, d20 saga, to FFG's funky dice system. They all sold very well.  On other forums I'd opine that FFG's star wars would have been more accessible if they used normal dice instead of the funky ones. I'd get shouted down by people pointing to the ICV2 RPG sales list...

Unless I sorely miss my guess, I doubt Amacris is going woke anytime soon. And you can make your game more accessible to newer players without alienating your old ones.

All I'm saying is that out of all the great ideas and content ACKS has, (and I own a few of the books, so I know). I don't see how using a boutique AC system that isn't used by any other OSR or original D&D game is a selling point that draws people in, or adds to backward compatibility with original BX/AD&D modules.

But my opinion is worth exactly what Amacris has paid for it, and he knows his steady sales audience far better than I do.

I also heard Harn, Palladium Books and Herogames are making tons of sales and lots of cash by targeting just the older fanbase.

Star Wars going woke seems like a weird comparison imo. Given they went out of their way to alienate older fans with the newer movies. Amaracis is has done neither.

The charm of odd mechanics is a strange thing.  Many designers have gone overboard with it to the detriment of their games.  You can take a game with too many of them and easily imagine it doing better with less of them.  On the other hand, there's a line.  Take out any 2 of 10 odd mechanics, probably make the game better.  Reduce it down to 5 or 3, chances are some of the charm is going with it.  It's more art than science.