Alex's blog

Every wargame design must balance simulation and playability. Achieving this balance is often quite hard, and most games end up tipping towards one or the other end of the range. Balancing Domains at Wars was even harder than other wargames I’ve designed, because I was actually attempting to simulate two things – an ancient or medieval battle, and a battle fought by characters from an ACKS game.

LENGTH OF COMBAT ROUNDS

While designing Domains at War, I frequently tested my game mechanics against available real-world examples. Nowhere was this more challenging than in the area of siege warfare, which is akin to the PhD level of ancient warfare. Below are a few of the historical reference points I relied on in assessing whether the construction and siege mechanics had a reasonable level of versimilitude.

Siege of Alesia

The mechanics of siege warfare, both at the battle and campaign level, presented the most challenging part of the design of Domains at War. Pitched battles are glorious in their simplicity; sieges revel in complexity. Artillery, arson, assault, location, mining, supplies, treachery – all play their part.

Welcome, everyone! The Domains at War kickstarter has just launched, and after just 48 hours we’re already close to meeting our initial goals. It’s an exciting time for me as a designer, as the rules pass from a small closed circle of testers into the hands of the larger gaming community.

Why are magic items so expensive to make in ACKS, and why is it so hard to sell them? That's the topic of today's blog post.

When veterans of other fantasy games, particularly D&D 4th Edition and Pathfinder, begin to play Adventurer Conqueror King System, almost all of them express shock at how expensive and time consuming it is to create magic items. A simple potion of healing, for instance, requires 500gp and 1 week to create. The exact same item in D&D 3.5 requires 50gp and 1 day. Magical research in ACKS is 10x as expensive! 

We've gotten glowing reviews on the cover for the Player's Companion. The piece, called "Inheritance," was created by Michael C. Hayes. While you've doubtless seen his work on books, games, and Magic cards, today we thought we'd introduce you to the artist himself.

AUTARCH: Many RPG players are influenced to buy a book based on the cover artwork, but cover artists don't get as much recognition for their work as the designers do. Could you please tell us about yourself?

We are excited to announce that the final draft of the Adventurer Conqueror King System went to the printers today. We are now merely weeks away from the game hitting stores. Thank you again to all the backers and supporters who have made this possible.

We're excited to report that ACKS is on the 2011 Escapist Buyer's Guide!

Editor (and ACKS playtester) Justin Clouse writes:

I once had the pleasure of lunch with John Zuur Platten, the business partner of Flint Dille, Gary Gygax's old friend and collaborator. Through Flint, John had had the chance to learn much about Gary Gygax and the origins of D&D. John explained to me that "to understand D&D, you have to understand that Gary thought like an insurance actuary. D&D is fantasy fiction through actuarial science."