Mass Combat and More

There's So Much Going On, I Can't Keep Up!

Jul 18, 2023

I was reviewing the 3.5E Player’s Handbook yesterday and I happened upon the credits. It had a 13 person team of designers and developers, 5 editors, a creative director, and 15 additional contributors.

Meanwhile for ACKS II Revised Rulebook, I have…fewer co-authors than I had on ACKS I. And ACKS II RR is twice as large as the 3.5E Player’s Handbook. And it’s just one of three books of equal size!

I always thought I understood the phrase “bit off more than he could chew.” No, sir, I did not. I had glimpsed only the shadows on the cave wall, the suggestion of what it might be like to bite more than could be chewed. Working on ACKS II, I have trekked up from the dark depths into the Platonic instantiation, the pure form, of biting off more than I can chew.

Nom-nom-nom.

Design Challenges of Mass Combat in Fantasy RPGs

In this week’s Arbiter of Worlds I discuss the design challenges presented by mass combat in fantasy RPGs.

It’s a bit (a lot) self-promotional in that this is a design topic that I think I’m uniquely qualified to speak on:

The reason I'm making today's video is that my game Adventurer Conqueror King System has essentially solved all of the design challenges poised by introducing mass combat into fantasy gaming. Yet mass combat continues to be presented online as if it were either an unsolved dilemma or something that was solved in 1971. And neither of those statements are true. It makes me feel like Isaac Newton chilling in a tavern where people are asking "why do apples fall from trees" and half the tavern says it's not worth thinking about and the other half are quoting Aristotle's theory that earthen elements just fall to earth and meanwhile he's invented the infinitesimal calculus to explain how it works. It's… frustrating.

Rogues Gallery Art

Meanwhile, the Ascendant product line continues to shape up marvelously. The art that’s being developed for Rogues Gallery is some of the best we’ve ever done.

A few folks in the community have suggested that since I have access to a team of talented comic book artists I should consider taking a comic book art approach for ACKS II. Because comic book art is black line art that is later colored, it means that the book could be presented in two formats, full color and black & white, with the black & white using the inked illustrations.

That seems valuable because a lot of folks have asked for B&W PDFs for easier printing and skimming. That said, I’m not sure if it has the proper “vibe” for ACKS II. Let me know in the comments which you prefer, the art in Ascendant or the art in By This Axe.

Buy This “By This Axe” Soon

The loyal Kickstarter backers who made it possible for me to create By This Axe are even now receiving their hard-earned copies of the book. Once those are all shipped, By This Axe will go on sale on Autarch Emporium and DriveThruRPG. I know many of you missed the Kickstarter for this awesome book and will be happy to be able to get a hardcopy version.

ACKS on Substack!

We’re beginning to see a Substack community form around ACKS and simulationism. Here’s some blogs to check out:

If you have a blog or third-party product that supports ACKS or Ascendant, please let me know and I’ll be happy to include you in my next round-up.

Right now Adventurer-tier backers of my Patreon have gotten v100 of the ACKS II Revised Rulebook, while King-tier backers have the latest draft of the ACKS II Monstrous Manual and Conqueror-tier backers will soon be getting an update of the ACKS II Judges Journal. If you’ve been wanting to check out how ACKS II is shaping up, you can head over to the Patreon now.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel, then head over to the links below for others ways to get involved in my recently-declared Simulationist culture movement. If you’re already a fan, be kind and spread the word!

Arbiter of Worlds