ACKS 2: Kickstarter on October 24

There exist B/X-inspired games that are not supposed to be B/X replacements but expressions of a unique world and sandbox to play in. ACKS is one of those games. I would put the excellent Hyperborea in the same category.

One of the issues of ACKS 1.0 was that it felt too much like a B/X clone, and it put it in a category of games where people could criticize it for being a 'house-ruled version of B/X.' Used as a B/X replacement, yes, that is fair to an extent, and there are better 'pure B/X' implementations out there to play with - but if purity is your yardstick, nothing else but the original B/X and BECMI books from Wizards will do.

You are cutting off many of the community and people's improvements by that measure and limiting indie publishing support.

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

ACKS 2.0 is launching its Kickstarter on October 24; from what I see, this will be amazing. The OGL has been removed, and the game leans heavily into supporting its take on a Middle Ages 'Fall of a Roman-like evil empire' world. The old empire was a Conan-like evil god dark empire, and it fell, leaving the people of the world to fight against the ancient evil, build new kingdoms, and rediscover the land.

ACKS 1.0 felt like a B/X clone. ACKS 2 keeps enough B/X to be familiar, but it isn't a B/X clone anymore. This is amazing since the classes, spells, and 'stuff' you get with the game are laser-focused on the world and its experience. This is an example of a game removing the OGL and SRD classics and improving the game dramatically.

The OGL, B/X, and SRD can be a crutch, a yardstick you can never live up to, and all it does is compare your game to 5E and make your game seem like a hopeless clone that will never compare. This is like unfairly putting all science fiction on a 'Star Wars scale' that puts Star Wars as the gold standard all sci-fi should live up to, denigrating anything original as 'not Star Wars.' 

Sorry, Dune, you only rate a 62 on the Star Wars scale. I can make a YouTube channel from that concept and farm clicks, which would be peak 2023, and make me hate myself. Alien, 34, what were you thinking? Be more Star Wars next time!

But ACKS 2 feels like a new game.

A specific example is clerics. In the old game, we had a cleric, paladin, and priestess - sort of your typical collection of B/X and AD&D classes - and clerics did not get spells at level one, which was sort of a B/X trope that set expectations.

In ACKS 2, cleric and paladin have been combined into a crusader class, and this covers your mace or sword-swinging holy warrior and combat healer. The cloth-armored priestess stays but gets more magical abilities and more spells, and this feels like the priest class out of World of Warcraft compared to the paladin.

Crusaders get a spell at level one, and priestesses get two.

What was once a muddled collection of B/X classes that relied on the old 'this is a B/X world' tropes is now focused on a specific world, culture, and experience. In fact, each class comes with templates that feel like 5E subclasses, and these are built to support the world's flavor and story. Crusaders can be hermits, prophets, mendicants, proselytizers, priests, undead slayers, exorcists, and templars. Priestesses can be anchorites, oracles, chantresses, canonesses, mendicants, beatifics, missionaries, and lightbringers. These 'subclasses' are smartly executed through proficiency choices - like a combination of feats and skills.

And just the names of these templates are so flavorful I want to start looking up definitions and figuring out what type of world needs them and their roles. B/X doesn't do that for me; I am a 'cleric.'

And there is a merchant-style 'venturer' class, too, so if all you want to do is hustle local markets, run trade caravans, and build a fleet of trading ships while hiring thieves to wreck your competition - the game has your back. And there are many templates for this class, too! B/X doesn't do that; the OGL and SRD assumptions hold us back even if you bolt on a trading game to the rules. Someone will dismiss the idea and go back to being the shapeshifting druid.

Instead of going into this game asking, "What B/X class am I going to play?" 

I ask, "What classes does this world have, and how do they interact with the world and story?"

If you say your game and world are modeled after B/X, people's brains turn off and fall back on old tropes and assumptions. They cease caring about 'your world' and all they care about is 'B/X optimization and roles.' You lost them at that point; please play Old School Essentials or 5E. There is more there for you, and you will be happier.

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

I created a party of adventurers in ACKS 1.0, and then I started reading the rules for the upcoming 2.0 and wondered what the changes might be. I then realized my party of ACKS 1.0 adventurers was modeled from B/X assumptions, and they felt like B/X transplants in an ACKS-themed world.

I wanted characters who felt like they belonged to this new and exciting world.

ACKS 2 gives me them.

I am looking forward to ACKS 2 as my 'serious B/X' implementation, but even more so as a window into a unique world and experience cut free from the limitations of the old SRD and OGL.