Mail Room: ACKS 2 (PDFs)

It was nice knowing you, OSE, Shadowdark, 5E, Pathfinder, and many others...

All kidding aside, I got my ACKS II PDFs today. What a fantastic set of books. To cap off the size of this thing:

• Revised Rulebook: 550 pages
• Judge's Journal: 486 pages
• Monstrous Manual: 438 pages
• Judge's Screen Inserts: 24 pages
• Compatibility Guide: 12 pages
• Character Sheet: 5 pages

There are 1,515 pages in total. If you missed out on the Kickstarter (which pulled in a respectable 300K+), you will want this game if you are into old-school gaming. The layout, art, design, and organization are all incredible.

The art looks like it was ripped out of a 1990s comic book or Conan graphic novel; there is page after page of outstanding works, and the book is not ashamed to show the beauty in the physical form, both male and female. If the 2024 D&D art turns your stomach, forget that edition ever happened and pick up this game. There is no Wall Street corporate shame or social media pandering here.

And frankly, that is a freaking breath of fresh air. Thank you. I will always support you if this is your vision of your world and game. I am an adult; I can watch an R-rated Conan movie, and if your game shows no fear, I shall be there. I spent too long in this world to have someone else tell me what I can see and say or to be forced to buy fantasy games with garbage art.

We don't have forever in this world. Why are you letting people tell you what to enjoy? Every day you let someone else define your life is one more day lost in your existence.

Oh, they are coming out with a treasure book, too? Backed. It is in the sidebar. There is a deal to get the full game plus the new book. If you want in, now is the time.

There is no more OGL in this book; it has been stabbed through the heart and tossed into the bottomless ocean where it belongs. The game is better for it, too. The OGL and the SRD have been a fake yardstick that all games have been held up against for years, and it only served to say, "Your game is inferior to D&D." Without the OGL shackles, game creators are free to express their world and their games how they want to. Creators are now free to shape their own games and worlds.

There is a new standard-bearer in the OSR, unafraid and broken free.