The Adventurer Conqueror King system is for me the first
fantasy role-playing game to answer the question “Why wouldn’t I just use the
game I began using in 1978?” At the same time, the Adventurer Conqueror King
system is closer to the game I began with than more recent editions of the
game, giving me a good reason to re-visit some of the gaming artifacts of my
youth. In my Into the Vaults series of posts, I share my thoughts on these
artifacts.
Dragon #38 was the first issue of Dragon magazine I
purchased, but Dragon #39 will always be first in my heart. When the popular
question of “What was your favorite issue of Dragon?” comes up, my answer is,
of course, Dragon #39, published July 1980.
If you’ve played any fantasy role-playing game, you
likely will have been affected by the contents of Dragon #39, starting with “The
Anti-Paladin. Tim Mesford and George Laking have collaborated on the definitive
version of everybody’s favorite bad guy—because, we suppose, no one author
could think up all those nasty things.” (p.
2) By chance, I had the opportunity to create the art order for the ACKS
Player’s Companion Anti-Paladin. The art order I created was my homage to the
granddaddy of them all in Dragon #39.
In another oft-referred to article, “Good Hits and Bad Misses”
(p. 34), Carl Parlagreco presented tables for descriptive critical hits and
fumbles.
In the category of the more things change, the more they
stay the same, Dragon #39 includes articles on morality in fantasy (p. 10),
women in gaming (p. 16) and defining D&D (p. 36). There is more in Dragon
#39, but the one additional article that makes Dragon #39 first in my heart may
be the single most influential article on role-playing games I’ve ever read,
Lenard Lakofka’s Leomund’s Tiny Hut installment entitled "Starting from
scratch" (p. 20).
As the title suggests, this article provides advice on
starting a new campaign. Much of this advice may seem old hat to some now, but
30+ years ago, I was blown away by the possibilities. First, the article
provided my all-time favorite method for rolling abilities:
“Roll 4d6 seven times. Record the sum of the three
highest six-sided dice. If that sum is six or less, reroll at once. The sums
must be recorded in order. The player is allowed two chances to alter the
numbers as recorded. She may switch the positions of two of the numbers and she
may discard one number – not necessarily the lowest one.”
I very much like “organic” characters, and I especially
do not like frequently occurring characters with an 18 in their prime
requisite. I plan to return to Lakofka’s method above in future ACKS games (not to be included with the raising of a prime requisite ability or abilities by sacrificing points in other abilities).
Other pearls of wisdom from this fabulous article:
“For every three first-level characters, a beginning
party may have one second-level character. For every pair of second-level party
members there may be one third-level character. If a third-level character is
allowed, she should be a Fighter, a Cleric or a Thief.”
“Player characters should always have the maximum
possible hit points at first level.”
“The beginning party can start with a few magic items, but they should be few in number and relatively weak in power: perhaps one item for every three levels at a maximum but at least one item for every seven levels.”
To me, the advice on beginning characters at other than
first level hinted at a notion of class rarity. Applying this notion to ACKS, a
Judge might require any custom class to begin at 0 XP, any Player’s Companion
class at 2,000 XP and any core rulebook class at 4,000 XP.
Radical stuff, eh? At least for the time. Not exactly “Fantasy F***ing Vietnam”. I encourage you to track down a copy of the article and read it for yourself. Certainly, some of it may be dated, but I will be surprised if the article doesn’t spark some new idea for your next game!
