While the math is the same, the description of combat and the combat example (p. 102) don’t match up with the quick hand out on page 257.
From page 102, Armor class: " … The target’s Armor Class is added to the attack throw value necessary to hit it."
From page 102, EXAMPLE: Marcus “… a 10th level fighter (attack throw 4+) attacks
a plate-armored target (AC7). He needs a modified roll of 11 (4+7) or more to hit. He rolls a 12, and lands a blow!”
From page 257, Attacking: “… Subtract the target’s armor class from the roll. If the modified roll is greater than or equal to the character or monster’s attack throw value, they hit …”
The same example would be changed as follows: “… a 10th level fighter (attack throw 4+) attacks a plate-armored target (AC7). He needs a roll of 11 or more to hit.(a -7 to an Attack Throw of 4) He rolls a 12 and lands a blow! (12-7=5).”
Personally, I prefer the addition style.
I purchased the PDF about a month ago from gamesalute and now it finally says it shipped, but I can’t find a download link anywhere on their site or the e-mail confirmation they sent me.
What do I do now?
Anglefish, that was a deliberate, albeit quirky, decision.
My initial idea was that AC should be a penalty on the attack throw. However, we found aesthetically hat people seemed to prefer addition rather than subtraction. So we went with an additive presentation of the rule, where AC increased your target value.
Then, in actual practice, we found about 33% of the players would add AC to their target value; about 33% would apply AC as a penalty on the die roll; and about 33% would roll, subtract their attack throw from the result, and announce what AC they’d hit. So different people used a different system for the same result.
I decided to create a quick start hand-out to clarify things. I wrote up the rule all three ways and handed it to playtesters, and then asked them to explain how AC worked to me, and for whatever reason subtraction was conceptually easiest to grasp when presented in the quick start format. So we ended up including two methods of explaining the same system - one aesthetically more pleasant, one conceptually easier to grasp.
I think I may be guilty of vastly over-thinking how I write rules, and just making them more confusing.
I’m in the same boat with Azuki and haven’t heard a response back from GameSalute.
Hey Guys,
I pre-ordered a soft cover version of the main ACKs book, back on December 12th, 2011 and paid via paypal. However I haven’t recieved a copy of the book as of yet and I was wondering if there was a problem?
Thanks for your time
Jester
Yes, it looks like we made a mistake in submitting your address to Game Salute from the preorder system. Your copy is on its way now, sorry for the delay!