That’s a great analysis. It’s worth noting that in confined areas or mass formations, the griffin can cleave when it kills an opponent.
The ability to cleave can dramatically change a battle. For example, take a mastodon (15HD) and charge it into a unit of 24 closely-packed infantry and watch what happens. A lot more than 1 infantry per turn gets killed.
Wait, can everyone cleave? That might be a blind spot for me.
I’d also note that it’s unlikely, between spacing requirements and prohibitions on firing into melee, that a group of 24 characters could bring 24 attacks to bear on a griffon that surprises them!
Monsters, fighters, and other characters that use the fighter attack throw progression may make a maximum number of cleave attacks per round equal to their Hit Dice. Clerics, thieves, and other characters that use the cleric/thief attack throw progression may make a maximum number of cleave attacks per round equal to half their Hit Dice (rounded down). Mages and characters that use the mage attack throw progression may not make cleave attacks.
The ability of monsters to cleave can be…awesome.
Definitely. The ability to bring guns to bear matter just as much as having them in the first place.
(But really, I would probably waive the firing into melee rule if a spread-out group is firing at a griffon that is attacking them: with a wing-span of at least 25’ that’s a big target even if it happens to be tearing through the guts of your buddy at the same time…)
Cleaving. Page 105 of ACK.
Thanks for the description of Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War, thinking of it in those terms helps me to understand a few things.
I’ve been thinking that some of the best comedy comes from characters who treat CaS in a CaW setting or visa versa. After years of playing CaS characters and failing to click with the vibe, I am keen to play one who’s out of sync with the world at large.
For however long he lasts.
Re. not being able to hire help at the start.
When the player rolls their 5 sets of ability scores and hands me two of them to use for henchies, I earmark those two henchmen for the player. Old drinking buddies or something: folks gullible enough to tag along without seeing any gold up front.
Hey, I like that idea. Consider it stolen!
Another thing to consider with the griffon attack above is that, unlike the caravan tenders, the griffon can fly. That means that if they being winning, the griffon can fly away and they can’t effectively chase him. That means that it’s incredibly unlikely that the defenders of the caravan actually have anything to show for all their casualties. The griffon is unlikely to fight to the death, but all the defenders are fighting to the death because they can’t outrun their opponent. The griffon can make the attack and just stick around long enough to see how lucky it gets. It puts them at a HEWGE disadvantage.
Oops. Got so interested in the thread that I forgot I was way back in the archive. Didn’t mean to practice thread necromancy. Sorry 'bout that.
Missed this thread the first time round, glad to see it now. My own ACKS games have been opposites: one group, although suffering from injuries (which have since been healed) are at Level 3 now and going strong; my other group had a TPK the first session but the re-start is going ok. I think the Mortal Wound table actually reduces the risk of death, since there’s a good chance the character will survive albeit injured in some way.
Glad that your campaign hasn't been too, too deadly, TSFOFD. (Do you have a name other than TheSkyFullofDust?!)
I've been testing an "ACKS Cyberpunk" conversion and mortality rates have been disappointingly low. Stupid skinweave.
Stylistically speaking, the high death rate of low level characters makes perfect sense to me. This is how I explain it to my players, who are new to this whole Old School mentality:
For every famous knight, arch-mage or barbarian warrior who treads the jeweled thrones of Earth under his sandalled feet, there are 1000 would be heroes who set out to find fortune and glory only to wind up as a forgotten pile of broken bones in some dark, dank hole in the ground.
Gaming wise, levels 1-2 are a character funnel (like the one in DCC) where only the best and the luckiest survive to reach 3rd, winnowing out the characters, like those who roll 1 or 2 hit points to start, who are unfit for survival. I find this to be a right and natural thing and fudge nothing. If your PC has the constitution of a paper bag, then stay out of fights and play smart, but more importantly, don’t get too attached to that character…
Hi Alex. Name’s Simon 
ACKS Cyberpunk eh? Sounds interesting.
This is dead on. Friendly rolls have saved my players’ party from really nasty combats at least three times so far. Makes the bard a bit more useful, too.
Reading this, I almost feel bad. We started off characters at 4000 XP, and we’ve still had a couple of really nasty sessions (first session with no henchmen had 50% PC mortality, another with 100% PC mortality though all henchmen survived (they assaulted a morlock lair while out of healing…), and one recently where almost all henchmen were killed along with 1 PC (traps that split the party are… dangerous)). Part of me says “You’re bad for being a killer DM.” Another part says “Well, they did dumb things.” And the third says “Is everyone having fun? Yes? Stay the course, and let the heads roll with the dice!”
I like that third guy.
On a related note to your cyberpunk, I’ve been thinking about doing a sci-fi conversion of ACKS as well. The Player’s Companion should have everything I need in terms of class design… I’m contemplating Alien / Space Hulk-style dungeoncrawl bughunts in derelict spacecraft at low levels, with the creation of Hammer’s Slammers-grade mercenary companies, corporations, and crime rings at high levels.
I think ACKS would work very well for space opera. If you proceed down that path, do let me know how it develops!
If you haven’t yet, check out Stars Without Number (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=86467) and Void Vultures (http://joshroby.com/taxonomy/term/52) for inspiration.
Want!