The Humanoid Subtables Clear and Barrens both rather to a Thoul when it should be a Throghrin.
‘rather’ = refer
I probably don’t need to say this, but the GM Reference Tables download needs updating in line with the various changes made to the tables in v23. Though maybe waiting until just before printing will mean less work updating it…
Maybe this isn’t voting friendly, but adding my two cents here:
Torches should only do 1d4 damage. I know players want some extra ‘fire’ damage, but otherwise torches are over-powered vis-a-vis actual weapons likes swords and axes, which are far more brutal on a human body than a torch. Otherwise armies would have fought with flaming brands or whatever, which didn’t happen. The fire aspect of torches already allows them to damage creatures the PCs wouldn’t be able to anyway (e.g. mummies).
I like the Ancestral Bloodline just as it is, except why not just title it “Elven Bloodline”? Then my half-elf lovers can find it easily on the proficiency list when they’re choosing their profs. If you want dwarf bloodlines or whatever, just houserule.
Also, further vote for “exploding” gambling rolls. That’s awesome.
Another vote for an Equipment section. This gets referenced frequently throughout gameplay, not just at character creation. My preference is for a short Equipment section immediately following the Character Creation section (so its still very accessible for new players), with the Encumbrance rules located therein and the Hireling rules and prices.
A few notes:
- In the current rules, I have been using “Section” to refer to major rule portions, such as “Encounters and Combat”, and “section” to refer to subsidiary portions of such. To avoid confusion, these are now labeled “Chapters” and “Sections”. For instance, “Encounters and Combat” is now a “Chapter” while “Initiative” is a “Section” within that Chapter.
- Based on the unanimous feedback, I’ve consolidated certain rules into a new chapter, Chapter 3: Equipment. These rules are (a) money and coins, (b) starting equipment, (c) equipment lists, (d) equipment descriptions, (e) equipment availability, (f) encumbrance, and (g) hirelings, henchmen, specialists, and mercenaries. In order to explain the role of hirelings, I moved the Adventuring Parties section from the Adventures chapter to serve as the tail end of the Characters chapter.
- As Adventures was now a very short section (9 pages), I combined Adventures, Encounters, and Combat into one section, called Adventures. This actually makes the entire book flow better.
And the world rejoices! That’s great news Alex! Thanks for listening to the feedback! I know you were reluctant to make those changes but I really, along with many others, think that ACKS will be all the better for it.
This should be tons of fun.
Gambling (G): The character has the ability to win money in games of skill (competitive card games) and betting. He can earn 1d6gp per month as a professional gambler. The character can select Gambling additional times if desired, increasing his monthly income by 1d6gp with each selection. If multiple characters with Gambling proficiency face each other in a game of skill and betting, they should each roll the appropriate number of d6s as if measuring their monthly gambling income. Whichever gambler rolls the higher total has won the first round (hand, trick, etc.) Losers must either exit the game or increase their bet by rolling the dice again and adding it to the total. This continues until no gambler is willing to increase the bet, at which time the gambler with the highest cumulative total wins the game. The losers must each pay the winner the total amount of their rolls. If all gamblers agree, the game can be for higher stakes. This can be as simple as multiplying the total rolled by 5, 10, or even 1,000+, or as complex as requiring the loser to turn over domains and castles.
James – Ok. Follow on question then – How are they equipped, by default?
APM: The rules for follower equipment are in the same section as the rules for creating holy water!! 
James – haha. Would you consider broadening the proficiency? I think it has a lot of potential beyond half-elves. Your friend (the one who wanted the Halfling riding the Gryphon) could play a Half-Halfling then 
(am I pushing my luck?)
APM: Half-Halflings are stillborn. It’s really sad. I’m going to change the name of the proficiency to Elven Bloodline. GMs who want to create new bloodlines can do so by mimicking this.
James – Hmm… perhaps my explanation was rubbish. Ok, I’ll try again. In the example on page 53, Quintus can know up to 3 1st level spells. Lets assume that in addition to read languages and sleep he also learns magic missile – taking up 3 pages in his spellbook (so 97 are free). Later, he picks up a scroll of Light, and decides that is more useful than magic missile. In the rules he can replace magic missile with light by spending a week and 1,000gp. What is the manifestation of the replacement in terms of how it affects Quintus’ spellbook? Does ‘Magic Missile’ magically disappear from the page of the spell book it was once written on? Is the page torn out? Is it simply ignored? The fact that the text says ‘That is, Quintus decides to stop actively monitoring the various stars, spirits, or taboos’ suggests to me that the page – the formula, and all the scribblings that accompany the spell – still exists, that it hasn’t been mystically disapparated, but Quintus cannot access those magics. I don’t quite grok what happens to that spell in the spell book. Does that help explain it any better? crosses fingers
APM: Ah… The cost of the new spell pages is incorporated into the (expensive) cost of adding the new spell and removing the old one. The old journal pages quickly become useless as they are out of date.
James - What do Dwarfs do in the Auran Empire? You’ve got Vaultguards and Craftpriests as the examplars of what a dwarf ‘is’ - if they weren’t, they’d not be the two PC classes. So it may make sense to have the ‘special’ dwarven troops as heavy crossbowmen, or superheavy infantry or something. I dunno, I think I have some Warhammer Fantasy Battle stuff buzzing around in my head… not sure that’s a positive.
APM: In the Auran Empire, dwarves are a race that’s going extinct. The failure to eliminate the beastmen during the Empyrean War has left them to proliferate through the Waste, which runs adjacent to the Mountains of Meniri where the dwarves live. The dwarven vaults have ended up as a defensive shield for the human kingdoms to the north. Thinking it through further, mule crossbowmen make sense as “mountain cavalry” that can quickly traverse the high slopes of the Meniri carrying extensive gear, probably controlling surface roads necessary to trade with humans and get between vaults for which sub-surface roads don’t exist.
James - As happened when the Mumlaks became dominant. Hmm… Ok, so I decided to look for a reference to ‘slaves’ in the text of the rulebook and I couldn’t find one. Am I missing something? I think there should be something about slaves – particularly for Chaotic domains, and especially since many of the monster races are described as having slaves. Perhaps not relevant for these rules, perhaps for a supplement.
APM: I have concluded that slave rules probably need to go into a supplement.
James - Ok cool. You’re approaching it from the other end to me. My thinking was to try to make sure that the tables for randomly creating ‘stuff’ - in this case spells - were aligned with all the other tables that relate to economic and demographic distribution - so the tables about a) how many ‘levelled’ characters there were in a given settlement and b) how many of them were of a viable class. There’s a chance that every tiny hamlet in a given domain (Class VI market) has a Level 3 Cleric in it - or perhaps my thinking is faulty, because the marketplace in a class VI domain should be at the Stronghold… hmm…
APM: We’ll have a dynamic tool on the website that lets you do this!
Thanks for the detailed responses Alex. They’re as useful to me as I hope my questions are to you 
APM: Very helpful indeed, thank you!
Did Tavis pass on my Section Seven by the way, or should I put the questions that weren’t solved by v23 up here as well?
APM: It would not hurt to post it here.
Based on Undercrypt and James’ feedback above, I’ve re-written “Spells Known” slightly to better explain ‘replacing’ spells.
SPELLS KNOWN
An arcane spellcaster who already knows his maximum number of spells may sometimes wish to replace one spell in his spell book with another of equal level. It costs 1 week of game time and 1,000 gp for each spell level to replace a spell. For instance, if one 3rd level spell is replaced, it will take 3 weeks and 3,000 gp. This activity requires complete concentration, and a character doing this work may not engage in any other activity for the time required.
This practice commonly occurs when a spellcaster gets access to more useful spells than what he currently knows, or when a particular adventure requires a spell the caster doesn’t normally use. Powerful arcane spellcasters generally build large libraries of spell formula and scrolls so that they can replace the spells in their spell books with new spells when the situation calls for it. For instance, an arcane spellcaster confronting a pack of gorgons might wish to learn stone to flesh in preparation for the encounter.
EXAMPLE: Quintus is a 1st level mage with INT 16. He is eligible to have 3 1st level spells in his spell book. Over time, he has recorded read languages, shield, and sleep into his book. He finds a grimoire holding magic missile and decides to replace shield with his new find. (That is, Quintus decides to stop actively monitoring the various stars, spirits, or taboos associated with shield so he can instead pay attention to those associated with magic missile). This costs 1 week of game time and 1,000gp. In game terms, he now knows read languages, magic missile, and sleep, but no longer knows shield and therefore cannot cast it. However, he still possesses a copy of the formula for shield, so should it prove necessary he can replace one of his 1st level spells with shield at a later time following the same procedure by which he just replaced shield with magic missile.
I like the Ancestral Bloodline just as it is, except why not just title it “Elven Bloodline”? Then my half-elf lovers can find it easily on the proficiency list when they’re choosing their profs. If you want dwarf bloodlines or whatever, just houserule.
APM: Done!
Another cloth related note - sacks (small and large) are cheaper than a yard of cheap wool, and need be pretty stout if they’re going to haul 2 stone.
APM: A small sack is 1x2, or 2 square feet. That’s 2/9 of a square yard. Assuming the cloth needs to be double-thick for strength, then that’s 2/9 x 6sp x 2 = 24/9 = 2.67sp.
APM: A large sack is 2x4, or 6 square feet. That’s 2/3 of a square yard. Again assuming double-thick cloth, that’s 2/3 x 6sp x 2 = 24/3 = 8sp.
Listed prices were 3sp for a small sack and 6sp for a large sack. I have corrected the 2sp error and raised the price of large sacks to 8sp. Medieval sack provisioners everywhere rejoice!
Ok, here are my outstanding comments on Section 7… (There’s a lot)
Page 112
‘If the adventurers fare well, they will accumulate fame, wealth, and power over many adventurers’. - The second ‘adventurers’ should be ‘adventures’.
Magic Research Table – what does the asterisk mean on levels 0 to 4?
‘Up until 4th level, spellcasters cannot engage in magic research…’ – I think my English is failing me here. Should that be magic, or magical?
‘An unmodified die roll of 1-3 is always a failure when conducting magical research, however’ – So there’s always a 15% chance of failure when conducting research. That seems high, considering the potential losses in terms of gold and precious resources. If you approach research from a ‘business’ perspective, the costs for an magical endeavour – when performed for someone else (i.e. as a service) – should be at least 15% higher to account for the chance of losing any given project.
‘Spell research costs 1,000gp and takes two weeks of research per level of the spell’ – Just a note for clarification here – that means 1000gp per level and 2 weeks per level yes? So a 2nd level spell is 4 weeks and 2000gp.
‘Spell research can also identify the properties of a magic item’ – Before I’d read the Proficiencies section, I’d read this and boggled slightly. It makes more sense now, in the context of Alchemy and Magical Engineering. However, it would be useful to pop a reference to those two proficiencies here just to note that they can be used for potions and ‘common’ items – though this method may still be needed to determine command words and such.
‘A mage or other arcane caster can only research a spell if he can still learn spells of that level’ – Can you choose to ‘forget’ a spell in order to research a new one, in the same way as learning a new spell for which you have the formula?
Page 113.
‘A divine spellcaster may only make items usable by his class’ – This is interesting. No divine items can be used by another class. So, no Holy Avenger paladinic blades or other items ‘blessed by the church’ and passed onto worthy followers. What influenced this decision not to allow items to be used by followers of the same faith, even?
Page 115.
Assistants – does this mean multiple items can be worked on at once, in parallel?
Learning a Ritual Spell – again to clarify – 1,000gp per level?
Page 116.
Casting a ritual spell – costs 500gp. Is that per level?
‘takes one week per spell level’ – Whilst I see the appeal in having mighty magics take an age to cast, this seems to be impractical. In some cases I don’t think it works at all. Can a mage take breaks during the casting? Can they sleep? Eat? Go to the bathroom? How many hours a day do they need to spend on the spell?
Harvest - This is a great ritual spell. I can see the value of this as a long-duration cast. Though, if the casting is 500gp per level, then it costs 3000gp to cast. In which case the domain needs to hold more than 1500 families in order to turn a profit – more if you need to recoup the costs of Learning the spell in the first place (500 or 3000 additional families). Worst case is you need a population of 4501 families to turn a profit in the first year. It should also significantly increase the Morale in the Domain.
Resurrection - 7 weeks to resurrect a body seems balanced. 3500gp to cast also feels right – I note there’s no information about how much it might cost a PC party to buy a spell like this in Section 5.
Destruction – Ok, here’s my first big wtf moment. This spell makes a very poor ritual. A mage needs to spend 7 weeks in a workshop and 3500gp to perform a ritual in order to touch and instantly slay a person. Is that person expected to be waiting for the mage next door? My recommendation would be to abandon this entirely – or at least significantly rewrite it. In its place I suggest the reverse of Resurrection is ‘Gift of Unlife’ and forms the core of the overall ritual by which a high level caster can turn themselves into a powerful undead creature. It’s thematically in keeping with both the long casting duration and as an opposite to ‘bringing the dead back to life’.
Phase Door - As with Destruction, I see no value in this as a ritual spell. 7 weeks to allow you to pass through a 10 foot wall – inside your workshop. Seriously?
Permanency - 2 months and (potentially) 4000gp to make a Permanent Light spell seems like a lot. It’s not screaming bonkers like Phase Door and Destruction, because I can see the massive massive value in Permanency of high level spells. It just feels expensive – but given how magic items work, it looks relatively well balanced overall.
Page 117.
Wish – Ok, here’s a case where I think the examples given don’t gel with the mechanics you’ve put in place. Wish as a Ritual is spot on, and for play balance I can entirely see the value of a 9 week to cast wish ritual. Healing an entire army of damage however seems unlikely. The timing would have to be perfect – the caster would have to know there would be an army, that it would be damaged, etc… etc… 9 weeks ahead of time.
Other Rituals – I’d like to see ritual spells for things like calling down a plague of undeath upon a domain, changing terrain features, warping time and space, summoning gods or elder beings from beyond the stars, setting a magical aura upon a location so that it is forever magical in some way (See Regios in Ars Magica), blotting out the sun over an area, and so on… I know I can just write up whatever I want for these, but more rituals (and more appropriate rituals) would be great.
Creating Constructs – ‘5,000gp for each special ability’ - It would be clearer to set a base cost that includes the immunity to poison, gas, etc… and not complicate the creation calculations by flagging that as ‘a special ability’. This section implies you can create a not very special construct for 2000gp, whereas actually it’s a minimum of 7000gp.
Page 119.
‘If the more intelligent progenitor was an intelligent and willing participant in the crossbreeding’ - Given the progenitors are killed during the crossbreeding process, I struggle to envisage a scenario where anyone is going to be a willing participant in their own death without some form of magical coercion. Is this intentional?
Necromancy - Missing: How do you make Yourself Undead. Though see my comment about Resurrection above.
Also. How would a necromancer create a non-intelligent undead other than a Skeleton or a Zombie. I.e. How can you make a Ghoul, Wight, etc…?
Congregations – ‘Every fifty congregants earns the caster’ - So far, virtually every other mechanic I’ve come across is based on ‘Families’ or peasants rather than individuals. For consistency, should this mechanic mirror that? Too many different systems overcomplicates things.
‘earns the caster up to 10gp worth of divine power’ – How do you get 10gp? The table on the next page only goes up to 9gp, and I think that’s a mistake anyway.
Page 120
‘A divine spellcaster’s party members, retainers and followers usually form the core of his congregants’ - I think this is a huge assumption about the party being of the same faith. I don’t think I’ve ever played a fantasy rpg where this is true. It might work if the Cleric is a priest of a given Pantheon, but even then I think it stretches how a party really works.
‘Each month, calculate the value of the spellcaster’s proselytizing’ – you need a worksheet to manage this.
‘The monthly cost of maintaining a congregation is equal to 0.5% of the gp value expended to create it’ - This feels clumsy and difficult to manage. My interpretation is that a PC has to pay 0.5% of the total GP value of the congregation – so it becomes even more important to manage the Total Outlay on the congregation, and not just the current months. Why not make it a flat cost per X families or congregants (as you’ve done with settlement maintenance)? It’s much more straight forward.
Domain Worship Table – the last row of the table says ‘-4’ to gain 9 power. Given the previous row is ‘+4’ for 8 power, this appears to be wrong.
Blood Sacrifice – seems very inefficient, but pretty cool.
‘While chaotic divine spellcasters may earn divine power from gaining congregants, a darker path is available to them’ – I’d add ‘also’ before ‘available’.
‘chaotic temple, graveyard, or other sinkhole of evil’ – How do you make a sinkhole of evil? Can it be any kind of graveyard or must it be an ‘evil’ one? What defines an ‘evil graveyard’? There’s scope here for a ‘Desecrate’ ritual…
‘dark gods’ – Just an observation here. You talk about good ‘god’, singular, but dark ‘gods’, plural on the same page. Is this deliberate or just an artefact of the writing?
Page 121
Strongholds and Domains - In the following pages there is some discussion of Hideouts and Sanctums, and the ‘Constructing a Stronghold’ text seems to be very much focused on erecting a castle or other fortified location. I’d like to see more explanation of what each type of Stronghold represents in this section rather than under each Class – What is a Fastness for example – and also I’d like to see some examples of what it costs to build a Temple, Church, Citadel (more on this below), Sanctum, etc… etc… I don’t feel that the Stronghold rules as they stand do justice to most of the classes.
Strongholds by Class Table
Bard – His stronghold name is ‘Hideout’ in the table. Should be Conservatory.
Dwarf Priest – should be Craftpriest
Dwarf Priest – The stronghold name is ‘Citadel’. Should be Vault to tie into the changes in the class section.
Dwarf Fighter – should be Vaultguard
Dwarf Fighter – The stronghold name is ‘Citadel’. Should be Vault.
Dwarf Fighter/Priest – ‘must be underground (counts as wilderness)’ – the text following the table does not state that a dwarf stronghold must be underground (nor explain why).
Elf Spellsword – ‘all animals within 3 miles of a fastness become friendly’ – there’s no explanation of what this means or does in this section. I know there’s some mention of it in the class description, but it would be useful to describe something here as well (else why have a separate section for Bards?)
Securing the domain ‘elves and dwarves must build exclusively in wilderness’ - I confess I dislike this. It puts a very humanocentric perspective on things and implies that Dwarves and Elves can’t build great empires. The core issue is that a dwarf cannot set up a dwarf domain within a reasonable distance of another dwarf domain. It’s fairly clear from other things you’ve said that this is both intentional and campaign specific. If dwarves are in decline, would they not want to band closely together? Whilst I accept it, I think you lose potential game scope. That said, I’d just houserule it away.
‘If the character simply wishes to buy civilized land’ – What is the chance that an NPC might seek to buy land from a PC?
‘For this reason most adventures will secure unclaimed borderland or wilderness domains’ – adventures should be adventurers.
Establishing a stronghold – ‘If the domain’s land revenue is very low, the adventure may decide not to proceed’ – adventure should be adventurer.
‘This structure might be a castle granted with the land, or a tunnel complex cleared of its prior inhabitants in the process of securing the domain, and so on.’ – Here, you’re putting an onus onto the Judge to know the gp value of the existing castle, dungeon or whatever the structure is. However, aside from castles and some other above ground structures, you’re not providing any real information to determine the value of, for example, dungeons. Also – if you’re writing adventure supplements / gazetteers, etc… that contain potential strongholds, then it would be valuable to include this information somewhere.
Page 122.
‘any freestanding buildings’ - Historically, many castle buildings were incorporated into the castle walls themselves http://www.townendhousebarn.co.uk/userimages/Okehampton-Castle-1.jpg How does this affect the cost?
‘The stronghold and any freestanding buildings in or around the stronghold can be built using the following tables’ - This all appears to basically assume you’re building a castle. It doesn’t cover:
How do I build Moria?
How do I build Lothlorien?
How do I build the Batcave?
Facile examples, but Dwarves cannot build aboveground, Elven Spellswords must ‘blend seamlessly’ with nature, and Batman is… well he’s the goddam Batman! The rules should include underground construction, elven woodcraft, and so on, so that Dwarf players can build their Vaults, etc.
Civilian Structure Costs – Does the 10,000gp required for investment in creating an urban settlement use this information as the basis for that cost? If so, what is assumed to be built for the money?
I’d also like to see somewhere the minimum appropriate structure for a temple, church, etc… Or figures for ‘Basic Chapel’, ‘Small Church’, Medium Church’, ‘Cathedral’, etc… and similar for the other stronghold types. There’s a real lack of information for non-castle builders.
Page 123.
‘In addition to the building costs, the adventurer will need to hire at least one engineer’ – It would be valuable here to provide the cost of the engineer without making players flick back to the specialist hiring costs.
Minimum Stronghold Value – Per 1 sq. Mi - Domain Population (below) and much of the text assumes that the Domain covers a 6 mile hex. Whilst I’m very much interested in things at the 1Mi level I question whether this column is actually needed, given the assumptions elsewhere.
‘Small domains in civilised realms can be controlled with a stone home or tower’ - A small tower provides enough control for a 6 mile hex, I don’t think it’s a great example if ‘Small Domain’ is defined as a 1sq. mi. one.
‘Whilst the adventurer’s stronghold is under construction, the domain around his stronghold will slowly become settled by the workers and their families.’ – How slowly is slowly? What is the rate of settlement?
Domain Population table – If you did settle a 1 mi domain, what would the starting population be?
Growing the Domain – ‘If he is unlucky, fire, disease, and emigration will decrease it’ – What about monsters? I feel there’s a big chunk of ‘game making’ stuff missing here.
Page 124.
‘If a wilderness domain ever reaches the maximum’ - The definition of Domain in this paragraph appears to have changed to be 24Mi Hex, from 6Mi Hex, used earlier. There’s potential for confusion, but I see what you’re trying to say. If there were some elegant and simple way to distinguish (in terminology) between a 6 mile hex domain and a 24 mile hex domain it would make this section so much clearer.
Page 125.
Realms and vassals – ‘An adventurer may control more than one domain.’ – Is this a 6 mile hex or a 24 mile hex?
Page 126.
Grant of Title (from table) - Surely the title is dependent upon land held and character level, as per the Demographics of Heroism and Personal Power = Political Power principles?
Titles of Nobility - This short section doesn’t fit very well here. The bigger theme is the creation and management of the PCs domain and covers a lot of mechanics and bookkeeping needed to do those activities. This bit is more narrative and informational. It would be more appropriate to come after the mechanics are finished with, or possibly in a different section
Personal Domain (families) – I’ve asked this before, but what is a personal domain exactly? How does it differ from any other domain?
Page 127.
‘There is no population growth, and an extra 4d10 families are lost to illness, casualties and immigration each month’ – Immigration should be emigration.
‘The able-bodied men (one per peasant family) become bandits’ - What about women? Is the game modelling history to the point that it holds the inherent gender bias of the real world, or is it challenging that inherent and underlying sexism (it’s a game remember, not a historical model) and tacitly accepting that men and women are just as likely to become PCs, bandits, heroes, villains, etc… etc… This isn’t a criticism, but it’s something that might be worth considering – you’ve done a fantastic job so far at avoiding ‘Stripper Sorceress’ syndrome in the art work, but it’s not just the art where other games can fall down in their treatment of the sexes.
Defiant – ‘An extra 3d10 families… are lost to … immigration’ – should be emigration.
Loyal – ‘Spies and thieves operating in the domain suffer a -1 penalty to their proficiency checks’ - This throws up an interesting issue with ‘Rogue’ types. Is the underlying assumption that the party thief is a proper rogue? What about the Realm Rulers spymaster? By making the people loyal to their King the Royal Spymaster has a harder time doing his job. Should this be ‘Spies and thieves from other Realms’? or ‘Enemy spies and thieves’? Or something else? The same is true for ‘Dedicated’, ‘Steadfast’ and ‘Stalwart’.
Page 128.
Seasonal Events table - This title makes me think that there’s a table of ‘Random Seasonal Events’ to roll on. Like a wandering monster table but for a realm. Stuff like ‘Good Weather brings bountiful harvest’ or ‘Scourge of Monsters bring chaos to the land’, etc… More complexity (another roll + mechanical effects) but more flavour and also a way of generating story hooks.
Villages, Towns, and Cities – ‘When a domain reaches its limit of growth, its ruler will normally secure an additional area of land (an adjacent 6-mile hex)’ - What about 1Sq.Mi. domains? Is there an implicit assumption that you can’t found an urban settlement in a 1sq.mi domain?
‘To found an urban settlement, the adventurer makes an initial investment of 10,000gp’ - This seems like a helluva lot of gold. What does it buy exactly? Is it possible to model a place like ‘Deadwood’ from the HBO TV series?
Page 129.
Settlement Population / Urban Revenue / Market Class table - You could leave this column out of this table at this point. It doesn’t serve a useful purpose in this section. Point people to the Mercantile Ventures section as you do in the text, and leave it at that.
Villages, Towns and Cities table – Market Class column - This column is also not really relevant at this point. The text does not refer to it and it only becomes relevant 6 pages on, at which point the table should be presented in that text, not here.
‘Like domains, all settlements have a morale score which represent’ – should be represents.
‘This translate to a 2gp increase to urban revenue’ – should be translates.
I’d also add, at the end of that paragraph ‘(1gp from Land, 1gp from Service, applied to urban income as a total of 2gp per family).’ Or something similar to show where the 2gp increase comes from.
Page 130.
‘The existence of a high level NPC lord is very helpful in preventing this’ – Paying Fealty to a high-level NPC lord is very helpful. Them simply existing, not so much.
Chaotic Domains – ‘The ruler will attract beastmen followers and families in lieu of normal men. Beastmen families will be of the weaker varieties’ - Why is it limited to the weaker varieties? Would a high level Chaotic ruler not be able to attract families of Ogres or similar powerful creatures?
Page 131
Hijinks - There are, in my view, 4 possible outcomes from engaging in Hijinks – 1.You succeed and get away, 2. you succeed but get caught, 3. you fail but get away, and 4. you fail and get caught. Now, the rules as written cover 1, 3 and 4 (1 = a successful proficiency throw, 3 = a failed proficiency throw, 4 = a natural 1). Sadly, that dramatic option of number 2 is missing. I do accept that it may be hard to model without introducing an additional proficiency throw, but it may be worth it. It also makes some of the charges make sense – see below.
Carousing – ‘Carousing includes all manner of consortium’ – should be consorting?
‘0th level characters are caught carousing on a throw of 6-‘ – should be ‘6 or less’. Also, that’s a very low roll, don’t 0 level characters roll as a 1st level character elsewhere (see Page 143.)
‘If caught, determine the charges’ - The current charges all assume that the character is caught by the watch/law enforcement. I think that failing a roll while Carousing (or performing some other hijinks) is just as, or more likely, to get the perpetrator beaten up by someone who took exception. There may even be a chance that the perp is killed and dumped somewhere – ditto for getting caught failing an assassination. Drunkeness, gambling or vandalism could easily be replaced by ‘Beaten up (lose 50% hp), Beaten bloody (lose all bar 1d4 hp) or charged with drunkenness by the authorities’, or something. I think it makes it all a bit more realistic – and dramatic. A seedy guy hanging around in seedy places is much more likely to get punched or killed than arrested – think Mos Eisley I think it’s also true for some of the other hijinks.
Page 132.
Attorney – 100gp for a rank 3 attorney feels cheap considering how much money a high level thief running a hideout will have – it’s not an effective money sink on the same level as a Mages library, workshop or laboratory.
Page 133.
‘Perpetrators work off fines at a rate of 3gp per month’ – Where does this figure come from?
‘Retribution by Crime Table’ – Cell for Lesser Punishment, Assault / Vandalism – it says ‘Whipped (as above)’ but none of the cells above have whipped as a punishment, it’s the cells in the column to the left that do. Probably better to repeat the actual effect of the whipping.
Retribution by Crime Table – Generally, there’s lots of permanent disfigurement going on here. This is great stuff except for one thing – magical healing. A thief with enough money could simply get a Cleric to ‘fix’ the perpetrator of crime and undo the scarring, or branding. It’s not enough of a punishment… though it will depend on the nature of the society. You even say that healing can be paid for on page 136.
Page 135.
Change in management – what sort of dice is used for the Change in Management table? It’s not stated anywhere (though it looks like it should be 2d6)
Managing a Criminal Guild – It would be useful to provide a page reference for the ‘Retainer Loyalty table’ where the table is referenced in this section (2nd paragraph).
Page 136.
‘Hijinks by 9th level or above characters should always be rolled’ - Dramatically, I can see why you might want to do this, by mechanically, high level characters are the most likely to succeed. Does it not make more sense to roll for low level characters?
Sanctums and Dungeons – ‘Those who succeed become 1st level mages; those who fail leave the tower in discouragement’ – this reads awkwardly. Suggested rewrite: ‘those who fail become discouraged and leave the tower’.
At what point does an apprentice leave the PC?
‘Rather than squander their time hunting beasts for these components, many mages build dungeons’ – suggested rewrite: ‘many mages build or take over dungeons’.
Populating a Dungeon – ‘The Judge will make an encounter throw daily if the dungeon is in a wilderness domain… and monthly if in a civilised domain’ - The ‘Constructing a Dungeon’ section above says that a dungeon should be in a borderlands or wilderness domain in order to attract monsters – implying that ‘civilized dungeons’ don’t attract them.
Page 137.
‘For instance, a mage might offer 215gp per ogre skull’ – Where does this figure come from?
Peasants and Dungeons - What if you want to be a solitary wizard? Can you refuse to let peasants settle near you?
‘To keep his peasants secure…’ - I’ve not run any numbers, but on top of everything else a mage needs to pay out for this feels like a heck of a lot of gold.
‘Determine Market Characteristics’ - I’d put the Market Class table information in this section where it’s relevant and actually needed for the first time.
‘Each domain … generally has its own separate market.’ - More accurately, is this not each Settlement within a Domain? Also, a domain of only hamlets has its market at the stronghold. This should be mentioned here too.
‘The vast mercantile hubs of empires, with urban populations of 100,000 or more’ - You’ve shifted the terminology here from families to inhabitants. It would be more internally consistent to only use one of the two.
‘Small cities and large towns of 3,000 to 8,000 inhabitants make up Class IV. Small towns and large villages of 1,000 to 3,000 inhabitants are Class V. Any village smaller than 1,000 inhabitants is Class VI’ - According to the table earlier, this isn’t true. A settlement of 475-1250 people is Class VI and a settlement of 1255-3125 people is class V.
‘Any village smaller than 1,000 inhabitants is Class V’ – should be Class VI.
‘See Generating Demand Modifiers, below’ – The information this refers to is in Section 10. That’s quite a long way ‘below’. Probably better to refer to the actual section (or page number).
Page 138.
‘Each merchant will buy and sell only one type of merchandise’ - Why is this? I can see that there are likely to be specialists who trade in specific goods, but are there not also going to be other (foreign) merchants who will buy up a selection of goods that they know they can transport back home and sell at a bigger combined profit that a single good? I don’t know the historical precedents for any of this but it feels like specialism and generalism are equally viable.
‘Roll on the Common Merchandise table to see the merchandise each merchant is interested in buying and selling’ - This sentence is at odds with the following paragraph and the example. At no point does Farlaghn determine which merchandise each of the 7 merchants are interested in. He just makes the proficiency roll to see if they want to trade with him.
‘If the adventurers are trying to buy or sell a particular type of merchandise, a proficiency throw of 17+ is required’ – which proficiency is this? Also, it seems very difficult, and not modified by Charisma? Would a Reaction Roll not suffice?
Page 139.
‘Once the nature of a load of merchandise has been determined, its market price must be calculated’ - Why do you need to determine the nature of a load of merchandise? If you’re selling you already know what it is you have, if you’re buying you know what you’re looking for. This doesn’t make sense to me.
‘Different merchants in the same market will not buy and sell the same type of goods at different prices’ - A merchant from a hot country visiting the market may buy, say, silk at a much higher price than one from the frozen north – even if they are both interested in the same goods? Is this for simplicity?
‘To determine market price… Roll 4d4’ – This feels quite swingy. How does it work in practice?
Passenger and Cargo Transport - Essentially, the passenger rules are the difference between Chartering your caravan/ship and buying a ticket to travel to wherever it is going. That’s not very clear in the rules. I’d also say that a ‘ticket’ passenger may not just want to go to the closest market … along the way’, but perhaps they want to go all the way to their destination, or somewhere else en route. Obviously this all adds complexity but if you’re more interested in using passengers to generate story than gp then it may be more interesting.
‘If an adventure is operating a vessel or caravan’ – should be adventurer.
‘Passengers will not accept transport from adventures they deem untrustworthy’ – should be adventurers.
‘The adventure must make a Reaction Roll for each passenger’ – Should be adventurer.
Page 140.
Like passengers, shippers will not accept transport from adventures they deem untrustworthy’ – should be adventurers.
‘A Reaction Roll of 9+ is required to secure each shipping contract’ – you’re using Reaction Roll instead of Proficiency Throw here, which is interesting.
‘The Judge may roll on the Common Merchandise table to determine the precise weight of the cargo to be shipped, or simply assume it is a mixed shipment weighing 70 stones per load’ - If a merchant will only buy or sell a single type of good how can a mixed shipment arise? (The obvious answer to me is that merchants deal in multiple goods, but…)
‘Adventures will be expected to offer free passage for one merchant representative who takes care of the goods and tax payments’ – Should be Adventurer.
Page 143.
‘They are treated as if they had a Gp Threshold of 25gp.’ – should that be ‘gp’ threshold?
‘In most cases, the only hijink available to 0th level characters is carousing (Hear Noises 18+)’ - This needs to be added earlier in this section, or changed, as a 0th level character is assumed to be caught on a 6 or less…
‘Successfully carousing will advance the 0th level character to a 1st level assassin, bard, or thief’ – is there something missing from this sentence?
Section 10: Secrets
Page 242.
‘The Judge does not need to chart the entire planet’ – Perhaps ‘world’ is better, as it doesn’t imply celestial body. After all, the world could be a cube, a plane, or some other strange shape that isn’t a ‘planet’.
‘If desired, each of these vassal realm can also be created’ – should be realms.
‘Using the recommended two maps…encompass a huge empires’ – should be empire.
Page 243.
Realms by Type Table – several of the number progressions in the cells overlap or don’t intersect. For example, Realm Size, Empire and Kingdom both have 115,000 in the ranges. The range for Empire should start at 115,001, perhaps. And, same column, Kingdom and Principality. Kingdom starts at 19,000, Principality ends at 18,500, leaving a gap of 500 square miles. There are about 7 instances of this in the table.
Political Divisions of Realms table – The figures for the number of Baronies and Manors in an Empire and Kingdom may be incorrect. In 3 cases the number 21,600/21,601 is used. In the previous table the number 24,000 is used – the two are not compatible. Which is the correct figure?
EXAMPLE – I have problems with the math used in the example. It’s probably because Alex is using very specific formula for his calculations. However, using ‘obvious’ maths I can’t make things add up. This makes my head hurt and it makes it harder to understand the relationships between the realm levels, and I think it undermines the tables. For example – the vast imperium covers 680 hexes and 5.6million families. This is divided into 5 exarchates each with 1.1 million families and 210 hexes. 680 hexes divided by 5 exarchates is 136 Hexes, not 210, and 5.6/1.1 million leaves 100,000 families left over. Each Exarchate is assumed to be divided into 6 prefectures of 37 hexes. 210/6 is 35 (and 680 / 30 is 22.666, so it’s even further out). The example suggests that all of the subdivisions are of equal size and population (for simplicity, presumably), and I’m not so naive as to think this is realistic except as an artefact of game design, however, the figures simply don’t add up as presented.
Revenue by Realm type table – The number continuum in the ‘Realm population’ column suffers from the same overlap issues.
Revenue by Realm type table – Rulers Personal Domain column is repeated twice.
Page 244.
‘The Revenue by Realm Type table assumes that at each tier of nobility, the nobles have 4-6 vassals of the next tier below them’ – This doesn’t hold for the figures in the tables as far as I can see. The most obvious example of this is the ‘Political Division of Realms’ table. If, per the text, we assume that an Empire can be split into 4-6 vassal kingdoms, and each kingdom split into 4-6 vassal principalities and so on, then none of the figures presented are correct. The kingdom split should be 4-6 instead of 2-5. The Principality split should be 16-36, Duchy split is 64-216, etc… etc… I’m really sorry, but applying ‘common sense’ to the data makes it crumble. Please help me make it make sense!
Page 245.
Villages, Towns and Cities placement – The Largest Settlement column has 2 entries for Village, 3 for ‘large city’ and none for ‘small city’. This does look deliberate because of the jumps in Monthly Revenue, but it jars slightly – particularly the absence of small city from the list.
‘His realm is divided up into 5 vassal reams’ – should be realms.
‘His realm is divided up into 5 vassal realms, each ruled by a prefect with a population of 120,000 peasant families’ - In this calculation, the ‘Personal Domain’ of Lazar hasn’t been subtracted before dividing the realm into vassal realms. Is this how it should work, or an oversight? If an oversight, the actual vassal realm population is 117,500 families. Alternatively, are you simplifying because it makes the example easier to understand? (I’d argue that it doesn’t necessarily, because I‘m working the figures.)
‘The total urban population is 50,000’ - This is higher than the max end of the Urban Population band given in the table for a settlement of that size, by 25%.
‘around one-third of the realm’s urban population lives in its largest settlement.’ - In the previous example, 22% of the population lives in the largest city in Southern Argolle. Is this close enough to 33% to count? To me, it’s 11% out, that’s a third of the third – enough to be statistically relevant and make the example not work.
‘Column Shift’ - The first four or five times I read this table I managed to miss the fact that there are two different columns being shifted. To avoid confusing idiots like me, could this be split into two tables to make the differences more obvious?
‘If the Judge increases the size of the Largest Settlement, it will generally mean that the other urban communities must be adjusted in size in the opposite direction, and will be smaller.’ - Could it also mean that there are less people living in urban settlements? Your ‘Dispersed Settlement pattern’ and ‘Agrarian, pastoral realm’ types could both indicate an overall lower urban population, rather than the same urban population with less of a pyramid of settlements.
Page 246.
‘Since Achea is a city state’ - ‘And therefore has a centralized settlement pattern’ – might be a useful addition here to provide context for the table above.
‘Rolling on the Common Merchandise table, he a 94, directing him to the Precious Merchandise table’ – should be ‘he rolls a 94’
Page 247.
Determine Trade Routes – EXAMPLE – in the example, presumably the castle is within the citys range of trade, even though the city isn’t within the castles.
Page 249.
‘The next step is to begin to populate the settings’ – should be setting.
‘The NPC Frequency and Domains table shows the frequency of leveled characters per person and the likely realm such a character might control’ – The frequency of characters per person bit reads clumsily. Perhaps ‘per proportion of population’ or something. I can’t think of an elegant way of putting it atm.
Page 251.
‘It will one or more churches for prominent religions’ – missing ‘have’ after ‘It will’.
Starting Cities table – the # of Fighters, etc… on the first row of the table has got a dash after it. Not sure they are needed.
Page 252.
‘Where this is done, highest boss level, monthly syndicate revenue, and monthly guild revenue should based on the guild membership of each guild, rather than the market class of the settlement’ – missing ‘be’ after ‘guild revenue should’.
Rescue Missions – ‘The characters may hired’ – missing ‘be’ after may.
Page 254.
Arrow Trap – attacks as a 1st level fighter. Given that every class attacks the same at 1st level, is there some significance to it attacking as a fighter?
Spiked Pit Trap – Suggested rewrite - As a camouflaged pit trap, but adventurers also fall on 1d4 spikes, each dealing 1d6 damage in addition to the usual falling damage.
Page 258.
Flyer subtable - Why is Lammasu bolded in the table?
Swimmer Subtable – Why is Termite, Water bolded in the table?
Other Subtable – Why is Lamia bolded?
NPC Parties – ‘Begin by establishing the number encountered rolling 1d4+4’ – Missing ‘by’ after encountered. Also, does this make some assumption about the typical size of a PC adventuring party? Is it a holdover from Moldvay/Cook or some other edition? Interested in the logic behind this choice
Page 259.
‘When NPCs are encountered in a wilderness, their base level will be equal to the ½ the maximum levels of the nearest dungeon’ – Should ‘maximum levels’ be ‘maximum level’.
Page 260.
‘Characters must save within 2d6 months of reaching the following ages’ - Bizarrely, I think 1d12 would be more appropriate in this case as otherwise no-one would ever die up to 1 month after their birthday. It would always be, xx years and 2 months at least.
Ok, I think I’m done for the time being. I’m not sure I have the mental fortitude to tackle Treasure, Monsters or Spells before the next version is out (or possibly ever…). I haven’t put this much effort into a reading a rulebook in about 15 years.
Magic Research Table – what does the asterisk mean on levels 0 to 4?
APM: They mean that up until 4th level, spellcasters cannot engage in magic research independently.
‘An unmodified die roll of 1-3 is always a failure when conducting magical research, however’ – So there’s always a 15% chance of failure when conducting research. That seems high, considering the potential losses in terms of gold and precious resources. If you approach research from a ‘business’ perspective, the costs for an magical endeavour – when performed for someone else (i.e. as a service) – should be at least 15% higher to account for the chance of losing any given project.
APM: It is high. It’s meant to keep magic a craft and art, rather than something that’s easily industrialized.
‘Spell research costs 1,000gp and takes two weeks of research per level of the spell’ – Just a note for clarification here – that means 1000gp per level and 2 weeks per level yes? So a 2nd level spell is 4 weeks and 2000gp.
APM: Yes, 1000gp per level.
‘Spell research can also identify the properties of a magic item’ – Before I’d read the Proficiencies section, I’d read this and boggled slightly. It makes more sense now, in the context of Alchemy and Magical Engineering. However, it would be useful to pop a reference to those two proficiencies here just to note that they can be used for potions and ‘common’ items – though this method may still be needed to determine command words and such.
APM: OK.
‘A mage or other arcane caster can only research a spell if he can still learn spells of that level’ – Can you choose to ‘forget’ a spell in order to research a new one, in the same way as learning a new spell for which you have the formula?
APM: Yes
‘A divine spellcaster may only make items usable by his class’ – This is interesting. No divine items can be used by another class. So, no Holy Avenger paladinic blades or other items ‘blessed by the church’ and passed onto worthy followers. What influenced this decision not to allow items to be used by followers of the same faith, even?
APM: I don’t mean for the language to convey what you’re reading. My intent is that, e.g., a Bladedancer can make a magic sword, because bladedancers can use swords. A cleric can make magic plate armor, because clerics can wear plate armor. Etc.
Assistants – does this mean multiple items can be worked on at once, in parallel?
APM: Yes
Learning a Ritual Spell – again to clarify – 1,000gp per level?
APM: Yes
Casting a ritual spell – costs 500gp. Is that per level?
APM: Yes
‘takes one week per spell level’ – Whilst I see the appeal in having mighty magics take an age to cast, this seems to be impractical. In some cases I don’t think it works at all. Can a mage take breaks during the casting? Can they sleep? Eat? Go to the bathroom? How many hours a day do they need to spend on the spell?
APM: It is assumed to be 8 hours per day, but with restrictions that prevent ‘cramming’, i.e. certain magics can only be worked from sun-up to sun-down, etc. They can eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom.
Harvest - This is a great ritual spell. I can see the value of this as a long-duration cast. Though, if the casting is 500gp per level, then it costs 3000gp to cast. In which case the domain needs to hold more than 1500 families in order to turn a profit – more if you need to recoup the costs of Learning the spell in the first place (500 or 3000 additional families). Worst case is you need a population of 4501 families to turn a profit in the first year. It should also significantly increase the Morale in the Domain.
APM: Yes, you need a large domain for it to be worthwhile. That’s by design. Good point on morale.
Resurrection - 7 weeks to resurrect a body seems balanced. 3500gp to cast also feels right – I note there’s no information about how much it might cost a PC party to buy a spell like this in Section 5.
APM: No, I’ve left that to the Gm to determine. I don’t think ritual magic would be so widespread as to be commercially available on a standard basis.
Destruction – Ok, here’s my first big wtf moment. This spell makes a very poor ritual. A mage needs to spend 7 weeks in a workshop and 3500gp to perform a ritual in order to touch and instantly slay a person. Is that person expected to be waiting for the mage next door? My recommendation would be to abandon this entirely – or at least significantly rewrite it. In its place I suggest the reverse of Resurrection is ‘Gift of Unlife’ and forms the core of the overall ritual by which a high level caster can turn themselves into a powerful undead creature. It’s thematically in keeping with both the long casting duration and as an opposite to ‘bringing the dead back to life’.
APM: The mage is expected to put the ritual onto a scroll or into a ring, or something.
I need to make more explicit the fact that casting a ritual spell is IDENTICAL to creating a one-use magic item with the spell in it.
Phase Door - As with Destruction, I see no value in this as a ritual spell. 7 weeks to allow you to pass through a 10 foot wall – inside your workshop. Seriously?
APM: As above.
Wish – Ok, here’s a case where I think the examples given don’t gel with the mechanics you’ve put in place. Wish as a Ritual is spot on, and for play balance I can entirely see the value of a 9 week to cast wish ritual. Healing an entire army of damage however seems unlikely. The timing would have to be perfect – the caster would have to know there would be an army, that it would be damaged, etc… etc… 9 weeks ahead of time.
APM: As above, most mages would place it into an item for later use.
Other Rituals – I’d like to see ritual spells for things like calling down a plague of undeath upon a domain, changing terrain features, warping time and space, summoning gods or elder beings from beyond the stars, setting a magical aura upon a location so that it is forever magical in some way (See Regios in Ars Magica), blotting out the sun over an area, and so on… I know I can just write up whatever I want for these, but more rituals (and more appropriate rituals) would be great.
APM: We only have space to give a sample, I’m afraid, but doubtless enterprising Judges will come up with many awesome rituals!
‘If the more intelligent progenitor was an intelligent and willing participant in the crossbreeding’ - Given the progenitors are killed during the crossbreeding process, I struggle to envisage a scenario where anyone is going to be a willing participant in their own death without some form of magical coercion. Is this intentional?
APM: It’s left to the Judge to determine whether the new creature remembers its prior existence. I’ve generally ruled that if you crossbreed an intelligent progenitor with an unintelligent creature, the crossbreed retains its memory of its prior self and life.
Necromancy - Missing: How do you make Yourself Undead. Though see my comment about Resurrection above.
APM: You complete the ritual and kill yourself as the last part of it.
Also. How would a necromancer create a non-intelligent undead other than a Skeleton or a Zombie. I.e. How can you make a Ghoul, Wight, etc…?
APM: Ghouls and wights are intelligent undead and created with necromancy.
Congregations – ‘Every fifty congregants earns the caster’ - So far, virtually every other mechanic I’ve come across is based on ‘Families’ or peasants rather than individuals. For consistency, should this mechanic mirror that? Too many different systems overcomplicates things.
APM: Good point. I’ll take a second look.
‘earns the caster up to 10gp worth of divine power’ – How do you get 10gp? The table on the next page only goes up to 9gp, and I think that’s a mistake anyway.
APM: I’ll have to doublecheck if it’s a mistake…
‘A divine spellcaster’s party members, retainers and followers usually form the core of his congregants’ - I think this is a huge assumption about the party being of the same faith. I don’t think I’ve ever played a fantasy rpg where this is true. It might work if the Cleric is a priest of a given Pantheon, but even then I think it stretches how a party really works.
APM: I assure you that once there is a game mechanical benefit to being of the Cleric’s faith, the party members will quickly convert to the Cleric’s faith. It’s actually kind of…wonderful… watching it happen, as the Cleric PC has, for the first time ever, an actual incentive to convert the party to his religion!
‘The monthly cost of maintaining a congregation is equal to 0.5% of the gp value expended to create it’ - This feels clumsy and difficult to manage. My interpretation is that a PC has to pay 0.5% of the total GP value of the congregation – so it becomes even more important to manage the Total Outlay on the congregation, and not just the current months. Why not make it a flat cost per X families or congregants (as you’ve done with settlement maintenance)? It’s much more straight forward.
APM: It’s based off the same mechanic as the Stronghold (0.5%)…
Blood Sacrifice – seems very inefficient, but pretty cool.
APM: Well, if you’re an evil overlord what else are you going to do with hapless thousands of captives?! You’re taking advantage of a sunk cost…
‘chaotic temple, graveyard, or other sinkhole of evil’ – How do you make a sinkhole of evil? Can it be any kind of graveyard or must it be an ‘evil’ one? What defines an ‘evil graveyard’? There’s scope here for a ‘Desecrate’ ritual…
APM: I have rules for Sinkholes of Evil but they haven’t been included in the core rules yet. I’m not sure if we’ll have space…
‘dark gods’ – Just an observation here. You talk about good ‘god’, singular, but dark ‘gods’, plural on the same page. Is this deliberate or just an artefact of the writing?
APM: Just an artifact of my writing style. It is true that in the Auran Empire people tend to worship one god, whereas cultists tend to support a variety of evil gods. (Also I updated Cleric to say that you could have a god or religion, making it clear a cleric can be a pantheonic cleric).
Securing the domain ‘elves and dwarves must build exclusively in wilderness’ - I confess I dislike this. It puts a very humanocentric perspective on things and implies that Dwarves and Elves can’t build great empires. The core issue is that a dwarf cannot set up a dwarf domain within a reasonable distance of another dwarf domain. It’s fairly clear from other things you’ve said that this is both intentional and campaign specific. If dwarves are in decline, would they not want to band closely together? Whilst I accept it, I think you lose potential game scope. That said, I’d just houserule it away.
APM: I understand your concerns. On the other hand, the idea of an elven “fastness” or dwarven “vault” in the middle of a prosperous human kingdom strikes me as ludicrous.
‘This structure might be a castle granted with the land, or a tunnel complex cleared of its prior inhabitants in the process of securing the domain, and so on.’ – Here, you’re putting an onus onto the Judge to know the gp value of the existing castle, dungeon or whatever the structure is. However, aside from castles and some other above ground structures, you’re not providing any real information to determine the value of, for example, dungeons.
APM: I’m afraid I don’t agree… I was able to calculate the cost of Quasqueton, for instance, using the data in ACKS. Others have worked out the cost of Castle Ravenloft, among other things.
Also – if you’re writing adventure supplements / gazetteers, etc… that contain potential strongholds, then it would be valuable to include this information somewhere.
APM: Good idea
‘any freestanding buildings’ - Historically, many castle buildings were incorporated into the castle walls themselves http://www.townendhousebarn.co.uk/userimages/Okehampton-Castle-1.jpg How does this affect the cost?
APM: I don’t think it really does…
How do I build Moria?
How do I build Lothlorien?
How do I build the Batcave?
Facile examples, but Dwarves cannot build aboveground, Elven Spellswords must ‘blend seamlessly’ with nature, and Batman is… well he’s the goddam Batman! The rules should include underground construction, elven woodcraft, and so on, so that Dwarf players can build their Vaults, etc.
APM: There are prices listed for excavation. What other things would you like to see?
Civilian Structure Costs – Does the 10,000gp required for investment in creating an urban settlement use this information as the basis for that cost? If so, what is assumed to be built for the money?
APM: It’s purposefully left abstract.
Minimum Stronghold Value – Per 1 sq. Mi - Domain Population (below) and much of the text assumes that the Domain covers a 6 mile hex. Whilst I’m very much interested in things at the 1Mi level I question whether this column is actually needed, given the assumptions elsewhere.
APM: Specifically added in at the requests of some other backers.
Realms and vassals – ‘An adventurer may control more than one domain.’ – Is this a 6 mile hex or a 24 mile hex?
APM: Hmm. It’s supposed to work like this: A “domain” is a contiguous landholding secured by a stronghold. A domain can be as large as a 24-mile hex. A “realm” is a network of “domains”. A “personal domain” is the domain in a realm that is ruled by the realm’s ruler.
APM: For example, Duke Alfred has a Realm with 12 Domains. The largest Domain, Alfredia, fills an entire 24-mile hex. The other 11 Domains range in size from 24-mile hex down to just a portion of a 6-mile hex. Alfredia is Duke Alfred’s personal domain. The other 11 Domains he has assigned to vassals and sub-vassals.
‘The able-bodied men (one per peasant family) become bandits’ - What about women? Is the game modelling history to the point that it holds the inherent gender bias of the real world, or is it challenging that inherent and underlying sexism (it’s a game remember, not a historical model) and tacitly accepting that men and women are just as likely to become PCs, bandits, heroes, villains, etc… etc… This isn’t a criticism, but it’s something that might be worth considering – you’ve done a fantastic job so far at avoiding ‘Stripper Sorceress’ syndrome in the art work, but it’s not just the art where other games can fall down in their treatment of the sexes.
APM: I’ve covered this at length in the forums. I’ll reiterate the answer here. ACKS assumes that the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid is filled with peasants who largely toil in gender specific roles, with women of necessity devoted to childbearing in order to maintain the labor poolACKS assumes that the merchants, nobility, military, priesthood, and mages in society are egalitarian with respect to gender, and that specific orders and institutions exist as outlets for high-caliber young people to advance in these positions.
To understand how I reached these demographic assumptions:
- In pre-industrial societies, death rates are high, and need for labor is great. Women must be oriented towards childbearing or the society will demographically collapse.
- In societies with gender equality, birth rates invariably plummet because free women with career opportunities prefer not to spend their lives childbearing.
- If magic is so common that it replaces technology and creates industrial-like societies, the labor pool could be smaller and infant mortality substantially lower, so this could alter the demographic implications. This is not the case, however, for the commoners in ACKS. Only the rich and noble have access to sufficient magic that they could overcome the constraints of labor and illness. As a result historical norms will largely apply to the agricultural commoners.
- In pre-industrial societies, men tend to gain political power because both labor and military might are dependent on physical strength, which men have more of (and perhaps also because men tend to be more competitive and power-hungry than women due to the effects of testosterone, but let’s assume ACKS women are equally ruthless!)
- If magic is common enough that it is useful in war and politics, possession of it can guarantee power regardless of their physical strength or lack thereof. This is assumed to be the case in ACKS.
- Therefore, power in the middle and upper stratas is likely to be far more evenly distributed in an ACKS setting than it has been in any historical society.
- There will be some trickle-down from above such that women are unlikely to be anywhere as oppressed and degraded as they have been during history’s worst periods (except in vile societies such as, e.g., beastmen).
From these thoughts, I designed the Auran Empire as follows: - It is politically and economically egalitarian with regard to gender for those that have political and economic power. It is stratified on the basis of wealth and class (noble, armiger, commoner, or indentured).
- The middle and upper professions are assumed to be made up of a mix of genders. The agricultural masses are assumed to be largely stratified by gender roles with regard to labor out of necessity, although not necessarily patriarchal in politics.
- Because women with options pursue those options, the middle and upper classes are assumed to have a lower birth rate than the lower classes, partly but not entirely made up by magical healing (e.g. modern Europe still has a lower birth rate than developing countries). As a result, there are provisions for social mobility to allow the lower classes to move up to maintain the army, priesthood, etc.
So the Auran Empire setting is definitely more egalitarian than, e.g., the historical Roman Empire, or JRR Tolkien, R Scott Bakker or George RR Martin’s worlds, but it is not as egalitarian as modern liberal democracy. . I hope that makes sense and answers your question.
Loyal – ‘Spies and thieves operating in the domain suffer a -1 penalty to their proficiency checks’ - This throws up an interesting issue with ‘Rogue’ types. Is the underlying assumption that the party thief is a proper rogue? What about the Realm Rulers spymaster? By making the people loyal to their King the Royal Spymaster has a harder time doing his job. Should this be ‘Spies and thieves from other Realms’? or ‘Enemy spies and thieves’? Or something else? The same is true for ‘Dedicated’, ‘Steadfast’ and ‘Stalwart’.
APM: It should be spies and thieves from other realms, yes.
Seasonal Events table - This title makes me think that there’s a table of ‘Random Seasonal Events’ to roll on. Like a wandering monster table but for a realm. Stuff like ‘Good Weather brings bountiful harvest’ or ‘Scourge of Monsters bring chaos to the land’, etc… More complexity (another roll + mechanical effects) but more flavour and also a way of generating story hooks.
APM: This is stuff we’re envisioning for supplements, where for each region of the Auran Empire we can have different tables.
Villages, Towns, and Cities – ‘When a domain reaches its limit of growth, its ruler will normally secure an additional area of land (an adjacent 6-mile hex)’ - What about 1Sq.Mi. domains? Is there an implicit assumption that you can’t found an urban settlement in a 1sq.mi domain?
‘To found an urban settlement, the adventurer makes an initial investment of 10,000gp’ - This seems like a helluva lot of gold. What does it buy exactly? Is it possible to model a place like ‘Deadwood’ from the HBO TV series?
APM: I’ve not seen the TV show Deadwood, so I don’t really know how to answer that. If its your typical western movie town, I reckon that Deadwood is probably a Class VI hamlet within the domain, not even large enough to count as a distinct urban settlement, really.
Chaotic Domains – ‘The ruler will attract beastmen followers and families in lieu of normal men. Beastmen families will be of the weaker varieties’ - Why is it limited to the weaker varieties? Would a high level Chaotic ruler not be able to attract families of Ogres or similar powerful creatures?
APM: It is meant to suggest anything other than there are no “ogre nations” in ACKS. Only the weaker varieties of beastmen exist in sufficient numbers to build domains with them.
Carousing – ‘Carousing includes all manner of consortium’ – should be consorting?
APM: Consortium is the correct word, albeit archaic. In law, “consortium”, as in “loss of consortium,” refers to sex. A lawsuit for “loss of consortium” is a lawsuit for being deprived of sex, for instance, if an assailant breaks your husband’s back and he is rendered impotent.
‘Perpetrators work off fines at a rate of 3gp per month’ – Where does this figure come from?
APM: If you refer to the Proficiencies section, under Labor, “the character is highly proficient at a particular type of physical labor, such as bricklaying, farming, mining, or stonecutting. The character can make his living off his labors, earning 3-12gp per month.” Indentured laborers are assumed to be getting the worst possible value for their labor, 3gp per month. 3gp is subsistence level for serfs and unskilled labor in ACKS.
‘Hijinks by 9th level or above characters should always be rolled’ - Dramatically, I can see why you might want to do this, by mechanically, high level characters are the most likely to succeed. Does it not make more sense to roll for low level characters?
APM: You’ll have way, way, way more low level characters. Low level characters are also fungible. If your level 1 ruffian dies, you can hire another one. If your level 9 thief dies, man, that’s tough to overcome. Since the stakes are higher and the numbers are lower, we recommend rolling.
At what point does an apprentice leave the PC?
APM: He’d only leave if he failed a Loyalty test. He’ll make a loyalty test each time he levels.
‘For instance, a mage might offer 215gp per ogre skull’ – Where does this figure come from?
APM: It WAS the XP value of an ogre, but Tavis revised all the XP values. This ## needs to become 140gp.
Peasants and Dungeons - What if you want to be a solitary wizard? Can you refuse to let peasants settle near you?
APM: Sure. Don’t pay for a garrison, keep your tower secret, don’t secure the area of wandering monsters, there are tons of ways to do that!
‘Each merchant will buy and sell only one type of merchandise’ - Why is this? I can see that there are likely to be specialists who trade in specific goods, but are there not also going to be other (foreign) merchants who will buy up a selection of goods that they know they can transport back home and sell at a bigger combined profit that a single good? I don’t know the historical precedents for any of this but it feels like specialism and generalism are equally viable.
APM: It’s just a mechanical device to randomy determine the volume of buying and selling. You can explain it as each merchant is looking to buy or sell one type of merchandise at that moment. Within the world, it might actually be the same merchant buying or selling several different types of merchandise, but that’s modeled the same way.
Different merchants in the same market will not buy and sell the same type of goods at different prices’ - A merchant from a hot country visiting the market may buy, say, silk at a much higher price than one from the frozen north – even if they are both interested in the same goods? Is this for simplicity?
APM: It represents the idea that there’s market efficiency that creates a market price for each commodity. The players are not assumed to be the only traders in town, and are not assumed to have sufficient “market power” to be able to price discriminate. It’s my opinion that this is a necessity for a tabletop RPG economy simulator, because otherwise the players can easily exploit the game.
‘To determine market price… Roll 4d4’ – This feels quite swingy. How does it work in practice?
APM: 4d4 is not actually very swingy at all. A full 72% of results are within 8-12 (80-120% of normal price) and 49% are 9-11 (90-110%).
EXAMPLE – I have problems with the math used in the example. It’s probably because Alex is using very specific formula for his calculations. However, using ‘obvious’ maths I can’t make things add up. This makes my head hurt and it makes it harder to understand the relationships between the realm levels, and I think it undermines the tables. For example – the vast imperium covers 680 hexes and 5.6million families. This is divided into 5 exarchates each with 1.1 million families and 210 hexes. 680 hexes divided by 5 exarchates is 136 Hexes, not 210, and 5.6/1.1 million leaves 100,000 families left over. Each Exarchate is assumed to be divided into 6 prefectures of 37 hexes. 210/6 is 35 (and 680 / 30 is 22.666, so it’s even further out). The example suggests that all of the subdivisions are of equal size and population (for simplicity, presumably), and I’m not so naive as to think this is realistic except as an artefact of game design, however, the figures simply don’t add up as presented.
APM: For these and your other extensive comments I will have to review and determine if the problem lies in a math error or in the way I’m extrapolating from the spreadsheet or the way I’m presenting the data.
Arrow Trap – attacks as a 1st level fighter. Given that every class attacks the same at 1st level, is there some significance to it attacking as a fighter?
APM: Fighters do +1 damage
Flyer subtable - Why is Lammasu bolded in the table?
APM: I had forgotten to add Lammasus to the monster list, and this was to remind me!
Swimmer Subtable – Why is Termite, Water bolded in the table?
APM: Same reason as for Lammasu, although Tavis Allison has persuaded me that Water Termites don’t need to go into the core rules.
Other Subtable – Why is Lamia bolded?
APM: Same reason as for Lammasu
NPC Parties – ‘Begin by establishing the number encountered rolling 1d4+4’ – Missing ‘by’ after encountered. Also, does this make some assumption about the typical size of a PC adventuring party? Is it a holdover from Moldvay/Cook or some other edition? Interested in the logic behind this choice
APM: It assumes typical parties are 5-8 people, which has been what we’ve playtested ACKS with and seems like the survivable total.
‘Characters must save within 2d6 months of reaching the following ages’ - Bizarrely, I think 1d12 would be more appropriate in this case as otherwise no-one would ever die up to 1 month after their birthday. It would always be, xx years and 2 months at least.
APM: We didn’t want to kill anybody on their birthday. Just kidding. Good point.
‘The monthly cost of maintaining a congregation is equal to 0.5% of the gp value expended to create it’ - This feels clumsy and difficult to manage. My interpretation is that a PC has to pay 0.5% of the total GP value of the congregation – so it becomes even more important to manage the Total Outlay on the congregation, and not just the current months. Why not make it a flat cost per X families or congregants (as you’ve done with settlement maintenance)? It’s much more straight forward.
APM: After consideration and a bit of math, I concluded you were right on this point. The basic math is 5 congregants per 1,000gp, with a fee of 0.5% of total cost. We can avoid having to track the running cost by eliminating this and making it 1gp per congregant per month. Great feedback, thank you!
‘Roll on the Common Merchandise table to see the merchandise each merchant is interested in buying and selling’ - This sentence is at odds with the following paragraph and the example. At no point does Farlaghn determine which merchandise each of the 7 merchants are interested in. He just makes the proficiency roll to see if they want to trade with him.
APM: This has been clarified.
EXAMPLE: Farlaghn leads a caravan into Arganos, a Class III market. There are 7 merchants available. 4 merchants express interest in doing business in the first week his caravan is in town. 2 more merchants become interested in doing business in the second week. The last merchant becomes interested in the third week. As Arganos is a class III market, each of these merchants will buy up to 3d4 loads of merchandise. What exactly they want to buy or sell has not yet been determined.
‘If the adventurers are trying to buy or sell a particular type of merchandise, a proficiency throw of 17+ is required’ – which proficiency is this? Also, it seems very difficult, and not modified by Charisma? Would a Reaction Roll not suffice?
APM: This is a good recommendation.
If the adventurers are trying to buy or sell a particular type of merchandise, a reaction roll of 9+ is required to persuade a merchant to transact in a particular type of Common Merchandise, or 12+ for Precious Merchandise. Add the demand modifier to the die roll when trying to find buyers of goods, and subtract it from the die roll when trying to find sellers of goods. If an adventurer has a monopoly over a particular type of merchandise, he gains a +3 on the die roll, and merchants will buy or sell twice the normal number of loads of that type from him. Only one roll per merchant is permitted, and on a failed roll, the merchant will not transact with the adventurer at all; another trader has met his needs.
Magic Research Table – what does the asterisk mean on levels 0 to 4?
(Asterisk on the MRT)APM: They mean that up until 4th level, spellcasters cannot engage in magic research independently.
James – Ok. Would be useful to include a note letting the reader know that’s what it means.
(% of magic fail)APM: It is high. It’s meant to keep magic a craft and art, rather than something that’s easily industrialized.
James – Makes sense in terms of feel. Any mage with half a brain will overcharge to cover the eventuality that the hundred thousand gold the King gave him for the Platemail of Kingly Rule just went up in smoke. Else he’s in the dungeons on an intimate date with a hot poker ;). Or maybe I’m just a cynic.
(Misreading Cleric items)APM: I don’t mean for the language to convey what you’re reading. My intent is that, e.g., a Bladedancer can make a magic sword, because bladedancers can use swords. A cleric can make magic plate armor, because clerics can wear plate armor. Etc.
James – Haha. D’oh! Suddenly that makes so much more sense. Though the holy avenger is still not viable for the ‘default’ deity (Ammonar?) is it – because clerics are limited to the blunt weapons. That’s very interesting – actually much better I think. Holy Fighters of Ammonar are still obliged to use a mace, or hammer, or whatever. Definitely better in terms of flavour.
(Rituals)APM: The mage is expected to put the ritual onto a scroll or into a ring, or something.
I need to make more explicit the fact that casting a ritual spell is IDENTICAL to creating a one-use magic item with the spell in it.
James – Yes. I think that would make every bad thought I have about rituals go away. That this was the way you envisaged rituals working didn’t even occur to be when I read the rules. Definitely something lost in translation there.
(Crossbreeding)APM: It’s left to the Judge to determine whether the new creature remembers its prior existence. I’ve generally ruled that if you crossbreed an intelligent progenitor with an unintelligent creature, the crossbreed retains its memory of its prior self and life.
James – So, you’re going to kill me. There’s a 15% chance that I’ll be dead dead dead, and an 85% chance that I’ll turn into some sort of hybrid monster, and I’ll remember my former life? This is madness We’re talking ‘The Fly’ territory here are we? If you add in something to the rules about the intelligent progenitor remembering their former life (at the Judges discretion) then it becomes slightly more appealing, but not much…
(Self-Necromanciation)APM: You complete the ritual and kill yourself as the last part of it.
James – heh. ok. I really think some reference needs to be added to say ‘btw you naughty necromancer, you are able to do this to yourself!’ There’s no hint of that in the rules as they stand.
(Cleric Conversion)APM: I assure you that once there is a game mechanical benefit to being of the Cleric’s faith, the party members will quickly convert to the Cleric’s faith. It’s actually kind of…wonderful… watching it happen, as the Cleric PC has, for the first time ever, an actual incentive to convert the party to his religion!
James - Oooh… emergent behaviour! That will be interesting to see. Is the benefit you mention in terms of accrual of divine power for making items? Is there more that I’ve missed?
APM: I have rules for Sinkholes of Evil but they haven’t been included in the core rules yet. I’m not sure if we’ll have space…
James – I noticed your change to the text. You could probably leave it out to be honest, particularly if you’re going to put more rules for Chaotic domains in a supplement. It’d be easily covered in that
(Also I updated Cleric to say that you could have a god or religion, making it clear a cleric can be a pantheonic cleric).
James – I noted that, thank you.
APM: I understand your concerns. On the other hand, the idea of an elven “fastness” or dwarven “vault” in the middle of a prosperous human kingdom strikes me as ludicrous.
James – I totally agree with the ludicrousness of that, and yes, for the purpose of building a dwarven/elven stronghold near to human lands, then saying ‘needs to be in wilderness’ makes sense. However, in the Dwarf-lands campaign world, or in Elf-world, where those nations aren’t fading, then Dwarf and Elf PCs should be clearly signposted to be able to build in Civilised or Borderlands hexes where those hexes are controlled by their own kin. The rules as written enforce the default campaign world – and don’t get me wrong, that’s fine; it’s your game and gameworld after all, but I do think you could give the demi-humans a little love here
APM: I’m afraid I don’t agree… I was able to calculate the cost of Quasqueton, for instance, using the data in ACKS. Others have worked out the cost of Castle Ravenloft, among other things.
James – Could you tell me how you worked out the cost of Quasqueton? Did you calculate the total square footage and work it out based on each 10’ cube of dungeon? How did you account for the ‘special features’ such as the kitchen, or the room of pools, or the lower cavern level?
APM: There are prices listed for excavation. What other things would you like to see?
James – is the excavation price the 500gp per 10’ cube of dungeon corridor? Ok – how about:
Costs of the various trap types listed in Chapter 10 (because any dungeon worth its salt has traps)
Costs for making a Fastness so that it ‘blends with the surrounding area’ (can a Fastness be made of stone? Must it be wood?)
Costs for caverns (pertinent if part of the mages dungeon is natural, and acquired rather than custom built)
Cost for the bridge where Gandalf fights the Balrog (Bridges are generally missing, but I could guess at 500gp/10ft)
Costs for ‘natural’ tunnels that aren’t floored with stone (slightly less than tunnel?)
Cost for massive vaulted chambers with pillars and such (excavation costs + structure of analogous size?)
Cost for stronghold built out of / around the trunk of an ancient giant tree (just use wooden structure costs and calculate per 10ft square of floorspace? No extra engineering required?)
Sorry if I appear to be being anal about this. I do feel strongly that the slant of the stronghold construction rules lean towards castle builders. It requires some interpretation to see beyond that surface layer and be able to visualise how other things can come out of the tables – you’ve shown me that it’s there, but I’m not comfortable with how obvious it is – particularly to new or inexperienced players.
Minimum Stronghold Value – Per 1 sq. Mi - Domain Population (below) and much of the text assumes that the Domain covers a 6 mile hex. Whilst I’m very much interested in things at the 1Mi level I question whether this column is actually needed, given the assumptions elsewhere.
APM: Specifically added in at the requests of some other backers
James - Ok. I think the value is obfuscated somewhat. I do think it should be there, but its like the rules are operating on 3 different levels (1Mi, 6Mi, 24Mi) and it’s not always easy to work out which is which, if in fact the specific rule element covers all 3 cases.
(Realms)APM: Hmm. It’s supposed to work like this: A “domain” is a contiguous landholding secured by a stronghold. A domain can be as large as a 24-mile hex. A “realm” is a network of “domains”. A “personal domain” is the domain in a realm that is ruled by the realm’s ruler.
James – Ok. I understand all that, but the differing levels (above) confuses my tiny brain a little bit. Maybe I just need to suck that one up.
(Gender Politics)APM: I’ve covered this at length in the forums. … I hope that makes sense and answers your question.
James - Totally makes sense, and answers the question completely. Thanks.
(Carousing) APM: Consortium is the correct word, albeit archaic. In law, “consortium”, as in “loss of consortium,” refers to sex.
James - Well, you learn something new every day!
(Hijinks)APM: You’ll have way, way, way more low level characters. Low level characters are also fungible. If your level 1 ruffian dies, you can hire another one. If your level 9 thief dies, man, that’s tough to overcome. Since the stakes are higher and the numbers are lower, we recommend rolling.
James – I guess the fungible nature of low level characters does make a difference, though there’s no mention of attrition rate in the rules. Presumably therefore attrition and recruitment are absorbed into the handwavium factors of running the syndicates.
APM: It’s just a mechanical device to randomy determine the volume of buying and selling. You can explain it as each merchant is looking to buy or sell one type of merchandise at that moment. Within the world, it might actually be the same merchant buying or selling several different types of merchandise, but that’s modeled the same way.
James – if you added the last sentence of your answer here to the rules, I think it would help clarify how the model works and make it stronger because it feels more ‘real’.
‘To determine market price… Roll 4d4’ – This feels quite swingy. How does it work in practice?
APM: 4d4 is not actually very swingy at all. A full 72% of results are within 8-12 (80-120% of normal price) and 49% are 9-11 (90-110%).
James – Fair point, I am defeated by my own laziness at looking at the probability distribution.
(Demographics)APM: For these and your other extensive comments I will have to review and determine if the problem lies in a math error or in the way I’m extrapolating from the spreadsheet or the way I’m presenting the data.
James – I would be very happy to help chew this one through…
(Trading via reaction roll)APM: This is a good recommendation.
If the adventurers are trying to buy or sell a particular type of merchandise, a reaction roll of 9+ is required to persuade a merchant to transact in a particular type of Common Merchandise, or 12+ for Precious Merchandise.
James – At the risk of undermining my own recommendation here, it might be worth considering what happens if a player rolls a 2 on the reaction roll (with no modifiers). Does the merchant actually attack the player? Or do we assume that a failed roll is a failed roll with none of the other effects of rolling a particular value on the reaction table. I like the target numbers by the way, they feel very balanced.