Hyperborean ACKS - Stone of Sakkara

General ACKS Forums Actual Play
1

I'm not big on detailed play reports, but I'm sufficiently motivitated to provide an outline frome my campaign (mostly to brag)...

I ran the Sinister Stone of Sakkara as a modified advenure in my Astonishing ACKS campaign, which used the Hyperborea campaign world from North Wind Adventures.

In general, Hyperborean menaces were subsituted for the common ACKS antagonists. I replaced kobolds with Bird-Men, goblins with Ape-Men, and hobgoblins with Vhuurmis.  This meant that the overall PC power level needed to be  bumped up a bit; to about 2nd-4th lvl.

Here's a summary of our game sessions:

1 - Fall of Calford (19-Aug-15 via Skype): Kickoff session and character funnel. (See full session report.)
1.a - Journey to Türas Tem (via email to 31-Aug-15): Overland travel.
2 - Fort Türas and Environs (02-Sep-15 via Hangouts): Audience with Bjorn Skullsplitter, Traveler's Inn, meeting the Dead Rabbits, and the journey back to Calford. (Refer to "Personalities of Fort Türas".)
3 - Into the Dome (16-Sep-15 via Hangouts): First foray into the Temple, eradication of the Bird-Men.
4 - 2nd Expedition (20-Sep-15 via Hangouts): Hagnar, Ulak-Narn, and Dougie on a mission from Wulfgar. Discovery of open-air zone.
4.a - Shank's Offer (via email to 28-Sep-15): Fergus encounters a local thug, and attempts to meet Drusus. Murderhoboism ensues.
4.b - Off to See the Wizard (via email to 29-Sep-15): Burningman travels back to Türas Tem and learns of Ancient Valusia.
5 - Idimmu the Demonic (30-Sep-15 via Hangouts): The core PCs return to the dome and massacre the Lizard-Men. They then encounter a greater threat at the ziggurat... and run away screaming.
6 - Bandit Assault (14-Oct-15 via Hangouts): The Murderhobos eradicate Drusus and his bandits.
7- Side-Trek to Türas Tem (via posts to 24-Oct-15): Sveinn and Fergus travel to Fort Türas to obtain Drusus's bounty and sell loot.
8 - Fate of the Ape-Men (26-Oct-15 via Hangouts): The Murderhobos learn that they are not the only ones doing the killing.
9 - The Lake of Blood (16-Nov-15 via Hangouts): Our heroes venture into the Lower Caves, where new horrors await.
10 - The Blood Tree (25-Nov-15 via Hangouts): The Tree of Blood is defeated, and the Lady Below notices the PCs.
10.a - Rumours About Wulfgar (06-Dec-15): Fergus tests out the ACKS Hijinx rules.
11 - Entry Denied (07-Dec-15 via Hangouts): The Murderhobos are unable to enter the Dome, and play politics in Calford instead.
12 - The Lady Defeated (17-Dec-15 via Hangouts): A surprisingly clever ambush unexpectedly defeats the Lady Below.
13 - The Shattered Stone (31-Dec-15 via Hangouts): Auor sacrifices himself to destroy the Stone, and the Murderhobos make a new ally.
14 - To the Victor go the Spoils (14-Jan-15 via Hangouts): The Murderhobos defeat Idimmu the Demonic and uncover multiple treasure hordes!

2

Most of our sessions were run via Google Hangouts. My initial intent was to set up game time that my brother in France could participate in. In practice, the campaign was an extension of our Calgary-based game group, with some regulars from other time zones (particularly Galenos and Sveinn).

I used a modified XP advancement: 1000XP per "live" session, 200-500XP for "email" sessions. And I gave everyone enough bonus XP to make sure they only had one session at 1st lvl, By the end, most PCs ranged from 8k to 10k XP.

3

I used several custom character classes (based on guidelines from the ACKS Players Companion) plus house rules from gameplay experience. Campaign rules are provided on the Mutants & Magic gameblog or the Hyperborean Murderhobos Google+ communiy.

4

It's good stuff. I've been following your blog. 

I've always really liked ASSH - the presentation and feel is really tight - writing style, art style, etc; and Hyperborea as a world is well done. What I'm doing in my own campaign world has been heavily influenced by it.

I've always felt ACKS is a great fit for that world - the isolated city-states, the overpowering wilderness, the ancient alien threats. Being able to define the socioeconomics of that ruined plane makes it so much more fun to drive it closer to it's ultimate doom.

5

It was a fantastic campaign to play in and Kelly really did a good job running the show. I love AS&SH and this was my first introduction to using the ACKS ruleset. I have to say personally that at first I was not so sure. But as we continued on and as I learned the rules some more, it is a FANTASTIC system. There is so much that I really like about it as a player (the templates really give players the means to flesh out a character) and now I can see why Kelly likes it as ruleset for a gamemaster. It feels 'old school' with some very amazing rules to flesh out a campaign on so many levels. I really enjoyed how our characters turned out in this one and it has been one of the most memorable campaigns I have played in for a long long time. I think that gives ACKS a lot of credit for the rules really defined what the feel of the world was going to be like. Old school with some great fleshed out ideas to carry us forward. That was my take on it. Thank you Kelly and thank you Autarch!