I just got some notices from Drivethru that pretty much all of the ACKS products have been updated. Anywhere I should look to see what has been changed? I’m interested in what’s changed in all of the, but I do have one particular question that I’m even more curious about:
The question I’m most interested in is the difference between the two different ACKS Core files that are included when I look at my Drivethrug library now. One is labeled AUT1003_PDF_ACKS_Core.pdf the other is labeled AUT1001ACKS_Core.pdf What is the difference between these?
That’d make sense. I’m still confused about the two different versions of Core though. (I’ve actually noticed this a few times recently with updates from other publishers, where suddenly there’ll be two versions with no real explanation of the differences between them).
Also, has Dwimmermount also been updated? If so will those of us who were backers be getting updated PDF’s (Since the PDF’s for backers weren’t distributed through Drivethru)?
I apologize for the confusion. There were no substantive rules updates.
As mentioned in the Dwimmermount Kickstarter, the print-on-demand Dwimmermount hardcover, at 400 pages, had to have its price increased. We corrected the price on the POD books but for the sake of consistency we wanted to have the cover price corrected on the PDF as well.
When we entered retail with Studio 2, many of our products had their UPC codes updated to reflect our new retail catalog. We did not want our PDF covers to have UPC codes that were incorrect.
Cool. Thanks for the info! All of that makes sense!
I’m still trying to figure out what the two differences are between the two versions of ACKS core. The file sizes are different… but that’s about the only difference I can see other than the file names.
I don’t think there’s any difference at all. It’s just that Carrie Keymel exported AUT1003 while Richard exported AUT1001 and they use slightly different software.
The two files have different bookmarks, the hyperlinks in one are blue and grey in the other, and the one with grey hyperlinks is missing the art on the chapter title pages.
Also, I note the Player’s Companion update STILL doesn’t have the Mechanical Engineering proficiency listed in the proficiency section, and now it’s missing from the custom powers list as well.
Which reminds me: There were a few oddities with the various D@W bundles at Drivethru.
The “Complete” version has the same files as “Battles” and “Campaigns” but only the print version of the troop and terrain markers. The “Troop and Terrain” has also the bonus markers that are only available via pdf. The complete set also has the battlemap pdfs that cannot be found in any of the other bundles.
I think it would make sense to put the expanded troop markers also into the complete set and the battlemap also into the troop and terrain bundle
The Complete Set was not supposed to come with the expanded troop markers but doing so does now seem like a good idea, as does putting the battlemap into the troops and terrain bundle. Thanks for the suggestion!
We have fixed the bug in ACKS and updated the file.
The missing Mechanical Engineering proficiency has us all scratching our heads.
For those of you wondering what we’re talking about, there is a proficiency listed in the Dwarven Machinist proficiency list called “Mechanical Engineering”. This proficiency should have appeared in Chapter 6, under New Proficiencies.
However, in the original (Kickstarter) version of the book (ACKS_PC_20121205_719.pdf) the proficiency instead appeared in Class Powers on page 96. According to my email, in 2013 our graphic designer said he would move Mechanical Engineering from the Class Power section to the Proficiency Section.
However, in the latest version of the file, now on DTRPG, the proficiency is simply missing! I can only imagine that we deleted it from p. 96 but then never re-inserted it into New Proficiencies in Chapter 6.
In any case as soon as Richard has time we will update Chapter 6 New Proficiencies with the following text:
Mechanical Engineering: The character has specialized
knowledge of automatons. He gains a +1 to throws to design,
repair and build automatons. He can recognize most common
automatons after careful investigation with a proficiency
throw of 11+, but is unable to recognize uncommon or unique
automatons, to discern command words, or to assess the
specific abilities of an item. This proficiency can be selected
multiple times, each time adding an additional +1 bonus to
design, repair, and build throws and reducing the proficiency
throw required to recognize common automatons by 4.
I just download the updates. On first glance, I noticed that the the text is lighter and less well defined in both the core rules and the player companion - harder to read on-screen. Then, I noticed that the layout of the players companion doesn’t match the new TOC … Any ideas on the text change and what to do about it? And was the players companions supposed to be reorganized, or …?
Actually, now that I look at it closer, what has happened is that the ToC of the newly updated PC is actually the ToC of the Core Rules. I just noticed the difference at at first and didn’t look closer, sorry.
Over the weekend, one of our customers pointed out that the latest version of the Player’s Companion had errors in the table of contents. We temporarily took the product off the market to fix the error. It’s now been corrected. We also used this as an opportunity to finally fix the notorious absence of Mechanical Engineering from the New Proficiencies list.
A new version of the file is now available. Please accept our apologies for the error in the prior update.