ACKS Campaigns From Scratch
All the necessary tools and ideas
Starting a new campaign? You probably have some ideas already. The collection of articles below can provide structure to those ideas.
Part 1: Generating a Region
Scale is important here. In ACKS, regions are split into 24-mile hexes which I think of as “Tiles” to prevent confusion with 6-mile hexes. The next “scale” that matters is population. The further I got into this process, the more I realized that almost every detailed understanding of a domain can be reached as long as the population is known.
As long as we are consistent with physical scale and population size, ACKS provides enormous flexibility on the hows and whats of setting up a region. It would be very easy to make up any shape and size of region, although for most of us it is easier to deal with square maps.
The learning curve for this process was steep, though I was never lost. I spent the vast majority of the time for this part on consulting the book, building an impression of what was expected. If I had to do it again from scratch, I could complete this part (building a region) in 20 minutes or less.
Part 2: Wilderness Encounters
The Encounter System of a TTRPG is arguably its most important single element. It defines and shapes gameplay and world interaction on the small scale (by creating events) and on the large scale (by those events having a particular character in their possible outcomes). It characterizes a world more accurately than whatever paragraphs we might write about it.
In ACKS, encounters are defined by Type, Instance, Distance, Surprise, and Reaction.
The distribution of Types is determined by terrain/location. The Type is the category of creature, like Animal, Insect, or Humanoid. The Instance is a particular member from that Type: a hawk and a pit viper are Animals; a mummy and ghoul are Undead. In this way, the game establishes an ecological structure satisfyingly mimicking our intuitions about the organization of nature.
Distance, Surprise, and Reaction determine the nature of the encounter. When Distance is determined by dice, it can create unique situations. Surprise is simple and obvious—does one side not notice the other initially? Reaction strikes me as the most potent design element in encounters. It can create stories out of nothing. It is telling and damning that modern TTRPG designs have removed Reaction from the equation.
Lastly, encounters are a source of treasure. In any well-designed TTRPG there is a treasure → XP conversion that keeps players hungry for riches.
Wilderness encounters are quite dangerous for early PC parties and will generally overwhelm them with raw numbers and mechanical advantage.
I recommend anyone to spend a few hours creating various Wilderness and Dungeon encounters. It will answer a lot of questions about Lairs, treasure, and other ideas.
Part 3: Lairs and Dungeons
Lairs and dungeons have a different role from the normal Wilderness encounters.
Lairs can present a problem with a straightforward solution, account for events that have taken place, or act as a gathering place for forces the game has created.
Dungeons serve a special role, given that they are organized into metaphysical levels of increasing danger and chaos. The 1st level of a dungeon is the suggested place to send new PC parties. It is not a risk-free challenge at all, but it won’t routinely mob the party with dozens of foes or creatures with enormous Hit Dice.
Once familiar with the dungeon stocking mechanisms, completing a typical “medium” dungeon will generally take 10-20 minutes, depending on its size. “Large” dungeons (“real” multi-level dungeons) will take about that amount of time per level, with some additional time for overhead and planning.
Part 4: Settlements and Strongholds
ACKS has excellent support for understanding settlements and populations. It is helpful at any scale and relatively easy to navigate between questions at different scales. Almost everything is based on population.
Figuring out the relationships between the various ideas and connecting the various sections (and tables) in mind took me quite a while. But it takes only seconds to build and characterize a realm from top to bottom once these elements are understood.
If someone came to me and asked me to lay out basic structural details for a set of realms, I could do it in about 2 minutes per realm. Really outstanding support, depth, and power for these mechanics!
Strongholds are a great feature and are well-supported here. Not only is it easy to infer what kind of stronghold an existing place has, it is just as easy to contemplate building a new stronghold. It is worth noting that I think the level of detail here is very near perfect. Broad strokes + small supporting elements allow you to build a stronghold that can capture very complex ideas using simple pieces.
Part 5: The Travel Map
When making the travel map (the map all players will use to agree about where A vs. B is etc.), there are three important considerations: scale, region attributes, and terrain.
Scale is the most important attribute! Getting the scale wrong will result in subtle but important mismatches with the game’s speed and travel mechanics.
Region attributes are things defined by our big regional map—the “default” terrain, the big geographic elements, the biomes, the location of the realms, and other considerations.
Terrain is important for several reasons. It conveys the character and look-and-feel of a place, broadly. Travel time can be affected by the terrain types, meaning some places can be closed off or otherwise difficult to access practically. The terrain is the input to the game’s Encounter System! Whatever terrain is found in an area will dictate (apart from pre-existing, well-understood forces) what encounters travelers will find—not just the players but patrons and other NPC forces!
This article focuses a lot on creating a travel map—some tricks and processes as a starting point—but that’s only because I suspect practical techniques for doing this by hand are not widespread knowledge. Borrowing a pre-existing map is also a very strong approach. Probably the most popular method is to use programmatic map generators.
Any of these works—the main thing is getting something to shove in your players’ faces when they ask questions. Yes, those lasersharks are over there and the mad necromancer’s spaceport is just south of that.
If you’re making your own map, it is probably a task you will spend an hour on at a time. Depending on the size, it can take multiple hours to “fill” it in. The (incomplete) travel map I presented here took about 1.5 hours (about 1 hour + some time spent on shading and so on).
One thing I did not go over was that ACKS has support for sub-hex domains. It is possible to have over 30 domains in a single hex. Chapter 7 covers this and supporting elements about domains. This is just to say that a lot can be going on in a 6-mile hex!
Ordering and Using These Ideas
The specific ordering of these elements was set up so that I could learn the game concepts in what I perceived to be a logically coherent sequence. If someone already knows the game, they can begin with any mishmash of these ideas and glue them together.
Have a map and some NPC characters? Flesh out the realms above and below them. Have some neat realm ideas? Create some important realm NPCs and construct a map based on their favored terrain and available forces. No matter what the scale of consideration, ACKS always has a way to interrogate its game objects for the level of understanding you desire.
Even if you have a pre-existing campaign, it will be simple enough to convert into the ACKS system. The system seemed complex to me at first, but it provides a structure for quick, straightforward, and reasonable answers to the kinds of questions players and referees will have about the lands they are traveling.
I highly recommend the ACKS system for organizing your campaign. Good luck and good hunting.