[ACKS] Adventurer Conqueror King System

[Havard]

Thinking about what players could do in the original Blackmoor Campaign, from wilderness exploration to barony building and management to special interests, and how to support that for modern gamers has been a major impetus in the design, and we have a "Dave Arneson" tag in our publishing blog to highlight posts where we're specifically taking on his ideas: http://www.autarch.co/tag/dave-arneson/

That is going to be very useful when keeping an eye on what you guys are up to!

Since the First Fantasy Campaign undervalued the value of a peasant, the First Fantasy Campaign had to set its population densities vastly in excess of historical standards, which was necessary to provide sufficient funds for the players to field appropriate sized armies. Meanwhile the D&D Cyclopedia has population densities vastly below historical standards, which was necessary because D&D Cyclopedia has undervalued how much armies cost. Put another way, First Fantasy Campaign has densely packed countrysides filled with inefficient farmers paying the wages of dirt-cheap soldiers; while D&D Cyclopedia has empty countrysides filled with standard medieval farmers in just sufficient numbers to pay the wages of dirt-cheap soldiers.

I wonder if this in fact was a mistake from Dave, or if it rather could be a setting statement. Life in the Northern Marches was harsh and farming there with shifting weather, swamplands and harsh winters would in fact make those farmers so inefficient...?

-Havard