Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Review & Commentary On AX3: Capital of the Borderlands By Alexander Macris & Newton Grant For The Adventurer, Conqueror,King Rpg System & Your OSR Game Systems

"The Borderlands has been contested throughout recorded history and its landscape is littered with ancient fortresses, blood-soaked battlefields, and dread ruins, all crumbling relics of the empires that once ruled there. Now the dangers facing the Borderlands are greater than ever. Monsters are slipping across the porous border to terrorize and plunder. Travel has grown perilous, and the border forts are becoming increasingly isolated and outmatched. The ambitious, bold, and greedy have begun to gather in Cyfaraun, ancient capital of the borderlands, seeking glory and gold.  There, criminal gangs battle for control of the streets and terrible evils lurk in the twisting tunnels, dusty catacombs, and black, volcanic caves that lie below…."

So I went to 
Autarch  & asked for a copy of AX3: Capital of the Borderlands just like I found it right in my email box. This is a fantastic addition to the ACK's line of books. Why? Because it has just the right amount of wilderness & urban adventure action! 



This book doesn't skimp on late Roman Empire style campaign action either. We've got a bit of everything here with fifty two points of wilderness campaign encounters. Let me give this context this means that the party is going to up to their ears in all kinds of issues. These are the Borderlands area of dispute,violence, & waiting opportunities for a party. This book has lots of options that bring the PC's the power they crave but it comes with a very dangerous series of prices. The realms and domains in the Borderlands are contested areas of adventure & danger all of this comes into the heading of two hundred & twenty  six pages. Yes the title is a homage to B2 Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax.
All of this is keeping with the template of 
AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara contested areas that not only spark adventure but keep it going for years. Not only the does AX3: Capital of the Borderlands have a built in tool box but it does it with style. A dozen mini dungeons & 82 urban points of interest spread across 8 mapped city districts all fit the world setting of the Auran Empire Primer 
 but it has ACK's internal post Roman Empire dark fantasy asethetic. 


The layout & cartography of 
AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is some of the best I've seen. Easy on the eyes & very well laid out. The artwork is on par with many of the other ACK's titles & easily has some excellent resources within especially the dynamic city-building system which gives enough latitude for both villages & complete urban centers. I was really pleased with the over all feel here. This is the NPC, adventure encounters, urban & wilderness book that ACK's has been needing.
Watch out for the dungeons in this book! I'm not saying this lightly the the Shrine of the Horned Rat,the Catacombs of the Ancestors, and  the Death Cult Hideout are all really nasty business! Don't venture into these lightly with a small adventuring party make sure their well equipped! The AX3: Capital of the Borderlands book has more then enough material in it to add & drop it into an existing campaign or it could alternatively be used to bridge gap the classic B2 Keep on the Borderlands as a campaign extension for ACK's! 


If the keep on the borderlands is the further flung parts of the empire then 
AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is at its center offering more opportunities for the PC's to blunder into the world of domain play. AX3: Capital of the Borderlands takes this type of play into several directions & smashes the call of adventure into the PC's laps. The Imperial Vanguard NPC adventuring party is an especially obnoxious touch. 


There's lots of opportunity to get the party of adventurers into a heaps of trouble in AX3: Capital of the Borderlands. And I can also see using AX3: Capital of the Borderlands lots of other OSR game systems especially Castles & Crusades. Why do I say that? Because the asthetic would work very well & there's plenty of tools within to keep a campaign going for years
.


Many of these art pieces are not from  AX3: Capital of the Borderlands but I couldn't get some of the artwork to transfer over to blogger. The artwork in AX3: Capital of the Borderlands is especially impressive & the art pieces by Michael Syrigos are especially good. 

Everything in  AX3: Capital of the Borderlands speaks volumes to the material that we've come to know & love in Adventurer,Conqeuror, King. Between the mini dungeons & the full on wilderness & urban tools this one is a must by for both the OSR & the ACK's fan!

AX3: Capital of the
 Borderlands is available right here! 

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