Castles and Crusades Classic Style Box Set

[DarkCrisis]

I just found out about this and ordered it immediately. It's digest sized and cut into several booklets and I think slimmed down a bit (only 4 classes!), but looks amazing!

Been looking for a reason to purchase their product and OGL stuff plus my love of old school box sets... WIN

 

[Charles Lowry]

I recently discovered C&C and really enjoy the game mechanics. Really feels like a cleaned up and streamlined AD&D.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I recently discovered C&C and really enjoy the game mechanics. Really feels like a cleaned up and streamlined AD&D.

I hear its like a melding between AD&D and 3rd ed.

 

[aramis erak]

I hear its like a melding between AD&D and 3rd ed.

I got their circa 2009 whitebox... and the PHB and MM...
It's closer to 3rd mechanically, but not much.
None of my players were willing to give it a try at the time, as we'd just come off a D&D Cyclopedia campaign and a T&T 5.5 campaign.

It's got a universal non-combat rolling mechanic: 1d20+AttMod vs (12 or 18)+(difficulty mod 0-10); 12 if one of your 3 (human) or 2 (demi-human) primary scores, 18 if secondary.
Special abilities are more like those in AD&D, but those wher atts matter use the standard rolls.

Combat uses a base to-hit much like 3E BAB, and ascending AC.

 

[Andvari]

We've tried both descending and ascending AC. Perhaps the next evolution is condescending AC.

Anyway, the alternate tribute covers for the core books were my excuse.

 

[amethal]

I recently discovered C&C and really enjoy the game mechanics. Really feels like a cleaned up and streamlined AD&D.

I just wish they'd gone a bit further in the streamlining.

I regularly get enthused about Castles & Crusades, and then I come across something that makes me think "I'm sure there's a better way to do this", and my brain switches gears from "playing the game" to "designing the game" and the mood is lost.

Which is your favourite version of Move Silently? The Assassin/Rogue version, the Ranger version, the Elf/Half-Elf version or the Halfling version?

 

[Charles Lowry]

Haha. I have not had that one up yet and, in truth, was unaware of the multiple methods.

 

[Andvari]

Speaking of the tribute covers - Trollord is now making them the standard covers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Which is your favourite version of Move Silently? The Assassin/Rogue version, the Ranger version, the Elf/Half-Elf version or the Halfling version?

Heh. That's the Troll Lords, who are as much enthusiastic homebrewers as they are publishers. They also had two different versions of the grue in their monster books as well at one point, which everyone involved in production missed.

Those little inconsistencies, and their recurrent editing issues, are something that are dealbreakers for some and part of the charm for others.

I have often thought they should hire an editing czar and allow them to do a serious pass on their books, but they're also resistant to changing the core books very much, so that no one ever feels like they have to buy the new versions to keep playing, which I think is a noble goal.

 

[aramis erak]

The writing style is much clearer than TSR-era Gygaxian, the organization's not horrible.

That they offered PDF for free during the lockdown, that was a nice thing.

The early white box was very reminiscent of the TSR D&D OE... as a nostalgia product, no complaints (other than "Where in hell did it go during the move??? it has my misprint 9th printing OE inside!!!").

They do their tribute well. I have no complaints about it as a conversation piece, especially since they didn't try to gouge on prices... but, for me, it's in that odd spot where I'm not happy using it.

It is monster stat block compatible with most of the other OSR D&D pseudoclones and retroclones.