Castles&Crusades: Is this "The One"?

[Jahydin]

Yeah, that's exactly how I felt about it in the end. Like an ex-girlfriend with no hard feelings involved on either side, just not quite the right fit.

That's how I feel about older D&D. Great systems, but not to my taste for longer campaigns.

B/X, I didn't like the Race as Class, lower HD, death at 0 HP, no Cleric spells at 1st level, and axes being terrible.
BECMI, too many levels! Poor Theives...
AD&D had all the crazy rules that I'm sure were fun to create, but not so much to play. Also, I really dislike percentile Strength...
2E felt like a compilation of everyone's favorite AD&D houserules that tried to do too much with its dungeon-centric ruleset.

 

[Jahydin]

We ended up importing clerics being able to convert turning undead uses into heals from 3E into C&C to increase the pool of available healing, as I recall. Nowadays, I'd probably just go with the 5Eism of letting clerics always have cure spells prepared as a bonus free spell, so the cleric don't have to choose between being a medic and the fun spells.

Agree.
Was it 3.5 that let Clerics "convert" any spell into a healing spell if Good Aligned? Anyways, I use that.

Also, do you do that with OSR games as well?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Was it 3.5 that let Clerics "convert" any spell into a healing spell if Good Aligned? Anyways, I use that.

That's what I was thinking of, I think. (It's been a while, both for 3E and C&C for me.)

Also, do you do that with OSR games as well?

I'm playing Shadowdark and Pirate Borg for my OSR fix nowadays, and folks tend to explode into a red mist more than needing healing, per se, most of the time.

 

[GothmogIV]

So now that I've completed my DCC Sword&Sorcery campaign, I am on to this system. My initial observation is that it's pretty easy to work with, and I like the absence of power-gaming vibes one might find in...another system we may all know about (he writes politely). I am trying to build out a West Marches kind of game--there is an area (I'm using Arneson's Blackmoor), there are things to do in that area, there are factions doing things in that area, and the PCs can just do whatever. Hopefully the story (if that's the word?) will develop more as we play.

Any advice is most welcome. I am used to running story games, like there is a beginning, a middle, and an end--the PCs are trying to do this to stop that, for example. This feels less structured for sure, but since I am a huge planner, I am also getting stress hives.

 

[johndesmarais]

So now that I've completed my DCC Sword&Sorcery campaign, I am on to this system. My initial observation is that it's pretty easy to work with, and I like the absence of power-gaming vibes one might find in...another system we may all know about (he writes politely). I am trying to build out a West Marches kind of game--there is an area (I'm using Arneson's Blackmoor), there are things to do in that area, there are factions doing things in that area, and the PCs can just do whatever. Hopefully the story (if that's the word?) will develop more as we play.

Any advice is most welcome. I am used to running story games, like there is a beginning, a middle, and an end--the PCs are trying to do this to stop that, for example. This feels less structured for sure, but since I am a huge planner, I am also getting stress hives.

It’s a game I like a lot, with one large irritant. I don’t like how the game presents the way Primary and Secondary attributes work. As presented, the target number for the roll changes depending on whether the roll is based on a Pri or Sec attribute. This means either the GM has to keep track of every character’s Primaries or be constantly asking (which slows down the mechanical flow). I prefer to simply have the player add an additional modifier if using a Primary. Math works the same, but rolls resolve a bit quicker.

 

[GothmogIV]

In an introductory module they provided with one of their bundles, they do just that as a matter of simplification. I, literally, haven't played this game yet, but it looks pretty 3rd edition to me, which I loved.

 

[Jahydin]

I prefer to simply have the player add an additional modifier if using a Primary. Math works the same, but rolls resolve a bit quicker.

This is, from my experience online, how 99.9% of C&C players do it.

The other 0.1%? That would be the Troll Lords and why this rule will never change.

 

[johndesmarais]

In an introductory module they provided with one of their bundles, they do just that as a matter of simplification. I, literally, haven't played this game yet, but it looks pretty 3rd edition to me, which I loved.

It has a unified mechanic like what 3rd edition introduced (D20 + mods, roll over TN for all resolution), but manages to hold onto much of the AD&D feel that 3rd lost (IMO).

 

[Jahydin]

My advice:
1) Attributes:

• Use one Target Number (TN): 15
• Humans choose 3 Prime, 2 Secondary, and 1 Tertiary Attribute. Demi-Humans choose 2 Prime, 2 Secondary, 2 Tertiary.
• Bonus to rolls are: Prime (+3), Secondary (+0), Tertiary (-3)

2) Checks:

• CK should only ask for checks when they are undecided (50/50) how an action would play out. For most Checks, common sense should dictate yes/no answers to quickly move the game along.
• Take note of the base % chance PCs have with your TN. For instance, 15 would give a Prime PC a 45% chance of success against even matched Checks. Adjust that number up or down depending on what you think the likelihood should be.
• For Checks that do not have HD/Lv to reference for difficulty,CLs of -3, 0, or +3 of the Party's Lv works 95% of the time.

3) Gameplay:

• C&C has a really basic foundation, but that doesn't mean your games should run "basically". Lean into the freedom C&C gives PCs and encourage creative descriptions for attacks and actions.
• Most OSR games I allow Players to roll up and play multiple PCs. Not only does this help move the game along when death happens, but adds some variety to how players approach the game.

Edit: Just realized I've already said most of this already in an earlier post this year, sorry about that. I talk about C&C a lot and lose track some times...

 

[Retreater]

My final "not going to buy any more C&C books moment" came after seeing the revised book during the recent Kickstarter and being very unimpressed.