Castles and Crusades beginner here....

[Henry]

The only pit-trap I've ever encountered with C&C was the one in moving from a cyclic, d20 initiative, back to a non-cyclic d10 initiative. It was VERY hard to get the swing of again after usually using a set init. The DCs, combat, etc. was all pretty straightforward, and similar enough to d20 that you really don't have that much of a gap. (the 'core' DC to hit is usually 18, which is close enough to 20 that I usually use that instead, and just say for simplicity that a Prime score adds a +6 bonus to the roll.)

 

[GravyFingerz]

Get the Yggsburgh hardback book.

Get it now.

SCHNELL!!!!!!!

(ok, really, it's written by Gygax, and the plot hooks in the book itself, not counting Dark Chateau by Rob Kuntz and the two Castle Zagyg books promised, are enough to give you ideas for adventures for years of campaign play; as someone said, it's Gygax at his best)

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I actually really enjoyed the artwork in C&C, more so than in a lot of other products. I especially liked the artist's rendition of a wizard. Schneller!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Ditto.

I'd also recommend getting Yggsburgh. And the brand new CK screen. That thing is purdy, and has just about every table you could ask for.

And as others have said, welcome to the crusade!

QFT, I didn't realize how much the aesthetics of a game can affect you until I started looking through these books. It was like I was ten again and looking through the AD&D PHB & Monster Manual(only this time I understood what all the numbers meant).

 

[Mycanid]

Thank you for all the suggestions and links folks. They have been duly bookmarked. I usually go slow in learning things and getting time to read them, but I hope for the best!