Just discovered Castles and Crusades

[deganawida]

Oh, and I still really love C&C's class design. I cannot state how much I love that classes get really cool and appropriate non-combat abilities, and it has my favorite bard version.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why it's not in a place where Old School Essentials or Dungeon Crawl Classics are today, I don't know, but I don't often see its name listed as a competitor in the old school space. It basically predicted the streamlined and nostalgic approach 5E would take after 3.x and 4E.

I think part of it is who the Troll Lords are and who they're not. They're basically happy to be pretty chill, marinate in Dr. Pepper, and churn out books that they enjoy.

They have a lot of successful Kickstarter campaigns under their belts, but their overall aesthetic is kind of a muted late 1970s/early 1980s vibe (as opposed to DCC's black light poster/Heavy Metal comics vibe), which doesn't grab the masses, especially those who were born after the era was over.

If they were eager to be a bigger deal, I think they would take steps to make more of a splash. A really good livestream show could do it, but the Troll Lords don't seem particularly interested in video or even social media.

Which is OK, honestly. There's a ton of C&C content, no sign it's stopping any time soon, and if it ever does end, this stuff is so wildly compatible with everything else out there, one can continue playing it indefinitely.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh, and I still really love C&C's class design. I cannot state how much I love that classes get really cool and appropriate non-combat abilities, and it has my favorite bard version.

I will go to my grave raving about class-and-a-half multiclassing.

 

[johndesmarais]

I will go to my grave raving about class-and-a-half multiclassing.

It's a clever concept that reads well - but I've never actually used it in a game.

 

[deganawida]

I will go to my grave raving about class-and-a-half multiclassing.

It is a very elegant solution, isn't it? Though I've always wondered if humans, since they have an extra prime, can do two half-classes instead of just one.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's a clever concept that reads well - but I've never actually used it in a game.

We used it to add spells to rangers and a paladin we converted from 3E, and it worked a charm and allowed us to have a ranger-with-druid-spells and a ranger-with-hearth-goddess-cleric-spells, which did a great job of customizing both characters.

 

[johndesmarais]

We used it to add spells to rangers and a paladin we converted from 3E, and it worked a charm and allowed us to have a ranger-with-druid-spells and a ranger-with-hearth-goddess-cleric-spells, which did a great job of customizing both characters.

Just sat down with my CKG and crunched through what this really means. It does sounds like a pretty close 3E Ranger analogue.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just sat down with my CKG and crunched through what this really means. It doesn't sounds like a pretty close 3E Ranger analogue.

I was specifically talking about the spell part. C&C rangers are spell-less by default. The class and a half system just allows one to add the 3E (or 5E) style spells back in.

I wasn't talking about any other elements of the 3E ranger vs. the 5E ranger.

 

[johndesmarais]

I was specifically talking about the spell part. C&C rangers are spell-less by default. The class and a half system just allows one to add the 3E (or 5E) style spells back in.

I wasn't talking about any other elements of the 3E ranger vs. the 5E ranger.

Typo on my part: "It does sounds like a pretty close 3E Ranger analogue."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Typo on my part: "It does sounds like a pretty close 3E Ranger analogue."

No worries.