More Castles & Crusades details

[JeffB]

Saw this on Dragonsfoot.

sorry if it's been posted before

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5198

 

[mmadsen]

From that Dragon's Foot post:

We've gotten the go-ahead to give out some more information on Castles & Crusades, so I'll try to cover what I can. Keep in mind I am still leaving a LOT out, so try not to jump to conclusions or make huge assumptions. Also, the topics will jump around a lot. Anyway:

Ability score bonuses:

score mod
3: -3
4-5: -2
6-8: -1
9-12: +0
13-15: +1
16-17: +2
18-19: +3

- No Skills, No Feats - hinted at, never confirmed until now. Feats don't exist at all. Skills are not included in the base game, but it will be easy to import the skill system of choice, either from an outside source, or from suggestions to be made in a future C&C offering (For Castle Keepers)

Skills that are in the SRD (the ones that matter most and are retained) are folded into class abilities. The rest of the skills are gone in the base game. I'm not sure I can get more specific than that.

(As an aside, there is discussion among the playtesters about the offering of a C&C Game Builder's Guide - this would be full of the tweaks and additions that could be made to C&C seamlessly, that would provide lots of customizable options for individual games. Keep in mind that the initial C&C offering is a *base* game that is meant to be tinkered with an modified to individual preferences - the point is, though, the game doesn't shoehorn you into a "customization engine", either.

Saving Throws - there is now one saving throw for each Attribute (S, I, W, D, Con, Cha), instead of combining all saving throws across 3 attributes only. Each attribute covers different types of saves, but using 6 instead of three allows more diversity which is important for this particular game.

Races and Classes:

The standard races will be present. There will be no "racial classes" like the Mentzer "elf", for example.

Fighter
Cleric
Rogue
Wizard
Knight
Monk

Bard
Druid
Ranger
Barbarian
Paladin

Castle Zagyg introduces
Assassin
Illusionist


Combat

There is no THACO: AC starts and 10 and goes up. AC 18, therefore, would be plate mail & shield.

Combat will be fast. You can do one thing in a round, that's it. Initiative will be simple, and will be able to be varied to individual tastes.

----

Keep in mind that the system is still being worked on, and that these are not the only areas that have been nailed down, so to speak - but these are the things we are allowed to confirm at this time.

 

[Remathilis]

meh, I'll pass

 

[Wolffenjugend]

D&D for Dummies?

 

[Wormwood]

I have to admit, part of me is really curious about this.

Of course, another part of me refused to play D&D from 1991 to 2000.

Which part will win? Stay tuned, wormfans!

 

[Treebore]

One attitude that seems to be much more prevalent with d20 gamers, if it isn't d20 they don't want to know about it or check it out. What happened to all of us who play several different systems?

I will be checking out C&C. I am already interested in seeing how you allow only one action per round and keep it balanced/different between the classes.

 

[Aristotle]

heh... I play lots of different games and this still doesn't sound interesting to me. *shrug* I'm not going to knock it. I'm sure lots of folks will love it... just like I love the systems I play. This sounds close enough to d20 that I might as well just keep using d20. It's just not for me, so I'll pass as well.

 

[Davelozzi]

I don't think I have a whole lot of need for a new fantasy RPG, but this sounds a lot better than it did a few weeks ago. A save for each ability score suits me fine, but five random saves a la 1st & 2nd ed. would've been a step backwards. I'm glad to hear that AC goes up as well. I'd rather keep the same ability score bonuses as D&D as it will just be harder to remember but oh well.

At any rate, I'll at least give it a thorough flip through at the store and listen to what people have to say when it's finally released.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

One attitude that seems to be much more prevalent with d20 gamers, if it isn't d20 they don't want to know about it or check it out. What happened to all of us who play several different systems?

I will be checking out C&C. I am already interested in seeing how you allow only one action per round and keep it balanced/different between the classes.

Personallly, I just don't have the same time and interest to learn new systems that I had when I was much younger. And getting the other players to try a new system can sometimes be like pulling teeth. I may or may not try this one, as I was really hoping for D&D lite, rather than a different system altogether. I'll just have to wait for the reviews and see what the other players say.

As for the "one action per round" idea, I'm curious about that myself - is moving an action? I can imagine two lines of fighters, 20' apart, neither willing to close with the other, since the side that doesn't move gets to attack first...

 

[VorpalBunny]

I'm digging this. From the "Moldvay" ability score bonuses to the lack of skills and feats and the inclusion of Illusionist and Assassin "classes" in Castle Zagyg, this game is really appealing to the rules-lite 1st Edition gamer in me. Not too keen on the 1 action/round rule and saves based on abilities, though - but that's easily house ruled if I still don't care for 'em at press time.