Castles & Crusades Witch

The Castles & Crusades Witch

Castles & Crusades is often called the Rosetta Stone of RPGS.  Actually that is not to bad of a claim.  Here is my Witch class from The Witch, converted to C&C.  I used the S&W versions and an old d20 version of mine to help fill in some of the blanks.  As usual, the PDF version is available in the Box download area to the right.

Let me know what you think!

OGL Notice: The following text is considered OPEN under the Open Gaming License. 
Section 15: "The Witch for Castles & Crusades" and "Faerie Tradition" copyright © 2013 Timothy S. Brannan.
Art is not considered open and copyright is retained by the artist, Larry Elmore and is used here with permission.

WITCH (CHARISMA)

PRIME ATTRIBUTE: Charisma
HIT DICE: d4 per level up to 10th level.  At 11th level, +1 hit point per level.
WEAPONS: A witch may only use a dagger, staff, flaming oil, holy water, net, thrown rock, sling, and whip as weapons.
ARMOR: Cloth, Padded or Leather only, no shields.
ABILITIES: Occult Powers; witch spells, ritual spells, herb use.

Witch Experience Table					Spells / Level
Level	Hit Dice (d4)	BtH	EPP	Occult Powers	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	1d4	0	0	Occult Power	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	2d4	+1	2,601	Herb Use	4	2!	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	3d4	+1	5,201		4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	4d4	+1	10,401		4	2	2!	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	5d4	+1	20,801		5	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	6d4	+2	40,001		5	3	2	2!	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	7d4	+2	80,001	Occult Power	5	3	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
8	8d4	+2	160,001		5	3	3	2	2!	-	-	-	-	-
9	9d4	+2	320,001		5	3	3	2	2	1	-	-	-	-
10	10d4	+3	440,001		6	4	3	3	2	2!	-	-	-	-
11	+1	+3	560,001		6	4	3	3	2	2	1	-	-	-
12	+1	+3	700,001		6	4	4	3	3	2	2!	-	-	-
13	+1	+3	840,001	Occult Power	6	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	-	-
14	+1	+4	980,001		6	5	4	4	3	3	2	2!	-	-
15	+1	+4	1,120,001		6	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	-
16	+1	+4	1,260,001		7	5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2!	-
17	+1	+4	1,400,001		7	5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1
18	+1	+5	1,540,001		7	6	5	5	4	3	3	3	2	2!
19	+1	+5	1,680,001	Occult Power	7	6	5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2
20	+1	+5	1,820,001		7	6	6	5	5	4	4	3	3	2
21+	+1 hp/level	+5	+140,000		7	6	6	6	5	5	4	3	3	2

! A Witch may take a ritual spell at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th levels.

Witches are humans that have heeded the call of some other-worldly patron power.  This power can be an ancient and forgotten goddess, a powerful being of the Faerie Realms, an ancient elemental Primordial or even a darker power from beyond our reality.  They are trained in the use of potions, herbs, and plants as well as the more powerful forms of magic.  They cast spells, perform rituals and learn more as they advance in levels.  Witches have only the most basic training in arms and armor, having dedicated their lives to magic and the service of their Patron.  The prime requisite for witches is Charisma.

Witch Class Abilities

Spell Casting: The witch owns a book of spells called a “Book of Shadows” this is similar to the books used by magic-users, but each book is unique to each witch.  A Read Magic spell will not enable another witch or magic-user to learn spells from this book.

Bonus Spells: With a high charisma score, a witch gains bonus spells. If the character has a charisma between 13-15,she can memorize an extra 1st level spell. If her charisma score is 16 or 17, the witch can memorize an extra 2nd level spell, and if 18 or 19, the witch can memorize an extra 3rd level spell. Bonus spells can only be acquired if the witch is at a high enough level to cast them. Bonus spells are cumulative.
For example, a 4th level witch with an 18 charisma receives four 0 level spells, two 1st level spells, and two 2nd level spells. No bonus 3rd level spell is acquired until the witch reaches 5th level.

Familiar: The witch gains a familiar at 1st level.  This is a supernatural creature that often appears to be a normal animal such as a cat or frog.

Occult Power: At first level and every 6 levels hereafter the witch gains an Occult Power.  These powers vary from Tradition to Tradition.

Ritual Magic: At 2nd level the witch may opt to choose a Ritual Magic spell. These spells have special requirements in terms of components needs and multiple participants.  

Herb Use: All witches are knowledgeable in the use of herbs.  A witch of 2nd level or greater can make a healing ointment, balm or poultice out of local herbs.  The witch needs to make an Intelligence Ability check to find the herbs and a Wisdom Ability check to make the herbs into a useful balm.  These balms heal 1d4 + half the witch’s level.  So a 2nd level witch can heal 1d4 + 1 hp per use of herbal balm.  A person (character, animal or even monster) can only take benefit of one such balm per day. The witch may only prepare up to 3 such doses of balms per day.

Coven: at 13th level a witch may leave her coven to form her own coven.

Faerie Tradition

The witch living in the deep of the woods is a powerful archetype; her story has been retold countless times in myth and tale. This type of witch is often a Faerie Witch. Faerie Witches appear to be living in solitude, usually in a sylvan setting.  In reality, they often live in large communities of fey, serving as an ambassador to travelers moving through the area.
The Faerie Witch can appear as a beautiful Sídhe princess, a matronly faerie godmother or even as a hideous hag.

The Faerie Witch’s clothing varies from character to character.  Some of them choose to dress down, while others dress with a flair for the bizarre.  Their homes appear welcoming, but also very unnatural in a forest setting.  The homes are typically well kept with splendid gardens outside.
NPC faerie witches are usually Even or Half-Elven, since elves are native to the same geographical locations as the Faerie tradition. 

Role: Faerie witches spend much of their time conversing with the local fey.  They take care of the plants and animals near their home, building large gardens of flowers and vines in the surrounding area.  As witches, their chief concerns are brewing helpful potions, studying the ways of nature and using their divination magic to watch the forest area they protect.
Faerie Witches easily form alliances with rangers and druids living in the same area.  They will often inform these allies of local happenings and sometimes offer their magical services to them.

Joining this Tradition: Faerie Witches join this tradition in a variety of ways.  A common way is when a small child becomes lost in the wilderness and an existing Faerie Witch finding the child.  Another Faerie Witch may receive a vision from her patron to teach a Neophyte Faerie Witch the traditions.  Other times, a person may become divinely inspired, and attempt to seek out an existing Faerie Witch to train under.
The Faerie Witch must learn Elf or Sylvan as one of their starting languages.
On the Vernal Equinox, Faerie Witch covens gather to celebrate the beginning of spring.  These celebrations vary by coven, but are usually extremely joyous gatherings.  On the Autumnal Equinox, Faerie witch covens become much more serious, gathering to prepare for the oncoming winter.
Like the Seelie and Unseelie Fae, Faerie Witches divide themselves into Summer and Winter courts.  These alliances often have more meaning to them than alignment.

Leaving this Tradition: A Faerie Witch who ceases to revere and respect her homeland or betray the trust of the local fey will lose her powers, until she can atone.  She loses any spells or occult powers she has learned.

Occult Powers:  The Faerie witch lives in the world of magic, her connection to the “real world” can seem to be only tangential to her relationship to the worlds of deep faerie magic.

Least, 1st Level: Familiar. The faerie witch gains a familiar.  This familiar will be of a creature that is common to the world of the fae.  It can appear as a normal animal, but there could something different or off about it.  Examples of these familiars might be winged cats or talking dogs.  The “specialness” of the familiar in question will never be something great, but it will set them apart from others of their kind.

Lesser, 7th Level: Speak to Plants and Animals. Three times per day, the Faerie Witch may speak to plants or animals.  The conversation is limited to the intelligence of the creatures involved, but the witch might still discover a great deal about the surrounding land.

Minor, 13th Level: Fey Shape. Once per day, the faerie witch can polymorph herself into any type of faerie creature and back.  The creature in question must be of comparable size.  So, a human faerie witch can change herself into a dryad, sylph or even a hag, but a pixie is not possible.  The witch gains the powers of the creature and retains her ability to case spells, but she also suffers from that creature’s associated weaknesses.  She retains her own hit points and level.
Once the faerie witch reaches this level, she gains the fae’s intolerance of cold iron.  Any iron weapon (not forged steel like most weapons) will do an additional 1d6 points of damage to the witch if touched, similar in the way Holy Water damages undead or fire damages living creatures.  Unless a weapon is specifically listed as being cold-forged iron, then assume it is not.

Greater, 19th Level: Witch’s Curse. The witch can place a powerful Curse on one creature once per day.  The curse can be of any sort, but will usually bestow a -4 to all to hit rolls and -2 to any saving throw rolls.  Witch curses are quite powerful and require the use of two (2) remove curse spells to be fully removed.

Special Benefits: Faerie witches often have many allies in Sylvan settings.  Her ability to speak with the other fey races is often very helpful.

Special Restrictions: Faerie Witches tend to be more neutral, but no other alignment restrictions are clearly drawn.

Equipment:  The tool of this tradition is the wand.  The wand is often made from a branch of the oldest tree in the Faerie witch’s forest.

Preferred/Barred Covens: Faerie witches tend to be a bit xenophobic, so most covens that a faerie witch will belong to are made up of other faerie witches.

Relationship to the Goddess/Patron: The Faerie witch views the Goddess as nature itself.  As a Faerie witch takes care of the plants and animals around them out of respect to the Goddess.

Source/Views of Magic: Like most witches, the Faerie Witch views her magic as a manifestation of the Goddess.  The source of her magic is the great forest.  This obviously puts them on good terms with druids, who view their magic in a similar light.

Archetypes: Most Faerie Witches see little use in the Law vs. Chaos axis. Nature is both and neither, so why should they choose?  Most tend towards neutral if for no other reason than good or evil acts attract attention, something they dislike.

Other: Faerie Witches tend not to hoard much wealth, but their homes are well kept, and some are ornamented with works of art.  The yards of the Faerie witches’ homes are usually filled with lavish gardens, which may give the appearance of wealth, but more often than not Faerie Witches will have little to no money.

Don't Forget about Oklahoma

I have seen the damage tornados do close up.  It's not pretty.
So our thoughts are with Oklahoma, but thoughts alone are nothing.

DriveThruRPG makes it easy to donate money to the American Red Cross.

This one of my favorite charities along with Doctors Without Borders and The Trevor Project.

I like donating through DriveThru because it is easy and it sends the message the gamers care.

I know you had that $5 set aside for new book or something like that. Let's be honest, the economy sucks, you might need that 5 for parking or food or rent.  But right now I have more than the people of Moore, OK do so I gave what I could.

Review: Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum

Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum

Oh I have have been looking forward to this book and doing this review for a while.
Regular readers here know that I LOVE Celtic myths.  I filled Ghosts of Albion with them, the Witch has them as well and there are plenty of posts here about them.  Though for me it isn't just Celtic myths, but Irish myth in particular.  That is a fine distinction to be sure, but one that is important on how I judge or rate materials for a Celtic game.

Long time readers also know that I have been working on a long delayed project, Éire.  This was going to be completely focused on Irish myths and legends with just enough real history to make it feel right.  Low magic, high adventure.  I wanted to emulate the tales of Fionn MacCumhail and Cú Chulainn.  When I first heard about this game I thought to myself: Well, that's it then. I don't need to do this.  Besides I can't compete with Troll Lords.  Not just in terms of production value or resources (Brian Young is getting a Ph.D. in this! I am at best an enthusiastic amateur) but I also don't want to outright compete with them.  I like their stuff and I like to see companies I like do well.  So Éire, for the moment is on hold.  Some of it has gone into Eldritch Witchery, where it is a good fit.  Other bits will show up here and there.  Maybe one day I will come back to it, but for now just expect to see the same material show up here.

But enough about never-were and might-of-beens.  Let's talk about the book I have and you can have actually in your hands.  I supported the Kickstarter for this so I got a PDF, Hardcover and some modules of my choice.  I will say this for Troll Lords. They are quite generous with their KickStarter incentives.

The Codex Celtarum is written by Brian Young.  He is a gamer and an academic in Celtic history and languages and all around nice guy.  Honestly he is the kind of guy I want writing this sort of thing.  You talk to him and get the feeling that he could immediately tell you a story from the Mabinogion and it would roll off his tongue like the bards of old.  This is the guy you want working on your Celtic game.

The first thing I noticed in his introduction was his acknowledgement of the differences in legend and in history and where he was putting his cards.  For me, as someone that has had to have the same tug of war, the value of this book went up several degrees.
Before moving on to the book itself I spent a lot of time with Castles & Crusades again, this time from the point of view of a Celtic-themed game.  Honestly I think it might be one of the better systems to do it with.

The book itself is divided into eight sections plus the forward.
Now at this point it should be noted that the design of this book is to play in a Faery realm, so it is something you can drop into any game world.  There are some game-based assumptions made, but nothing to keep you from making this your own.

Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time covers the creation of the Celtic universe including the various wars that happened at the dawn of time and various personalities.  We are introduced to various gods.  The Horned One and the Blue Hag take central stage.  At this point I want to say that reading this is like reading a story of old as an adult; familiar yet nuanced in ways I didn't know then.  For me the myths and tales this is based on are familiar, but this is new telling for a new world. We are treated to so many names that are familiar and new at the same time; The Tuatha Dé Dannan, Danu, Lir, Goíbhníu, it's like hearing the names of old friends. In a mere 6 pages we have the whole background of the world to the present day. Nothing extra, nothing left out.

Chapter 2: In Lands Far Away details the physical and metaphysical lands of Faery and mortal plane they touch. There are the Two Cauldrons,  Night & Day (which have affects on the faery) and the Twelve Houses   of the Gods (with a cool map). Given the subject the human lands are the British Ilses and Ireland and given the author we get a lot of Welsh names.  The faery lands don't have the same rules of nature as the mortal realms. So there are some tables about the odd passage of time or the nature of the land.  Normally I would balk at this sort of randomness, but here it not only works, it is part and parcel of the mythos. BTW if you don't quite recognize the map of the lands, hold it up to a mirror.

Chapter 3: There Lived a People has everything you want to know about the Faery races.  This includes the major sub-races (Light, Darkness and Twilight) and traits faeries can have.  Now the utility of this chapter should be obvious. I will also add that if you want to give your FRPG Elves a nice shot in the arm then adopt this part of book. We are given detail (in terms of monster stat blocks) of the Children of Light, Children of Twilight and Children of Darkness.  Nearly every Celtic-fae type is here in one form or another. There are lot of new creatures here (unless you are very familiar with Celtic myths) and some that I don't believe have ever been featured in a game book before.  There are also plenty of Faery beasts and supernatural animals.  We also get some giants, but no stats since they are legendary.

Chapter 4: Great of Magic and Power details, what else, magic.  If human wizards study magic and human priests pray for it then the Fae ARE magic. The distinction is not a subtle one.  The magical powers here are listed as spells. So they can be used by the fae as if they were spells, but that robs them of what makes them so interesting. Instead go with the suggestion in the book that each member of the fae get a number of special powers based on their intelligence.  And there are plenty of powers here!  If you are anything like me and love magic, spells or powers for characters then this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.  I have to admit I am pleased to see similar powers here as to what I have in Ghosts of Albion under Faerie Powers.  It tells me that we were drawing from similar sources.  There are plenty of differences though allowing for personal preference, but it shows that Brian and I were thinking along similar lines.

Chapter 5: Strong of Feats and Deeds handles what the Celts did best. Fighting.  Well they did other things too, but this is what those stories were all about.  If your fighting-type characters felt left out in the last chapter, then this is one help you out.  Plenty of options. I particularly liked the Tattoo magic.  There are feats as well. Before you panic these are feats in the traditional sense of the word and there are only a score of them.  If you have read any of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, then these are the feats of Cú Chulainn.   There are also some fighting orders detailed such as The War Sisters, the Fian (Fianna) and the Dragons of Prydain (of which the most famous is Arthur).

Chapter 6: With Great Gods and Heroes covers the gods, demigods and heroes of the lands.  We have been introduced to a few already like The Horned One and his wild Hunt. Arthur is mentioned as well as my personal favorite Fionn mac Cumhail (Finn McCool).  There are no stats for these gods or heroes.  Why? That is easy. They are not meant to be killed or even interacted with.  They are the legends of this land.

Chapter 7: Great of Name and Mighty of Deeds covers new rules.  First up are changes to the various character classes.  Not a lot needs to be altered here.  Again as I mentioned above, the classes in C&C are based around concepts and skills rather than powers, these can translate better.  There are some new classes too. The Woodwose is something like a wildman, a mix of barbarian and ranger.  These are humans that have lived in Faery a little too long.  The Wolf Charmer are something like a Beast Master.  They charm animals to follow them.   There are some adventure hooks from classical Celtic tales.  A list of names for characters from Brythonic and Gaelic roots.

The last part, Chapter 8: Items Enchanted and Divine, are all the pieces that didn't fit above. But it still has a lot of good material.  We get a nice discussion on Faery Metals and how they can be used.  There is a list of divine items (artifacts in other games) listed by owner; that's right the Gáe Bulga is not just lying around waiting for you to find it. No this +8 spear (!) is well in the hands of Cú Chulainn.
Ogham is discussed and the various societies and cultures of the heroic age; the Picts, the Britons, the Anglo-Saxons and the Gaels. Holidays around the isles are also detailed.
We end with a map.

Ok. So what can say here.
First the book is absolutely excellent. I am insane with jealousy on how good it is really.  At 176 pages it crams a lot into space.   I love the feel of this book. There is something about that just feels right to me and it makes C&C the perfect system to play a Celtic-based Faery game.  Now. Some points of clarification again.  This isn't a book about playing in a Celtic society per se.  There is no "day in the life of a Celtic warrior" bit.  Only lip service is given to Bronze Age tech or what the larger Gaelic society was like.  Also this book isn't about playing "weird elves".  There is nothing here for example from the Germanic tradition of Faerie stories. The aim of this book is very specific.  If you are looking for one of the above sorts of books then this might not fit your bill.
But if you are looking for a book to play in that intersection of Celtic myth and Faery lore, then this is the book you want.
As with all C&C books the layout is clean and easy to read. The art is fantastic.
If you are a fan of Celtic myth, Faery lore, or Castles & Crusades then I highly recommend this book.  Even if you don't play C&C, I would get this book.

White Dwarf Wednesday #65

What was the RPG scene like 28 years ago? Tales of the RPG market in decline! Rules vs. Role-playing! New Star Trek! New stuff from Tolkien and Herbert!  Hmm.  Doesn't sound too different from today to be honest.  Let's get the details in this edition of White Dwarf Wednesday with issue number 65.

#65 has a place of honor in my collection. Honor that is if you consider it one of the issues where I decided that WD just wasn't as good as it used to be.  I know such things are highly subjective, especially considering the source of this was my 15 year old self.  I remember this cover though, another Chris Achilleos.  This is one of his more famous ones to be sure.

Ian Livingstone talks about the rise of FRPGs worldwide even if the market is cooling in America.  This tracks with what we know of the world wide sales of D&D falling after the heyday of early 80s.  May 1985 was nothing but the start of a downhill slide.  Makes the whole nostalgia thing a little sour I guess...

Phil Masters is up first with NPCs in Superhero games.  Still a pretty good read, well.  Minus the terrible red art over 80% of the page.

Open Box has some classics. Marcus Rowland covers Paranoia. He enjoyed it but not sure he would run it as a long term game.  He gives it 7/10.  There are some Traveller Alien books next. Aslan, K'Kree and Vargr they get 9, 7 and 9/10 respectively from Bob McWilliams.  I remember reading these all a couple years later in my university's book store.  New reviewer R. Jarnor covers three new Trek books, The Romulans, The Orion Ruse and Margin of Profit.  I had always wanted that Romulan one.  I thought they were an under appreciated race. He gives them 9, 9, and 8/10 respectively.  All of these books I did not see till college a couple years later.  I played Paranoia and concur with Rowland; fun for a few hours and then that is it.

Critical Mass covers the new Dune book, Chapter House Dune, and the reissue of the older Dunes.

WD tries out fiction again with a tale from Dave Langford.

Graham Miller has a Traveller adventure for us.  At some point they became "adventures" and no longer "sceanrios".  Not sure when that happened.

Mike Lewis has the meaty article of "Rules and Role-Playing Don't Mix" in "Balancing Act".  The basic gist here is that long involved rules impede real role-playing.  I am not sure i buy into that really. That constantly pausing to look up rules is a determent to the flow of the game; which has some merits but it is not as dire as I think he makes it out here.

The Shuagin's Heel is next, an AD&D adventure for 6-8 characters of 2nd to 4th level.   It is a pretty good sized with 6 islands and a dungeon level. Good little side adventure for some seasoned characters.

Starbase has some more organizations for Traveller, in this case something for civilians.
RuneRites covers forecasting and divinations.
Fiend Factory has some very interesting monsters this time around.  The Noegyth Nibin or  "Petty Dwarfs" from Tolkein's Silmarillion.  The art makes them look like a cross between gnome, dwarf and goblin.  Instead though of presenting them as a race we get NPC stats for 9 different personalities.

Treasure Chest has more weapons for AD&D.  Some of which I recall seeing in Dragon and/or Unearthed Arcarna.

Tabletop Heroes covers painting horses.

Newsboard tells us of a rumor of the Buck Rogers rights being sold to TSR.  Not the TV series, but the old original Buck. They also mention some "board room shuffles" at TSR.

We end with adds.

Again, not a great issue, but there are some moments.  The AD&D adventure is nice.
A lot of new names on articles so maybe there are some changes on the way.

We will see.

You Can't Be Wrong

So a while back I mentioned I was going to something big and fun near the end of May?

Well looks like it is coming faster than I thought.

Gotta get ready!

Reveiw: Castles & Crusades Monsters

I love monsters. I love monster books. My first introduction to AD&D was via the 1st ed Monster Manual and I was instantly hooked.  So these tomes always have a special place in my heart.

Castles & Crusades actually has a number of monster books.  Each has a slightly different focus.
The Castles & Crusades Monster stat block is a nice combination of Basic's simplicity, 1st AD&D's comprehensiveness, and some 3.x style rules.  Saves are simple (Physical, Mental or both), AC is ascending and there is a "Challenge Rating" stat and XP all factored in.  Honestly it really is a synthesis of the best of D&D. Grabbing a monster from another source and converting on the fly really could not be easier.

Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure

This is the main monster and treasure book for C&C.  Here you will find what I call the "classic" monsters from the great Monster Manual.  If you are familiar with 3.x then these are all the monsters from the SRD in C&C's format.  There is plenty of new text here though to make this more than just another SRD-derived book.  Like all the C&C books the art and layout is great.  I have the physical book, the pdf and a printout of the PDF and all read great.

This book though is more than just a monster book, all the treasure and magic items (normally found in a Game Master's book) are here.  This is a nice feature really.  One place to have your encounter information.

This really is a must have book for any C&C fan. 128 pages and full of everything you need.

Castles & Crusades Of Gods & Monsters

A collection of gods and monsters from various myths and legends. It immediately reminds you of the of Deities and Demigods, but it is closer in format to the earlier Gods, Demigods and Heroes.

The myths are well represented, though there are a few oddities. The Greek and Roman myths are separate and the demi-human myths could have been left out, but that being said, the book is top notch.  There is also a section the gods and monsters of the C&C Campaign world of Aihrde.  I am particularily happy about the inclusion of the Celtic myths since that is what I am most likely to use.

I did like all the new spells for clerics of the various gods. That was a good touch. Of course there are also plenty of new magic items.
144 pages.


Castles & Crusades Classic Monsters The Manual

A fantastic collection of monsters from the original Fiend Folio, Monster Manual 2 and various publications. All revised to be used in in Castles & Crusades. Not a "must have" book, but certainly a "you will really, really want it and kick yourself if you don't get it" book.


It is a fantastic edition to my C&C collection and I am very glad I bought it.
Actually the more I have it, the more I find myself turning to it.

The nicest feature of this book is the inclusion of a DMG style index of the monster stats from here and from Monsters & Treasure. So now hundreds of monsters are at your finger tips.
If there is ever a "Second Edition" of C&C, I'd like to see this book and Monsters & Treasure combined into one volume.
144 pages.


Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde

At first I was not going to get this book.  I had all three of the other monster books and this one seemed a bit redundant.  But this one had something the others didn't; Demons and Devils.  I don't want to say that this is the only reason I got it, but they were conspicuously absent from all the other books.
Of course this book has more, a lot more, than just that.

I did enjoy all the new dragons and like it's "parent" book, this book has a bunch of new treasure.
Some of the monsters are world specific, but nothing that can't be worked around. In truth most of these monsters are all brand new to me and that is worth the price of the book alone.  Even most of the demons, devils and dragons are new.  Likewise for the treasure.
176 pages.

Review: Castles & Crusades Core

Three books make up the Castles & Crusades core.  The main one is the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook it focuses on character creation and leveling, plus many of the rules around equipment and combat.  The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide is a massive tome about running all sorts of C&C games. Finally, no old-school FRPG is complete without monsters or treasure so the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book had you covered.

Today I want to talk about the first two.

It is often said that Castles & Crusades is the Rosetta Stone of Old School Gaming.  It certainly is that, but there is a lot more going on here than just that.  Castles & Crusades is very much a stripped down version of the basic 3.x SRD.  As such there are lot of concepts that are modern including a one-roll mechanic for all sorts of situations.  Though if that were all then there would be nothing separating this from say True20 or other "lite" d20 iterations.  Castles & Crusades plays like good old fashioned D&D.  The aesthetic here is 1st Ed. AD&D, with the simplicity of Basic era D&D.  The concept is noble and one we see in many of the retro-clones.  But where the clones attempt to use the OGL to make an older version of the rules, Castles & Crusades makes it's own rules and instead goes for the feel or nature of the game.   So while you will see Thieve's abilities represented by percentage rolls in Basic Fantasy or OSRIC and as a skill in 3.x in C&C it will be a Dexterity check.  Simple, elegant and easy.  The Ability check, whether your abilities are Prime or Secondary, are a key element of C&C.

The Players Handbook

The Players Handbook is the first book you need for Castles & Crusades. At 140+ pages it is all about getting your character up and going.  The abilities here are the same six you have always used and they are even generated by rolling 3d6 and assigning.  If you have a different method that you liked back in the day OR if you have adopted some point by system from a new version I see no reason why it would not work here.  I am a fan of 4d6, drop the lowest myself.  The ability score modifications are a bit different than new OGL games, but are in fact much closer to older games.  Bottom line is just pay attention to how many pluses that 18 gives you if you are used to playing newer games.

Next you will choose a class based on your abilities.  Each class has a prime ability; one that is most associated with it.  So fighters have strength, clerics wisdom, wizards intelligence and so on.  Speaking of classes, all the "classics" are here and some new ones.  So you have Assassins, Barbarians, Bards, Clerics, Druids, Fighters, Illusionists, Knights, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues and Wizards.  There are some minor tweaks that make them different from other versions of the same class in another game, but nothing that made me scream "That's not right!" in fact in most cases I was more inclined to agree with what they did.  For example I like the Barbarian for the first time ever.  Each class has some special abilities and skills.
In C&C it is assumed that if a character wants to do something that instead of a skill roll an ability check is made.  There is Target Number, 12 for Primes (something you are good at) or an 18 for Secondary.  You add your mods, any class or race based modifications and there you go.  Simple.  Skills are no longer of a list of things you can or can't do, but now potential to do or at least try anything.  This is something we did back in the old days, but the newer twist here is that this is just the same as any d20 based roll. Be it skills or attack.  So Rangers and Barbarians are good at tracking, wizards at arcane lore and so on.  makes things pretty easy.  So improvement over 3.x games, no tracking skill points.
I have to add, that there is such a cool old-school vibe here that it is just like reading a book from the early 80s.  Only with far better layout and art.  As another aside, the art is fantastic.  I love my old school games and wizards in pointy hats and all, but the wizard in C&C looks AWESOME.  I would not mess with that guy, I don't care if he looks like a farmer or not.

Races are up next and all the usual suspects are here.
Races and Classes are built in such away that customization is REALLY easy.  If I wanted to play a Goblin here I bet I could rather easy.  Every race gets two Prime stats.  Typically you want one of these to correspond with your class.  Humans get three allowing for their flexibility.  All other races also get modifiers to abilities and/or special traits.  While the modularity of 3.x is obvious, the feel is still more 1st ed.
We end character creation on completing the character with persona, gods and alignment.
Up next are some lists of equipment and rules on encumbrance.  The rules are some of the easiest encumbrance rules I have seen.  So far so good? Well we have by this point gotten through roughly a third of the book.  Not too bad for 50 pages.

Magic and Spells take up the remaining bulk (65 pages) of the book.  Not a surprise given four spell casting classes.  Spells are listed alphabetically and range from 0-level cantrips to 9th level spells for each of the four classes. That is a major break from their old-school roots when only wizards had access to 9th level spells.
The spell format itself is also closer to that of 3.x, though no XP penalties that I could see.
The nest 20 or so pages deal with the Castle Keep (GM) of the game.  This includes all sorts of advice on how to handle conflict, award XP and even how to set up an adventuring party.  Good advice all around to be honest and enough to keep most groups going for a long time.
There is also an appendix on multi-classing as an optional rule.  I have not tried it yet, but it looks solid. Not as elegant as what you see in 3.x, but better than what we had in 1st or 2nd ed.

The Players Handbook is all most players will ever need and even some Castle Keepers.
I have the 4th ed version with the black and white interior art and the newer 5th ed with the full color art.  Rule wise they are the same, but the full color version is really, really nice and the art is just fantastic.
The book ends with a character sheet that is just goldenrod paper shy of being an awesome old-school sheet.

Castle Keepers Guide

The Castle Keepers Guide is the guide for Castles & Crusades Game Masters. It is a massive book at 291 pages. There are some obvious parallels between this book and the immortal Dungeon Master's Guide, but I am going to focus on this text.
Part 1, The Character largely parallels the Players Handbook with advanced discussions on abilities, classes and races in Chapter 1.  Magic is covered in detail in Chapter 2. Equipment is expanded on in Chapter 3 and non-player characters are discussed in Chapter 4.
Chapter 1 does give the CK more options than just what is detailed in the Players book.  For example the 4d6 method is discussed among others. If you prefer the newer attribute modifiers; ie the ones from the SRD, 3.x where 18 grants a +4, then those are also discussed and how they might affect the game.  Along with that abilities of 20 or greater (godlike abilities) are discussed.
For characters, more options are given and experience levels beyond what is listed in the Players Handbook, typically to 24th level.
Chapter 2 on Magic is a must read for anyone like me that loves magic using classes. In particular there lots of good bits on spell components and the prices of various items needed to research spells or make scrolls.  The effects of holy ground on clerics is very nice to see.
Chapter 3 details a number of mundane and exotic items not found in the Players book.
Chapter 4 covers NPCs as allies, adversaries or as hired help.
Part 2 covers Worlds of Adventure, or how to build your own fantasy game world. Everything from how many moons, to average tempertures by month and zones is covered.  Details you might not ever need, but here for your use when you do need them.   I rather liked the large portion devoted to urban settings; something I feel gets shorted in fantasy games.  Of course dungeons and other underground environments are covered. As well as air and sea adventures.
Other sections detail equipment usage, land as treasure (and running this land once you have it) and going to war.
Some discussion is had on Monster ecology as well. Trying to make sense of what monsters live in your world and why.  The standard monsters from Monsters and Treasure are discussed with an eye to what they are doing in the world; what is their purpose and ecological niche.
Chapter 13: Expanding the Genre is actually the first chapter that attracted me to buying this book.  On the outset it covers merging different times with your fantasy world. Say adding guns, Gothic Horror or Pulp Adventures.
Chapters 14 and 15 details some of the underlying assumptions of the SIEGE Engine rules powering Castles & Crusades.  This chapter makes a lot more sense in retrospective of reading Amazing Adventures.
Chapter 16 talks a little more about treasure. Chapter 17 about combat.
Chapter 18 adds some secondary Skills to the game.  Not needed to play, but certainly will add some more flavor.  A Rogue that only steals magical items for example might have a need for Ars Magica.
Finally we end with Character Deaths and Fates.

Castles & Crusades is constructed in such a way that most of the information a Castle Keeper needs is in the Player's book.  But if they plan on doing anything other than just dungeon crawls then Castle Keepers guide is a must have.  Like the Players Handbook the layout and art is fantastic.  I also could not help but notice some really nice pieces from Larry Elmore and Peter Bradley.  Always a bonus in my book.

If you are a Game Master of any FRPG based on or around the d20 SRD then I would highly recommend this book.  The advice is solid and the mechanics are so easy to translate that it hardly matters what game you are running, it will work with this.

EDITED TO ADD: Want more C&C insight? Check out Gaming Ronin today as well!