Excited over running a few games using C&C game system.

 

I have given my current players at my table a heads up that the next campaign, series of games or one shots at my gaming table will be played using Castles and Crusades from Troll Lord Games. 

I am actually excited to run some games using this system. I purchased their PHB several years ago and it wasn't until recently that I pulled it out of the shelves and decided to really give it an in depth look.

Immediately I remembered what attracted me to it in the store that fateful day I purchased it on a whim: The old school aesthetics, the call backs to AD&D mechanics and OSR sensibilities with a modern coat of paint.

For those of you unaware, C&C has the distinction of being the last gaming project of the late, great Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. You can really tell what would have attracted Gary to this game not that long ago. (I do believe that it dates back to at least 2004 if not a few years before that.) The best way to describe this game is as an amalgamation of familiar AD&D mechanics and the D20 system which was popularized starting in the year 2000 with D&D 3rd edition and games like Pathfinder 1e.

Not to go too deep into it but here are some things that make this game reminiscent of AD&D (1st edition with some 2e for good measure):

• Racial and class combos including the traditional races such as half-elves and half-orcs which are now missing from modern  D&D
• casting times for magic and spells
• Saving throws, more than those tied to skills in 5e and more than the three associated with 3.5 or D&D 3rd edition
• Situational modifiers in combat like back in the day and in 3.5 

The third edition elements are there with the movement rates which also make their way into 5e and stuff like an expanded alignment system, but the OSR elements are what intrigued me in the first place such as the use of individual experience progression, like in AD&D, the familiar abilities like Clerics turning the undead based on dice rolls and hit dice of the monsters and the limitation on the weapons they are allowed to use. Thieves (called Rogues like in 3rd) don't have a percentage dice roll on skills, but they do use the same attributes and abilities associated with that class like thieve's cant, sneak attacks, hide in shadows, etc.

In short, this game's aesthetic really gives me the nostalgic feels and does it twice: From the first time I picked up my AD&D books at Toys 'R Us prior to the start of the edition wars and again to the early aughts, I wasn't really playing 3.5 then, but I did play DDO and other video games which heavily borrowed or modified those mechanics from the pen and paper version of the game. Can't wait to try out a few games, the "Castle Keeper's Guide" (DM Guide as it is called in this game) is on its way!