I like a lot of the ideas, I've bought everything Hank's ever made, but tracking who can no longer jump, who doesn't have a weapon, who lost their ability to use stealth, etc. during each combat got weird and tedious.
@@mavfan21 have the players track it and play it. It’s no longer fun when they cheat, it’ll come through and the table can talk it out when it happens.
My favorite thing about Crown & Skull is that the text isn’t in 4 pt font or dark grey text against a busy black background. Don’t make me have to bust out a magnifying glass to read your 500 page rule books! Bless Runehammer for making all his books legible to us older gamers. Also, get off my lawn, you punks! :D
My first thought in reading the 5.0 handbook was "bad art". My second though was "what, do they have something against old people? Didn't know it at the time, but that was exactly it.
4:00 This is why GURPS is so good. You always have the number to roll equal to or less than on your sheet (modifiers still happening on occasion). I love this not just because it's easy to know what you're rolling, but because your chance of success is visibly set by your character's competency and not just modified by it.
Really enjoyed playing GURPS 3e back in the day! Kind of a shame that 4e never caught on; the changes made sense and had already been popular homebrew rules, and the system was still compatible with the 3e sourcebooks and adventures with only tiny changes. The greatest strength AND weakness of GURPS was character creation, which went into a molecular level of customizability. On the one hand, I enjoyed the "Build-A-Bear" experience of total customizability and personalizing every character. On the other hand, doing all that accounting work on GURPS character sheets is the reason I've had no trouble manually filling out my own tax return forms for years; I've come to realize it's practically the same thing.
@@justinmargerum2559 yeah. Always loved the concept, the implementation was so long winded and difficult to implement. Savage Worlds was / is slightly better, but don't really like the exploding dice thing. And the Power systems is a tad broken (and nearly to the gurps level of complex)
Our group is currently playing Crown and Skull and having a lot of fun. We are still wrapping our heads around certain mechanics but are quite happy with the different play style.
Hank is a shinning light of creativity and inclusion in the hobby we all love and the book is a testament to his vision and genius. Love that you featured it Bob.
Crown & Skull is a great game. Dragonbane does something similar with monster attacks except with Dragonbane you roll 1d6 on six different attacks that are also described in evocative ways. Monsters automatically hit in Dragonbane (unless you use your whole turn dodging them) so they're especially terrifying. In Dragonbane you don't use the same attack twice which also makes monsters unpredictable.
I was going to mention Dragonbane, which does it great ,but it's good to note that Runehammer has been talking about this kind of "program" for monsters for a long time.
@@josephkrausz9557 yes he has. I vaguely remember a video from years ago where he went through is monster AI method or something like that. Forbidden Lands also has d6 monster attacks and was first released in 2018. Forbidden Lands is also a Free League product. Free League playtests a lot and tends to reuse mechanics that work when they create new games. As an aside if you were trying to encourage role-playing or get your players to take less combat oriented actions you could also give your monsters d6 reactions or social interactions etc. which might be interesting.
Coming from Basic Roleplaying, roll low has always been cool in my book. Simplified from a D100 to a D20 as seen in Dragonbane, Pendragon, and now Crown & Skull works just fine for me. I like my percentage dice, but if the D20 helps lure people away from the elephant in the room, I'm cool with that.
It is so refreshing to see a book with a layout that actually offers readability. Why the two-column layout is so popular in the ttrpg space, I will never understand.
I'd say that's related to book size If you have a big book with tiny print, having 2 columns make it easier to follow without jumping lines, and giving you more sense of progress, while modern indies more favorable to A5 formats and the like can forget it, except for short field tables, I guess
Two column is much more space-efficient if you have a lot of lists and tables - and if you're interested in readability, you probably should have a lot of lists and tables. Eg imagine a 5e spell block being a full page wide, how much space would be wasted by the short rows like casting time and range.
Very relatable. I moved my group to a system that just takes the highest number from a pool of d6's for the roll result, because quick math is not their strong suit
@LagiacrusHunter yeah, I can see that being a problem for a group like that. I respect people's limitations so I'm going the little or predetermined math route. Check out fallout ttrpg (not wasteland warfare) by modiphious. it has a pretty good roll low dice pool system.
@norandomnumbers there has always been talks with my group to try the game out but nobody ever got around to running it. And considering that I'm always dming stuff, I figured I would let people take the reins on that. I always liked the idea of % systems.
When it comes to character building I think there is a "cake and eat it too" option. If you have a set of traits that a player can choose from to create whatever class they want where each level advancement is just "and select another trait" (or two) you could still create the current 5e class model (which is just a set of preselected traits for each level). For things like spell casting there are traits you can select more than once. So you can select the "Spellcasting" trait multiple times, and each time gives you another "level" in spellcasting. Also, whether you prepare spells from a spell book, bring them through the weave with interpretive dance, or pray for them is just thematic. Simplifies the rule system while greatly increasing flexibility, or for those that want a more controlled format the ability for the game master to make up (or acquire from others) predetermined lists of "classes". A rage-filled barbarian that calls on his ancestors to call down lightning onto her foes would be easily accomplished. The barbarian bit is thematic, Rage is a trait, Spellcasting is a trait. Can take Rage multiple times to increase duration and/or damage that it inflicts, take Spellcasting multiple times to increase range/duration/damage of that lightning spell that they cast. The calling on ancestors bit is also just thematic.
Your videos are very entertaining. I love the outdoor environment and sounds. I enjoy your adding clips that were edited. Very funny and keeps my attention.
Using "20-Ability Score, roll high" is what I've been using for running some OSR sessions lately!!! LOL. Great minds think alike! Love your channel, BOB!!!
I have a friend who's been designing their own tabletop RPG system for a handful of years now, and the idea of your character just being a fully customizable set of Feats is one of the pillars of their design. Then there's another friend who's been working on a system that does the 'roll a dice' to determine what the creature does! Really happy to see their ideas being so highly praised in this video, knowing others will enjoy it too.
The breath of fresh air this hobby needs. Crown and Skull is absolutely fantastic. Not just in world building, but its direct usefulness at the table. Its design isn't fooling around and only adds bullet-points of fluff where it's helpful. Haven't had this much fun for a long time hosting this gem! And btw. my players agree and can't wait to get back to The North Holds! Shields up! CHARGE!
I wasnt super sold at first but that method of running monsters feels absolutely inspired! For tables where tactical strategy is less of a focus, coming up with interesting and dramatic turns without becoming repetitive can be exhausting for the DM, but having monster actions determined by a die roll like that simplifies turns while giving the potential for the DM to be surprised by the monsters actions, which is always a fun plus. Im not sure Id want to cede control entirely to a die roll for monsters, but it is 100% the kind of thing Im now considering implementing into my own games to make non-unique enemies more streamlined and interesting (which rarely go hand in hand, so thats awesome)
Some parts of it reminded me of the Cypher System, particularly the part about creating characters by connecting different sentences. I hope you run into it one day, because you're probably going to love it.
@BobWorldBuilder I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. 👀 The Cypher System is a generic set of rules that comes from a game called Numenera, by Monte Cook Games. Numenera is kind of a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, but the Cypher System has rules and options for just about every genre. May I suggest checking Monte Cook Games website? The amount of material they've published is only matched by the quality of it. They have several in-house games, but there's also a ton of 5e stuff.
This is actually how AD&D worked. If the monster had claw/claw/bite then the player attacks would come between them. Changing to "do it all at once" was what I liked least about 3rd Ed.
Two things: I LOVED the inclusion of the little train during the train horn interruption. I was intrigued enough by Crown & Skull that you talked about in this video, I ordered it through my FLGS. First fantasy RPG I have purchased since back in the early 2000s when I picked up Epic RPG. So good on you for sparking my interest.
Excellent video! I love your analysis and reviews, but I'm really loving the filmmaking quality of your videos recently is quite excellent. Looking forward to the next one!
★ I honestly hope that Crown & Skull will NEVER collude with Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro, ever! This way it will retain it's own unique and amazing quality and never have to bow down and kiss someone else's ass in the name of money while sacrificing interesting, entertaining, unique content, AND 100% independent control. PLEASE keep far, far away from anything to do with the tainted disease that Dungeons & Dragons continuously inflicts upon it's loyal and devoted fan base. Stay interesting, distinctive, and pure for us serious Table Top Fantasy Role Playing Gamers who have been constantly disappointed by commercial profit over beautiful and meaningful game content for the last three decades!!!
really cool system - tactics that is. "KULT: divinity lost" (CW: horror game for a mature audience) has something similar for each wound a monster receives there is a suggestion how they react. from attack more ferociously (+1 to harm) to retreat and flee or weirder stuff. I think I'll try and combine tactics and reactions in KULT. And maybe write a blog post about it
My dream is that some day the rpg scene wouldn't be all dnd instead i want a world where people can make a career out of any ttrpg without having to even think about dnd. That would also cause there to be more resources to other games. I just want more even playing field
Re: cobbling together a character from a long list of features. Tiny D6 games also do something like this. I've read Tiny Dungeon, and while there are classes, it basically just says you have to choose a couple of your starting moves from a smaller list, but you can ultimately take whatever features you want for your character. It's pretty neat.
Forcing players to choose their fealty after several levels is a VERY good idea. The subclass concept suggests it but no one is forced to do anything because they became a hexblade etc. There Is an implication that the fealty is roughly good vs evil, with less judgment around the choice, but the very forcing of that choice is anathema to the bespoke game approach loved by the 5e furries. I had players swear to the crown last campaign by choice.
I like how Shadowdark and DC20 are like opposite spin-offs of D&D. Shadowdark gets the mechanics of 5e and puts a new gritty vibe over them. DC20 grabs the "fantasy superhero" vibe of 5e and puts a new, original action point system underneath.
Hi Bob, good write up and I see Crown and Skull is getting you excited. I think something being 'new' is definitely good for youtube but a lot of what you said you want in an RPG has been done by several older RPGs. I don't think you've ever covered GURPS or Basic Roleplaying, both those might interest you as well. GURPs even has a free version and Basic Roleplaying has an SRD that is pretty detailed. Layout is a lot of what you seem to focus on in this video and I think that's one thing that older RPGs should take note of and potentially update with. Good video, I like that you get out in the woods :D
Ages ago a friend and I broke down the 3.5 DnD rules into something very like the feat-based character/class creation. I was never sure it was entirely balanced, but it worked reasonably well, allowed for creative custom characters and was fun.
crown and skull looks like the other side of a coin that mythras is on, which is a really amazing game that deserves more love. it's also roll-under, and even more free-form than what this is, being a skill based game. it's my favourite game probably of all time
CROWN & SKULL is very exciting, especially to players who really value building characters from the ground up. Spellcrafting is insanely fun in this game.
I’m so happy that someone else still occasionally says “rustles your jimmies” And Crown and Skull always looked great. I need to read it again. And play it…
I made a system that is similar for my elder scrolls campaign, at least in some ways. You level up skills with skill points at level up, and then based on the skills you chose you can take perks, some of which mimic class features from 5e, and others are unique to the system.
Bob: 'Hey, all those things you like, this game spits on them and will insult your mum.' Me: ' Are you trying to get me to buy the book or fight it in the alley at 3am?'
Like the combat management aspect, adds flavor and saves time simultaneously. Despite how metal the alignment system seems I guess I bounce off of it a bit. Feels thematic but a bit heavy-handed for me, since when I read I could already think of character concepts that didn't align with either. Maybe it helps focus the gameplay? I'd have to see it in action
I have not read Crown and Skull yet (I did read an earlier version), But Runehammer puts out some of the best games I have in my collection. I know that once I read it, it will be hard for me to put down and the game idea goblin in me is already wanting to know more. Great video.
Nice video as always!! also if you want a modular class in D&D i urge you to check 'The adventurer' class it can be found in GM binder, the whole gist of the class is that it is the Multiclass class if that makes sense!
The phase idea is really cool,- be it reminds me a little bit of the Cosmere turn order, which goes fast turns (2 actions allowed), then slow turns (3 actions allowed). The vampire also acting on multiple phases is really cool, and there are only a few 5e mechanics that somewhat replicate that. There are lair actions that always go on Initiative 20, but this are usually separate tables, and legendary actions don’t necessarily have a set spot in the turn order. The Thief Rogue capstone is probably the closest, which gives them a second entire turn on the first round of combat, which happens that their Initiative minus 10, if I remember correctly
I'm playing an RPG that our GM made. He said he hadn't ran it for some time but wanted to dust it off for us. His character creation was completely customizable. It's all point buy type stuff and you get to buy specialties, sort of like feats. So there are no classes in this RPG but he does have a section with suggestions if you want your character to fit into one of those classic tropes. It was alot of fun to make though could be a tad overwhelming with the plethora of options available
Love the monster statblock. Having characters build by discrete skills has been done by RuneQuest and The Fantasy Trip (which also has a Roll Low mechanic)
There were a couple things in this that made me think of an old TSR Sci-Fi RPG called Alternity. It was roll low, with degrees of success, all based on your ability score. Combat rounds were also broken out into phases, with initiative rolls determining which phase you get first get to act in. Pretty different otherwise, but definitely made me think if it.
I've been thinking the same thing for 5e in general. Like assigning it's attacks to a d6 table for tactics, multiattack is what gives it 2-3 tactics per round. But I guess C&S monsters can attack more often since they may have multiple tactics AND multiple phases...
ooh this looks interesting! I'm curious how the magic system works. I've been working on a new setting with rare magic so I've been on the hunt for a fitting rule set, and I love the vibes from Crown & Skull. I've got some homework!
Been working on a monster hunting TTRPG for some time now. Recently changed my core rolls to basically be Paper Mario-esque action commands (what I'm calling minigames), and they're simple to use, have different use cases (one of which you always know your own target number for and is basically just pass/fail/crit), and you always want to roll high (cuz I personally like big numbers too
Runehammer games are pure genius. The Tactics die shows up in Viking Death Squad as well and its great because it can let the GM make a fair and impartial decision on the fly. No more feeling like you "caused" a character death. Let the dice fall where they will.
Nice! Yeah like most games, I think it would benefit from providing a quick start scenario. If there is one, I haven't found it, but I got to play in one session so far
There seems to be a lot of overlap with Dragonbane, not just in the "roll under" die mechanics, but with the self-running monsters taking actions according to a die roll. One main difference is Crown and Skull's static initiative, which streamlines combat significantly. Dragonbane's system of drawing cards to establish turn order every single round of combat in a system that only allows a single action OR reaction per turn is something I scrapped right out of the box. That threatened to turn every combat into nearly 50% polling for combat, and I don't regret scrapping it. Our homebrew system (which I admittedly took from a sadly long forgotten internet commenter) for practically any system where turn order matters is to roll (or draw) for initiative ONCE at the beginning of the play session, and any combat which occurs during that session uses that initiative order. Either that or start with the player to the DM's right and go counter clockwise around the table: Player--monster--player--monster etc. Players are allowed to swap initiative with any subsequent player or monster on their turns for that round, which gives them freedom to set up combos or otherwise optimize their own turn order for that round. Allowing players to swap places with anyone after them in the initiative is something I stole from Dragonbane; it's a more attractive option than effectively skipping a turn with a hold action, and it works really well for encouraging consistent player engagement and cooperative strategy.
This book is beautiful and I had a blast running the included adventure. I'm surprised you didn't talk more about the way dungeons are ran, it's very different.
The character prompts are really cool for new players and the monster stat blocks look so fun to run. Hope this one comes to Brazil some day so I can present it to my friends more easily :P (Jambô salva nóis)
You guys keep asking the wrong questions. It's not about why they aren't changing the rules; the rules are fine. There is some fine-tuning here and there, but overall, that part is doing well. The question that should be asked, "Why isn't D&D creating new exciting adventures and content?" A majority of 5e was just them re-releasing older content in a new package. With the size of this "sandbox" D&D should be releasing new content at least once a quarter if not monthly.
It’s an interesting question; my thoughts based on what I remember WotC folks having said about their approach: when they released more products, each would only sell to a subset of their audience (even beyond the GM-Player divide), to the extent that they were making less revenue than if they sold fewer products to a larger proportion of their audience. And in terms of releasing past adventures etc., I think that’s partly because they’ve had such a focus on things feeling part of D&D history, and “feeling D&D” in general (which also explains the relatively conservative rule changes), which was partly a reaction to negativity around 4th edition’s radical departure from the 3.5e mechanics/feel. I kinda get the frustration with D&D’s relative lack of innovation, and certainly when WotC are hawking three expensive rule books as a .X update, but I also think they’re serving a large and diverse player base, where any change loved by some would be hated by others, and they’re gathering play-test data that is informing their decision making. So while I’m more excited by other games generally these days, the creatives do know what they’re doing in terms of the D&D brand, as is. WotC as a company, though… 😬
I do genuinely love that newer games have automated much of the enemies we see in games. I love making backstories for my bad guys but I hate having to look through lists of stuff they can do in combat.
Crown & Skull is the kind of book you want to hold and feel and sniff and leave lying around to idly flip open and browse… and find yourself still immersed in hours later. By its very existence it pulls down the pants of PDFs and laughs at them. It’s a proper book. An idiosyncratic, non-committee-written, work of passion and hand-crafted piece of art. If only Brandon’s approach was the abnormal norm.
Making spells and gear both fully customizable but also costing the same resource is such cool way of balancing martials and casters. Love CnS but I feel like to get the most out of it you need a table thats played 3-4 other weird RPGs so they have ideas to steal for custom character abilities to homebrew into CS
Crown and Skull's attrition system is very innovative. And the book itself is beautiful.
Great testimonial! :)
I LOVE ALL comments from Dungeon Craft!
I like a lot of the ideas, I've bought everything Hank's ever made, but tracking who can no longer jump, who doesn't have a weapon, who lost their ability to use stealth, etc. during each combat got weird and tedious.
@@mavfan21 Sounds like condition cards could be useful.
@@mavfan21 have the players track it and play it. It’s no longer fun when they cheat, it’ll come through and the table can talk it out when it happens.
hahah that intro :) thanks Bob!!!
Watching Perkins' expression change 😆
He even does a big visible gulp
Reject modernity, embrace smashing old editions together until you make your own perfect system
Totally, but smash in the new editions too if you want!
This is the way.
@@BobWorldBuilder naturally ^_^
The past is modernity.
That is what Broken Empires says they have done.
My favorite thing about Crown & Skull is that the text isn’t in 4 pt font or dark grey text against a busy black background. Don’t make me have to bust out a magnifying glass to read your 500 page rule books! Bless Runehammer for making all his books legible to us older gamers. Also, get off my lawn, you punks! :D
It's certainly a good move!
My first thought in reading the 5.0 handbook was "bad art". My second though was "what, do they have something against old people? Didn't know it at the time, but that was exactly it.
4:00 This is why GURPS is so good. You always have the number to roll equal to or less than on your sheet (modifiers still happening on occasion). I love this not just because it's easy to know what you're rolling, but because your chance of success is visibly set by your character's competency and not just modified by it.
Picking and choosing feats to build your character? Just like picking Advantages and Disadvantages in GURPS to build your character? Come on 😂
Really enjoyed playing GURPS 3e back in the day! Kind of a shame that 4e never caught on; the changes made sense and had already been popular homebrew rules, and the system was still compatible with the 3e sourcebooks and adventures with only tiny changes.
The greatest strength AND weakness of GURPS was character creation, which went into a molecular level of customizability. On the one hand, I enjoyed the "Build-A-Bear" experience of total customizability and personalizing every character. On the other hand, doing all that accounting work on GURPS character sheets is the reason I've had no trouble manually filling out my own tax return forms for years; I've come to realize it's practically the same thing.
@@justinmargerum2559 yeah. Always loved the concept, the implementation was so long winded and difficult to implement. Savage Worlds was / is slightly better, but don't really like the exploding dice thing. And the Power systems is a tad broken (and nearly to the gurps level of complex)
When Prof DM made his video on this book I bought it the same day. It's so pretty, so standalone, so complete, I needed it as an object.
Aye. I did the same. 😊
YES! More Crown & Skull! Love this game. The monsters, the character customization, phases 🤌
I really like those monster stat blocks! :)
Play testing crown and skull with the Garish Gang was such a blast. Great review, dude. Underrated game.
Our group is currently playing Crown and Skull and having a lot of fun. We are still wrapping our heads around certain mechanics but are quite happy with the different play style.
Those monster tactics make it sound like this would be the perfect solo game.
Can't say the game in general would be good for it, but certainly the monsters are!
I'm just wondering how to implement that to DND / DC20
Hank is a shinning light of creativity and inclusion in the hobby we all love and the book is a testament to his vision and genius. Love that you featured it Bob.
Crown & Skull is a great game. Dragonbane does something similar with monster attacks except with Dragonbane you roll 1d6 on six different attacks that are also described in evocative ways. Monsters automatically hit in Dragonbane (unless you use your whole turn dodging them) so they're especially terrifying.
In Dragonbane you don't use the same attack twice which also makes monsters unpredictable.
I’ve like the idea of that unpredictability!
You should definitely check out dragonbane, get the box (complete with 12 adventures)..
Hank said he was inspired by dragonbane
I was going to mention Dragonbane, which does it great ,but it's good to note that Runehammer has been talking about this kind of "program" for monsters for a long time.
@@josephkrausz9557 yes he has. I vaguely remember a video from years ago where he went through is monster AI method or something like that.
Forbidden Lands also has d6 monster attacks and was first released in 2018. Forbidden Lands is also a Free League product. Free League playtests a lot and tends to reuse mechanics that work when they create new games.
As an aside if you were trying to encourage role-playing or get your players to take less combat oriented actions you could also give your monsters d6 reactions or social interactions etc. which might be interesting.
Damn it. Like I need another book. I love Runehammer and this game seems great.
There's a free digital version with the first 50 or so pages on the website!
@@BobWorldBuilder yes I found it, thanks!
Coming from Basic Roleplaying, roll low has always been cool in my book. Simplified from a D100 to a D20 as seen in Dragonbane, Pendragon, and now Crown & Skull works just fine for me. I like my percentage dice, but if the D20 helps lure people away from the elephant in the room, I'm cool with that.
It is so refreshing to see a book with a layout that actually offers readability.
Why the two-column layout is so popular in the ttrpg space, I will never understand.
I'd say that's related to book size
If you have a big book with tiny print, having 2 columns make it easier to follow without jumping lines, and giving you more sense of progress, while modern indies more favorable to A5 formats and the like can forget it, except for short field tables, I guess
Two column is much more space-efficient if you have a lot of lists and tables - and if you're interested in readability, you probably should have a lot of lists and tables. Eg imagine a 5e spell block being a full page wide, how much space would be wasted by the short rows like casting time and range.
Roll low is definately ad&D, but after suffering through decades of people who cannot do quick simple math, I see the wisdom again.
Very relatable. I moved my group to a system that just takes the highest number from a pool of d6's for the roll result, because quick math is not their strong suit
@LagiacrusHunter yeah, I can see that being a problem for a group like that. I respect people's limitations so I'm going the little or predetermined math route. Check out fallout ttrpg (not wasteland warfare) by modiphious. it has a pretty good roll low dice pool system.
Roll low is also the core mechanic of Call of Cthulhu, though that system uses d100s instead of d20s.
@norandomnumbers there has always been talks with my group to try the game out but nobody ever got around to running it. And considering that I'm always dming stuff, I figured I would let people take the reins on that. I always liked the idea of % systems.
Excellent video. Thank you for taking us outside.
Glad you enjoyed it!
When it comes to character building I think there is a "cake and eat it too" option. If you have a set of traits that a player can choose from to create whatever class they want where each level advancement is just "and select another trait" (or two) you could still create the current 5e class model (which is just a set of preselected traits for each level). For things like spell casting there are traits you can select more than once. So you can select the "Spellcasting" trait multiple times, and each time gives you another "level" in spellcasting. Also, whether you prepare spells from a spell book, bring them through the weave with interpretive dance, or pray for them is just thematic. Simplifies the rule system while greatly increasing flexibility, or for those that want a more controlled format the ability for the game master to make up (or acquire from others) predetermined lists of "classes". A rage-filled barbarian that calls on his ancestors to call down lightning onto her foes would be easily accomplished. The barbarian bit is thematic, Rage is a trait, Spellcasting is a trait. Can take Rage multiple times to increase duration and/or damage that it inflicts, take Spellcasting multiple times to increase range/duration/damage of that lightning spell that they cast. The calling on ancestors bit is also just thematic.
this system sounds absolutely epic; i really wanna try this out with my friends. thank you so much for showing this to the world!
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Had to like the video just for the dramatic "Rustle your Jimmies"
Thank you lol
Your videos are very entertaining. I love the outdoor environment and sounds. I enjoy your adding clips that were edited. Very funny and keeps my attention.
Thanks for watching and commenting! :)
Using "20-Ability Score, roll high" is what I've been using for running some OSR sessions lately!!! LOL. Great minds think alike! Love your channel, BOB!!!
It's kind of like THAC0
Yaaaaaaaas! Crown & Skull is such a brilliant design🛡️ Rock on Bob!
I’ve loved Runehammer since the Drunkens and Dragons days. Love to see them getting love.
I have a friend who's been designing their own tabletop RPG system for a handful of years now, and the idea of your character just being a fully customizable set of Feats is one of the pillars of their design. Then there's another friend who's been working on a system that does the 'roll a dice' to determine what the creature does!
Really happy to see their ideas being so highly praised in this video, knowing others will enjoy it too.
My jimmies were definitely rustled during my first crown session. In the best way
The breath of fresh air this hobby needs. Crown and Skull is absolutely fantastic. Not just in world building, but its direct usefulness at the table. Its design isn't fooling around and only adds bullet-points of fluff where it's helpful. Haven't had this much fun for a long time hosting this gem! And btw. my players agree and can't wait to get back to The North Holds! Shields up! CHARGE!
Homebrew haven. So many cool ideas from other publishers that could combine to make something really unique.
Runehammer is a shining beacon of hope in the mire of mediocrity. The shield wall holds strong!!
I wasnt super sold at first but that method of running monsters feels absolutely inspired! For tables where tactical strategy is less of a focus, coming up with interesting and dramatic turns without becoming repetitive can be exhausting for the DM, but having monster actions determined by a die roll like that simplifies turns while giving the potential for the DM to be surprised by the monsters actions, which is always a fun plus. Im not sure Id want to cede control entirely to a die roll for monsters, but it is 100% the kind of thing Im now considering implementing into my own games to make non-unique enemies more streamlined and interesting (which rarely go hand in hand, so thats awesome)
Some parts of it reminded me of the Cypher System, particularly the part about creating characters by connecting different sentences. I hope you run into it one day, because you're probably going to love it.
I played one game of "Cypher Punk" but we used pregens so I didn't get to see that part haha
@BobWorldBuilder I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. 👀 The Cypher System is a generic set of rules that comes from a game called Numenera, by Monte Cook Games. Numenera is kind of a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, but the Cypher System has rules and options for just about every genre. May I suggest checking Monte Cook Games website? The amount of material they've published is only matched by the quality of it. They have several in-house games, but there's also a ton of 5e stuff.
I think what I like the most from this is the Phase system, that's just such an interesting way to keep track of turn order!
This is actually how AD&D worked. If the monster had claw/claw/bite then the player attacks would come between them. Changing to "do it all at once" was what I liked least about 3rd Ed.
Two things:
I LOVED the inclusion of the little train during the train horn interruption.
I was intrigued enough by Crown & Skull that you talked about in this video, I ordered it through my FLGS. First fantasy RPG I have purchased since back in the early 2000s when I picked up Epic RPG. So good on you for sparking my interest.
4:21 THAC0? Lol
CTRL+F THAC0... Ahh, ahhh another person of culture, I see.
Another gret video Bob!
Runehammer is the man. He's the mad scientist/ genius of indie rpgs.
C&S has a lot of fun and fresh (or refreshed) ideas - even though some feel a little half-baked, I love how outside the box it went.
I love the monster stat blocks, they have a lot in common with Dragonbane's statblocks, but even more simple (and it was already pretty simple in DB)
Excellent video! I love your analysis and reviews, but I'm really loving the filmmaking quality of your videos recently is quite excellent. Looking forward to the next one!
I appreciate that. Especially since I put these last couple together with less planning than usual haha, I think I tend to overthink!
★ I honestly hope that Crown & Skull will NEVER collude with Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro, ever!
This way it will retain it's own unique and amazing quality and never have to bow down and kiss someone else's ass in the name of money while sacrificing interesting, entertaining, unique content, AND 100% independent control.
PLEASE keep far, far away from anything to do with the tainted disease that Dungeons & Dragons continuously inflicts upon it's loyal and devoted fan base.
Stay interesting, distinctive, and pure for us serious Table Top Fantasy Role Playing Gamers who have been constantly disappointed by commercial profit over beautiful and meaningful game content for the last three decades!!!
really cool system - tactics that is. "KULT: divinity lost" (CW: horror game for a mature audience) has something similar for each wound a monster receives there is a suggestion how they react. from attack more ferociously (+1 to harm) to retreat and flee or weirder stuff. I think I'll try and combine tactics and reactions in KULT. And maybe write a blog post about it
Always fun to throw games together!
I love the challenge of skill tests being apparent to the player. Call of Cthulhu does this. It’s my favorite part of the system
Dragonbane also uses 1 = good (called rolling a dragon) where 20 = bad (called rolling a demon)
True!
Dragonbane also has random monster actions doesn't it?
The monster's tactics being dice driven is one of my favorite parts of Forbidden Lands. Glad to see it in another TTRPG.
Goddam if I don't love a die roll to determine monster actions.
My dream is that some day the rpg scene wouldn't be all dnd instead i want a world where people can make a career out of any ttrpg without having to even think about dnd. That would also cause there to be more resources to other games. I just want more even playing field
I was just going through my TTRPG folders yesterday and noticed Crown & Skull. Gonna read some and pick up the physical book when I can.
Im sold, I'll add it to my to buy list!
Re: cobbling together a character from a long list of features. Tiny D6 games also do something like this. I've read Tiny Dungeon, and while there are classes, it basically just says you have to choose a couple of your starting moves from a smaller list, but you can ultimately take whatever features you want for your character. It's pretty neat.
Love that you’ve clearly started digging into TOR
Forcing players to choose their fealty after several levels is a VERY good idea. The subclass concept suggests it but no one is forced to do anything because they became a hexblade etc. There Is an implication that the fealty is roughly good vs evil, with less judgment around the choice, but the very forcing of that choice is anathema to the bespoke game approach loved by the 5e furries. I had players swear to the crown last campaign by choice.
Yes. Runehammer. We need lots more Crown and Skull. You can do it Bob. Love ya’ Man. ❤
Modiphius (spelling?) 2d20 uses roll under/nat 1 is a crit system too. And I LOVE ALL Bob World Builder videos!
I like how Shadowdark and DC20 are like opposite spin-offs of D&D. Shadowdark gets the mechanics of 5e and puts a new gritty vibe over them. DC20 grabs the "fantasy superhero" vibe of 5e and puts a new, original action point system underneath.
it's not new
Hi Bob, good write up and I see Crown and Skull is getting you excited. I think something being 'new' is definitely good for youtube but a lot of what you said you want in an RPG has been done by several older RPGs. I don't think you've ever covered GURPS or Basic Roleplaying, both those might interest you as well. GURPs even has a free version and Basic Roleplaying has an SRD that is pretty detailed.
Layout is a lot of what you seem to focus on in this video and I think that's one thing that older RPGs should take note of and potentially update with.
Good video, I like that you get out in the woods :D
Love ur videos Bob! Thank you for introducing new cool RPGs to us!
Thanks very much. My pleasure!
Ages ago a friend and I broke down the 3.5 DnD rules into something very like the feat-based character/class creation. I was never sure it was entirely balanced, but it worked reasonably well, allowed for creative custom characters and was fun.
crown and skull looks like the other side of a coin that mythras is on, which is a really amazing game that deserves more love. it's also roll-under, and even more free-form than what this is, being a skill based game. it's my favourite game probably of all time
CROWN & SKULL is very exciting, especially to players who really value building characters from the ground up. Spellcrafting is insanely fun in this game.
FOR THE CROWN.
I’m so happy that someone else still occasionally says “rustles your jimmies”
And Crown and Skull always looked great. I need to read it again. And play it…
Not a 5e guy but I catch some of your videos every now and then. Just went and ordered the special edition of Crown and Skull.
thank you for helping bringing these cool alternative RPGs to light!
I made a system that is similar for my elder scrolls campaign, at least in some ways. You level up skills with skill points at level up, and then based on the skills you chose you can take perks, some of which mimic class features from 5e, and others are unique to the system.
how the world go around, lots of those things use to be very common in previos days :P
The author is a solo writer/publisher and has been playing since early days so makes sense lol
Bob: 'Hey, all those things you like, this game spits on them and will insult your mum.'
Me: ' Are you trying to get me to buy the book or fight it in the alley at 3am?'
Like the combat management aspect, adds flavor and saves time simultaneously. Despite how metal the alignment system seems I guess I bounce off of it a bit. Feels thematic but a bit heavy-handed for me, since when I read I could already think of character concepts that didn't align with either. Maybe it helps focus the gameplay? I'd have to see it in action
Yeah I haven't gotten that far with it. Like other parts of the book, it's closely tied to the world you're assumed to be playing in.
Hi Bob, as always excellent commentary and video making. Thank you.
More crown and skull please
I have not read Crown and Skull yet (I did read an earlier version), But Runehammer puts out some of the best games I have in my collection. I know that once I read it, it will be hard for me to put down and the game idea goblin in me is already wanting to know more. Great video.
Nice video as always!! also if you want a modular class in D&D i urge you to check 'The adventurer' class it can be found in GM binder, the whole gist of the class is that it is the Multiclass class if that makes sense!
I'm super excited about Crown & Skull. I bought it as soon as it came out, and I'm hoping to run it some time soon!
The phase idea is really cool,- be it reminds me a little bit of the Cosmere turn order, which goes fast turns (2 actions allowed), then slow turns (3 actions allowed).
The vampire also acting on multiple phases is really cool, and there are only a few 5e mechanics that somewhat replicate that. There are lair actions that always go on Initiative 20, but this are usually separate tables, and legendary actions don’t necessarily have a set spot in the turn order. The Thief Rogue capstone is probably the closest, which gives them a second entire turn on the first round of combat, which happens that their Initiative minus 10, if I remember correctly
Great video. I instantly got why this is worth reading and learning. Thank you, seriously.
I love Bob's nature walks! The video isn't bad either! 😉
3:10 This at least looks _cool_ and maybe I would actually figure out the rules if it isn't just infinite tables and stat blocks.
Hankerin definitely taking the RPG to the next level. So much innovation with the Index Card RPG and Crown and Skull
I'm playing an RPG that our GM made. He said he hadn't ran it for some time but wanted to dust it off for us. His character creation was completely customizable. It's all point buy type stuff and you get to buy specialties, sort of like feats. So there are no classes in this RPG but he does have a section with suggestions if you want your character to fit into one of those classic tropes. It was alot of fun to make though could be a tad overwhelming with the plethora of options available
Love the monster statblock. Having characters build by discrete skills has been done by RuneQuest and The Fantasy Trip (which also has a Roll Low mechanic)
I've been waiting for this video for months, this is such a good book.
There were a couple things in this that made me think of an old TSR Sci-Fi RPG called Alternity.
It was roll low, with degrees of success, all based on your ability score. Combat rounds were also broken out into phases, with initiative rolls determining which phase you get first get to act in.
Pretty different otherwise, but definitely made me think if it.
Customizable ancestries are available for 5e via Ghostfire Gaming's Heritage system. One picks 8 Traits from a pool of over 100.
I love ALL Bob World Builder videos!
I love all Bob World Builder videos!
Tactics and phases is absolutely brilliant!
That roll for tactics system is fantastic. Might need to start using something like that...
I do like the Phase and Tactics portion of the S&C monster stat blocks. I wonder if there's a way to blend this into my ToV games & monsters 🤔
I've been thinking the same thing for 5e in general. Like assigning it's attacks to a d6 table for tactics, multiattack is what gives it 2-3 tactics per round. But I guess C&S monsters can attack more often since they may have multiple tactics AND multiple phases...
ooh this looks interesting! I'm curious how the magic system works. I've been working on a new setting with rare magic so I've been on the hunt for a fitting rule set, and I love the vibes from Crown & Skull. I've got some homework!
Been working on a monster hunting TTRPG for some time now. Recently changed my core rolls to basically be Paper Mario-esque action commands (what I'm calling minigames), and they're simple to use, have different use cases (one of which you always know your own target number for and is basically just pass/fail/crit), and you always want to roll high (cuz I personally like big numbers too
Runehammer games are pure genius. The Tactics die shows up in Viking Death Squad as well and its great because it can let the GM make a fair and impartial decision on the fly. No more feeling like you "caused" a character death. Let the dice fall where they will.
For the backstory of my characters, I use the board game "Call to Adventure". It helps to defines the origin, the motivation and the destiny.
I proudly own my copy, but have yet to play it. I wanted to support it and to not support D&D, even if I never get to play C&S-but I do so want to
Nice! Yeah like most games, I think it would benefit from providing a quick start scenario. If there is one, I haven't found it, but I got to play in one session so far
Jimmies: quite rustled.
Jiblets: thoroughly binted.
There seems to be a lot of overlap with Dragonbane, not just in the "roll under" die mechanics, but with the self-running monsters taking actions according to a die roll. One main difference is Crown and Skull's static initiative, which streamlines combat significantly. Dragonbane's system of drawing cards to establish turn order every single round of combat in a system that only allows a single action OR reaction per turn is something I scrapped right out of the box. That threatened to turn every combat into nearly 50% polling for combat, and I don't regret scrapping it.
Our homebrew system (which I admittedly took from a sadly long forgotten internet commenter) for practically any system where turn order matters is to roll (or draw) for initiative ONCE at the beginning of the play session, and any combat which occurs during that session uses that initiative order. Either that or start with the player to the DM's right and go counter clockwise around the table: Player--monster--player--monster etc. Players are allowed to swap initiative with any subsequent player or monster on their turns for that round, which gives them freedom to set up combos or otherwise optimize their own turn order for that round.
Allowing players to swap places with anyone after them in the initiative is something I stole from Dragonbane; it's a more attractive option than effectively skipping a turn with a hold action, and it works really well for encouraging consistent player engagement and cooperative strategy.
This book is beautiful and I had a blast running the included adventure. I'm surprised you didn't talk more about the way dungeons are ran, it's very different.
The character prompts are really cool for new players and the monster stat blocks look so fun to run. Hope this one comes to Brazil some day so I can present it to my friends more easily :P (Jambô salva nóis)
You guys keep asking the wrong questions. It's not about why they aren't changing the rules; the rules are fine. There is some fine-tuning here and there, but overall, that part is doing well. The question that should be asked, "Why isn't D&D creating new exciting adventures and content?" A majority of 5e was just them re-releasing older content in a new package. With the size of this "sandbox" D&D should be releasing new content at least once a quarter if not monthly.
It’s an interesting question; my thoughts based on what I remember WotC folks having said about their approach: when they released more products, each would only sell to a subset of their audience (even beyond the GM-Player divide), to the extent that they were making less revenue than if they sold fewer products to a larger proportion of their audience. And in terms of releasing past adventures etc., I think that’s partly because they’ve had such a focus on things feeling part of D&D history, and “feeling D&D” in general (which also explains the relatively conservative rule changes), which was partly a reaction to negativity around 4th edition’s radical departure from the 3.5e mechanics/feel.
I kinda get the frustration with D&D’s relative lack of innovation, and certainly when WotC are hawking three expensive rule books as a .X update, but I also think they’re serving a large and diverse player base, where any change loved by some would be hated by others, and they’re gathering play-test data that is informing their decision making. So while I’m more excited by other games generally these days, the creatives do know what they’re doing in terms of the D&D brand, as is.
WotC as a company, though… 😬
Adventures have a lesser market impact than power creep books, that's part of the answer
I do genuinely love that newer games have automated much of the enemies we see in games. I love making backstories for my bad guys but I hate having to look through lists of stuff they can do in combat.
Crown & Skull is the kind of book you want to hold and feel and sniff and leave lying around to idly flip open and browse… and find yourself still immersed in hours later.
By its very existence it pulls down the pants of PDFs and laughs at them. It’s a proper book. An idiosyncratic, non-committee-written, work of passion and hand-crafted piece of art.
If only Brandon’s approach was the abnormal norm.
As someone who still hasn't let go of 3.5e DnD this seems really cool. I may give it a try in the future!
Making spells and gear both fully customizable but also costing the same resource is such cool way of balancing martials and casters. Love CnS but I feel like to get the most out of it you need a table thats played 3-4 other weird RPGs so they have ideas to steal for custom character abilities to homebrew into CS