Castles & Crusades is the modern version of AD&D and is by far the best version of D&D out there. The equipment rules are detailed but simplified to use at the table. Best equipment rules of all systems. Good job DMBloodsworth reviewing it!
What sold me on C&C was that when I looked at the house rules I came up for it, they were shorter than for any other RPG. Super flexible but needs little to run great.
So for anyone interested in C&C how hard is it to convert the old AD&D/B-X modules to this system? I'd hate to give up running my OSR favs "Ravenloft", "Isle of Dread" etc...
Wow, that is awesome to hear. I’d love to read / watch recaps of your campaign. I’m glad to see others keeping Gary’s legacy alive, by running the games he actually wrote and ran during his lifetime.
Great video! It’s interesting to hear what your preferred system is considering how long you’ve played and your knowledge of the subject matter. How do you feel BECMI compares with AD&D? I like Old School Essentials (B/X) for a number of reasons, relative simplicity being among them. I have the 1st edition books, and they’re wonderful, but they just look almost impossible as actual game manuals, with the complexity and organization. Maybe that’s just me, but they’ve always seemed super-intimidating. I’m assuming C&C doesn’t suffer from that problem quite as much as 1e. It’s also interesting to hear that Gary Gygax named C&C as the spiritual successor to his system! I was having a discussion with Garibay on one of his videos where he claimed that the Hasbro/WotC brand of D&D is the true successor to the legacy of Gary Gygax. I told him that he’d have a hard time getting people to agree with him seeing as how WotC is tripping over themselves to apologize for Gygax-era gaming. But knowing this piece of information makes the argument against Garibay’s claim even stronger.
C&C is great, been playing off and on since the Trolls first introduced the system back in the early 2ks, but my group has exclusively been playing C&C for fantasy gaming, over the last 2 years or so every other weekend.
@@lionelhutz3142 If you don't already own any of the books, then I would definitely suggest grabbing the most current printing (8th). The new books have the new covers (the AD&D 1e homage), the newest layout, and the newest artwork, which all look fantastic. However, if you're able to get earlier printings, say 7th, 6th, etc. those will work just as well, since there really isn't any changes in the mechanics of the classes or the system itself. You'll also want to grab a copy of the Monster and Treasure book, the latest printing (5th) compiles the original M&T monsters, along with those from other supplements. However, a prior printing such as 4th or 3rd, would work as well, it's just not "as complete" as the latest printing. Lastly, while definitely not required, if you want more details and info as a Castle Keeper or just generally want more options for your adventures and campaigns, you may want to consider getting the Castle Keeper's Guide. It's not required to play, but for me personally, it's just a fantastic source to have.
@@lionelhutz3142 Generally I run my own, but if I had to suggest any, I would start with the A series of adventures. The first module is A0 - Rising Knight, followed by A1 - Assault on Blacktooth Ridge. You can get the adventures individually, or you could get A0-A5 together in a collectable box set, Shadow of Aufstrag. The box set comes with a single book, combining the six adventures, a map book showing all of the relevant maps for the adventures, a small colored map of the area, and a random encounter chart for the surrounding environs. The box is nice for storage of the adventure components along with anything else you may have that will fit (i.e. character sheets, dice, etc.)
I think it says a lot that Gygax (and OSR afficionados like yourself) gave this RPG his blessing. Question: How hard is it to convert the old TSR AD&D 1e (or even B/X) modules to Castles & Crusades rules? 🤔
Pretty simple. The biggest change is with Thieves’ skills or any that were % based to be converted to an Attributes based system, with Primary and Secondary attributes. Then you’d have to convert AC to ascending AC. I’ll be putting up system mechanic videos pretty soon. Equipment & Encumbrance is next.
@@DM_Bluddworth This system is sounding better and better. Thank you! It would be hard to give up an adventure in "Ravenloft" and "Temple of Elemental Evil" 😭
Just read through the 7th printing... Imho C&C is a Hybrid of 2E and 3E D&D with some new rules to boot... 12 Primary 18 Secondary is very good for example, I also like the reduced Stat Bonuses. I've been beating the drum for Ascending systems vs Thac0 with the OSR for a long time now, including with yourself. I don't know how anyone can advocate it over ascending, other than Nostalgia (I'm still playing in a 2E campaign that’s been going for over 24 years, and even though we still use Thac0 the Dm agrees that ascending makes a lot more sense!) To me I prefer a 3E / 5E Hybrid with some homebrew (and a very tweaked short rest / long rest). Hence why I made my own PDF. If I was steering away from that I would go towards a completely different system such as Forbidden Lands (which we have already had a few sessions of and are enjoying). I think Nostalgia has a lot to do with the older systems imho. The Modules and campaign settings in the older editions blow 3E onwards out of the water, but mechanics wise the newer versions at their core (not including feats and class books and other meta gaming tools) are far superior to 1E, 2E imho. I would definitely put C&C into newer more streamlined category too. I've said it before, you seem a very good Dm so Im sure whatever you run its going to be a great success.
I actually think THAC0 can be incredibly quick and easy to use. You have to get over the cognitive dissonance of "lower number good" of course. If you pre-calculate all of your normal bonuses, you basically have a number that, if you roll that, you know you hit.
I don't think that the "printings" are just a house term for "edition." I think it actually refer to the actual print run of the books. This is why the most up to date Player's Handbook is 8th printing while the current Castle Keeper's Guide is 3rd printing and the current Monsters and Treasures is 5th printing. If one thinks about it, this makes sense. Everybody needs Player's Handbook, but not everyone needs the Castle Keeper's Guide or the Monsters and Treasures book. Therefore, we should expect the stock of Player's Handbooks to sell out, thus necessitating a new printing, before the other two books. I think that the fact that the Monsters and Treasures book has had five print runs as compared to the Castle Keep's Guide's three makes sense because although a player does not *need* the Monsters and Treasures book, monsters are cool so I would not be surprised if Monsters and Treasures outsells the Castle Keeper's Guide. I have 7th, 2nd, and 5th printings of the PH, CKG and M&T, respectively, but I have not done something like buy the digital copy of the 8th printing PH to make a detailed comparison, but the fact that the three core books get reprinted at different rates strongly suggests that the rules do not change from printing to printing (the covers, on the other hand, seem to change each printing for variety).
This may be true in most cases, however for the 4th printing of the PHB it was said that James M. Ward had retooled the encumbrance system and perhaps other mechanics as well.
@@DM_Bluddworth Interesting. In that case, it would be better to call that something like 2nd edition, 1st printing; furthermore, the next print run of the other books should also be 2nd edition, 1st printing - even if nothing has changed in those books. That would eliminate uncertainty as to whether one has compatible books.
I think that is the thing, they are all essentially “compatible”. Each printing is basically fixing typos, or formatting improvements, and on less frequent times minor mechanic changes. It is confusing though, and I agree that they should use a more traditional “edition” tag.
@@hanng1242 They don't call it editions because the changes are minimal. It's basically adjusting balance, spell lists, some mechanics, and formating + layout. It's really minimal and fully compatible with other printings.
Great video. I've watched several of your other videos. I think you would be a great person to game with. Keep up the great content! On topic: Castles & Crusades is our game of choice. I find that the siege engine and the way that ascending AC is handled appeal to me. Monsters & Treasure is one of my favorite books of all time. I have many of their other books written in conjunction with Gygax. The designers at Troll Lord Games seem like they'd be fun to storm a keep or dragon's lair with.
Welcome to the club my friend. I am using the 8th printing for my campaign. I love the tribute covers. The only wotc comparison I have heard is the classes in the Adventurers Backpack book seem closer to wotc 5e classes. I don’t have that book so I can tell if that’s true or not. I look forward to hearing about your new campaign.
@@sunsin1592 the Adventurers Backpack is on my list of books to get. I recently got the deck of cards that go with it. My plan is to slowly add options to my campaign. For now the core classes are all we need.
I want to get the setting source book and at least one adventure module (pdf). I prefer to use the setting designed along with the game. I want an adventure module so that I can see the format and style of how they are written to begin writing my own.
The books involved in the game are updated at different times. Books like M&T and CKG don't need updates as often, and probably aren't sold as much either. Let's say your group has five people. You need one M&T and CKG, but four PHB.
The thing is, the PHB is a free pdf. The table can get away with one reference hard cover, and the players can print just the page(s) necessary for their race and class.
Another fascinating video as I have never heard of Castles and Crusades. The app is excellent, no doubt, but when you first said digital, I thought maybe it could be CRPG 😁 Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to you covering the Player's Handbook!
late to the party, but each book has a different number of printing, and don't always occur in sync. the players has the most prints, and the keepers the fewest.
The latest versions of Monsters & Treasures are very different because they combine stuff from multiple earlier books. They are much longer than the version you have.
@@DM_Bluddworth I respect and love that! I love this system and am happy you featured it. I am currently running a solo Castles & Crusades campaign on my gaming channel: magehammer’s Game Table, if you are interested. Thank you for your video and thank you for supporting an amazing company and an amazing game!
I got 3HP (+2 for Con, total of 5) when I rolled a Barbarian. My understanding is that HP at 1st level is rolled, not maxed. (Of course you can home rule it, and of course I could have missed something.)
No indication of that, they do their own printing. Unlike Hasbro, they also sell PDF versions and not digital. HASBRO’s model of digital is that you are merely renting the products you purchase on DDB. Hasbro can alter them, remove them OR remove YOU from their server at any time and without your permission or knowledge. Your fear is completely unfounded.
![Castles & Crusades [A Review]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HFkRe6nxkjg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Castles & Crusades [A Review]](/img/tr.png)
Castles & Crusades is the modern version of AD&D and is by far the best version of D&D out there. The equipment rules are detailed but simplified to use at the table. Best equipment rules of all systems. Good job DMBloodsworth reviewing it!
And don’t ignore the military discount! The Troll Lords are vets too! Details are on their website.
Do you know if they accept Canadian service members and veterans or just from US?
@@icantafford I don't know. If you email and ask, they will respond though.
What sold me on C&C was that when I looked at the house rules I came up for it, they were shorter than for any other RPG. Super flexible but needs little to run great.
So for anyone interested in C&C how hard is it to convert the old AD&D/B-X modules to this system? I'd hate to give up running my OSR favs "Ravenloft", "Isle of Dread" etc...
@@lionelhutz3142 Not hard at all. Adventures and creatures can be converted largely on the fly. I plan on running 2e-era Forgotten Realms using C&C
@@ericaj9822 Thanks! I'm thinking of running Dragonlance using C&C then. It's an AD&D title I missed out on back in the 80s.
You helped inspire me to start my first AD&D campaign a few weeks ago.. now you are making me want to start another, lol. Keep up the great work!
Wow, that is awesome to hear. I’d love to read / watch recaps of your campaign. I’m glad to see others keeping Gary’s legacy alive, by running the games he actually wrote and ran during his lifetime.
I've been looking at this system for a while. I do believe your video has convinced me to eventually jump in. Looking forward to your coverage of it!
I already started, there are four videos in this playlist already. Next video will detail the equipment and encumbrance systems.
@@DM_Bluddworth Awesome! I know what I'll be viewing tonight then.
C&C has been my primary D20 fantasy system since 2007. Incredibly intuitive and smooth.
Great video! It’s interesting to hear what your preferred system is considering how long you’ve played and your knowledge of the subject matter. How do you feel BECMI compares with AD&D? I like Old School Essentials (B/X) for a number of reasons, relative simplicity being among them. I have the 1st edition books, and they’re wonderful, but they just look almost impossible as actual game manuals, with the complexity and organization. Maybe that’s just me, but they’ve always seemed super-intimidating. I’m assuming C&C doesn’t suffer from that problem quite as much as 1e.
It’s also interesting to hear that Gary Gygax named C&C as the spiritual successor to his system! I was having a discussion with Garibay on one of his videos where he claimed that the Hasbro/WotC brand of D&D is the true successor to the legacy of Gary Gygax. I told him that he’d have a hard time getting people to agree with him seeing as how WotC is tripping over themselves to apologize for Gygax-era gaming. But knowing this piece of information makes the argument against Garibay’s claim even stronger.
C&C is great, been playing off and on since the Trolls first introduced the system back in the early 2ks, but my group has exclusively been playing C&C for fantasy gaming, over the last 2 years or so every other weekend.
What "Printing Edition" of C&C do you recommend to pick up and start playing? I'd like to start running this in a few months...
@@lionelhutz3142 If you don't already own any of the books, then I would definitely suggest grabbing the most current printing (8th). The new books have the new covers (the AD&D 1e homage), the newest layout, and the newest artwork, which all look fantastic. However, if you're able to get earlier printings, say 7th, 6th, etc. those will work just as well, since there really isn't any changes in the mechanics of the classes or the system itself. You'll also want to grab a copy of the Monster and Treasure book, the latest printing (5th) compiles the original M&T monsters, along with those from other supplements. However, a prior printing such as 4th or 3rd, would work as well, it's just not "as complete" as the latest printing. Lastly, while definitely not required, if you want more details and info as a Castle Keeper or just generally want more options for your adventures and campaigns, you may want to consider getting the Castle Keeper's Guide. It's not required to play, but for me personally, it's just a fantastic source to have.
@@sulrhandir2151 Thank you bro! I'm perusing the Troll Lord website now. Any suggestions on a C&C adventure module?
@@lionelhutz3142 Generally I run my own, but if I had to suggest any, I would start with the A series of adventures. The first module is A0 - Rising Knight, followed by A1 - Assault on Blacktooth Ridge. You can get the adventures individually, or you could get A0-A5 together in a collectable box set, Shadow of Aufstrag. The box set comes with a single book, combining the six adventures, a map book showing all of the relevant maps for the adventures, a small colored map of the area, and a random encounter chart for the surrounding environs. The box is nice for storage of the adventure components along with anything else you may have that will fit (i.e. character sheets, dice, etc.)
I think it says a lot that Gygax (and OSR afficionados like yourself) gave this RPG his blessing. Question: How hard is it to convert the old TSR AD&D 1e (or even B/X) modules to Castles & Crusades rules? 🤔
Pretty simple. The biggest change is with Thieves’ skills or any that were % based to be converted to an Attributes based system, with Primary and Secondary attributes. Then you’d have to convert AC to ascending AC.
I’ll be putting up system mechanic videos pretty soon. Equipment & Encumbrance is next.
@@DM_Bluddworth This system is sounding better and better. Thank you! It would be hard to give up an adventure in "Ravenloft" and "Temple of Elemental Evil" 😭
It's very easy to adapt to earlier editions of D&D. This system is the spiritual AD&D 3rd edition.
Yep, I just bought the rulesbooks myself.
Just read through the 7th printing... Imho C&C is a Hybrid of 2E and 3E D&D with some new rules to boot... 12 Primary 18 Secondary is very good for example, I also like the reduced Stat Bonuses. I've been beating the drum for Ascending systems vs Thac0 with the OSR for a long time now, including with yourself. I don't know how anyone can advocate it over ascending, other than Nostalgia (I'm still playing in a 2E campaign that’s been going for over 24 years, and even though we still use Thac0 the Dm agrees that ascending makes a lot more sense!)
To me I prefer a 3E / 5E Hybrid with some homebrew (and a very tweaked short rest / long rest). Hence why I made my own PDF. If I was steering away from that I would go towards a completely different system such as Forbidden Lands (which we have already had a few sessions of and are enjoying).
I think Nostalgia has a lot to do with the older systems imho. The Modules and campaign settings in the older editions blow 3E onwards out of the water, but mechanics wise the newer versions at their core (not including feats and class books and other meta gaming tools) are far superior to 1E, 2E imho. I would definitely put C&C into newer more streamlined category too.
I've said it before, you seem a very good Dm so Im sure whatever you run its going to be a great success.
Thanks for this breakdown. I have a feeling that a lot of us are shopping around for a new system.
I actually think THAC0 can be incredibly quick and easy to use. You have to get over the cognitive dissonance of "lower number good" of course.
If you pre-calculate all of your normal bonuses, you basically have a number that, if you roll that, you know you hit.
I don't think that the "printings" are just a house term for "edition." I think it actually refer to the actual print run of the books. This is why the most up to date Player's Handbook is 8th printing while the current Castle Keeper's Guide is 3rd printing and the current Monsters and Treasures is 5th printing.
If one thinks about it, this makes sense. Everybody needs Player's Handbook, but not everyone needs the Castle Keeper's Guide or the Monsters and Treasures book. Therefore, we should expect the stock of Player's Handbooks to sell out, thus necessitating a new printing, before the other two books. I think that the fact that the Monsters and Treasures book has had five print runs as compared to the Castle Keep's Guide's three makes sense because although a player does not *need* the Monsters and Treasures book, monsters are cool so I would not be surprised if Monsters and Treasures outsells the Castle Keeper's Guide.
I have 7th, 2nd, and 5th printings of the PH, CKG and M&T, respectively, but I have not done something like buy the digital copy of the 8th printing PH to make a detailed comparison, but the fact that the three core books get reprinted at different rates strongly suggests that the rules do not change from printing to printing (the covers, on the other hand, seem to change each printing for variety).
This may be true in most cases, however for the 4th printing of the PHB it was said that James M. Ward had retooled the encumbrance system and perhaps other mechanics as well.
@@DM_Bluddworth Interesting. In that case, it would be better to call that something like 2nd edition, 1st printing; furthermore, the next print run of the other books should also be 2nd edition, 1st printing - even if nothing has changed in those books. That would eliminate uncertainty as to whether one has compatible books.
I think that is the thing, they are all essentially “compatible”. Each printing is basically fixing typos, or formatting improvements, and on less frequent times minor mechanic changes. It is confusing though, and I agree that they should use a more traditional “edition” tag.
@@DM_Bluddworth They have been firm since the start of the game that there will never be new editions. They want it to all be compatible.
@@hanng1242 They don't call it editions because the changes are minimal. It's basically adjusting balance, spell lists, some mechanics, and formating + layout. It's really minimal and fully compatible with other printings.
Great video. I've watched several of your other videos. I think you would be a great person to game with. Keep up the great content! On topic: Castles & Crusades is our game of choice. I find that the siege engine and the way that ascending AC is handled appeal to me. Monsters & Treasure is one of my favorite books of all time. I have many of their other books written in conjunction with Gygax. The designers at Troll Lord Games seem like they'd be fun to storm a keep or dragon's lair with.
I love Castles & Crusades and Troll Lord Games is made up of a great group of people!
Great vid! Like you, I have a set of books, of all different printings. Would love to get a set of the 'homage' covers as soon as I can afford them.
Well GG helped develop it and said it should have been D&D 3rd edition.
Welcome to the club my friend. I am using the 8th printing for my campaign. I love the tribute covers. The only wotc comparison I have heard is the classes in the Adventurers Backpack book seem closer to wotc 5e classes. I don’t have that book so I can tell if that’s true or not. I look forward to hearing about your new campaign.
I'm actually playing the Magic-User from the AB, in our current campaign, lots of fun so far.
The AB classes vary a lot. Some are fine; some are overpowered; and some are too niche, IMHO.
@@sunsin1592 the Adventurers Backpack is on my list of books to get. I recently got the deck of cards that go with it. My plan is to slowly add options to my campaign. For now the core classes are all we need.
I want to get the setting source book and at least one adventure module (pdf). I prefer to use the setting designed along with the game. I want an adventure module so that I can see the format and style of how they are written to begin writing my own.
The books involved in the game are updated at different times. Books like M&T and CKG don't need updates as often, and probably aren't sold as much either. Let's say your group has five people. You need one M&T and CKG, but four PHB.
The thing is, the PHB is a free pdf. The table can get away with one reference hard cover, and the players can print just the page(s) necessary for their race and class.
@@DM_Bluddworth just explaining why the printing schedule could be different for the different books, I always preferred to own actual books.
Another fascinating video as I have never heard of Castles and Crusades. The app is excellent, no doubt, but when you first said digital, I thought maybe it could be CRPG 😁 Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to you covering the Player's Handbook!
I am getting more and more interested in this system
A look at the basic game’s magic system and spells will be today.
late to the party, but each book has a different number of printing, and don't always occur in sync. the players has the most prints, and the keepers the fewest.
The latest versions of Monsters & Treasures are very different because they combine stuff from multiple earlier books. They are much longer than the version you have.
I noticed your hat…Do you know Troll Lord Games offers a lifetime 50% discount to veterans and service members when you order from their website?
I do but I also like to support them as well. I just the other day purchased $170.00 worth of books, and I’m good with that.
@@DM_Bluddworth I respect and love that! I love this system and am happy you featured it. I am currently running a solo Castles & Crusades campaign on my gaming channel: magehammer’s Game Table, if you are interested. Thank you for your video and thank you for supporting an amazing company and an amazing game!
@@DM_Bluddworth Here is a link to my C&C content if you are interested:
th-cam.com/play/PLQ2nhaT7_3fRIQV49hjmpM_pSRoW8a9xC.html
@@magehammerChad I just subbed and will begin viewing Delve 1
I got 3HP (+2 for Con, total of 5) when I rolled a Barbarian. My understanding is that HP at 1st level is rolled, not maxed. (Of course you can home rule it, and of course I could have missed something.)
5 is kind of respectable for 1st level, compared to other classes.
We always house ruled you started at max hit points at level 1.
If TLG goes Hasbro on digital product I’m out.
No indication of that, they do their own printing. Unlike Hasbro, they also sell PDF versions and not digital. HASBRO’s model of digital is that you are merely renting the products you purchase on DDB. Hasbro can alter them, remove them OR remove YOU from their server at any time and without your permission or knowledge.
Your fear is completely unfounded.