Castles & Crusades: Whats the deal with it?

[Delvin Darkwood]

I recently stumbled upon castles and crusades one day while exploring the internet. I actually really like the look and feel of all of it, i just wanted to get some first hand recollections from the playground itself before shoving all my money into it. So to anyone with experience, how is the game to play? What about on the DM end of things? Is it worth the money?

[hamlet]

From my perspective, it is essentially AD&D 1e with some minor changes from the D20 inspriation. It plays almost exactly like AD&D with the exception of the ability check mechanism, which I personally don't care for (I like the more typical 2nd edition ability checks better, actually) from both sides of the screen.

Is it worth it? Depends on your goal. If you plan on a long campaign in it, then yeah. It's definately a good game, and it has an implied campaign setting that's quite interesting in and of itself. If you're looking for an "old school one off feel" type thing, then you're probably better off getting either OSRIC, S&W Complete rules (i.e., AD&D lite), or Adventures Dark and Deep, each of which can be gotten for free.

[JellyPooga]

It feels a bit crowbar'd to me...trying to mash AD&D together with 3ed just didn't quite do it for me. From a purely mechanical point of view, there's really nothing wrong with it, as such (well, there's a few little nit-picky things, but nothing too major)...it just feels a bit artificial.

For myself, if I want to play an "old skool" style game, I'll just go play AD&D and if I want something a bit more mechanic-y I'll go play 3ed. C&C is trying to get the best of both but (for me at least) couldn't quite get it right.

[jjpickar]

Honestly, from a 3.5 perspective, its kind of a rules light D&D. The lack of skills and feats makes development very linear for the most part. The Monsters are generally much simpler though still very dangerous. There isn't really much in the way of wealth by level so treasure drops can be much more random with screwing much up. The primes system is a good way to do saves and also replace skill checks.

Things I didn't like were mostly that the class design isn't the best IMO and the exp charts appear to be cut and pasted from 2nd ed and make little sense. For example the Wizard levels fairly slow compared to other classes, which makes sense given the power of magic, but the Paladin, a much weaker class, levels even slower and when the monk, another weak class, reaches about level 10, he begins to level about as slow or slower than the wizard for no reason that I can find. Also it does roll 3d6 in order as a standard stat generation mechanic, which I personally dislike.

Oh yeah, magic still wins but not quite as early or as much as it does in 3.5

[LibraryOgre]

As an AD&D veteran, I love it. Character creation is simple, following the usual archetypical lines (i.e. If you want to build someone who fights, you take a fighter). It's a bit weak in multi-classing, but the class-and-a-half system is good, especially for characters who are mostly one thing and a little bit of another.

The Primes system I actually do have a bit of trouble with, as I think 18 is often too high of a base. However, the existence of it makes it very easy to wing it on the game and make a good approximation of the rules.

It's also directly compatible with classic modules, only needing the AC inverted.

[Matthew]

It is basically a half-way house between AD&D and D20/3E, so if your preferences lie strongly in one direction or the other it is probably not the best solution. On the other hand, if you are looking for a version of AD&D with modern design sensibilities or a light version of D20 it is probably more or less what you are looking for.

[hamlet]

It is basically a half-way house between AD&D and D20/3E, so if your preferences lie strongly in one direction or the other it is probably not the best solution. On the other hand, if you are looking for a version of AD&D with modern design sensibilities or a light version of D20 it is probably more or less what you are looking for.

Yeah, but I'd also recommend Adventures Dark and Deep for that, though obviously without the D20 aspect. A very nicely cleaned up version of 1st edition, better editing, interesting new classes, and what I see as the best of the Unearthed Arcana, Wilderness, and Dungeoneer's books without so much of the dross.

Plus, you know, currently free.