In November 2017 we presented two offers featuring Castles & Crusades, the old-school-new-rules FRPG from Troll Lord Games. First, our resurrected and revised February 2016 C&C Bundle — now renamed Castles & Crusades Essentials — had updated versions of two core books and also added several key supplements. (And if you purchased this offer during its February 2016 run, you got all the new titles automatically.) Second, our all-new companion C&C Bundle +2 gathered major supplements like Mystical Companions, the Codex series, and more.
Castles & Crusades is basically a top-notch homebrew D&D variant, with a modern approach to the Old School aesthetic. It has all the AD&D classes, stats, and saving throws; in fact, it’s easy to convert primordial Gygax-era TSR modules to C&C on the fly, in realtime at your gaming table. But C&C is no retroclone; its fast-playing, low-prep SIEGE Engine uses a single unified task-resolution mechanic for nearly everything. It’s effortless to house-rule and to referee almost any situation on the spot. C&C fans talk with admiration about how the rules “just get out of the way.” Combat conjures an exciting Old-School feel without THAC0, negative Armor Class, or weird saves. If anything, it’s a retroclone of a hypothetical “AD&D 2.5″ — a loving and skillful streamlining of AD&D 2e.
1. CASTLES & CRUSADES ESSENTIALS
This resurrected, updated, and revamped Essentials collection provided everything you need for a complete Castles & Crusades campaign. There werefour titles in this offer’s Player’s Collection (retail value $55) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- Players Handbook 7th Printing (retail price $20): The latest printing of the complete full-color rulebook, replacing the original offer’s 6th Printing.
- Arms & Armor (2016 version, retail $12): This updated and fully illustrated edition presents a huge range of weapons and armor from Europe’s early medieval period, all with complete C&C stats.
- After Winter’s Dark – A World of Aihrde Primer (retail $10): An exclusive introduction to the C&C campaign setting, available only in this offer and nowhere else.
- Character Reference Sheets (retail $12): New in this revived offer, these six custom character sheets present class-specific information for all 13 base C&C classes.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Castle Keeper’s Collection, greatly expanded this time around with five more titles worth an additional $88:
- Castle Keepers Guide (retail $36): The massive, indispensable 352-page gamemastering resource.
- Monsters & Treasure (retail $20): New in this revival, this is the primary monster manual and treasure trove for C&C.
- Classic Monsters (retail $20): C&C adaptations from fantasy roleplaying’s earliest sources, like Monster Manual II and the Fiend Folio.
- A01 Assault on Blacktooth Ridge (retail $7): An introductory foray, set in the region north and east of Aihrde’s civilized lands, against Rottenkip the Goblin King and his fearless ogres and trolls.
- Castle Keeper Combat Screens (retail $5): Reference panels and combat charts to help the beleaguered CK.
2. CASTLES & CRUSADES +2 [new]
This all-new +2 companion presented many supplements that extend your Old-School, new-rules campaign in all directions. There were four titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $45):
- Mystical Companions (C&C version, retail $21): Every kind of magical familiar from homunculi to paladin mounts, from cats to hippos, plus rules for becoming a Dragon Rider. (Previously published as Book of Familiars.)
- Of Gods & Monsters (retail $10): The comprehensive guide to C&C‘s deities and demigods.
- Expanding Classes (retail $7): Multiclassing rules for all C&C base classes.
- Elemental Spells (retail $7): A big spellbook by TSR veteran James M. Ward (Gamma World).
This offer’s Bonus Collection had four huge supplements in the Codex series worth an additional $68: Codex Celtarum (retail $20), Codex Nordica (retail $20), and Codex Germania (retail $14) — treatises on the myths and magic of Celtic, Nordic, and Germanic cultures. After launch we added the Codex Slavorum (retail $14), about Slavonic myths and heroes from Eastern Europe.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to these two C&C offers’ designated charity, the RPG Creators Relief Fund. The RCRF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to provide financial assistance to tabletop RPG creators suffering hardship due to medical emergencies, natural disasters, and other catastrophic situations.
