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Someone turned me on to this simple little game called Castles & Crusades, stating it might be what I was looking for. At $19.95 it was a cheap pick up so I figured, "what the heck" and I purchased a copy. So began my love for this game.
This review is of the 2nd printing of the Players Handbook.
Style
This is what a RPG is supposed to look like. I'm a sucker for a classy looking product and in this regards, C&C definately delivers.
An initial look gives you a nice looking hardback with a classy looking cover. The map in the background with a great cover piece, this is some good stuff.
Flipping through the book continues to be a treat. Peter Bradley's interior art is amazing and his style gives C&C its own unique look.
The interior format is crisp and easy to read. The writing is consice and easy to understand.
As good as it is, there are a few things keeping me from giving it a 5 in Style. First is the typos. The 2nd printing corrected alot of things but there are still a few in there, not enough to be glaring however so its all good.
My other wish is that the good fokls at TLG would have seperated the sections a little better. For example, when going from the section on classes to the section on races all you get is a solid top bar stating "Races", not in an overly large font size. I would have preferred actual chapters, a larger heading to show you are moving on.
Yeah, that's just picky I know.
Substance
Alright, this is your standard fantasy genre game system done right. It is OGL based so if you've played any edition of D&D you're familiar with most of this game's concepts. Because of that I'll touch on some of the high points:
Races: The book has your standard slew of fantasy races, nothing truly groundbreaking here but there a few nice touches. The half-orc's scent ability springs readily to mind. I also like that halflings are back to their "pudgy hobbit" roots.
Classes: Again, for your class based systems, you wont see anything new here. But, the C&C take on some of the classess is truly great. The ranger is a good example of this. Gone are the smattering of spells, the C&C ranger is a true wilderness scout. The bard is more of a warrior-poet. A scholarly warrior more reminiscent of a nordic skald than a rapier wielding weenie. The knight class is great as well.
The SIEGE Engine This is the core mechanic behind C&C. Each charatcer has a number of "Prime" attributes. These primes are attribures that they excell in and the difficulty of checks in these areas is substantially lower.
At first I didn't care for the core mechanic, but after running the game and seeing it in use I can honestly say I love it. It allows for a large variety of player actions under a single, unified mechanic. As a CK (DM) it makes running a game alot easier as you are not having to constantly reference the core book to make a ruling.
Dislikes: There are a few areas I don't particularly care for. First is the encumbrance system. It is an odd system with various equipment being assigned an Encumbrance Value based on its size and weight.
Also, there are a few area in the rules that there are some ambiguities. Under the druid's allowed weapons is "Sword". Now that doesn't tell me that much since there are a fair number of swords. There are a few key spells missing as well such as "Cure Disease".
Is This Game For You?
As good as a system as I find it, I have to readily admit it isn't for everyone, but then again what game is?
C&C requires a CK who is comfortable running a rules light game and who understands how to allow his players to shine without having every single little ability spelled out to them.
Without any skills or feats some people might find their characters to be overly "generic". I take the opposite view however, I find the lack of restraints rather liberating. No longer am I constrained by set feats or skill rankings. My imagination is the limit as to what I can accomplish with a C&C character, I don't need a feat to say I can do somehting, I just have to give it a shot.
Again, some folks aren't comfortable with that style of play. A CK not willing to allow characters to try various combat "stunts" can quickly kill a player's enthusiasm for the game.
Conclusion
Overall this is an excellent product. A solid system with a good look. Since my group has converted over to C&C our gaming enjoyment has increased immensely. As a CK I've managed to lose my whole "jaded" outlook on gaming and have seen the possibilities allowed by this seductively simple system. Once again I can crack open a module and feel the sense of wonder I only felt back in my early days of gaming when everything was still so new to me.
