Castles & Crusades 10th Anniversary Kickstarter!

"Why can't it ever be bunnies that come out of these pits?!"

Anybody who's come to know me on the blogosphere knows I'm a huge fan of Castles & Crusades. Well, the great folks at Troll Lord Games have a Kickstarter going right now in honor of the 10th anniversary of that awesome RPG! The centerpiece of the Kickstarter is a 6th printing of the Player's Handbook in full color.

 

There's still about 20 days to go with the Kickstarter as I write this, and they've already smashed through the funding goal and a goodly number of stretch goals. And the Trolls have had a slew of very successful Kickstarters in the past, including the recent one for Codex Nordica. The bottom line is: unlike many RPG Kickstarters that have gone belly-up over the last few years, you can't go wrong with the Trolls! They won't let you down!

 

Please consider supporting this incredible game, which has carried on the legacy of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons with the blessing of Gary Gygax. The Troll Lords are incredible people who I had the pleasure of meeting in person a few years back. Be sure to get in on the action as C&C moves into its next incarnation!

Codex Nordica: Just over 24 hours left

There's just over 24 hours left for Troll Lord Game's latest Castles & Crusades Kickstarter, CODEX NORDICA! There's already been some great stretch goals that have been attained. If you haven't already, go check it out and be part of bringing some Viking fury to your C&C game...or any other D&D-type game for that matter!

Codex Nordica on Kickstarter!

 

Go to: http://kck.st/1ff7dSJ for more info!

Festivus in July: My DCC RPG Stuff Arrived!

Ah, gotta love a delivery of gaming goodness on a Friday, folks!

Yes, that's right, that's a picture of my package right there! My package of DCC RPG goodness, that is! I got my stuff from the incredibly awesome people at Noble Knight Games, where great customer service is alive and well.

I hold the mighty d30 in my hand!

And here is a package of the first ever GameScience Zocchi dice purchase. I got the kind that glow in the dark so they would stick out among my other polyhedrals.

Ah, the tome itself! No more will I struggle with the PDF! It really is a value for the money at $40 (actually, I got it on sale for $35).

The Noble Knights also threw in the 2012 Free RPG Day offering from Goodman Games!

My god, it's full of art! The spine felt nice and tight as I opened it, and the scent of the pages was pleasant enough. I love the smell of gaming in the morning! This is indeed a tome in every sense of the word, though truth be told it isn't as heavy as I expected it to be.

This image was an awesome treat as I skimmed through the monster section. Those are the Troll Lords, the great minds behind Castles & Crusades. Clearly Goodman Games has some love for the rowdy bunch of game designers from the wilds of Arkansas. This warmed my proverbial cockles of my heart, as it was great to see a connection between one of my favorite game systems (C&C) and a new system I am about to explore. That bodes well.

Some close-ups (above and below) of the Zocchi "gems." Again, I wanted them to stand out from the usual dice we're all familiar with from years of running games with D&D's DNA. 

They are indeed funky, folks! They'll have to grow on me, I suppose. They still seem, well, blasphemous to me, but I'm sure I'll get used to them. But they sort of scream "unholy geometry" don't they? Almost something that Lovecraft would describe! ;-)

So, if you'll excuse me, I've got some reading to do!

Two Rosetta Stones?

I think it should be apparent to anyone who's been reading my blog that I have a deep love of Castles & Crusades. Some may even know that I have been developing a deeper appreciation for Labyrinth Lord. In studying both systems for some time now, I came across an interesting tidbit: both games claim to be "Rosetta Stones." Want proof?

Look here (where it says "The Rosetta Stone of Roleplaying Games") on the Troll Lord page for C&C, and here (where it says "The Rosetta Stone of Old-School Fantasy Role-Playing Games!") on the Goblinoid Games page for LL. In light of this, one might say it's no coincidence that I am so attracted to both games. ;-)

 

Now, looking deeper, one notices that Troll Lord claims that C&C is the Rosetta Stone of Roleplaying Games. That statement seems to include ALL roleplaying games. Whether or not the Trolls wanted to make as grand a statement as that seems, I'm not sure (though the Trolls are so in touch with their fans that it wouldn't be hard to ask them!).

Whereas Goblinoid claims that LL is the Rosetta Stone of Old-School Fantasy Role-Playing Games, a much more focused and distinct segment of the roleplaying pantheon. Goblinoid has firmly placed their game in the ranks of the old-school, "D&D-esque" fantasy gaming realm.

But upon reading Troll Lords' game, one realizes that Castles & Crusades also seeks to promote an old-school style of play. Indeed, the game seems to combine a bit of 1E AD&D and a bit of 3E D&D as well. Many consider the game to be as much of a retroclone as Labyrinth Lord. I'm not so sure I agree with that, as there are deviations from the AD&D classes to consider (C&C rangers do not cast spells, which I totally agree with...that's just one example of many) and the C&C SIEGE Engine attribute check mechanic is not exactly like the 3E d20 roll versus DC mechanic.

This might all be "duh" stuff and me just thinking too much about this. I'm not really trying to get too analytical about this or foster a debate as to what these two companies intended to state when they wrote those words. I'm not sure how much thought was put into these Rosetta Stone statements. I'm not trying to get too deep into this, I really just thought it was a fun tidbit of information.

However, as lighthearted as I am about the whole thing, I would love to hear what others have to say. Please chime in if you are at all interested. Thanks!

Facing Down the Beast

So, instead of bitching about gamer ADD like I've been prone to do in the past, I decided to man-up and do what I should have done before: take all the RPGs that have been plaguing my mind and literally spreading them all out in front of me. Like a lineup of the usual suspects. And I gave them a good hard look, and some thought, and I was determined to come to some conclusions. And I think I've finally regained mastery of my gaming domain.

First there's Castles & Crusades, my number one game. The Sancho Panza to my Don Quixote. The Little John to my Robin Hood. The Riker to my Picard. I started out my gaming career with AD&D 1E/2E, and C&C to me is a near-perfect reimagining of those editions of the game. I like what Troll Lord Games has done with the system by incorporating the SIEGE Engine mechanic, bringing some 3E into the mix. I don't have to do much in the way of house ruling to get it to where I need it to be at my table. I will never need to go back to AD&D, because C&C has become the ideal version of those editions, to me.

Now, as I've said before, until recently I never actually played any version of basic/original/non-Advanced D&D. I bought the Rules Cyclopedia when it came out in the early 90's, and also bought the "Black Box" version of D&D, but never actually played them. I missed out on the whole boxed set thing entirely when I was a kid. The LBBs and all that Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, etc. jive was something I would have appreciated back then, I think...but I missed it all. I was just never exposed to it.

But looking back now, and having dabbled in OD&D (especially via Swords & Wizardry and Lamentations of the Flame Princess), I have become more and more enamored of OD&D and its clones. But looking through Moldvay, Mentzer, the Rules Cyclopedia, clones like Labyrinth Lord and S&W and LotFP and all the rest, I think that I feel strongly about actually using the original Mentzer books rather than a clone. I just like the look of the game, the layout of the books, the style, the art (as a confessed Elmore nut). There's just something about it that calls to me.

So, when I get the chance to run some OD&D, I'm going to use Mentzer, with some house rules I'm mulling over to add a bit of spice to things. I'm taking inspiration for my house rules from many sources on the web and blogosphere, as well as from other games. This includes the beta version of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

Now, there are some other various games that have also been tempting me with their shininess. Games such as Barbarians of Lemuria, Dragon Age, and even that game based in Middle Earth called The One Ring that I just learned about YESTERDAY! Yes, gamer ADD has no mercy. Heck, I just really discovered a lot to like about Dragon Age less than a week ago, on Free RPG Day. All of these various other games I have lumped together as potential candidates, but I have used a bit of reality to temper my expectations. These miscellaneous games are nice and all, but I either don't own them, they haven't been published yet, or they would take time to learn that I just don't seem to have these days.

Above all, I'm totally dedicated to the Dragonlance game I am currently running, and have no intention of sacrificing it in order to jump into OD&D right now. And especially not for some new shiny game that would require a whole new cycle of reading rules, learning rules, teaching rules to others, etc. I've been waiting a looooong time to do a Dragonlance campaign,  and I have met a great group of gamers who make running the game a pleasure.

Wow, it feels good to get that all out! All it took was standing up to the beast!

TrollCon East in Words and Pictures!

So, I'm taking a break from my job hunting (doing pretty well so far...got my updated resume together and I'm putting my networking skills into overdrive!), and I've downloaded some photos from my cellphone that I took at TrollCon East the other night.

Here's a shot of the mountain of C&C stuff the Trolls brought with them (every time I see this one I imagine a choir of angels singing):


Yes, that is indeed a fat stack of Castle Keeper Guides at the top of that pyramid of awesomeness!

The next pic is a shot of the Troll Lord himself, Steve Chenault, serving as Castle Keeper at the head of the table! You can see he improvised a CK screen! I feel like in this shot Steve's saying "I'm coming for you next!" to a hapless player!

Actually, that can't be farther from the truth! Steve ran a great game on Saturday night (the night I attended the Con), and he was the epitome of the cool gamemaster! It really was a great experience to meet him and his fellow Troll, Tim Burns. Steve was outgoing and hilarious, and he never tired of talking to all of us about C&C as well as other stuff, such as how much he loves the Dogfights show on the History Channel, and how Arkansas and New Jersey share a connection because both states are the targets of a lot of jokes!

All in all, Steve and Tim were so down to earth. I could really tell they were so passionate about their game system, and roleplaying in general. The fact that they came all the way out to New Jersey for this relatively small Con is a testament to their dedication and appreciation of the people who love their system. I have to say, they've won me over! I was dabbling in the system before, but now I'm officially a C&C convert!

You can read the Troll's blog post here for a wrap up of the Con, as well as some some images. I'm in this particular photo (I'm all the way to the left of the shot, the guy with the dark hair in the green sweatshirt).

Anyway, once I get back on my feet with a new job, I'll definitely be converting my current campaign to C&C!

Status Update-Outta Work & TrollConEast!

Hi all, just wanted to check in again, to write a brief post about where I am with regard to gaming at the moment.

As you probably read in my last post, I was downsized from my job of nearly six years on 2/25/11. Therefore, I guess it's no surprise that, for the next few weeks at least, my gaming activities will be mostly put on hold. Especially where it involves me as gamemaster. I need to spend the time applying for jobs, exploiting my network of contacts, getting unemployment and other government assistance going (uh, yes, I AM taking advantage of that, since I've been working consistently for years and paying into it dearly every paycheck. I think it's okay if I take a turn now), and other such activities.

I refuse to let this knock me out of my personal gaming renaissance, however! I shall return! Rage against the dying of the light, and all that...

If anyone out there in the Pennsylvania/NJ/Delaware area knows of anyone who needs a wordsmith (specifically a proposal and marketing writer), please leave a comment. My last six years of work was in the architecture/landscape architecture/Urban Design and Planning industry, but I'm not necessarily limited to that industry. I appreciate any leads you can provide!

With regard to gaming, I did attend TrollCon East at All Things Fun in Berlin, NJ as planned. I really needed the emotional boost! It was a blast, I had a great time. Met some new gamers, and Steve Chenault and Tim Burns from Troll Lord Games. It was really cool to have some one-on-one face time with some of the key guys behind Castles & Crusades. Steve in particular was gregarious, hilarious, down-to-earth, and an all-around fun time! Needless to say, I am now firmly in the C&C camp, and there's no longer a question as to what game system I will be using for my gaming for the foreseeable future!

When I have a chance, I will do a post specifically about my experiences at TrollCon East, and will include some pictures that I took. In the meantime, anyone interested can go here on the All Things Fun site to see a video of the part of Saturday night's gaming in which I was involved. I wasn't directly on camera for most of the time. I'm the guy in the lower right side of the screen with the short dark hair (no hat), goatee, glasses, and dark green sweater. Occasionally I pop onto the screen when I have to look closely at the minis we were using. Most of the time you can just see my hands, wedding ring on left hand and fiddling with dice and pens, and sometimes my arms...no big loss for you guys! ;-)

That's all for now, folks. I hope to check back in soon. Now, off to work on that resume...