Greetings, cut-throats. I am a refugee from ENWorld. I, literally, cannot deal with that shit anymore.
 Do any of you guys play Castles&Crusades? I just started a campaign a few months ago (playing once per week) and so far it's rolling right along. I am curious about opinions, experiences, thoughts, etc. Thanks, bros.

I haven't played it, but reports from others suggest it does some odd stuff at higher levels. So while it might play a lot like AD&D at level 5, by the time you hit level 15 it feels like a different game. The way saving throws work is a big part of this.

Obviously if you play long enough to experience this, it's a good problem to have.

I honestly don't think I've ever played a game past 12th level, and that was like 40 years ago. We normally don't go much higher than 10th.

I played it back before 4th edition DnD came out for an idea how long it has been.

I personally liked it and so did about 1/4 of my group so it never stuck sadly.

We only got to level 3-4ish.

I will recommend it to people looking at it, but I have moved on and so has my group of players.

I've played it a few times. I played in a yearlong online campaign on Roll20, played a few games at Gencon, and have run it for my young son.

It's probably my favorite D20 game, simpler than D&D 5.0, but more modern than 1E/2E. It's very easy to pick up and get going with.

I like lower powered campaigns, and I don't think I've ever had a character higher than 8th level, so I can't speak for higher level mechanics.

There is a helpful Discord community for Troll Lord Games, it's worth checking out.

I ran C&C for a while after I grew dissatisfied with 3E. I liked it at first, as it seemed like TSR D&D, but I started running into things that didn't work the way I wanted them to. (Things like the way saving throw probabilities tended to not get better as levels went up, or the way high-Wis clerics tended to be the best ambush detectors in the party, and so on.) At first I started house-ruling C&C (usually replacing some rule that use the SIEGE engine mechanic with its TSR D&D equivalent). Pretty soon I realized I was doing that quite a bit, and that I'd be happier just playing AD&D.

A lot of people like the SIEGE engine and its effects, though, so it's subjective. The dividing line seems to be whether you want your game to run like TSR D&D (in which case you should just use TSR D&D), or if you don't mind that C&C plays like its own thing that doesn't really model TSR D&D.

Which edition (er, printing) are you playing?

Welcome to the forum.

C&C isn't my bag. Nothing really against it. Like many people, I find the SIEGE engine math unintuitive, and there are so many other games that do 95% of the same thing without that particular quirk. It is very popular though, and I wouldn't turn down playing it if there was a campaign that sounded good.

I have played it. C&C cleans up some of the problems I have with AD&D. That said, I wouldn't play it beyond about 12th or 13th level.

You can't really go wrong with C&C. I tend to like low level fantasy so I'd be reluctant to go past level 8.

Characters have a good flavor and I like the overall vibe.

Siege Engine is a cool concept but a little wonky at times. I think it needs a bit of house ruling to make it run a bit more smoothly.

Definitely one of the better post-D&D games.

I haven't played Castles & Crusades yet.  But I ordered the new Starter Set, which is supposed to come out later this month.  So my gaming group will probably give it a go soon.

https://trolllord.com/product/castles-crusades-starter-kit/

We are playing whatever edition came out before Reforged (which was Troll Lord's way of removing all the OGL stuff). So..4th? 5th? Whatevs. We play on a VTT due to geography and adulthood. I am slowly being pulled toward Foundry and away from Roll20, but I'd much rather play at a table. So far so good. I am a systems whore, so I have read and run D&D 1-5, BRP (Cthulhu), Dungeon Crawl Classics (love), and Dragonsbane. C&C seems like the closest thing to AD&D, but with some upgrades (I do not miss THACO).

It's a good system so far, at low levels. I like supporting Troll Lords because they give vets like me a discount, and the owner(s) are vets as well. Win-win, bros!

Quote from: Joey2k on May 10, 2025, 11:10:00 PMWhich edition (er, printing) are you playing?

Only one edition, so this question is a little misleading. They have fixed a few typos from printing to printing, and the cover changes, but the rules have essentially not changed at all in 20 years. ("Reforged" is almost a new edition in that they changed a lot of the wording to scrape away all of WotC's OGL, but the rules still haven't changed.)

C&C is a great game. As others have noted, it sometimes gets a little wonky at high levels. Like others, I never play at those levels so the wonkiness doesn't affect me.

It's my go-to these days as a system, has been for a couple years now.

There are elements I don't like, I'll admit, but I support the company, and it's a good compromise between "the stuff I like in a system" and "I can get other people to play it".

My issues with it are almost entirely things to do do with the SEIGE engine. It's more minimalist than I really prefer, and I'm not a fan of their whole "prime attribute" thing, their approach to skills, etc.

I'm pro-company, and I like that C&C is popular, but it wouldn't be the system I would go to if I had my druthers.

I played C&C when it was newish, and I did like it. I liked the take on several of the classes, I liked the class-and-a-half approach to multi-classing, I even like the Primes approach (not quite enough to port it elsewhere, but in its own right). Saves do need house-ruled to something more old school, but that's so easily done I don't know why it's the sticking point it is for some.

So I feel its a lot better than its detractors give it credit for. But over time, with so many other retro-clones and heartbreakers out there it's lost some of its unique selling proposition. As a player I saw some version or clone of B/X more often. As a GM for OSR I'm more likely to run ACKS, or "house-ruled B/X" with some ACKS references behind the screen. If I want to do something even more niche I'd consider Whitehack.

I liked what I saw of C&C enough I even got the little-known Starsiege sci fi box set. I never used it though. I can see there's something there, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. It would have needed sitting down and developing a campaign document. Then, my other choice was Traveller, which I like myself, and is better known to players. Though now I'm going to dig it out again and take a second look.