Month: January 2023

The Narratives of Aufstrag (A0), Entry 1

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Dear Reader,

I am Stanleigh Claiborne, and I have been dead for many centuries.

More specifically, I am a Remnant. A human who died but never passed on to the afterlife. I do not know why. I stopped searching for an answer long ago. I simply persist. I exist (what is “existence” to an undead?).

I have witnessed endless battles through the centuries between the armies of Aufstrag and Aenoch (and later New Aenoch). I’ve seen the rise, fall, and rise again of cities and towns, of families and family lines, the retreat of the dwarves, the elves, the fey, as well as their slow return.

Occasionally, I have found my interest piqued by explorers and adventurers, and I follow them around for a bit until they (usually) meet their end. One such group I took notice of during a hazy day with a light drizzle of rain involved a quite diverse group leaving the small village of Malforten in the Drunderry River Valley. A Heisen Fodt, Remnant, Changeling, Hobbit, Centaur, and several humans made up this party. It is always interesting to witness people who don’t see the truth yet. The Changeling still thinks it is a human and hasn’t asked the questions that will open up its understanding of self and its true connection to the Fey Otherworld and the hidden fey home of Rackham Vale in the Aratok Mountains, and the Remnant is hiding its true nature from the group (usually a wise decision).

The Centaur Hunter was a skilled tracker and was following the trail of Goblins and their wolf mounts that collect and bring tribute from the populace of Malforten to their leader, the Gnoll warrior Gritznak the Bold. This adventuring group was seeking him out to rid the town of his menace.

After passing through open grasslands on their left and the swift moving Drunderry River on their right (it is early March and the snow melt has caused swift currents) they eventually approached a forested area where many pixies – and their queen – dwell.

The invisible fey took an immediate discomfort to the undead (I have experienced this many times), but they flew to the Changeling Minstrel, whispered to him, and he began to play a tune. The music cheered them up – although they did prank trip the Remnant – and then revealed a path for the group to a shallow portion of the river with boulders and fallen trees the goblins had used to cross a few days earlier. Now the group attempted it.

The group could’ve used the bridge that was nearby, that obviously would have been the easy way to accomplish this task. But the fey had used powerful illusory magic to hide it when the goblins approached days earlier and this adventuring group was unable to detect it either, and so they attempted to cross the 120-foot-wide river using rope support and crossing 5 foot diameter tree trunks held precariously in place by scattered large boulders. The paladin and his horse nearly entered the afterlife as he struggled to cross while also guiding his horse with him. The Remnant was clearly a young wizard, for he summoned a floating disc and hovered above the trunks to cross. The Heisen Fodt – a noble elder dwarf – faced his own challenges, and although some of the party were bashed against rocks, they all eventually made it across the river (although some arrived on the shore by the current in an unconscious state, but better bruised and unconscious, than dead).

Once they were all revived, they wisely decided to rest there and recoup their health. The Centaur and Heisen Fodt went out to hunt for food for the 8 party members to build up their strength and accelerate healing and comfort. From the birds-eye view I took, I could see they were approaching some wild boar, and the beasts charged them. The Centaur Hunter proved to be an accomplished bowman and took down one of the boar, but another gored him with its charge and the 7 foot 1,000 lb+ Centaur fell to the forest floor unconscious. The Heisen Fodt took down another boar, but then, in the distance, there was the sound of wolves. The Heisen Fodt was about to meet the animals that had been hunting the boar.

But I will have to tell you what happens next later. One of my messenger ravens has just arrived with fresh news from other situations I am following. I must keep up with what is happening in the world. I have spent centuries building up networks of eyes and ears in the skies and in the forests. It is how I have managed to perdure for so long. Which reminds me, I am also overdue for some quiet philosophical reflection regarding temporality and the concept of change over time, but I will spare you those thoughts for a later time. For time is all I have. I will return to the narrative…eventually.

Aufstrag GM Diary: (A0) Rising Knight, Pt. 1

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For this new campaign, I plan to try a couple of different approaches to reporting what happens. First, I will have a GM entry (what I am doing here) discussing world-building and adventure changes. This campaign will be very heavily home-brewed for my own world, and thus will frequently depart quite noticeably from the original Aufstrag boxed sets (designed for the world of Aihrde). Secondly, I will also do a narrative write-up of the adventure itself from the perspective of an observer describing what they witnessed on the adventure. So there will be two posts for each adventure.

First, after two Session 0’s where the players made four characters to rotate in and out of the campaign as needed (detailed here), we finally had our Session 1, which happened to fall on my birthday, so one of the players brought a cake his wife made, and we had a nice way to celebrate the first session of the new multi-year campaign!

Those who know about the A0 adventure Rising Knight know there are Gnolls and goblins involved, as well as (possibly) faeries. Since I use the Troll Lord Games Codex Mythos books to bring in folklore elements, any faeries (like pixies) are likely to have enhancements from the Codex Celtarum, which adds dozens of unique abilities for fey.

Additionally, although I love the D&D system broadly speaking (i.e. hp, AC, the six attributes, and saving throws), I have grown tired of the same D&D tropes that have existed for the last 49 years, thus many creatures have been altered. Goblins, for instance, are a form of dark fey (and thus also capable of getting faery abilities from the Codex Celtarum).

As for the NPCs in the starting village of Malforten, the world of Aihrde has its own deities, but since this is taking place in my world, I have my own pantheons, covering Norse, Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Greek, Saints, Faery, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, Gnome. etc. Thus, when Aihrde gods are mentioned in my campaign books, they will either be converted to an equivalent god from one of my pantheons, or will be heroic figures from the past that the locals revere in memory. In the case of Malforten most of the NPCs detailed in the adventure worship Celtic gods (e.g. Danu, The Morrigan, The Cailleach, or Teutates) which are more prominent in the frontiers outside of New Aenoch where these adventures take place, or some of the Saints (of the One True God) that dominate in the Crusader Kingdoms of New Aenoch.

My Aufstrag campaign will also shift darker over time as I draw upon works such as Empire of the Ghouls, Corpus Malicious, and Grim Hollow, to bring a grimdark theme as the group approaches Aufstrag (which will become more noticeable in the second box set Journey to Aufstrag). Still, as they work their way through this first box set (In the Shadow of Aufstrag) I need to lay the foundations for that, which means having encounters with Darakhul ghouls and out of the ordinary lycanthropes (my world has two moons, so during two full moons – what is called “Lunacy” in my world – lycanthropes acquire greater powers and swifter regeneration).

As you can imagine, this Aufstrag campaign is going to be challenging! However, my players have access to new playable ancestries I created, such as the undead Remnant, Centaurs, an ogre-sized race called Entisc, and Changelings. I have quite the home brew developing!

Ice Castles, Ice Caverns, and RPGs 2023

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In Minnesota, we get weather perfect for ice castles! So on a wonderful below freezing day recently, I headed to one of my nearby ice castles and took over 100 photos, partly because I am fascinated by the creative work that goes into constructing these, and also because I can use some of these photos for my Castles & Crusades RPG game when characters enter icy lands, mountains, or ice fortresses (if you like these, feel free to look at my photos from last year).

Am I going to get impaled by the ice above me?!

Would your characters dare pass underneath this imposing hanging ice?

What strange environment is this that you find yourself?

Zoom into this photo a little bit more, and I have multiple levels of an ice cavern to show my players.

What created these ice tunnels and what could dwell within?
[See the footprints on the ground? Interesting fact, the actual solid ground is 6 feet below me! They build the ice castle on a thick layer of snow and ice!]

What is causing the blue glow? Do you dare to enter ?

Multiple levels in an ice cave.

Using Coins as Props in RPGs

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It is always fun discovering new ways to enhance your game. Something new I am trying is using coins to expand my campaign.

How many times have you run a game session, where the players have slain a group of orcs, loot the lair, and wait for what they have unearthed, and you say, “you discover 300cp, 250sp, and 150gp.” We’ve all done it. It may be all we expect to hear from our GM, but what if it could be different?

What if instead, you toss a copper coin with barbarian spiked club symbols and say, “you discover 300 copper coins recently made by the barbarian tribes to the north.” Then you toss a silver medieval coin down and say “you discover 250 silver coins from the neighboring crusader state that has been pushing the barbarian tribes back as they expand their territory.” Finally, you toss a gold coin in the elven language and state, “there are also 150 gold coins of elfin design that have gone into retreat with the fighting between the knightly kingdoms and the barbarians, it is believed that they are waiting – as the long-live elves frequently do – for the two parties to wear themselves down and then the elves will retake the forests for themselves.”

Something as simple as tossing three coins and saying three sentences I quoted above now may cause the players to sit back and ask, “why are there such a large quantity of coins from three opposing factions in these lands? Were these orcs on the side of one of the parties and one set of coins was pay-offs to them and the others were from attacking the other two? Perhaps the orcs are trying to weaken all sides?”

As you can see, by simply having three props and three sentences I have now taken a simple looting of a lair and opened it up to perhaps representing a key insight into regional politics and warfare.

My new Aufstrag homebrew campaign for Castles & Crusades is about to begin and I took a handful of surplus RPG coins I have picked up and placed in a small dice bag 13 coins (plus a yes/no coin to help players make a decision by flipping a coin if they wish), and explained briefly that they have a sampling of coins from crusader kingdoms of New Aenoch, coins from the elves, the Celtic culture, and secret coinage of the Darakhul Ghoul Kingdom, and some sorcerer and warlock cults centered around alchemy and astrology.

They seemed quite pleased by this surprise gift and what it might do for our campaign. The first picture shows what I gave the players. But the picture below is my own stash of coins that I haven’t been willing to part with (RPG coins can be expensive!), but I can still use them as props for the remnants of the Aufstrag empire, and other smaller or lost civilizations. Every bit of loot that my players find can be a hint at alliances, enemies, or perhaps just a random burglary.

I really look forward to playtesting this idea and seeing where it can go. Perhaps you might want to do the same?

Happy gaming!

Aufstrag Campaign Homebrew Character Creation

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I have a new campaign beginning and just ran two session zeros, so my players could create their stable of characters which they can draw from for each adventure. I really opened up the concept of character creation for this campaign, and this post will go over the unique creations my players came up with. It emphasizes new races/ancestries and unique class combinations!

My Approach to Adventuring Parties
In a previous post, I discussed character class options I use from the Castles & Crusades Players Archive, so if you want more information, please view that post. To provide the brief version, I like large adventuring parties (roughly 10 characters) and with multi-classing options there are frequently 15 or more character classes being represented. I am not a big fan of the restrictive idea that every group has a restrictive role as a tank, healer, DPS. Yes, for balance there should be divine and arcane spell caster, a warrior, and a rogue, but I want to give my players flexibility to play character ideas that are fun, and with multiple types of each character type in the party, players get a chance to play the main or support role as they see fit, and it also sets up greater group cohesion – a sense of family – and if part of the group decides to split off from the group during an adventure, they might actually live!

Art by Dean Spencer: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/366172/Cover-full-page–Tavern-Interior–RPG-Stock-Art

C&C and Aufstrag Homebrew Options for Races/Class/Gods
For my new campaign there are the typical human, dwarf, elf, gnome, hobbit (i.e. halfling), as well as my re-imagining of half-orcs and half-elves (they are called Melcorians, Pereldar, and Feorh, details on why I gave them their own culture and ancestry is described here).

Additionally, I’ve created a playable undead race, the Remnant (described here), Centaur, Changeling, Entisc (a giant race 9’tall and 450lbs), and I made some slight changes to the World of Aihrde race-as-class elves (Oralau) and race-as-class dwarves (Heisen Fodt). This has really expanded options for players, both maintaining a traditional D&D feel, yet also providing new options that you don’t find in vanilla D&D.

As for the character classes, using the options available in the C&C Players Archive mentioned above, my players created characters drawing from multiple character classes. So, although a Bard may be fun, one player made a Changeling dual class Bard/Illusionist and plans to refer to them as a Minstrel. They are taking core D&D classes and creating something new with them. I really love this.

Then there are the Gods and Pantheons in my games. Every player chooses a god/patron and when they do, they receive six abilities over a course of roughly 16 levels. In the example below, you can see that a dwarf that worships Barundar Battleaxe (dwarven god of battle, strength, and honor) can be one of 8 classes and gets six abilities that include +2hit/dmg with axes, commanding presence allows ability to command 2/day, etc. These abilities do make the PCs quite a bit stronger, but keep in mind that my NPCs and monsters have their own pantheon of gods that give them their own enhancements, so every encounter with hobgoblins may be different if one group worship Ares from the Greek pantheon, and the next worship some ogre god of battle with combat bonuses.

I love the D&D system overall, and yet, whether old school or new school, I have been wanting to do something different that breaks away from the same character builds we’ve been presented with for 49 years. My players are really excited for this. They have all created four characters each so far, but before they even use them, they are already itching to make a few more to explore additional cool character concepts they’re envisioning. But let us now look at what three of my players have come up with so far.

Player JC (I did cover some of this player’s characters in a previous post, but will summarize here):
1. Oryan. Centaur. Dual class Archer/Ranger with expanded class Shaman (the spell casting portion of the Druid). The player calls them a Hunter. He worships Rylraphen, a fey god of the hunt.
2. Lucas Slonko. Remnant. Dual class Vampire Hunter/Assassin. He’s seeking to find who killed him and his family. I will tie this in with the Aufstrag campaign plot. Since I use the Kobold Press Darakhul Ghoul Empire, there may be a tie-in with them. Lucas’ patron is Paracelsus, a sorcerer patron of alchemy (sorcerers in my game are not a character class, but a style of arcane spellcaster emphasizing alchemy, astrology, wild magic, etc. Again, I am taking a different approach to what these concepts have come to mean in D&D).
3. Elanor Lightfoot. Hobbit. Dual class Rogue/Fighter. Worships the Hobbit god named Kepler Kaese, representing vigilance, sling and short sword use.
4. Grazzaline. Dwarf. Runemaster with expanded class Loremaster (the part of the Bard that deciphers scripts and uses legend lore). Graz worships Graena Brightmantle, dwarven goddess of dwarven scholarship, invention, destiny (dwarves cannot use arcane magic in my game, but they are quite good at rune magic, so this goddess helps build on that specialty).

Player SC:
1. Sebastian Ezra. Remnant. Dual class Arcane Thief/Wizard. His sorcerer patron is Maximillian Stevor, who bestows wild magic powers (many of these I borrowed from the AD&D 2e Tome of Magic, I really like that book and have felt that wild magic was at its best in 2E).
2. Gregor Walker. Dwarf. Barbarian. His god is Barundar Battleaxe, dwarven god of battle and honor.
3. Desmond Brooks. Human. Paladin with support class in Horsemanship (which is the part of the Knight class that allows mastery of fighting on horseback). Worships St. Semalion (saint of holiness, divine wrath, angels).
4. Rosco Miles. Changeling. Dual class Bard/Illusionist. Worships Lanykas, the fey lord of moons (my world has two moons!), dreams, passage of time, and travel.

Player LM:
1. Lewis Clark. Remnant. Dual class Monk/Wizard with support class of Fighter. Patron is Theophrastus Magnus, he bestows insights into sorcery, lost knowledge, and magical secrets.
2. Gibb Strongarm. Heisen Fodt/Barbarian with support class in Fighter. Worships Sif, Norse goddess of excellence, community, and glory.
3. Emit Franker. Human. Dual class Cleric/Fighter. Worships Forseti, Norse god of justice and law.
4. Nefelhelm. Oralau/Skald with support class in Fighter. Worships Valeran Flamesong, elven god of elven preservation, justice, and nobility.

I normally have five players in this group. One of the others is making four characters that all worship the Greek gods/goddesses, and will include a dual class dragon slayer/giant killer. The other plans to make an Oralau, a Heisen Fodt, and Entisc. So there will be a pretty substantial variety of characters in this campaign that the players can switch in and out. You can imagine if there is a small area or enclosed dungeon that the Centaur and Entisc may not be able to enter, and they instead stay back and guard the cart and mule they will be using to carry away loot and store their camping material, but in the open landscape, you will want the centaur ranger/archer to be able to show off their skills! I can’t wait for Session 1!

Re-imagining Half-Orcs and Half-Elves

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I have decided to make some changes to the half-orc and half-elf options in my campaign. I remember asking years ago, why aren’t their half gnomes, half halflings (quarterlings?), etc. There has been work produced that has tried to do that, and many are interesting, but I have decided I want to try out simply giving them their own unique name and identity.

I haven’t made many changes to the descriptions of the half-orc and the two half-elves that are available in the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook, I mostly just swapped out a few words here and there and I think it does the job for my players of seeing them in a new light.

In C&C there is the half-orc and half-elf with human linage and the half elf with elf lineage. I have made the following changes:

Half-Elf – Human Lineage: Pereldar
I got this name from an online elf dictionary drawing on Tolkien’s languages and it means “half elf”! I hope that by giving them an actual identifying name I can over time build a culture around them. The fey play a strong role in my world, and the opportunity to bring in a new playable fey race simply by giving an identifying name to the already existing half-elf simplifies my job considerably! Half-elves have some great abilities that I am using to link them to the Otherworld and by creating just a few Advantages (the C&C equivalent to feats), I can further build an identity around them. C&C already has half-elf feats in the Castle Keepers Guide (CKG), so I am just adding some faerie abilities from the Codex Celtarum to give them that extra otherworldly feel.

Half Elf – Elf Lineage: Feorh
I frequently use an Anglo-Saxon dictionary for inspiration and the name “feorh” means “principle of life, soul, spirit,” which I think is a meaningful description of a being with strong Otherworldly origins. Just like the Pereldar, I am adding some new Advantages from the Codex Celtarum to the already existing CKG options for half-elves to make them more mystical and spiritual.

The pantheons of gods in my world play an important role and bestow six different powers on characters as they level up (roughly inspired by specialty priests from AD&D 2E, or 3E prestige classes*). In the case of the Feorh and Pereldar, they have access to the Elf, Faerie, and Celtic pantheons, and the classes open to them from the PHB are bard, cleric, druid, fighter, illusionist, knight, ranger, rogue, and wizard.

Half-Orc: Melcorian
This is another Tolkien reference for Melkor (“he who rises in might”, or “mighty arising”) who fell from glory. I am taking this in a different direction (honestly, I just love the name Melkor, so chose to use it and just changed the spelling of one word). Although they may be mistaken for orcs sometimes, they are in my world distant cousins of them. Melcorians get access to the Norse, Slavic, and Germanic pantheons in my world, and the classes open to them from the PHB are assassin, barbarian, cleric, fighter, ranger, and rogue (notice they are not arcane spellcasters, they are primarily a warrior culture with some clerical support.

These changes are about to get their first playtest in my new home brew Aufstrag campaign, so we’ll see how things develop.

*I do not restrict only clerics or druids as priests of the gods/patrons/saints. If you are a worshipper of Loki, for example, his priesthood include rogues, thieves, illusionists, and bards. Likewise, Thor’s priests encompass fighters and barbarians, Apollo’s priests can be bards and oracles, and Frau Hölle allows haliruna (dark witches) and nekuomantis (prophets of the dead). I take a much broader view of one’s allegiance to the gods and how the gods bestow gifts to their worshippers.

art by Srifez (https://www.artstation.com/srifez)

Great Third-Party RPG Books: Bestiaries

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During these turbulent OGL times when folks are looking for new RPG books to supplement their game (or find a new game to shift to), I thought I would throw out some of my recommendations for useful bestiaries.

First, we have the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure. This book has over 400 monsters collected from several previous (smaller) monster books that Troll Lord Games produced, along with including the unique monsters found in their Mythos series of books, which include unique creatures from Celtic, Norse, Slavic, Greek, Germanic, and other cultures. If you want classic monsters with a significant amount of creatures drawn from folklore then this is the book for you (there are a ton of traditional fey creatures in this book that are much truer to folklore than what D&D has presented over the years). Since it is made for C&C, the monsters are easiest to use with D&D 1E or 2E due to the feel they evoke but can be adjusted for modern versions of D&D since C&C uses a modern d20 game mechanic familiar to D&D gamers post-2000.

Next, I want to emphasize the great material found with Kobold Press and their three Tome of Beasts and the Creature Codex. These monsters are all made for D&D 5E. Each book has around 400 beasts, so between the four books you’ve got 1,600 monsters. By the time I got to the most recent Tome of Beasts III, the monsters seemed to me to start getting a bit weird and alien, but the first two Tome of Beasts and the Creature Codex provide strong additions to anyone’s D&D 5E monster needs. My campaigns feature a lot of fey and Kobold Press has a good amount of those creatures, so if that interests you as well, you are in luck.

We now arrive at Frog God Games Tome of Horrors. Earlier versions of these books were made for Swords & Wizardry (which emulates the original 1974 D&D), but these have all been updated to D&D 5E. These can be good books if you are looking for old-school D&D beasts that have been updated to D&D 5E.

Nord Games Bestiaries is where we next arrive. These are also statted for D&D 5E. The Revenge of the Horde presents detailed breakdowns of Orcs, Bugbears, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Kobolds, and more, detailing their culture, at least half a dozen examples of different sorts of each monster (you get stat blocks for pikemen, archers, sorcerers, etc.), if you can think a variant for these humanoids, they probably have an example for you to consider. The Dreaded Accursed does the same thing for various types of undead (liches, vampires, ghouls, wights, specters, etc.). If you want to flesh out (so to speak) your 5E humanoid monsters and undead, this is the book you want.

The Scarred Lands Creature Collection by Onyx Path Publishing takes many of the monsters from their 3E-era Creature Collections (recall that the original Creature Collection beat out the D&D 3E Monster Manual as the first monster book to be published for the 3E rule system). All the monsters have been upgraded to D&D 5E in full color, and have unique terrain-type symbols next to them for easy reference showing where they exist and roam. This has a nice throwback feel to 3E-era monsters for the unique Scarred Lands campaign setting. They add some unique monsters to your game.

I end this post with a promotion for the Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary by BRW Games. Although made for ADD (a hypothetical look at what AD&D 2nd edition might have looked like if Gary Gygax had designed it). These monsters (with black and white art) fit without any effort into any D&D 1E or 2E game. The 450+ page book has over 900 monsters – it is a beast of a book! It is also my favorite old-school monster book. Monster manuals from this era frequently had tables for easy access to the abilities for all their variants (for example, if you wanted to look up all your options for bats or spiders, go to the relevant section and they are all laid out for quick reference. There is something nice about these easy-to-read and uncomplicated stat blocks. You can fit so many more monsters in a book this way. If you want the ultimate old-school monster book, this is it.

So, there you have it, a good variety of monsters that cover 1E through 5E, with some monsters that are a hybrid between old and modern D&D. There is something to inspire every GM looking for a new challenge for their players and to populate their world. If you pick up one or more of them I hope you find them useful!

Looking for a New RPG? The Case for Castles & Crusades

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The recent situation with Hasbro/WotC has caused a substantial number of GMs and players to look for new RPGs to run/play as companies that have produced material for D&D5E have either withdrawn their material or put it on fire sales and are leaving the realm of current D&D. But where can you go? I would like to make the case for Castles & Crusades.

My D&D Journey
There was once a time when I was a D&D purist. I pretty much just played D&D from 1983-2007. I had a friend run a session of Top Secret for a few sessions in the 90s for our game group, but when he finished running it we all returned to my D&D campaign. It was not until the end of 3E in 2007 that I just burned out on the rules-intensive 3E and stepped away from TTRPGs. I skipped 4E and had no interest in more 3E-style gaming in the new Pathfinder 1E game. D&D 5E brought me back in 2014 with its stripped-down rules. But although it appealed to a lot of people, I found it lacked impact. By attempting to appeal to everyone, it became, in my view, rather bland and uninspiring, and by 2018 it no longer appealed to me. I decided to see what other game systems there were out there that were D&D-adjacent but offered something new.

Why C&C Worked for Me
Castles & Crusades sits in that sweet spot of having a 21st-century-style unified game mechanic (the C&C SIEGE Engine is slick and easy to learn for anyone familiar with the d20 system as I’ll describe below), and yet the core PHB classes have more of a stripped-down classic D&D feel from the 20th century period of D&D.

The SIEGE Engine Mechanic
Let me briefly explain the SIEGE Engine. Put simply, everything in C&C is based on primary and secondary attributes. Humans have three primary attributes and three secondary attributes, and because races like elves and dwarves have special racial/ancestral abilities, they only get two primary attributes and four secondary attributes.

Your class determines one of your primary attributes, and you choose any that remain. All C&C character classes are associated with an attribute. Fighters and Rangers are Strength classes, Rogue and Assassin are Dexterity, Bard, Knight, and Paladin are Charisma, Barbarian and Monk are Constitution, Cleric and Druid are Wisdom, and Wizard and Illusionist are Intelligence.

You make all SIEGE Engine checks with a d20 die and they will have a Challenge Base (CB) that begins at 12 for primary attributes and 18 for secondary attributes. The Game Master (or Castle Keeper in this game) will add a Challenge Level (CL) that can be added to that if the task is more challenging. The player then rolls a d20 and adds any attribute modifiers and usually their level.

Let me give you an example. Let us say you are a Rogue and you want to steal the keys from a guard’s belt while he sleeps in front of a cell door he is guarding. You are a 2nd-level Rogue with 13 Dexterity. You roll a d20 and add 2 for your level plus one because the attribute bonus for a 13 Dexterity is +1, this gives you a total of +3 to your d20 roll. You roll a 13 and add the 3 for a total of 16. The CB for a prime attribute check begins at 12, so the player might begin to feel confident at this point. As it happens, the guard is a 3rd-level fighter, so the GM adds a +3 CL making the number to beat a Challenge Class (CC) of 15. So with a 16 the player has managed to make the check by one and they have carefully placed their hands around the keys and slipped it off the guard’s belt without waking him.

Hopefully, you can see in the example how easy this is. Once you learn the 12/18 system you have understood C&C, since SIEGE Engine checks are used for nearly everything in the game (other dice are used for weapon damage, spell damage, hit points, etc). Now, it has to be said that this is a game that in its core rules is based on being rules-light and based on creative thinking by the players – it wants the players to try things out! There aren’t feats or a formal skill system in C&C (beyond class-based skills), if a check is needed the GM can tie it in with an appropriate attribute and have the player(s) roll a d20 vs whatever CC the GM comes up with, and this can differ depending on who is attempting it.

Example two. You have a Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, and Druid wanting to cross a river with a strong current. The Fighter might make a Strength check to cross, but the Rogue might use their Dexterity to use the currents to their advantage, the Wizard might try an Intelligence check since they may be attempting mathematical calculations to work out how far they would have to swim before they could find shelter behind a rock mid-stream to catch their breath, and the Druid might use a Wisdom check due to their insight into nature and its operations. Now, if the river is quite wide you might switch to having them make Constitution checks to see if they have the stamina to make it across at roughly the halfway point. I hope you can see how much more flexible and open this game is than just saying “make a Survival check.” Your players can actually talk about strategies and plans and their discussion can spur you to think more clearly about what natural obstacles lie in their path and what that might mean. It makes your world come more alive and is not just yet another Difficulty Class check that people automatically roll for out of habit and without thought (although if time is running short in a game session, you can fall back on that approach, it’s just that when time allows, you can let your players explore the environment and through their eyes and questions you can make the surrounding become more vivid).

That is one of the things I really love about this game, the challenges the players are presented with can create some truly exciting conversations around the table! I do have to say that if you come from a D&D3E/Pathfinder style of gaming where everything is defined for you in rigorous detail, then this might take some adjustment. This game in its base form keeps the rules light and open for a lot of creative thinking and exploration. But, if more crunch is what you want, then the Castle Keepers Guide does provide a Skill System you can bring into your game similar to 3E, and it has lists of Advantages (C&C names for feats), so more crunchy game mechanic options do exist if you want them. I, for example, do not use the Skill system, but I do like the Advantages and let my players choose one for their characters every four levels, so I have taken a middle-ground approach.

I know what you are saying at this point – “bloody hell, I really need to get this game.” Of course, you are right to think this! All players need for C&C are the PHB and the GM needs that plus the Monsters & Treasure. If they want a lot of optional ideas to spur their imagination, then the Castle Keepers Guide (CKG) is, in my opinion, amongst the best GM Guides that I am aware of; it has ideas for almost any scenario and options for nearly any playstyle preference you might be interested in.

I have previously done reviews of the CKG, as well as some great players options books, such as the Players Archive (a collection of nearly all C&C character classes in its 19-year history) and the Adventurers Spellbook (a collection of nearly all the C&C spells from the last 19 years). Although made for C&C, they can be ported over to your D&D game of choice. If you want to see the unique take C&C takes on a character class like the Illusionist, then I have done a deep dive into the mystical possibilities of that class here (teaser: Illusionists can heal in C&C, but they do not use divine magic to do it!).

I do hope I have piqued your interest in this game. Whether you switch to it, or just use parts of it to enhance your own fantasy RPG, I think this game offers a lot! Have a great time gaming!

Expanding Character Class Options and Adventuring Group Size

/ PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

In my new Aufstrag Castles & Crusades campaign (discussed here) I am opening up the character class options for my players.
I have been looking to shake things up in my games for a while and the previous systems I had used for classes (e.g. 5E subclasses, 3E prestige classes, 2E kits) were something I did not want to return to. What options did I have for C&C? Expanded Class!

In our first Session 0 (we are having two so that my players can make four characters each, for I want the players to have a stable of characters where they rotate them in and out for each adventure based on their interests and what the group thinks they’ll need to accomplish tasks or goals).

To achieve this some players are using the dual-class option in the C&C PHB, but many are using the C&C Players Archive, which provides an option where you can pick a class and then add another class, a portion of a class, or just the 0-level abilities of a class. As you add each option you are given an XP number for level advancement which you add to your primary class and the total number arrived at is what you need for each level. What this means is that you are treated as one class (since you only are dealing with one total XP requirement) for the purposes of level advancement, but you may have, for example, 2.5 classes that have been added together to create this new single class. The charts in the back of the Players Archive give you everything you need and I’ve encouraged my players to write these numbers down on the back of their character sheet up through levels 10 so that they won’t have to worry about this again for a good long time!

Another fun aspect of this is that you can combine classes and come up with a new name to describe your character. For example, if you took rogue illusionist you might be considered a Charlatan, perhaps a monk rogue cleric is a Friar, or a knight monk might be a Templar Knight.

I think this could be a lot more fun than the 3E prestige class approach where you jumped from class to class meeting prerequisites or the 5E subclass option where there are just variations on a theme within each class. The expanded class option is a great all-in-one character build option (and it can be used with many D&D editions with only minor work).

Let me give you an example from one of my players. One player has made the following characters for the Aufstrag homebrew (NB: I have created a bunch of new playable races/ancestries as well for this campaign since I want to break free of the shackles of the same-old repetitive concepts from my years running D&D).

Oryan, Centaur, dual class Archer/Ranger with expanded class Shaman (the Shaman represents the spellcasting portion of the Druid class). Combining these together he has decided to call this character a Hunter since that best describes what Oryan does. Oryan will need much more XP to level up since he is effectively 2 1/3 character classes, but the trade-off is that he is an excellent – dare I say essential – character for the outdoors (the first 2/3 of the Aufstrag campaign requires spending a lot of time in outdoor natural environments). Archer and Ranger skills will give him excellent ranged attack skills and tracking/hunting, and the Druid spellcasting rounds the character out by representing the centaur’s spiritual connection to the forest.

Lucas Slonko, Remnant (a unique undead race I created), Vampire Slayer with expanded class Assassin. The Vampire Hunter comes from the Codex Slavorum, and this character’s backstory involves him and his family having been killed by some kind of undead creature. When he awoke after the attack and realized that his family was dead but he was somehow in an undead state, he vowed to find and kill the individual that killed him and his family (I am using the Darakhul Ghoul Empire from Kobold Press in this campaign, and they may or may not – the players will have to figure this out! – have a connection to the evil that lurks in Aufstrag). From this brief backstory, it should be easy to see why he is a vampire slayer (the class provides abilities beyond just killing vampires) as well as having the killing skills of an assassin. Lucas is truly a killer of undead! An undead that kills undead should provide an interesting addition to the party of adventurers!

Elanor Lightfoot, Hobbit, dual class Rogue/Fighter. With this class, the player went with something more traditional a halfling (they are hobbits in my game) rogueish fighter. There is not much more you need to say, she is sneaky, but her fighter skills make her formidable in a fight (with either short swords or slings).

Grazzaline, Dwarf, Runemaster with expanded class Loremaster (Loremaster is the part of the Bard that deals with deciphering scripts and using legend lore). The runemaster is a C&C class with some truly amazing abilities (the runes are open to a lot of creative interpretation and we are all looking forward to seeing how the player will try to use these abilities). Runemasters don’t get a lot of runes, but what they do get are quite versatile. When you add in deciphering ancient scripts and using legend lore, we have a true puzzle solver for the group! Her backstory is that she comes from a family of servants in a dwarven city I created and a rune mark took a liking to her and from that person she picked up some skills along the way. She is not a full bard due to being part of a servant family, but she has learned some unique skills in spite of this.

So these are just the four characters of one of my five players. There will be 16 more characters in this adventuring party! But keep in mind that they may not all meet each other at first, and even when they have all met, they may not all be traveling together at the same time, for some may remain in a town (where they can engage in information gathering and I can drop hints for the current or future adventures), or some may guard the campsite, mounts, and carts, while others enter the dungeons, caves, and ruined towers. I really love this approach to adventuring, for there is always something going on, and if a player can’t make a game session, it is very easy to swap characters in and out (I have spoken about the virtues of having players playing multiple characters before).