Watch Well Games #60
We look at three books for Castles & Crusades from Troll Lord Games.
Welcome to our newsletter!
Hi. I’m K.J.
The days are long, but today’s newsletter is a shorter one. Guest writer Warren Davidson reviews Castles & Crusades. But first, I offer a short recap of miscellaneous things for “What’s up, K.J.?”
What’s Up, K.J.?
The creators coalition is finalizing the submissions for our first-ever collective work as a team of creatives. We plan to have the digital version of the zine released in mid-October and then take part in Kickstarter’s Zine Quest in February 2026 (which seems really far off, as it’s a good six months from now). Follow us on Bluesky to get updates between newsletters.
August’s mini-game was posted in Notes and Chat. If you missed that, you can see my latest experiment in tackling game mechanics. Play it and let me know how you fare.
I organized and wrote a bit of flash fiction for the FREE, fan-made recipe booklet for the indie RPG Embers of Humanity. You can pick up your copy on DTRPG.
What is Embers of Humanity? "A hope-filled, post-apocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game, Embers of Humanity (or Embers for short) is about regular people surviving after the end of the world. Players take on the role of survivors, who settle down together to try and rekindle the flames of society." It uses a light-weight version of the BRP (d100) system. Learn more here or here.
Review: Castles & Crusades
by Warren Davidson (aka Wazza)
Castles and Crusades was first published in 2004 under WOTCs d20 system license. I shall be reviewing the latest edition released in 2024. Troll Lord Games kindly provided me with review copies. The product line comprises three core books, several adventures and supplements. The Players Handbook costs: $39.99/$19.99 (hardcover/pdf). The Castle Keepers Guide and Monsters & Treasure books cost: $49.99/$19.99 (hardcover/pdf) each. You’ll need these dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d%. I must mention the production quality which is both excellent and packed full of amazing artwork throughout adding to the overall experience.
Onto the review, and we start with the Players Handbook, at 290 pages covering character creation, classes, races, rules, magic, spells, saving throws and combat. Players choose from twelve classes and seven races. We have the usual collection of clerics, fighters, rogues and wizards and the unusual with assassins and knights. Each one is clearly defined with abilities gained as they progress through a total of twenty-four levels with rules for multiclassing. Races cover the typical fantasy fare of dwarves, elves, gnomes, half-elves, halfings, half-orcs and humans. You complete your character by deciding on a persona, disposition, alignment and starting equipment.
The game system is based on attribute checks, so strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and charisma and follows a straightforward d20 + modifier versus DC system to determine pretty much everything.
Magic is divided into three distinct categories: arcane being the province of wizards and illusionists, the divine called upon by clerics and druids and illusion, exclusive to the illusionists. Spells are prepared as daily slots of increasing level with bonus spells available to those with a high class attribute. What follows is a list of over five hundred spells, each with easily determinable effects. The magic system is simple and colourful, suitable for beginners and experienced players alike.
Next is Castle Keeper advice, for handling such issues as your desired style and mood of play, pacing the adventure and overall scale. There’s rules for attribute checks, saving throws and combat which is both fast and fluid, offering some welcome advice on running a more narrative approach if you don't feel the need to adjudicate every nuance in a fight. Finally we have an esoterica on hit points and damage, turning undead, rewards, movement, spell resistance, vision, time, languages, an example of play, a handy list of reference tables, a comprehensive index and a character sheet. All in all a great book and it’s worth noting it contains everything you need to run Castles & Crusades; however the Castle Keepers Guide and Monsters &Treasure book are highly recommended if you wish to enrich and expand your game.
Next is the Castle Keepers Guide at 370 pages. This has everything you need to run Castles & Crusades from a GMs standpoint. Part one starts with optional character creation rules with a beauty attribute and race creation. The magic system is expanded with spell books, components , holy symbols, and a deeper look into divine and illusionist magic. There’s an optional point based mana system to replace the fire-and-forget spell slot system. Equipment is next with carrying capacity, wagons, ships and boats, a general equipment list, donning and doffing armour, maintenance and expert backpacks. We finish with advice on creating and running NPCs.
Part Two covers world building. There’s creating the campaign world itself, cities, dungeons and adventuring in both air and water. We have resource management in the form of equipment wastage, awarding land and titles and joining a guild. If you want to include large scale battles there’s a mass combat system that’s intuitive and comprehensive covering infantry and cavalry units, morale effects and siege engines. There’s even rules for air and naval engagements. Part two concludes with an abbreviated list of monster statistics and rules for primitive, modern and futuristic firearms.
Part Three has advice for running balanced adventures through all levels of play, how to keep the game challenging with appropriate risks and rewards and how to award XP. At its core Castles & Crusades uses the SEIGE engine system to resolve tasks and we are provided with a clear understanding of the underlying mechanics and how the CM can alter them to their individual tastes. There’s an abbreviated magic item and treasure assortment, more combat options, and skill packages. To finish out character death and its implications are covered. A great GMs book which you’ll want to pick up.
What game would be complete without lots of monsters to kill and shiny treasure to steal? So we have Monsters & Treasure at 338 pages. There’s over 300 monsters presented in an easy-to-reference alphabetical order. Stats are clearly defined and each entry has an evocative art piece. We have: Aberrations, beasts, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, giants, oozes, plants, shape-changers and undead, with typically two monsters per page although some entries take up more. All their stats, attacks and abilities are easily referenced. Last is a cornucopia of goodies! Magic item usage and creation, intelligent magic items, and awarding magic to players, followed by hundreds of magic items. Gems and jewelry, armour and weapons, potions and scrolls, staves and wands, rings and rods, cursed items and artifacts. We end with appendices on awarding XP, poisons, animals, swarms and an index. Another great book.
So all-in-all I really like Castles & Crusades, it plays fast, everything is clear and concise making it an ideal beginners game, suitable for one-off games, campaigns and convention-style play. Highly recommended.
That’s a wrap! And remember:
Someone of Reddit made a color-coded map with the various ways we can say “hedgehog” in several different languages across Europe (and beyond).
There’s also a map on Instagram.
Non-native English speakers: What’s the word for “hedgehog” in your language. Share in the comments! 🦔
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