The same day I pull my Castles & Crusades books out of the closet, the Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide 2 PDF drops to backers. It is like the 5E universe is trying to send me a message and pull me back into the fold. The timing is far too strange. I was just mentally getting prepared to bring C&C back to my shelves, and this drops?
It is silly to think this was intentional, but it just highlights my terrible timing in life.
I was thinking about C&C. I have a few shelves of BX, OSE, S&W, and OSRIC books, and I was looking to organize them. The reforged copies of C&C were always out, sitting on a spare storage shelf and waiting to go with the other books in my closet storage crates. I had C&C in those crates to give other games room to breathe, since C&C is a game that will end play for every other game around it. C&C is just that good.
Why did I pull C&C out?
I have an issue with games being so in-depth and complicated, and requiring character designers for complex characters, that I never play them. The choice comes down to: do I think about playing a game, or actually play one? Even Shadowdark requires a map, player markers, and a torch timer. GURPS needs a hex map and a detailed character build. 5E needs a VTT and web-based character sheets.
C&C needs a character sheet the size of an index card.
All the rest is theater of the mind.
If I am not playing any of these, if I choose a game where all I need is a few 4x6" cards and some dice, and I sit at a card table with a book or two at my side, then I can play. There is no book reference, no looking up charts, and no complicated collections of action types and abilities.
C&C is easier than Shadowdark, OSE, and many other rules-light games.
Yet it provides a complete 1E-like experience.
Castles & Crusades is a game that throws out every chart in the OSR. We begin with the ability score charts, one for each, with columns of esoteric modifiers and adjustments for bending bars and lifting gates, number of followers, system shock, maximum languages, hit die modifiers, and all the pedantic OSR ability score modifiers columns every game loves to include. C&C needs none of those charts.
The huge list of saving throws in OSR games, one for two types of magical implement, and all the other very specific categories? We need one chart per class, and leveled all the way up. Every time we add a class, we add a new saving throw chart. All of those are gone in C&C, replaced by a straightforward ability check system using the SIEGE Engine.
The huge thief ability chart? Gone. The bard ability charts? Gone. At most, each class gets a level chart that tells us a few key pieces of information, and when different class abilities are granted. Otherwise, ability scores do the rest of the work. I can see why this was the last game Gary Gygax was involved in; it reduced the D&D concept into an easier, more accessible form.
You play from your character sheet with near-zero book reference.
Your ability scores matter.
5E is similar to C&C, since 5E borrowed the "one chart per class" concept of the game, and did the entire "leveled class abilities" thing. Where 5E stumbles is in its subclass design, which muddies the class's identity and fails to let strong multiclassing handle that level of customization. In contrast, C&C's classes were designed to be multiclass, not in a "pick a new class every level" sort of way, but rather you will always be a "fighter/wizard" at the game's start, building your XP chart, and slowly gaining the abilities of both classes. There are no "one-level dips" in C&C to steal a few class abilities to break another class with; essentially, the game design of 5E relies on exploits.
C&C has classic multiclassing as intended. It is a far better system than 5E's chaotic, idiotic level-dipping mess. I can be a "class and a half" illusionist-bard in C&C, and it means something. I chose that to start, and I will be that all the way.
In many ways, C&C is not an OSR game, but an entirely new one. It may share the math, combat, ability score, and other numbers of the OSR and remains compatible with the adventures there, but the rest of the game is brand-new and so different that what it throws out defines the game. Just the best parts, the character classes, spells, magic items, and monsters, are kept, and all the reference charts are thrown out. 5E would do well to copy C&C more and start throwing out huge sections of the rules, starting with the multitude of action types.
Many parts of 5E serve no good purpose other than to slow down gameplay and require constant rules reference, serving the game designer's hubris and need to force players into a book rather than into a live, immersive world and real-time decision loop. This is one of the flaws of Dungeon Crawl Classics; the game needs the core book's charts as training wheels to create an authentic old-school experience.
I love DCC, and the charts are the only way to communicate to today's players "what it all was about" back in the day. But for those of us who were there, we don't need the charts and find them limiting on our imaginations, which go far beyond what can be printed in these books.
5E is a different type of game. It is designed for competitive play and those who need rules to manage the insecurity of playing with complete strangers. Honestly, Pathfinder 2 does a better job providing rules frameworks for social play, and 5E is sort of a middling game that tries to be everything to everyone.
5E requires you to flip through the book for every action attempted, forcing you to check action types, see if different things combo, and taking you out of the game world and putting you in the rules world on almost every turn of play. Your mind is 10% in the dungeon and 90% living in a book outside the game. You could make the argument that 5E is not a role-playing game, but a 1970s wargame with roleplay elements. 5E is closer to Advanced Squad Leader than it is to Dungeons & Dragons.
In C&C? My character sheet is in front of me. A list of class abilities and spells is there for me to consider. I have my equipment and weapons. My ability scores are ready to use. That's it. I am "on the metal" with my decision tree. I do not need to open the book or check action types to figure out my next turn or plan of attack. The game doesn't have "infinite cantrips," so spells are rare and powerful.
What I have on my character sheet is it. No rulebook is going to save me or define my actions on a turn.
What I see is what I have.
Otherwise, I am immersed in the world and must pay attention.
If my druid casts entangling vegetation on a group of goblins, I may just rule as a C&C referee (Castle Keeper) that the encounter ends if the druid flees, and just "give them that." Single-use spells should be ruled more powerful and narratively impactful. That spell is once per day; give the incantation its due.
Spells in C&C and old-school games are magic.
In 5E? I need to sit there and make rolls to escape every turn, follow the rules to the letter, and play this out to "maximum rules coverage." I could make that old-school ruling in 5E, but by the letter of the rules, the game defaults to rules-based simulation more than to storytelling. Spells you can get back on a short rest, or fire off on every turn? Really, they don't mean as much anymore and have far less impact on the narrative.
Spells in 5E are powers.
Note the subtle difference there, as it means a lot.
The legacy of Wizards of the Coast and the influence of Magic: The Gathering on the D&D's design is clear. The experience is less a role-playing game and more one that relies heavily on rules and tournament-style play. Modern D&D is rules over immersion.
C&C is a game that tells you, get your nose out of the book, stop endlessly trying to cheat the game's rules, stay engaged, stay immersed in the world, and keep making in-character choices. Shadowdark is very similar, and this is why that game does so well. Players stay engaged and in character. Nobody is stuck in a book, finding a rule or chart. The referee and players can use their imaginations to create "the old school flavor and immersion." If something old-school and strange happens, it will be because of someone's imagination, the referee saying "that's cool, allowed," and not a random chart result.
The more a game expects you to stick your nose in a book, the less fun it is.
But some players will say, "But I like the extra rules!" To which I will say, "I don't care." C&C is rules-light, but it has enough rules to cover everything that it doesn't feel like a traditional rules-light game. Every rule, skill roll, saving throw, class ability, and situation is covered by the game's fallback system, the SIEGE Engine. It all comes back to your ability scores, making them matter again.
With the Player's Guide 2 drop, the book is sort of worthless to me until I have this on the Shard Tabletop, "so I can start using it." This is the world you get stuck in with 5E. A book isn't "real" unless you own a digital copy somewhere to use on a paid character designer. And you are forced to buy it twice. It is nice to read ahead and plan a few builds, but the book's arrival in PDF form is a non-event beyond reading material. I am so dependent on Shard that until I can "pay for it again there," the book is meaningless.
With 5E, it is always, "Did you pay for it twice?" No? Well, then, you can't use it.
We are so used to the rip-off that we can't see it anymore.
I like 5E, but the forced computerized character sheets are terrible. The 5E business model is exploitative and sucks, and it approaches insurance company levels of terrible. ToV is the best 5E clone out there, but still, there are moments when I wonder why I even bother. It is a good game, but the hobby is in a sad state. Still, I will likely buy this again on Shard, since I support them.
With C&C? No character designer needed. I can go back to my OGL books, pull in classes there, and use them, or combine them in multiclass builds. All my old books are perfectly usable, even with Reforged. People without Reforged can play in the same game; it is just a handful of name changes, and all the old books are 100% compatible. Reforged did a better job "cleaning the game" than Pathfinder 2 did with the Remaster, where parts of the world felt like they were lobotomized and entire races removed from the world.
Having the ToV Player's Guide 2 PDF is nice, but I really don't "have" it until I pay again somewhere. It is another "book of rules" which will slow down the game. The options are great, but the design is still inferior to a game designed to play "reference-free." Where 5E is the Blackberry with the physical keyboard and clunky design, C&C is still the iPhone with a minimalist design but high ease of use.
With C&C, all I need to do is own a book to use it.
