Wow, interest in Castles & Crusades and the new Conan game from Monolith is super-hot right now. Hits on all my C&C and Conan articles are exploding.
They are great games, I am not really surprised, but wow, we are at six times the average traffic right now.
Like DCC, C&C has a cult following hungry for news and content, and the Conan game does as well.
My hits are way up for Castles & Crusades articles. I suppose this game is not "really" in the OSR, and many are using it as a replacement for 5E. I can see why, it is quick, simple, does the "D&D thing" and does not require much in the way of computerized support.
I am beginning to feel that if your game requires an application to design characters, then you are no longer a pen-and-paper role-playing game. You are a wannabe computer game that lacks application code and a GUI. If you had the budget to make a computer game, that is where you would be; instead, you load the complexity of designing software onto other companies or the community.
Sunk costs can do amazing things, like get the community to write application software for you for free.
Castles & Crusades needs none of that. I can create a character in 5 minutes on a piece of notebook paper. My group does not need a "session zero" since we are playing in about 15 minutes. Any game that needs a "session zero" where it takes 8 hours to design characters has a serious design flaw; it is offloading unneeded work onto the players.
Imagine Monopoly taking 8 hours of session prep.
You would get a subset of players who love to go into autistic detail, trying to justify why setting your firm's "bank interest rate" and "subprime mortgage exposure" are needed details for Advanced Monopoly, along with 200 other financial factors you need to calculate for your firm. Not to mention the need for a collection of character cards for your firm's personnel and their salaries, along with going through several hiring phases.
You need three hours to set up the city's economic status indicators and the city government, since that affects housing and building, too. Along with the country's broader economic context, the optional Wall Street expansion gives you an add-on board that lets you play the market, the Federal Reserve expansion board simulates the economy, and the Futures Market board simulates another part of the economy. By the time we get to the Big Oil and Auto Industry boards, we are left wondering why the focus on building houses on Baltic Avenue has been lost in the shuffle.
That reminds me of a certain game....
D&D has gotten too detailed and complicated. It rivals GURPS in complexity. With C&C, dungeon crawling is a game again that you can pick up and play. Without all that detail, subclass options, action types, and magical attacks, my characters feel more focused on "character and story" and less on "rules and builds."
No wonder hits are up for C&C.
You can play a dungeon game in a few hours, start to stop, and you don't need to be constantly sifting through rules. This is almost exactly like a 2d6 science fiction game, like Cepheus Engine. You can get started in 15 minutes, have characters good to go, and start playing in a future universe quickly and without endless rules reference.
These massive games have a shelf life of 7-10 years, and then they collapse and die under their own weight when people no longer have time for them. While they are hot, they are fun. When the bubble bursts, we are left with piles of books and cardboard pieces that people no longer have the time to play with. I still love my books and pieces, but a part of me knows the magic is gone and the era is over.
C&C has lasted so long because it is, at heart, a simple game.
Simple games endure much longer than these games designed to be an all-encompassing lifestyle.
I could play Old School Essentials, Shadowdark, Swords & Wizardry, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, and even Adventures Dark & Deep. I could play other swords & sorcery games such as Rolemaster, Palladium Fantasy, Dungeon Fantasy, Dragonbane, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Pathfinder 2, and many others. I could play 5E with Level Up A5E or Tales of the Valiant.
None of them "get out of my way" and have the speed of play as Castles & Crusades. No saving throw charts, no tables of thief abilities, no pages-long class descriptions, no spell charts (though those are fun in DCC), and the game plays from a character sheet the size of an index card, and it is a pure "get in and go" game. Where DCC brings a lot of fun to the table, the emergent play and imagination of that game are a close second to C&C's speed and ease-of-play.
If you have an issue with the SIEGE Engine, just use the primary, secondary, and tertiary ability score system in the Castle Keeper's Guide. This way, you get a nice, smoothly stepped feel to your ability score target numbers (12, 15, and 18; instead of 12 and 18) and you have better chances of success in a few more areas, giving you more choice and rounding out your characters better.
For the longest time, I had this feeling my "pulp-adventure cleric" build in C&C, with primaries of WIS, CHR, and CON (target number 12), had to sacrifice DEX, INT, and STR to the terrible target number of 18, and they could not creep along edges or kick down a door. She felt helpless in ways I did not expect, and in a point-buy system like GURPS, these are the areas you would buy 2 or 4-point skills in "just to cover" and not be helpless.
With the tertiary system, I can set STR and DEX to a target of 15 as my secondaries, and leave INT at the worst tertiary target of 18. Now, she feels more capable, and while every target number is not a "best in class" 12, those times she has to jump a pit, balance, or force open a door feel better, and I have a chance of making it happen with those 15's, especially when level and ability score modifiers are factored in.
If you are doing pulp games, think about that three-tier ability score system seriously.
Yes, I could just throw a positive modifier on there, but I hate having to modify every roll. The unmodified rolls should feel achievable at level one, and as she levels up, the challenges can increase. It helps that C&C is such a moddable game, and the CK's Guide has so many excellent suggestions for turning the game into whatever you want.
I still like the build options in 5E, but it is a typical modern design. With today's game designers, they need to specifically lay out every choice clearly, like they were programming a computer game, and the machine expects clear rules on exactly what the option does, when it can be triggered, what happens when you have it activated, and every special effect and game change it produces. This leads to a horrendous overdesign of the entire system, where the game reads like a pen-and-paper computer game.
There are times when I am in the mood for that, and other times when I am not.
C&C is a 5E-like design with leveled unlock class powers, but it does not go into subclasses or choices within the class. For that level of customization, use the multiclass system. Also, if you need to "invent" a class power or ability, such as a bard's "ability to identify music," you would simply make a SIEGE engine roll. In 5E, you bet some designer would make a subclass around identifying music, and then all of a sudden, every other bard can't identify a song once that subclass is added to the game. The more you add to 5E, the worse it gets for everyone else.
The same thing happened in Pathfinder 1e when they introduced social feats, and you needed a special feat to negotiate the end of a war. That is "story stuff," and it does not belong in the rules, nor should it ever be in a character design. Before that feat was added, negotiation could be handled by anyone. After that, only those with the feat could negotiate the end of a conflict. It is an exaggeration, but the net effect was this absurd, rules-induced paradox.
It also shows the dangers of trusting modern game designers too much when they rely on the MMO model of balance and design. MMO designs never last and must constantly be refreshed and rebalanced. D&D will probably be refreshed every few years just because of this design model; it has to be, since all MMOs break and need constant rebalancing. It is not an evergreen game since modern MMO designs are tied to iterative rebalancing and refresh releases.
We are stuck with D&D [YEAR] forever now.
They will sell through 7 years of books and reboot the rules forever.
C&C has not changed since its original release more than 20 years ago. Classes have been added and optional rules released, but it hasn't changed all that much. The design is a solid compromise between D&D 2.0 and 3.0. It does not use MMO mechanics. It just works as a solid design.
Good things last the test of time.
This video is from last year, but it relates to the Conan RPG I am interested in. Designer Matt John speaks with the official Conan the Barbarian channel about the game. Around 6:40, he says:
...I approach this as a 40-year-old gamer, I do not want a system that requires me to do a lot of homework because I'm busy and have a bunch of other things to do.
I love my rules-heavy systems, but I honestly only have time for one of them these days. GURPS will win over Rolemaster, 5E, and all the others. While 5E is a simple game, it has so many books that it can feel rules-heavy. Castles & Crusades will kill my interest in 5E, since I can "pick up and play" without needing a dozen hardcovers and over a thousand pages of rules to run a campaign.
Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades, and many other rules-light but experience-driven games fill an important niche in the hobby. While many people love the 2d20 Conan game, it wasn't as approachable or quick to pick up as he wanted. People who play need to be taught how to play, and GM'ing the game requires a lot of knowledge just to get started.
Savage Worlds is in this genre and does pulp adventure well. I played a Conan-style game with Savage Worlds before, and it was a fun time. The benefit of a Conan game is the art, background, monsters, and adventures tailored to the setting and rules. You are not seeing "Orcs" in Conan, for example, and generic games tend to pull in a lot of non-canon elements that take the experience away from a more authentic one.
An official Conan game from a publisher is also an easier sell to new players than "let's use this generic game you may have never heard of to play this thing you know." This is the "GURPS problem" that all generic games have. While those of us who love generic games can make them do anything, new players like themed experiences and seeing a design deliver on a promise rather than a generic design and someone's interpretation of making it fit a concept it really wasn't designed to simulate.
I love GURPS, but getting someone new to gaming to play "X using GURPS or Savage Worlds" is two jumps I need to make with them (plus a translation layer for me), rather than just "playing X." For people without time, that is more time needed to spend before playing.
For Conan, people need to be able to jump in and play. This needs to be a game you can play at open tables at conventions, like Index Card RPG or Easy d6. The character sheet tells you what you can do, and you can be told what to roll by the referee, and you never need to open a book to sit in on a game and play.
People who have seen the movies should be able to play the game easily.
This is not designed for the hardcore rules simulation and 30-book collection crowd; this is targeted at new players and those who watch the movies and read the books. That feels like a solid choice, especially when competing with D&D and other games. A heavyweight game is a tough sell these days, since you are asking your audience to give up other games to make time for this one.
D&D is going in the wrong direction by increasing the size of their books and providing too many options in the core rulebooks. You get into the danger of "writing for the experts" and "losing the casual audience" with any game or new edition. D&D 2024 is written for the expert 5E players, not for new 5E players. Tales of the Valiant is a better "teaching game" for 5E than even 2014 or 2024, since it was designed to appeal to new players and its core options focus on successful paths rather than niche role choices.
The industry is moving towards smaller, more focused, easier-to-learn, and faster-playing games. This is sort of like D&D before Wizards of the Coast got its hands on it and turned it into a rules-heavy monolith to lock people into digital platforms. The OSR is popular since it is simple and fast, and this version of Conan is clearly OSR-influenced.
The 2005-2015 era monolith of overly complex systems is slowly dying as the new generation lacks the reading and mathematical comprehension to understand them. This means Wizards D&D, Pathfinder, GURPS, 2d20, and many other systems are long overdue for a change. Look at the education numbers and tell me 500+ page D&D books are a good way to design a game for the next generation of players.
You can't get them to put down a phone, let alone read and comprehend 10% of a book like that.
I like the design theories behind the new Conan game, and the more I learn about it, the more excited I am getting about diving in and playing. This has not happened in a while, and the promise of a thematic, instant-play, brutal combat, and "fast and fun" Conan game excites me.
I was looking at Monolith's new Conan RPG, and the book and rules look nice. They went rules-light with this system, and I like that approach. Getting people to even try a new game outside of 5E is impossible these days, so you need to go rules-light, 5E-like, or OSR, or forget it.
The system is a "roll a die and add a number" system, not a d20 system, so it is very easy to learn. There is also a stunt die rolled alongside checks, like a Savage Worlds wild die. Monsters are engineered to be easy to handle, with minions mostly going down in one or two blows. Record-keeping is minimized.
For Conan, this feels right.
I liked the 2d20 game, but the system was too heavy for me for sword and sorcery. The Modiphius Conan game is a memory, the license is done, and the company moved on. The new game may be a better fit; just grab some dice, quickly create characters, and go. Do I need a rule system hundreds of pages long for Conan, with talent trees? Deep character builds, and tons of rules support? Not really.
I liked that this attempted to do so and commend them; and many still enjoy this system. The art is also amazing. It just did not feel like "what Conan means to me." When I play a savage swords game, the rules should not be something that takes months to learn.
The entire genre is based around "action now, talking later," as Conan would say.
But I do like the cover of the 2d20 version of the game the best. Conan and a Frazetta heroine are front and center. The new game's cover isn't bad, and it has an "adventuring party" vibe more than a solo hero feeling.
It sucks when companies lose licenses, and we lose the ability to collect and purchase books.
We have games in this genre that do it well, including the excellent Hyperborea. This is a spiritual successor to one of the best Conan games of all time, the 3.5E version of Conan, and it still rocks hard today. This has evolved into a wider, genre-inspired entry in the savage gaming sphere, mixing Conan-inspired elements with science fantasy, and it holds up well.
I will exclude the "wannabe" Conan games that are "close, but no cigar," which include a fighter or barbarian option, and focus more on the traditional kitchen-sink fantasy options that all games deliver. Sure, you have Conan art for the barbarian. Still, you are not a Conan game with all those parrot people, frog people, fox people, and other Richard Scary cozy character races tromping around in the default assumed setting.
DCC is a borderline Conan game, taking inspiration from it and delivering on the genre's tropes, but at times I feel it's more of a throwback tribute to late-70s and early-80s RPGs, mixed with satire of the hobby and era. It is a fun game, but calling it Conan at this point feels like a bit of a reach, given how much more it delivers. DCC started in the swords & sorcery genre but found its own identity beyond it.
GURPS Conan is a lot of fun; if you are into GURPS, this is worth checking out. I love the GURPS realistic combat system, and the characters are incredible to design and play with. This one is worth a mention, and you can still get the PDFs for this, along with a few solo adventures.
Tales of Aragosa is also a strong contender for a modern Conan-style game, and its rules, classes, and vibe fit the genre. This is 5E-like and a successor to Low Fantasy Gaming, and it delivers a great, savage sorcery and blood-spattered battles feeling. There is no science fantasy in here, and it is all just gritty, steel and sorcery, blood-spattered battles, and crawling into the dark bowels of the Earth to battle ancient evils sort of gaming.
Aragosa goes as far as to rename the classes to fit the mood. You aren't a cleric; you are a cultist. I love this thematic rebranding of the concepts and the way it marries the savage mood to the game's language. If you are not theming your game's writing to its genre, making the language fit the mood, what are you doing writing games?
Gygax knew the art of language needed to match the art of the game.
Too many games deliver an AI-powered, business-language style that's quite boring, with everything sanitized and too clean. Even the word "barbarian" gets censored as "culturally insensitive," and we end up with role-playing games that sound like Microsoft wrote them for Fortune 500 companies using Copilot AI. If a game is supposed to inspire our imaginations and take us into new worlds, why are you writing this with business-neutral PowerPoint presentation language and boring the audience to sleep?
Today's games ship with evocative, beautiful art, but writing that bores me to tears.
Also, if you put the word Conan on your game, you'd better have some Frank Frazetta-like art on there and not censor it. Sorry, this is Conan. You don't get to deface greatness and insult a legend. Pay your dues and be brave; otherwise, cowards do not deserve to walk the field of battle with Conan.
I am following Monolith's new game and may check it out.
https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/goodman-games/old-school-adventures-1
Next up is Night Hunters for 5E and Tales of the Valiant:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deepmagic/night-hunters-gothic-horror-for-tov-and-5e-dandd
Adventures Dark and Deep Book of Fell Wisdom is a wonderful expansion for the premier 1E retro-clone.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brwgames/adventures-dark-and-deep-book-of-fell-wisdom
I am onboard with all three. This is a good day for crowdfunding, bad for my wallet, but I am a fan, and they earned my support.
While in the base Castles & Crusades Reforged book, there are 13 classes, in the Player Archive, there are a total of 36 classes (repeating the 13 base game ones, so 26 new ones), and in Amazing Adventures, there are 16 more (repeating only 2 of the ones found in the player archive).
This gives us a total of 50 character classes.
With these, we can multi-class (advance in two classes at the same time), for roughly 1,225 combinations (50 x 50, minus the disallowed same-class multiclasses, divided by two since the reverse combo is the same as the first).
We can also class-and-a-half, and this works both ways, so we get another 2,450 possibilities.
So we are talking about a total of 3,675 (very roughly) possible class combinations using both, for just two of the 50 total classes across the two games. Now, you can also triple-class (or more), and the number of combinations becomes truly insane. My numbers are just for two classes.
Just using the core C&C player's book, we have 78 multi-class possibilities, plus another 156, for a total of 234 combinations. What matters isn't the number of combinations, but how they combine and if the end result is worth putting together. Many of these combinations can describe characters with a wide variety of builds, and I can put together classes that synergize very nicely for many types of characters.
Want to be that fighter/wizard/rogue? Or an assassin/ranger? A bard/illusionist? A barbarian/cleric? Combine these with a race selection, and even in the base game, you have almost infinite possibilities. Combine these with custom races, and my mind spins with how many different character types are possible.
For example, I have a character for whom an illusionist/bard would be a good fit, but she is more of an illusionist than a bard. I would probably do a class-and-a-half illusionist/bard for her, saving the high-level bard powers for the "pure bard," but still giving her that element of music to her class, while focusing fully on illusions. This keeps her XP/level within reason, while still keeping that musical element to her illusions and class powers.
I get that class-dipping 5E is potentially more combinations, but there is something very fun about crafting a multi-class build in C&C and knowing how your powers will progress. But the overruling aspect of this is quality, not quantity. 5E classes tend to be more in-depth than a comparable C&C class, with OSR-style classes being the least in-depth.
The C&C classes hit the right amount of depth for me, and the SIEGE Engine covers the rest. If I need a new "class ability" for a bard, make a check for it and let it be. I don't need it written down in some subclass ability or buying an expansion for 70 dollars and not having it in my online character designer.
The "gardeteeer/powered" character from Amazing Adventures can cover a lot of ground. For a class that slowly mutates or gains powers, like a sci-fi mutant, demon, dragon, or angel that grows into powers, or another class that gains spell-like abilities as they level, this is perfect, and it multi-classes very well. Have a cleric that is slowly turning into an angelic valkyrie? Multi-class cleric/powered and slowly unlock powers. Make these unlocks a part of the story, and pick powers that fit the theme. By level 5, if you saved up enough power points, you could get their wings by buying a "fly" power.
C&C and its classes, combined with the multi-class system, especially if you know how to work the combinations and options, are far more expressive and powerful than your average OSR game or BX implementation. Amazing Adventures opens up a lot of flexibility and is a great addition to the system that covers many genres.
