Castles & Crusades

The Beginning of the OSR
From the Foreword written by Gary Gygax in Volume I Men & Magic:

ONCE UPON A TIME, long, long ago there was a little group known as the Castle and Crusade Society. Their fantasy rules were published, and to this writer’s knowledge, brought about much of the current interest in fantasy wargaming. For a time the group grew and prospered, and Dave Arneson decided to begin a medieval fantasy campaign game for his active Twin Cities club. From the map of the “land” of the “Great Kingdom” and environs — the territory of the C & C Society — Dave located a nice bog wherein to nest the weird enclave of “Blackmoor,” a spot between the “Great Kingdom” and the fearsome “Egg of Coot.”

 In 2006 Troll Lord Games started re-imagining the then current state of the hobby. The Open Game License and 3e System Reference Document released by WizBros stirred an interest in producing what is termed d20 games and material based on the SRD using the OGL. Castles & Crusades took the SRD in a new/old direction by using it to create a game system that feels very much like an older edition of the Advanced Game. First released in a small white box containing digest sized paperbacks which clearly signaled the intent of the designers to produce a retro game feel, Castles & Crusades is perhaps the original entry in the OSR catalog.
The hardcover printing shown above carries a 2007 copyright date. Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades players handbook is now in its 7th printing and the latest copies have full color art throughout and are comparable to art the big publishing companies feature in their FRPGs. At 128 pages, including the OGL reference, the C&C players handbook includes all the rules needed to play Castles & Crusades. A Bestiary compliments the players handbook and complets the basic system. Some years after their release, a gamemasters volume was published including advice on how to run old school C&C and some optional rule suggestions. C&C is written to be compatible with material designed and published for older editions (pre 3e) of the World's Most Popular FRPG, although the C&C mechanics differ somewhat from the originals. Castles & Crusades is therefore not a clone or simulacrum of any older edition.
Castles & Crusades borrows from 1e with regard to its use of the original Advanced character classes and races. Like the older editions, each class in C&C has its own experience level and progression numbers. Departing from the older Advanced mechanics, C&C uses ascending armor class and does away with the traditional five saving throws, replacing them with Troll Lord Games' own SIEGE engine system. The SIEGE engine makes use of a d20 attribute roll against a target number of 12 for primary attributes and 18 for secondary attributes. Castles & Crusades uses the familiar six attributes (Strength, etc) and each of the character classes has an associated primary attribute. The player chooses an additional primary attribute for a demi-human character (two additional primaries for human characters).
Among the credits for the Castles & Crusades players handbook is a name that will reappear many times in the OSR, that of Mr. Matt Finch. Mr. Finch has design credits with the Old School Reference Index Compilation or OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry, two of the top tier OSR retro-clones and he also runs an excellent online channel, the Matt Finch RPG Studio.
Troll Lord Games deserves recognition as being among the first game publishers (along with Goodman Games) to actively promote a return to the traditional style of gaming many of us have always enjoyed. Thanks to the good folks at Troll Lord Games, the Old School Revival has become a Renaissance.