Castles & Crusades

Infobox RPG
title= Castles & Crusades


caption= Box cover for Castles & Crusades Collectors Edition
designer= Davis Chenault, Mac Golden, Robert Doyel
publisher= Troll Lord Games
date= 2004
genre= Fantasy
system= Siege Engine
footnotes=

Castles & Crusades is a role-playing game published by Troll Lord Games in 2004. It was conceived as a reimagining of classic Dungeons & Dragons using streamlined mechanics from third edition Dungeons & Dragons. The game uses many of the d20 System mechanics, but eliminates skills and feats and expands the number of character classes to 13. Another feature is the reversion of some rules to the original versions seen in original Dungeons & Dragons (often referred to as "OD&D") or first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D).

The system that Castles & Crusades uses is called the SIEGE Engine. A significant new mechanic is the notion of "Primes," often referred to by gamers as the 12/18 system.Fact|date=August 2008 Through selection of character class and race, players designate some of their character's attributes as "Prime." These Prime attributes use a challenge base of 12, while non-Prime attributes use a challenge base of 18. Tasks based on the Prime attribute are therefore much easier to accomplish than those based on non-Primes. Primes allow a wider variety of characters to be created because characters of same class may excel at different types of tasks.

The first three products produced for Castles & Crusades were an introductory boxed set, the "Players Handbook", and "Monsters & Treasure", a list of creatures and magic items for the game. A collection of alternate rules and guidelines for modifying the system, the "Castle Keepers Guide", is expected in 2008. Troll Lord games has published more than a dozen adventures for the system, and small-press publisher Goodman Games has produced three adventures for Castles & Crusades under license. The name of the game derives from the Castle & Crusade Society, founded in the pre-Dungeons & Dragons era, by Gary Gygax. The title is in homage to the roleplaying industry's birth.

The shared lineage and resulting similarity in rules between Dungeons & Dragons, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Hackmaster, and Castles & Crusades simplifies conversion of rules and statistics between the games.

References

* Castles & Crusades Collectors Edition, box set includes dice plus:
**cite book
last =Chenault
first =Davis
authorlink =
coauthors =Mac Golden
title =Players Handbook: Volume 1 of Three Booklets
publisher =Troll Lord Games
date =2004
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn =
**cite book
last =Doyel
first =Robert
authorlink =
coauthors =Todd Gray and Davis Chenault
title =Monsters and Treasure: Volume 2 of Three Booklets
publisher =Troll Lord Games
date =2004
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn =
**cite book
last =Chenault
first =Davis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =The Rising Knight - Adventure A0: Volume 3 of Three Booklets
publisher =Troll Lord Games
date =2004
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn =

External links

* [http://www.trolllord.com/ Troll Lord Games] is the publisher of Castles & Crusades. The site includes a list of products in the line.
* [http://www.castlesandcrusades.com Castles & Crusades]
* [http://www.goodmangames.com/preview-CC.php Goodman Games] publishes several adventure modules under the Castles & Crusades license.