Tonight we returned to Castles and Crusades. We had set it aside for the universality of Savage Worlds; however, nothing lasts forever, and nostalgia sent us back to the days of defined classes and the dominance of the d20. I will only run 3 systems in my old age: Dungeon Realm, Savage Worlds, or Castles and Crusades. Last week we took a vote, and the winner was: C&C.
Most of us are 40-something gamers (some of us are 30+) who have been playing RPGs since we were 12. We are The Starshield Gaming Society, and thanks to one of our founding members, Weezoh, we now have our own official dice. Aren't they cool?
After getting a feel for what my players wanted, I opted to dive into the OSR and purchase the
Village of Larm and the
Ruins of Ramat, all published by Brave Halfling Publishing and their partner, Arcane Creations. I am really impressed with the quality of their products and the commitment they have to giving their customers an excellent and authentic old school experience.
Six adventurers made their way to the small borderland village:
a human illusionist
a human barbarian
a dwarf paladin
a dwarf cleric
a human druid
a half elf bard
They all made their way to the Borderland village of Larm for their own reasons: some seek adventure, some seek a challenge, all seek treasure. While in Larm, the group's paths crossed, and they all realized that destiny had brought them together. They had been made to feel welcomed at the Borderland Tavern and the Church of the Wise Mother. Now, they seek to purge the abandoned Temple of Thaxon, which was once a place of good but is now infested with evil.
Here in this small borderland village, these adventurers seek to become heroes. Only time and the gods know whether that will happen or whether they may find a violent end in the pursuit of glory and gold.
Tonight the adventurers continued their exploration of the Haunted Temple of Thaxon wherein they found a glowing sword, the restless remains of the former priests of Thaxon who called this temple home, and that illusion magic really doesn't do much against the undead.
This time around, I am adding a tweak to Magic-users. When I was developing the core rules, I felt that improving an Attribute each level would be enough for the Magic-user class. After all, they can cast pretty much any spell with a successful Skill Roll. I figured a player would improve the Magic-user's Skill Attribute at each level and thus improve the character's effectiveness. Now that we have several games under our belt, I see that in the mid to upper levels, that might not be enough. I originally figured the Magic-user would gain magic items like a Staff of Spellcasting which would add an additional die to the Skill Roll when casting spells. That is great, but occurred to me that that might not be enough. After all, casting spells is an art and a skill that should get better with use.
