Hello /tg I'm planing on returning to rpg playing after 10 years of absence. Last time i played some DnD 3e campaigns.
I've heard dnd4e is out, now DnD 5e is developing. I also heard some good things about Castle and Crusades.
I also looked at some smaller/kickstartish games around, but lack of material and general emphasis on theatre of the mind scared me away from those. So I'm planning to return to DnD.
Did anybody here played C&C? Maybe I should give a chance and not monopolize the DnD dudes.
>I've heard dnd4e is out, now DnD 5e is developing. D&D 5e is long been out. Castles and Crusades is actually just a stripped down 3.5 that kinda feels a bit more like AD&D. Only real issues with C&C are on the editing side.
Ian Powell
Oh. So which one would you play? Popularity is not a factor for me becouse I don't go to those kind of meetings, it's just for my group.
Landon Morgan
I preferred C&C when I played it, but there really isn't a huge difference between the two. Only that 5e has more powers and class features for doing stuff that players should naturally be able to do.
Leo Gray
C&C is a bit simpler, but has less support. There are some very good adventures for 5E (Curse of Strahd, Out of the Abyss) and even a compendium of classic D&D adventures like Tomb of Horrors in 5E format. THe latter is called Tales From The Yawning Portal and is coming out in April.
Dylan Morgan
Damn, my brain misread the thread title and thought you were asking about CoC vs DnD5e.
Brandon Russell
Isn't that what he asked?
Nicholas Allen
COC?
Wyatt Allen
Call Of Cthulhu
Jack Lopez
OP's picrel makes it evident he meant Castles and Crusades. Dunno what's that CoC.
Joshua Flores
Thanks I think I'll go with 5e then. It's a shame that the market is so monopolized, but if I want to choose something that has lots of material in terms of bestiary etc, and not DIY, there's not much to pick from really.
Joseph Rogers
C&C is a bit of an edge case, but there's actually a vibrant community built around other OSR retroclones, with tons of modules and things coming out all the time, including some seriously good stuff. And the good news is that OSR books are largely cross-compatible between systems. Often the most you'll have to do is flip AC and you're good. Most of the buzz is around Basic D&D and its retroclones, like Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy, and especially Lamentations of the Flame Princess, whereas AD&D clones are less popular, and C&C, being sort of AD&D-ish with some 3e bits, is a bit of a red-headed stepchild. (Pic related is said to be great fun.)
Easton Roberts
What? There is a fair few reasons for picking up 5e over C&C, lack of support is not one. 5e has two bestiaries, where C&C has four, for example.
Jonathan Walker
I've read Command & Conquer and was waiting a medieval Brotherhood of Nod following Kane. Kane lives in death. C&C4 was a lie and never happened.
Joseph Robinson
African american fantasy?
Nathaniel Allen
>Castles and Crusades is actually just a stripped down 3.5 that kinda feels a bit more like AD&D. This really isn't the case. C&C uses the unified d20 mechanic of new school D&D, along with attribute-based saving throws that are similar, but the material is decidedly old school. It's essentially as stripped down, variant AD&D that uses the d20 mechanic.
I respect C&C for not just going the route of most retroclones and giving you an old school edition of D&D, repackaged with minimal tweaks. It isn't afraid to change things around, but still does a pretty good job of maintaining an old school feel. I also like its emphasis on attribute check-based resolution. With that said, many find the SIEGE system a bit wonky, so it might be a good idea to look at that and see what you think. If you're not a fan, go with 5e. If you like it or at least don't have a problem with it, consider C&C.
There is one glaring, though easily fixed, issue with C&C that bears mentioning. Saving throws are problematic. The way that old school D&D works is that at low level--when casters have few spells to rely on and a single stroke of the sword can frequently end a life, giving spells very deadly competition--saving throws are difficult to make. As you gain levels--and casters have more and more spells of greater and greater power at their disposal--saving throws get easier and easier to make. This is a vital balance on the power of high-level casters. Is C&C, saving throws start out very difficult to make and never get any easier (if you're making them against a caster of your same level, anyway). This is extremely problematic, but like I said, it's easily fixed. You can either do something a bit more involved, like using the table shown in the pic here, or you can a single tweak: a spell's challenge level equals *half* the caster's level, instead of the caster's full level.
Wyatt Wilson
One thing I've always thought was a bit weird about the SIEGE system is that effects of your attributes on attribute checks is minimal compared with which attributes you pick as primary and secondary. To me, if you're really good at strength checks, that should translate into doing at least some extra damage in combat, but for the most part it doesn't. The guy with the 16 strength gets a +2 to his attribute checks and to melee damage, meanwhile the guy with 10 strength who selects strength as a primary attribute effectively gets +6 to his strength checks and no bonus to damage. That doesn't sit particularly well with me, so I came up with a system that better links things (see pic), eliminating one of bigger issues with C&C.
Brandon Gonzalez
Oh, I should mention that you're probably going to have a much easier time find a group of people playing 5e than C&C, so if that's a concern (and you aren't just running a game with your friends or something), then 5e has a strong advantage.
Austin Hernandez
LotFP mostly does 17th century weird pulp horror fiction stuff. World of the Lost is a big module set in Africa with dinosaurs and lasers and all sorts of gonzo shit.
Play C&C if you want a 3.5/ OSR/ old school D&D experience. Play 4e if you want tactical miniatures combat. Play 5e if you want to play a relatively balanced and normalized D&D experience.
