Castles&Crusades: Magic

     I do not love magic, which is ironic since I have been running fantasy games since I was 11 years old. As a game master, I find magic to be annoying: it creates complexities that slow the game down--conditions, areas of effects, resistances, time variables, etc. When I run a game, I rarely use spells against my players because I can't be bothered to keep track of them, and when my players do use spells, I tend to handwave a lot of things. 

    As I think about this now, I have not always felt this way. Because 5e is so freaking overpowered, I have learned--after running two full campaigns--that magic is an ass pain. Wizards and clerics are too powerful: they have offensive cantrips, they have more spell slots, and they have access to more powerful magic. The entire system is, in my opinion, more like a superhero game than a fantasy game. 

    Having just now read through the Castles&Crusades section on magic (not the spell descriptions; just the overview of what magic is and how magic works), I like it better already. Being a wizard should be difficult. You should have to struggle to survive, be weak and wobbly for a while, and slowly grow in power until you are utterly terrifying. That's how a wizard should work. Yeah, it's hard when you are at lower levels, but if your protection is prioritized by your party, you will become a weapon to be reckoned with. 

    My attitude is old school for sure. 

Castles&Crusades: The Siege Podcast

 I spent the better part of yesterday slowly reading through the combat section of the Player's Handbook (which you can download for free). The system has a good amount of crunch: more than Dungeon Crawl Classics, less than Pathfinder. Maybe a bit more than 5e; it's hard to say. I'd have to start running this bad boy to get a feel for it. I can already tell that players are less powerful than in 5e (which isn't saying much: by 5th level, 5e characters are like the fucking Justice League!) 

I also found and listened to this cool podcast: SIEGE, which is a rules discussion. Me like. 

Castles&Crusades: The Siege Engine

Essentially, Castles&Crusades is a D20 system. Roll high. Roll higher than your opponents armor class, you hit. Roll higher than the challenge class of a task (same as a difficulty class in other games) you succeed. Roll higher than the person/thing attacking you with your saving throws, you succeed. Basic D&D 3rd edition. Very similar to Dungeon Crawl Classics.

The workhorse of the Castles and Crusades game is called the Siege Engine.

Challenge Class (same as difficulty class): the number you need to beat by rolling high on a d20.

Challenge Base: the number you have to beat based on which attribute you are using.

Challenge Level: set by the game master. It is the number I add to the challenge class (see below).

1. Based on your race and class, you will have attributes that are either primary or secondary. 

2. If your attribute is primary, you have a challenge base of 12. That means in order to be successful in any challenge that you face using that attribute, you need to roll higher than a 12.

3. If your attribute is secondary, you have a challenge base of 18. That means that in order to be successful in any challenge that you face using that attribute, you need to roll higher than an 18.

4. When you roll, you add your level and any modifiers related to that attribute. If you beat the challenge class, you are successful.

5. As the game master, I will add a challenge level to most challenge class numbers. This is a gray area that I can use my judgement about, but there is definitely some guidance on how to do this. 

7. Thus: Challenge Class =s Challenge Base + Challenge Level (CC=s CB+CL)

6. Saving throws are determined by attributes. If your attribute is primary, your "to beat" number begins at 12. If it is secondary, your "to beat" number is 18. You add your level when you roll, as well as any modifiers related to the attribute.

Example: Thud the Barbarian is 5th level, and wants to pick up a boulder and throw it at an orc. How can he do this mechanically? First, we'd say the most important attribute in this action is strength. Since strength is a primary attribute for a barbarian, his challenge base starts at 12. Because Thud has an 18 strength, he has a +3 strength modifier. Because Thud is 5th level, he gets to add 5 to his roll.  As the GM, I say this boulder is pretty big and unwieldy, so so I'm going to make the challenge level 3, making the challenge class for this action a 15 (challenge base 12 plus challenge level 3). Thus, Thud needs to be a 15 (challenge base 12 + challenge level 3). Thud rolls an 11. He adds his strength bonus (3) and his level (5), bringing him to a 19. Thud beats the challenge class of 15. 

Example: Thud faces an illusionist who casts a powerful dwemer upon his furrowed brow. Thud needs to make a saving throw against Arcane Magic and Illusion. This save is based on intelligence, which is a secondary attribute for our poor barbarian. Thus, Thud's challenge base is 18. Thud has a low intelligence score, so he's at a minus one when he rolls, but he is also 5th level, so he gets to add 5. And, the illusionist is 5th level, which adds 5 to the challenge level. So Thud needs to beat a challenge class of 23 (challenge base of 18 + challenge level of 5) by rolling a d20-1. Thud rolls an 18, minus 1 for being dumb, but adds for for his level, for a total of 22. Thud falls for the illusionist's spell. 

That's pretty much it. With regard to challenge level, anytime you wish to do a non-combat thing to a monster or an NPC, I can use their hit dice or their level to add to the challenge class. If Thud wants to wrestle an ogre to the ground, I might add the number of hit dice the ogre has to the challenge class. If Thud wants to disarm a trap, I might add the level of the thief who set the trap to the challenge class. 

The Siege Engine basically replaces skills. Instead of making a History roll, or a perception roll, you decide which attribute is appropriate, determine the challenge base, and add a challenge level. Roll a d20, add modifiers, and level. You roll above the challenge class, and you are successful.

This ain't so hard to grok.

Introduction: The Dreaded Gug

 Hello! I am the Dreadedgug, a long time TTRPG player and fan. I first started rolling dice in 1981, when I was 11 years old, and I never stopped. In my TTRPG career, I've played D&D (1st, 2nd. 3rd, and 5th editions), Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer, old school Gamma World, FASA's Star Trek, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Dragonbane (which is a new RPG out of Sweden, based on an old Chaosium iteration of Magic World/Runequest). I play with the same group of miscreants that I've played with my whole gaming life: my little brother, my middle and high school friends, and my friend from college. I am normally the forever DM, but in the past year or so, I've gotten to be a player pretty consistently, which is fun (but I still prefer to be the game master...)

I am a teacher in the greater Boston area, and have been for 25 years. I am a happily married dad with two lovely daughters. I am also a veteran, which will matter in a moment. 

My friends call me a game-whore because I am forever seeking the perfect RPG system. What that means, exactly (the 'perfect game system' part, not the 'whore' part) I'm not sure, and I hope to explore that a little bit in this blog. 

To begin with, you've probably heard the saying "Never Yuck Someone's Yum." In other words, I'm not here to convince anyone to like or dislike a game system: you do you, boo, and have a ball. With that said, I have things I like and dislike about various TTRPGs, and I am going to poke around (and spend money) until I find the one that works best for me. 

With all of that said, this blog will focus mainly on Troll Lords Castles&Crusades, a system I only recently discovered, and which I find quite...intriguing. And, right out the gate, one of the things I like is that the Troll Lords offer a deep and generous discount to active service members and veterans of the United States military. That's awesome, and here is why: it's nice to get a discount, but I honestly don't need it. What's way more important to me is that this small company is honoring those who served, and who are still serving. Without putting too fine a point on it, in the last several years, I have found the political back and forth on social media sites regarding TTRPGs to be exhausting (I'll write more about that another time). The fact that these guys are recognizing service people means a lot to me. 

So yeah, there it is. Me blogging about TTRPGs as I investigate a new system (new to me, at least!).