Richmond Castles & Crusades Campaign

We have a fantastic group, with many of the players having played in multiple campaigns together over the years - but we can use another player or two. We're trying to gatekeep the table - but that's the thing about gates, they open from time to time.

Is This Campaign Right for You?

Castles & Crusades is born out of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 Open Gaming License. Troll Lord Games was publishing adventure modules for Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons, including Castle Zygag – which is Gary Gygax’s continuation of Castle Greyhawk, renamed to avoid lawsuits from WotC. Internally, the staff at Troll Lord was playing 1st Edition AD&D and complaining about the system they were publishing games for. It was Gygax who suggested the company create their own system, which used the Open Gaming License to change the things about Third Edition they didn’t like, and retaining the feel of 1st Edition AD&D. While imperfect, the system comes close to achieving the goal of combining the two systems.

This game will always be in-person. There will never be a session held over Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Foundry, or whatever the next popular VTT is. The game will be held at Matt and Shelley’s house in Richmond, Texas. For security purposes, we have two guard cats. If you are allergic, please prepare accordingly. As this is a home game, all players must be vetted prior to the start of play.

This is an in-person game, which will be played roughly every-other-week in four-hour sessions, primarily on Saturday afternoons. We’ll start with a one-shot game in November. This one-shot game will use a truncated and modified version of the scenario in the C&C Starter Set, Into the Dark. This will be disconnected from our campaign, beginning in January, and will serve as a time to experiment with the system and character ideas. After this one-shot, you can make changes to your character however you wish – even so far as to discard your character and create a new one. As a bonus for participating in the one-shot, you may keep items gained (or their equivalent GP value), and apply XP and GP rewards to your campaign character’s starting resources, as awarded at the end of the session. The campaign itself will start in January with one Session Zero, and use C&C’s flagship adventure path, The Undying War. Doors will open thirty minutes prior to game time.

This campaign isn’t for everybody. It was created as a rejection of the ideology that’s overwhelmed D&D in recent years. While an argument can be made that progressive ideology has always found a place in D&D, it is the opinion of this campaign that as Hasbro has taken a more active role in the stewardship of the game, the game has become more political and less enjoyable. Therefore, this campaign is an attempt to return to the idealized “roots” of the game. This may not be the campaign for you if you support the cultural or game design positions Wizards of the Coast has taken in recent years. There are many campaigns available – both online and in-person – that would probably be more suited to your tastes, and I wish you luck in finding them. For those welcoming this type of return to an old-school mindset which this play group is built on, please continue reading to see if this campaign appeals to you.

There will be a flexible technology ban at the table. By that, I mean feel free to use online resources at the table, but limit your cell phone usage. By ‘limit’, I mean if you’re on-call for work or there’s a family situation – by all means, take the call. If you’re scrolling social media, online shopping, or chatting on Grinder – that’s antithetical to the idea of old-school. Additionally, dice must be tactile. Digital dice are not allowed.

In return for this courtesy, I’ll have as much as I can mapped out ahead of time. Mind you, I can’t plan for every contingency, but I’ll keep your waiting on me to get things together to a minimum. (And if I am drawing a map, looking up an obscure rule, or looking for that one mini that I misplaced – sure, pick up your phone. Alternatively, you can have a human moment and engage in conversation with others.)

There will be absolutely no trigger warnings, at all, whatsoever. I promise not to include cringe elements from Book of Erotic Fantasy, but if you get squeamish about words then roleplaying games are not the hobby for you. X cards and Consent Checklists will not be used.

Most of the table is conservative, libertarian, or apolitical. If you immediately recoiled upon reading that, you should probably find another table. If you’re wondering why I’m including player politics in this, I envy your ability to stay out of gaming culture wars.

This is an attempt to combine modern game design elements with traditional RPG culture. If this seems ideal, please reach out to become a part of things.