Castles and Crusades

[Stuie]

Spent a good part of the afternoon rolling up characters with my kids for their first foray into the world of role playing gaming. We are using Castles and Crusades, which combines the best of old-school AD&D with the d20 system.

Characters so far:

Lee - a Neutral/Good Ranger (oldest son)

Bran - a Neutral/Good Druid (son number two)

Seanie - a Fighter of indeterminate alignment since my son got bored and left the room (son number three)

Cuinn - a Chaotic/Neutral Rogue (me)

The setting for the campaign is of my own creation. It is a pre-christian Ireland-like setting, based mostly in Connacht. Major settlements include Galway Town, Sligo, Ballinford, Cruachu (the royal seat), Westport and Tuam.

House Rules:

Roll 4d6 and lose the lowest roll for attributes.
Following classes not available: Barbarian, Monk, Cleric, Knight, Paladin.
Following classes are rare: Wizard, Assassin
Common classes: Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Illusionist, Druid, Bard

Deities: Gaelic Pantheon

I'm making everyone start as humans (much to son #2's disgust) just so we can get a feel for the rules. Once they pick it up... who knows.

First adventure: The Lonely Tower. Typical spooky tower stuff.

More to come...

[Skanky Burns]

[Stuie]

Game Map:

[joncha]

C&C is the next best thing to 1st ed. AD&D.

[DrSpike]

Damn that Kane though.

[Stuie]

Having grown up in a small farming community, our intrepid adventures are off to see the "big city" for the first time. Their mission: take three big sacks of wool to town, sell them, and use the proceeds to purchase a plow head. Then return to the small farming community. Simple, right? Oh, and their elders implore them to avoid the "Lonely Tower" that is about half-way to town because odd things have happened there. Seanie is left at home because son #3 decided he didn't want to play.

As they set off they are ambushed by several goblins, which are dispatched somewhat easily. Bran casts Goodberry afterward and our injured heroes munch on the magic berries thus produced to recover some hit points. The best part of this encounter is the acquisition of short swords from the dead goblins. Oh - I forgot to mention that I started the characters with a bare minimum of equipments, daggers, and no armor. So the short swords were cause for some excitement! Hahahaha. They pick up the wool sacks and resume their travel.

Now you would think that the warnings of their elders would draw them like a magnet to the tower - but no! Lee wants to avoid the tower at all costs because his elders said so (why doesn't he obey ME like that in RL???). Finally, as it begins pouring rain, Bran and Cuinn convince Lee to take shelter in the tower. Turns out there is a tunnel opening in the hill below the tower, so they shelter there but are immediately attacked by... you guessed it!! RATS! Bran casts a Light spell on his short sword and they easily hack up the rats. Lee starts moaning again that they shouldn't be in the tower, at which point Cuinn suggests he run back home and get some swaddling clothes on. Bran gets impatient because the Light spell only lasts ten minutes, so, leaving the wool sacks in a corner, they finally begin to explore the chamber. Passages are found leading east, north and west (they entered from the south), and they decide to head east first. This brings them to a second chamber which is empty except for a stone chest in the center of the room. Cuinn checks it for traps (and fails) and then Bran opens the chest, springing a dart trap. Everyone gets hit by a dart with more moaning from Lee ensuing immediately. Cuinn wonders allowed if Lee filled his waterskin with mother's milk while Bran searches the chest and finds some gold.

They return to original chamber just as Bran's sword stops producing light. After a short rest, Bran casts light on the sword again and they head down the west passage...

CK Notes: So far I'm really enjoying the ruleset. The dice aren't getting in the way of having fun. C&C really feels like playing the original D&D or the old Empire of the Petal Throne (which was my introduction to Role Playing back in 1975). The kids keep bugging me "when can we play next!?!", so despite Lee's trepidations, they are having a lot of fun. Next up: a zombie hobgoblin and three missing sacks of wool.

[Stuie]

Ok - my kids are now making up role-playing games complete with maps and stuff to play when I'm not around. It looks like I've turned them into nerds.

[DrSpike]

You don't need to worry until they ask for chainmail and a sword so they can LARP.

[self biased]

good call on the 'humans only.' i ran hell with a doppleganger priest in my friends campaign.

[joncha]

Originally posted by DrSpike
You don't need to worry until they ask for chainmail and a sword so they can LARP.

QFT

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Stuie
Ok - my kids are now making up role-playing games complete with maps and stuff to play when I'm not around. It looks like I've turned them into nerds.

POTM had her bday party the other day. Most of the kids are either members of the LARP she and her two best friends made up, or have heard about it. Thankfully they didnt spend TOO much time on it.

They started it almost three years ago. Theyve gone back on forth about whether it is in effect 24/7. IE one of the members kid brothers whos a bit of a nudge would start bothering one of them while at synagogue, and they would send him to another dimension, which he had to accept as he was also a member, and since it was 24/7 (in theory) they could do this at any time. Then some of them have decided thats not too good, as it makes it less of a game and more random. And the kid brother is more mature by now, so theyre going back to only playing when its agreed on. One of POTMs friends has made a "wikipedia" for the game. Ive suggested that it might be less random if they actually used hit points, dice rolls, etc to make it more like a conventional RPG, but they still seem happy with it as basically playing makebelieve accompanied by defined characters, powers, magic objects, etc.

[Stuie]

My kids are taking turns being sick in bed, so no progress has been made.

One thing I'm struggling with in my return to GMing... I played Harn for years and years (mid-80s to early 90s) and got very into the "real world" feel of the setting. However, I think the kids will enjoy something more in keeping with the old-school type gaming - more wacked out needs no explanation fantasy. But I just can't wrap my head around putting different monsters in close proximity without some rationalization. Am I thinking too much? Should I just let some of the rationale go and put orcs in one room and dopplegangers in the next with no real reason for their being there?

In the end, I want the kids to stay interested and have fun. The caves they are currently in (haven't written up the AAR yet) are a kobold lair - nothing but varying levels of kobolds (which makes "sense"). But after three battles in the caves, one son said "I'm sick of fighting kobolds." Now he said it in-character, but still, I'm wondering if he's not really getting tired of fighting kobolds. Meh. Maybe I'm thinking too much.

[DrSpike]

I think it's great you put so much thought into entertaining your kids. Got to better than using the TV.

But get them an X-Box as well. Balance is everything.

[snoopy369]

Indeed, they must keep their nerd to geek ratio in balance

[joncha]

Originally posted by Stuie
My kids are taking turns being sick in bed, so no progress has been made.

One thing I'm struggling with in my return to GMing... I played Harn for years and years (mid-80s to early 90s) and got very into the "real world" feel of the setting. However, I think the kids will enjoy something more in keeping with the old-school type gaming - more wacked out needs no explanation fantasy. But I just can't wrap my head around putting different monsters in close proximity without some rationalization. Am I thinking too much? Should I just let some of the rationale go and put orcs in one room and dopplegangers in the next with no real reason for their being there?

In the end, I want the kids to stay interested and have fun. The caves they are currently in (haven't written up the AAR yet) are a kobold lair - nothing but varying levels of kobolds (which makes "sense"). But after three battles in the caves, one son said "I'm sick of fighting kobolds." Now he said it in-character, but still, I'm wondering if he's not really getting tired of fighting kobolds. Meh. Maybe I'm thinking too much.

Then have various humanoid factions in the caves vying for control, each one big enough to hold its own but none strong enough to take out any other. That gives them a "reason" for being in such close proximity. If your kids attempt to pit one group against the other, all the more fun for you. If not, I'm sure they'll enjoy the dungeon crawl.