What I love about C&C is that it is very easy to add systems you like from OSR or AD&D 1st or 2nd edition to it. Also love that a players ability scores directly affect saving throws....means they don't really have a dump stat.

We've just started a C&C campaign "The Secret of Bone Hill". All I did to covert THAC0 was to subtract the monsters AC from 20 (AC 4 becomes AC 16, AC 8 is now an AC of 12). My players love that character creation only takes a few minutes.

Here to sing the praises of Castles & Crusades. I spent a good 2 years looking for and testing out an alternative to 5E and PF2 for my players, that was "simpler" and less super powered, but not limiting and stripped down, and C&C falls right in the perfect zone for me as a GM (or Castle Keeper) and my players have been loving it so far.

Shadowdark is the only one I haven’t bought into. I’ve picked up all of the published books for 3rd edition of BFRPG. I’ve picked up every first party adventure and rulebook for OSE. I bought the main rulebook and players book for Olde Swords Reign. C&C I’ve invested into more than any of others. I’m a fan of all of them and I’d play or run any of them. Great video 👍

Agree Olde Swords Reign is good and I have played it, but Shadowdark is easier to understand as written though it is more expensive. Both are good though. Olde Swords Reign is not free for PDF but very cheap. About $3 or something like that on drive thru RPG. Never played C&C. Looks great though.

I switched from 5e to Castles & Crusades almost two years ago. As someone who grew up playing AD&D with C&C I feel like I am playing d&d again.

Great review. I bought castles and crusades a long time ago, I really need to give it another look. I love a lot of shadowdark, but I backed it thinking it was “5e compatible with an old school feel”, and it really isn’t. It’s more like “old school plus a couple 5e mechanics like advantage/disadvantage.” What I’ve been looking for is like 5e lite…less rules, more old school, more deadly…and to me that’s where Olde Swords Reign is perfect. I’m still tweaking it slightly but I’m finding it almost completely compatible with many other systems. I can play a 5e adventure, basic fantasy adventure, or b/x adventure with olde swords reign and that’s what I was looking for. Love it! Plus Damien is awesome

I got introduced to C&C about 10-12 years ago and never looked back. As a game master I LOVE how flexible it is and how easy it is to I corporate stuff without breaking the core game

I'm not big into true OSR clones, but these "OSR-Adjacent" games are the best. They have the logic of contemporary D&D, with the vibe and streamlining of early D&D. Games like Shadowdark are really great !!!

Just a few days ago I've encountered a new one that's also a very different take on an old (AD&D 2E) edition. It's called Advanced Fantasy dungeons. Very different and weird. It seems like the player power will need to be scaled back but it is doing something novel compared to another BX adjacent system.

Another C&C fan! The designers have said that C&C is kind of a Rosetta Stone of old school TTRPGs, because it is so simple and painless to convert parts of other systems and their adventures to C&C, a lot of time on the fly. The Siege engine mechanic is what initially blew me away. So simple and flexible for the players and the CK to grasp. It;s also very easy ( almost too easy) to houserule as well.

Olde Swords Reign! I love that game. It has the classic 4 races 4 classes, BUT. But. You can customize the classes so your Fighter is nothing like another Fighter. That means a lot to me. No need for dozens of classes.

I Love SHADOWDARK and believe the ARCANE LIBRARY will come out with all new Players Handbook and GM Guide that will fire up the new Golden Age of TTRPG!

Castles & Crusades is awesome.

Of all the recent slipstream games, my fave is likely THE BLACK HACK

I'm a big fan of C&C and have been running a weekly campaign using those rules for nearly two years. It's a great system but it's really a stripped down version of third edition D&D (removing feats, skills, and a good deal of rules complexity) rather than a throw-back to AD&D 1e or 2e.

Um I will keep on truckin . All solid choices and I also feel C&C feels like AD&D . Shadow dark is a good dungeon crawler and easy to get both 5e and OSR people to try.

Shadowdark has some resources for free, I'm pretty sure. I think it's missing some of the random tables and other DM supporting tools, but the rules are all there. Other typical recommendations for this old-school vibe with more modern mechanics and play style are DCC and Five Torches Deep.

Basic Fantasy over Castles and Crusades, as like Olde Swords Reign over Shadowdark, just because of price since the products are very similar.

Liking the content here. But please see if you can do something about the wobbly camera because that is making me seasick.

C&C is the best OSR game there is, in my opinion. It has been using unified roll-high mechanics for twenty years, and yet seems to get no credit. It gives you a genuine AD&D experience but is far easier to teach and run. It's a gem! And there are TONS of supplements!

Just to add to the list of old-school/modern hybrids, Worlds with Number and Low Fantasy Gaming are both solid, and you can get the PDFs of both for free

❤ Where did you get your Shadowdark book printed? We've been playing Shadowdark for a bit now and really enjoy it.

Shadowdark is too expensive for how little it offers. BFRP, C&C, DCC, ICRPG, S&W, Dragonslayer, and Low Fantasy Gaming all have much more bang for your buck.

Love Shadow Dark

Ew Shadowdark

Shadowdull brings in all the crap from 5e (which is everything in 5e) and ruins the older style of play in doing so. The pretentious trying too hard artwork feels like a WB TV show turned into an RPG. But it's a great game for the tweens out there.