PC Project - part deux (2) - Castles and Crusades and an intro to the SRD and D20

This character will be for a game called Castles and Crusades. Castles and Crusades takes a shot at old school gaming feel (ala Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition) using an updated, simplified rule set. Setting information is absent from the Players Handbook, ostensibly leaving room for the Game Master (GM) to create their own. The classes the characters can choose from all harken back to AD&D 1E, as do the races. This game is effectively D&D 3.0 taking on AD&D 1E. It nets the D&D 3-style mechanics thanks to use of the SRD. But before we jump into the character, let's get some background to what makes C&C possible: the SRD.

When Dungeons and Dragons went 3.0, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), and by extension the new owners Hasbro, took a new path. In times past TSR published setting after setting and adventure module after adventure module for the different D&D versions while suing anyone else who wanted to do the same. WoTC recognized that this could be a problem for them. The market needed these settings and these adventures to keep D&D popular, but WoTC didn't want to take the sole financial risk. Instead, early on WoTC focused on the core rules and key potentially profitable settings. They licensed "lesser" settings and adventure publishing rights to other companies: for example, White Wolf licensed Ravenloft.

WoTC also developed the OGL (Open Gaming License) and the SRD (System Resource Documentation). When WoTC redesigned D&D they created a core mechanic underlying key character roles and called it D20. The D20 mechanic refers to the interplay of character ability scores, saving throws, and skills with the roll of a d20 (20-sided die). The SRD is a document of many of the core mechanics and principles underlying D&D, including the D20 mechanics, and governed by the OGL. The OGL allows other companies, under varying terms, to use the D20 mechanics and some of the basic, core content of the D&D games, to make other games and resources which may or may not ultimately be compatible or similar. Use of the D&D logo or statements of open compatibility with D&D required extra licensing, I believe, but generic SRD compatibility, which became synonymous with at least marginal compatibility with D&D, was free for the taking as long as you contributed some of your rules back to the system under the OGL. It was a give and take. Use the SRD under the OGL and give your modifications back under the OGL, thus the Open in OGL.

Where am I going with this? Castles and Crusades uses the OGL and the SRD to achieve a streamlined, D20 play feel but strips out a lot of the complexity in an attempt to get old school RPG feel (dungeon delving and the like) with a cleaner rules set. In this goal they appear to have succeeded. I haven't managed to play a game yet, but the rules seem clean, clear, and simple, if a little plain in places. What's not to like about a classic fantasy game that harkens back to Gary Gygax's style of play?

On to the character. I will apologize. I rerolled his abilities when my first roll turned out to be a total dud (seriously, I doubt any GM would have made me stick with those stats, save the cruel ones). C&C uses a roll 3d6 method. No extra dice, no extra rolls. My rerolled stats would be considered a bit on the good side; sort of a complete opposite to my original rolls.

This fellow's name is Lifmaar Hillbottom. He's a Halfling Assassin. This is an unusual career choice for a Halfling as they are generally agreeable types. He has low strength but his other characteristics are pretty good. His class choice limits him in armor selection and, though the book doesn't seem to go into any detail about this, his size (3 ft tall, average for a Halfling) limits his weapon choices as well. Odd thing for the book to neglect. That's what it gets for not having an index. I don't care if it's only 130 pages long. I didn't go into his items or anything like that, but one should assume he's likely to have access to various poisons, especially considering one of his weapons (blowpipe). Lifmaar is all about avoiding direct conflict and, instead, killing or incapacitating discreetly. It will likely be a problem if he every achieves any sort of reputation as Halfling assassins are likely uncommon, meaning people may be wary. C&C lets you choose "prime" states which improve your saves. I chose his to be DEX and INT, naturally. He must be quick and intelligent to survive in this business. Find his character sheet below. Click on it to see it larger.

For those who read this far, if I can muster the energy and time, the next character will be for Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved, by Monte Cook and Malhavoc Press. Incredible awesome stuff, but also very complex. This is what ensures I will probably never be able to play it.

More on D&D 3/3.5 - making up for short shrift

So, in my first actual character post of this creating a PC for every game project, I think I gave short shrift to D&D 3/3.5. I feel like I should say more about the games I'm creating characters for, even the games everyone and their uncle knows.

Dungeons & Dragons is the most known, most sold, and most played tabletop role-playing game around. Their latest revision came out last year: 4th Edition. I don't have that so I won't be creating a character for it. D&D has a long history, the longest among RPGs, and has held the spot of top dog since inception. Sure, it's less difficult to stay top dog when you're pretty much the founding game of the genre and have always been the top dog, but despite some flaws D&D does have other reasons for being so popular. In almost every revision there's been a balance of simplicity and complexity that makes it relatively easy for new players to start playing and keeps them interested and advancing their game skills as they play. Further, especially these days, they have some of the highest production values in the industry, with high-quality color printed books, mostly hardbound.

No RPG is perfect and D&D, in every form, is no exception. In its Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition form it almost killed tabletop roleplaying games altogether, ala Atari and the video games crash of 1983. AD&D 2E wasn't responsible, but TSR's unrelenting releases of books, supplements, and games during the later years, particularly games with inadequate markets, combined with increasing paper and printing costs, almost killed the premier producer of RPG products. Wizards of the Coast (of Magic: The Gathering fame) bought TSR (and D&D with it) and attempted to revive the product line by releasing D&D 3rd Edition shortly after being bought by Hasbro (due, likely, to the success of the collectible card games Magic: TG and Pokemon and a patent on collectible card games). Both simpler and more complex, D&D 3.0 was really the first major changes D&D had seen in roughly 13 years. 3 years later 3.0 was revised and re-released as D&D 3.5. For old-school players of D&D who are keeping score, 3.5 is to 3.0 as AD&D 2E is to the original AD&D. Well, roughly, anyway.

D&D 3 and 3.5 saved D&D, after a fashion, and injected some new life into the RPG industry, because as TSR was failing the industry saw other changes as well. FASA, makers of the then popular Shadowrun and Battletech RPGs, and also an independent game software developer, was bought by Microsoft, largely so MS could make games based off their properties. FASA disappeared from role-playing games and their properties, at least in RPG form, were apportioned out to other companies. Their games have never been as popular since. White Wolf, makers of the World of Darkness games Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage, were also, at the time, major competitors with TSR. The rise of LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) and increased interest in the more modern "romantic" image of vampires and the supernatural fed White Wolf's initial popularity, but when a titan stumbles all feel the shock.

The new D&D is (this is true of 4th edition and was true of 3/3.5), in all likelihood, more popular than its closest competitors by probably a greater margin than ever. In this sense it's pretty much the standard.

So there's your background. I'll be more brief for future games, I promise, but I felt I needed to explain the game to help flesh out the character to go with it.