Before we begin
I've recently acquired a few new items for the shelf. A copy of the Red Book and the 3rd Edition GM book (with any 3rd core rulebook) for 15 quid a postage. The 1st edition rules will be an interesting read but really I just wanted the GM book. Another 12 pounds bought me a copy of Light. The library is now well stocked... plenty to dig into.
Before I go blundering into my own attempt to form a version of my very own, a quick overview is in order.
1st. 1977
The Red Book
A quick scan last night reveals it to be less intimidating than it was in '78, but I have yet to look at magic.
The story goes that it was written as a reaction to D&D's vagueness about life outside of dungeon crawling and to place the characters into a functioning world. Unlike RQ's jump to a truly alien world, this is a blend of feudal Europe and Tolkien -isms.
I don't expect to draw on this other than to note the origins of C&S tropes.
It has a firmly D&D-ish approach to characters, we have the attributes (Strength, Con &c) and a Vocation (read Class) & level system. As per the D&D of the time being of a non-human race was a class of its own.
Here we encounter:
- Lot's of hard and soft information on a feudal setting. Mass combat, a detailed market place with 'realistic' rather than D&D's 'frontier' prices, Castles, Sieges, Heraldry, feudal holdings, demographics, a real interest in warhorses, jousts, law & justice &c.
- Social status and influence.
- Body (hit points) determined by character's weight and constitution which creeps slowly upwards as characters level up.
- Combat with multiple Blows in a round. Bashes, critical hits, generally fixed weapon damage, armour with some degree of absorption. I'd thought that variable armour absorption was there but it's only special cases for heavier armour (One's Personal Combat Factor determines number of blows, amount of damage &c.)
- Clerics are firmly tied to the Catholic church of medieval Europe. Not really healers who are handy with a mace.
- Magic (I won't be writing Magick) can be complex - certainly in gaining, if not using. In depth rules for creating magical items which involve gathering and enchanting the required materials. A number of specialised schools of magic. Magic is far removed from the wizz-bang stuff found in the D&D of the time. It devotes a fair amount of space to the summoning of demons and devils.
- An experience system which discourages mages and clerics from risking their lives when the could be praying and doing good works or could be researching spells, enchanting material and building magical devices.
- A keen interest in trolls. Goblins, orcs, trolls and giants as playable races. All humanoid NPCs will play by the same rules as players - one might encounter a 5th level orc captain or a 2nd level non-combatant human merchant.
Swords & Sorcerers
A supplement which extends the reach of the game in space and time. It includes rules and information for playing in Pictish, Celtish, Vikings and Mongol societies. My copy is long gone but I do have the .pdf edition which maintains the original text but updates a few of the rules for 5th (?) edition - certainly for SkillScape.
There were some other supplements for this which I never seen, let alone owned. I only own it now as it was part of a bundle. I'd like to see Bireme and Galley but I'm not going to track down the other stuff.
2nd. 1983
The Three White Books
This is immediately more approachable than 1st. Three stapled booklets which have withstood the rages of time, a better layout, more legible text &c. It's very much a revision of 1st, mostly nips and tucks. The mass combat rules and a few other bits from 1st are missing from this set.
The important change is that it allows characters to become more individualised while staying firmly in the Vocation\Level system. Basically it allows characters to spend xp on specific skills alongside spending xp on advancing in levels. Thievish skills, agricultural skills, lore, languages and favoured weapons can be advanced individually - but not beyond the characters level. Levels still dictate overall combat skill (PCF), magic and faith levels and the increases in Body and Fatigue.
It is quite playable and, the last time I looked, had a loyal following.
Sourcebook 1
Here we get the mass battle rules, sieges, military campaigns, economy & commerce, diseases, physicians, heraldry, overland travel and hunts. I believed for many years that the mass combat rules, simpler than 1st, were broken. There's a series of steps ending up with "roll a d6 and apply these modifiers". It turned out that I was then meant to consult the crt from 1st edition (which I no longer owned).
The stars of the show are the Forester class and the first printing of the essay Monsters Are People Too.
Sourcebook 2
I've recently asked ebay to send me a copy. I think it'll prove mostly uninteresting. I know that there's a lot of info on lock picking and door breaking along with an extensive guide to building NPC mages.
3rd. 1996
Core Rulebook
This got the cold shoulder from the 1st/2nd edition fans. A good chunk of the "authentic medieval flavour" is dropped and it feels a little more generic fantasy. That is especially true around magic - while research and enchanting remain it loses a lot of the earlier magic systems. Another problem is that it scrapped the traditional Blows system of combat and introduced a messy and awkward action point system and did away with Bash.
It is, however, the origin of the Skillscape system. While characters continue to have vocations and levels, the emphasis is on raising individual skills. Everything which used to rise automatically by level is now a skill in its own right. A character's overall "level" is a function of how much xp has been spent on skills and acts as a brake on how much skills can be improved. This pushes characters to developing a dozen or so skills rather than continually one or two favourites to the detriment of the others. A character's vocation simply influences the xp price paid for levels in a skill. In a sense it's a completion of 2nd edition's side-skill system. It's neat and I'm a fan of it.
The only reason I went back to find a copy is that the Bestiary isn't fully compatible with later editions due to changes in armour, body and damage values. Re-reading it recently, I'm finding some it preferable to what came later.
Bestiary
A truly brilliant bestiary. Being C&S it only covers European wildlife, Tolkien-y beasts and monsters from myth and legend. Everything gets full stats, a lot of description about behaviours and habitat and finally notes on which parts of the creature may be useful to mages. It's the only standalone bestiary of this scope in the C&S range. 5th has a European Folklore bestiary which, as the title suggests, concentrates on folklore rather myth, legend and general fauna.
Game Masters Handbook
I didn't bother this until recently. I picked up a copy after finding a few references to it in the core rulebook.
In a peculiar move, while the core rulebook has a picture of a knight charging with a lance on the cover, this has a Gandalfian wizard, an axe armed dwarf and some hooded figure preparing to do battle with whatever's behind the door... a classic generic fantasy image.
BUT inside is what we were missing. A new initiative system which is a lot closer to Blows, articles on world building, castles and medieval justice, expanded family vocation tables, rules for intoxication, drowning and diseases. A lot of stuff that may have made the core rules more acceptable to the old hands. It's even got an updated version of Monsters Are People Too.
Knight's Companion
A splat book devoted to knights. We kick off by dividing the feudal period into three parts (Early, High, Late). In each we get the expected historical fluff along with notes on available equipment and additions or amendments to the skills. Then peasant revolts, courtly love, jousting and tournaments return to the C&S world. Chivalric and Holy Fighting Orders are covered. All in all it's traditional C&S.
Dwarves' and Elves' Companions
A couple of splats for those who like to play Tolkien/generic fantasy elves and dwarves. It provides them with all they need. Vocations, skills, magic, social backgrounds and the like.
Armorer's Companion
Two new vocations (armourer and armourer magus) with accompanying skills. From memory it's the first time that the creation of magical weapons and armour has been covered.
Warriors' Companion, Sorcerers' Companion
So far as I know these don't exist. Reading through the magic rules of the core rules there are many references to the SC, hinting that there was more material planned which may have made the magic system more amenable to the veterans. A note in the GM book tells us that the WC will bring more combat rules. I really wish that these had been published.
Light: 1997(?)
A no frills trimming down of 3rd. The main items of interest are the replacement of APs in combat with a Blows system and the inclusion of some simple Bash rules.
4th (Rebirth): 2000
A three book set. As billed, it takes the game systems from 3rd but pulls more of the C&S tropes into the main rules. Religion gets a deeper look, a (broken) Bash arrives, some tinkering around social background, magic, vocations and skills.
There were no splat books which I'm aware of. The 3rd edition material is largely compatible - the major difference being that 4th has, generally, slightly higher Body points and armour values. At least for human sized entities, big beasties may require some deeper investigation.
5th: 2020
Core Rules:
Another iteration of skillscape powered C&S. Digs further into religion, looking at Judaism and Islam, saintliness and Holy spaces, shrines and relics. Some of C&S regulars are missing,but there's plenty enough to keep the vibe. There is a
The only significant mechanical change is how primary and mastered skills work (+10%PCF rather than -1DF). Blows return as an optional rule.
Nightwalkers; Goblins, Orcs and Trolls
A couple of splats on lycanthropes, vampires, goblins, Orcs, trolls. There are expanded rules for PC/NPC generation, discussions, sample NPCs and short adventures (which take up a lot of space, but feed the imagination).
European Folklore Bestiary
As the title suggests, this a collection of sixty or so creatures from the legend and lore of Europe.
Sourcebook 1
A very recently produced PDF. A lot is familiar from earlier editions; warhorses, diseases, feudal holdings, mining, commerce. It adds rules for aging and for starting characters beyond 25. There is a section on vocations (and skills) for characters (player and NPC) who are neither war.riors, rogues, priests or mages.
Celts; Dux Bellorum
Not yet published, but on their way. The latter is a post-Roman British setting. The small preview PDFs are very promising.
That's what I've got to get picking at.
(hmph. A Three Pipe Problem is not quite available on spotify).
