This is a brilliant product. I love the idea of pre-equipped packages. I think it is awesome!

I love old school RPG's and so I really enjoy this campaign and the level of detail contained herein. Plus it is fairly easy to convert C&C adventures to 1e/2e rules.

These maps are phenomenal! Provides so much clarity to maps in the campaign. Love it!

These maps are great! My only complaint is having raw files that can be uploaded to a VTT would be better. The fact that these maps lready have labels and graph lines makes it present less well on a VTT.

The book layout is fantastic! The art is wonderful! The creation of classes like the knight is utter perfection! I wanted to love this game so bad! But I can't. The d20 game system that C&C is based on is utterly flawed. The Siege Engine is built upon the "stat check" or "attribute check" mechanic of the D20 system - which is broken. In Gygax's 1e/2e system, if you wanted to flip a table over, lets say. You might have to roll a STR check. If your STR is 12, then you have to roll a 12 or less on a D20. If your STR is 9 you need to roll a 9 or less on a D20. So you can see it clearly is more difficult for a weaker character (STR 9) to flip over the table vs a comparatively stronger character (STR 12). In C&C they both have an equal chance. There is no recognition in any "stat check" that there is a difference between an Attribute having a 9, 10, 11, or 12 score. They are all equal in this game. This is the Siege Engine which is the foundation that runs the entire game. We tried removing this from the game and going back to the Gygaxian method of stat checks but it ends up muddying the entire system. If you LOVE 3rd edition. This game is better. If you LOVE 4th edition. This game is better. If you LOVE 1e/2e. This game system will make you lose your mind in utter frustration.

The book layout is fantastic! The art is wonderful! The creation of classes like the knight is utter perfection! I wanted to love this game so bad! But I can't. The d20 game system that C&C is based on is utterly flawed. The Siege Engine is built upon the "stat check" or "attribute check" mechanic of the D20 system - which is broken. In Gygax's 1e/2e system, if you wanted to flip a table over, lets say. You might have to roll a STR check. If your STR is 12, then you have to roll a 12 or less on a D20. If your STR is 9 you need to roll a 9 or less on a D20. So you can see it clearly is more difficult for a weaker character (STR 9) to flip over the table vs a comparatively stronger character (STR 12). In C&C they both have an equal chance. There is no recognition in any "stat check" that there is a difference between an Attribute having a 9, 10, 11, or 12 score. They are all equal in this game. This is the Siege Engine which is the foundation that runs the entire game. We tried removing this from the game and going back to the Gygaxian method of stat checks but it ends up muddying the entire system. If you LOVE 3rd edition. This game is better. If you LOVE 4th edition. This game is better. If you LOVE 1e/2e. This game system will make you lose your mind in utter frustration.

Nicely done. Well researched and seems quite accuarate. Nice to see it notes what equipment did not exist in reality as well. Provides good "flavor" for those who want something above just +1 longsword for thier characters.

This is a wonderful list and description of a variety of weapons throughout history and the world. It can be useful inspiration for any games.

Simply the best Dungeons and Dragons based role playing game ever. Maintains the gritty appeal of earlier AD&D, but merges some of the newer game mechanics.

This book contains a detailed description of a pirate city 78 keyed locations , sadly the relevant map is not included. Also there is no index to thePDF

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Adventurer's Backpack

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!

Product- Adventurer's Backpack System-Castles and Crusades Producer- Troll Lord Games Price- 19.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/234183/Castles--Crusades-The-Adventurers-Backpack?affiliate_id=658618 TL; DR- OPTIONS! 86%

Basics-It's time for a solid player option book for CnC! This book features TONS of new classes, spells, items, niche rules, and even a complete new magic system. There is even a whole chapter dedicated to backpacks of tools each adventurer would need to do their job. How does it stack up?

Mechanics or Crunch- Ah old school… you provide us with gonzo options and allow the DM to do whatever they want. The problem is, this is pretty rules-light for how some of the crunch works. A perfect example is the warrior priest. That class has Cure Wounds which allows them to heal other characters. Awesome! I love it. But the rules don’t describe: do you roll once per day, or do you roll all hit points and then give them out as you want, or do you spend dice as you go? I could hunt online and find the answer. I don’t want to do that. I just decided and went with it. This is old school, so once the group decides, we roll with it. That's the bad; the good is this book gives you new character classes, character options like spell casting rangers, paladins,and bards, lots of equipment options, spells, and all sorts of tools adventurers might need to fight evil. It's not perfect, but the flaws are all part of OSR rules' light touch. The good is amazing and makes this worth the price. 3.75/5 Theme or Fluff- I would not call this a fluff book, but I do think what is here is done well. It mostly gives you ideas how the new things fit into the fantasy worlds of Castles and Crusades. It's world-agnostic in a decent way, so you could plug these into any fantasy world and have a fitting character. I would like more, as I want to build out the world and campaign setting, but the book gives you enough that you can find the equivalent in your world and plug and play right away. 4.25/5

Execution- PDF? Yep! Hyperlinked? YES! This book is well done. It's an old school game, but it's modern design makes me happy. It's not perfect - I would like the font to be a bit larger, but this thing has all the things I think a modern book should have. 4.9/5

Summary-My summary of this book comes down to one very specific question-do you want more character options for CnC? If yes, then get the book. It’s not perfect; I think things need another round of writing to fully explain what the writers wanted me to do in some spots, but if you can look past some small issues, you will enjoy this. The fluff is decent. I want more, but it's not bad. Just not the whole world laid bare. Physically, the book is done well. Links, layout, and text all work well. I’m glad this is in my collection, and I know my players are always happy to have this as a place to get spells, classes, and toys to help them put down evil. 86%

"Beyond the darkness and beyond all sense lies a gulf of empty fear where true evil lurks.

Born with twisted thought, tainted with stains of malice, they are creatures foul and bent. They dwell in the darkness of time's caverns, in the Abyss, in Hell, in those Wretched Planes of shadow and evil, loss and despair. The echo of the unknown drives them from darkness toward the light. Some few seek salvation, but others to drive the souls of mortals to ultimate darkness and corruption.

Tome of the Unclean unleashes all of the power and horror of these wretched planes upon your Castles & Crusades game! From the Lords of the Abyss, to the Legions of Hell, and through to the gray wastes of Gehenna, a host of devils, demons, and daemons await your table!

Tome of the Unclean includes all of the familiar denizens of the darker planes. Here you will find Demogorgon and Orcus; Asmodeus, Bael, and Mammon, plus legions of others. All of the major and minor demons, greater and lesser devils, and a veritable host of creatures from your players' worst nightmares await within these pages."

A week or so ago I ordered a copy of Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean. Let me first point out that this supplement is meant for Castles & Crusades exclusively. While Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean can be used with other OSR systems its meant exclusively for C&C or other Siege engine rpg systems. This book does exactly what I was looking for, it adds in a plethora of Demons, Devils, & even appendixes on adding in undead, hellish fauna, & flora. But Tome of the Unclean is geared for Aihrde, the default C&C campaign setting. I'm good with this. This seems to bother a lot of members of the OSR & but not me in particular. I'm a completest & so Tome of the Unclean has been on my Troll Lords radar for a long time. My feeling is that I'd love to put together an OSR game campaign centered around my version of the Hells as the major antagonistic force of darkness. Since the C&C Player's Guide is being offered for free I figured it was a great time to get in on the action.

I gotta say that despite reviews like this from Tim O; "C&C is my go to game, but I must say I'm very disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to the official versions, but the expected improvements to the "big baddies" did not happen. In my opinion all the major demons and devils are under powered as far as hit points and magical abilities go; even the "standard" abilities of both groups seem weak and incomplete." Sigh.. I didn't particularly find this at all. In point of fact I think that all of the infernal deviants of Tome of the Unclean work very well for me. I wasn't looking for a huge push in abilities,powers,etc. in the way of the 'munchkin factor'. Instead I'm looking for an infernal book that lines up with other Siege Engine & OSR products. So if I want a demon, devil, etc. I can grab this book off of the shelf & pop one of these horrors into my games. Tome of the Unclean is that book. It does it job & its up to the quality of other Troll Lords products. I bought it with my own pocket money & paid well for Tome of the Unclean. That should tell you everything right there. I'm very happy with Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean.

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This be a very good adventure but it is missing a keyed map of the city as mentioned on the back cover. Such a shame.

At first I was not going to get this book. I had all three of the other monster books and this one seemed a bit redundant. But this one had something the others didn't; Demons and Devils. I don't want to say that this is the only reason I got it, but they were conspicuously absent from all the other books. Of course this book has more, a lot more, than just that.

I did enjoy all the new dragons and like it's "parent" book, this book has a bunch of new treasure. Some of the monsters are world specific, but nothing that can't be worked around. In truth most of these monsters are all brand new to me and that is worth the price of the book alone. Even most of the demons, devils and dragons are new. Likewise for the treasure.

A fantastic collection of monsters from the original Fiend Folio, Monster Manual 2 and various publications. All revised to be used in in Castles & Crusades. Not a "must have" book, but certainly a "you will really, really want it and kick yourself if you don't get it" book.

It is a fantastic edition to my C&C collection and I am very glad I bought it. Actually the more I have it, the more I find myself turning to it.

The nicest feature of this book is the inclusion of a DMG style index of the monster stats from here and from Monsters & Treasure. So now hundreds of monsters are at your finger tips.