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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%
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