I was quite disappointed with this title. It has a decent collection of systems and tables, and feels like a more concrete iteration of WhiteHack, as the author notes in the introduction.

The system itself is unusable on its own, however, as Crown uses a blood magic (cast from hit points) magic system, but provides no spells, nor any guidance on setting costs for spells.

To actually play the game as intended, you either need to purchase additional material or write it yourself, which I consider unacceptable in a paid product advertised as a full game. It baffles me that the author did not simply include their existing magic rules with the game and instead made them a nominally "optional" supplement.

This is what OSR should be. Simple, straightforward and consistent. Crown lets you craft a customized character and makes the DM's job easy with clear rules and sensible mechanics. Another hit for Mason Waaler who is miles ahead of all other OSR conversion creators. I recommend checking out Grim Castle, as well but, Crown is the simpler and easier to run of the two and I'm telling you that is not saying much in comparison when they are both incredibly streamlined. Waaler has taken the 5E and brought it back down to earth twice, now.

The direction of the book is good. The formating is good but the editing could have used a bit more of a proof read. The art is sparse and reused throughout. It's an inexpensive title from one person.

I really liked it! A lot of great tables and cool mechanics!

Really fun and compact system, wholeheartedly recommended! I hope to see more for this in the future.