+Jason Paul McCartan had a pretty good rant on Knights of the Crusade (the C&C "Fan Club" of sorts) over on G+, but I felt a need to add a few cents of my own.
I remember when the Trolls killed The Doomsday Book, a C&C fanzine, because it was in competition with the official Crusader magazine. How well did that help Crusader? One issue in the last 2 years or so? Oh, and the last half dozen issue or so were filled with so much filler they might as well have given up completely.
Recent C&C Kickstarters have been to make the current core product line of rulebooks "in color". How many different ways do the same rulebooks need to be offered? How many copies of the same rules does one need?
Now, you can pay for the privilege of being a fan of the Castles & Crusades RPG. Oh, and be required to join 2 mailing lists for said privilege. Oh oh, and provide free content for The Trolls while you are at it.
Oh course, The Trolls have many different levels one can be shaken down for...
Really, is it wrong for me to see this as a money grab? And why does one need to subscribe to the Fat Dragon Games Newsletter?
Hey, the free option doesn't require you to submit anything nor subscribe to anything. I don't think you get anything either.
Look, if you do work for free, you get free titles too!
Castles & Crusades was my gateway back to the OSR. It was accessible and evocative of old style gaming. I have a lot of respect for the system, if not the current manner of marketing and separating gamers from their cash repeatedly for the same product packaged slightly differently each time.
There are better ways to building a community for an RPG line and this is too expensive and too damn complcated. Having players pay for the privilege just makes it seem like a cash grab. Especially when there is a yearly renewal for repeated shake downs.
So, there won't be a membership fit to be a Grand Barfly of the Tavern, then?
ReplyDeleteROFL
ReplyDeleteNo thanks! I have bills that require that money!
I want to show im a fan of something and I also have this huge like of money. How can C&C help me??
ReplyDeleteHilarious. Who would go for this? How bizarre.
ReplyDeleteYeah, C&C was my gateway drug to the OSR as well. I still like the basic concept of C&C, to stream line AD&D with an ability check mechanic. However, the more I've used C&C the more it fails for me. Even the good ideas like the SIEGE check are botched in execution. And worse, their damn DM's guide didn't have a reaction rule or a morale system.
ReplyDeleteThen there is their editing or lack thereof. They have so many printings of the rule books because they need the practice apparently.
As for their business sense and treatment of fans, they try to be nice guys and they seem amicable enough. But besides the nonsense you posted about, they've also asked a fan to take down his compilation of the open content of their rules. Silly him to take them and their use of a license at their word.
I know the most recent Kickstarter is for a sixth printing (not edition) of their core books, so I don't have a problem with that, but I have to agree that there's something a little untoward about this fan club.
ReplyDeleteIn any case I just can't get past the shoddy editing and apparent lack of proofreading their books go through. If I'm going to spend the dough, I'd rather give it guys like Bill Webb and Matt Finch, Joseph Goodman, et al. who put a lot more care and attention to detail in their products.
The lack of proofreading really turned me off of their stuff, too.
DeleteYeah, that's terrible. Almost worse than the siege engine...
ReplyDeleteAnd that's not a one time fee. If you still want to be a knight next year, looks like you have to pay to renew
ReplyDelete