The New Castles & Crusades Players Handbook

I got my copies in the mail yesterday of the new Castles & Crusades Players Handbook (5th Printing). It is beautifully done, with color illustrations throughout. 

The font for regular text is not too bad for these older eyes, being 9 or 10 pt. It could have been larger, but it is still very legible. The font size is my only minor gripe, but I am middle-aged, so you know how that goes ;)

The layout of the rule book is fantastic, arranged cleanly, marking off individual sections well. Of note are the spells towards the back of the book. Finding a spell is about as easy as it can be for a spell list. I know I despise fumbling around looking for the details of how a spell works and not being able to get to it quickly. This should not be a problem for the player or Castle Keeper (GM).

Standard races and classes are deliniated with their prime requisite attribute listed near the class name header.

I am always interested in how a game describes how an RPG works. Here is a portion of the description emphasizing the role aspect of roleplaying in the C&C Players handbook:

"Most players in RPGs create a fictional character as one of the protagonists of the story. Each player envisions the character they would like to play, and creates the character using the game’s rules, recording information about that character onto paper. While the characters exist only on paper, each player helps to propel the story forward by imaginatively and actively playing the character’s persona."

I think it was a wise choice for me to back this Kickstarter project. I backed the Classic Monsters book, too; add in the Castle Keepers book and I now have a nice 3 book set... everything one needs to play Castles & Crusades :)

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the new C&C Players Handbook!