Troll Lord Games

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/67 ... ons-steeds

All those who tread the paths of the wild, who crawl through the lost dark, plunder treasures of the ancients, must surely find themselves alone and bereft of friends. It is in those moments, when the cold creeps up your spine, and the hair rises, that you most need a stalwart companion at your side; a wolf to bare fangs, a named sword of cold steel and magic, an owl to see into the darkness, a muse to whisper songs of the ancients, a shadow... these are the companions you truly need.

5th Edition Familiars & Companions is the ultimate resource for all your familiars and companions. In a well balanced approach we bring the classic animal companion back to life. We restore the wizard's familiar to its prominent place. But there is so much more....

In 5th Edition Familiars & Companions we detail the paladin's holy weapons and steed. A rogue need not stalk the deserted allies alone, for her living shadow can follow her. But more than that we explore each character class, pairing it with companions, magical and mundane, animate and inanimate, familiars and more.

The book also allows familiars to be improved and customized with special abilities that aid both the animal and the PC. New archetypes and backgrounds for each class allow for the selection of a familiar as a character advancement option. A whole new set of abilities--Advantages--can be used in conjunction with or as a replacement for Feats and are taken at the same points in a character's development. All brought to your 5th Edition game by the author of Amazing Adventures, Jason Vey.

Does it allow one to obtain an orc familiar or any other normally playable race?

No. That would be a follower and there are already rules for that in 5e.

Followers do not have mystical bonds that enable them to become metaphysically connected to their "master." Nor do they necessarily improve.

Oh well.

I finished doing my usual amount of pimping a little bit ago. Hopefully it boosts the KS activity.

Taking a look at the current version of the 5E Familiars book from TLG actually has me a little sad.

First and foremost, I do hope that this book succeeds for the Trolls. Having Jason Vey on the case will make it a worthy addition to the 5E rules. The cover is gorgeous, and the Barbarian preview that went up makes the interior look even better. It already seems the rules are much clearer too.

But that is why I am sad. For this book to get the makeover, and under the careful eye of Jason Vey, us old C&Cers who purchased the original C&C version may never see an updated makeover for our favorite game, Castles & Crusades. With that awesome cover, and with the careful care of Jason Vey, an updated C&C version would be a very welcome sight indeed. I have always thought that the C&C Book of Familiars could have been one of C&Cs best books, but it falls so very short because it was not converted over properly to C&C. The original author has so much immense talent and if we could only get an corrected, updated, and revised version of this Book of Familiars (PLEASE under Jason Vey's care), it would be a big ole' box of awesome.

I guess 5E is the popular "in" game right now, but I personally know not a single soul who plays it. But I do know a few dozen C&C players in my own circle of gaming friends. Maybe, just maybe, if we wish hard enough TLG can give us an updated C&C version.

~O

Omote wrote:Taking a look at the current version of the 5E Familiars book from TLG actually has be a little sad.

First and foremost, I do hope that this book succeeds for the Trolls. Having Jason Vey on the case will make it a worthy addition to the 5E rules. The cover is gorgeous, and the Barbarian preview that went up makes the interior look even better. It already seems the rules are much clearer too.

But that is why I am sad. For this book to get the makeover, and under the careful eye of Jason Vey, us old C&Cers who purchased the original C&C version may never see an updated makeover for our favorite game, Castles & Crusades. With that awesome cover, and with the careful care of Jason Vey, an updated C&C version would be a very welcome sight indeed. I have always thought that the C&C Book of Familiars could have been one of C&Cs best books, but it falls so very short because it was not converted over properly to C&C. The original author has so much immense talent and if we could only get an corrected, updated, and revised version of this Book of Familiars (PLEASE under Jason Vey's care), it would be a big ole' box of awesome.

I guess 5E is the popular "in" game right now, but I personally know not a single soul who plays it. But I do know a few dozen C&C players in my own circle of gaming friends. Maybe, just maybe, if we wish hard enough TLG can give us an updated C&C version.

~O

Totally agree. An updated full color Book of Familiars for C&C I'd throw down some money. I have zero interest in 5E and prefer my game to be OSR based. Are the Troll planning to do more with C&C or is 5E the future for the Troll Lords?

Coupla' things:

1. I am beyond stunned and flattered that you guys think so highly of me. I'm actually speechless at the praise. Thank you.

2. Never say never. There's nothing on the docket right now for a C&C re-edit, but should Steve decide to move forward with a full-color reprint, there's no reason why we wouldn't update, clarify and errata what's there.

3. Serleran, just for you I just dumped kobolds, goblins and orcs into the lists of possible familiars. So far just for bards, but we'll see where they end up as I go along :p

The Grey Elf wrote:
3. Serleran, just for you I just dumped kobolds, goblins and orcs into the lists of possible familiars. So far just for bards, but we'll see where they end up as I go along :p

Cool. I appreciate that. I remember one book from the early d20 days, a FFG book if I remember right, that had various types of familiars and improvements and thought "no one ever includes humanoids. Why can't I get myself a goblin familiar?" So, looking forward to that. That whole sharing senses thing can be quite handy when you've got something intelligent enough to understand what's going on...

serleran wrote:

The Grey Elf wrote:
3. Serleran, just for you I just dumped kobolds, goblins and orcs into the lists of possible familiars. So far just for bards, but we'll see where they end up as I go along :p

Cool. I appreciate that. I remember one book from the early d20 days, a FFG book if I remember right, that had various types of familiars and improvements and thought "no one ever includes humanoids. Why can't I get myself a goblin familiar?" So, looking forward to that. That whole sharing senses thing can be quite handy when you've got something intelligent enough to understand what's going on...

Familiars, by definition, understand what's going on. They are magical creatures who all have the intelligence of a human being.

At first I thought having goblins and orcs in there was power gamey and game breaking, but then I noticed that the existing file had freaking dragons in there, so really there's no harm in a few low-hit-die humanoids.

Guess what TLG appears to be doing?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/67 ... ero_thanks

There is now a C&C pledge level for the Revised Book of Familiars.

TLG E-mail / Kicstarter wrote: We've created a Castles & Crusades pledge level for our 5th Edition Kickstarter for Familiars and Companions. You can pledge for the digital copy of an updated, full color version of the C&C Book of Familiars and C&C versions of all the stretch goals. Head over and check that sucker out.

~O

Omote wrote:There is now a C&C pledge level for the Revised Book of Familiars.

$30 for a .pdf? For something that's primary draw (as I see it, anyhow) is that it fixes broken components in something we've already paid for?



Why not provides errata to fix the book for existing customers at no charge first? Then we can talk about shelling out for an updated edition with color and new art.


Edited to add: I don't want to come across as a hater. I love C&C and have spent probably close to $1K on TLG product over the years. And I hope to continue to support the Trolls down the road. It's just that at that price, it feels like I'm being asked to subsidize a foray into 5E - a game I have no real interest in - while paying a second time for something that wasn't done right the first time around.

maasenstodt wrote:

Omote wrote:There is now a C&C pledge level for the Revised Book of Familiars.

$30 for a .pdf? For something that's primary draw (as I see it, anyhow) is that it fixes broken components in something we've already paid for?



Why not provides errata to fix the book for existing customers at no charge first? Then we can talk about shelling out for an updated edition with color and new art.


Edited to add: I don't want to come across as a hater. I love C&C and have spent probably close to $1K on TLG product over the years. And I hope to continue to support the Trolls down the road. It's just that at that price, it feels like I'm being asked to subsidize a foray into 5E - a game I have no real interest in - while paying a second time for something that wasn't done right the first time around.

Hmm, it seems you have a good point.

Yeah, I ain't paying $30 for a PDF anyways. $15, maybe. IF this thing is going to be $60 because of full color, in print, you can count me out anyways. I'm not paying that kind of money to buy something for the third time. What I have works just fine for me with C&C. IE the 3E version and the C&C version. I have plenty to work with to figure out how I want to go about doing whatever it is I end up wanting to do.

maasenstodt wrote:

Omote wrote:There is now a C&C pledge level for the Revised Book of Familiars.

$30 for a .pdf? For something that's primary draw (as I see it, anyhow) is that it fixes broken components in something we've already paid for?



Why not provides errata to fix the book for existing customers at no charge first? Then we can talk about shelling out for an updated edition with color and new art.


Edited to add: I don't want to come across as a hater. I love C&C and have spent probably close to $1K on TLG product over the years. And I hope to continue to support the Trolls down the road. It's just that at that price, it feels like I'm being asked to subsidize a foray into 5E - a game I have no real interest in - while paying a second time for something that wasn't done right the first time around.

Hey Maasenstodt!

These are good points. But let me tackle the price point first. The 30 dollars for the PDF gets you more than just the Book of Familiars, you also get FDG's miniatures, and an adventure of your choice. BUT this option opens up the digital downloads for all the other stuff that may get released with it, Guilds & Supplements, more adventures etc. It is definitely a risk on your part, if it only funds at 13k, then you only get about a 35.00 value for your 30.00. The option was put in there for a bunch of people who asked for it on the 5th edition version...digital downloads of everything. This option was put here for C&C fans who want to support this project, but want something better than 5th Edition

As for errata. Now that we finally have someone working on it (Vey), we'll update the present Bof for sure. So you don't have to jump in on this one at all.

Now the real kicker here is, what I really want to do, and this is where I am waffling (and need to stop waffling), to print a full color version of the C&C book (which is what I would like to do), we'd have to hit about 20k (color is very expensive) on this Kickstarter. So I was thinking of adding a stretch goal to that end. But the logistics start to get hard for if we promise a color book (CC) then it only funds to say 15k, TLG will get hammered on the print side of things.

Thoughts? What would you guys like to see us do?

Steve

Wow, that's a really classy move TLG ~ updating the BOF for us C&Cers. Very cool.

If it could be printed in color, all the better. However, I think it would be OK if the BOF book was simply remade in B&W.

~O

Omote wrote:Wow, that's a really classy move TLG ~ updating the BOF for us C&Cers. Very cool.

If it could be printed in color, all the better. However, I think it would be OK if the BOF book was simply remade in B&W.

~O

Thank you sir! But honestly Castles & Crusades is THE game and all out content needs to be brought up to date. I've heard grumblings about the BoF before, but now we have the resources to go back and fix it!

I would love to print that thing in color. These four color books are just beautiful. If this KS would pick up some steam it could be a possibility.

I wish we had dual systemed the KS to begin with.

Steve

If this did go full color, I would personally love to have at least one illustration of a giant cockroach. The "wow" would be amazing.

serleran wrote:If this did go full color, I would personally love to have at least one illustration of a giant cockroach. The "wow" would be amazing.

+1

And . . make sure it's the palmetto bug for the C&C win!

I have to say I will be surprised if this reaches basic funding. Still, it has 11 days, and a lot can happen in 11 days.

Troll Lord wrote:

Omote wrote:
I wish we had dual systemed the KS to begin with.

Steve

Yeah, you should have.

Funded, huzzah!

More C&C goodness coming our way. Great news.

~O