Castles & Crusades Ruleset on Sale Now!

[Thore_Ironrock]

For Immediate Release: Digital Adventures & Troll Lord Games Presents: Castles & Crusades for Fantasy Grounds II

With the Castles & Crusades role-playing game, these imaginings come to life as you play the role of a hero seeking adventure in a fantastic world populated by mythic creatures and legendary beasts. Or, as the Castle Keeper, you can design the worlds and stories that make up the game, guiding friends and fellow gamers through epic adventures in wondrous settings of your own making. Now everything thing you need to play Castles & Crusades with your others across the globe is now possible with this Fantasy Grounds II ruleset.

Castles & Crusades is an easy to learn, fast paced fantasy role playing game suitable for novice and veteran gamers of all ages. The Castles & Crusades Players Handbook and Monsters & Treasure manual provide all the essential information needed to play a game of Castles & Crusades. Players can choose among 13 archtypal character classes and 7 races to create their characters. Spells, equipment, fast-paced combat rules, monsters, treasures, examples of play and endless hours of fun and enjoyment can be found in these two books. All of this C&C information is included in this Fantasy Grounds conversion.

"Digital Adventures has done an amazing job with this online version of Castles & Crusades," says Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games, "The conversion of our game to Fantasy Grounds II is truly amazing, with a flawless interface that is every bit as easy to use as the print version. This is a very welcome induction for C&C into the digital age!"


What's included with the Castles & Crusades Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds II:

* Stunning graphical interface based on the artistic genius of Peter Bradley, complete with a fully functional Castles & Crusades character sheet.

* The complete Player's Handbook for Castles & Crusades converted to a library module, including all 13 archetypal character classes and seven races from which to create your characters. Also includes all spells, equipment, combat rules -- all essential information needed to play Castles & Crusades online!

* Everything from Monsters & Treasures for Castle & Crusades is also included as a library module, from dragons and giants to gargoyles and satyrs, over 200 monsters that is enough to challenge and entertain novice and experienced players alike. Details for monster combat, spell casting, breath weapons, movement and poisons, along with rules for creating monsters of one's own design. Magical weapons, rings, rods, staves and many other devices such as artifacts and cursed items are also detailed within the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure module as well.

* Over 170 tokens generated from the interior art of the Player's Handbook and Monsters & Treasures. Tokens from all the races, as well as multiple tokens for monsters of various sizes.

* Free starter adventure, THE RISING KNIGHT, an adventure for 1st-level starting characters to get you playing Castles & Crusades right away!


The Castles & Crusades Ruleset for Fantasy Grounds is available for download now at the Digital Adventures Online Store: https://www.digitaladventures.net/catalog/, for the affordable price of $10.00.

These products have been created for use with Fantasy Grounds II, and were developed with the latest updates for Fantasy Grounds II, so please update your installation accordingly. These products will not work with any other version of Fantasy Grounds. For information on product updates and upgrades visit our website at: www.digitaladventures.net.

This Castles & Crusades product was written for the Fantasy Grounds II software from SmiteWorks. For more information on products from Troll Lord Games visit their website at https://www.trolllord.com. For more information on Fantasy Grounds visit SmiteWork's website at https://www.fantasygrounds.com. These products are Copyright 2007, Troll Lord Games & Digital Adventures, LLC. Used with permission from Troll Lord Games. This products' format, programming code, and presentation is copyrighted by Troll Lord Games and Digital Adventures, LLC. Redistribution by print or by file is strictly prohibited.


Enjoy!

[Sorontar]

Excellent news, I'll be checking the Quickstart rules out available for free download first to see if it's something I can work with at some point. Although having just got Solomon Kane I'm getting pretty excited about my players getting their teeth into that.

Hmm and then there's my Eberron campaign.

RPG system overdose I think ;)

Gratz to DA btw, your continued work broadens the scope for Smiteworks package and is greatly appreciated.

[Thore_Ironrock]

Thanks Sorontar. Once I get my bearings on a few things we'll start converting the C&C adventures as well, starting with Assault on Blacktooth Ridge.

Sorry, can't help you with Ebberron. ;)

[Sorontar]

Thanks Sorontar. Once I get my bearings on a few things we'll start converting the C&C adventures as well, starting with Assault on Blacktooth Ridge.

Sorry, can't help you with Ebberron. ;)

Got Eberron in hand, already done the first of the published adventures and also QwtBE, just gotta do the rest of the published stuff and then the Mark of Heroes stuff PLUS anything from the Sharn Inquisitive.

Good job I like messing :)

[Astinus]

Great news. I noticed on the website that the ruleset only functions with the full version of FG II. I'm new to using rulesets in FG so I'm not sure what this implies.

1. All my players have lite licenses, so they won't be able to use the ruleset. But can they still use the character sheet from my ruleset? Do they just download the character sheet every time they connect?
2. If they can use the character sheets, what about the spells in the modules? Do they also download that every time they connect?

Thanks for any help you can give me!

[Thore_Ironrock]

1. All my players have lite licenses, so they won't be able to use the ruleset. But can they still use the character sheet from my ruleset? Do they just download the character sheet every time they connect?


That is correct. We found out with the SW ruleset that FGII functions a little differently than FGI in that the ruleset needs to be "compiled" into a "pak" file for LITE licenses to be able to access the ruleset offline (i.e. create characters when not connected to a session, access library modules, etc). We're working with SmiteWorks to possibly fix this issue, but for now if you have a LITE license you'll end up downloading the components every time you connect to play. Call it the disadvantage of having a LITE license.




2. If they can use the character sheets, what about the spells in the modules? Do they also download that every time they connect?


Per FGII functionality, you would have to share the PHB library module with them for them to access this information.

I hope this helps!

[Astinus]

We found out with the SW ruleset that FGII functions a little differently than FGI in that the ruleset needs to be "compiled" into a "pak" file for LITE licenses to be able to access the ruleset offline (i.e. create characters when not connected to a session, access library modules, etc). We're working with SmiteWorks to possibly fix this issue, but for now if you have a LITE license you'll end up downloading the components every time you connect to play... Per FGII functionality, you would have to share the PHB library module with them for them to access this information.

I hope this helps!

Thanks Kevin, it does help. I have another question.

Our group has bandwidth issues (me as GM also), so we'll do anything we can to minimize downloading of ruleset components at each connection. Problem is, my group has already bought LITE licenses (I wish the devs offered an upgrade option :( ).

So to my question: if my players (with LITE licenses) buy the ruleset (in the full knowledge of the offline limitations) will this minimize the components they need to download, upon connecting to my machine?

I guess what I'm hoping is, if they have the ruleset installed, the modules and graphic interface will load locally, and they'll just have to download the character sheet. Would it work like this, or will they still have to download all the components upon connecting?

[Thore_Ironrock]

Our group has bandwidth issues (me as GM also), so we'll do anything we can to minimize downloading of ruleset components at each connection. Problem is, my group has already bought LITE licenses (I wish the devs offered an upgrade option :( ).

So to my question: if my players (with LITE licenses) buy the ruleset (in the full knowledge of the offline limitations) will this minimize the components they need to download, upon connecting to my machine?

I guess what I'm hoping is, if they have the ruleset installed, the modules and graphic interface will load locally, and they'll just have to download the character sheet. Would it work like this, or will they still have to download all the components upon connecting?

No, that will not help. In fact, whenever you connect up as a player you're going to download "something" from the host no matter what from what I understand. Even if you have the FULL version it will happen, as the ruleset(s) has to be in complete sync with the clients for the game to connect properly.

As for bandwidth issues, there are more than a few threads you could look at to help try and figure out your problem. Personally I've never experienced any bandwidth issues; I usually have 4-5 players, and another person in our game hosts our voice-over-ip to split our bandwidth a bit, and this has worked flawlessly for us. My only other suggestion would be to check with your local provider to see if there is a way to test the host's line. My company (Time Warner) has a website you can go to and test your up and down speeds, and once or twice in the past this has helped me diagnose problems with my connection.

Hope this helps.

[Astinus]

Thanks Kevin. By the way, the ruleset is superb! Congratulations to everyone at DA. :D

[frogman316]

I picked up CnC from digital adventures and I have to say it is quite more than I expected for $10. Good work all around.

[frogman316]

I got an email this mornign about a bug in the C&C SRD that I downloaded, just fyi to those that bought it when it came out. Those who buy it after the fix shouldn't have the problem, but those that were early adopters of the ruleset, check your email.

[romelwell]

We had a minor change to the ruleset, and everyone that purchased the product should have received information on downloading an updated version of the ruleset.

[Doswelk]

No, that will not help. In fact, whenever you connect up as a player you're going to download "something" from the host no matter what from what I understand. Even if you have the FULL version it will happen, as the ruleset(s) has to be in complete sync with the clients for the game to connect properly.

As for bandwidth issues, there are more than a few threads you could look at to help try and figure out your problem. Personally I've never experienced any bandwidth issues; I usually have 4-5 players, and another person in our game hosts our voice-over-ip to split our bandwidth a bit, and this has worked flawlessly for us. My only other suggestion would be to check with your local provider to see if there is a way to test the host's line. My company (Time Warner) has a website you can go to and test your up and down speeds, and once or twice in the past this has helped me diagnose problems with my connection.

Hope this helps.

What worked for me (although I do have both a full and lite licence):

I suspect you might be able to do this by launching the full version twice on the same PC (not tried though)

Connect locally as a player and the download starts.

Once finished close FGII on lite version and browse to <FG II application data folder>\cache\<campaign name>

I then uploaded the campaign.dat file to a file sharing site / ftp site, directed my players to download the campaign.dat file and create a folder (with exactly the same name) for the campaign in the cache folder on their pc and place the campaign.dat file in there.

When the players connected they did not have to download the ruleset, and thus we just got on with the game.

Might be worth a try....

[Loggahead]

Ok, after reading this post, I am very confused and gunshy...

Our group was about to pool together and purchase FGII as one full and 5 lite licenses for us to exclusively play C&C. Is this not possible?

I'm very confused as to why each player will need a full GM license to merely play C&C!?

[Sorontar]

Ok, after reading this post, I am very confused and gunshy...

Our group was about to pool together and purchase FGII as one full and 5 lite licenses for us to exclusively play C&C. Is this not possible?

I'm very confused as to why each player will need a full GM license to merely play C&C!?

First as I always say as some people miss this: If anyone in the group has an inkling that they are going to GM in the future then I recommend a Full License. There is no way to upgrade at this time.

With regards to the Lite license issue with rulesets I believe you would be able to play with the Lite licenses but they will not be able to do anything offline such as make characters and access library files until Smiteworks sort the updater problem out.

I am not sure if anyone else has tried Doswelk's workaround and can report on this for you.

[Toadwart]

Ok, after reading this post, I am very confused and gunshy...

Our group was about to pool together and purchase FGII as one full and 5 lite licenses for us to exclusively play C&C. Is this not possible?

I'm very confused as to why each player will need a full GM license to merely play C&C!?

The issue is not that you cant play C&C with a LITE license but rather that the LITE licensed users can only access the C&C ruleset while they are connected to a host session.
i.e. your LITE players could not create their C&C characters locally (via the "Create Local Characters" feature of FG) but they can create and run characters when they connect to your GM's session.

It's a problem with the way rulesets work. The built-in (d20) one is available to LITE licensed users because it is bundled up into a .pak file that is automatically upgraded when FG is upgraded.
Third-party created rulesets work differently: the users download a copy from the host when they connect. That 'copy' is stored in a cache file specific to that campaign. The 'Create Local Characters' function can't access the ruleset within these cache files.
note: there is one cache for each campaign you play in - so you might have several copies of the same ruleset. They might even be different versions of that ruleset (e.g. if you played with different GMs, one who upgraded and one who is still using an older ruleset) so the problem can get quite complicated.

I believe that SmiteWorks and DigitalAdventures are investigating ways of improving on this but am not sure how/when this might happen.

Hope that helps but post again if it didn't.

[Doswelk]

I am not sure if anyone else has tried Doswelk's workaround and can report on this for you.

My workaround was only for the long download on first connect I do not think it solves the local character problem....

[Toadwart]

...
I am not sure if anyone else has tried Doswelk's workaround and can report on this for you.

Think DosWelks workaround is just to reduce the download time when a player connects to the host. Doesn't help other than that . . .

[Loggahead]

Thanks again. We pooled up our money and jumped on FGII. Im downloading as I type this.

We were purchasing this to use as an option for when we can't all get together and play at someone's house. A few in our group have new babies at home so we get to roll real bones whenever the moons align. Now with this hopefully we can play more often.

[Toadwart]

Roll dem bones :D

Voice chat software is worth investigating too (Ventrillo/TeamSpeak).
Some people prefer typed chat but I make to many typing mistakes for that to work well . . .

[Loggahead]

Right on about TS. We already have a private TS server. We used it with Klooge a while back.

[Loggahead]

I purchased the C&C pack yesterday as well. I really really hope there is a fix for this .pak situation soon. It would be very beneficial for me to help our GM by adding in our character sheets for him...