Friday, July 16, 2021

Matters Mundane & Magical - Elemental Spells By James M. Ward for the Castes & Crusades rpg & Roger E. Moore's 'NPC's for hire' from Dragon Magazine, Issue 45

 "Beyond the firmament lies the maelstrom of elemental planes, where the fabric of all things begins. The elemental planes: Where fires rage in an infinite expanse of heart and light, where the rich and loamy earth consumes all, where air grows heavy, grinding upon unseeing gears, where water flows forever to no end. It is here that the base of all power lies and it is here that the elemental lords must turn.

Join the elementals to your spell casters. Unearthed in this text are a host of new spells for your Castles & Crusades game."




So let's talk James ward for a New York second & I don't mean that BS TSR debacle that happened last week. No I want to talk about the James Ward who often lends his design chops to the Trolls. Specifically the fact that Castles & Crusades features little book called Castles & Crusades Elemental Spells By James M. Ward. The book sells for about ten dollars US plus a bit of shipping. But what this book does is actually offer an alternative take on spells from each of the four elements specifically designed for the wizards & magic users. Elemental Spells By James M. Ward. offers   176 new Cleric spells, 115 Druid Spells, 183 new Wizard Spells and forty-six new Illusionist spells. That’s 520 new spells in all! And this is perfect for creating well rounded PC's & NPC's. Especially nasty & dangerous NPC's who are wielding powers byond the ken of mankind. 
The spells are fantastic but what really set's Elemental Spells apart is how easily this supplement can be merged with some of the older aditional D&D material. Specifically Roger E. Moore's 'NPC's for hire' from Dragon Magazine, Issue 45 Paperback - January 1, 1981



This artice concerns alchemists as NPC hires, Elemental Spells could be used as a mechanism for updating the NPC class into something a bit more modern & elemental in line with your C&C game. Thih really gives the NPC class some important bite. Another thing is that I don't think that Roger E. Moore get's half the credit he deserves in the OSR gamer's communities. Mr.Moore practically gatewayed between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition & the second! 
Mixing & matching the older AD&D first edition material with Castles & Crusades showcases one of the important highlights of C&C. The ability to mix & match as a dungeon master as you see fit. This lends far more strength to a campaign especially in the area of elemental magical power. 


Elemental Spells  gives the magic user or wizard in C&C a far more rounded & dangerous customization within the C&C game. This elemental occult power could be used from regiion to region within a campaign world setting. For example do you need an American Indian clerc capable of casting spells related to their elemental god?! With Elemental Spells the ball is in the DM & his or her player's court. This book isn't a must have for Castles & Crudes but its solid addition into the tool box of the C&C DM & or player 

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