OSR Commentary - Castles & Crusades Codex Infernum Stephen Chenault, & Jason Vey For Old Campaign Setting

 Codex Infernum for Castles & Crusades is a comprehensive infernal bestiary and sourcebook released by Troll Lord Games. It serves as a dark companion to Codex Exaltum (which focuses on celestial beings) and provides Castle Keepers (GMs) with the tools to integrate demons, devils, and the metaphysics of evil into their campaigns.

Key Features & Content

• The Bestiary: The book contains hundreds of entries for infernal entities, including arch-devils, demon lords, and various ranks of greater and lesser devils and demons. Each entry is presented in full color.

• Infernal Metaphysics: It goes beyond simple monster stats to explore the nature of evil. It details the "Wretched Plains" and provides a hierarchy for both the chaotic madness of demons and the rigid, fettered order of devils.

• New Mechanical Systems: * Possession & Exorcism: Detailed rules for how infernal entities can seize control of mortals and the methods used to cast them out.

  • True Names: Rules for discovering and using the secret names of entities to gain leverage or control over them.

  • The Soul as Commodity: Lore and mechanics regarding how souls are traded, devoured, and used as currency in the lower planes.

• World Integration: While modular for any fantasy setting, it includes specific lore for the World of Aihrde (Troll Lord Games' flagship setting), detailing the role of the "tvungen" (the fettered) and their service to the Horned God, Unklar.

Book Specifications

• Authors: Stephen Chenault and Jason Vey.

• Format: 145-page hardcover (or PDF).

• Art: Features a bold aesthetic with interior art by Zoe DeVos, David North, and others, and cover art by Anato Finnstark.

• System: Designed for the Castles & Crusades SIEGE Engine, making it easily compatible with other OSR (Old School Renaissance) systems.

Usage in Campaigns

The book is designed to treat infernal beings as "unadulterated evil," incapable of mercy or empathy. This makes them distinct antagonists for high-stakes moral or "cosmic" level campaigns. It is particularly useful for GMs who want to run high-level adventures involving planar travel or gritty, horror-themed games focused on demonic corruption.

Given your preference for highly atmospheric, specialized settings and your background in managing complex campaign frameworks, Codex Infernum offers several mechanical and narrative "hooks" that align with your style of game mastering.

Here is why this supplement might be a valuable addition to your toolkit:

1. Advanced Mechanical "Sub-Systems"

You often look for specialized career paths and unique character mechanics. This book provides a robust framework for Possession and Exorcism, which adds a layer of mechanical depth beyond standard combat. Instead of a monster just being a stat block, it becomes a narrative puzzle for your players to solve using specific rituals and the True Name mechanics.

2. Compatibility with "Weird" Science-Fantasy

Since I have an interest in the desolate, high-stakes atmosphere of The Night Land, the descriptions of the Wretched Plains and the soul-trading economy fit perfectly into a setting where humanity is under siege by incomprehensible, ancient evils. It provides that same sense of "cosmic dread" rather than just standard "dungeon crawling."

3. Thematic "High-Stakes" Antagonists

I've previously explored the idea of "looming threats" (like your interest in an Azatlan-inspired menace). Codex Infernum treats demons and devils as primordial, unyielding forces. It provides a structured hierarchy that helps you build a long-term campaign where the "Big Bad" feels integrated into the very fabric of the world's metaphysics rather than being a random encounter.

4. OSR Flexibility (The SIEGE Engine)

Because Castles & Crusades uses the SIEGE Engine, the stats are incredibly easy to "kitbash." If you are running a campaign in a different system (like Hostile or Ascendant), you can lift the lore and the conceptual powers of these entities and port them over with very little math, allowing you to maintain your focus on the "Nineties" or "pulp" flavor of your specific world.

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A Quick Comparison for Context

Feature	Benefit for Your Style
Hierarchy of Evil	Ideal for mapping out complex, multi-layered campaign arcs.
Soul Trading	Adds a gritty, transactional element to high-stakes roleplay.
New Spells/Items	Provides "flavor-first" rewards for players who delve into dark lore.

OSR Review & Commentary Castles & Crusades The Hallowed Ring By Stephen Chenault For The Castles & Crusades Rpg

 "It is a hard thing to cross the plains. The land is flat and seems limitless. The wind is forever blowing. The wild grass stretches on forever, until it mingles with the pale skies. Where one begins and the other ends is anybody's guess. Tt is easy to become disoriented, lost or turned around, and fall prey to the sun, wind or any of the many creatures who stalk the flat earth."

"Somewhere on this unforgiving landscape lies the body of a man ravaged by hunting beasts. He holds in his possession an amulet, a trinket really, but one that must not be left on the plains. The body must be found, the amulet retrieved and returned to its rightful owner. But to do so one must brave the wild beasts and unforgiving nature and unearth the mystery of the grasslands."

 Castles & Crusades The Hallowed Ring By Stephen Chenault is a lower tier adventure that has the PC's starting at an inn and in search of  an amulet. This adventure starts off in an inn and pits the PC's against not only adventure's monsters but the weather itself. There's more to this adventure then a simple piece of  jewelry and more about the party's commitment to do the right thing. Clocking in at twelve pages. The Hallowed Ring picks up a first level party and brings into focus the commitment of honor and commitment. 

Castles & Crusades The Hallowed Ring is a well written, edited and solid adventure. That can act as a spring board for the PC's to jump head first into a C&C campaign. This adventure does this by presenting a solid backbone from which the basics of the  Castles & Crusades systems  are explored. And it is upon this foundation that the dungeon master can build. 
The Hallow Ring is a fun little adventure that presents the DM all he or she needs to bring the player's party into their campaign. 
The Hallowed Ring is a simple, effective, and well written adventure that shouldn't last more then a three or so sessions. It doesn't over stay it's welcome at the table top and has some solid challenges within it. 

Review & Commentary On The Castles & Crusades: Winters Bite By Stephen Chenault For The Castles & Crusades rpg

 "Something haunts the river folk…

It steals into homes and snatches the unwary, the weak, and the gentile. For those whom the horror does not abduct, death comes swiftly. Those slain by the monster are found strangely maimed, with bloody gums, devoid of teeth."

"An apparition? Some fiend of the old world? A black hearted fey? Few can tell for few have seen it, and those who have speak only of its pock-marked skin and crown of teeth."

"The river people hide now. They seal their doors with wax every night, stamped with magical runes, in hope of keeping the haunt at bay. The long winter is made longer still, and more evil given over to the Winter’s Bite."

 The Castles & Crusades: Winters Bite By Stephen Chenault  is an adventure designed for 3-5, 3rd level characters. This is a great adventure that hits the PC's right in the middle of mid stride for an adventuring party. This is an excellent joining adventure that can be dropped into a existing Castles & Crusades rpg campaign. The artwork is a very well done adventure and it only comes into twenty pages. The editing and fonts are easily readable and Winter's Bite hits the high notes for bringing a Winter adventure for the player's PC's.

As an OSR adventure the texture of this adventure feels like a small scale and highly dangerous adventure. This is not a stepping stone adventure. Instead this is an adventure that acts as a bridge adventure across a campaign.

This Castles & Crusades adventure fits the feel of the game. There's nothing however stopping a DM from dropping Winter's Bite into thier own campaign. The writing on this adventure is tight. 
Winter's Bite is very much at a minimum for PC's of third level and that's no lie. There's some dangerous stuff happening within this adventure.  Winter's Bite has all of this going on and takes full advantage of the Castles & Crusades rpg system in spades. 
Winter's Bite could very easily be set within Greyhawk or your own old school rpg campaign. This adventure easily fits a wide variety of campaign styles. But it is  a highly dangerous adventure consider yourselves warned. 

OSR Commentary On The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault For The Castles & Crusades rpg

 If there's one book that over the years that needs to go into my collection is  Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault for the Castles & Crusades rpg. Over the years Castles & Crusades is one of my main favorite OSR systems. The fact is that I'm a really late hobbyist to the C&C rpg line. 

The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing is possibly one of the best updates of the classic C&C Castle Keeper's Guide. It is superior to other printings because of the expanded rules across the board for the C&C's Keepers Guide. There are three areas that the 3rd printing shines. The sections on the urban areas. The city as adventuring hub and the dungeon as dynamic adventuring enviroment. 

The Castle Keeper's Guide is a great resource for the dungeon master looking to use the Seige Engine as a world building font. 

The reason for this is three fold, one  Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault have a deep as well as an abiding understanding of the system that they've created. 

Two the Siege engine isn't static but rather a dynamic campaign system and the various avenues of outlet found within the Castle Keeper's Guide bares this out. 

Three Siege Engine get's it's due within the Castle Keeper's Guide with all of the alternative rules, roles, and really beefs up the system. Not only for the DM's perspective but the players as well.. 

The Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide 3rd Printing By Davis Chenault, & Stephen Chenault is one of the absolutely key books for the Castles & Crusades system. The Siege Engine system is absolutely pimped out with a metric ton of subsystems that add a huge amount of adventure & world building options to the Castles & Crusades as well as the Seige system. 

OSR Review & Commentary On S2 'Castles and Crusades: Dwarven Glory' by Stephen Chenault & The City State of The Invincible Overlord By Judges Guild

 Looking deeply into the Thunderhold Dwarves of City State of the Invincible Overlord fame has been interesting. The faded glory of the Dwarven race echoes some issues that I've been talking with DM Steve again. Games haven't happening been happening because of player's  work schedules. But on a Sunday we three DM's have gotten together around coffee to discuss & plan the next leg of the campaign. And once again I've brought up Judges Guild's City State of the Invincible Overlord & its infamously named 'Glory Hole Dwarven Mine'. 

The problem isn't the 'Glory Hole Dwarven Mine ' adventure  itself. But the fact that two years ago our players including myself were run through this module. So what the Hell do we do wanting to run adventures in the faded glory of the Dwarven lands?! Fortunately, we've got Castles & Crusades comes to the rescue with  Stephen Chenault's S2 Dwarven Glory a collection of three adventures including 'the Winding Stair' where a the specter of a fallen dwarven hero who will attempt to possess a player character, albeit it more or less benevolently. And things break down into a dungeon crawl in the remains of a  Dwarven citadel. What sets S2 apart is the amount of history that's crammed into 'the Winding Stair'. Because of the influence of the Thunderhold Dwarven kingdoms 'the Winding Stair' slots in as a 'plug & pay' adventure. 

The City State of the Invincible Overlord's history is so tied up with with the Dwarves of  Thunderhold that the history of S2 fits many of the traditional early Judges Guild themes. The Wilderlands of High Fantasy is very much a blank slate & some of these published adventures can easily be slid into place. For me the break out adventure because of the Dwarven adventure themes of 'the Winding Stair' this is going to be the perfect adventure coming up. 

S2 Castles & Crusades: Dwarven Glory Is Available Here. 

OSR Review & Commentary On Guilds and Orders by Steven Chenault From Troll Lord Games For Your Old School or OSR Fantasy Game

 "Guilds and Orders is a simple resource guide for use at almost any table and any roleplaying game. It lists several dozen possible guilds or orders that you can port into your game and use to augment an adventure through role playing. It’s a book that adds depth to a region by giving its people that much more flavor. Below you’ll find outlined scores of guilds and orders, that serve as ready to play creations or as examples of what they should look like. There are entries from the commonly known thieves’ guild to the less remember trade guilds. Whatever the listing, there is more than enough fodder for everyone"

So the other night whist strolling through Troll Lord Games store on the internet a title jumped up and bit me. Its one that hasn't been listed in a while. Guilds and Orders is by Steven Chenault. Guilds & Orders is a simple and yet effective reference guide for any rpg. 

Guilds and Orders only clocks in at sixteen pages but it uses those pages rather nicely to introduce a set of guilds, orders, and organizations that can help, hinder, or cause mayhem to the party. Guilds & Orders  is a sixteen page set of organizations that can act as the patrons for a group of neophyte adventurers in your fantasy or OSR campaign. This is a simple & yet highly effective little pamphlet that allows the DM to bring in organizations on the fly if necessary. 
Where I'm going to be using Guilds & Orders is within the wilderness landscape coming up of B2 Keep on the Borderlands by Gary Gygax. Here the wilderness aspect is going be expanded ala Robert E. Howard's 'Beyond The Black River' style. And so the trade guilds have been making in roads into the interior to trade with the natives. Guilds & Orders will help to fill in some of the campaign gaps. Frankly time has become more of a commodity then these trade goods. So Guilds & Orders is going to come in rather handy here. 

 Guilds and Orders  by Steven Chenault presents a very generic but useful system agonistic resource that can be used to create factions, NPC's, and even enemy organizations within your own old school or OSR game systems. Its fast, reliable, and a very easy system to use. 
Guilds and Orders  by Steven Chenault From Troll Lord Games Is Available Right Here. 

Review & Commentary On the Free Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book by Stephen Chenault , & Robert Doyel

"Upon the Edge of Battle Lie the Spoils of Glory
Upon wind-swept battlefields, they seek their glory. With weapons of steel,
stout shields, and sorcery, they drive ever onward, seeking the grandeur of conflict
with creatures of terrible wrath or beasts of legend. In all hours of every day,
they gird themselves for war and struggle, to drive those evil beings of foul
intent to doom and oblivion. But before glory can be obtained, before
fame and riches can be won by these heroes of renown, they must face and
overcome those that would oppose them. Only then do the beasts yield the fruit
of their lives: Ancient scrolls, magic swords, shields of wonder, potions, rings,
wands, and untold wealth in coins, gems, and jewels.


What Lies Herein
Contained within this book is a wealth of information for the
Castle Keeper: 205 monsters, advice on roleplaying monsters, handling
combat with monsters, creating monsters, 200 unique treasures, rules for
awarding treasures and creating magic items."



This is the one hundred & seventy eight page bestiary & treasures book.
The free digital copy of  Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book is one of the earlier incarnations.This is because the paid version has the glossy pages & expanded font to be easier on old eyes such as mine.

Just in case you weren't paying attention Troll Lords announced a free digital copy of  Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book.  But what's actually in the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book? Well step right into the deep end & let's take a look into this bestiary & treasure book. Clocking in at one hundred & forty five  pages the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book has everything that a dungeon master needs to set up the monster side of the C&C adventure. A good solid sampling of all of the classic monsters are here.




There isn't a single devil or demon in this book but that's fine. What's here is solid old school because  C&C Monsters & Treasure debuts a new look, with more interior art, expanded index and some rules clarifications.  This is a solid investment for those dungeon masters who were in for the earlier incarnations of the Castles & Crusades games. But is it worth the download? Yes in a word. The monsters are with cleaned up stat blocks & a very easy to digest whole cloth approach to the monster itself. This sort of attention to detail is visible throughout the  Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book.
But what really sets it apart is the next section with the magic items & how Castles & Crusades handles the subject.  The majority of the treasure section is dedicated to magic items & even how to create or destroy them. This isn't an oversight on the part of the authors but along with the  magic items, there are also sentient items and how to destroy them. Plus there is  a section about other rewards, like lands, titles, services and the like which is very important for domain style games!

For the Castles & Crusades dungeon master (I'm sorry but I'm never calling them Castle Keepers. Every game master for me is a dungeon master trade marks & copy rights be damned!) the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book is an absolutely essential book & I'm glad to have this earlier incarnation of it. Why?! Two reasons for me it shows the evolution of the various incarnations of the C&C game. For the second reason its a bit more complex. This is a striped down version of the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book which means that in a pinch it can be brought to the fore for adventure design. This unto itself is reason enough for me to have a copy. Do I think that Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book is worth the down load? Well its sitting on my hard drive. The Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book is a book that works for me at the table top level. 

Blast em with Hellfire! Settling into an OSR Hell - Cha'alt & My Version of the OSR Hells!

There are so many lovely little Frog God Games Swords & Wizardry Monsters that 

I'd love to use in my games. I decided to get my infernal campaign  notes out for some business in my version of Hells. This goes back to my 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons D20 days so a little OSR patience.

Recently we reviewed Troll Lord Games Castles & Crusades Tome of the Unclean  & that review generated a ton of controversy. That's good because it means that folks are reading the blog & thinking about OSR gaming. Let's kick the infernal into hi gear or at least my version of Hell.


Someone made a comment on Me We in one of the OSR groups I'm in about the free D20 Infernum book rpg system book -  'Infernum - Book of the Damned'

"You are in Hell.
For an eternity, there has been nothing in the Infernum except constant war and constant suffering. Those in power grind those beneath them into the burning dust, while those below plot and conspire to overthrow their masters and take their place and all bow before the might of the warring Houses. Now, there is dissent and opposition even against their might, as the Free Cities declare their independence and threaten the hegemony of the Houses.
War is coming to Hell. Anyone, even a mortal, could conquer the Pit and become a lord of the Infernum.
Infernum: Book of the Damned is the Player’s book for the Infernum Roleplaying Game. In it you will find everything you need to start your adventures in Hell and begin working your way up the demonic ladder towards total domination.
Play as Mortal, Demon or Fallen Angel. Equip yourself with the latest infernal weaponry such as the flayer or hellcannon and trap a demon within your chosen tool of warfare. Develop and nurture your mutations as they twist your flesh and increase your demonic power. Feed from damned souls and bind other demons in unbreakable Covenants. Do unto others before they do unto you and remember...
Conquer or suffer. These are the only choices in the Infernum."

Now here's the thing for three years when D20 Infernum book rpg system book  came out I ran the system as an addition to 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons. Shocking I know because the first book was followed up with the setting book Infernum: Book of the Tormentor. The final book in the series was Infernum: Book of the Conqueror  which gives the upper PC levels & to rule in Hell & more.
Now I had a far bit of experience with the Infernum Hell because I also own Mongoose's D20 Book of Hell. Here's the thing this book came out before  D20 Infernum book rpg system book & there are several monsters, classes, equipment, etc. That are  not in the D20 Infernum the Book of the Damned.  There's a very nice quick conversion for 3.5 D&D or  Pathfinder over to Swords & Wizardry on the Pickled Punks OSR blog here. 


Now given the circumstances that several of Frog God Games Swords & Wizardry products are on sale I thought I'd go into these Hellish circles.  Now I had to do a lot of house ruling when it came to running D20 Infernum book rpg system books. So much so that I whole cloth modified very nature of the setting Hell itself. The Seven Circles of Dante's Hell became the main stage of Hell with the Abyss & its demons being the back stage. The view point was reinforced with Green Ronin''s Book of Fiends another 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons  book which I own.  The thing is you as the dungeon master have to realize the amount of scaling that you have to do with the monsters for OSR games. But for converting 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons monsters over to Castles & Crusades? I've got that covered with this forum post over at Troll Lords. 

Now with my Cha'alt/Godbound campaign on hiatus for a bit I've taken some time to evaluate some of my old Hell campaign notes. You've got to understand that this was a balls to the walls Rifts/Gamma World style VHS grind house game. Towns being swallowed up by Hell, humans being mutated into demonic horrors then sent to ravage their own towns, etc. This was a campaign in need of  heroes & it got them! These were some very flawed heroes indeed but they were summoned to Earth to do a job! 


Now I've been thinking about using the Siege engine/Castles & Crusades to do a full balls to the walls Rifts Cha'alt game for weeks now. But what about the forces of Hell are they simply going to be on the side lines?! I've got a team of demonic mutant horrors just waiting to be unleashed on my table top as soon as this quarantine breaks!

Note that I really don't give two craps about the poisoned  politics of any the designers & writers of these games. I've put my time into this campaign & on the whole I've got to say that this part of the community aspect of the hobby sucks. Keep your politics off of my table folks. 

Review & Commentary Castles & Crusades -- Tome of the Unclean By Stephen Chenault, & Kim Hartsfield

  "Beyond the darkness and beyond all sense lies a gulf of empty fear where true evil lurks.

Born with twisted thought, tainted with stains of malice, they are creatures foul and bent. They dwell in the darkness of time's caverns, in the Abyss, in Hell, in those Wretched Planes of shadow and evil, loss and despair. The echo of the unknown drives them from darkness toward the light. Some few seek salvation, but others to drive the souls of mortals to ultimate darkness and corruption.

Tome of the Unclean unleashes all of the power and horror of these wretched planes upon your Castles & Crusades game! From the Lords of the Abyss, to the Legions of Hell, and through to the gray wastes of Gehenna, a host of devils, demons, and daemons await your table!

Tome of the Unclean includes all of the familiar denizens of the darker planes. Here you will find Demogorgon and Orcus; Asmodeus, Bael, and Mammon, plus legions of others. All of the major and minor demons, greater and lesser devils, and a veritable host of creatures from your players' worst nightmares await within these pages."

A week or so ago I ordered a copy of Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean. Let me first point out that this supplement is meant for Castles & Crusades exclusively. While Castles & Crusades's Tome of the Unclean can be used with other OSR systems its meant exclusively for C&C or other Siege engine rpg systems. This book does exactly what I was looking for, it adds in a  plethora of Demons, Devils, & even appendixes on adding in undead, hellish fauna, & flora. But  Tome of the Unclean is geared for Aihrde, the default C&C campaign setting. I'm good with this.
This seems to bother a lot of members of the OSR & but not me in particular. I'm a completest & so  Tome of the Unclean has been on my Troll Lords radar for a long time. My feeling is that I'd love to put together an OSR game campaign centered around my version of the Hells as the major antagonistic force of darkness.  Since the C&C Player's Guide is being offered for free I figured it was a great time to get in on the action.


I gotta say that despite reviews like this from Tim O; "C&C is my go to game, but I must say I'm very disappointed in this one. I was really looking forward to the official versions, but the expected improvements to the "big baddies" did not happen. In my opinion all the major demons and devils are under powered as far as hit points and magical abilities go; even the "standard" abilities of both groups seem weak and incomplete." Sigh.. I didn't particularly find this at all. In point of fact I think that all of the infernal deviants of  Tome of the Unclean  work very well for me. I wasn't looking for a huge push in abilities,powers,etc. in the way of the 'munchkin factor'.
Instead I'm looking for an infernal book that lines up with other Siege Engine & OSR products. So if I want a demon, devil, etc. I can grab this book off of the shelf & pop one of these horrors into my games. Tome of the Unclean   is that book. It does it job & its up to the quality of  other Troll Lords products. I bought it with my own pocket money & paid well for   Tome of the Unclean. That should tell you everything right there.