This article originally appeared in Pyramid #29
Chivalry & sorcery,third edition
Published by Highlander Designs
Written by Edward E. Simbalist, Wilf Backhaus and G.W. Thompson
Price: $19.95"The game that could not be killed!" they billed it at GenCon 1997, and they appear to have been right. "They" is Highlander Designs, and "the game" is the third edition of Chivalry & Sorcery.
C&S has a long history, dating back about 20 years. According to the Introduction, the 3rd Edition "brings the game into the '90s." Well, yes and no. It definitely uses some modern production features (though the layout is a bit busy and plagued by typos), but the defining aspects of most '90s games - quick character generation, rules-lightness, storytelling not dice-rolling - aren't a part of this game. Instead, C&S3 recalls the early days of gaming with an emphasis on rules and charts to cover just about any conceivable situation.
Moreover, C&S3 does not come with one single, solitary scrap of campaign-setting material. But it doesn't lack atmosphere; C&S3 evokes a "medieval Europe" mood without any setting to back it up. The emphasis on the character's social status when growing up, the admittedly Christianity-influenced priests and Celtic-influenced druids, equipment lists and many other details contribute to the game's ambience.
Character creation in C&S3 involves 21(!) distinct, well-explained steps and five different "historic" and "heroic" points systems for generating characters. These steps cover basics such as race (human, elf or . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 17, 1998
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