Project Complete

So, after many months and long hours of work, with passion and dedication, the Chivalry & Sorcery 5th Edition book has been sent up to the printer. The proof looks amazing and was so happy with how it looks. It was accepted with very few alterations required to the file, just three pages had minor issue with overprinting.

The print run will begin and then, in the new year books will appear!

It's been a wonderful project, I started playing C&S many years ago in 1982 with the second edition of the rules. I was taken in by the feel of the game and the storied that were told. This wasn't a hack and slash game of dungeons and a zoo of creatures to be defeated. This was game of politics, diplomacy, cunning stratagems, person interactions to build patrons and minions. Power grabs, network building, debates, courtly love and when it all went wrong...

Battle! This was the combat that stirred my blood in C&S, the fights were about things you had worked hard for, things that you die for before letting someone come and take them away. It was a real thing, emotions were high and the fights meant everything, you would be happy to lose your character for the things these battles were being fought over.

5th Edition has that same feel, that same essence of building something for your character that you would die for. It doesn't matter if you are Noble, Knight or guildsman, oaths sword mean something and your network of minions and patrons have taken long hard nights of gaming to develop. When threatened you come out fighting. It's so much more rewarding to sit back after a weekend of battles over things that matter, territory, the love of a lady, the honour of your mentor, your guilds rights. Even if you lose, you know the journey was a heroic one.

Don't get me wrong, I have slain an Orc or two in C&S but they're not the focus of the game, they are the things that get in the way of the important stuff. Getting that position as the Sheriff or Marshal, Making the Syndicate table for your guild, finally getting to meet the King, courting the lady pays off.

I hope, with all hope, that people who read and play C&S see it for it's power as a vehicle to take you into the period; to have you invest yourself into the character and develop the things that are important. It's a very different game but I think a more rewarding one. All the tools are there for you to construct a living breathing world for your characters to become invested in and hopefully contribute to; this should be a cooperative thing.

New year, new game, new world, new character with new allies, new enemies, new loves.

Merry Christmas and a Medieval Gaming New Year.