with Stephen Chenault of Troll Lord Games
By Aaron T. Huss
The following interview originally took place at Gen Con 2012 and is being transcribed here for publication. Roleplayers Chronicle editor-in-chief Aaron T. Huss, shown below with the prefix RPC, is speaking with Stephen Chenault of Troll Lord Games, shown below with the prefix SC.
RPC: I see you have the new [Castles & Crusades] Player’s Handbook.
SC: For C&C we just released the new Player’s Handbook, full color, at Gen Con. This is our 5th printing of the Player’s Handbook, there’s not much rules changes but we’ve gone from black and white to a beautiful crisp interior with full color art, the whole nine yards with a full color spread on it.
RPC: Is it an actual revision or just a new printing?
SC: Just a new printing. We don’t have editions with Castles & Crusades. Every time we sell out of one printing we come out with another, clean it edit it a little bit, change the formatting a smidge…
RPC: Functionally it’s still the same?
SC: Functionally it’s still the same. There was a little bit of a shift between third and fourth printing but it’s [referring to the 5th printing book] not. This one’s big deal is that it’s all full color. We also have Classic Monsters has just hit a few months ago, that’s new. Also new at the show is Amazing Adventures, that’s our pulp Siege [Engine] game. It uses the Siege Engine which is the driving mechanic behind Castles & Crusades, Tainted Lands, Star Siege, Harvesters, Fields of Battle and Amazing Adventures is the pulp Siege, it’s Indiana Jones and that type of deal.
RPC: Straight pulp?
SC: Straight pulp. We already have the next adventure module set for Amazing Adventures in about three weeks and [GM] screens in about five.
RPC: That’s going to be your new ongoing series?
SC: Yes, absolutely. We kicked it up pretty good on that.
RPC: What else big do you have planned?
SC: We’ve got all kinds of stuff. We’ve got the Codex series which will explore different mythologies.. Germanic mythologies, Greek mythologies. The first one up is Celtic mythologies called Codex Druidium, it’s on the editors desk. We have Codex Germania is not far behind that. Jack of Lies by Casey Christofferson that’s a big adventure city setting we’re working on. And the two big books we’re working on right now are Rune Lore, which brings in a new type of magic into C&C called runic magic, and the Codex of Aihrde, which is our setting and that’s the map there [pointing to the map displayed at Gen Con]. The codex has been out forever, but we’re converting it to C&C now and coming out in hardback and the whole nine yards. You can do the Aihrde setting here in the After Winters Dark folio, but we’re going to do the full-blown thing, it’s about a 300-page book.
RPC: Are you planning updates to anything else to full color?
SC: What will happen next is that as each one sells out, we’ll convert and go color and then move it on. They’ll get the new logos, the new look and everything. Everything will go slowly off of the green and into a full color.
RPC: To the new format [referring to the style of the book cover]?
SC: Yeah, but there won’t be a lot of change if you’re happy with your 2nd printing, carry on you’re good to go.
RPC: Is the price point changing much?
SC: We went from $25 black and white on the Player’s Handbook, and that’s really all you really need to play C&C, to $29.
RPC: That’s not bad at all.
SC: Yeah, it will go up a few bucks, but nothing bad. We try to keep it very affordable.
RPC: What is Tainted Lands?
SC: Tainted Lands is a boxed set, it uses the Siege Engine just like C&C and Amazing Adventures, but it’s a horror setting; it was done by Jim Ward about two years ago, maybe a year and a half ago. Fields of Battle is miniature battle rules that uses Siege Engine, and that’s actually applicable to any game. If you play any other role-playing game and you want a miniature battle you can breakout Fields of Battle and you’re golden. Harvesters is anthropomorphic Seige Engine; if you want to play a squirrel, a mouse, a fox, that type of stuff. Star Siege is our science fiction Siege Engine.
RPC: What does the development schedule look like on those?
SC: Star Siege, we’re kind of going through and revising everything. The guy who wrote it is redoing it, we’re stepping away from the boxed set. He’s going to clean the rules up a bit and come out with a hardcover. Harvesters we’ve got an adventure on the table for that and a world setting called Wheat Hollow coming out. For Tainted Lands I haven’t decided yet, but we’re probably also going to step back from the boxed set and come out with a hardcover book. Fields of Battle will stay as-is and move on from there.
RPC: What’s in the [Tainted Lands] boxed set?
SC: Tainted Lands comes with a Game Master’s book, player’s book, and a setting book that explains how you can take your world and step into this kind of world of horror. Your character changes into a new type of character, but it uses the Siege Engine, has its own spells, and stuff like that; but it’s all twisted, it’s very very deadly. Jim Ward did a phenomenal job making it rough.
RPC: It’s survival horror.
SC: Yeah, it’s tough! Good stuff though… absolutely good stuff. But as of now we have a slew of modules [for C&C]. Bryan Young, who’s doing our Codex series, just released Goblins of Mount Shadow. Part 2, Crimson Pact, is on the editors desk. Part 3, I think he’s turned that in, I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. We have an absolute ton of stuff sitting on the dock, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
That’s it for this interview. I’d like to thank Stephen Chenault for taking some time to speak about what’s new with Troll Lord Games and giving us a little look at what’s coming for Castles & Crusades.
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