As far as I've understood, Aihrde is the base setting for Castles & Crusades, and has been described as a Greyhawk alternative for people who just need an easy-to-grasp background for adventures in any D&D/OSR system.

Does anyone here have opinions about its advantages and disadvantages?

Yes. I am currently running a C&C campaign set in Aihrde.

I think all reviews are subjective, so I'm going to tell you what I like about it and the "theorize" some potential cons.

• There is both a full Codex and a Player's Guide. This is fantastic for character creation where players can get a solid overview without having to dive into the details.
• The Andanuth - the story of the beginning is very thorough and creative. I mined several adventure ideas from it. The world has a solid theological "spine" to hang legends on.
• Enough detail to use the nations and areas with enough room to easily create my own stuff.
• Multiple cultures across the various continents that can easily accommodate the various "medieval fantasy" tropes.
• Monsters & Treasures of Aihrde! Setting specific work already done for you. Also Rune Magic supplement is designed to be used in Airhde.
• Goblins and Dwarves have a common ancestry and there is a race of Immortal Goblins; this can provide fresh encounters for grognards ("wow, that Goblin is scrappy and SMART!")
• The new classes in the PG are interesting and also help support racial archetypes.
• There are two series of Adventures (A and C) set in Airhde if you're so inclined. Both have beginning adventures IIRC so you can start there and expand out as the players explore.

Cons

• The calendar takes a moment to piece together including the moon cycles. I whipped one up if your interested, just PM me. Also, bespoke calendars have a small learning curve.
• Like all good "old school" settings, you need to do a little study to start so you can use the setting consistently.
• It is "vanilla". This is helpful for us that have played in iconic D&D settings, but it could be construed as too generic for those looking for something more original.

We're enjoying the setting thus far.

Pros:
- Wonderfully generic and vanilla, so it's easy to put whatever else you want into it.
- Pretty thorough and interesting creation history and theology.
- Lots of material available for it.
Cons:
- Lacks a distinct flavor.
- The Codex of Aihrde book is the most boring thing I've read by Troll Lord Games with too much focus on the gods and not much about present day, real world Aihrde.
- Lots of errors and inconsistencies in the maps and other published material can be frustrating if you're looking for a system to run as is out of the box.

I really don't understand why people don't get the cultures of Aihrde. The very first thing that came to mind for me when I read the ancient histories of Aihrde was the movie Legend, you know, the one with Tom Cruise, and Tim Curry as the Demon Lord, and Mia Sara, and the Unicorns and the dark dark evil Goblins. That was my very first impression of what living in Aihrde was all about, and set the spirit of the game that I needed to convey for players of the game. We meet the Demon Lord from Legend, his name in Aihrde is Unklar, and well, we just take it from there. Then I ran a campaign for it, and started the game in Kayomar in the Broken Steppes in a valley at a small farm keep fairly close to the Darkenfold. I added in some medium sized towns, Gattia on north shore of the Shelves of the Mist River, and Penslax a religious town, on West bank of the Danua River almost due east of the Darkenfold. This is the default locale for most of my C&C games.

This particular area is held by the Knights of Luther as well as the Paladins of the Dreaming, and the Knights of the Flame. Far to the East is the Capitol, the city of Du Guesillon. This entire area kind of has a High Germanic vibe to it, and with the Capitol having a French style name of Du Guesillon, I opted to go with the Franks, and men and kings having the style of Charlemagne as he historically led and united France. So, annnncccciennnnt medieval france/germany, with the demon from Legend haunting the entire areas. Two additional warrior factions I include for my campaigns include the Knights of the North Mark, and the Knights of the South Mark. Both which have banners and standards that match The Kayomar standard, but in different colors, The checker pattern for the Knights of the South Mark are Blue and Green, and the checker patterns for the Knights of the North Mark are Yellow and Black.

I grew up in Germany, being born there, and living there for seven years before my tenth birthday in West Germany, First until 1966 living in West Berlin, and from 1969-1974 I lived along the Main close the the Rhein river in Frankfurt Germany, which was just about 50km, from Charlemagne's Capitol in what is now known as Aachen. I learned German history first, in German, so was well versed in the early history of German Knights and such. They were a quarrelsome lot, and from the time of the Carolingians from 600 right up until the German Unification in 1872 were pretty much a loose confederation of Baronies, Freeholds, and City-States being managed by whatever family (or religious order) could control the people, and the land around it, by whatever means possible. The Vikings and Saxons raided into Frankish Germany like everywhere else, and were pushed back pretty much everywhere, except in Normandy. While the Vikings and Danes twice sacked Paris the new Capitol of the Carolingian empire after it was moved from Aachen, they never did quite manage to push down into the ancient Frankish homeland along the Rhein valley and had to content themselves with going around the heartland of the Frankish kingdoms along the Atlantic Coast and taking at last Aquitaine, before finally sailing off into the Mediterranean around the time of the second Crusade. The Holy Roman church moved in to Frankish Germany from the South around 775 or so, originally at the invitation of Charlemagne himself. Many high-level clerics who owed their allegiance to the Pope controlled most of the larger German cities by the time of the first crusade in 1099, but they did not control many of the smaller Counties or Baronies.

I kind of envision Kayomar being very much like the Frankish Kingdom mentioned above with many proud lords, barons, counts, and knights, mixed with clergy, and wizards, who clash often over petty disagreements, but who will unite in the face of a truly evil foe (Like Unklar) for example...

Finally, when I started this campaign in 2001, for the farmstead I used the Judges Guild Frontier Forts of Kelnore fort, and renamed it as the farmstead. I ran a couple of one-shot adventures in 2006 at Origins for this, that included werewolves and vampires which gave the whole setting a kind of Ravenloft spin, and it was still a tremendous success with about five of my seven players going straight down to the Troll Lords Booth at Origins after my game, and picking up the C&C books.

Quote from: trechriron;928469I have to run out for a few, I will edit and update the post on my return.

I'm still interested.

Quote from: GameDaddy;928507Long interesting post

Sound like a lot to my tastes. You have peaked my interest.

Quote from: trechriron;928469

• Monsters & Treasures of Aihrde! Setting specific work already done for you. Also Rune Magic supplement is designed to be used in Airhde.

Could you give an example of a cool monster that helps define the setting while still preserving that vanilla purity?

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;928648Could you give an example of a cool monster that helps define the setting while still preserving that vanilla purity?

All the listings have an "In Aihrde" section that helps give context for the creatures BUT allows them to be used generically in other settings if you wish.

Here are a couple excerpts from the forthcoming Monsters and Treasures of Airhde guide;

AMNUG
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1-8
SIZE: M
HD: 2(d6)
MOVE: 30 ft.
AC: 14
ATTACKS: 2 bite (1d4)
SPECIAL: Climbing, Deepvision, Detection, Scent
SAVES: P
INT: Low
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
TYPE: Magical Beast
TREASURE: 2
XP: 15+2

Amnug are goblin hounds. They are small, only standing 18 inches or so at the shoulder, and rarely grow over three feet long. They have six legs, two heads and a long spiked tail. The heads are heavy, and each sports a mane of hair eerily reminiscent of a beard. With narrow eyes and long protruding snout they somewhat resemble a weasel. Their feet have no pads but resemble those of a gnarled goblin hand. These clutching fingers allow them to climb and move through rough terrain with ease. Their tails split after a few inches into two very long, usually 4-5 feet, appendages that serve the creature's hunting design.

Their narrow, hairless tails are highly sensitive to motion of any kind. When hunting, the Amnug settles its tails upon the ground "listening" for motion in the earth. They can detect movement up to 200 feet away (see below).

The Amnug are pack creatures. They travel singly or in groups up to 8. The packs always consist of one dominate female and the rest submissive females or males. Litters of pups are driven from the pack as soon as they born to fend for themselves.

COMBAT: The Amnug lay in wait, tails upon the ground, sensing movement on trails, paths, roads, or the like. When they detect motion, they speak to each other in broken goblin, arranging the pack to attack the prey from all sides. They stalk a prey until they deem they can surround it and attack it from all sides.

CLIMBING: The Amnug are skilled climbers. They scale as rangers do.

DETECTION: The Amnug's tails are very sensitive to any movement and when they are lying still they can detect normal motion up to 200 feet away. If they are within 75 feet they can detect slight motion and if they are within 25 feet they can detect very slight movement or noise, even something as low as a heartbeat.

AMNUG IN AIHRDE

The goblins bred the Amnug in the pits of their holes during the long reign of the Goblin Kings. The goblins designed the Amnug specifically to hunt dwarfs underground, to sniff them out so that the goblins could kill them. Good Amnug managed to find dwarfs hidden in secret chambers by noticing a heart beat through the stone.

The dwarfs never developed a good defense against the creature's ability to hunt them out. During the long reign of the Goblin Kings, when those foul peoples controlled much of the whole lands of Aenoch, few could stand against them and fewer still worked in concert. The Dwarfs remained scattered, in hiding, and rarely communicating. Even so, a class of hunter arose in the dwarf holds that, during the Great Wars that followed, became known throughout the kingdoms of both peoples, the Amtul, and they were distinguished by wearing the long tails of the Amnug as decorations.

Since the ruin of the Goblin Kingdoms, the Amnug have spread across Aihrde, becoming feral beasts. They still retain some of their knowledge of the goblin languages and some few dwarfs remember the art of hunting them and wear the prize of their tails upon their helms.

-----------------------------------------------

THE BLACK BREATH (Unklar's Breath, Breath of Despair)
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1
SIZE: Medium
HD: 1d10
MOVE: 20ft.
AC: 17
ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL: Paralysis, Natural Invisibility
SAVES: M
INT: Low
ALIGNMENT: None
TREASURE: XP: 17+2

The black breath is a mindless manifestation of sorcery. Created with intent, wizards use these creatures to guard places of import, i.e. portals to treasure rooms, treasure chests, jewelry boxes, spell books, or even places as exotic as the doors to the outer planes. They are almost undetectable until they come to life, bound, as they are, in the drop, dried or fresh, of an evil mage's blood. Once concocted, the wizard leaves the blood stain upon the desired location, marking it. When that locale is disturbed, the black breath comes to life, pouring forth as a great frothing cloud of dark, purple mist.

Creating these creatures is no easy task and wizards must spend long hours of toil to bind the living properties of their blood into the poisonous form that the black breath will take, and to further bind that form into a singular drop of blood. They cannot exist in company with each other as the largest of any group absorbs its lesser kin and no wizard wishes to waste such a commodity.

Once placed, the enchanted drop of blood remains for eons if not disturbed, often long after the wizard is dead and turned to ash. If seen, they look like nothing more than a small dark stain. If a detect magic is cast in or around them, the spell reveals a magical weird where the drop lies, but it also triggers the creature to attack. Indeed, almost any action near the black breath disturbs it and draws it forth to attack. Rogues and other clever creatures can slip by the creature with a successful move silently check, but others will not be so lucky. Any amount of noise, from a boot scrape to a shout, brings the creature forth.

These creatures have tremendous value and are occasionally found on the open market where they bring anywhere from 500gp - 1000gp.

COMBAT: The black breath attacks by entering the mouth or nostrils of its victim, infecting their blood, and thereby paralyzing them. Holding one's breath will not keep the creature from entering the body. Though the creature can be hit by normal weapons, the most effective way of combating the creature is by casting a dispel magic, neutralize poison or remove disease upon it.

The black breath dies if it fails its save. The same spells cast on the droplet of blood, if undisturbed, will destroy the black breath as well. Once disturbed, the black breath attacks until destroyed or until it overcomes all of its opponents.

PARALYSIS: Those that inhale a black breath must make a successful constitution save or become paralyzed for 2d4 rounds. For each round paralyzed, the victim takes 1d4 damage as the breath begins to eat at the victim's vital organs. Elves and halfelves are vulnerable to this paralysis and suffer as do normal creatures. A remove curse, remove paralysis, dispel magic, neutralize poison or remove disease cures the victim of their paralysis.

NATURAL INVISIBILITY: A black breath is invisible in its droplet form. The creature looks so ordinary that it is not subject to a detect invisibility spell or any other spell. A true seeing reveals a bloodstain on the floor and what it is. Once the creature activates and comes forth as a mist, it is plain to see.

UNKLAR'S BREATH IN AIHRDE

The Arch-Mage Nulak-Kiz-Din created the black breath in order to guard his many treasure holds, towers, and places of power. Nulak was known to supply this precious commodity to his more powerful guild houses and to some of his greater servants, so the number of Unklar's Breaths are limitless. They are often stumbled across in places where that wizard or his servants are found. Many carry the breath as a holy item, praying to it or using it to channel that fell wizard to aid them in some dark cause. The folk of the Paths of Umbra and the Crna Ruk value these greatly and pay fortunes for them. casting a dispel magic, neutralize poison or remove disease upon it.

Thank you.

I must say, I do like it better when authors give a detailed written description of the creature's appearance instead of depending on an illustration.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;928750Thank you.

I must say, I do like it better when authors give a detailed written description of the creature's appearance instead of depending on an illustration.

Most of the creatures have a B&W illustration, but not all. But frankly, Imagination should trump illustrations. What the players come up with in their minds is way more entertaining an experience.

I know very little about Aihrde, but between the gazetteer and adventure outlines and what's been mentioned in this thread, I'm picking up this Tolkien-by-way-of-1980s-high-fantasy-movies (Labyrinth, Neverending Story, Legend, Willow) that I imagine must have been very common late in the life cycle of AD&D 1e and hugely influential in shaping AD&D 2e.

As the "new school" drifted into a hodgepodge of mostly self-referential tropes, and the OSR strongly claims kinship with classic pulp sword-and-sorcery and weird fantasy (Beyond The Wall notwithstanding), I gotta say it actually feels like a breath of fresh air.

Quote from: The Butcher;928829I know very little about Aihrde, but between the gazetteer and adventure outlines and what's been mentioned in this thread, I'm picking up this Tolkien-by-way-of-1980s-high-fantasy-movies (Labyrinth, Neverending Story, Legend, Willow) that I imagine must have been very common late in the life cycle of AD&D 1e and hugely influential in shaping AD&D 2e.

Sounds like something akin to Armchair Gamer's "Paladins & Princesses" flavor of D&D, as described here:

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?668828-Theory-Flavors-of-D-amp-D

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;928878Sounds like something akin to Armchair Gamer's "Paladins & Princesses" flavor of D&D, as described here:

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?668828-Theory-Flavors-of-D-amp-D

The "Paladin & Princess" era is the era that I really got into.  Reading that thread and the reference to Piestro (a forum member here) reminds me of a picture he posted when the 2nd edition reissue books came out- of him clutching all three close to his chest in a "these are MINE!" pose.  It was great:)

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;928878Sounds like something akin to Armchair Gamer's "Paladins & Princesses" flavor of D&D, as described here:

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?668828-Theory-Flavors-of-D-amp-D

I'm familiar with, and a big fan of AG's taxonomy, even if I'm at a loss as to which "flavor" is the D&D I run — probably mostly Knaves & Kobolds, with the odd foray into Dungeoncrawls & Demons and/or Paladins & Princesses (big fan of Galactic Dragons & Godwars but it has eluded me so far).

Quote from: RunningLaser;928883The "Paladin & Princess" era is the era that I really got into.  Reading that thread and the reference to Piestro (a forum member here) reminds me of a picture he posted when the 2nd edition reissue books came out- of him clutching all three close to his chest in a "these are MINE!" pose.  It was great:)

We should really have a Paladins & Princesses thread. What is the gaming canon of high/romantic fantasy D&D? Dragonlance, Blue Rose, Beyond The Wall? What else?

Quote from: The Butcher;928894I'm familiar with, and a big fan of AG's taxonomy, even if I'm at a loss as to which "flavor" is the D&D I run — probably mostly Knaves & Kobolds, with the odd foray into Dungeoncrawls & Demons and/or Paladins & Princesses (big fan of Galactic Dragons & Godwars but it has eluded me so far).

  They often mix and blend, or evolve from one to another.

QuoteWe should really have a Paladins & Princesses thread. What is the gaming canon of high/romantic fantasy D&D? Dragonlance, Blue Rose, Beyond The Wall? What else?

   I've got a fair chunk of Castles & Crusades material, and I think it could be a good natural baseline ... if TLG wasn't trying so hard to imitate the feel of Gygaxian 1E in their prose and presentation.

   I've got an alternate 13th Age setup designed for that feel in my head. I need to see about writing up that list of Icons and posting it for discussion ...