Chivalry & Sorcery - Third Edition (C&S3)

Third Edition (C&S3)

After the relative success of the second edition C&S sank into obscurity for a number of years, mainly from the lack of support of Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU). The game was finally reissued by Highlander Designs (HD), an American publishing house founded by GW Thompson. The authors are Ed Simbalist, Wilf Backhaus and GW Thompson. What is striking from the first reading of C&S3 is the almost complete disappearance of medieval references, the game was now very orientated toward the fantastic, imagination and even less near constant concerns of the previous editions, namely some historical realism and a strong smell of medieval Europeans. The magic has been significantly simplified. There is a new class of "General" magician, which sees itself as the archetype of the "classics" magicians found in other RPGs like AD&D. C&S3 sells well enough, given the reputation of the game and its base of loyal fans. These same fans will be on the mailing list of the "Loyal Order of Chivalry & Sorcery", created in September 1996 at the instigation of Wilf Backhaus, mailing list that will, for many years (until 2005, when the creation of the first forum of LOCS, posted by Ian Plumb), stimulate debate about C&S3 then C&S4, most players lamenting the disappearance of the medieval flavor and realism of the first two editions.

C&S3, established a system of "skills" which covers all areas of the game, fighting, magic, knowledge of geography, languages, dances and songs, everything a person is able to do or know, the list of those talents are not exhaustive. The talent system (called "Skillscape") uses a percentile die and a 10-sided die (D10) for all actions determined by talent, the D10 determining if the success (or failure) of talent is "critical" or not. This system, very flexible and very efficient, is a decisive contribution to C&S, which leads to both simpler (a single resolution system for all aspects of the game) and modernism (games of all time with an operating system talent).

Several extensions to the rulebook will be published with the label C&S3, but only one really holds the attention of the gaming community, that of "Bestiary," a collection of monsters similar to the AD&D Monster Manual. The Bestiary has a chapter on "Faeries", the fairy beings of Celtic legends, the descendants of the "Tuatha de Danaan," and the eternal war between the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court.