Castles & Crusades Rules Reference Sheets / Game Master Screen Inserts

"Spell Books" by Tsabo6

[updated 2/27/2026: portrait format now included in addition to the landscape format: DriveThruRPG]

Castles & Crusades is the perfect mid-point between enough rules and rules-light.  Still, my players and I sometimes need help to know what's what. To reduce time looking up rules at the table, I created these reference sheets. I also use them as GM screen inserts. 

Enjoy! 

Dungeoneering Dad's Castles & Crusades Reference Sheets: link 

Remember, you can get a free copy of the Players Handbook right here: link 

Castles & Crusades Spells Sheets by the Dungeoneering Dad

[Link to the sheets: Castles & Crusades Spell Sheets by the Dungeoneering Dad]

I've been on a bit of a tear making Castles & Crusades sheets (you can see the rest here: Double D's sheets).

Next up, I made spell sheets for use in your Castles & Crusades game. 

These sheets include:

• Spell Casting tracker sheet to track spells per day, spells expended, challenge levels, and concentration checks.

• Spell Book to track spell details available to your character!

• Spell Component log to track use of spell components (if you're hardcore!)

If you find issues, let me know and I’ll fix it!

    

Compact Castles & Crusades Compact Character Cards by the Dungeoneering Dad

[Updated 2/17/2026]

Link to the sheets: Castles & Crusades Character Record Cards by the Dungeoneering Dad

I worked up some small character cards for Castles & Crusades.   

I use these as Castle Keeper (aka DM / GM / judge) "cheat" sheets of the PCs, but they would also work well for NPCs.  They'd also be suitable for a player that loves something more simple than a standard character sheet.

I made two versions: one that uses the new "Reforged" term of "Disposition" term, and one that uses the OGL "Alignment" term.

Front

Back

Castles & Crusades Character Record Sheets by the Dungeoneering Dad

Link to the sheets: Castles & Crusades Character Record Sheets by the Dungeoneering Dad

As a teenager, I loved making character record sheets for D&D. Personal computers were still kind of new, so it was a game changer to produce a "professional" sheet at home! Plus, it was hard to get a hold of the official sheets. When you did, they were precious because you didn't have an unlimited supply.

The Internet changed all that and it became easier to find pre-made ones (official or otherwise).

Castles & Crusades is my favorite RPG, but I've never found a character sheet that was exactly what I wanted. I grew up playing AD&D and moved to 3rd Edition. When C&C first came out, it was often referred to as "3rd Edition Lite." That's what I like about it: it has the modernization of 3rd Edition, but plays faster.

However, most C&C character record sheets are set up closer to AD&D format, rather than something closer to 3rd Edition. The only ones I can find with the "3e format" are made by the Mad Irishman (link).

So, I sat down finally and made the ones that I want! You have can find them on DriveThruRPG here: Castles & Crusades Character Record Sheets by the Dungeoneering Dad

I updated the files to include two formats:

• One set with Secondary Skills and Advantages from the Castle Keepers Guide.
• One set with only core C&C content.

I'd love feedback or requests. 

 

 

NPC - Portia Fairchild, Halfling Wizard

My daughter (KamciazArt) drew up a picture of the NPC halfling wizard in our Castles & Crusades game.  Stats below!

Playing Cards for Dynamic Initiative

DD Note 9/6/2025: It was pointed out to me that Savage Worlds has been using playing cards for initiative for ages. 1.) I can't believe I forgot that... I have even played Savage Worlds before. 2.) the method detailed here is simpler. 

I've explained the differences below. 

DD Note 9/7/2025: I also just learned that Dragonbane, Year Zero, Twilight 2000 also use cards (I'm sure there are more).

I fully admit, I didn't reinvent the wheel here. This is just another spin on the concept.

I ran three games of Castles & Crusades at Gen Con 2025. (If anyone is curious, I ran each adventure in the Dwarven Glory series.)  It was a great time. One weird thing, though, is that I had occasional trouble with keeping track of initiative. 

Castles & Crusades uses dynamic initiative. Each round, the individual players and the Castle Keeper roll a d10 and people take turns from highest result to lowest.  

At home, I use tiles on the top of my GM screen to organize and display the order for each round. While displaying the order is handy, the process slows the game down. 

Since you're "on the clock" when running a game at a con, I decided not to do that and used the "traditional" method. That is, I verbally counted down from 10 to 1 and had the players chime in on their number to take their turn. 

Whether it was due to the fun of the game or fatigue of CKing three sessions back-to-back (as fun as it was), I had occasional trouble remembering where I was in the order of the round.

This got me revisiting an alternative idea I'd been mulling over - using playing cards to track initiative. I gave it a go last session with my local group and I think it worked pretty well.

Here's what I did:

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to determine order. Naturally, I used Spades. 

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to track order. I used a red suit (Hearts, I believe). 

• Each round, I shuffled the Spades and dolled them out to the players to determine who went first. The players kept their cards out in front of them, so it was pretty easy to see who was up.

• I stacked the Hearts from high to low and used them to keep track of where we were.

• After that, we repeated this each round.

While this was only one session, I think it worked well. It kept things moving quickly and made it easy to track turn order.  If you're looking for a way to speed up dynamic initiative, give it a try.  

How This is Different than Savage Worlds Initiative (and likely other games)

• Savage Worlds has a whole system based on using the deck of cards for initiative. I'm just replacing dice rolls.
• I don't use a whole deck of cards, only 13 from one suit.
• This eliminates ties (which can also slow down play, albeit not dramatically).

• I use a second set of 13 from one suit has a initiative tracker for myself.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 4 - Encounters

Slowing continuing onward with my Dungeon Master binder, next up: Encounters!

The Encounters section is not for the "core" module/adventure, but rather sandbox resources. These are random tables and other tools to help me figure out what happens to the party when they're traveling on the road or wilderness.

As always, a cover page with some inspirational art.  For this one, it's "Flight" by Jeff Fairbourn (heads up - some of his stuff is NSFW/weird).

I'm running a Haunted Highlands campaign, so I have a printout of its own random encounters section.

I have a few things from James Mishler Games. He has shifted his focus to ShadowDark completely, so these Castles & Crusades ones are no longer available.  That's a shame, because they're useful.

100 Exciting Encounters - 1st Level Encounters

I also have a few official ones by Troll Lord Games, which are also unfortunately unavailable.  

Castles & Crusades - Encounters: Bands of Orcs

Castles & Crusades - Encounters: Unusual Roadside Encounters

Although it's not in my binder because it's not a random table, it's worth mentioning Castles & Crusades Classic Monsters Encounters. It's a nice collection of "side treks" and lairs.

And then last, but not least a few gems by Azukail Games. This fellow cranks out a ton of reasonably priced and useful random tables. They give a bit of detail to get your Dungeon Master mind following. He makes things for just about every system you can think of and, if that isn't enough, many are system agnostic.

100 Random Encounters for on the Road or in the Wilderness

100 Encounters for the Borderland Regions

100 Encounters in a Fey Forest

100 Things a Wandering Monster is Doing

Next up - Treasure!

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 3 - NPCs

Alrighty, getting back to it - here is the next part in my Dungeon Master binder. NPCs!

Counter intuitively, the one key thing I do not have in my NPC section is a list of ready-to-go names. Why? Because:

1. I have names from the C&C Castle Keeper Screen in the Combat Section, and
2. I use Knave 2e for a ton of random tables (Knave 2e is an excellent toolbox for any D&D-ish game).

Another useful NPC source: Castles & Crusades NPC Almanac Sketches. While I didn't print it out for my binder (it's freaking large), this is a great resource worth having. Like most C&C material, it's easily usable with any D&D-related game (particularly those in the OSR).

Okay, so what do I actually have in the binder?  

Well, a touch of art of course. This one is by the ever-reliable Vigil Finlay.

First off, I have some homemade sheets detailing key players from Dirty Bowbe's Roadhouse in my Haunted Highlands campaign.

I have a few key pages from the The Miscellaneum of Cinder by Jeff Reints of Jeff's Gameblog fame. (I posted a link to the Scribd site version because the free copy at that Jeff posted on Lulu is now a dead link.)

• Namely, the Six Sages and...

• ... People to Meet.

Then I have two items by the ever-great DM Samuel (aka Iron Neuron Enterprises):

• Cults, Cultists, and Priests to Populate the Temples in Your C&C Game, and

• Thugs, Bandits, and Town Guards: Common Low-Level Human Opponents for Your C&C Game. 

These could just as easily be placed in the Encounters section of my binder, but I have them in the NPCs section for the time being.

While DM Samuel is typically a C&C gamemaster, these could easily be used in most D&D-style games.

And then last, but not least a few gems by Azukail Games. This fellow cranks out a ton of reasonably priced and useful random tables. These aren't bare bones tables. They give a bit of detail to get your Dungeon Master mind following. He makes things for just about every system you can think of and, if that isn't enough, many are system agnostic.

In my binder, I have:

• 100 NPCs To Meet On The Road Or In The Wilderness 

Here is an example:

• 100 Helpful Hirelings

Here is an example:

• 100 NPCs You Might Meet At The Tavern

Here is an example:

In the next post, I'll have more Azukail Games resources (and others).

Next up - Encounters!