Game: Castles & Crusades Role-playing Game

Theme: OSR style set in a detailed home-brew world

Players: 5

The Lost Watchtower

"The Empire is gone. The roads still remember it."

Tone

Classic Sword & Sorcery • Frontier Exploration • Dangerous Wilderness • Dungeon Delving • Political Intrigue • Emergent Storytelling

Starting Level

1

Party Size

5 Players

Welcome to Ishara

The Empire of Xanadar has been dead for centuries.

Its roads still cross the wilderness.
Its towers still watch empty hills.
Its keeps still hide forgotten vaults beneath crumbling stone.

Most people know better than to disturb them.

The old roads belong to wolves, goblins, desperate bandits, and things with older claims than any king.

Yet treasure still lies where the Empire fell.

Artifacts.
Forgotten libraries.
Lost shrines.
Imperial vaults sealed by magic no one truly understands.

The bold grow wealthy.

The foolish disappear.

The Adventure

Merchants traveling the Old North Road have begun disappearing.

Some claim ordinary bandits.

Others whisper of ghosts wearing rusted Imperial armor.

A shepherd swears he saw lights burning atop an abandoned watchtower that has stood empty for nearly five hundred years.

Then came the strangest rumor of all.

Following heavy spring rains, part of a nearby hillside collapsed.

Ancient stonework has been exposed beneath the ruined tower.

Not everyone seeking those ruins intends noble purposes.

Bandit chiefs gather men.

Treasure hunters race north.

Local nobles quietly hire scouts.

Strange cloaked travelers have been seen asking questions in nearby villages.

Whatever lies beneath the tower has awakened the interest of far more than simple thieves.

Whether it holds forgotten riches, terrible secrets, or something best left buried remains to be discovered.

This Is an Old-School Campaign

This is not an epic story where heroes are destined to save the world.

Your characters are not chosen by prophecy.

No mysterious stranger knows your future.

No plot armor exists.

Instead, this campaign embraces the style of classic fantasy roleplaying.

Expect:

• Dangerous wilderness travel

• Careful resource management

• Exploration before combat

• Intelligent enemies

• Meaningful player choice

• Rumors that may or may not be true

• Multiple factions pursuing their own goals

• Treasure as the primary reward

• Retreat as a valid tactic

• Consequences that permanently shape the region

The world moves whether the party acts or not.

Every expedition changes something.

The World

The campaign takes place in Ishara, a land built upon the ruins of older civilizations.

Ancient empires have risen and fallen.

Forgotten roads stretch across untamed wilderness.

Independent towns survive through trade, courage, and luck while monsters, brigands, and ambitious powers compete for what remains.

History matters.

Politics matter.

Who controls forgotten relics may alter the balance of power far beyond a single village.