Still undecided as to whether or not to become a registered member at this website? Read o­n and you'll find out about all the great things you can get after registering...

Remember, registration is completely free with no hidden strings attached! This is an advert-free, not-for-profit website and we plan to keep it that way.

We will not sell o­n your details to other organisations and there are no banner adverts to monitor your activity.

 My Hovel

When you register, you get your very own hovel in our castle where you can do the following:

• Change number of tutorials displayed o­n the homepage
• Add your own personal menu to the home page
• Change your personal information, contact details and password at any time
• Choose your own personal avatar from our selection of over 400 quality images
• Change the way the site looks by selecting from a number of themes
• Configure how comments will appear in tutorials

 Themes

One very nice feature of your hovel is the ability to rebrand the entire site by selecting a different theme, some of which are shown below:

Stronghold Crusader	Stronghold Original
Rusty
Aqua 5	3D Fantasy

Click o­n any theme above for a bigger picture...

 Online Games

Registered members can play numerous online games here on the website. High scores are shown on the home page so you can compete against your friends for the best scores! A small selection of the available games are shown below:

Space Invaders	Pacman
Bulbs Away
Smack the Penguin 5	Formula 1

 Post in Our Forums and Upload Images

As a registered member you can post new topics or reply to existing topics in our forums. We have forums dedicated to all versions of the game, technical and beginner advice, scenario design (map making) and general discussions in The Grand Hall.

One of the best features of our forums is that you can upload images and files directly to your posts - no more searching around for temporary storage locations! You can also add your own opinion polls to topics you create to get feedback from other site visitors.

Our forums are frequented by some of the best map makers and game players around so you can be sure of a quick and comprehensive response to any questions of problems you may have.

 Hand-Picked Fully Tested Downloads

Registered members gain access to our hand picked downloads section - every single map has been playtested by our team and each o­ne comes with a mini-map and description. If you are tired of digging through hundreds of low quality or broken maps while trying to find a good o­ne, then look no further!

We are proud to host the maps from the former Sword and Pistol website and Crusader Planet (both of sites closed down a while ago), along with all the music from all versions of the game.

Our downloads system allows you to search for maps, view popular maps (based o­n downloads) and list maps added recently. You can rate any download to say whether you thought it was worthwhile or not.

We have a growing number of special utility maps and other cool things in our downloads section - these allow map makers to introduce unique features in to their maps.

 Community

Not o­nly will you join the friendliest Stronghold community o­n the Internet, you'll also be able to keep in touch with them using our neat "Community" feature which appears in The Keep.

This feature lists all the residents currently in the Keep, along with how many travellers are around. Clicking o­n the  button next to any registered member allows you to send them a private message. If you see someone o­nline who you chat to a lot, you can add them to your neighbours list by clicking the  button next to their name.

 Private Messaging

Our site offers a free private messaging service where you can send any number of private messages to any of your friends o­n the site.

 Competitions

Take part in our regular competitions such as screen caption contests and map making contests. All winers are awarded a virtual trophy in our o­nline trophy room.

 Writers' Guild

Registered members can submit stories, poems or any other literary content to our Writers' Guild in order to showcase it to other site members.

 Show and Hide Menus

If you don't use o­ne of our menus, why bother downloading it each time you view a page o­n our site? Simply click the button next to any menu to hide it. Clicking the button will make it re-appear again! You can see an example in the theme images above.

 Strict Code of Conduct

This website has a strict Code of Conduct which includes the following:

• We will never give your personal details to any other organisation.
• We will never display banner adverts
• We will keep the site a safe place for younger visitors, ensuring that no swearing or other obscene material appears o­n our site

For full details see our Legal Info section and our Site Rules pages.

 Registering is Easy (and free, and safe...)

Before registering, or should you have any problems with registration, we recommend reading our online help o­n the registration process.  Please make sure you enter a correct and working email address as part of the sign-up process otherwise you will never receive your login details.

Please note that you must enable "cookies" o­n your web browser in order for the registration process to work.  For more details, please check your web browsers' documentation or o­nline-help.

To register, simply click here then fill in the short form. You will receive an email confirming your account details and then you can start using all the great features mentioned above.