CONAN! The 4th Most Anticipated RPG Of 2016 Funds In Two Hours! Preview Here!

The fourth most anticipated tabletop roleplaying game of 2016, Robert E. Howard's Conan Roleplaying Game from Modiphius Entertainment, has hit Kickstarter and funded almost immediately (that's no surprise - Modiphius, like Monte Cook Games, has mastered the art of the Kickstarter and runs regular blockbuster crowdfunding campaigns). There have been multiple Conan games over the years, of course; this particular one is, in the publisher's words, "Conan roleplaying as Robert E. Howard wrote it – savage pulp adventure battling ancient horrors in the Hyborian Age". The company has also lined up a stellar collection of artists, so it promises to be a beautiful book when it arrives. I have a couple of pages preview of the upcoming QuickStart.

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As I mentioned, it has funded already, so it's already ploughing into the stretch goals - a standalone art book, a campaign book called Conan the Thief, a double-sided Hyborian map, and so on. There's apparently a free QuickStart sample, but it won't be available until Thursday.

So what do you get for your money? For £15 you get the full core book PDF, and for £30 you get the hardcover. It's a 368-page book, full-colour. Alternatively you can get the art book in print for £40; and a whole bunch of combinations of books, PDFs and stuff at different pledge level.

The game uses Modiphius' own 2d20 system (that's the system in Mutant Chronicles 3E, John Carter Warlord of Mars, etc. - roll two d20s, roll as low as possible on each – the more dice that roll low, the more success); it's based on Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories.

Modiphius has kindly sent along a preview of a few pages of the upcoming QuickStart!

 

[machineelf]

The first paragraph in the Hyborian Age chapter reads, "but the great black vale of eternity remains.."
The great black valley of eternity? Ugh.
I'll be backing this, for sure, but that bugs me.

"Vale" is a word. It is a shorthand reference to "valley."

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/vale

 

[jdurall]

The first paragraph in the Hyborian Age chapter reads, "but the great black vale of eternity remains.."
The great black valley of eternity? Ugh.
I'll be backing this, for sure, but that bugs me.

It is a bit purple, but I should emphasize that one of our core goals is to emphasize the nihilism that REH injected, time to time, into the Hyborian Age.

Read all at once, a reader might be taken aback by how often Conan and characters have these dreadful glimpses into an unimaginably vast and cold universe, filled with malign horror, or worse... cosmic indifference.

 

[CapnZapp]

As a huge REH fan, this looks incredible.

But I know nothing about 2d20 as a system.
1) is it a good/fun system
2) is it a good system for Conan in particular?

As for 1) go find reviews of Mutant Chronicles, which uses a version of the 2d20 system.

As for 2) early reports indicate the system might be a tad on the rules-heavy crunchy side for a sword'n'sandals game, but you'll have to form your own opinion.

 

[Curmudjinn]

"Vale" is a word. It is a shorthand reference to "valley."

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/vale

Not to come off snarky, but I literally have the definition within the question and I only had three sentences in the post. It's just an odd wording, like they meant to say veil, instead.

The layout looks great and I love quality physical books, a reason why I enjoy FFG and C7 products.

I missed out on the quickstart guide to Mutant Chronicles, which would have gave me a better understanding of the rules before I picked up all of the books. I'm wary of grabbing them now, without an idea. They look incredible though, and would sit nicely next to my Warzone cards.

 

[modiphius]

The Quickstart for Conan will be online tomorrow for you to check out!

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Always good to see a new Conan RPG! I do have a question for you, [MENTION=6696016]modiphius[/MENTION]...with regards to the PDF: is it "layer-friendly"? Meaning, can I turn off all the fancy background and boarder stuff in particular, but art would be another layer I'd like to turn off sometimes. With all the modern "oooh...lookit!!...shinneeeyyyyy" emphasis that's somehow equating to "quality", it seems the idea of a book (re; pages with words on it) seems to get secondary status. I'm getting on in age, and all the small text, coloured backgrounds, etc...make it more and more difficult for me to read easily (don't get me started on all the glossy-pages hardbacks...er...sorry... ). I've only found a handful of PDF's that actually use what they can do (re: customization from the readers perspective).

Please, please, please, have an option in the PDF to turn off background/art/boarders for us old folks with less-than-crisp eyesight.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[CoreyHaim8myDog]

The first paragraph in the Hyborian Age chapter reads, "but the great black vale of eternity remains.."
The great black valley of eternity? Ugh.
I'll be backing this, for sure, but that bugs me.

What bothers you? Vale is a term Howard used.

 

[modiphius]

Yes Vale is a well used term
[MENTION=45197]pming[/MENTION] - yes we always do 'printer friendly' versions. We usually include art in the printer friendly versions but will look at that for Conan

 

[Consona]

As a huge REH fan, this looks incredible.

But I know nothing about 2d20 as a system.
1) is it a good/fun system
2) is it a good system for Conan in particular?

IMO: the basic 2d20 mechanic is really good, one of the best I know, even the implementation of skills into the roll, etc., but the system as a whole, like the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edtion, is way too crunchy. So I'm waiting for the official Savage Worlds conversion hoping the level of crunch will be lower or more easily digestible. On the other hand I think the system does a great job supporting the atmosphere of the setting. You have visible and tangible meta-currencies for "bad things are going to happen/building paranoia" so the level of dread around the table is explicit. But the subsystems themselves are really crunchy, you have mandatory and elective and general and advanced skills and every skill has a skill tree and expertises and focuses and there are talents and... you know, your typical crunch-heavy system.

But I think the system can be really suitable for Conan. Modiphius always brings some nice ideas how to support the setting with rules, but maybe the high level of crunch is not so good for some fast and savage adventures, I don't know, it depends on your personal preferences and on the way they implement it into the rules. I'm really curious whether the rules will be very similar to Mutant Chronicles or somewhat different.

 

[modiphius]

IMO: the basic 2d20 mechanic is really good, one of the best I know, even the implementation of skills into the roll, etc., but the system as a whole, like the Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edtion, is way too crunchy. So I'm waiting for the official Savage Worlds conversion hoping the level of crunch will be lower or more easily digestible. On the other hand I think the system does a great job supporting the atmosphere of the setting. You have visible and tangible meta-currencies for "bad things are going to happen/building paranoia" so the level of dread around the table is explicit. But the subsystems themselves are really crunchy, you have mandatory and elective and general and advanced skills and every skill has a skill tree and expertises and focuses and there are talents and... you know, your typical crunch-heavy system.

But I think the system can be really suitable for Conan. Modiphius always brings some nice ideas how to support the setting with rules, but maybe the high level of crunch is not so good for some fast and savage adventures, I don't know, it depends on your personal preferences and on the way they implement it into the rules. I'm really curious whether the rules will be very similar to Mutant Chronicles or somewhat different.

I should point out there won't be a Savage Worlds version of Conan, we're only doing SW conversion of Mutant Chronicles. For Conan we're just focussing on 2d20.