Anyone playing in the CONAN world?

I don't see what the problem is with converting standard d20 D&D to Conan. Chuck out all the showy magic, chuck out most of the monsters, and chuck out classes that don't fit (e.g. Paladin) and you're largely there.

PCs should be largely Fighters, Rogues, and Barbarians. Spellcasters should be restricted to Divination, Abjuration, and Enchantment, with limited access to other schools; Necromancy and Conjuration (Summonning) are bad guy schools. Don't diminish the value of SFX: for example, that healing spell isn't really a spell, it's just a tonic you prepared earlier; equally, with that Raise Dead spell he wasn't quite dead after all.

Dark Seraph said:

I am in the market for a new campaign setting that is "low-magic" and "gritty" and I have been advised by a number of gamers that thrive in these Threads that the Conan Campaign Setting is one I should consider seriously. To assist me in making up my mind could someone who has played or gamed in this setting give me more details regarding the setting and its mechanics and the pros and cons of it from their experience and the precise books (and publisher) I should invest my hard earned RPG$ in?Thank you.
DS.

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DS

PRO's:
* Here's what clinched it for me: SOURCE MATERIAL. Every conan story from teh beginning of time is essentially an "adventure." I steal from the movies, comics, books, stories, and now we have gaming source material for d20. Since your group isn't going to be "conan" you can do whatever you want, but still have a very-hyborian feel.

* Players can read up on a story or two and really get the feel of the world. It's not like you have to read "all the books" or worse, if you're in a world with crappy novels (like Greyhawk), or MASSIVE books (like the FR) it's hard for players to get a cinematic visual and hence in those worlds there's just a "generic D&D feel."

* You get the prestige of playing in a world for ADULTS. Barbarians, savages, slaves, harlots and sluts, grim-gritty feel, no alignment constraints, and players that are forced to THINK rather than look to the wizard to solve every problem. No androgenous drawn-together scimitar wielding drow; no "kender-halflings", no magic missiles, no worrying about the party having too many magic items, no archmages, less ramping up monsters just to challenge a party that looks bored if they haven't been through the A-Z of the monster manual today.

* It's CONAN's world!

* It's pre-history earth, so you can draw from elements of historical earth without sounding cheezy (like all of the FR gods).

Here are the drawbacks:
* It's harder to find players for non-D&D settings (that's ALWAYS been my experience). My suggestion is that if you have to draw in players and you're using the CONANRPG rules, just put "NEw D&D Group forming" on your ad. At least you'll get some bites.

* The Conan RPG, other than the magic system, is essentially a book of tiny tweaks that may drive experienced D&D players nuts. My group was involved in the playtest and my players REVOLTED (especially with the pre-atlantean edition) and wouldn't play rules-just-to-tweak-rules.

* If I had it to do again, I'd probably run IRON HEROES in Hyboria. I'd like to see those kinds of battles and the ability to have low magic without the players like they're missing out on something (which the CONAN RPG actually brings to the table with their rulebook..but like I said, my players didn't want it).

* The sourcebooks (e.g. Stygia) have been pretty dry, but are full of ideas.

Overall, the WORLD and STORIES are what it's about. It's not about the rules (the rules don't make the game..although elves in hyboria would be moronic.

My players think it's cool-as-s*&^ to be able to play in this world and have read about things they know about.


jh

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Quartz said:

I don't see what the problem is with converting standard d20 D&D to Conan. Chuck out all the showy magic, chuck out most of the monsters, and chuck out classes that don't fit (e.g. Paladin) and you're largely there..

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That's been my argument all along. You don't need to create a new game system out of little tweaks to the d20 system to play in Hyboria. I think for the DM, the source material of the RPG is essential however.

Now that said, I understand Mongoose HAD to create a new system as that was their agreement with Conan properties.

Speaking of stuff that belongs, our group consists of:
Cimmerian bbn
Aesir bbn
Stygian rog/splthf (because we require 2 levels of non-spellcaster)
Zamoran rog
Kothian Swashbuckler/rog
Shemite swsh/rog
Khitain samurai (yea, he's sufferin')
Hyperborean warlock/fighter (because we require 2 levels of non-spellcaster)


What are your groups made up of?

jh


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Emirikol said:

Don't have my book here at work, but I'd be willing to be it would be easy to find out.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/conan/

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I located and dug out my copy of GURPS Conan. The publising date is 1989.

Emirikol said:

What are your groups made up of?

jh

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When we played...

Stygian Scholar/Sorcerer (me, when I was not GM)
Shemite Nomad (the other co-gm, when he was not GM)
Aesir Barbarian
Zamoran Rogue (died and was replaced by a) Zingara Noble (died and was replaced by a) Border {can't remember the name of his race, but the ones who live on the Thunder River in Aquilonia}
and occationally a Zamoran Pirate

Good times indeed

Quartz said:

I don't see what the problem is with converting standard d20 D&D to Conan. Chuck out all the showy magic, chuck out most of the monsters, and chuck out classes that don't fit (e.g. Paladin) and you're largely there.

PCs should be largely Fighters, Rogues, and Barbarians. Spellcasters should be restricted to Divination, Abjuration, and Enchantment, with limited access to other schools; Necromancy and Conjuration (Summonning) are bad guy schools. Don't diminish the value of SFX: for example, that healing spell isn't really a spell, it's just a tonic you prepared earlier; equally, with that Raise Dead spell he wasn't quite dead after all.

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I will agree with you... to a point. The classes in Conan are not anything special BUT they do add a lot of favor and some variety... so the Barbarian, Nomad, Pirate, Border, Soldier and Theif all feel similar but also different.

For those of you who campaign in Hyboria, I'm uploading a primitive pre-hyborian map. It will help your players realize where the major ancient emprires sat.

This is not the same as the KULL map. http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/Katl.htm

jh

Lots of good points here, but I just found this really funny:

Emirikol said:

You get the prestige of playing in a world for ADULTS. Barbarians, savages, slaves, harlots and sluts, grim-gritty feel, no alignment constraints, and players that are forced to THINK rather than look to the wizard to solve every problem. No androgenous drawn-together scimitar wielding drow; no "kender-halflings", no magic missiles, no worrying about the party having too many magic items, no archmages, less ramping up monsters just to challenge a party that looks bored if they haven't been through the A-Z of the monster manual today.

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Prestige? Because of a gaming choice?

I'm just wondering how that works. Do other gamers come up to you and say "You should be proud of what you're doing"? Do gaming fans ask for your autographs?

Just wondering

Emirikol said:

What are your groups made up of?

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Gunderman Soldier 3/Thief 1
Shemite Nomad 1/Borderer 3
Zamoran Thief 4
Kushite Barabarian 2/Pirate 2

shilsen said:

Lots of good points here, but I just found this really funny:
Prestige? Because of a gaming choice

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I think there is prestige in worlds. When you tell another gamer that you're playing in a particular world, their mind conjures images and concepts.

I think Hyboria has interesting images and concepts. I don't know many gamers who've read an REH conan story who say, "well, that's just not fairy-unicorny enough for me " The setting stands on it's own.

jh