By Crom! Modiphius is Making a New CONAN RPG

Modiphius Entertainment will be producing the newest Conan roleplaying game. Titled Robert E. Howard’s CONAN Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of, the game is planned for an August 2015 launch, and will focus on Howard's original stories using the 2d20 game system, the cinematic roleplaying rules devised by Jay Little (Star Wars: Edge of the Empire) for Mutant Chronicles. "Modiphius is already working on the roleplaying corebook for Robert E. Howard’s CONAN Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of to be released this Fall. A Kickstarter is planned for the summer to fund a larger range of roleplaying supplements, campaigns, and accessories to follow the core book."

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They've got quite a team assembled: Timothy Brown (designer of the Dark Sun setting), Robert E. Howard scholar and essayist Jeffrey Shanks, Jason Durall (Basic Roleplaying, Serenity, The Laundry), and Chris Lites (Paizo, Savage Worlds, Omni, Slate). Shanks, the HOward cholar, will approve all material and ensure it remains true to the spirit of the original texts. This is, of course, not Conan's first outing as an RPG. There were Conan D&D adventures in the 1980s (when the Schwarzenengger movies were very popular), and a Conan RPG by TSR in 1985; there's been a GURPS Conan, and Mongoose Publishing's successful Conan RPG line with numerous editions and supplements. Conan first appeared in the pulp fiction magazine Weird Tales in 1932.

More info here.

 

[moldyderp]

Conan might have a big year. They had a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of last year for their existing board game, their Kickstarter campaign for the new board game just ended a few minutes ago and is now the most funded board game on Kickstarter ever, the upcoming RPG, and we'll likely see filming of the new movie this year, too.

 

[mrm1138]

Conan might have a big year. [snip] ...and we'll likely see filming of the new movie this year, too.

Really excited about the new movie, but I was disappointed to hear that the producer had said that Legend of Conan will be less like Robert E. Howard's stories and more like John Milius's original film. Not that that's entirely a bad thing,—after all, it was the 1982 movie that got me interested in the character in the first place—but I'd really love to see a live action version of the property that truly stays loyal to the original stories. In fact, I'd love it if it were a faithful adaptation of The Hour of the Dragon.

 

[Water Bob]

The 2d20 System worries me. From what I've seen, it's a turn off.

 

[CoreyHaim8myDog]

What bothers you about it, Water Bob?

 

[Water Bob]

What bothers you about it, Water Bob?

It's fiddly and gimmicky. It claims to enhance roleplaying, but it seems to me that it is focused on dice rather than player action. I think the meta-gaming points (Threat Poiints) that build up put pressure on the GM to come up with some reason to use those points rather than have those things come naturally from the game. For example, there are times with d20 that I will say a player failed a roll so bad that he startled the guard down the hall. And, there are times when a bad failure is just considered a failure, and we move on. It depends on the GM. I don't like that players always know the target difficulty before they roll.

 

[JeffB]

I think the threat points going to the gm when the players use their "hero pointts" is fantastic. But I am not a big fan of simulation, either.

The rest of the mechanics in the new game turn me off. Way too fiddly.

That said,I dont think there has been any decent Conan game system ever that models the fiction of a Conan, (or a John Carter,or Elric).Exemplars and Eidolons would be my choice.

 

[mrm1138]

That said,I dont think there has been any decent Conan game system ever that models the fiction of a Conan, (or a John Carter,or Elric).Exemplars and Eidolons would be my choice.

Out of curiosity have you (or anyone else, for that matter) tried Barbarians of Lemuria? I've only looked through the rules a bit, but I definitely like what I see. (What can I say? I like mechanically light systems that tend to stick with good, old six-siders!)

 

[JeffB]

I have not played it. I recall browsing through it or maybe a pdf or something a long time ago. Didnt inspire a purchase, but it may be a good game in play, IDK.

Y ou should check out Exemplars &Eidolons. Very light, and works with all the older D&D books..2e and previous

 

[Water Bob]

I think the threat points going to the gm when the players use their "hero pointts" is fantastic. But I am not a big fan of simulation, either.

The rest of the mechanics in the new game turn me off. Way too fiddly.

That said,I dont think there has been any decent Conan game system ever that models the fiction of a Conan, (or a John Carter,or Elric).Exemplars and Eidolons would be my choice.

I think Mongoose's d20 3.5 Conan RPG is fantastic. It was the game that brought me to d20 (I came in late, avoiding most of the 3E era because of the crunch and learning curve), and now that I've seen other d20 system, the Mongoose d20 Conan game is the best version of d20 that I've seen ever printed (including D&D 3/3.5E and Pathfinder). It's a fantastic version of the rules.

Of course, I do like simulation.

And...I like rules-lite, too. I enjoy both styles of gaming. They both have their selling points.

I think a great rules-lite system for a new Conan game would be the D6 system, originally used for WEG's Star Wars and Indiana Jones games. It is quick and easy to use. Easy to teach. If you like simulation and crunch, the game can be tuned that way. If you just want a swashbuckling, fly by the seat of your pants type of game, then D6 can do that too.

D6 is probably the best game engine I've ever seen. It's too bad that it is not used for more games.

 

[mrm1138]

I think a great rules-lite system for a new Conan game would be the D6 system, originally used for WEG's Star Wars and Indiana Jones games. It is quick and easy to use. Easy to teach. If you like simulation and crunch, the game can be tuned that way. If you just want a swashbuckling, fly by the seat of your pants type of game, then D6 can do that too.

I recently downloaded the D6 rules from DriveThruRPG—wonderfully free!—and I really like what I see so far! I half considered using the rules for my next campaign, but since half of my group consists of people who were completely new to tabletop roleplaying up until we started playing D&D 5e a few months ago, I decided to stick with what they're used to for now. I'm thinking I might use D6 for a space opera campaign at some point in the future, though.