Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
CONAN And the Shrunken Head
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6121061" data-attributes="member: 92305"><p>Here's a little something that both might be fun and might help with my campaign.....</p><p></p><p>As you may or may not know, I'm running a campaign set during the Hyborian Age, focusing on a clan of Cimmerians, using Mongoose's Conan The Barbarian Roleplaying Game Second Edition.</p><p></p><p>I'm creating the next adventure for my crew, and it features exploration of an abandoned Witch's hut that they are going to find out in the deep, dark woods. Of course, the players will not know it's a Witch hut at first--I'm setting up a mystery. Who lives here? Why do they live all alone? What is all that stuff? Wait....I smell sorcerery!</p><p></p><p>The place is made of twisted limbs and weeds, almost as if the hut grew out of the foilage. How did the owner get that to happen? There are fetishes and trinkets all over the place. Jars with....what? Animal organs? A large tree outside has had its bark replaced with all these dead birds, tacked to the tree, full wingspan displayed.</p><p></p><p>You get the idea.</p><p></p><p>Inside, the characters are going to find a curious item: It's a shrunken head on a leather loop. A necklace. The head is about the size of an egg (the type you crack open and have for breakfast). Remember that large stone--the Serpent's Eye--that first Valeria then Conan wears around their neck in the 1982 Conan movie? That's about how big I'm thinking this head looks.</p><p></p><p>Inspection of the head shows that it is expertly carved out of wood--what type of wood, it's hard to tell--nothing from around here. These Cimmerian woodsmen would know. Exotic wood. Or, maybe it's petrified. Either way, it has a sense of extreme age about it.</p><p></p><p>As it should be, I rarely put sorcererous items into my Conan game, but with this head....I'm thinking it should be something special. Now, I don't want it to be UNIMAGINABLY POWERFUL, like the Mask of Acheron or the Heart of Ahriman. I'm thinking more like that gem in the 1982 movie--the Serpent's Eye. I always got a sense that it was imbued with some magical property--but I could never decide what.</p><p></p><p>I've got a couple of ideas for this head in my game, but I don't want to share them right now. I want to hear if you have any fresh ideas--anything that just speaks "Conan".</p><p></p><p>I'm also thinking that this might be an item that the character who finds it will keep, and possibly wear, for a long time without finding out "what it does".</p><p></p><p>As for its function, I'm thinking the sorcerous power is either someting mild that helps or hinders the character in the game (for example, a +1 or +2 to all Bluff checks--but as GM, I'll never tell the player that he's getting the bonus), or its something meant for a specific purpose (it's a key...bring it in front of a certain door, and the head utters a sentence that freaks everyone out as it opens the door).</p><p></p><p>Don't let those two ideas sway your creative process.</p><p></p><p>What do you think this head should be? What seems "right" for a Conan game?</p><p></p><p>Get creative. Use your noggin.</p><p></p><p>What's your input?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 6121061, member: 92305"] Here's a little something that both might be fun and might help with my campaign..... As you may or may not know, I'm running a campaign set during the Hyborian Age, focusing on a clan of Cimmerians, using Mongoose's Conan The Barbarian Roleplaying Game Second Edition. I'm creating the next adventure for my crew, and it features exploration of an abandoned Witch's hut that they are going to find out in the deep, dark woods. Of course, the players will not know it's a Witch hut at first--I'm setting up a mystery. Who lives here? Why do they live all alone? What is all that stuff? Wait....I smell sorcerery! The place is made of twisted limbs and weeds, almost as if the hut grew out of the foilage. How did the owner get that to happen? There are fetishes and trinkets all over the place. Jars with....what? Animal organs? A large tree outside has had its bark replaced with all these dead birds, tacked to the tree, full wingspan displayed. You get the idea. Inside, the characters are going to find a curious item: It's a shrunken head on a leather loop. A necklace. The head is about the size of an egg (the type you crack open and have for breakfast). Remember that large stone--the Serpent's Eye--that first Valeria then Conan wears around their neck in the 1982 Conan movie? That's about how big I'm thinking this head looks. Inspection of the head shows that it is expertly carved out of wood--what type of wood, it's hard to tell--nothing from around here. These Cimmerian woodsmen would know. Exotic wood. Or, maybe it's petrified. Either way, it has a sense of extreme age about it. As it should be, I rarely put sorcererous items into my Conan game, but with this head....I'm thinking it should be something special. Now, I don't want it to be UNIMAGINABLY POWERFUL, like the Mask of Acheron or the Heart of Ahriman. I'm thinking more like that gem in the 1982 movie--the Serpent's Eye. I always got a sense that it was imbued with some magical property--but I could never decide what. I've got a couple of ideas for this head in my game, but I don't want to share them right now. I want to hear if you have any fresh ideas--anything that just speaks "Conan". I'm also thinking that this might be an item that the character who finds it will keep, and possibly wear, for a long time without finding out "what it does". As for its function, I'm thinking the sorcerous power is either someting mild that helps or hinders the character in the game (for example, a +1 or +2 to all Bluff checks--but as GM, I'll never tell the player that he's getting the bonus), or its something meant for a specific purpose (it's a key...bring it in front of a certain door, and the head utters a sentence that freaks everyone out as it opens the door). Don't let those two ideas sway your creative process. What do you think this head should be? What seems "right" for a Conan game? Get creative. Use your noggin. What's your input? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
CONAN And the Shrunken Head
Top