Conan d20: What have been your experiences?

[GlassJaw]

The one thing that I am iffy about is the thorough, unapologetic stereotyping of races and archetyping of classes. In a Conan game, that's great. But if you are looking for a less Conan-esque game, the archetypes are a little annoying. You might feel a need to house rule those particular elements if you want the book for the game engine itself.

I agree somewhat with the classes but there does need to be a substantial list of races (or at least subraces) in the Conan world since they play a major factor in the stories.

As far as the classes go, I prefer the Grim Tales class system.

 

[radferth]

The classes are very Conanesque, and probably would need to be modified for playing in a different setting. Of course, I think it speaks well of the system that people even think of using it for other setting. In particular, I like the job they have done with making armor DR and giving a class-based defense bonus. I have looked into porting this portion to other d20 games I play, but have always balked, as I think the DR armor works best in human vs. human fighting, less well in a D&D-like setting with human vs. creature.

Has anyone else tried the class defense bonus/DR armor in a non-Hyborean setting?

 

[GlassJaw]

Has anyone else tried the class defense bonus/DR armor in a non-Hyborean setting?

More pimpin'!!

Check my sig.

 

[Akrasia]

... Some people hate it, because they feel tactical crunchy combat is antithetical to their idea of what a Conan rpg should be. I am not one of those people...

I'm one of those people who 'feel tactical crunchy combat' is not right for Conan. I'd rather use Cinematic Unisystem (or some other 'rules light-ish' system, like C&C or True 20) for Conan.

Having said that, though, Conan is pretty much the only 'crunchy' d20 game that I would consider running as a GM in the future.

 

[InzeladunMaster]

As Title. I just played it for the first time last night in an introductory solo deal. I really like what I've seen and how the rules reflect the flavor. We didn't really do any combat, however. So far, though, me likey.

Have any of you played it? Whaddya think?

I play it quite a bit and I have really enjoyed it. It has been a blast of fresh air for my game group, who have all grown a bit tired of D&D magic and magic-heavy games in general. We like having the magic primarily reserved for the villains and we love rushing in with our swords drawn, crushing our foes with mighty blows.

 

[Azgulor]

The classes are very Conanesque, and probably would need to be modified for playing in a different setting. Of course, I think it speaks well of the system that people even think of using it for other setting. In particular, I like the job they have done with making armor DR and giving a class-based defense bonus. I have looked into porting this portion to other d20 games I play, but have always balked, as I think the DR armor works best in human vs. human fighting, less well in a D&D-like setting with human vs. creature.

Has anyone else tried the class defense bonus/DR armor in a non-Hyborean setting?

I converted my Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign to Conan. I'm using the Thieves World Player's Guide to round out the non-warrior archetypes and to replace scholars since Conan's sorcery is typically corrupting. Magic in Kalamar is more in the "it's how you use it" category. So Priests, Mages, and Initiates are in instead of Scholars. Savants replace the non-magical Scholar and the Survivor class provides a "Common Man/Woman" that can keep up with the Conan classes. I had to figure out which Parry and Dodge progression to use for the TW classes and in a case or two had to adjust a hit die or add a bonus feat to stay on par with the abilities granted to the Conan classes.

The end result was much less work than I anticipated. It's worked out pretty well thus far. As a whole, I think it suits Kalamar better than core D&D since Kalamar focus on realism and D&D's High Fantasy/Fantasy Superhero Action Hour can shatter suspension of disbelief pretty quick. In general, Conan probably fits MOST fantasy settings better than D&D. Much like the approach taken by Harn, it's easier to add high fantasy elements in than to strip them out. With Conan you get a heroic, swords-n-sorcery baseline. Scale the fantasy up or down as needed.

Azgulor

 

[Iron_Chef]

I agree: Conan fits fantasy better than D&D. So does Harn. So does A Game of Thrones. So does Thieves' World. So does anything I could come up with in the next five minutes standing on my head. D&D has become a caricature of itself. I'm so sick of half-unicorn/half-red dragon paladin superheroes with +10 acidic vorpal double bladed bane weapons surviving a fight with 50 orcs and a wizard casting meteor swarm as the heroes fall 200 feet off a cliff into a volcano only to swim out without a scratch, LOL. It's koo-koo bananas, I tell ya! Like Super Mario Brothers Dungeon Racers. Quick! Eat the power-up! Quick! Jump over the pit! Quick! Loot the bodies! LOL