Conan d20

[redwing]

I picked up "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian" and read the first couple of short stories. After doing so, I have a little itch to run the Conan d20 game published from Mongoose. But before I run and buy the $50 Campaign Setting and the numerous supplemenst, I still have a couple of questions concerning the world.

I've drawn parrallels between some of the countries and historical cultures from the real world: Cimmeria = Celtic culture, Aesir/Vanir = Norse culture, Stygia = African culture
Are these right? What other kingdoms are in the world and how do they relate to historical cultures? Do these kingdoms seem to "flow together?" I'm not a big fan of FR just throwing in every culture for the option, it doesn't make sense and where each is geographically located, the cultures would have assimilated. Basically, is it logical?

What other elements make Hyboria any different than the common D&D world (other than low magic, grim 'n gritty)?

 

[MonsterMash]

The cultures in Hyboria matched to real world cultures:
Cimmeria - vaguely celtic
Aesir/Vanir - viking
Picts - North American Indians
Vendhya - India
Afgulistan - Afghanistan
Stygia - Ancient Egypt
Kush, Punt - Black African
Zingara - Spanish
Shem - Israel
Aquilonia - medieval France
Corinthia - Greece
Hyrkania - Turkish/Mongol
Khitai - Chinese

And I'm sure that others will filll in the gaps I've left, generally there are reasons where cultures have mixed or not mixed together and there is an avoidance of abrupt cultural borders (except for things like the Picts).

 

[Akrasia]

For loads of useful information on Hyboria (plus info on the different countries) go here:

http://hyboria.xoth.net/

(BTW I would say that the Shemites correspond to Semites in general, and not just Israelites/Hebrews. Gunderland is vaguely Scottish, I think, whereas Poitain is more like southern France. Argos is Greece. Iranistan is Persia/Iran. Etc.)

 

[Stone Angel]

I think one of the main differences about Hyboria and official dnd worlds is just he feel. There are a lot of unkown things in Hyboria so much was lost and has yet to be rediscovered. I also feel like you are so isolated when in Hyboria you never know how far you are from civilization.

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Desdichado]

I've drawn parrallels between some of the countries and historical cultures from the real world: Cimmeria = Celtic culture, Aesir/Vanir = Norse culture, Stygia = African culture
Are these right? What other kingdoms are in the world and how do they relate to historical cultures? Do these kingdoms seem to "flow together?" I'm not a big fan of FR just throwing in every culture for the option, it doesn't make sense and where each is geographically located, the cultures would have assimilated. Basically, is it logical?

Stygia is a kind of proto-Egypt, not Africa per se. There's an article in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian in which Howard describes the world in a bit of detail; which is also printed word for word in the Mongoose book, for that matter. It answers all of the questions you have better than we could.

 

[nakia]

One of the major themes of Conan (one that is important to the feel, I think) is "savagery" versus "civilization." Conan is a "barbarian" dealing with the "civilized" world.

I really, really enjoy the new monthly Conan comic written by Kurt Busiek. It adapts the Howard stories while filling in the gaps between them with original work.

 

[Henry]

Moved to d20/OGL Systems Forums.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Apparently there is a cheaper pocket edition of Conan OGL coming out that might be up your street

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/h...s=&PHPSESSID=774aad9afda6fb6bddffab586b0e995b

I've run a couple of games with it and it is fantastic fun. The rules help to support the Conan "thrown in at the deep end" kind of stories, and is a million miles away from D&D PCs who are often defined by their equipment.

Cheers

 

[Turanil]

But before I run and buy the $50 Campaign Setting and the numerous supplemenst, I still have a couple of questions concerning the world.

Before buying anything, getting a look at this website is a must:

For loads of useful information on Hyboria (plus info on the different countries) go here: http://hyboria.xoth.net/

Note that for rules you could also try to use Grim Tales, because some people don't so much like the Conan d20 rules, saying combat is too complex.

 

[redwing]

thank you for the replies

From Monster Mash's listing, there are quite a few differing cultures all on one continent so close to each other. To me this doesn't seem to logical. How were the interactions of these differing peoples? (Like I said, i've only finished a couple of the stories....).