CONAN Is Finally Here!

After appearing three years running in the 10 Most Anticipated RPGs of the Year list, it seems that Conan's streak has come to and end - because Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of has been released! You can get it right now from Modiphius' web store, and will be able to get it elsewhere from tomorrow. PDF only, for the moment. You can also grab a book of six adventures, Jewelled Thrones of the Earth. Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed of is based on Modiphius' own 2d20 system (which also powers their upcoming Star Trek Adventures game). The book is now available for review in the reviews area.

SaveSave​

 

[Manos Ti]

Darn my inability to back this on KS. Ah, well, I'll have it anyway I guess.

 

[John R Davis]

A group of people played an advance copy with all the funky tokens etc last weekend. They really enjoyed it and didn't find it daunting but rather dynamic

 

[Water Bob]

In terms of the GM dice pools, whats the difference between those and the times a GM fudges a number to make a fight more challenging or to help a player along who's had cold dice at the table all night? This is just another way of adjudication, that's all.

I don't fudge dice as a GM. And, I don't use meta-game mechanics. I think its important that players trust their GM, and never fudging rolls is part of that trust.

 

[Queer Venger]

Conan is the original stud, Id buy this if someone can promise me that its pure muscle-bound, scantily clad barbarians artwork ;-)

 

[Salamandyr]

Conan is the original stud, Id buy this if someone can promise me that its pure muscle-bound, scantily clad barbarians artwork ;-)

Yep; we need more manly men doing stuff in our RPG art.

 

[imagineGod]

The artwork is a mixture of scantily-clad muscle-bound barbarians and some fur-covered ones (PETA may take issue, just like what happened to Warhammer 40K last week).

First you can browser the freebie to decide if the art style suits your tastes. I love the art.

DriveThruRPG freebie Robert E. Howard's Conan RPG Quickstart

View attachment 80708


DriveThruRPG hosting Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of

View attachment 80705

DriveThruRPG hosting Conan: Jeweled Thrones of the Earth

View attachment 80707

 

[slygeek]

What part of "Thou shalt not meta-game!" are you forgetting?

In a role-playing game, everyone at the table is there to play their role. It is not some exercise in collective storytelling. The only story that matters is the one which arises naturally as a result of everyone playing their roles. A story which comes about as a result of meta-gaming is pointless and a waste of our time at the table.

Edit: I don't mean to disparage anyone in this thread for liking this kind of game. I just wanted to explain why I, personally, as a role-player, would never play this. It is anathema to the basic reason why I play RPGs in the first place. I'm sure it's a fine game for other people, who play for other reasons.

I think you are missing the point.

Doom is just a resource that the players can use when they need a bit of extra luck (think of action points or fate points). The GM can then use those spent resources in order to have "unfortunate" things affect the players. So players can have a little extra luck but at a cost.

In fact, its easier to keep track of then Hit Points. Which may I point out is a meta-gaming tool that ALL RPGs use. So why draw the line at Hit Points? Why not have tools that help encourage the Players and GM to add to the story?

Tools like Inspiration from D&D 5E come to mind.

Personally I really feel you should try to broaden your horizons and at least give it a try.


As for Momentum, that is sort of an advanced "degree of success / critical"mechanic which allows you to do more with your attack in a turn. Again, easy to calculate and helps encourage players to do more with their attacks then the standard "I attack and do X damage"


In a perfect world, only experienced GMs and Players with incredible sense of roleplaying play RPGS, and don't need tools to help spice up their games. But this isn't a perfect world, and that's why games nowadays are in desperate need of tools like these to make the game more vivid and fun.

I understand why you don't like tools that infringe on Roleplaying/Story-telling territory. But I also feel like you aren't really giving it a fair chance.

 

[slygeek]

Doom Points are much needed in Sword and Sorcery?

I use d20 Conan, and our fights are quite lively. Tankards smashing over skulls. Tables shoved up against a character, trapping him between that and the wall. Maneuvers used like feints and disarms and sunders. A combatant will swing his blade then head butt his foe. And, sometimes blade combat devolve into wrestling matches. All this using the d20 Conan rules with no Meta-Game Doom Points.

I don't think that they are needed at all.

I also use / used d20 Conan and its my favorite adaptation of the d20 rules BECAUSE of the maneuvers, AP/Armor rules etc. It just makes combat more fun. "To the Hilt!" comes to mind. Momentum and Doom is yet an additional layer of tools added that helps create more vivid battles.

I'm not saying Sword & Sorcery needs "Doom" specifically, because there are other tools out there. Just look at Riddle of Steel and Blade of the Iron Throne (now that is fun, albeit crunchy combat!). But I am saying Sword & Sorcery absolutely needs tools to enhance your Combat Experience.

I won't say anything against d20 Conan because I love that game, but it suffers all the drawbacks of d20 along with it. Which is why a fresh new system was a nice change.

Sadly both systems are Clones and both don't quite mimmick Sword & Sorcery as well as a system designed from the ground up for that very purpose.

Modiphius, I feel, are releasing a higher quality product then Mongoose did but they are both very different from eachother and both fine games in my eyes.


But at least give it a try and don't let "Doom" make your decision for you. There is allot more to the game then just Doom points.

 

[pemerton]

its easier to keep track of then Hit Points. Which may I point out is a meta-gaming tool that ALL RPGs use.

Just off the top of my head, here are some RPGs that don't use hit points: Marvel Heroic RP; Burning Wheel; Maelstrom Storytelling; Hero Wars/Quest; and Rolemaster and HARP, which do have concussion hits as part of their damage mechanics but (i) rely mostly on debuffing condition infliction to model the effects of being hit in combat, and (ii) clearly treat concussion hits as "meat" (bruising and blood loss) and not as a D&D-style momentum/victory marker.

(Runequest and Classic Traveller use point depletion as their primary wound mechanic; but in Traveller it is depeltion of physical stats - and so process-sim, not metagame; and in RQ not only is it process-sim but there are hit locations and debuff consequences that follow from certain degrees of hp loss. So these systems also, I would say, are counterexamples to your claim.)

In a perfect world, only experienced GMs and Players with incredible sense of roleplaying play RPGS, and don't need tools to help spice up their games.

I don't know anything about the 2d20 system other than what I've read in a few threads, but the idea that metagame mechanics are something to hlep inexperienced GMs/players "spice up" their game is not something I can agree with.

Metagame mechanics are one way of distributing authority over the content of the shared fiction. Whether or not they are desirable or useful has nothing to do with "experience". (Eg BW has metagame mecahnics - fate points - as well as an expectation that, if a check fails, the GM will narrate the failure in a non-simulationist fashion (eg the failure results from some dramatc external cause interfering with the attempt); but I can't imagine very many inexperienced RPGers picking up or playing BW.)

 

[slygeek]

its easier to keep track of then Hit Points. Which may I point out is a meta-gaming tool that ALL RPGs use.[/quote[Just off the top of my head, here are some RPGs that don't use hit points: Marvel Heroic RP; Burning Wheel; Maelstrom Storytelling; Hero Wars/Quest; and Rolemaster and HARP, which do have concussion hits as part of their damage mechanics but (i) rely mostly on debuffing condition infliction to model the effects of being hit in combat, and (ii) clearly treat concussion hits as "meat" (bruising and blood loss) and not as a D&D-style momentum/victory marker.

I don't know anything about the 2d20 system other than what I've read in a few threads, but the idea that metagame mechanics are something to hlep inexperienced GMs/players "spice up" their game is not something I can agree with.

Metagame mechanics are one way of distributing authority over the content of the shared fiction. Whether or not they are desirable or useful has nothing to do with "experience". (Eg BW has metagame mecahnics - fate points - as well as an expectation that, if a check fails, the GM will narrate the failure in a non-simulationist fashion (eg the failure results from some dramatc external cause interfering with the attempt); but I can't imagine very many inexperienced RPGers picking up or playing BW.)

Because the mechanics help and ENCOURAGES story-telling, and more enticing combat. Less experienced GMs and Players could really use tools to give them that extra push. Otherwise you can get in that trap where all you do is "Attack and deal Damage".

Any inexperienced Gamer can pick up a rule book and play. It can take years of experience for a GM or a Player to reach a certain level of creativity and comfort at the table to be able to play a very basic RPG and make every scene "exciting".

If you have played Star Wars Edge of the Empire, you would understand just how much Triumph and Despair (and Destiny) adds to the story. The game mechanics in a way force or push you to come up with creative story-telling elements and thus enhances the experience.

That being said, even experienced GMs can benefit from said tools.