Conan RPG - What do I need?

[Crust]

I'm interested in acquiring whatever books I need to run a campaign set in ancient Hyborea. I've surfed Amazon, Google, and Mongoose publishing, and I've caught wind of a Conan RPG: Atlantean Edition, which seems to be mirrored in a paperback pocket-sized volume (which apparently contains only 80% of the Atlantean data). I can't seem to find this Atlantean Edition (Is the pocket conversion volume all I'll need?

Thanks.

 

[GlassJaw]

The Mongoose Conan forums are very helpful. I would check there if you are starting a campaign.

I also heard there is a 2nd edition coming this summer.

 

[Technomancer]

From what I've heard, the Atlantean Edition is just the second printing of the game, with errata and all the typos/editing errors fixed (there were a lot in the first edition).

The Conan Pocket Guide is similar to Mongoose's Pocket OGL, mostly mechanics with most of the fluff taken out. It is a smaller version of the Atlantean Edition, so it has all the editing corrections.

I have the Pocket Guide, but I never saw the original printing or the full version of the Atlantean Edition, so I can't tell you precisely what changed. I also haven't done more than skim my copy of the book. I can tell you the pocket guide goes into a little detail about each of the playable cultures/races, and has a monster section, so it seems like the only other thing you would absolutely need is a map of the Hyborean world.

 

[Darklone]

Get all original Howard stories and novels. There aren't too many (right now here in Germany 3 big books at 10 bucks each book) and it's worth it.

 

[Renshai]

The best books for running the game...

Conan RPG, Atlantean Edition
Road of Kings

There are several books detailing the various regions, but Road of Kings gives you a good overview of each region, enough to work with at the very least.

Scrolls of Skelos is terrific if you are going to use alot of sorcery in your games.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The best books for running the game...

Conan RPG, Atlantean Edition
Road of Kings

I agree. These would be enough for most GMs to run Conan, IMO.

 

[Emirikol]

Post removed

 

[Teflon Billy]

The best books for running the game...

Conan RPG, Atlantean Edition
Road of Kings

There are several books detailing the various regions, but Road of Kings gives you a good overview of each region, enough to work with at the very least.

Scrolls of Skelos is terrific if you are going to use alot of sorcery in your games.

That was my post right there

I concur with everything Rensh said.

 

[Jim Hague]

NEXT, you need players who are interested in *that* type of game. It's a hard sell. Most players want to play in a feminine-oriented-fairy-elfth-land such as FR or Greyhawk where all the EL's are balanced in the party's favor, magic is like XBOX, and RAISE DEAD is always handy. Well, in HyborIA it's a little different. Characters die. There's a lot of blood and it's a barbaric world. Some pussy-foot players can't accept that everything's not hunky-dory and that not all "monsters" can be defeated. After years of playing in this world and recruiting the occasional player, our group discovered that the NUMBER ONE HANG-UP BY PLAYERS ABOUT THE WORLD IS....players think that there is only one race (human). Truth is, there are NO HUMANS IN HYBORIA; there are only the Hyborian races (something like 33 races).

No, actually, they're all humans, Emirkol. 'Race' in this case refers to a regional thing, not some actual physical difference like elves and dwarves vs. humans.

There are a lot of ignorant REH purists out there who've never run a Hyborian game before too who will try to tell you somethign like "REH" is the only true Hyboria. Well, those of us who have run games realize that Howard's stuff, although good, only takes you through about 5 nights of gaming..remember, the stupid, selfish, crazy moron shot himself and then there was no more 'original' conan.

I'll be sure to tell the 'ignorant', who actually put scholarly study into REH's work, that they're wrong. Good grief, man. I guess that you consider your opinion, including kicking the reputation of a deeply troubled man who did, indeed, end his life tragically, pretty cool...there are those who vehemently disagree. While you can find some gems amidst the pastiche writing that came later, offhandedly insulting someone really isn't the way to sell them.

The Conan RPG's one flaw is that it doesn't model the quick and dirty flow that characterized the Conan stories. The Mongoose stuff (editing errors like spellb.ook notwithstanding) is really top notch, and does a good job of incorprating as much of the good pastiche material as it can into the actual canon and making it coherent. Road of Kings is an excellent book, and a worthy companion to the RPG.

Another recent release - and gosh-darned pretty to boot - is Conan: the ultimate Guide to the World's Most Savage Barbarian:

http://www.amazon.com/Conan-Ultimate-Worlds-Savage-Barbarian/dp/0756620953

 

[GlassJaw]

I'll be sure to tell the 'ignorant', who actually put scholarly study into REH's work, that they're wrong. Good grief, man. I guess that you consider your opinion, including kicking the reputation of a deeply troubled man who did, indeed, end his life tragically, pretty cool...there are those who vehemently disagree. While you can find some gems amidst the pastiche writing that came later, offhandedly insulting someone really isn't the way to sell them.

Glad someone else was as bothered about this as me. What an awful post Emirikol.

And for the record, your "house rules" aren't Conan. Not even close.