Conan RPG

[Odhanan]

Admittedly, it was in part hyperbole in order to meet Nightfall's expectations of getting inspired . In principle, it's one stepping stone on the way to a good low magic ruleset. The rules are already better than in Slaine. In the end, Iron Heroes isn't without warts, either.

If you are referring to rules issues concerning Iron Heroes, I obviously am not going to be objective on the subject. Most of the actual "flaws" people are talking about are IMO way overblown. In actual play, IH as written plays well. Now, someone may have issues with IH's RAW, in which case there are errata for the game at Monte Cook's message boards (montecook.com), section "Iron Heroes".

I love this game. I think that's one of the only d20 games out there, if not the only one, who succeeds in presenting a game play for actual heroes, with stunts, courage, determination, unbelievable combat moves, while not relying on buffs, action points and magic crap to do so. You want to play like Conan, alone in the dark, feel your instinct of survival get a grip on yourself as a demon spawn lurks around to rip your spine off your body? You want to prepare yourself, feel the arms reach for you, grapple the arms, jump above the creature, slide along its back and then strangle the beast with your chains until the inhuman growling and spitting stops once and for all? That's the kind of stuff that Iron Heroes' stunts and challenges helps you do in-game!

Argh. See. I told myself I wouldn't get to hyped on IH in this thread. You've done it now. Are you happy?

 

[Nightfall]

Od,

Worse things to get hyped about and then find out it didn't work. That's my legacy as a Philadephia Flyers (ice hockey) fan.

 

[Odhanan]

Od,

Worse things to get hyped about and then find out it didn't work. That's my legacy as a Philadephia Flyers (ice hockey) fan.

These guys suck that bad, eh?

It's clear that there isn't anything like IH on the RPG market today. I mean, you can play low magic games with stuff like Grim Tales or Conan, but in the end, you don't get the same feel from IH. You get a feeling of ... heroic fantasy, you know, where your character can actually perform some amazing fighting moves, has actual tactical choices and can kick butt without min/maxing or being a wizard. Heroic Fantasy. With an emphasis on both words.

 

[Turjan]

Argh. See. I told myself I wouldn't get to hyped on IH in this thread. You've done it now. Are you happy?

Hehe. Don't worry. I know that many people love Iron Heroes. But as Exalted, it's not my cup of tea. I'm not into this whole "stunts" thing. I actually have the book. I bought it, when it came out, because I was curious, although I already knew that I would never use it.

I suppose that the right game for me has still to be written. I like the atmosphere of Arcana Evolved very much, but there's still (if not more) the dependency on lots of magic items, like in standard D&D. I should probably just stick with it and nerf it slightly to my taste.

Edit: I think I was not very clear. I like games with flashy, visible magic. I just don't like the Christmas tree aspect and some of the standard D&D conventions very much. Plus, I'm not too much into high level games. Those things are hard to combine .

 

[Odhanan]

Mmm. You like Arcana Evolved's feel. I take it it's about rites and ceremonies, right? And you don't like the dependency on items. *computing* Have you tried Ars Magica? It's very flavorful magic, without the whole Christmas tree effect of D&D. Plus the background of the Order of Hermes is awesome, and the Fifth edition rulebook is gorgeous.

 

[Turjan]

Mmm. You like Arcana Evolved's feel. I take it it's about rites and ceremonies, right? And you don't like the dependency on items. *computing* Have you tried Ars Magica? It's very flavorful magic, without the whole Christmas tree effect of D&D. Plus the background of the Order of Hermes is awesome, and the Fifth edition rulebook is gorgeous.

I have the books. I enjoyed the "Houses of Hermes" and "Rhine Tribunal" books very much . I'm not too sure about the aspects of the divine but, nevertheless, I would like to play a game. Unfortunately, I'm pretty alone with this wish among the people I know .

 

[Teflon Billy]

Is the Conan RPG by Mongoose any good?

Yep, I love it.

I've read some reviews, and it seems all over the map. Like it's good, but chalk full of errors, typos, etc. I've heard they've made many interesting rules changes. The Mongoose site has an "Atlantean" edition, which I think is a revised copy with the typos, mistakes etc. fixed....but I'm not sure...

You understand perfectly. The first printing was an Editing/Proofreading nightmare. the Atlantean Edition cleans most of that up.

The game is really fun. It was exactly what I was looking or at the time, in that it focused more on the character's abilities that stock D&D (which tends to focus on character's Equipment)

 

[Teflon Billy]

If you want to run a Conan game, you might want to check out GURPS too. There is a GURPS Conan sourcebook that much people who have read it rave about.

I am a big fan of that GURPS book. For aged it was my favorite RPG supplement for any game, period.

But the new Road of Kings setting book by Mongoose beats it out. The level of detail and "feel" are fantastic. Definitely one of the better books on my shelf (though it's not the new "favorite RPG Supplement for any Game, Period" title holder)

Running a Conan game using Iron Heroes would be a blast too. Haven't tried it, but I would like to, with Aquilonian characters or something.

I don't think that would model the source material as well as the Conan RPG does. But if you give it a shot, let us know how it turns out.

 

[trancejeremy]

Conan and the Road of Kings is okay. But the rest. Eh.

It is sort of hard to capture the stories, though. On the one hand, Conan is generally quite tough. As a teen-ager, he killed 2 sons of the Frost God in single blows. And as a middle aged guy, he killed what, 12-13 guys single handedly? (Albeit largely 2-3 at a time, and he was greivously wounded). But at the same time, life is somewhat cheap in the stories, and Conan himself gets knocked out or captured several times.

The Mongoose rules do a pretty good job of it. I think Gurps Conan is something like a 500 point character - he kinda breakes the rules a bit.

OTOH, most of the supplements for Conan are pretty bad. At least the ones I've had the misfortune to buy/acquire. Generally about 80% filler, 10$ new rules, 10% decent source material.

For instance, I had wondered how Mongoose could have had that problem with the plagiarized map in Shadizar - since generally most city sourcebooks describe the city so well that it wouldn't be possible for a map from another product to fit. And it would have to be keyed and all that. Well, after getting it in a trade, I found. Most of the supposed "sourcebook" is just filler, only about 20 pages actually describes the city itself, and all of that is just locations from various Conan novels. Pretty much completely worthless as a sourcebook.

 

[Turjan]

Conan and the Road of Kings is okay. But the rest. Eh.

As mentioned above, the "Scrolls of Skelos" is the other exception.

For instance, I had wondered how Mongoose could have had that problem with the plagiarized map in Shadizar - since generally most city sourcebooks describe the city so well that it wouldn't be possible for a map from another product to fit.

I agree. New Venice, just with more water. Fits the bill exactly :\. Some of the other books are also real stinkers.