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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 7375890" data-attributes="member: 92305">AQUILONIA - FLOWER OF THE WEST - INTRODUCTIONOne of the most important setting books in the game is the one written by Vincent Darlage.  This is a top notch, excellent sourcebook for your Conan game.  Why?  Well, I'm going to tell you about it.  In general, though, the book not only informs the player about the most powerful kingdom in the Hyborian Age, but it also serves as an example of how to think and run hyborian characters from other hyborian kingdoms, and it informs, in general, about most all of the hyborian kingdoms outside of Aquilonia.Think of this concept in the same way the descriptions of the races are presented in the core rulebook.  There is one main write-up addressing hyborians.  Then, some of the other hyborian races have their own entry.  If you play an Argossean in the game, you start with the main hyborian information and you then temper that with the additional information specifically meant for Argosseans.If you consider the analogy, the Aquilonia book is akin to the main hyborian race description while the book on Argos (and Zingara) is additional information that will temper what is given in the Aquilonia book.You should also use the Aquilonian book as a starting point for hyborian kingdoms on which we have little game reference.  If I were going to set a game in Hyperborea, for example, I'd use what is provided me in the Aquilonia book, consider what is written under the hyperorean race description, and I'd read the Hyperborea description in Return to the Road of Kings.  INTRODUCTIONI don't like introductions in these game books.  They're a waste of space.  Why take up valuable pages telling me what's in each chapter when I can see what's in the book, in detail, by turning to those specific places in the text.  I'd much rather use the space for a nice map, illustration, or something else that will be useful to my game.But, I will say that the intro to this Aquilonia book is only half way useless.  There is some good advice there describing why Fate Points and Languages are not specified for the various NPCs presented in the book.  And, there is some very good Game Master advice about allowing player characters to become as great as they should be--greater even than Conan--and customizing their game to their own tastes.OTHERThe cover of the book shows a very attractive Quilliams painting showing King Conan leaving Tarantia, leading his troops east, probably to confront the Nemedian host.Inside covers, front and back, show an excellent, detailed map of Aquilonia, provinces, major cities, rivers, and general terrain.The first page of the book includes a Contents section, but I have a gripe here.  The Contents are not easy to use unless you are familiar with the book.  This is something that plagues many Conan RPG supplements.  It's not easy to use because the chapter titles use flowery phrases.  For example, one chapter is titled, The Judgement Throne.  Now, what could be included there?  I don't know. I'll have to flip to that chapter and see.The book doesn't haven an Index, either.  This is something I always find useful, especially in large books (this one runs 199 pages).There is also a tendency to bury useful game rules in text in Conan RPG supplements.  That makes it easy to skip over when scanning for something specific.  I'm still looking for a rule I found, somewhere in all the Mongoose Conan RPG material, that provides a bonus to Intimidate checks when wearing woad.  I saw it one time, and I've never been able to look it up again.  Unless my mind is playing tricks on me, I know I saw it in the rules some place when I first bought the game (I bought the entire game at one time--all supplements).I will say that this is a good looking book, though.  Scant but nice illustrations and beautiful, slick, full color paper.<img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1182345050l/1261892.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></blockquote>

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