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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 7375955" data-attributes="member: 92305">AQUILONIA - LIFE IN AQUILONIA 2HONOR & ALLEGIANCEThe next two sections of the chapter cover Honor and Allegiance.  This is good stuff.  It's for roleplayers.  There's the rules in the game for those two aspects of a character.  A Conan game doesn't have to be all blood and guts.  There's a real deep rolepaying aspect that runs through the rules, mainly through these two mechanics.You can ignore them, and play the game without touching much on this aspect of the rules.  Or, you can invite them in, let them feed your roleplaying soul.  Imbibe them.  Exude them.  And, make your Conan game a rich roleplaying experience, using a character's Code of Honor, his Allegiance (if any), Reputation, and his Charisma score (and any particular Feats). WOMEN IN AQUILONIAThis section is too long, imo.  I do think it is a needed section, but do we have to spend all that space on marriage?  How useful is that going to be in a game?  How often will marriage come up in a Conan adventure?  Several of the Conan supplements cover this, and I just don't know why.  It's almost wasted pages, if you ask me.  We do need to know about a female's place within Aquilonian society.  That stuff helps the GM roleplay the NPCs.  But, this book spends three whole pages on marriage!PROPERTY & SLAVERY & PROSTITUTIONBoth good sections with short, to the point, info about these topics in Aquilonia.OCCUPATIONSThis is an excellent section that speaks to the Guilds in Aquilonia.  There is a nice chart showing a multitude of urban occupations that the GM will find helpful in a number of ways.  In my game, I was creating a mid-sized city from scratch, and I used this chart to help me create NPCs and populate the business and districts and such.This section can be quite helpful if your players decide to become citizens for a bit and set up a shop.  The core rules are helpful through the Craft and Profession skills, and this section provides the structure for how the guilds are structured.In one of my games, my players were warriors in a village, but I set up the entire village with all the NPCs.  We would sometimes have sessions of pure roleplay as the PC ran a smithy.  That was fun!  We do that, then have the main PCs involved in some mystery or thriller that would take them away on adventure while the other NPCs (family) ran the smithy off camera while the PCs took care of business.If you've ever had your PCs set up a keep for themselves, then you get the idea of what running a shop is all about.TRADEAnother useful section.  Includes a sub-section on bandits.  There are notes on creating a Bandit character.  And, this section presents a simple method for dicing a haggling encounter.  Sometimes, you'll want to roleplay this out, and when you do, then you should certainly do that.  But, a good GM keeps his thumb on the pulse of his game.  He knows when a bargaining moment between player and NPC Merchant will be fun, and when another one will just bog the game down.  The rules here for Bargaining are to be used when you just want to dice and go.  Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive, and Profession skills are used.There is some excellent advice in this section for the GM to consider when the players decide that their characters are going to sell their loot.SOCIAL STANDINGThis long section is fantastic stuff for the GM.  It covers all the various rungs on the social standing ladder, including laborers, peasants, serfs, yeomen, cottages, free townsfolk, outcasts, bandits, and the aristocracy.  Social mobility is also referenced.THE AQUILONIAN CALENDARI like this section a lot too.  I find it very useful.  This is three and a half pages describing how time is seen among the Aquilonians.  Using this in your game will really bring it to life, as the seasons come and go.  You'll know the holidays and what the farmers are doing at that particular time of year.  It's damn good stuff that helps the GM create a living, breathing world.<img src="http://orig14.deviantart.net/063a/f/2011/363/6/6/conan__amra_the_lion_by_chrisquilliams-d4kojp2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></blockquote>

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