NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 5485490" data-attributes="member: 19998">That's a good idea. Remember though, that the stories were written with a different mindset than an RPG, or even RPG based fiction, is written. Yes, but the next part of your post sugests that you're already on the trail.To be fair, Conan kills a lot of people, not just spellcasters, like this. It's kind of a speciality of his. Not only that, but Howard (writing fiction in the 1930s, not RPGs in the 2010s) understands that people often die after one hit. A lot of the tension in Howard's stories comes not from the fight (though there is certainly a lot of that) but from the circumstances surrounding the fight. (I.e., the situation that leads to fight, the necessity of preparing for for, or getting to a point where you can win. Conan also has a tendency to lose and then need help getting out of whatever hellish situation he's in. I just finished a story where the villain actually had Conan crucified. [spoil]It wasn't a good saving throw that got him out.[/spoil]I'm going to recommend a book. Hour of the Dragon it's Howard's only Conan novel, and I just read it for the first time recently. I really enjoyed it. More important to your research, it contains at least 4 spellcasters: Xaltotun, a recently awaked 3,000 year old 'necromancer'; Orastes, a former priest of the Mitra who turned to black arts; Zeiata, an old witch (more like a D&D druid, really or even a spellcasting ranger); and Hadrathus a priest of the cult of Asura. Each of them approaches magic in a different manner. Some aid Conan, other's oppose him. Seeing the different approaches in one story is kind of interesting.Also, it contains a great line towards the end of chapter 20: "Magic depended, to a certain extent after all, on sword strokes and lance thrusts." In fiction and RPGs, I think that's probably the best outlook on magic one can have.</blockquote>

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