Hyboria - More of the same?

[Scorpio]

Well, trying to pull this thread back on topic, I think/hope/believe that the detailed maps in the upcomong Gazetteer will help to convey a 'realness' to Howard's Hyboria...and help to make it stand out...a lot of folks have done a lot of research, and they look pretty good........

 

[grodog]

I often wonder why nobody has done a CAS rpg (well, aside from the obvious issue that almost nobody at all knows who CAS is) - I think Zothique would be the best for this. The mood and tone of this world is really great and surprisingly different from most stuff out there - a world in inevitable decay and decline that wallows in baroque and necrotic indulgences as it slides toward the end of time. It has a really great atmosphere, and I've even heard that it might have lapsed into the public domain too so there might not even be licensing issues.

Part of the problem is that the literary rights to CAS' works are in chaos and litigation, so there's probably not a publisher out there who would willingly touch the property with a 10-foot pole.

That said, however, if you're a CAS fan, check out both The Eldritch Dark web site at http://www.eldritchdark.com/ and also the d20 Zothique DM Guide at http://www.eldritchdark.com/misc/zothique-d20.html. I'd love to see a similar effort for each of CAS' worlds, in fact, though like Andrew I favor Averoigne overall (X2 Castle Amber is a nice adaptation to D&D for that setting, FYI).

 

[kenjib]

Well actually, S'mon makes a convincing argument (unlike Wulf) - it's etirely possible that Mongoose has taken the standard world-creation line of using analogues to represent the cultures of Hyboria. Like I said, I haven't read any of Howard's books (I'm having a very hard time finding anything other than Conan pastiches in the bookstores here), and it may be that the uniqueness of the Hyborian cultures is lost in translation, so to speak.

To clear up any ambiguity, this is the book I recommended earlier:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-5810757-4461745?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

This is the only book published in the series as of yet...

 

[kenjib]

Clark Ashton Smith's stuff is great. The man gave us such COC standbys as Tsathoggua and Mordiggian, but we forget him.

Speaking of Mordiggian, I really love the story The Charnel God. What a great city to borrow for your own world...

 

[Snoweel]

You know what I hate?

I hate how the world assumes we've all been sucked into consumerism and own a credit card.

I am completely unable to purchase anything on-line.

Fight the Power.

(But hopefully the credit card application I made yesterday will come through soon.)

 

[kenjib]

I actually kind of picked up on that from implication in your post earlier. I provided that link so you could see the exact title, in case you wanted to special order it from a bookstore near you, or if you happened upon it on the shelf.

 

[S'mon]

Well actually, S'mon makes a convincing argument (unlike Wulf) - it's etirely possible that Mongoose has taken the standard world-creation line of using analogues to represent the cultures of Hyboria. Like I said, I haven't read any of Howard's books (I'm having a very hard time finding anything other than Conan pastiches in the bookstores here), and it may be that the uniqueness of the Hyborian cultures is lost in translation, so to speak.

I think that can definitely be a problem. When people decide that Aquilonia = France or Khitai = China and shoehorn in elements to fit these conceptions you lose the mood & feel of the setting IMO. Howard's world is not a place, it's a mood. Khitai is not China, it's ruined temples in verdant jungles where brass cymbals clash and yellow-robed monks chime out the endless hours. Aquilonia is a thousand plate-armoured knights crossing Thunder River to do battle with the painted Pictish host. Zamora is sleepy, lotus-drugged towers of spider-haunted mystery, and so on.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

You know what I hate?

I hate how the world assumes we've all been sucked into consumerism and own a credit card.

I am completely unable to purchase anything on-line.

Fight the Power.

What a rebel! What an iconoclast!

What will he say or do next?

 

[Henry]

You know what I hate?

I hate how the world assumes we've all been sucked into consumerism and own a credit card.

Bank/Debit/Credit Card - The second best way to fly, and ten times easier to get.

Here's one more reason I don't wanna take that step to publishing any of my stuff.

It seems writing pushes one over the edge.

Actually, I think the reverse is true - suicidal tendencies sadly forge some powerful writers.


As for Hyboria, I love it mainly because D&D is based mainly on it, and on Fritz Leiber's tales. Both Newhon and Hyboria share the same gritty stereotypish reality, and reading the tales of Conan and the tales of the Gray Mouser, you can easily fit these into a D&D game in your mind's eye.

 

[WayneLigon]

I often wonder why nobody has done a CAS rpg (well, aside from the obvious issue that almost nobody at all knows who CAS is) - I think Zothique would be the best for this.

The old module Castle Amber (Chateu d'Amberville) and the (two?) related modules were almost a mini-campaign set in CAS's world of Averoigne.