Mundane vs. Fantastical

[jensun]

Um ... you might want to check your sources. Conan particularly (at least as written by REH) fought mostly beasts and men, with the occasional otherworldly horror. He's the epitome of the low-fantasy model that you've just decried.

You may want to read the books rather than just watching the films.

While Conan fights a lot of men there are also great hordes of demons, giant serpents, devolved humans and other monstrasities.

About the only thing he fights which might be called a "normal" animal is the occasional giant ape thing.

 

[Shades of Green]

If you have too much fantasy, the fantastic becomes mundane and loses its appeal.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I had another conversation with a friend (a life-long D&D player from 2e on, like myself) in which he innocently recalled one of his PCs being mauled to death by a bear.

"Don't you mean platypus bear?"
"No, it just says, 'bear'."
"Certainly you mean his pet skunk bear?"
"Or his armadillo bear?"
"Gopher bear?"
"Just, 'bear'."
"This place is weird."

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

As a long time Hârn GM, using HârnMaster rules, I still treasure the first time the characters disturbed a boar in the woods. The combat ended with them enjoying a meal of roast boar, but not until after one of them had sustained a serious wound from the tusks, and two of the other three had hastily taken to the trees. A critical success by the only Shek-p’var (mage) in the group and a similarly successful spear attack seriously wounded the boar; it still took them a long time to finish it off.

Since then they’ve fought gargun (goblins) a few times, nolah (trolls) three times and vlasta (don’t ask) twice and a gulmorvrin (the undead worshippers of Morgath) once. The latter they don’t even know about, and they won’t until he tracks them down for revenge (they think they drowned him). The rest of the time they’ve been up against other humans. Whenever they face a critter it’s a major event for them.

It is, of course, whatever floats your boat. I never liked the preponderance of creatures introduced in the Fiend Folio, never mind MM2 and that harks back to my days playing AD&D. So I moved worlds (from Greyhawk to Hârn) and systems (from AD&D to HârnMaster). I’ve never looked back.

 

[Raven Crowking]

You may want to read the books rather than just watching the films.

While Conan fights a lot of men there are also great hordes of demons, giant serpents, devolved humans and other monstrasities.

About the only thing he fights which might be called a "normal" animal is the occasional giant ape thing.

I have read all of the original REH Conan stories (they are currently available in a three-volume set), and while it is true that Conan fights a number of monstrous creatures -- giant spiders, giant snakes, the occasional (pretty weak, by D&D standards) demon -- what he fights the most are human beings. And most of those human beings are not even wizards.

I can, if need be, go through each story and list everything that he fights, so that the mundane vs. the fantastical can easily be seen. As a fan of REH's writing, I am more than willing to do so if necessary to demonstrate the much less Wahoo! nature of Conan's world than is being implied here.

There are a few things Conan faces that might have appeared in the 4e MM. Specifically, a form of "living water" comes to mind (Conan flees for all he is worth) in one of the more fantastic stories. Other than that, even the "fantastical" is more mundane....giant serpents and devolved humans (I think you are conflating Conan with Bran Mak Morn here, and if so I imagine that you read the "fixed" Conan stories of deCamp, rather than the originals as Howard wrote them?) are more in line with giant scorpians than giant scorpians that shoot lightning out of their claws.

Regardless of what kind of fantasy you like, the Conan stories are a lot less infused with Wahoo! elements than you think.


RC

 

[jensun]

Regardless of what kind of fantasy you like, the Conan stories are a lot less infused with Wahoo! elements than you think.

I think we are talking past each other here.

I am not suggesting that Conan contains some of the more Gonzo elements of rpg's. I am suggesting that the occurence of mundane animals is unusual. There is a wide gulf between fantastic and gonzo.

My main Conan reference is the recent compiled collection of the original stories. I have no idea who Brak Mak Morn is. My devolved humans comment was specific to Howards essay on the Hyboria setting where he talks at length about the rise and fall of civilisations throughout the ages.

Conan certainly encounters elements of those fallen civilisations on more than one occasion, the Picts spring to mind immediately.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I think we are talking past each other here.

Sounds like it.

If you have the three-volume compilation, there is a similar one for Bran Mak Morn (The Worms of the Earth alone makes it worth while, and is perhaps the best "devolved human" story ever written), Kull, Solomon Kane, etc. There are also two volumes of cross-genre REH stories. I own them all, and haven't regretted a single purchase.

If you enjoy the Conan stories, I would recommend Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn at the very least. Really good stuff.


RC

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Since then they’ve fought gargun (goblins) a few times, nolah (trolls) three times and vlasta (don’t ask) twice and a gulmorvrin (the undead worshippers of Morgath) once. The latter they don’t even know about, and they won’t until he tracks them down for revenge (they think they drowned him). The rest of the time they’ve been up against other humans. Whenever they face a critter it’s a major event for them.

It is, of course, whatever floats your boat.

I wonder if it's an attention span issue. I know I'd be a lot more interested if I had to fight weird creatures more often then I fought regular people probably because my brain would shut down quickly with the same old thing. Of course, if the people were weird somehow that might mitigate it somewhat, but then that would be equivalent to unleashing another weird thing.

 

[Fifth Element]

I can, if need be, go through each story and list everything that he fights, so that the mundane vs. the fantastical can easily be seen. As a fan of REH's writing, I am more than willing to do so if necessary to demonstrate the much less Wahoo! nature of Conan's world than is being implied here.

I'd like to see that. Not because I doubt your assertion. I just think it would be cool to see.

 

[The_Gneech]

You may want to read the books rather than just watching the films.

Wow, I was just about to say the same thing to you.

While Conan fights a lot of men there are also great hordes of demons, giant serpents, devolved humans and other monstrasities.

About the only thing he fights which might be called a "normal" animal is the occasional giant ape thing.

Lessee ... lions in the Tower of the Elephant, apes in Jewels of Gwalhur, an enormous but fairly mundane lizard (referred to as a "dragon") in Red Nails...

Yes, each story had at least one supernatural beastie, usually either undead or some variety of otherworldly horror -- but that's a far cry from the current vogue of Spellwoven Flamecrickets, Crystalborn Shockmice, and Dragonborn Bladeflickers we're dealing with now.

-The Gneech, card-carrying Howardian Purist