D&D General No One Reads Conan Now -- So What Are They Reading?

[Muh]

Made some more progress.

• "The Circle Curse" (1970, first publication)

A bit of a frame story to establish that they'll go back to Lankhmar. Not that interesting.

• "The Jewels in the Forest" (novelette 1939 Unknown, as "Two Sought Adventure")

Now this was good. Sword fighting, adventure and looting.

• "Thieves' House" (novelette 1943 Unknown)

Lots of humour in this one, and several rather optimistic attempts at disguises.

• "The Bleak Shore" (1940 Unknown)

The tone in this one was unexpected, with the way a large part is told by another narrator (a slave on their ship).

• "The Howling Tower" (1941 Unknown)

Creepy. I like it.

• "The Sunken Land" (1942 Unknown)

Is this the origin of the Cloaker monster? As a story it's pretty good. Strong horror tones. If the main characters weren't who they are, I would've expected them to die at the end. The opening is a bit weak.

I will keep on reading. About 30% of the book remaining.

 

[Cynicide]

I still read Conan! For a long while I was reading a lot of Sanderson and RPG adjacent tie-in novels. But at some point I decided to take a long walk backwards. I'd already read a lot of Howard and Lovecraft but I also picked up some Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock. Magician is a favorite series of my wife so I read a lot of Raymond E Feist.

Sandy Peterson did a few videos of film/book recommendations and from that I picked up William Hope Hodgson, particularly his Carnacki, the Ghost Finder stuff which I devoured one day when I was waiting to be called for jury duty.

I was walking my dog today and listening to Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff where they were interviewing Molly Tanzer about writing the first new official Jirel of Joiry story in 80 years. I'd never heard of the original author C.L. Moore so now I'm super excited to track that down and read it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Sandy Peterson did a few videos of film/book recommendations and from that I picked up William Hope Hodgson, particularly his Carnacki, the Ghost Finder stuff which I devoured one day when I was waiting to be called for jury duty.

I really like Hodgson's Carnacki stories. One of the things that elevates them is that sometime it's a supernatural happening, other times there's a logical(-ish) explanation. That really keeps readers on their toes.

I was walking my dog today and listening to Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff where they were interviewing Molly Tanzer about writing the first new official Jirel of Joiry story in 80 years. I'd never heard of the original author C.L. Moore so now I'm super excited to track that down and read it.

The Jirel of Joiry stories are quite enjoyable! She's a striking character, all the moreso for being written in the 30s.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I've been reading (audiobook) The Wandering Inn series and it's AMAZING. I haven't liked series like this in over 20 years.

Listen to the audiobook series, the narrator is next fricking level.

 

[Cynicide]

I really like Hodgson's Carnacki stories. One of the things that elevates them is that sometime it's a supernatural happening, other times there's a logical(-ish) explanation. That really keeps readers on their toes.

Yes, it works well because the framing of the stories assumes that Carnacki survives, so the real mystery is what was the source of the haunting. In

Spoiler: Story spoiler

The Horse of the Invisible he even attempts a double bluff where it would seem both are true.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I still read Conan darnit, get off my lawn. But seriously me and most of my players don’t and didn’t have fantasy as a favourite lit/media genre, although we love it as a gaming genre. As a GM I get most of my inspiration from other genres - although my main inspiration these days are right wing news and nutty political streamers, theres enough conspiracy and intrigue material there to feed a million campaigns. It beats reading another 3000 pages of yet another chosen one peasant adolescent. But different strokes etc.