BobProbst
First Post
Introduction
Conan: The Road of Kings is the newest release in Mongoose's Conan RPG line, and overall it maintains the quality standard set by earlier products in the line. Unfortunately, there is a major downside to the book that resulted in this reviewer (as something of a Howard purist) giving it a lower review than it could otherwise have had.
The Good
First let's look at the Good. There is a noticeable reduction in typographical errors in this book, showing that Mongoose does indeed make good efforts to rectify past mistakes, and it uses the same impressive layout and graphic design of previous books.
The book is a 192-page hardcover gazeteer of the Hyborean world. It is positively thick with information about the various countries, places, geography, and people of the Hyborean Age. The world is divided into countries (in alphabetical order), and each country is structured in the same easy-to-reference format: General Information, Major Geographical Features, Important Cities/Settlements, Provinces/Baronies/Counties, Religion, History, Creatures and NPC's, and Adventure and Campaign Hooks. While much information is repeated throughout individual countries (Mitra, for example, is repeated in most chapters to have a Heaven and Hell and a concept of Judgment), this even serves the purpose of making it easier for those GM's just wishing to run adventures in one country without having to cross-reference to other writeups. In addition, the new monsters throughout the book greatly expand on the options available to GMs looking for new Howardian baddies to throw at their Cimmerian barbarians and Hyrkanian archers.
The book also in several places makes reference to the connection between Howard/the Hyborean Age and H.P. Lovecraft and his Mythos. I was very pleased to see this, as it is all-too-often overlooked in discussions of the Conan stories.
Following the individual writeups for countries are a section on Other Peoples of the Hyborean Age, covering nomads, extinct and ancient peoples, secret societies, and other such detail-oriented tidbits. Good, concise writeups all around, here. No complaints.
Next comes the writeups for "Notables of the Hyborean Age," which contains the long-awaited stat writeups for Conan himself. There are two writeups here, one for King Conan around the time of The Hour of the Dragon (20th level) and one for Conan the Thief, around the time of The Tower of the Elephant (3rd level). While perhaps one more writeup would've been nice, showing him around 10th level (perhaps during his stint as Amra or during his adventures with Valeria in Red Nails), these two writeups are nicely done and do a nice job contrasting the two extremes of Conan's career development. Other notables included are Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, Zenobia (Conan's queen), Constantinus of the Free Companies, Nefertari, Amalric, Tarascus, and Yasmina the Devi, among others. I was, I must admit, disappointed to see a lack of stats for Trocero, Valerius, and (considering the extensive use of pastiche in other places herein) Conan II (AKA Conn). Still, overall there is a very nice selection of NPC stats herein.
Following the NPC statistics is a section on Game Mastering Conan. This section is exceptionally well done, and provides tips, advice, and guidelines on what exactly sets tales set in the Hyborean Age from other fantasy genres. It also defines the "low magic" vs. "high magic" feel of the age, the type of battle and violence integral to the saga, and the importance of capturing the vision vs. keeping a thesaurus handy for other words meaning "dark" and "evil." There are a great deal of impressive story hooks dropped in here that any GM worth his (or her) salt could take and run with; more than enough to keep a campaign going for quite some time.
Finally, at the end we have a collection of new Feats for Hyborean characters, and there is some really fun-looking stuff here. From "Kick Down the Door," allowing characters to make a partial charge at any enemy behind a door that is burst down with a strength check, to Feign Death (which does exactly what you'd think), to "Like White on Rice," which allows you to prevent an opponent from taking a 5-foot step, to "Warning Shot," which allows you to substitute damage from a successful ranged attack with an Intimidate check, there are some great flavor-oriented special abilities included here.
The art and layout in the book is (as always) very well-done and nicely captures the feel of the Hyborean Age. Mongoose has done a bang-up job so far of hitting the nail on the head with the look and feel of their books for Conan, and this one is no exception.
The Bad
I have only one bad thing to say about The Road of Kings.
Pastiche. And lots of it.
Not only does Mongoose fall into the old GURPS trap of "pastiche as canon" throughout the book, they don't even stick to the moderately acceptible pastiche of de Camp, Carter, and Nyberg. Throughout we see John Maddox Roberts, Sean A. Moore, Leonard Carpenter, even the Conan comic book! While the reviewer understands that Howard left many holes to fill in his relatively short career of writing Hyborean tales, if Mongoose is going to use these apocryphal sources in their works (and let's face it, folks: pastiche is nothing but fan fiction, even at its best) they should be better and more consistent about identifying pastiche works from canon Howard material. Once or twice a source is identified as "apocryphal," but in many places it's very hard to discern what did and did not come from Howardian sources, and it seems as though the author may be a fan of many of these pastiche sources, as he quotes pastiche sources left and right in support of various information, just as a scholar might quote another scholar's work in an academic paper.
I can say with all relief and happiness, however, that no Robert Jordan seems to have been used in the book. Thank Mitra and Crom for that.
A suggestion to Mongoose: if in future sources you feel the need to use pastiche to fill in gaps left by Howard, such pastiche should be included in sidebars clearly marked as apocryphal material (much as Eden Studios does with their "canon alert" boxes in Buffy and Angel books.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Road of Kings is a meaty sourcebook full of useful information for your Conan game, and is, in the reviewer's opinion, a must-own not just for players of the roleplaying game, but for any Conan fan. It is only due to the extensive use of pastiche therein, and the inconsistency in identifying such works as apocryphal or non-canon, that the book wasn't rated a "5: Excellent!" in substance.
Capsule Review
Jason Vey
July 9, 2004
Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
Solid gazeteer, but Howard purists beware: pastiche creeps in at last.
Source: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10447.phtml
Conan: The Road of Kings is the newest release in Mongoose's Conan RPG line, and overall it maintains the quality standard set by earlier products in the line. Unfortunately, there is a major downside to the book that resulted in this reviewer (as something of a Howard purist) giving it a lower review than it could otherwise have had.
The Good
First let's look at the Good. There is a noticeable reduction in typographical errors in this book, showing that Mongoose does indeed make good efforts to rectify past mistakes, and it uses the same impressive layout and graphic design of previous books.
The book is a 192-page hardcover gazeteer of the Hyborean world. It is positively thick with information about the various countries, places, geography, and people of the Hyborean Age. The world is divided into countries (in alphabetical order), and each country is structured in the same easy-to-reference format: General Information, Major Geographical Features, Important Cities/Settlements, Provinces/Baronies/Counties, Religion, History, Creatures and NPC's, and Adventure and Campaign Hooks. While much information is repeated throughout individual countries (Mitra, for example, is repeated in most chapters to have a Heaven and Hell and a concept of Judgment), this even serves the purpose of making it easier for those GM's just wishing to run adventures in one country without having to cross-reference to other writeups. In addition, the new monsters throughout the book greatly expand on the options available to GMs looking for new Howardian baddies to throw at their Cimmerian barbarians and Hyrkanian archers.
The book also in several places makes reference to the connection between Howard/the Hyborean Age and H.P. Lovecraft and his Mythos. I was very pleased to see this, as it is all-too-often overlooked in discussions of the Conan stories.
Following the individual writeups for countries are a section on Other Peoples of the Hyborean Age, covering nomads, extinct and ancient peoples, secret societies, and other such detail-oriented tidbits. Good, concise writeups all around, here. No complaints.
Next comes the writeups for "Notables of the Hyborean Age," which contains the long-awaited stat writeups for Conan himself. There are two writeups here, one for King Conan around the time of The Hour of the Dragon (20th level) and one for Conan the Thief, around the time of The Tower of the Elephant (3rd level). While perhaps one more writeup would've been nice, showing him around 10th level (perhaps during his stint as Amra or during his adventures with Valeria in Red Nails), these two writeups are nicely done and do a nice job contrasting the two extremes of Conan's career development. Other notables included are Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, Zenobia (Conan's queen), Constantinus of the Free Companies, Nefertari, Amalric, Tarascus, and Yasmina the Devi, among others. I was, I must admit, disappointed to see a lack of stats for Trocero, Valerius, and (considering the extensive use of pastiche in other places herein) Conan II (AKA Conn). Still, overall there is a very nice selection of NPC stats herein.
Following the NPC statistics is a section on Game Mastering Conan. This section is exceptionally well done, and provides tips, advice, and guidelines on what exactly sets tales set in the Hyborean Age from other fantasy genres. It also defines the "low magic" vs. "high magic" feel of the age, the type of battle and violence integral to the saga, and the importance of capturing the vision vs. keeping a thesaurus handy for other words meaning "dark" and "evil." There are a great deal of impressive story hooks dropped in here that any GM worth his (or her) salt could take and run with; more than enough to keep a campaign going for quite some time.
Finally, at the end we have a collection of new Feats for Hyborean characters, and there is some really fun-looking stuff here. From "Kick Down the Door," allowing characters to make a partial charge at any enemy behind a door that is burst down with a strength check, to Feign Death (which does exactly what you'd think), to "Like White on Rice," which allows you to prevent an opponent from taking a 5-foot step, to "Warning Shot," which allows you to substitute damage from a successful ranged attack with an Intimidate check, there are some great flavor-oriented special abilities included here.
The art and layout in the book is (as always) very well-done and nicely captures the feel of the Hyborean Age. Mongoose has done a bang-up job so far of hitting the nail on the head with the look and feel of their books for Conan, and this one is no exception.
The Bad
I have only one bad thing to say about The Road of Kings.
Pastiche. And lots of it.
Not only does Mongoose fall into the old GURPS trap of "pastiche as canon" throughout the book, they don't even stick to the moderately acceptible pastiche of de Camp, Carter, and Nyberg. Throughout we see John Maddox Roberts, Sean A. Moore, Leonard Carpenter, even the Conan comic book! While the reviewer understands that Howard left many holes to fill in his relatively short career of writing Hyborean tales, if Mongoose is going to use these apocryphal sources in their works (and let's face it, folks: pastiche is nothing but fan fiction, even at its best) they should be better and more consistent about identifying pastiche works from canon Howard material. Once or twice a source is identified as "apocryphal," but in many places it's very hard to discern what did and did not come from Howardian sources, and it seems as though the author may be a fan of many of these pastiche sources, as he quotes pastiche sources left and right in support of various information, just as a scholar might quote another scholar's work in an academic paper.
I can say with all relief and happiness, however, that no Robert Jordan seems to have been used in the book. Thank Mitra and Crom for that.
A suggestion to Mongoose: if in future sources you feel the need to use pastiche to fill in gaps left by Howard, such pastiche should be included in sidebars clearly marked as apocryphal material (much as Eden Studios does with their "canon alert" boxes in Buffy and Angel books.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Road of Kings is a meaty sourcebook full of useful information for your Conan game, and is, in the reviewer's opinion, a must-own not just for players of the roleplaying game, but for any Conan fan. It is only due to the extensive use of pastiche therein, and the inconsistency in identifying such works as apocryphal or non-canon, that the book wasn't rated a "5: Excellent!" in substance.
Capsule Review
Jason Vey
July 9, 2004
Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
Solid gazeteer, but Howard purists beware: pastiche creeps in at last.
Source: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10447.phtml
