lionmane Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Mongoose Publishing is putting out a Conan RPG this month. They have downloadable sample pages on the website( you need Adobe Acrobat). The content seems pretty good from what I can gather from the samples. It appears that they really tried to put elements from Howard's works into the game play(see "Obsessions" for sorcerors for an example). It looks like it's got the D20 , recent version of D&D mechanics going on. I haven't played more than 2 gaming sessions with that format, but it seems OK, I guess. The only downside is the book is about 50 bucks! It is a big (300-some pages) hardcover, though. Luckily, my wife works part-time at a bookstore and can use her discount, and a friend of mine offered to go in halfsies with me . I really would rather play an RPG at this point, 'cuz it's been years since I've played for any length of time, but for a game set in the Hyborian Age, I'd be willing to GM again. It looks like I'll have 3 players(my wife said she would be interested in playing!), and I can always throw in an NPC(or two) to round things out, or let them have 2 characters each. Conan fans(and RPG-ers in general), take a look and tell me what you think about this game. As soon as I get the actual book in my paws, I'll post my 2 cents. But as a Howard fan, I'm looking foreward to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orsino Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 Yet another impediment to my being able to buy a new printing of GURPS Conan. Sigh. I'll have to beg my wife to E-Bay me one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankthedm Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 For 50 bux i would rather re-tool an existing rules set. I do wish i had read the actual conan books already to see just how magic worked in the fiction. I doubt it is the vancian [memerize your spell, use it, forget it till next day] system [the fiction pre-dates vance IIR]. I would hope the magic system is less of a crutch after the 5th level than the d20 D&D system. [even if you don't cast spells you ARE your magic items on the most part] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Jag Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 CONAN... What is best in life? Ahh yes, anything to do with Conan (the Barbarian, not that late night talk show guy of course) is worth looking into... uh, exception... Conan the Destroyer... agghhh... what were they thinking??? Darn shame!!! Would be interesting to find out the potential of this new Conan RPG. Uh, can someone provide the website for those of us who are too lazy to look it up ourselves? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_Adcock Posted January 20, 2004 Share Posted January 20, 2004 *drools...gets a bucket to catch it all* CROM do I ever want this! My gaming group are getting bored with Call of Cthulhu, because they've caught on to my DMing tactics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decado Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I for one plan on buying the Conan RPG when it is available. What a great setting for a low magic campaign. As far as reading the Conan novels they are being released in 1 or 2 volumes. These volumes will be of Howard's original works unedited and untouched by other authors. I need to add these to my collection as well. Decado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankthedm Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 These volumes will be of Howard's original works unedited and untouched by other authors. I need to add these to my collection as well. Decado cool, literary purity is important to me, could you tell me some of the changes his works suffered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decado Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Frank, I am a fan of Conan but by no means a expert on the character or the books. However, from what I have learned is that L. Sprague De Camp & Lin Carter took many liberties when they edited Howards work, often for no apparent reason. I am looking forward to reading Howard work untouched by others. I have also heard that the same publisher is working on releasing some of Howard's other work in its original format. Decado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionmane Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Conan RPG Go here to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7thunders Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 I already ordered mine. the book is like 324pages. so that should keep me busy for about 2 days. I grew up reading conan. I live,i breathe it. I love it. and when the scrolls of skellos comes out in feb. i will have that as well. and anything else they care to put out. now I gotta go paint my reaper barbarians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionmane Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 As far as the differences between the Conan stories as Howard wrote them and as DeCamp edited them aren't too huge(if I recall correctly). The biggest crimes against Conan perpetrated by DeCamp were the adapting of non-Conan Howard adventures into Conan stories(what the hell was he thinking?), and worst of all, his own Conan stories. He had NO grasp of the character or the world he inhabited, his writing was bad....all in all, he just plain sucked. Even when I first started reading Conan books at about age 10, I could tell the difference between authors. Howard-good, DeCamp-BAD. For anyone wanting to know more about Howard's work, I highly reccomend(sp?) a book called "The Dark Barbarian" edited by Don Herron. It contains essays by Herron and others about REH's work. Also, for a detailed essay on how DeCamp screwed up Conan, read Herron's "Conan vs. Conantics", which is on his website( donherron.com, I think?). I also reccomend "The Ultimate Triumph", a collection of some of Howard's tales of barbarism, illustrated by Frazetta(the perfect artist for REH, with Ken Kelly coming in a close second). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionmane Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Oh, one other REH-related note. In June( I believe it's on the 11th-12th this year) the town of Cross Plains,Texas holds Howard Days. This is the town where REH spent most of his life , and wrote his most famous works. His house is now a museum, and proceeds go to upkeep for it. It's a pretty laid-back gathering of fans , and the two times I've been there everyone was very cool. At the last one Don Herron was there, as was Rusty Burke of Wandering Star Press( the folks publishing the new Howard collections);both were great guys. There's tours of the town, original manuscripts and rare printings of books in the town library, panels and discussions, and hanging out with cool folks. I highly reccomend it to any REH fans. It's really cool to be able to see the room where he wrote all his works(he's my favorite author, in case you couldn't figure that out ). Plus there's always cool stuff to buy, too. One more thing -the movie "The Whole Wide World" is out on DVD. It's based on the book"One Who Walked Alone" by Novalyne Price, a gal who knew (and dated) REH back in the day. It stars Renee Zellwiger as NOvalyne and Vicent Dinofrio as REH. OK, I'm finally done talking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decado Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 lionmane, Thanks for the info, I knew there had to be someone on the boards with more Conan knowledge then I. From what I have read regarding the Conan RPG it is to be based largely off of Howard's work, which I think was definately the right way to go. The book I mentioned in earlier post is called "The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian". I just ordered mine from the Science Fiction Book Club. I checked Amazon but they did not have the RPG yet but when they do I will be ordering it. Decado Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionmane Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 The release date for the Conan RPG is January 28th. (My wife looked it up at her bookstore job today). I've got a copy reserved ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durak Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 The release date for the Conan RPG is January 28th. (My wife looked it up at her bookstore job today). I've got a copy reserved ! Cheater! Let me know how that setting is. If it is really good I might add it to the collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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