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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 20, 2021 10:40:35 GMT -5
Robert E. Howard’s Conan and Dungeons & Dragons “The fog remains heavy as you travel down the street. You come to a heavy barricade and beyond it, what looks to be a town square with a well in the center. The square is filled with zombies, but there in the middle, near the well, is a woman in half-plate, valiantly fighting them.” “By Crom! I leap the barricade.” I roll to see if I make it over the barricade. The Dungeon Master (DM) checks to make sure the makeshift barricade of doors, tables, and chairs does not come tumbling down. I make it. “I charge into melee!” “Roll for initiative.” We roll. “Conan goes first.” “I swing my broadsword at the closest zombie to me as I head for the well.” I roll. “Hit.” I roll damage. “The zombie falls at your feet. Now the female in half-plate swings her sword. As she does so, she calls upon ‘The Light.’” The DM rolls. “She hits and she too has dropped a zombie. However, a dozen more are closing in upon you, and they are coming at you from every direction.” The zombies strike, but because they are slow, they miss. “Conan’s turn.” “I move to the well, taking a position beside the female and . . .” And that was when I remembered, “The Pool of the Black One.” The well! “I do a grapple check.” “With a zombie?” “Yeah!” We roll. “Conan wins the grapple check.” “I’ve got hold of him?” “Yes.” “Then I pick him up . . . [pause for affect] . . . and throw him in the well.” “Whoa!” The other players cheer. “You know you’ll contaminate the water, right?” asks the DM. “Hell, there’s zombies infesting this place, the water is already contaminated.” “He falls down the well, taking fall damage.” And that is how my character Conan managed to deal with the zombie situation in The Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. Thanks to Robert E. Howard and his stories of Conan the Cimmerian, my D&D Conan character’s actions regarding the zombies in Barovia’s town square became legendary. Normally, I served as Dungeon Master, but whenever I actually played a character, I always played Conan. Out of the many times I played the Barbarian or Fighter/Thief, this was the only time I ever managed to do something “Conan-ish.” Usually I just charged into combat and died. Sitting around the lunch table on Friday during Howard Days in 2019, the conversation touched on the influence of Robert E. Howard on our lives and particularly what did he actually influence us to do. For most of us it was some type of physical activity, such as boxing, martial arts, fencing, or saber fighting. For nearly all of us, however, it was Dungeons & Dragons. The conversation turned and we talked about the problem of playing Conan in Dungeons & Dragons. While many talked about playing Conan as a Barbarian character, we all agreed, that was a failure. Whenever I played him as a Barbarian, he died. It reality, he was, we agreed, more in lines with a D&D Fighter/Thief. Still, at first level, playing Conan, he usually died. The problem, of course, was our visions of Conan, who was near-on invincible, with a very squishy first level character in Dungeons & Dragons. When D&D moved beyond AD&D to version 3.0 and then 3.5, there were better chances that someone playing Conan, like me, would not have their character die. That was true, but we all agreed, it still never really felt like being Conan. The conversation at Howard Days and Jason’s reflection on the conversation on the Sword & Sorcery panel, got me to thinking about Conan and D&D, particularly AD&D, which was largely what I played, either as Dungeon Master or player. I then wrote a long article for REHupa all about TSR, Conan, and D&D, so I thought I would post the article in pieces here as a new thread. It will be interesting to read if anyone else played either the old TSR Conan modules or the original Conan RPG.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 20, 2021 12:16:06 GMT -5
REH Influence on D&D The award-winning article by Bill “Indy” Cavalier in Knights of the Dinner Table (#236), “Robert E. Howard and His Influence on Dungeons & Dragons,” says it all in the title. (If you have never read the article, link to here on Swords: swordsofreh.proboards.com/thread/335/reh-influence-on-dungeons-dragons )
Howard was a major influence upon not only Gary Gygax, but Dave Arneson as well. Talking with the master himself at Gen Con, Indy explains, “He spoke very fondly of Howard’s writing” and noted that he was “quite animated when recalling Howard’s works, and readily admitted to me the works of REH were an importance influence on the creation of his game” (37). Gygax listed Robert E. Howard as one of his influences in the Dungeon Master’s Guide in the famous “Appendix N” in which he writes, “The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all of their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as any other imaginative writing or screenplay, you will be able to pluck kernels from which will grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!” He then lists “Robert E. Howard” and the “Conan series.” In Dragon Magazine #95, in an article titled, “The Influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the D&D and AD&D Games,” Gygax again highlights the influence Howard had on his creation of D&D. He writes, “Somewhere I came across a story by Robert E. Howard, an early taste of the elixir of fantasy to which I rapidly became addicted. Even now I vividly recall my first perusal of Conan the Conqueror, Howard’s only full-length novel. After I finished reading that piece of sword & sorcery literature for the first time, my concepts of adventure were never quite the same again” (p. 12). He then provides a list of the authors who most influenced him, and Howard leads the list: “A careful examination of the games will quickly reveal that the major influences are Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, A. Merritt, and H. P. Lovecraft” (p. 12). Link to that Dragon issue here: annarchive.com/files/Drmg095.pdf Gary Gygax was not the only one influenced by Robert E. Howard’s Conan, for so too was Dave Arneson, the co-creator of D&D. Authoring the definitive history of roleplaying games Playing at the World, Jon Peterson notes that Arneson mentioned on multiple occasions that it was his reading of a number of Conan stories that influenced him to create Blackmoor. So, in short, part of the entire reason for the existence of Dungeons & Dragons traces directly back to our man Robert E. Howard.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 20, 2021 14:53:27 GMT -5
Playing Conan in AD&D
When it comes to the AD&D game, there is some suggestion that because of the reference to “Conan the Barbarian,” dating at least back to the Gnome Press book by that title (1954), the character class “Barbarian” was based on Howard’s Conan. DeVargque wrote in his article on “Literary Sources of D&D,” that the Barbarian class was “Based largely on the character of Conan from Robert E. Howard's series of the same name and on the character of Kothar from Gardner Fox's series of the same name (which is itself obviously based on Howard's Conan stories), with some elements taken from the character of Fahfrd from Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar series.” Source: web.archive.org/web/20071209043119/http:/www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.html
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 23, 2021 12:23:51 GMT -5
The Barbarian class was not introduced in the core AD&D manuals, but appeared first in Dragon magazine Issue #63, and later in Unearthed Arcana. While the Barbarian did have some special abilities, including the ability to rage, there were a number of restrictions on the character that would hold the player character in check (depending on the Dungeon Master). Still, the character at first through third level was still fairly weak and prone to dying. Many have argued, Conan was not really a Barbarian, but a fighter/thief or a fighter/rogue. The thief aspects are obviously a reflection to the Howard tales of Conan in his younger years, but a first level fighter/thief, especially on the thief side of things has pretty weak abilities. Playing the character Conan we all read about in Howard’s stories as a first level fighter-slash-whatever is still a recipe for death. Gary Gygax himself highlighted this very issue when he first presented Conan’s statistics for Dungeons & Dragons.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 23, 2021 12:31:48 GMT -5
Gary Gygax pretty much acknowledged that Conan was a much higher level character outside of D&D’s rules, and that Conan as a first, second, or heck, even a tenth level character, was NOT going to be Conan. The first time Conan’s statistics were presented was in the original D&D Supplement IV, authored by Robert Kuntz and James Ward. Here is how they presented Conan: CONAN
Armor Class — As a normal man Alignment: Neutral Move: 12" Magic Ability: None Hit Points: 117 Fighter Ability: 15th Level Strength: 18; Exceptional Strength: 100%; Intelligence: 16; Wisdom: 10; Constitution: 17; Dexterity: 18; Charisma: 15. This mighty fighter of the 15th level also has thieving abilities of a 9th level thief as per Greyhawk. His animal instincts make it almost impossible to surprise him (roll of "1" on 12-sided dice) and his unusually keen perception allows only the most clever of traps to entangle him. With the new Greyhawk rules he receives a plus 4 on hit probability and a plus 6 on the damage he does. He opens all doors, and wizard-locked ones on a roll of 1-3, his thief abilities allow him to open locks 75% of the time, remove traps 70% of the time, pick pockets and move silently 75% of the time and hide in shadows 65% of the time. Conan, generically speaking, was a fighter/thief with the former being of the 15th level, and the latter the 9th level. His abilities are impressive. Had I been able to use these statistics to play Conan, I may not have died so often, but any game would be broken if I or anyone else had been allowed to play Conan at this level, unless the game was a 15th level game and so were the other player characters. Trying to play Conan as a first level character was nearly impossible, when he was in reality a 15th level character. Many people, however, saw the 15th/9th level designations as being too low for Conan. Jon Peterson, in his book Playing at the World, noted that “One gamer, seeing Conan’s stats in Supplement IV, lamented, ‘it was terrible, CONAN HAD ONLY 17 CONSTITUITON and was a 15th level Fighting-man-Thief while his god Crom was only 20th level, Yech!’” (p. 567). Then again, that was a time period when 20th level was often seen as the highest level any player character could attain. Still, regardless of the levels, there were still some issues with Conan’s statistics, which Gary Gygax set out to rectify.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 24, 2021 14:21:04 GMT -5
In Gary Gygax’s Dragon Magazine column, “The Sorcerer’s Scroll,” in issue #36, published in April of 1980, he attempted to address Conan’s statistics in AD&D. He tried to qualify his statistics up front, knowing many would take umbrage with his levels, when he wrote, “Please be aware, gentle reader, that this rating is strictly subjective and done to the best of my current recollection; I have not gone back through all of the ‘Conan’ books and re-read them to prove my accuracy. Nonetheless, I feel that the parameters are correct, and I hope you will be satisfied after reading them” (p. 10). Gygax then presents Conan’s statistics, but he does it in an interesting manner – he does it by Conan’s age: What makes this interesting is that as Conan ages, getting into his 50s, 60s, and 70s, we see his ability scores begin to decrease. This is an interesting concept because it mirror’s reality and Gygax does cover the decrease in abilities with age (See DMG p. 13), but he doesn’t necessarily follow these with Conan in these statistics. What is most intriguing about this is that as Conan ages, he decreases in both fighter and thief levels. As he explains, “The drop-off in level in later years is meant to reflect the effects of advancing age, and while hit points might drop off more, skill level would not drop below 9th level—say until 100 years of age, perhaps, and possibly not even then.” What makes this still more intriguing is that it is found nowhere in the AD&D rules, but is only applied to Conan. In a sense, when creating the statistics for Conan, Gygax created a new rule (he was pretty much known for creating new rules or breaking his own rules, as he did with Conan’s ability scores for they do not mirror his DMG rules found on p. 13 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.) So, Gary Gygax was influenced by Howard to create Dungeons & Dragons and he was further influenced by his character Conan to include statistics for him within the D&D rules. Yet, this was only the beginning for soon Gary’s TSR obtained the license to produce Conan modules for Dungeons & Dragons.
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Post by Von K on Aug 24, 2021 15:30:57 GMT -5
Very interesting thread linefacedscrivener, thanks. Much of this is new to me. Like you say characters tend to be a bit squishy in D+D at low levels. Personally I'd have started Conan off at around Barbarian/Thief 4th/2nd for Tower of the Elephant but the original AD+D was a bit limited in when and how characters could change classes and/or which class combos they could have.
Can't remember what stats classes and levels the old Conan Mongoose d20 gave him.
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Post by karasuthecrow on Aug 24, 2021 18:20:58 GMT -5
In their official " Conan Unchained" they give Conan the following stats
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 26, 2021 9:21:13 GMT -5
Very interesting thread linefacedscrivener, thanks. Much of this is new to me. Like you say characters tend to be a bit squishy in D+D at low levels. Personally I'd have started Conan off at around Barbarian/Thief 4th/2nd for Tower of the Elephant but the original AD+D was a bit limited in when and how characters could change classes and/or which class combos they could have. Can't remember what stats classes and levels the old Conan Mongoose d20 gave him. Thanks for the kind words. I know it is pretty old school, but that is me. I played D&D from 1979 to about 1985 with neighborhood friends and then I dropped off until my oldest son discovered AD&D when he was about ten in an old Spiderman Comic. He asked about it and one thing led to another and I ended up being their DM for about five years. Fun times. Mongoose came in my in-between years, so I never played that, and I never actually played the original Conan role-playing game by TSR, which my article will eventually get to. I did play a few of the early Conan modules, but I inserted them into my Greyhawk Campaign. That was the main world I always used--loved the Darlene map.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 26, 2021 9:23:37 GMT -5
In their official " Conan Unchained" they give Conan the following stats Nice post and I have I have more about it in an upcoming post. To me, the most interesting aspect that helped make the character more like Conan is the ability to use "luck points." I had some mechanisms in my old school campaign in the 1980s that used other things that approximated luck for the characters, but the simplicity of luck points avoided a lot of the home rules I had. Cool picture too.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 26, 2021 9:35:43 GMT -5
The TSR Conan Modules
No doubt the Conan the Barbarian movie inspired TSR to develop some Conan themed modules, and in 1984, after gaining the license to do so, they published two modules that year: CB1 Conan Unchained!, and CB2 Conan Against Darkness. CB1 Conan Unchained!
Because of the movie, of course, they used the picture of Schwarzenegger for the cover. The module was written by one of the leading TSR game designers, David Cook. The game was for first edition AD&D, set in Conan’s Hyboria, and was for player characters of levels 10-14. The preface to this module talks about Conan and Hyboria, but not about the game itself. The game takes place around the time Conan was on the Sea of Vilayet, so roughly the time period of “Shadows in the Moonlight.” The player characters encounter the Kozaki, travel to the Vilayet Sea, then sail to a citadel on a mysterious island where they face the sorcerer Bihr-Vedi in his tower. Overall, it is a simple plot, but it still makes for some good Conan fun. The upside to the game is that at least one player gets to be Conan in a game set in Hyboria. It does a good job of placing the game in Conan’s world and it does have, to a degree, the feel of Conan. To escape the problems of Conan in a D&D world, first and foremost, the game is made for higher level characters (10-14) making it possible for the Conan character to survive. The other two things that help prevent Conan from dying are both improved healing and luck points – two things not found in typical AD&D worlds/rules. I did like the inclusion of luck points, allowing Conan (and other characters) to be able to perform miraculous feats. One of my house rules was similar when I DM’d D&D. On a natural role of 20, for the player characters, it was an automatic kill. While it often quickly ended a major fight, it created some serious bragging rights and memories from the players for years to come, so I always kept it. There were several reviews on this module at the time it was released. The first came from Steve Hampshire in the gaming magazine Imagine. He credits David Cook for attempting to create a module placing Conan in a TSR AD&D module. He then explains how, due to the differences between AD&D rules and Conan’s world, “A number of minor changes for standard AD&D rules are needed to cope with Conan and Hyboria. Clerics are banished, healing rates increased, and a ‘fear check’ introduced to cope with superstitious fear of magic. More interestingly, every player gets a certain number of luck points to spend in attempting feats outside the AD&D rules. These were good fun in the Conan context.” Hampshire then explains that there are four pre-generated characters, Conan, Valeria, and two others, but that “These are outside the normal run of AD&D characters, and the module rightly urges against bringing in existing characters.” He then gets to the heart of his review about the module when he writes: “The module itself also has some uniquely ‘Conan’ features. Normal AD&D monsters are almost totally replaced by various human opponents and potential opponents. Surprisingly, some of these are good enough to challenge Conan! The plot is simple and rather derivative, but takes in some interesting settings and encounters. For the most part it plays well, despite niggles like a ship that keeps changing its name, and monsters using their useless wings to fly into the attack.” The one aspect of the review that I fully agreed with, as this is the only one I actually DM’d when it came out, was when he talked about how the module was very successful in striking the mood of Conan and Hyboria. Hampshire states that, “The mood of this module is different from the normal run of AD&D material, and the players and referee really need to get into the swing of the thing. It helps if one is familiar with the Conan books or films. This scenario is good for introducing the characters, but stronger plotlines will be needed if there is to be a series.” The other review came from Rick Swan in the magazine Space Gamer. He was more cynical in his opening to the review when he wrote: “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that in the wake of the Indiana Jones and Marvel Comics products, here we go again with the next installment of TSR’s latest marketing ploy to reel in the gullible – right? Well, sort of. Arnold what’s-his-names’ mug isn’t plastered across the front by coincidence, but this isn’t all bad.” Swan then proceeds to discuss how David Cook handled the creation of a Conan module. Here he was more forgiving when he wrote, “Designer David Cook has taken what is in essence a pretty cheesy assignment and give it a good shot.” He then discusses the changes Cook made to the AD&D world to accommodate a Conan character: “Realizing that Conan and his world don’t readily fit into the D&D universe, Cook fudges the system by adding some new rules. These include a ‘Fear Factor’ assigned to monsters to inspire terror in the weak-willed, ‘Luck Points’ to allow characters to perform spectacular feats of heroism, and a new healing rule that mends wounded characters faster than normal. D&D purists may balk, but the rules work and add to the heroic feel of the setting.” Perhaps the kindest words Swan could pay to Cook’s module was when he explained how, “Fans of R. E. Howard will be happy to know that Cook has approach the source material with considerable respect and that Conan Unchained is generally consistent with the Hyborian world we all know and love.” Again, having played this module with friends back in the 1980s, the game did have a Howardian/Conan feel making it far different from the AD&D Greyhawk world which was predominately what I played. Swan, however, was not without criticism of the module when he wrote: “The basic problem here is that Conan isn’t a particularly good choice for the D&D system. Compared to most D&D settings. Conan’s world is pretty barren. There’s not magic or interesting monsters to speak of, and the adventure is nothing special (the characters are captured by slavers, negotiate their freedom, and rescue a fair maiden from a nasty castle).” As stated above, I agree with Swan that Conan doesn’t work well in the D&D system, but I disagree that “Conan’s world is pretty barren.” As those familiar with Conan’s Hyborian world and his Conan stories, there is a rich tapestry at work. Cook clearly chose, and rightly so, not to overwhelm the DM and players with too many details of that world in the single module. Swan then continues his review with a rant when he adds to his criticism: “It would have been nice if Cook had included a way to settle the argument as to which player is going to be Conan – honestly now, who would you want to play? And I know that Conan is supposed to be a tough guy, but a hundred hit points? And why is this module so skinny? With only 32 pages to start with, a good eight of them are given over to useless illustrations or redundant information, including four pages of character statistics that are already given on the inside cover.” He then finishes the review with a flourish: “ Conan Unchained can be played a part of a regular D&D campaign without Conan and associates, but what’s the point? There are plenty of better roleplaying modules available from TSR and elsewhere. Conan and D&D go together like peanut butter and tuna fish – it can be done, but you can bet there’s going to be a funny taste.”
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Post by karasuthecrow on Aug 26, 2021 21:06:21 GMT -5
I also found that Steve Jackson Games released their own Conan Games under their G.U.R.P.S system, the corebook has Conan under his different life stages but here is the basic one.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 27, 2021 12:31:12 GMT -5
Yep, when I returned to D&D, I discovered the Steve Jackson Conan materials as well, and I learned about GURPS. Since everyone is talking about the other Conan RPG materials outside of TSR, I thought I would go ahead and mention another, The Hyborian Age, that was designed for use with the d20 system. As far as I know, it has only been online, but the website still exists: hyboria.xoth.net/index.htmHere is the Conan stats for the version of Conan the Thief:
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 27, 2021 12:46:46 GMT -5
CB2 Conan Against Darkness!
The second module was designated CB2, Conan Against Darkness!, and was written for characters of levels 10-14 in first edition AD&D. The game is set during the time period of Conan’s kingship of Aquilonia. As this module was also released in 1984, it is not surprising that another game designer authored this particular module. In this case it was Ken Rolston, who was not known for his a association with TSR, but rather West End Games. The preface to this module sets the stage for the game itself when it describes how: “For centuries Stygia has produced the greatest sorcerers in the Hyborian World. Their powers are based on the heritage of earlier civilizations, back in a time when magic was more commonplace and immeasurably more powerful. Sadly, none of these great Stygian sorcerers have devoted their knowledge to good ends. Rather, they have employed their sorcerous powers as tools of terror and domination. Thoth-Amon is the greatest living sorcerer of the Hyborian Age. He has often been Conan's arch-enemy. Conan is the greatest single obstacle to Thoth-Amon's plans for domination of the Hyborian Kingdoms. Once again Thoth-Amon threatens Conan and the peace of Aquilonia.” The module is clearly a nod to the movie as it employs Thoth-Amon as an arch-nemesis to Conan. In this case, Conan and his adventuring party journey south to the Forbidden City of Khemi and the catacombs beneath a pyramid where they find the Hall of the Dead. Eventually the characters follow along the River Styx, searching for the road to Asubor that takes them to the temple where they will have their final encounter with the great sorcerer. This one I had prepared to play back in 1984, but never got the chance to play it for it was my senior year of high school and there was too much going on. Not to mention one of my players had joined the Marines. The game still appeared to me to have at least the feel of Conan and Hyboria, and the adventuring locations seemed pretty cool. There was one review that I know of in Imagine magazine by Jez Keen. He writes that, “The Module Conan Against Darkness! sports an effective cover still of Conan, and the whole package is attractive. I spotted only two slips – erroneous references to maps – in the entire adventure. Information for players in the text is ‘boxed’ for clarity, enhancing the layout. Quality artwork is scattered throughout: monochrome maps on a pull-out sheet; three-colour maps and a full colour map on the cover. All are clear to the DM, bar one oddity where a secret entrance moves.” Turning to the plot, he notes, “Thoth-Amon is a sorcerer taking over the world, and he now intends to dispose of Conan. Conan gathers three friends and sets off on a journey of epic proportions . . . the scenario is split into episodes, most separated by healing/traveling time. This structure makes the adventure disjointed, and sometimes purposeless. The method of interfacing between episodes is badly executed sometimes, for example when the vampire ‘can’t resist betraying Thoth-Amon’ before leaving, and players felt they were being manipulated.” Keen then explains, “The encounters within the episodes are rarely stimulating, and often overwritten. For example, one observation is to be read to players is ‘You hear no other sounds but the rumble of a heavy chariot and the heavy breathing of the great demons’. The character cannot see anything: do they know that demons’ breath sounds like?” While that may be true, any good DM is going to read through it then play it how they want the game to go, so these types of minor issues can be easily fixed. More importantly are his comments about the issues of surviving game play against a sorcerer as powerful as Thoth-Amon. “Survival is difficult,” he begins, but then notes how the TSR Conan has some slightly different rules to make this adjustment, such as “the fast healing rate [which] partly compensates for the extreme violence and lack of clerics. The rule alterations are to support the special campaign background for Conan, also introducing Fear and Heroism: these are implemented well in the AD&D environment.” He then ends his review with this: “However, the journey does not adapt well to a scenario structure; the module may be commercially successful, but it is pretty mundane as an adventure.” Again, having only read the module and not played it, the last line strikes me as being spot on. While it has the trappings of a good game, the substance is a bit weak, the plot thin, and the connection between the episodes disjointed. My guess is that there was a rush to get these modules out to capitalize on the popularity of the movie, hence the use of a lot of cool ideas, but the substance left very simple to publish quickly.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Aug 30, 2021 14:14:57 GMT -5
Conan Role-Playing Game (TSR)
This was another item that I purchased from TSR, but by the time it was released, my D&D group had flown to the four winds and I never found a group to play it. I owned it for a number of years, but at some point I lost track of it. There are still many used copies available out there, usually starting around $100 and up, and there are some copies circulating electronically on the web. The boxed set was released in 1985, and the game designer was again, David “Zeb” Cook. Most likely, after finishing the first module, he was tasked with creating an RPG that would fit Conan and his world, rather than trying to modify AD&D. Some claim that he also took the Marvel Super Heroes rules and applied them to Conan. I can see that some, but I also see evidence of AD&D, and more evidence that the game just went in a direction that was heavily focused on the Conan Books. [An aside here: the Conan books in question are, of course, the Lancer/Ace books, so many of the references to the “Conan Stories,” to include quotes, are actually from L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. Still, many of the quotes are pure Howard, and the fact that Cook tried to stick with what was in the books makes the PRG actually feel more like an RPG for Conan and Hyboria.] The box comes with a 32-page rule book that spells out the basics for the game. There is also a 16-page reference guide for combat, equipment, and character talents, plus the character sheets. There is a third book – the longest of the three – a 48-page book that acts as a Gazetteer for Hyboria, which, again, sticks close to the books. One of the really cool things included was the large map featuring Conan, the sorcerer Thoth-Amon, and two dragons (well, Conan-like dragons; see below). Finally, there are two 10-sided dice included in the box as the system used for the game is the D100 system. When the RPG was released, several gaming magazines conducted reviews, and by and large, they weren’t very favorable. There were usually some kind words mixed in with a lot of complaints. For instance, Peter Tamlyn in his review in White Dwarf magazine opened with this: “’Crom’s Teeth’, muttered Conan, ‘they’ve had me doing some daft things in my life: Barbarian, Reaver, Slayer, Conqueror, Comic Book, AD&D Module, and now a Role-Playing Game. Mayhap ‘tis something to help Arnie Schwarzenegger with his acting.’ In far off, serpent infested Stygia. Thoth Amon looked up from his crystal ball and smile malevolently: this time he’d ruin the Cimmerian’s reputation for good.” Tongue back in cheek, he continues: “Verily, ‘tis true, from the mystic shores of Lake Geneva comes another TM’d RPG. Conan, I suppose, is a big enough name to deserve his own game despite the fact that TSR already produces the biggest selling fantasy RPG. Besides, it gives them a chance to get things right this time. To start with it is simple. Taking a leaf out of Marvel Super-Heroes it has just about everything boiled down to a single, colour-coded Resolution Table. If there is anything that isn’t covered then the GM is encouraged to wing it. What rules there are encourage role-playing and atmosphere; for example, it is impossible to become any good as a sorcerer without acquiring all of the unpleasant habits for which Hyborian magicians were known and feared. And the rulebooks actively promote role-playing wherever possible, encouraging the players to see their characters’ lives as a story and providing a fair wealth of background for a Hyborian campaign. Just about everything that, in my view, is wrong with AD&D has been put right for Conan.” He is right in terms of the rules being very simple, but clearly Cook took the Lancer/Ace series of books and, sticking closely to them, created the game. His purpose was to make the RPG reflective of what was in the books and nothing more, and for that, I think he did an outstanding job. The game has the atmosphere of Hyboria and it fits Conan much better than AD&D ever did. I personally had no major issues with AD&D and its sometimes clunkiness because I took a page right out of Gary Gygax’s own writings – if you don’t like something, change it. As I said previously, I had many home-rules that I thought worked out well and so did my players. I would, however, agree that if you were new to RPGs, this game would be good for its simplicity, but it might not be good enough if the DM stuck to just doing what was in the rule book. This is not a game for “rules-lawyers”; not enough rules, so they wouldn’t have any fun. Now despite the last comments by Tamlyn being favorable, he does continue with a big “But . . .” First up he mentions that “The editing is absolutely appalling.” It was. This is another thing that is very evident TSR was working fast and hard to push this out, and didn’t put the necessary resources into getting that done. This is an old story, so I won’t quote his many complaints about mistakes such as mistakes with tables, reference sheets changing the rules, and not knowing you have to roll for luck points until much later in the book. His last comments on this will suffice: “It’s a great shame. With a bit of care it could have been a very good product. Most of the errors are essentially cosmetic and even with them I still prefer it to AD&D. Hopefully TSR will produce a second edition – after they’ve tightened up on their quality control.” Again, while the editing was poor and more time could have been put into the RPG’s production, I still think the game had merit. Sadly, they did not produce a second edition, for I believe they lost the rights to continue producing the game in 1988. A more recent review (2012) of the RPG came from the famous Grognard, James Maliszewski, on his blog Grognardia. He starts his review from 2012 by noting that “In my opinion, one of the things TSR did right during its existence was produce a wide variety of roleplaying games rather than endlessly churning out material for Dungeons & Dragons.” I agree. While my players and my passion was always AD&D, we enjoyed excursions into Gamma World, Top Secret, and Boot Hill. As the Grognard said, “We rarely stayed away from D&D for long, but I think our regular ‘sabbaticals’ from it helped keep us interested in it over the long term.” He then turns the conversation to the Conan RPG: “I bring this up because one of the last non-D&D TSR roleplaying games I remember buying was 1985's Conan Role-Playing Game. Designed by David ‘Zeb’ Cook, it's a complete game in a single box, consisting of a 32-page rulebook, a 16-page reference guide, and a 48-page guide to the Hyborian Age. I remain amazed at how often TSR produced RPGs whose rulebooks were 64 pages or under; it's frankly a thing of beauty -- all the moreso because, in most cases, these games didn't need to be any longer. Conan was a fairly ‘light’ game, using a series of six ‘talent pools’ to adjudicate every action a character takes in the game. The pools are broad in nature (Prowess, Fighting, Endurance, Knowledge, Perception, and Insight), under which are more specific talents that represent areas of unusual skill, like Brawling for Fighting or Reading/Writing for Knowledge. Talent checks are resolved using percentile dice and compared to a color-coded result chart, as was the style at the time. In cases where a character is attempting to do something an NPC is opposing (combat, for instance), two talents are compared, with the opposing talent subtracted from the active one to determine what line on the chart to read. Though the rulebook didn't do a particularly good job of explaining all this, in practice, the system was quite easy to use. “For my friends and I, though, what made Conan such a fascinating game, aside from its source material, was its character creation system, which encouraged players to think about who their character was and how he fit into the Hyborian Age. The "character folio" (i.e. record sheet) included a section entitled "story" with a series of blanks for the player to fill in, like Mad Libs. So, it would say "(Character Name), (Sex) of (Father) and (Mother), was born in the land of (Homeland). (Character Name) grew (Appearance). As a youth, (Character Name) learned (Talents)." And so on. The idea is to frame one's character abilities into something that is coherent, interesting, and fitting for an adventurer in a Robert E. Howard yarn. It's a simple thing really, but I can't stress how revelatory this approach was to my friends and I. We found it so much easier to get into the spirit of things this way. “Of course, it probably helped that Conan Role-Playing Game was clearly a labor of love on the part of David Cook. His fondness for the stories of Conan is well known and this game is like a love letter to the tales of the Cimmerian. For example, the game's magic system is mechanically loose and difficult for characters to master, with many opportunities for both disaster and long-term consequences. This is, of course, as it should be, for magic in the Hyborian Age is usually a dark affair not to be trifled with. This didn't stop one of my friends from creating a sorcerer character, named Talon after the twisted bird-like claw he had on one hand -- a reminder of his playing with things Man Was Not Meant to Know. Just as well presented is the game's setting, which is presented in the form of a faux notebook written by an archeologist named Ervin H. Roberts who was convinced that there was ‘an age undreamed of’ in prehistory. It's a little silly, of course, but in a good way that I think encourages fun rather than hinders it. “I vaguely recall that TSR produced a handful of modules of to support Conan Role-Playing Game (in addition to those produced for AD&D), but I may be misremembering. Regardless, I don't believe the game did very well for the company, or at least it didn't do well enough, because it wasn't on store shelves for long. I think that's a shame, because Conan was well-presented, straightforward, and fun. It could never replace Dungeons & Dragons in the eyes of my friends and I, but that's hardly the benchmark by which a game ought to be judged. Unfortunately, I think that's exactly the benchmark TSR used, which is why most of their non-D&D RPGs had extremely short lives. A pity.” I am in total agreement with his review despite never having had the opportunity to play the game. The old Grognard gives some good reasoning for his comments and I like the long-view he gives on this. I should also point out that there were indeed modules for the Conan RPG. In fact, there were three of them, which I will review. Grognardia: grognardia.blogspot.com/2012/06/retrospective-conan-role-playing-game.html
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