Conan d20 RPG

[Blas_de_Lezo]

Has anyone played the Conan d20 RPG?

We're thinking of starting a campaign, but it looks a bit weird... For example, combat seems completely and utterly lethal. :smalleek:

So, anyone?

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I've played a bit of it, and stolen all the combat moves to use in D&D.

Combat in Conan favours the combat classes. All those lovely combat moves make the game really dynamic and exciting - it sorts out lots of the immobility issues from SRD d20 games (no more standing 5ft apart wailing on each other round after round - now you can Dance Aside, Force Back and otherwise move the fight around).

Spellcasters are relatively weak - there's hardly any flash bang magic - but at higher level, they can be quite dangerous.

Most important, I think - to run a Conan style game, you really need to have read a whole bunch of Conan stories. They're different in many ways to the D&D model, although I understand that our Glorious Founders (RIP) were big fans. There's more politicing and social trickery than you might think.

The game really comes into its own at about 3rd to 5th level. Lower than that, and you're going to use up a lot of characters getting through adventures. It's nasty like that. There's hardly any capacity for healing, see.

One thing you might want to be careful with, depending on your players: the races.
Everyone is human - but the different cultures have different stats, and some of the descriptions can appear rather racist.

[Grynning]

I highly recommend the Conan RPG, if you and your players are fans of the Howard stories. If you're looking for a standard fantasy RPG experience or to emulate the Governator movies, you're going to be displeased. If you are really into the Hyborean age, and are comfortable with the setting, you'll find that the authors really put a lot of effort into coming as close to the feel of the Howard books as possible and you will appreciate it.

From a purely objective standpoint, the Conan combat rules are even more complex and convoluted than 3.0, but if you really like melee combat you may find them fun. I personally love the magic system; magic is not a consequence-free win button like in D&D, it is a difficult and risky undertaking, but the rewards may be worth it (there is a spell that just kills everyone in a city sized area, for crying out loud). The designers did take a very good approach to story and framing; they offer a lot of good advice on setting up episodic stories and keeping the emphasis on swashbuckling heroics, dark fantasy and horror, and the other pulp elements that made Howard and other writers of his time great. The design purposely avoids any semblance of an economy, and there is no "Christmas tree effect;" in fact, it's assumed that players will lose most of their money and good gear between adventures. I like that a lot, especially in light of 4th edition's required enhancement bonuses. Multiclassing is the same as 3.0 D&D but is often sub-optimal, a little weird considering that Conan himself is the ur-example of the multiclass character. The production values aren't great, but there's plenty of text, so I think you get your money's worth.


One thing you might want to be careful with, depending on your players: the races.
Everyone is human - but the different cultures have different stats, and some of the descriptions can appear rather racist.
The reason that the various human ethnic groups that are presented as "races" seem a bit, shall we say, unenlightened, is because Robert E. Howard was a bit of a racist, and it peeks through in his writing from time to time. Not to say that he was a through and through bigot, but he did believe that there were categorical, physiological differences between races. That kind of thinking was popular at the time of his education and it is an unfortunate aspect of his stories when viewed with a modern eye. Most Howard fans like myself take the position that while his attitudes cannot be condoned or forgiven, they can be understood as a product of the era. The people writing the RPG, whether they were aware of this or not, were basing their descriptions on his writings about the people of the Hyborean age.

To avoid problems with this, I suggest leaving out the "races" altogether, and just giving everyone an extra stat and skill bump based on their character's background. They can still choose an appropriate area of the world to be from, but that doesn't have to dictate their stats in any way.

[Blas_de_Lezo]

Thanks guys! It sounds that you can have a great time playing Conan!! :smallbiggrin:
I like that in Conan RPG there isn't any artificial concept of "balance", and some classes and races (or whatever) are just plain better than others.

Yes. I've read Howard's original stories, they are awesome. You can clearly see the influence of Conan's pulp tales in the born of D&D. Adventures for a promise of loot, dungeongs, creepy monsters. But the tales are actually very interesting outside the pulp genre! I could vote those stories as the best fantasy stuff to be read. :smallsmile:

[jmbrown]

The reason that the various human ethnic groups that are presented as "races" seem a bit, shall we say, unenlightened, is because Robert E. Howard was a bit of a racist, and it peeks through in his writing from time to time. Not to say that he was a through and through bigot, but he did believe that there were categorical, physiological differences between races. That kind of thinking was popular at the time of his education and it is an unfortunate aspect of his stories when viewed with a modern eye. Most Howard fans like myself take the position that while his attitudes cannot be condoned or forgiven, they can be understood as a product of the era. The people writing the RPG, whether they were aware of this or not, were basing their descriptions on his writings about the people of the Hyborean age.

Well, Howard was best friends with Lovecraft :smallyuk:

However, I disagree that you should completely ignore the races. Understand that the game's universe takes place in an unenlightened, antediluvian world. The human race is largely young and "pure" by blood. There were clear physical and mental quirks, inter-racial relationships were likely rare, inbreeding isn't necessarily frowned upon (and for some races, encouraged), and everyone lives in their own unique region with little mixing.

The racial structure is integral to the flavor of the setting IMO. Although Hyborian society has its own stereotypes and prejudices, there are no real world racial terms and players shouldn't be discouraged by playing against type. If someone feels uncomfortable being called a "Slack-jawed Cimmerian" then by all means tone it down but personally half the fun from playing in Hyboria comes with the large flavor and diversity of its world even if it is in an age of sticks and stones.