Where do you come from?

[Der Rote Baron]

Seems like we have quite a Euro-crowd here, instead of the usual "dominace" of American and other Anglo-Saxons.

Seems like CONAN is apealing more to European gamers.

[Dante]

Are Conan fans older than usual roleplayers or is the hobby just getting more mature in general? Guess I'm junior in this bunch - 26, Finland, been playing for 12 years or so. The first games were Rolemaster and Cyberpunk. I started running Conan two years ago or so, though I've been great fan of Robert E. Howard since I was 13 or so and read his stories for the first time. I guess you could call me a purist, since I've never given much value for pastiches and only consider Howard's work as guidelines when I describe my version of the Hyborian Age to the players.

From what I have seen I think that the pen and paper roleplaying is becoming the hobby of the more mature players these days. Youngsters start the gaming with computer, console and cards and later some of them move to the traditional p&p gaming.
I also suspect that in the case of Conan, the comics of the 1970s - 1990s are a significant factor in the older age of Conan RPG players. People who read them then are now older and are of course excited about the RPG Conan.
I myself started to read Conan comics in 1992 and noticed that they were based on some guy named Howards short stories (The shock! The awe! ). First story written by Howard that I read was "the Tower of the Elephant" and I have been a fanboy since.

[sgstyrsky]

Washington, DC

Most children take some time getting used to the non-visual format of old-style table-top RPGs. My son did. Fortunately, he's a good reader so once we started playing and he realized how much fun it was, it was easy to get him to read the PHB. (We used to fight over who got to read Dragon Magazine first!)

His friends were a lot more work. They did not like reading, and took much longer to get used to the game. Two didn't like the fact you couldn't play on the computer and dropped RPGs altogether.

So, while I think RPGs are doing well, it probably takes more convincing to get the same audience that was easily captured twenty years ago.

[VincentDarlage]

Columbus, Indiana, USA

I was first introduced to Conan when I was 13 (1982-83), when my uncle loaned me a copy of Conan the Adventurer (Ace edition). That year I found the entire Lancer line at a flea market. I also started buying the Conan comics around that time.

I started playing AD&D when I was 11 (1980-81). I got involved with the Conan RPG during the playtest.

[Jeffreywns]

Salt Lake City, Utah (USA), 44 yrs old and just returning to the posts. Our group of players changed to GURPS last Augest and two of the group ran a Supers and a Fantasy campaign. But now that their free time is starting to become shorter it looks like I get to bring back Conan. Cant wait. Have been playing Conan since it came out with the Scrolls of Skelos (First Edition) , and havent yet changed to the new second edition. Before that used the old Gurps Book.

[Hervé]

44? Now that's making YOU the old timer! I'm only a 43 years old youngster!
As Dante hints, I suspect the Conan comics has had a big influence on most of us. I remember being totally entranced by the Thomas/Buscema/Alcala stories in SSoC (Black Colossus, Devil in Iron, Iron Shadows in the Moon and others...).
As I told in my previous post, I run a gaming shop. I can only confirm that the RPG audience is indeed a "dying breed". Most of the people that buy RPGs in my shop are around thirty (and often more) and it seems there's nothing like a "new generation" of players. CCGs and miniature gaming seem to be more popular among the younger generations. Customers habits are changing and video games have had a tremendous impact on our hobby.
The number of companies that edit (non d20) RPGs has dwindled considerably. With Black Industries stopping all their RPGs ranges, it seems there's little alternative to d20 left for fantasy gamers (Dark Heresy looked really nice. Too bad the sucking GW shareholders decided to stop everything). I also think that wild downloading is hurting the industry, too. RPG books are generally printed in low numbers; so a couple of hundred pirate downloadings can make the difference between the success or the total failure of a book.
I'm just like everyone here: I'm pretty disappointed by Mongoose 2nd Ed editing policy and I don't have too much money to spend on trivial matters... But I keep on buying the Conan books. Even when my favourite soccer team doesn't win, I keep on supporting them. I'm doing the same with the Conan RPG. If we don't buy the books, there will be no more books to buy...
One final line for the Mongoose staff: it is not because I buy the books that you should allow yourselves to print total ****. I don't know about the sales of the 2nd Ed, but I didn't met anyone yet that was satisfied with it.

[Hoghose]

(...)I can only confirm that the RPG audience is indeed a "dying breed". Most of the people that buy RPGs in my shop are around thirty (and often more) and it seems there's nothing like a "new generation" of players. CCGs and miniature gaming seem to be more popular among the younger generations. Customers habits are changing and video games have had a tremendous impact on our hobby.
The number of companies that edit (non d20) RPGs has dwindled considerably. With Black Industries stopping all their RPGs ranges, it seems there's little alternative to d20 left for fantasy gamers (Dark Heresy looked really nice. Too bad the sucking GW shareholders decided to stop everything). I also think that wild downloading is hurting the industry, too. (...)

Yes, we are bleeding and dwindling in numbers, but I dont think the RPG players will die out any day soon. One could draw the same conclusions on the music-industry, but: even if there will be far less people buying books and records than there were in the "old days" eventually that will stabilize, I think. RPGs has been around for at least 30 odd years and I dont think the hobby will die out.

As I wrote previously: There is "fresh meat" every year, on conventions here in Sweden anyway. Although, online games has put a serious dent on our hobby...

[maladaar]

Age: 43
Location: New Jersey, USA

Playing RPGs since early 80s.

Just picked the Conan 2e and introducing it to my group.

[flatscan]

One final line for the Mongoose staff: it is not because I buy the books that you should allow yourselves to print total ****. I don't know about the sales of the 2nd Ed, but I didn't met anyone yet that was satisfied with it.

Wow. Austin, Texas here, been gaming 17 years, running Conan for over a year now. And I can say beyond a doubt I love the 2e book. The only criticism I have is the black and white printing, but that is minor at best.

[vince the french]

How amazing all these guys from northen europe
Actually i'm from Nantes, in France as my alias says

[thelevitator]

I'm 38, currently living in Wisconsin, but moving to Reno, NV in a month or two. I began with D&D around 1983 and have been gaming ever since. I recently discovered the Conan d20 game and fell in love with it instantly. My only problem is converting my DM Genie program to work with it. I'm almost at the point of hiring someone to do the conversion for me because I want to play Conan so bad. I've been using DM Genie for 4 years now in my current groups (1 tabletop and 1 online) and I can't even imagine playing d20 without it. It speeds things up so much that the game doesn't even feel like traditional D&D. I've got the Conan races finished and am now working on classes. My biggest challenge will be implementing the magic system into DM Genie. A couple of my online players are programmers who also use DM Genie, so I plan to pick their brain when I get closer to needing their help.


My next campaigns will definitely be Conan games from here on out!

[maladaar]

To thelevitator:

I recognize your name from another message board. I also use DMGenie and was wondering if I will be able to make use of it in a future Conan campaign.

[thelevitator]

Absolutely! The conversion will go much quicker once we finish our move to Reno. Right now, we are living in 2 states, with Jen in Reno, and me in Wisconsin with our daughter. We are sending Abrianna out with Jen the 2nd week of March, and I will hopefully be following just after. I'm really hoping to have something workable in the next couple of months, so I'll keep ya updated.

After spending the last several years trying to put the perfect game together, I feel I may be approaching the 'holy grail' for my gaming style. The Trinity? Conan D20, DM Genie and Maptools all working together in perfect harmony!

Of course, I'll be keeping some of our house rules for fun!

[aethelwulf22]

36 and from the UK. Started gaming in 1983 with a big break from 1990 to 2007 and so really just recently got back into it.

[Majestic7]

I also suspect that in the case of Conan, the comics of the 1970s - 1990s are a significant factor in the older age of Conan RPG players. People who read them then are now older and are of course excited about the RPG Conan.

Well, I must say that I never liked the comics. I first read the stories and then the comics - and Conan portrayed in them was not the same Cimmerian as in Howard's writing. Conan of the comics was an invincible superman that killed gods, won every fight and solved everything with violence - or at least that is the impression I got as a kid - while the "real" Conan runs away when it is wise and uses his wits a lot to survive.

[rabindranath72]

I am 36, italian, but living in the UK since about two years for work reasons. I am a mathematician specialised in probability and statistics, and I work as a researcher for the UK's NHS.
I entered the P&P RPG hobby about 20 years ago, starting with the Mentzer Red Box, although I had played computer-based RPGs much earlier (starting with the Ultima series).
I became involved with d20 Conan during the playtest of the first edition, although I have played in the Hyborian Age since a very long time, with the AD&D modules and GURPS. Never read the Conan comics, but I started reading the italian translation of the Conan tales about 20 years ago.
My preferred games are Classic D&D, AD&D1e and 2e, Castles & Crusades, WFRP, Star Wars d6, Call of Cthulhu (BRP and d20), TSR Conan, Dark Heresy.
(no, d20 Conan is not among my preferred games; if only it had not been a d20 game...)

[Spongly]

I live in Newcastle upon Tyne, which is legally part of the UK until we revolt and re-create the Kingdom of Northumbria.

I'm 25, I've been playing RPGs since I was about 12 or 13, when I started on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (still one of the best games ever, and I love the new version).

Got Conan when it came out and was sorely disappointed with the shoddy editing, but luckily a friend of mine got the Atlantean edition a little while later, and he's been running a campaign on and off since.

I'd only read a few of the Conan stories before I got the book, but have since brushed up and read most of the Howard stuff. Before that I was more into HP Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, so when I run Conan (I've only run it a couple of time when I lived in Glasgow for a while), a bit of their influence kept creeping in.

[Johnathan]

Perth Australia

I have been playing for 26 yrs now, but have just moved here so I'm having an enforced break

[Dante]

Well, I must say that I never liked the comics. I first read the stories and then the comics - and Conan portrayed in them was not the same Cimmerian as in Howard's writing. Conan of the comics was an invincible superman that killed gods, won every fight and solved everything with violence - or at least that is the impression I got as a kid - while the "real" Conan runs away when it is wise and uses his wits a lot to survive.

Im absolutely with you on that one. The comics are something totally different than the original Conan, although some of the "Savage Sword of Conan" comics get pretty close to that Howardian feel. I guess thats mostly because they are direct graphic copies of the original stories. The comics however worked to me as a portal to that awesome original Conan created by Howard, because before them I didnt even knew who Howard was. Call me an sentimentalist old sod, but I still have a huge pile of old Conan comics stacked in my closet.

I see myself somewhat a purist when it comes to Conan, so I strive to use only Howards original stories as a background material when describing the Hyborian Age and its inhabitants in my games. Some of the comics have good stories though (and some are just plain awful), so I have decided to use some of their best stories as adventures in my future campaigns.

[The BoogerMan]

I'm 35 years old (turning 36 in April...) and have been into role-playing games since I was 17.

I've been running Conan of and on for a little over a year and half, but using a combination of BRP rules - Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer - and Gurps Conan for background and maps (only recently have I begun buying Mongoose's d20 Conan books – strictly for background material ). Recently I’ve gotten into Runequest and will probably end up switching my Conan campaign over to those rules (cuz the Runequest rules, um, rule dude ).

I first got into Robert E. Howard and Conan from reading the old Savage Sword of Conan magazine back when it was published by Marvel comics, and from there I sought out and read the stories.

As for location, I reside in Danville, Virginia in the United States (which is kinda obvious from my little profile, huh?).


So how 'bout that?