Recent content by JamesMishler

This is absolutely fabulous news! Now if they couold only acquire the rights to Red Sonja, all the Hyborian characters and the extended Howard canon would be back under one literary roof...

Ah, but that's the point. Instead of Waylander being the one who met Dardalion, the PC's were the ones who met Dardalion... or even, one of the PC Source Priests is the one who went on to found The Thirty! This way, players don't have to be "second bananas" in a Drenai campaign. They can be the...

Sylvos, If you dislike the standard 3.5 system, you should definitely check out the psychic system in The Spyschic's Handbook. It is very different, and most excellent. I really think it captures the flavor of Gemmell-style Source powers better than the sorcery of Conan...

Another era not explored in the novels is... [SPOILER WARNING] The alternate Waylander era where the Waylander from the "prime" timeline goes into the past and stops his family from being slaughtered. Without Waylander to inspire him (through the taste of his blood or otherwise), Dardalion...

If I were running a Drenai campaign I would consider using the psychic powers system from Green Ronin's The Psychic's Handbook instead of the Conan sorcery system. It's practically written with Gemmel's style of magic/psychic abilities in mind...

It is simple economics. Players will buy sourcebooks. Dungeon Masters will buy adventures. You will therefore sell, at best, 1 adventure for every 5 sourcebooks you would sell. When the market was much larger (around 2,000,000 + in the early '80s), adventures were economical, because you could...

How about every time the weapon rolls minimal damage on a die it gets one "nick." When the total number of nicks equals the Hit Points of the weapon, the wielder suffers a -1 to hit and damage with the weapon. Until the weapon reaches that point, a whetstone can be used to buff out the nicks...

Uncle Bear, I always got the impression that the "serpent-people" of that story were actually a race of degenerate humans, that had lived under the ground for so long that they had evolved serpent-like characteristics, much like the "Worms of the Earth" in the Bran Mak Morn story. The race was...

The priests of Mitra might believe him to be a jealous god, but that does not really mean that Mitra cares one way or the other whether or not the people actually worship him! Note also what Epemitreus says to Conan: "As a pebble cast into a dark lake sends ripples to the furthest shore...

I believe a lot of people have always missed the point about just who Epimitreus the Sage was... He *is* Mitra. Or rather, the god "Mitra" is what 1500 years of reverence by the Hyborians will do, make a man into a god. When Epimitreus is speaking with Conan, note carefully how he says...

Glad you found it useful! Maybe your player should have gone for the "Frugal" level! I designed that level especially for one of the players in my game... he wanted to live on moldy bread and water. I don't think he understood the Hyborian feel there, either... :) BTW, where are you at in the...

I use a general guideline based on the social hierarchies (or classes) and social levels as outlined in the City State of the Invincible Overlord. Social levels range from 1 to 20, and there are six different hierarchies: Nobles at the top, then Gentlemen, then Military, then Guildsmen, then...

Vincent, What do you think of the way that Nemedia is portrayed on the current, official RPG map? It seems to me that the country is far too small based on the misplacement of the western border. The western border, and the Border Range mountains, are too far to the east as compared to two...

As to Nordheimer becoming vikings, while it is true that there was no such thing during the early days of Conan, perhaps by the time he becomes king a small group of Nordheimer pirates might have developed. Take for example, the character Sigurd Redbeard, from the Conan of the Isles pastiche by...

D'oh! That "woohoo" was from me, checking out the lists from work...