If I remember correctly, Hyperborea in the Cthulhu Mythos is supposed to have been ancient Greenland. Other than that, I don't know much about it.
There is an Hyperborean kingdom from Howard and an Hyperborean realm from Clark Ashton Smith as well. The Liber Ebonis idea stems from the latter. It could be adapted though.
Smith, Lovecraft and Howard were regular correspondants and the foundation of the 20-30's 'weird' pulp. Their creations were created as part of a 'shared world' like the modern day 'Thieves World'. Lovecraft, Smith and Howard wrote stories set in the same fictional world, but from a different point of view. [Which is why their stories are such a treat.]
In Howard's case, the Hyborian and Atlantian Ages used by Howard for Conan and King Kull respectively were mythic 'pre-histories' occuring before our modern age
and part of the Mythos's great 'history'. Thus modern Greenland
was Hyperborea in the Hyborian Age and when the great [undescribed] cataclysm came that destroyed the Hyborian world, Hyperborea broke off the Hyborian continent and became our 'Greenland'.
Also I note again- in Chaosium's
Call of Cthulhu timeline of Earth, the Hyborian Age is listed as a few hundred years of time about 12,000 years before the 'present day'
The greater difficulty in introducing books in the Hyborian Age is that most people can't even read their own language, much less an old forgotten tongue.
Actually, since only a few of races start with Illiteracy, it seems that there
is a general knowledge of written languages, however odd that is for a mythic Bronze-Iron Age. [Cimmerians can read? Read what?] As illogical as this is, I let it pass for ease of gaming.
As for introducing books- as far as I know, save for the Pthoknic[sp?] fragments and the
Liber Ebonis itself, the civilizations that spawned the madmen who wrote most Mythos books haven't even be conceived of in the Hyborian Age. Anything but these two books [or some obsure one I don't about] would have to be created by the GM.
Also note that anyone with access to either these books or any other like ones in the Hyborian Age is likely a Noble or Scholar and thus are likely mutlilingual intellectuals with far too much time on their hands.....
Basically most Cthulhu 1920's adventures can be adapted for Conan because it is a time of discovery (South America, Africa and Asia) that has already begun with the Victorian area. Urban adventures are also possible (take Warhammer rpg as an example).
I also can imagine remote villages in the Kezankian Mountains which could lead to such an adventure as "Return to Dunwich" with decadent people each hiding some dark secrets and some caverns not far away where evil awaits.
And then with some works, one can adapt the pastiche short story "The hand of Nergal" to a CoC-like investigation (in the nearby town) for Conan characters.
Agreed. I should note that my Conan players are about to be shipwrecked on a island haunted by Deep Ones, a mad Scholar and a Ancient Horror (TM). I'll post you on the results....8)
It is also possible to pull a trick Marvel Comics did in the original
Conan comics and adapt other Howard stories into a Conan mythos. Solomon Kane, Bran and King Kull are all more or less the same character as Conan with a few changes and nip and tucks, they fit easily into the Hyborian Age. The comics also branched out into Fritz Lieber's Fafrad[sp?] and Grey Mouser series of books, Michael Moorcock's Elrick series and other then-current fantasy series with varying degrees of success. Reading Conan and Elrick bicker is a treat not to missed. 8) Check it out in Volume 3 of the Chronicles of Conan reprint being put out by Dark Horse.
Raven- a liar, thief and writer. Or is that redudant? 8)
