Conan as a Warhammer RPG setting

[rabindranath72]

The game system of WFRP is quite gritty, magic is low level and lethal, the career system is a much better fit for the Conan world than any class-based, and the rules are quite light compared to d20. So, it would seem like a good match. So, has anyone tried to play a Conan game using the WFRP rules? (first or second edition)
Any comments/idea would be appreciated!

Cheers,
Antonio

 

[Trodax]

I'm a big fan of WFRP (have only played 2nd edition) and could see the system working for a Conan game. Have never mixed the two myself, so I don't have any actual experience. It would be grittier, and the PCs would not be as bad-ass as in the d20 version, but for certain types of games that could have its charm.

The career system would fit nicely, I agree, at least with the way Conan advances.
The problem is that the careers themselves are so very tied to the Old World that you would probably want to make completely new ones (I would not want to play a Rat-Catcher or a Bone-Picker in a Conan game!). This makes WFRP a pretty tough system to convert to other genres, IMHO (I have thought about using the WFRP rules for other games, but have always ended up thinking "damn, that would be a lot of work").

Still, though, one can easily think of a lot of careers that would have a nice Hyborian Age flavour: Thief, Pirate, Pirate Captain, Slave, Mercenary, Apprentice of the Black Circle, Priest, Noble, King... damn, it sounds pretty sweet actually!

 

[rabindranath72]

Thanks for the reply!

Actually, no where it is written that one must use ALL the classes in the game! Some games may be better served with a definite set of careers, but there are very few (if any) which would be inappropriate.
I never ran WFRP in settings other than the Old World, simply because I was using pre-made settings which were not based on any literary sources.
But the Hyborian Age seems to scream WFRP!
So, with reference to the WFRP1e, these careers would seem not appropriate:
Basic careers:
Coachman, Pharmacist, Physician's student, Prospector, Student, all careers exclusive to demihumans

Advanced careers:
Gunner, Lawyer, Physician, all careers exclusive to demihumans.

Firearms would be nonexistent.

Available magic would be: druidic, illusion, necromantic, demonic.

These seem to be the key points. Other ideas?

P.S.
Obviously, one could create "ad hoc" careers, and it would not be difficult, I guess.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

To me, Conan is best left in Hyboria, but I do run Mongoose Runequest in Warhammer fantasy Roleplay. The PERFECT conversion.

 

[Hervé]

WFRP rules are neat and I though for a time to use the system for Conan. But I'm not too happy with the career system.
As Trodax said, all careers don't always fit well in an Hyborian campaign, but I also find that career advance can be somewhat awkward in the course of the campaign ("No, Bob, you just can take this Sailor career. You've been wandering in the desert for the last three months!..."). I tend to prefer free form advancement, like in Chaosium games (among others). Careers can sometime be as restrictive as OGL classes.
On the good side, the game system is really nice and if I some good willed person would adapt the career system and some of the rules to the Conan world, I'd probably go for it. For now, I'm far too lazy to make the conversion myself...

 

[Trodax]

Actually, no where it is written that one must use ALL the classes in the game!

True, true. Careers like Soldier, Mercenary and Thief could definitely be used as is. But my impression is that there is a large proportion of careers that don't really "feel right". Haven't really gone through my book and counted, so they might not be as many as I think. Sorry I don't have 1st edition, so I can't really compare with your lists, although I agree that the ones you list should probably be omitted.

Available magic would be: druidic, illusion, necromantic, demonic.

Since I don't have 1st edition, I don't know anything about those magic types, sorry. The magic in 2nd edition (you have 8 different colours of magic, as well as chaos magic and stuff like that) does not have the right feel for me; I would not use that magic system in a Hyborian Age game (too much fireballs and magic missiles). The magic in 1st edition might have been more low-key.

Other ideas?

* You shouldn't be able to get powers from the gods (at least not in my Hyborian Age). The priestly careers in 2nd edition (again, don't know about 1st) get "magic", so all those careers would have to be redone (cause' you'll obviously want priests, just not ones that can cast Heal or Bless Weapon).

* I would probably not use random character generation in a Hyborian Age game, and I would most likely start characters a little bit more powerful than in standard WFRP (2nd career, perhaps?).

 

[rabindranath72]

Magic in 1e is VERY different from magic in 2e. Spells must be learned, and each spell is unique. The above magic types would be appropriate to an Hyborian Age game, and there would be no fireballs
Also, Initiates do not get spells automatically, and Clerics access the same spell lists as Wizards, depending on their religion. So, for example, a Cleric in the temple of Set would learn Demonology and Necromancy, while the cult of Jebbhal Sag might learn Druidic spells.

 

[Trodax]

Magic in 1e is VERY different from magic in 2e. Spells must be learned, and each spell is unique. The above magic types would be appropriate to an Hyborian Age game, and there would be no fireballs
Also, Initiates do not get spells automatically, and Clerics access the same spell lists as Wizards, depending on their religion. So, for example, a Cleric in the temple of Set would learn Demonology and Necromancy, while the cult of Jebbhal Sag might learn Druidic spells.

Aha, I see. Sounds good!

 

[Der Rote Baron]

Old an new WFRP have a very renaissance fantasy feeling to it and mirror the world perfectly: If you want to get a certain skill - GET A JOB! With it you get standing (or loose it), wealth (or lose it) and good or bad reputation etc. You are what you do for a living and people in the world will judge you for what you do, are, represent.

That does not fit very well with the free-wheeling spirit of CONAN characters IMO: A Barbarian, a Noble, a Borderer, a Thief, a Soldier do not have jobs or careers - they hae only one: They are adventurers! Soldiers-of-fortune, plunderers of ancient tombs, raiders of lost ar ... well you know what I mean.

WHFRP and CONAN are both gritty, violent, dark(ish) and heroic in their own ways. But WHFRP gives you agrim world in which to carve out a living. Conan gives you great adventures to carve up evil sorcerors.

Different feel!

 

[Strom]

I'm a fan of Warhammer Fantasy and have played both versions and could see with some minor adjustments using it to play in the Hyborian Age.

One thing we have discussed but have not put into actual play is the critical hit rule in Warhammer. I like it much better than the 'roll again to see if you critical hit" mechanic in D20. In Warhammer, when you hit, you roll damage and if you roll the max damage - i.e. a 10 on a d10 or a 12 on a D12 - then you invoke "Ulrics Fury" and your hit is a critical. In play, we have found this is much more exciting then the excitement of a possible critical 19 or 20 followed by the disappointment that the hit isn't a critical by missing the second to hit roll. So when you roll damage you are not as excited as you were when you initially rolled to hit.

In our last Conan session, whenever a Player rolled max damage the player would yell "Ulrics Fury!" Which was sure to confuse the Argosseans they were fighting. It would be interesting to see if using the max damage roll of Warhammer would unbalance the game in any way. I realize it's all numbers and statistics but I haven't tried it out yet. Cosmetically, the Warhammer critical rule seems more exciting for players and GM's alike.

 

[Ralph]

So what is the effect of Ulric's Fury?
Does it double damage, so that a d10 roll of 10 would in fact deal 20 damage?

Ralph

 

[Trodax]

So what is the effect of Ulric's Fury?
Does it double damage, so that a d10 roll of 10 would in fact deal 20 damage?

In WFRP, it works like this: If you roll the maximum damage (10 on a d10), you get to redo your attack roll (very much like when you score a threat in d20). If this second roll is also a success, you roll an additional d10 and add to the damage (10+1d10). If you roll a 10 again you can keep on adding d10's for infinite amounts of hurtin'.

The reason that it's done in this sort of roundabout fashion (roll damage first, and then it might become a critical), is that the attack roll in WFRP also determines which location you have hit (you roll 1d100 and reverse the digits to get the hit location; so if your attack roll is 53, you have scored a hit against hit location 35). This means that if the attack roll determined critical hits (like rolling a 20 in d20), you would get very strange effects because these criticals would always hit specific locations. If, for example, you scored a critical when you rolled 01, all criticals would hit your opponent in the head, because getting 10 on the hit location table indicates a hit to the head (this would of course be quite strange!).

It would be interesting to see if using the max damage roll of Warhammer would unbalance the game in any way.

I also like the way criticals work in WFRP, but unfortunately there's a statistical problem with implementing that way of doing it in Conan. In WFRP, all damage rolls are made with 1d10+Strength, which means that every hit has a 10% chance of scoring a "threat". In Conan, where different weapons do differing amounts of damage, you have wildly differing chances of scoring "maximum damage". A dagger would score a threat 25% of the time (rolling a 4 on 1d4), while a greatsword would do so only 1% of the time (rolling 20 on 2d10).

 

[rabindranath72]

Old an new WFRP have a very renaissance fantasy feeling to it and mirror the world perfectly: If you want to get a certain skill - GET A JOB! With it you get standing (or loose it), wealth (or lose it) and good or bad reputation etc. You are what you do for a living and people in the world will judge you for what you do, are, represent.

That does not fit very well with the free-wheeling spirit of CONAN characters IMO: A Barbarian, a Noble, a Borderer, a Thief, a Soldier do not have jobs or careers - they hae only one: They are adventurers! Soldiers-of-fortune, plunderers of ancient tombs, raiders of lost ar ... well you know what I mean.

WHFRP and CONAN are both gritty, violent, dark(ish) and heroic in their own ways. But WHFRP gives you agrim world in which to carve out a living. Conan gives you great adventures to carve up evil sorcerors.

Different feel!

Career is not necessarily synonim of "job". As you have "nobles" and "thieves" in in Conan rpg, you have the same in WFRP.
Also, at least from the viewpoint of "freewheeling", the Conan RPG still requires a character to multiclass, which except in name, is not that different from pursuing a different career. Even the literary Conan, at one point or another of his life, has pursued many different "careers": he was a Mercenary, then a Thief, a Seaman, an Outlaw and then a Noble (these are all WFRP1e careers).

The renaissance aspects of WFRP need not be played out; one can simply take the "crunch" of the game system, and use it with the fluff of the Hyborian Age.

Cheers,
Antonio