Conan Bestiary

Great! I saw that there's a picture for the cover of Shadow of the Sorcerer (link below). I also saw a product marked Conan Collectors Boxed Set 1 (link below). Any ideas what this is?

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=857&qsSeries=7#

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=1007&qsSeries=7

Thanks
-RH
 
I wonder what the Bestiary will be filled with, though. It's not like Conan's world is so full of monsters to begin with and most of them have already been described in various accessories :?:
 
Mortepierre said:
I wonder what the Bestiary will be filled with, though. It's not like Conan's world is so full of monsters to begin with and most of them have already been described in various accessories :?:

Hopefully lots of animals. They could easily add advanced versions of different animals. It's nice to have stats for a wolf, but sometimes you want a Starving, Alpha Male Hyberborial Wolf.

I bet there will be stats for a Liger.

I wouldn't mind more named demons. Decent rules for swarms would also be appreciated.
 
While there might be problems with securing the rights, how about introducing some of the creatures from other Howard stories?

Solomon Kane fought both mindless vampire/zombie creatures, and the race that gave rise to the legends of the Harpies. Both of these would have a place in the Conan setting.

I doubt that anyone here would have a problem with the inclusion of Kull's Serpent Men.

Also, previous supplements for the game have included creatures taken from the pastiches. I know that there are still a number of creatures that could taken from those works. Although care needs to be taken so that the world does not become populated with hidden races of intellegent monsters.

In addition, I would not mind seeing some of the previously printed creatures included in the book. Its always a problem having to go through several books because you know that one of them had the stats. Having alll but those listed in the core rule book would save a lot of GMs time.

Just my idle thoughts on the subject.
 
mthomason said:
It looks like the Conan Bestiary, a 200 page hardback, is planned for a tentative October release.
It this secret information you have uncovered or did you read it somewhere?
 
Reading Howard's stories as a whole, there is a clear consistency in the portrayal of different 'monsters' that is very helpful to understanding the menaces of the Hyborian Age, and enough to put together a bestiary from. I can't see what intellectual property problems there'd be, since we're not talking about copying text (copyright) or unusual names (trademarks) here, and most of the stories are public domain anyway.
 
Faraer said:
Reading Howard's stories as a whole, there is a clear consistency in the portrayal of different 'monsters' that is very helpful to understanding the menaces of the Hyborian Age, and enough to put together a bestiary from. I can't see what intellectual property problems there'd be, since we're not talking about copying text (copyright) or unusual names (trademarks) here, and most of the stories are public domain anyway.

How do you come to the idea that most of the stories are public domain?
 
It's known in REH circles such as REHupa to be so. The only published article on the subject is Paul Herman's (link below). Some of the stories' ownership is disputed, but everyone agrees the bulk of them are PD.

http://www.robert-e-howard.org/AnotherThought4ws02.html
 
Faraer said:
It's known in REH circles such as REHupa to be so. The only published article on the subject is Paul Herman's (link below). Some of the stories' ownership is disputed, but everyone agrees the bulk of them are PD.

http://www.robert-e-howard.org/AnotherThought4ws02.html

I think I saw that a couple of years ago. It may well be that many are public domain, and that list seems like a good starting point, but I'd want more information before I tried to use those materials. The copyright term has gone through several changes (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc), there have been restorations of copyrights that had gone public (http://www.copyright.gov/gatt.html), as well as renewal requirements in the past, which makes the analysis not so simple. What I would want to see is a listing like on that link, but that also provides each individual basis for why each individual work is no longer protected (e.g., under XYZ law, the term has run or the renewal was not filed, and the work is not covered under any restoration) so that the basis for being on the list is more readily verifiable. Also note, to the extent that additional previously unpublished materials are published, they may some copyright life in them.
 
Wildside Press and Bison Books are publishing these stories without legal difficulties -- that may be the best sign short of a lengthy and costly independent legal investigation.
 
I believe the US law states that the works of an autor belong to th epublic domain 70 years after his death if he has no heir.
 
Faraer said:
Wildside Press and Bison Books are publishing these stories without legal difficulties -- that may be the best sign short of a lengthy and costly independent legal investigation.

Certainly a sign, but to the extent that the recent Howard books are coming out without modifications by others, they may not be covered.
 
The King said:
I believe the US law states that the works of an autor belong to th epublic domain 70 years after his death if he has no heir.

Copyright law has no reference to "heirs." But yes, recently there was an extension (thanks Disney) to death plus 70 years (also, if made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), it is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter).
 
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