I'm an avid fan of the Conan RPG - I've purchased most of the books and continually find myself drawn back to them. But there's a problem:
Problem #1: I only get to actually participate (I'm the GM) in an RPG every 1 - 2 months. I was in the process of prepping my then-upcoming fantasy campaign when I purchased the Conan RPG. I ran a couple of one-off sessions and everyone liked it. However, the two sessions hardly amounted to a shake-down cruise.
Problem #2: I had abandoned D&D years ago (that's not the problem, it's coming...). The campaign I was prepping was a GURPS 4e fantasy campaign. My players and I like GURPS because of the character detail and the grittiness of combat. As a GM I love it because it's a true RPG tool-kit: I can tailor-make a campaign to my liking. However, with the constraints on my time these days, sometimes it's almost too open. I find myself spending more time on game/campaign design than on adventure/NPC design.
So my Conan book/rules begged to be tried, even though it brought me back to classes, levels, and d20 combat - although admittedly new and improved and eliminating much of what caused me to abandon D&D in the first place. I think my prep time would be considerably less if I switched to the Conan rules, but I'm not sure if Conan could support the campaign's style of play. Since my group meets so infrequently, I haven't been able to run additional one-offs or divert from the campaign to test things out to my liking. So I'm looking for some help from the Conan fans here who have either played the game extensively or are currently in a game/campaign.
Conan's combat rules go a long way to making things grittier. However, do fights usually go to the death (because their are no rules for specific wounds, crippling injuries, etc.) or does surrender to live to fight another day come into play? In other words, do the rules move Conan far enough away from the D&Dism of superhero invulnerability as PCs gain levels? ("I'm surrounded by 20 guardsmen? Bah, I attack!") In my GURPS campaign, an opponent surrenders due to a crippling wound as often as they are killed outright: sword arm broken, leg wound makes it impossible to stand, etc. I don't see that happening in Conan (or any d20 game).
Do high-level campaigns maintain the threat level of combat? In other words, do PCs still recognize that being outnumbered 2:1 is a fast way to die, or is it "Enter the fray b/c I know no one will hit me/no single blow can kill me"? (I know about the MDT, I'm just not sure if the saves are still difficult to make at higher levels.) This assumes opponents within 2-3 levels of the PCs - I expect them to be less threatened by a group of 1st level opponents.
Could I emulate the following using Conan's rules? I built an entire session around the fact that the PCs commander (NPC) had a wound become infected. They had no healers amongst them and had to force march through hostile territory with their commander on a stretcher in order to reach a monastery reknowned for its healers.
Essentially, I'm hoping that PC behavior will mirror what I see in my GURPS campaign: Heroic sword-n-sorcery action tempered by an awareness of the PCs mortality. Suspension of Disbelief has never been an issue and I adopted a Fate-Point-ish mechanic to protect the PCs from being totally at the mercy of the dice. I want to switch to Conan but don't want them reverting to D&D's Fantasy-Superhero mode. High adventure heroics is great, invulnerable supermen are boring.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Your feedback is appreciated.
Azgulor
Problem #1: I only get to actually participate (I'm the GM) in an RPG every 1 - 2 months. I was in the process of prepping my then-upcoming fantasy campaign when I purchased the Conan RPG. I ran a couple of one-off sessions and everyone liked it. However, the two sessions hardly amounted to a shake-down cruise.
Problem #2: I had abandoned D&D years ago (that's not the problem, it's coming...). The campaign I was prepping was a GURPS 4e fantasy campaign. My players and I like GURPS because of the character detail and the grittiness of combat. As a GM I love it because it's a true RPG tool-kit: I can tailor-make a campaign to my liking. However, with the constraints on my time these days, sometimes it's almost too open. I find myself spending more time on game/campaign design than on adventure/NPC design.
So my Conan book/rules begged to be tried, even though it brought me back to classes, levels, and d20 combat - although admittedly new and improved and eliminating much of what caused me to abandon D&D in the first place. I think my prep time would be considerably less if I switched to the Conan rules, but I'm not sure if Conan could support the campaign's style of play. Since my group meets so infrequently, I haven't been able to run additional one-offs or divert from the campaign to test things out to my liking. So I'm looking for some help from the Conan fans here who have either played the game extensively or are currently in a game/campaign.
Conan's combat rules go a long way to making things grittier. However, do fights usually go to the death (because their are no rules for specific wounds, crippling injuries, etc.) or does surrender to live to fight another day come into play? In other words, do the rules move Conan far enough away from the D&Dism of superhero invulnerability as PCs gain levels? ("I'm surrounded by 20 guardsmen? Bah, I attack!") In my GURPS campaign, an opponent surrenders due to a crippling wound as often as they are killed outright: sword arm broken, leg wound makes it impossible to stand, etc. I don't see that happening in Conan (or any d20 game).
Do high-level campaigns maintain the threat level of combat? In other words, do PCs still recognize that being outnumbered 2:1 is a fast way to die, or is it "Enter the fray b/c I know no one will hit me/no single blow can kill me"? (I know about the MDT, I'm just not sure if the saves are still difficult to make at higher levels.) This assumes opponents within 2-3 levels of the PCs - I expect them to be less threatened by a group of 1st level opponents.
Could I emulate the following using Conan's rules? I built an entire session around the fact that the PCs commander (NPC) had a wound become infected. They had no healers amongst them and had to force march through hostile territory with their commander on a stretcher in order to reach a monastery reknowned for its healers.
Essentially, I'm hoping that PC behavior will mirror what I see in my GURPS campaign: Heroic sword-n-sorcery action tempered by an awareness of the PCs mortality. Suspension of Disbelief has never been an issue and I adopted a Fate-Point-ish mechanic to protect the PCs from being totally at the mercy of the dice. I want to switch to Conan but don't want them reverting to D&D's Fantasy-Superhero mode. High adventure heroics is great, invulnerable supermen are boring.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Your feedback is appreciated.
Azgulor
See in Conan you always have to respect your encounter, cause you never know what your up against. At least that how I run my games. I belive that there should be a random factor to encounters. Just like when you walk down the street, not everyone you meet will have the same living standards as you, or make the same amount of money.
Each of our players GMs a different game. One of the players always shouts out "Okay, here comes the P[eeing, but more vulgar word] Contest" meaning everyone argues rules until either the GM says my way period! or an argument ensues.
