Conan campaigns - advice sought

MountZionEditor said:
Okay. I think I see where you're going with this. And I agree that it probably is the D&D idiom of RPing rather than the rules. But can you flesh this out a little more?

What kind of attitude/mindset/style that is inherent to D&D (or perhaps the most common way it's played) is an anathema to Conan.

Can anyone put this D&D thing into more concrete terms?

Khristos Voskrese,
Raphael

If this were a legal arguement, I'd say something along the lines of that its the spirit of the law that is the problem, not the actual rules themselves.

There's nothing concrete in 3.x, AD&D1&2eds that specifically dictates in the rules the idea of a 'balanced' encounter, every encounter.

HOWEVER

In the design of many adventures, the philosophy of building 'adventures' for the game is the dungeon. With 2 to 6 rooms a party can usually do, before resting/healing at length. Furthermore, the non-logical creation of a space (ie. 'the dungeon') is key here, as is the placing of various precursor encounters in the way of the party before reaching the intended target/opponent.

This is the problem, in my own mind.

You could run a fantasy game, using 3.x, that does not have dungeons, period. Or Tolkienesque, such as the specific portrayals of non-human races (Orcs, Dwarves et al). These have no real place in Conan.

Conan may have dungeons, but they are actual places of torture/imprisonment. Conan stories also have lost cities, ruins and other under and overground sheenanigans; but these are often empty, bar the key obstacle/enemy/monster/encounter.

Changing the game (ie. your game) dynamic to reflect this difference, as opposed to obsessing with mapping, 5'squares (previously 10 foot), random encounters and fair and balanced encounters, goes a long way to getting away from the culture of D&D, and towards something else.

Does that explanation help shed light on what I mean?
 
Hyborian Apeman said:
As an actuary, I tend to like following the rules and sticking to them, while still desiring a great role-playing session.

To me, that is the beauty of Conan, the rules fit well to reinforce the feel of the world and encourage solid role-playing. It’s a win-win for those who prefer both the crunch and the fluff.

In my own mind, the game rules should re-inforce the game's intended play style and game portrayal.

Conan's modified OGL system does work very well in bringing the intended feel of the game to light.

Games can still be simplistic ruleswise (such as Over the Edge) and still perfectly suit the game world.

In Conan's case, the rules and gameworld are a fairly good marriage.
 
Teutonic said:
@MountZion

What the heck is a book nazi?!

As I said, I don't currently play in that game, but I get to hear the blow by blow from my best friend. "Book Nazi" is a term they use to describe the DM. Contrary to years of cinematic style of play, since d20 he has become a tyrant in apply the rules. Yrs.,
Raphael
 
I have a general question about your campaigns - when are you playing them? I decided before I got the first printing of the game book to set it about the time Conan leaves Venarium. So I think (I'm at work now) my guys are currently at year -27 (27 years before Conan is king in The Hour of the Dragon, more or less). Just wondering if most people are playing games with Conan as King of Aquilonia, as timelines are presented in books like The Road of Kings, Aquilonia, etc., or long before or long after?
 
Currently, King Valerius III just died in my campaign. Nemidides (sp) :oops: just ascended to the thrown of Aquilonia. Conan is close to being a mercenary under Captain Almeric of the Free Companies in the story of 'Wolves beyond the Border'. So he is maybe 3-8 years from being king.

Caveat: I am not the Howard scholar most people on this forum are, if I have my timing or chronology wrong, please help me out.
 
When I ran some sessions before, I started them at the battle described as the lead-in to Hawks over Shem (the party never saw or personally encountered Conan), on the losing side, so they had a couple of skirmishes, etc. to get free and then were lost in the desert. Then they did the DrSkull oasis adventure, and eventually ended up in Zamboula, years before Conan was in Shadows in Zamboula, which I ran as a similar adventure to that book but with a different priest and a few other tweaks. Helped that one PC was a Shemite Nomad ;)
 
slaughterj said:
When I ran some sessions before, I started them at the battle described as the lead-in to Hawks over Shem (the party never saw or personally encountered Conan), on the losing side, so they had a couple of skirmishes, etc. to get free and then were lost in the desert. Then they did the DrSkull oasis adventure, and eventually ended up in Zamboula, years before Conan was in Shadows in Zamboula, which I ran as a similar adventure to that book but with a different priest and a few other tweaks. Helped that one PC was a Shemite Nomad ;)
Oh great, I also ran a Shadows in Zamboula adventure in the previous campaign year. Stayed away from the priest, I adapted a Red Tulwar adventure as a lead-in, and had them go to the House of Aram Baksh, with similar run-ins. One of my players knew the story by heart, but didn't use player knowledge, and I'd changed it enough (figuring Conan would deal with Baksh a few years later)so the group really enjoyed it; so now my group wants him dead if they ever return. :twisted:
 
I've just started planning for my first Conan campaign. I have three friends who are urging me to run the game for them and I'm looking forward to it very much.

One of the things I like about it is that I can take sizable jumps from one adventure to the next, much as the stories do. They may end their first adventure in Shadizar, and the next one may be months later in Messantia and they could be completely out of money and desperate for some action to restore their fortunes. Best of all, they are up for that (my D&D players would gripe and moan about not getting to work through each and every week between end of 1 and start of next).

Anyway, I'm pumped to start running the game.

Oh, Raphael? Please allow me to say: Voistinu voskrese!
 
strategoi_nikolai said:
I've just started planning for my first Conan campaign. I have three friends who are urging me to run the game for them and I'm looking forward to it very much.
Excellent, good luck! :)
strategoi_nikolai said:
One of the things I like about it is that I can take sizable jumps from one adventure to the next, much as the stories do. They may end their first adventure in Shadizar, and the next one may be months later in Messantia and they could be completely out of money and desperate for some action to restore their fortunes. Best of all, they are up for that (my D&D players would gripe and moan about not getting to work through each and every week between end of 1 and start of next).
I bet just about every group of players has the same situation. That's what I love about this game especially. Also, I LOVE to start a game en medias res; the players are often trying to figure out why they're starting on a battlefield, but in GMing I give details in between actions, here and there, so that they're struggling to get out of their situation and at the same time getting their backstory. It can be tricky, and can fail!, but it's a wonderful storytelling technique I picked up at an early age reading the Conan stories. 8) (Only Star Wars rpg also allows you to start a game that way really). I'm sure your guys will love it too.
strategoi_nikolai said:
Anyway, I'm pumped to start running the game.
Best of luck, hope all you guys have a great time.
 
strategoi_nikolai said:
Oh, Raphael? Please allow me to say: Voistinu voskrese!

8)
I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that. I used a number of different languages in various threads, but not English.

Peace,
raphael
 
Bregales said:
slaughterj said:
When I ran some sessions before, I started them at the battle described as the lead-in to Hawks over Shem (the party never saw or personally encountered Conan), on the losing side, so they had a couple of skirmishes, etc. to get free and then were lost in the desert. Then they did the DrSkull oasis adventure, and eventually ended up in Zamboula, years before Conan was in Shadows in Zamboula, which I ran as a similar adventure to that book but with a different priest and a few other tweaks. Helped that one PC was a Shemite Nomad ;)
Oh great, I also ran a Shadows in Zamboula adventure in the previous campaign year. Stayed away from the priest, I adapted a Red Tulwar adventure as a lead-in, and had them go to the House of Aram Baksh, with similar run-ins. One of my players knew the story by heart, but didn't use player knowledge, and I'd changed it enough (figuring Conan would deal with Baksh a few years later)so the group really enjoyed it; so now my group wants him dead if they ever return. :twisted:

LOL, my PCs had a traitorous cowardly sort with them slogging through the desert with no possessions when they got to Zamboula, but they weren't mean enough to kill him - but when they spent the night at Baksh's and the cannibals came in a bashed in the coward's brains (which woke the others), they weren't exactly displeased ;)
 
slaughterj said:
LOL, my PCs had a traitorous cowardly sort with them slogging through the desert with no possessions when they got to Zamboula, but they weren't mean enough to kill him - but when they spent the night at Baksh's and the cannibals came in a bashed in the coward's brains (which woke the others), they weren't exactly displeased ;)
LOL! :lol: My group was also supposed to have such a character come in with them, but he never made it in to Zamboula :wink: (still LOL)
 
Not to get on a rant about D&D but one problem I have had lately is that magic items are so commonplace that you can actually buy them at stores or trade them for other items. I dislike this because it makes magic mundane and trivial. Another I discovered is because of all the magic present in the system that as soon as PC's get at least mid-levels skills such as Heal, Languages, and Decipher Script become unnecessary. You can just cast a spell for it. Whereas in Conan I have had more skills use in the few months that we have been playing the game than in the three years I have been playing D&D.

Oh and BTW I haven't really ran much D&D or any class/level stuff that much as I usually prefer to Hero System, which is similiar in many ways to GURPS. Which BTW rocks! (Shameless plug). :D
 
Yeah, especially WotC's newest favorite world: Eberron. It's an almost Victorian world where, while most NPCs are low to mid-level (due to recent massive wars on the main continent and wars against aberrations on Xendrik), magic is very commonplace, it runs devices like trains, horseless carriages, submarines, etc. (by binding elementals) and there are vast guilds, beourgois guild-houses of magic and healing, and dragonmarked individuals with spellcasting potential. They use tons of magic in this world, and it is meant to be commonplace. While I play a wizard in this setting (which I've actually grown fond of), there is no doubt to me and the Eberron GM that the Conan game and world are fantastic in their low-magic and corrupt magic flavor. I love this game more than any other, because every other dnd game IS high magic fantasy, Middle Earth is mid-high magic usually, etc.

Funny that Lankhmar, which was influenced by Howard's Conan stories, is itself a mid-high level magic setting.
 
Sir Hackalot said:
Not to get on a rant about D&D but one problem I have had lately is that magic items are so commonplace that you can actually buy them at stores or trade them for other items. I dislike this because it makes magic mundane and trivial. Another I discovered is because of all the magic present in the system that as soon as PC's get at least mid-levels skills such as Heal, Languages, and Decipher Script become unnecessary. You can just cast a spell for it. Whereas in Conan I have had more skills use in the few months that we have been playing the game than in the three years I have been playing D&D.

This is exactly why I stop playing D&D: magic is too common and makes it loose all its mystery, power and terror. It is also is cuting down the role-playing elements. The sheer fun of trying to climb a high tower, of passing a guard without being seen, of finding the prince's daugther is replace by spells. Whats the fun?

Instead of finding creative ways to overcome an obstacle, magic become the solution to everything.

The fun with magic is that if it happens rarely, when it happens, its a memorable moment. The magic. It's uncommon, dangerous and dark.

There is nothing I hate more than players who ran into a place and pick fights with ANYTHING knowing that the cleric is there to cure them. It completely removes the RP elements. The fun is when you fear for your life. :evil:

I love low-magic gaming that relies on intelligence and skill instead of "whoever has the best magic item wins" gaming. The lack of magical healing in Conan RPG force the players to pick their fight wisely and to avoid useless confrontation.

I just love CONAN RPG!
 
also remember if the bad guy who made the magic item dies bang goes the magic :shock: so save the bad guys anyone :wink: :twisted:
 
toothill man said:
also remember if the bad guy who made the magic item dies bang goes the magic :shock: so save the bad guys anyone :wink: :twisted:
Yep. I'm finishing my Story So Far of the adventure "The Coming of Hanuman" which my group finished last month. Note, just reading this may have a possible spoiler effect concerning the Mongoose adventure (I make bold spoiler alerts in my chronicle of the adventure on my adventures thread).

Unfortunately, because one of the players in our Saturday group doesn't like the way the other guys play diabolical people (he always plays a paladin), I don't think he wants to play this game, which means we will only play Conan when he's not around. Since we worked to get him back in the group, I think Conan will be a secondary game for the near future, unless we can somehow convince him to play against his type and join us.

Anyway, I'm writing this because of toothill man's reference above, which had a direct effect on our gaming experience. Anyway, we're all enjoying his Cthulhu game so far, so good to have him back in spite of the current difficulties with Conan group per se.
 
this is what i don't like in the magic system: you have to sacrifice to gain power points.
You should give a try to slaine d20 though. It's about celtic myth and though it is a violent world, there are honour points. Of course you can have a witch or a druid in the game who wants her/his ritual sacrifice but this is more rare.

BTW you didn't talk about last week's session where you adapted CB1 module.
 
Back
Top