[CONAN] D&D 5 Looks to be Compatible!

[Supplement Four]

I've only seen the pre-release booklet I mentioned in the OP.

The key to S&S, as always, is to keep the "fantasy" to a minimum. Creatures are OK. But, go with fewer of them. Throw out the more magical beings, like the gelatinous cube. Go with a Wyvern over a dragon that casts spells.

No demi-humans, of course, and no humanoids, unless those humanoids are some lost race serving a sorcerer.

D&D has a lot of creature fights. Replace at least half of these with combat against other humans.

 

[GarynVygax]

I've only seen the pre-release booklet I mentioned in the OP.

The key to S&S, as always, is to keep the "fantasy" to a minimum. Creatures are OK. But, go with fewer of them. Throw out the more magical beings, like the gelatinous cube. Go with a Wyvern over a dragon that casts spells.

No demi-humans, of course, and no humanoids, unless those humanoids are some lost race serving a sorcerer.

D&D has a lot of creature fights. Replace at least half of these with combat against other humans.

I believe there is a Dragon in the Shadazar boxed set.
I have my Hyperborea campaign world: My Dungeons & Dragons world slowly being made more into a Sword & Sorcery campaign world. I am not sure how to do it exactly, so I think of it as Earth's past (like Hyborea, of course and Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea). As in the new "Battlestar Galactica," it is that everything that has happened before shall happen again. After this world is destroyed in this 21st century or later, the Universe shall retract and then be born again in another Big Bang. For me, Kull and CONAN both exist, later, after my Hyperborean age. Concerning supermen and superwomen, the Nazis and Theosophists were somewhat correct. The elves are Hyperboreans, primarily, and not after the fashion of the standard D&D/Lord of the Rings (merry singing in Rivendale) way. They are the offspring of the proto, ape-like humans of old, enslaved by the Serpent-men, who made a deal with Old Ones (H.P. Lovecraft). The are the daughters of man that the "Sons of God" mated with. Many people carry this eldritch genetic code.
I have often imagined a bunch of SS troops surrounding an Yithian Time Cube, to witness the emergence of one of my Hyperboreans. Accidently triggering a mind transference device in an underground layer of the Mi-Go, on such Hyperborean had her mind briefly exchanged with a woman in a restaurant in modern-day Los Angeles. She knew she was seeing an eating establishment. That wan obvious. And, she inferred that she had seen the far future. I believe the future woman is her reincarnation.

 

[GarynVygax]

I've only seen the pre-release booklet I mentioned in the OP.

The key to S&S, as always, is to keep the "fantasy" to a minimum. Creatures are OK. But, go with fewer of them. Throw out the more magical beings, like the gelatinous cube. Go with a Wyvern over a dragon that casts spells.

No demi-humans, of course, and no humanoids, unless those humanoids are some lost race serving a sorcerer.

D&D has a lot of creature fights. Replace at least half of these with combat against other humans.

 

[rabindranath72]

Hi all!
long time poster here from the days of d20 Conan.
I am (slowly) working on a full conversion of d20 Conan to D&D 5e. The idea is to reproduce the d20 Conan classes in 5e terms, and take advantage of the much simpler rules framework of the latter.
It won't be a 1-1 port, obviously; for example in 5e there is only one proficiency progression which is applied to all checks, and I will keep that. So, no BaB, no different saves, no Dodge nor Parry (never liked these, really; they belong in RuneQuest.)
However, some conversions will be based on the "feel" of the d20 Conan rules; for example:
- all classes with a "good" Dodge progression will get the Unarmored Defense trait of the D&D Barbarian;
- all classes that were proficient in two-weapon fighting will have the Dual Wielder feat for free.

I won't be re-inventing the wheel, if something in the D&D rules does a good job at approximating the d20 Conan concept. The DMG is chock-full of alternate rules which lend themselves for a S&S game (for example: I will add the optional Sanity and Honor abilities.)

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as soon as I have something to show.

Cheers,
Antonio

 

[LucaCherstich]

Did you manage to do that conversion?

And by the way, hello everybody, I've been out of these forums for too much time...

 

[GarynVygax]

Hi all!
long time poster here from the days of d20 Conan.
I am (slowly) working on a full conversion of d20 Conan to D&D 5e. The idea is to reproduce the d20 Conan classes in 5e terms, and take advantage of the much simpler rules framework of the latter.
It won't be a 1-1 port, obviously; for example in 5e there is only one proficiency progression which is applied to all checks, and I will keep that. So, no BaB, no different saves, no Dodge nor Parry (never liked these, really; they belong in RuneQuest.)
However, some conversions will be based on the "feel" of the d20 Conan rules; for example:
- all classes with a "good" Dodge progression will get the Unarmored Defense trait of the D&D Barbarian;
- all classes that were proficient in two-weapon fighting will have the Dual Wielder feat for free.

I won't be re-inventing the wheel, if something in the D&D rules does a good job at approximating the d20 Conan concept. The DMG is chock-full of alternate rules which lend themselves for a S&S game (for example: I will add the optional Sanity and Honor abilities.)

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as soon as I have something to show.

Cheers,
Antonio

:twisted: Did you make any conversions?

 

[Supplement Four]

I don't know if you have looked at 5th Edition much, but what advice would you give for turning that edition of D&D into a Sword & Sorcery game?

Throw out alignment. People in S&S stories are gray. They are sometimes good and sometimes bad--they are people. Heroes are many times anti-heroes.

Make Monsters monstrous. Cut down the number of monster encounters. Throw out the super magical beasties, like piercers, mimics, and gelatinous cubes. Have a reason for each beast to exist in the place that it does.

Make Magic mysterious. Make it rare. Make it dark. Most people should be afraid of magic. It should not be common at all. Take out all the magical traps, potions, spells, and about 99.999% of the magic items. Make mundane items important in your game. If there is a magical item, it is usually more like an epic item, and often it has a severe downside.

Make Combat deadly. No magical healing. Use herbs and the Heal skill to heal people.

Wounds should heal quickly. Since this is a game, it is no fun to have a character always low on hit points or unable to adventure because he's out healng. So, increase normal healing a tad. Let mundane things help, like a good meal adding a +1 HP.

Treasure Should Be Spent. S&S characters don't get rich. The gold they find drips through their fingers like water. Don't allow the PCs to find mountains of coin and jewels. A player should be excited when he finds a bolt of fine cloth that he can sell for a few silver pieces--or maybe he drags around a heavy extra weapon until he can find a buyer.

The Tale is its Own Reward. D&D is about finding lots of of things all the time--a new magical ring, some new magical boots, new spells, a magical dagger, etc. That's not a S&S game. The pure enjoyment of playing the character is its own reward. Keep the game low magic, low level, and slight on rewards. There are no dungeons with loads of loot hidden within them.

 

[GarynVygax]

Has anyone experimented with using the Conan magic system, nearly as-is, with the D&D 5th Edition Rules? I did some, and it seems to me like it works well. How about converting the spells of Conan and categorizing them to place them on the D&D spell list according to level, using the spell-point costs in the DMG, but allowing the sorcerer to receive the spell points as in the Conan game, more or less? I thought I'd ask the opinion of others, for fun and out of curiosity. :twisted: