[CONAN] GM's Closet

[Supplement Four]

BEASTS & BARBARIANS

B&B is an all-human game world where the atmosphere and tone would fit well with a game set in Conan's Hyborian Age. But the rules have to be completely replaced as Savage Swords it not compatible at all with Mongoose Conan.

There are gladiators in the setting, and a supplement that might be useful in a Conan game detailing a city of thieves (it's called Jalazar - The City of Thieves).

There's been a few adventures written for the game, like The Amulet of the Dogskull. Here's the blurb for that one.

It all begins with a theft in the night, and the jewels of a rich lady.

But there is no honor among thieves, and this crime will lead the heroes on a restless hunt beyond the Godaxe River, only to discover that something ancient and evil lurks behind a door that no one should open!

Why is Zamora coming to mind?

 

[Supplement Four]

BEASTS & BARBARIANS

B&B is an all-human game world where the atmosphere and tone would fit well with a game set in Conan's Hyborian Age. But the rules have to be completely replaced as Savage Swords it not compatible at all with Mongoose Conan.

There are gladiators in the setting, and a supplement that might be useful in a Conan game detailing a city of thieves (it's called Jalazar - The City of Thieves).

There's been a few adventures written for the game, like The Amulet of the Dogskull. Here's the blurb for that one.

It all begins with a theft in the night, and the jewels of a rich lady.

But there is no honor among thieves, and this crime will lead the heroes on a restless hunt beyond the Godaxe River, only to discover that something ancient and evil lurks behind a door that no one should open!

Why is Zamora coming to mind?

 

[Supplement Four]

RUNNING GAMES IN ARGOS III


The People and Education

-- Most people in Argos are illiterate. Often symbols, runes, and pictograms are used.

-- There are no formal schools or academies in Argos. Children are taught according to their parent's means.

-- Wealthy merchants and the nobility will use educated slaves or hire tutors to educate their children. Almost all of the nobles and most of the wealthy are literate. It's one of the things that separates the classes.

-- Those finding Guild acceptance are educated to that guild's standards as part of the training.

-- Acolytes of the Church of Mitra are taught to read and write.

-- Because of the cosmopolitan nature of the kingdom, many Argosseans speak several languages, especially that or their kingdom's neighbors: Zingaran, Aquilonian, Ophirian, Shemite, even some Stygian is often spoken.

-- Sometimes, arrangements can be made to have children educated by the Church of Mitra. When the Church does this, it is done not only to serve the people but also to spread the Mitran faith.

-- Some military or naval positions have some education, which is more likely among officers.

 

[Supplement Four]

RUNNING GAMES IN ARGOS IV



ARGOSSEAN WOMEN

-- See the "Chastity" post up-thread.

-- Women outnumber the men in Argos.

-- Women are charge with traditional Hyborian female tasks in cooking, baking, sewing, weaving, spinning, cleaning and the like. But, Argossean are also trained at arms and are expected to help hold the homestead against intruders.

-- When creating Argossean women characters, roll attributes normally but lean towards putting the higher rolls into INT, WIS, and CHA rather than the physical stats to reflect the differences between men and women.

-- It is not often, but some Argossean women do become respected blacksmiths, merchants, and have other traditionally male professions as well as careers in writing, music, mid-wiving, painting and other roles. Usually, there is some special circumstance, like a husband, brother, or father dying, leaving the female to run the family business.

-- Urban women tend to be pigeonholed more often that rural women. Many Guilds will flat-out not accept women as members.

-- Peasant girls at 8 years old begin to learn sewing, cleaning, tending livestock, from their mothers. At harvest, peasant girls join their brothers in the fields.

-- 8 year old girls of the craftsman or merchant classes are apprenticed outside the family, usually to a woman, but sometimes a man. They learn a trade in this fashion, but most find husbands before the apprenticeship is over.

-- 8 year old noble women are fostered out to other noble homes where they learn sewing, embroidery, manners, music, and other skills. But, the main goal of every young woman is marriage.

-- Women are under the control of their fathers until they marry. Peasant women have more freedom of choice in who they marry, but usually have no (or small) dowry. Aristocratic women are subject to arranged marriages.

 

[Supplement Four]

MIDGARD


Another setting to watch for adventures that can be translated to Mongoose's Conan RPG. It uses Pathfinder rules, so mechanical conversion is relatively easy. You'll have to take out the more fantastic elements of the universe and the non-humans.

Blurb:

What lies beyond the western shores of Midgard, past the boundaries of civilization and into uncharted waters? If you believe the old sea legends, brave explorers will find mysterious islands full of beauty and horror, and rich treasure guarded by unknown gods.

Some say that out there among the waves, a sea-king lies in chains; and a goddess of memory and time weaves dark intrigues that reach everywhere—even deep into the lands we know.

Written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Journeys to the West takes your players on epic voyages of discovery. Within its saltwater-crinkled pages you’ll find:

8 lost islands to explore
5 completely new adventures from level 1 to 10
10 new monsters including the coral ooze, dragon eel, and son of Talos
8 NPCs and dozens of adventure hooks
27 new spells to bend time or master the sea, plus 4 new domains and 4 new magic items

Sail beyond the horizon and into undiscovered realms with Journeys to the West!

If you wanted to flesh out a Conan game on the Western Ocean as a Barrachan Pirate, Argossean Seaman, Zingaran Freebooter, Red Brotherhood Reaver, or even as the captain of a ship crewed by the savages of the Black Kingdoms (as Conan did with Belit aboard the Tigress), then this might be a good book to Conan-ize for your game.

 

[Supplement Four]

THE LOST LANDS


There are several adventures set in The Lost Lands. Some of the largest dungeons ever created, like Rappan Athuk, find their homes in these lands. Many are published under the Sword & Sorcery label. Most are written for Pathfinder.

Now, hold onto your axe...take a breath...and look at this:



NORTHLANDS SAGA COMPLETE

This book is supposed to be TOTALLY AMAZING. Set in a fantasy, Viking-themed part of the world, the book is almost 800 pages long! Pathfinder rules.

Can you say Vanaheim! I'm sure you could set it in Asgard or even Cimmeria or northern Hyperborea.

You could spend your entire Conan campaign up in the frozen north! Forget about the civilized Hyborian lands.

Here's the blurb:

Where raging storms sent by malevolent spirits of the Ginnungagap howl from the Far North and bury steadings and towns alike under several feet of snow, while unnamed things of tooth and shadow hunt those who dare to emerge and brave the cold. Where the blood of fighting men and women sings in harmony with the death cries of the spear-din, and the clash of wood and steel when the shield walls meet. Where enchantments older than the race of Men linger in barrow fields and primeval forests waiting to ensnare the unwary or the foolish. This is the realm of the Norns, where they measure and cut the threads of a mans wyrd. This is the Northlands.

It's basically a giant campaign sandbox with a ton of adventures. And, I understand that the adventures are intelligently written, include lots of roleplaying (not just monsters and dice rolling), and are steeped thick in the Viking-inspired fantasy atmosphere.

Yeah, sounds a perfect fit for red-bearded Vanir.

Almost 800 pages of game book. Over 150 pages of maps and player handouts. A giant Viking-inspired sandbox game setting. Tons of adventures that star at character level 1. Definitely, you could spend years of your gaming life just playing through this thing.



One of the developer/writers at FGG (who publishes the book) said this about the Northlands Saga Complete:

I think part of the concern about the book (other than the pure price point) is that people are assuming it's a reproduction of a historical viking world with a leavening of textbook monsters. It's much more than that; all of the adventures are caught up in Norse mythology, but with a Conan-esque, sword and sorcery underpinning. The only one I didn't really like was unfortunately the first one in the series. I think I fixed it for S&W, and I assume it works well as written with PFRPG, though I can't speak to it one way or the other. I just felt like that adventure didn't work at a beer-and-pretzels level, which IMO is a required foundation for a more old-school feel, even if your players build from there into something richer. The second half of it is quite exciting; it was the first half that didn't entirely jibe for me.

All the other adventures have a strong old-school structure: a location-based desperate situation, then a nice sandbox, then a follow-up assault to kick the enemy's ass on his home turf after the sandbox, etc, on toward heroism. None of the adventures feel like "Okay, we're vikings, let's do viking stuff according to history." I haven't read any of the other Viking modules that people listed, but I can definitely say that there's a creative avenue taken on this one that distinguishes it from just "I know lots about Vikings."

The book features 11 adventures, taking characters from level 1 to level 20. You can add in the four previously published Northlands adventures, too, if you like.

 

[Supplement Four]

CONVERSIONS TO THE MONGOOSE CONAN GAME


Keep an eye out. There are lots of single adventures out there that may make for good conversion to the Conan RPG. Historical adventures usually work well, and most fantasy game universes where the players races are only human. Low level adventures tend to have less fantastic magic in them. Adventures made for Pathfinder or d20 3.0/3.5 are about the easiest conversions that you're going to get, mechanically speaking.

With games with completely different mechanics, you'll simply have to replace any tasks and NPC stats with Conan rules. It's not that hard--just time consuming. You don't have to make an exact conversion. You're just looking to use the idea--the scenario--in our Conan game. I often merge ideas and shape them when I'm Conan-izing an adventure.

From the old AD&D game, don't forget Lankhmar (makes for great city adventures in Zamora or Messantia and elsewhere. Al-Qadim has some excellent adventures that you can set in Shem. You could set The Horde, from the Forgotten Realms, in the Hyrkanian steppe. The old Basic D&D Desert of Desolation series could be a Conan story akin to Howard's Black Colossus tale, where a powerful warloard rises up in the deserts of Shem, and you are part of the army sent to meet it.

Here's a couple of ideas....

THIEVES IN THE FOREST

I bought this one for my game set in Argos. It's a site based adventure. Low level, and pretty simple. An old temple is the base for a band of thieves. There's several standard fantasy encounter locations in the forest that PCs could bump into while searching for the thieves' den.

I haven't Conan-ized this adventure yet, but in looking through it, I think it obvious that the temple will be a desecrated shrine to Mitra. I'll turn the fantasy encounters into something more appropriate for Conan's world. Instead of a nest of bugbears, I might turn those into desperate escaped slaves. I might just throw out some encounters altogether, as a Conan adventure should have more of a story rather than be just a string of random combat encounters. Some other creature in the game could become an encounter with hillmen from the nearby Red Hills. If a monster kinda fits into the Hyborian Age, I'll keep it--but not too many of them. In this adventure, there is a nest of harpies. I think I'll keep those, but they'll be the most fantastic creature I keep in the story.

MAIDEN VOYAGE

Another Penumbra adventure. Those guys published a lot of stuff I eye to convert to Conan. Again, this is a low level adventure. I like those because the high fantasy is kept to a minimum. The adventure contains maps for two small ships. The Albers is a small, one-masted ship. This fits extremely well within the Hyborian Age as the sea technology in Conan's time was not that advanced. Pirates ships of the 1700's are not a good model for ships in this game. Think more along the lines of the ships from the time of the Spartans and the tale of the 300. Hyborian Age ships are somewhere between that and the later pirate vessels that we normally think of for pirates in an RPG.

Note the Hornet, from the 2011 reboot movie, Conan The Barbarian. It's a small ship, and that one is fairly advanced, with a V-shaped hull and a couple of masts, for Conan's time. Sea vessels in this game are not big. Many are made to just hug the coast. The vast majority have only one or two masts. Look at comics like the Savage Sword of Conan and see how ships are depicted.

There are some dock encounters in the adventure that will bring the docks alive for the players. And, there's a card game that the players can learn--I like those sorts of things in my game.

You've got a Ghost Ship, rumors, and superstitious pirates. Lots of Conan fun to be had here, and it's different than your typical land adventure. You can use this adventure as a spring board to go up and down the Western Coast (or across the Vilayet), run into the Red Brotherhood, visit Tortage and the Barrachan Island, land on islands, fight Picts, go broadsides with Shemite merchant vessels, and just be more mobile for land based adventures north or south on the Western Coast.

Plus, the adventure is written for d20 3.0 D&D, so it's an easy mechanical conversion to the Conan RPG.

Grim Tales is a d20 based game (easy conversion to Mongoose Conan) that focuses on high adventure and low magic. The Seven Saxons is one of the few adventures designed for the game.

This adventure is high level, and it is set in Britian in the Dark Ages. The Romans are gone. British Picts roam the land. And, the Norsemen raid the shores in their longboats.

Historical and historical fantasy adventures like this, especially the ones that are d20 based, are some of the best adventures that you can find to convert to our beloved Conan RPG. This adventure features a dragon, but the fantasy elements are kept at a minimum. Conan has fought many a deadly beast. And, you don't have to call it a dragon. Call it a wyrm or a drake. Robert Jordan's book, Conan The Magnificent, sees the mighty barbarian in the Kezankian Mountains hunting a fire-breathing creature that he calls a "drake". What's in this adventure could be the same, and, if you like, describe it more like a dinosaur. It can be one of those creatures that somehow survived the cataclysm--a beast from an age past.

This is an excellent adventure for a Conan party of all Vanir, Aesir, Cimmerians, or Hyperboreans. Of course, if you want a mixed party that has set out from Zingara's capital, Kordava, than that will work, too!

MESOPOTAMIA

Another historical fantasy supplement. This one is a setting book, which we don't care about (except for the stuff we steal for our own personal visions of the Hyborian Age), but this also has adventures in it that you can set in Shem or Stygia.

A city of unspeakable antiquity, buried for centuries beneath the desert sands, has been rediscovered deep in the accursed desert known as the Red Waste. Dare you enter The City That Worshipped a Thousand Gods, seeking the treasures and relics of its Hierophants? Explore ancient ruins, temples and dungeons of the lost city of Ibnath, and the perilous wilderness areas that surround it. The Ziggurat of the Ghoul-Queen awaits!

Destroy the Cult of the Pit Worm Yhath! It's a d20 3.0 book, and it includes expanded desert rules. There are 10 related short adventures. You can even use the ideas in this book to create new Conan character classes for your game.

THE SPEAR OF LOHGIN

Also a d20 3.0 adventure. Easy to convert. It's for level 4-6 characters. The blurb reads:

An ancient curse threatens the land of Milandir as a callous madman awakens an evil long left undisturbed. The populace of a once-proud bastion of honorable knights rises from death to oppose the force that struck them down.

The players are thrust into a drama involving the lands of both the living and the dead, as they seek to fulfill a prophecy and stop an unspeakable horror from being unleashed upon the innocents of the world. Can they stop a malefic intelligence that once consumed ten times their number?

Welcome to Arcanis, the world of Shattered Empires.

Doesn't that just sound like a good Conan adventure? Besides those things that you fight, the NPCs in this adventure are all human. This should be an easy conversion.

 

[Supplement Four]

FANTASY TO CONAN - CONVERSION NOTES



LOW LEVEL ADVENTURE

When I'm Conan-izing an adventure that was written for D&D or some other game universe, I look for low level adventures first, and I prefer adventures written for d20 3.0/3.5 or Pathfinder. I like low level stuff because those tend to use less fantastic magic--stuff that I will throw out. And, I'm not just talking about spells. I'm talking about fantastic creatures, lots of humanoids, magical traps, talking statues, mirrors that take you to another plane of existence, jars that trap your soul, and so on.

I may keep some of the magic--and I'll make that some unique, powerful thing of sorcery. But, my general goal is to minimize the magic, and the magic-users, in order to get closer to that Hyborian Age feel.

Why I prefer d20 3.0/3.5 stuff is obvious. It makes for an easier conversion to the d20 3.0/3.5 based Conan game. But, it's not a 1-1 conversion. There's still work to be done. You've got to come up with Dodge and Parry AC. Convert to Conan classes. Switch equipment, like Conan armor, which has an Armor Value. And, you've got to remove the fantasy. A D&D Ranger will lose his magical abilities and probably transfer to the Borderer class in Conan.

My point being: Even d20 3.0/3.5 or Pathfinder source material requires conversion work.



DO I NEED THIS ENCOUNTER?

The next thing I ask myself when Conan-izing an adventure is, "Do I need this encounter at all?" D&D adventures tend to have a lot of encounters just for the sake of having a lot of encounters. I believe a good Conan adventure should have less total encounters and more story-driven encounters. "Does this encounter advance the story?" That's another question I ask myself.

If the answer is, "No," then I'll just take that encounter out of the game.



CAN I MAKE THE ENCOUNTER WORK WITH HUMANS?

The next thing I do, if I am keeping an encounter, is see if I can re-imagine the situation at hand as a human-based encounter. If I'm looking at a bunch of goblins in a cave, I might change those into bandits, using the cave as their wilderness base. Maybe there's a hobgoblin or two among them. Maybe the encounter shows a bugbear or an ogre, too. These become the higher level bandits. The leaders. I might even multi-class them. A sole bugbear or ogre might be a champion fighter or an emissary from the band of thieves living in the city--and now, the players discover that the bandits and the city thieves are working together, selling information to each other about caravans, using each other as fences.

Take inventory of the types of humans that are likely to populate the part of the Known World where you have set this adventure. My current game is set in Argos. So, I've got all kinds of humans that I can use to replace non-human encounters in adventure modules: Escaped slaves or gladiators. Zingaran spies. Merchants and their paid mercenary body guards. Shemite caravan passing through. Plus there are rival Merchant Houses, rival Nobles, and the Church of Mitra vs. any other cult.

Don't forget Commoners. They go up to level 10, and they can serve all sorts of roles in the game. What if those four random skeletons that are supposed to pop out when the PC pass the downed tree become four young Commoners--a group of boys out to have fun by messing with travelers. They decide to shake down the PCs as they pass, asking for a silver a piece. How will the PCs handle this?

In a D&D game, the PCs would just set to work on the skeletons and then move on. But now that we've Conan-ized the encounter, it's a much different scenario--more story based. If the PCs kill these boys, how will that set them when the PCs face the rest of the townspeople? What if one boy is the son of the Merchant where the PCs buy and sell equipment? What if the boys are actually being paid by the bandits to scout the road for juicy scores?

Isn't that more interesting that just a quick encounter to fight four skeletons?

Instead of Commoner boys, make the 4 skeletons become 4 Acolytes from a demon cult, out at night prowling for victims that they can drag back to their sanctuary to be sacrificed--an act that must be done before the moon becomes full.

Use your creativity. Consider the power structures in your game. Who makes the world go around in that part of the world? Do that, and you'll change a rather usual D&D encounter into something memorable that fits well in your version of the Hyborian Age.



MAGIC AND SORCERY AND TREASURE

I automatically throw out 95% of the magic seen in a standard D&D adventure. I don't care about +2 swords or boots of levitation. If I do anything at all, which is not often, those will become normal swords and boots made of higher quality. The game has three levels for garments: Base Quality, Merchant Quality, Noble Quality. These things can be sold in the game. The +2 sword can become a normal sword with a polished chrome blade and a jewel in the pommel, making the sword a lot more than a basic sword. The boots are made of Zingaran leather--top quality--and a PC may want these for himself, if they fit.

I throw out scrolls and potions and magical rings. They either disappear from the adventure (likely) or they get transferred into some form of simple treasure (not often). A +1 pendant of protection becomes a 50 sp value silver necklace with the symbol of Mitra on it. Or, I may present a mystery--the PCs find a key with no markings on it. It leads to a locked door in the city that opens the ancient crypts. But, at this point, the players have no way of connecting the key to that door. It will be a mystery that bugs them for a while. :wink2:

I always look hard at the traps, too. Many times, in a D&D adventure, the traps are magical in nature. Get creative about these and turn them into non-magical traps. The Ruins of Hyboria supplement book is a great resource to use when converting D&D dungeons. There's an entire section in that book devoted to traps--all of them non-magical. That book can help you in many ways when Conan-izing an adventure written for another game universe.

What you want to do is think MUNDANE. Turn the magical stuff into its mundane version, or throw out the magic altogether.

Reduce treasure drastically. A typically D&D adventure sees a party of characters enter the dungeon penniless and exit it rich enough to buy their own castle. That shouldn't happen in a Conan adventure. People don't get rich by raiding dungeons, and the dungeons of the Hyborian Age don't have piles of coin and treasure sitting around on tables or in chests.

You can give your players some rewards in the form of treasure, but keep it light. Don't allow them to get enough to change financial circumstances. Just give them enough so that they can have the coin for the next night's stay in an inn, or to have their armor repaired. Give them a bronze bicep band or a bolt of cloth. Maybe a single ear-ring. Try to give them "things" rather than coins. People don't leave money lying around in the Hyborian Age. It's like the Dark Ages--there's not a lot of wealth to be found.

If you don't give them a lot, your players will fond over every little thing they get (after an adjustment period if they just came from a D&D game). The book I just mentioned, Ruins of Hyboria, has a section of unique and interesting treasures that the characters can discover during their travels. And, the book Barbaric Treasures, has pages of mundane items that Conan characters can find, here and there, to keep them in wine and song. (Barbaric Treasures is also an excellent resource for creating caravan loads--use this in conjunction with the caravan rules presented in the Shem - Gateway to the South supplement.)



WHAT DO I KEEP?

It sounds like I totally delete everything that a D&D adventure brings with it. So, why use published adventures at all? Why not just make everything up from scratch for your game?

Well, first, I don't delete everything. But, I do change a lot of the adventure. Conan-izing often requires a lot of work. But, I find that interesting D&D scenarios can still be quite valuable. First, there's site maps. And, the ideas in the adventure serve as a spring board for creativity. It is easier to edit something that it is to create from scratch. Like writing stories, it is easier to take a story already written and alter it to your tastes than it is to stare at a blank page and fill it up with interesting detail. So, D&D adventures serve as short-cuts and GM time-savers, in that respect, even though the conversion process can take a great deal of time.

I'll keep anything that fits my sense of what should "be" in the Hyborian Age. Everything else is either changed or deleted.

I keep sorcery to a minimum, but I do keep some sorcerous stuff, if the adventure calls for it. Think of the sorcery you saw in any of the three Conan movies. It's there. It's powerful. But, its not in each scene. Low level Sorcerers don't walk the streets of the city and throw small spells for no reason. Conan sorcery is not about Web, Magic Missile, and Levitate. The sorcery section in the Conan rulebook shows a different kind of power. So, I endeavor to stay true to the Conan sorcery rules, using the spells in core rulebook and other books in this rpg series as examples. I may make a new spell that works something like Web, Magic Missile, or Levitate, but it will be a unique spell that only that sorcerer has learned. You won't find it scrawled on scrolls and left for anyone to find.

The same goes for creatures. Conan has fought his share of heinous beasts. I will leave some of the monsters provided in the conversion module intact. But, I'll throw out those that don't fit the Hyborian Age. I'll keep a wyvern, but I'll throw out an gelatinous cube. I'll keep zombie, but I'll nix a piercer. I might replace a hell hound with a regular wolf. I might allow a dragon, even, but I'll describe him as a dinosaur and remove his wings and spells (and it won't be able to speak, of course).

I try to thin out the monster encounters, deleting them altogether or changing them to human encounters. Or, replacing them with mundane animals. A big umber hulk might be replaced with a large mastodon that is pissed off it is changed to a column. Or, a Dire Wolf might become a saber-toothed tiger.

The whole idea, of course, is for your players to never suspect that they are playing any game other than one set in the Hyborian Age.

 

[The King]

THE LOST LANDS


There are several adventures set in The Lost Lands. Some of the largest dungeons ever created, like Rappan Athuk, find their homes in these lands. Many are published under the Sword & Sorcery label. Most are written for Pathfinder.

Now, hold onto your axe...take a breath...and look at this:



NORTHLANDS SAGA COMPLETE

This book is supposed to be TOTALLY AMAZING. Set in a fantasy, Viking-themed part of the world, the book is almost 800 pages long! Pathfinder rules.

Can you say Vanaheim! I'm sure you could set it in Asgard or even Cimmeria or northern Hyperborea.

You could spend your entire Conan campaign up in the frozen north! Forget about the civilized Hyborian lands.

Here's the blurb:

Where raging storms sent by malevolent spirits of the Ginnungagap howl from the Far North and bury steadings and towns alike under several feet of snow, while unnamed things of tooth and shadow hunt those who dare to emerge and brave the cold. Where the blood of fighting men and women sings in harmony with the death cries of the spear-din, and the clash of wood and steel when the shield walls meet. Where enchantments older than the race of Men linger in barrow fields and primeval forests waiting to ensnare the unwary or the foolish. This is the realm of the Norns, where they measure and cut the threads of a mans wyrd. This is the Northlands.

It's basically a giant campaign sandbox with a ton of adventures. And, I understand that the adventures are intelligently written, include lots of roleplaying (not just monsters and dice rolling), and are steeped thick in the Viking-inspired fantasy atmosphere.

Yeah, sounds a perfect fit for red-bearded Vanir.

Almost 800 pages of game book. Over 150 pages of maps and player handouts. A giant Viking-inspired sandbox game setting. Tons of adventures that star at character level 1. Definitely, you could spend years of your gaming life just playing through this thing.



One of the developer/writers at FGG (who publishes the book) said this about the Northlands Saga Complete:

I think part of the concern about the book (other than the pure price point) is that people are assuming it's a reproduction of a historical viking world with a leavening of textbook monsters. It's much more than that; all of the adventures are caught up in Norse mythology, but with a Conan-esque, sword and sorcery underpinning. The only one I didn't really like was unfortunately the first one in the series. I think I fixed it for S&W, and I assume it works well as written with PFRPG, though I can't speak to it one way or the other. I just felt like that adventure didn't work at a beer-and-pretzels level, which IMO is a required foundation for a more old-school feel, even if your players build from there into something richer. The second half of it is quite exciting; it was the first half that didn't entirely jibe for me.

All the other adventures have a strong old-school structure: a location-based desperate situation, then a nice sandbox, then a follow-up assault to kick the enemy's ass on his home turf after the sandbox, etc, on toward heroism. None of the adventures feel like "Okay, we're vikings, let's do viking stuff according to history." I haven't read any of the other Viking modules that people listed, but I can definitely say that there's a creative avenue taken on this one that distinguishes it from just "I know lots about Vikings."

The book features 11 adventures, taking characters from level 1 to level 20. You can add in the four previously published Northlands adventures, too, if you like.

I have this one. It is really great because the magic is deliberately kept at a low level (the author is professor in Scandinavian mythology).
However this isn't the right cover. There is no shark in this setting.
This shark cover is for the razor coast setting (it would make a great addition to your current campaign in Argos) because it is about colonization of some remote islands.

 

[Supplement Four]

I have this one. It is really great because the magic is deliberately kept at a low level (the author is professor in Scandinavian mythology).
However this isn't the right cover. There is no shark in this setting.
This shark cover is for the razor coast setting (it would make a great addition to your current campaign in Argos) because it is about colonization of some remote islands.
[/quote]

Can you give me some more information on this one? I'm thinking about getting it, but $100 bucks is pricey. I know the book will be worth it for a standard game it was designed for, but I want to know how compatible you think it is for the Hyborian Age.

Do you think it's an easy conversion?

Can you give me some highlights, notes and thoughts?



RE: Razor Coast - Does that have any adventures in it? Or is it only a setting sourcebook?

 

[Supplement Four]

RUINS OF HYBORIA

Despite the name of this book*, it is truly an excellent sourcebook for your Conan game. Consider it a tool for the GM. It will help you create your own dungeon-type locations, and the book is very useful in converting 3.0/3.5 D&D and/or Pathfinder adventures for use in your game.

Here's a run-down of everything that is in this tome.



*"Hyboria" is not the correct way to refer to Conan's world. The world is not called "Hyboria". The world is our Earth, in the distant, ancient past, somewhere around 10,000 years ago. Conan lives in a time when the world looked different than it does today, though the land masses and continents are similar at this time.

This part of our non-recorded history is referred to as the "Hyborian Age," named for an ethnic tribe of barbarians, the Bori, that swept from the north and overthrew the most powerful kingdom known to exist at that time, ancient Acheron. Upon the ruins of Acheron, the Bori tribes grew and prospered, creating great, civilized kingdoms--the most powerful kingdoms during Conan's life. This is why it is said that Conan lived during the Hyborian Age--literally, the Age of the Bori.

The Bori conquering Acheron will, itself, be repeated in the future when the Gauls and other barbarians cause the the downfall of the great Roman Empire. The Bori tribes are the forefathers of the Europeans. The Bori become the Hyborians, populating the great civilized kingdoms of Conan's time--all of which have blood that still flows in the French and Germans, Spanish, and British, while other races, like the Cimmerians and the Vanir and Aesir, become the Celts and Irish, and the peoples of the north in Iceland and Norway.

Thus, to refer to Conan's world as "Hyboria" is not correct. Hyboria is not the name of the planet or even an empire or kingdom. Therefore, the correct name of this book should be: RUINS OF THE HYBORIAN AGE.

RUIN GENERATOR

The first section of the book is dedicated to creating dungeon locations. There are several lists where a GM can either pick what he wants or roll randomly to "discover" his ruin. This generator doesn't just create what the place looks like. It also creates a background for the ruin. It helps the GM brainstorm on what the original builders were like, and what the place was used for when it was built. Conan dungeons are not just adventure locations. They connect with the story and "make sense" within the bounds of that story.



CULTURES & RUINS

This chapter of the book discusses various locations of the Hyborian Age and what the ruins in that part of the world would be like. Some sample ruins are provided--most of these taken from Conan stories.

So, my current game is set in Argos, right? I read the section on Argossean ruins, and I am given two sample ruins to view: Eidoran, from Marvel graphic novel, Conan: The Skull of Set. And, the ancient Acheronian ruin of Tartarus, seen in the novel, Conan And The Grim Grey God (by Sean A. Moore), and also mentioned in Conan of the Red Brotherhood (by Leonard Carpenter).



CONAN'S RUINS

Several chapters come next, each presenting in detail, the infamous Ruins that Conan has explored. These are completely detailed locations, each recorded on several pages in the book, that you can use in your game.

City of the Winged One, from Howard's Queen of the Black Coast.

City of the Ghouls, from Howard's The Hour of the Dragon.

Dagoth Hill, from Howard's The Scarlet Citadel.

Green Stone Cities. Howard mentions this "green stone" in more than one of his stories.

Gazal, from Howard's Drums of Tombalku.

The Isle of Iron Statues, from Howard's Shadows in the Moonlight.

Isle of the Black Ones, from Howard's The Pool of the Black One.

Khet, The City of Scorpions, from John Maddox Roberts' Conan The Rogue.

Kuthchemes, from Howard's Black Colossus.

Pteion The Damned, from Poul Anderson's Conan The Rebel.

Tombs & Pyramids. Since they dominate some lands during the Hyborian Age, this covers the details.

Xuchotl, from Howard's Red Nails.





EXPLORING RUINS

This chapter has notes for the GM on placing and playing ruins in his game. Adventure ideas. Cave-ins. Large section on Traps. Treasure in a Conan game. New Feats for Tomb Raiders.




MONSTERS OF THE RUINS

This is a generation system that allows you to describe creatures suitable for the Hyborian Age. The GM can roll on or pick from tables. This will create a "picture" in your mind's eye, and once you have that, you can use the rules in the book BESTIARY OF THE HYBORIAN AGE to put stats to your creation.

This system helpful when converting standard D&D adventures for use in a Conan campaign. Players may recognize a monster from playing D&D, or the monster, as-is, may not be suitable for the Hyborian Age. You can keep the D&D stats (modified for use in the Conan RPG, of course) of a monster but use this system to describe it in a totally new and fresh way.

For example, a low level D&D adventure may have a young adult dragon in it. Well, that monster is right at home in a Forgotten Realms game, but you don't think it fits well in your Conan game. No problem. Keep the young adult dragon's stats, but use the Monster Description tables to totally re-design the look of the creature. Your players will have no idea that what they are fighting is mechanically the same as the young adult dragon. They'll believe that it is a man-shaped thing with a snake for a head because that's the way you described it!

This last section of the book also contains a Bestiary of several pages presenting monsters seen in Conan's various tales.

 

[Supplement Four]

SLAINE

Mongoose produced a Slaine RPG. It is d20 3.0 based, and there is a campaign that goes through four adventures:

The Invulnerable King
Teeth Of the Moon Sow
The Ragnarok Book
Way of The Horned God

I own these, and looking through them, they'd make for a good conversion to a campaign based in Cimmeria. In fact, I bought them to play in my first Conan campaign where all players played Cimmerian Barbarians from the same clan village. The game ended before I was able to adapt these Slaine adventures (though we did play that campaign for a couple of years).

 

[The King]

I have this one. It is really great because the magic is deliberately kept at a low level (the author is professor in Scandinavian mythology).
However this isn't the right cover. There is no shark in this setting.
This shark cover is for the razor coast setting (it would make a great addition to your current campaign in Argos) because it is about colonization of some remote islands.

Can you give me some more information on this one? I'm thinking about getting it, but $100 bucks is pricey. I know the book will be worth it for a standard game it was designed for, but I want to know how compatible you think it is for the Hyborian Age.

Do you think it's an easy conversion?

Can you give me some highlights, notes and thoughts?



RE: Razor Coast - Does that have any adventures in it? Or is it only a setting sourcebook?
[/quote]
Razor coast is a campaign setting with some scenarios but their is also an adventure book for this setting called Heart of the Razor.
You can find a detailed review there: http://endzeitgeist.com/ezg-reviews-heart-razor/ and there for the campaign setting: http://endzeitgeist.com/ezg-reviews-razor-coast/

As to the Northland saga complete, you'll find a lengthy review there: http://endzeitgeist.com/northlands-saga-complete/ (you'll note the difference in the cover).
If you invert the map in a mirror, you'll find that it almost fit with the coast above the Pict Territories. It is definitely a book for a Nordheim campaign which is surprisingly easy to convert: low magic, no race besides a race of half-giants, random encounters tables (not all are foes), practically no new feats, a short description of the region, a small bestiary with some unique and legendary beasts but there is no such things as the usual fantasy monsters.
In fact the cover is a good indication about the setting (very sword & sorcery-like).
The first part (description of the setting) amounts to 170 pages.
The last part is dedicated to maps and plans and has 150 pages.
The middle part are for the 10 scenarios of the campaign and has 480 pages. This is more than any pathfinder adventure path (where adventures are usually 60 pages long) and has by far a better Conanesque setting.

 

[The King]

SLAINE

Mongoose produced a Slaine RPG. It is d20 3.0 based, and there is a campaign that goes through four adventures:

The Invulnerable King
Teeth Of the Moon Sow
The Ragnarok Book
Way of The Horned God

I own these, and looking through them, they'd make for a good conversion to a campaign based in Cimmeria. In fact, I bought them to play in my first Conan campaign where all players played Cimmerian Barbarians from the same clan village. The game ended before I was able to adapt these Slaine adventures (though we did play that campaign for a couple of years).

I also have these one. The last 2 are difficult to adapt to a Conan setting because it brings forth Ragnarok, the end of the world, but the first 2 tomes are great for a Cimmerian campaign.

 

[Supplement Four]

RUNNING GAMES IN ARGOS V



THE GM CRUTCH

When thinking of Argos, think of the Hyborian Age with a strong dose of Coastal Ancient Greece. You can see that influence in the ethnic type of the people, in their technology and architecture, in their style of dress. It's not an exact copy of Greece, not by any stretch of the definition. But, there is a strong influence of a fantasy version of Coastal Ancient Greece in this part of the known world (not unlike Nordheim having a strong influence from Viking culture).





CONVOLUTED PROPERTY VIEWS

The Argosseans have a convoluted view of property rights. On the one had, mercantilism runs strong in the kingdom, and most likely because of this, Argosseans detest theft. Burglary is a sin. Thieves who steal face harsh punishments, and these types of thieves are looked at with disgust from all aspects of society.

On the other hand, Argosseans as a whole idolize pirates. Many are folk heroes. Children grow up wanting to be pirates. Many young men actually do take to the waves as a pirate under an assumed name, make their stake, and return home after a few years with enough booty to start a business. There are laws against piracy, and these laws are enforced at selective times in order to keep piracy in check. But it is not uncommon to have soldiers policing the dock to turn their gaze a different way as a pirate ship makes port to unload cargo for an Argossean fence.

And business deals, where one businessman finds a way to take advantage of another, is not considered theft. Instead, people look upon that as good business.

Characters of the Thief class, in Argos, tend to be more the type of confidence artists, assassins, embezzlers, forgers, smugglers, and kidnappers.

How's that for a rich, realistic society? It's just convoluted enough to be believed.





SOPHISTICATED ARCHITECTURE

Most homes are one story affairs. They have stone foundations, with the walls made of clay brick over wood frames. A standard design is have a rectangle with the center cut out. It's an open air atrium (called a "harbor") with the house surrounding it on at least three sides--sometimes partially on the fourth side. Several doors lead off from the harbor to different parts of the house. Often statues of some significance to the family dominates the harbor, and often this is a statue of Mitra. Columns (think Greek) and arches are common on almost all types of buildings.

The Argosseans are fairly sophisticated in that sewage runs under the roads. Towns are laid out in streets. Pipes dispense water in fountains and hand bowls and bathtubs by way of pressure boxes. Aqueducts are used in the less sophisticated cities. Under-floor heating via hypocausts keeps the building warm during the winter months.





THE LARGEST MERCHANT FLEET IN THE KNOWN WORLD

Merchants tend to hug the coast as it is somewhat safer than deep see voyages. Thus, merchants use coasters, cogs, and the like. These trading vessels are not equipped for extended sea voyages and make port often.

This is not to say, though, that larger, more seaworthy craft are not common. Merchant galleons, carracks, and caravels can embark on longer voyages and sail through almost any weather.

The maritime trading season starts in late spring and ends in the early fall. Stygian ports are temporarily open to Argossean traders during this period.





SLAVERY IS ALIVE AND WELL IN ARGOS

Most slaves are used to man the oars of both merchant and naval vessels. Other slaves are used as laborers inside the kingdom. Most slaves are taken from the lands of Kush and the Black Kingdoms. White slaves exist, but are a lot less common. Slaves are referred to as "sweats".

Slavery was a stronger institution in the kingdom's past. The average Argossean today does not own any slaves. He doesn't need them because of the strong Argossean work ethic and the Argossean philosophy of a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Free farmers of the interior cannot afford to feed slaves. Instead, they have big families and spread the work around.

Slaves are maintained by wealthy merchants and nobles, but most slaves are used by the kingdom's institutions--the Order of Engineers, for example, maintains an entire labor force of slaves.

Slaves typically live squalid lives in cave-like warrens of rooms with no natural light or amenities of any sort except a straw mat for a pillow.

Many Argosseans tend to prefer female and children slaves as male slaves require too much work to control. Most male slaves are children who have grown up knowing nothing but slavery.

The law is that a master cannot kill a slave, even though the master has total control over a slave's life otherwise, unless that slave has tried to escape. Recaptured slaves are branded as such, if they are not killed outright.

Notable Slave Institutions: Wealthy Merchant Houses. Noble Houses. Labor Institutions. Gladiators. Merchant and Naval vessels.

Character Classes For Slaves: Slaves are typically of the Commoner class. Gladiator slaves are typically of the Barbarian class (S&P features a Gladiator class). Tutor slaves are taught to be in the Scholar class. The other classes are rare, while the Thief class , the Borderer class, and the Nomad class are just about non-existent. Characters who are captured typically multi-class into Commoner, Barbarian, or Scholar, depending on their role as a slave.

 

[Supplement Four]

RUNNING GAMES IN ARGOS VI




THE PEOPLE TOIL

Argosseans have a strong work ethic. The people are apprenticed at age 8. Characters have full time jobs at age 14-15. If starting a new character, consider this (age 14 or 15) to be the youngest starting age for a Level 1 character.

The Argossean work day is 16 hours in the summer and 12 hours in the winter--essentially sun up to sun down.

Many people craft their own goods and use the front of their homes as a storefront. Otherwise, selling goods in carts or by simply hawking them on the street is commonly seen in the cities and villages of Argos. Membership in a guild can be important, but so can Reputation, as with a tutor (who sells his Reputation more than he does his actual skill at tutoring).

Women often practice two or more trades, such as a midwife who is also a weaver. And, knowing a trade makes a woman more valuable in the marriage market (which is very important to women--their goal in their young lives).

REPUTATION BONUS: Characters who have developed a thriving business receive a +1 Rep bonus.





GUILDS

The various Guilds are powerful organizations in Argos, with the rule of the King's Law behind them. Those not in the proper guild may have to pay a tariff to the appropriate guild is business is to be transacted. Argosseans are serious about their guilds, and the kingdom known for its friendly people are not so friendly when guild rules are broken.

There are annual fairs and established market days, though, when anyone can sell to the public. But, there is not enough of these to support a business.

Some guilds are men-only organizations. In others, women can become guild members upon the death of their guild husband or son.

Guilds often use secrete signs and communications forms. Some Guilds are quasi-religious organizations. For example, the Goldsmith's Guild is closely tied with the religion of Mitra.

Guild Craftsmen: Usually live in parts of the town with similarly skilled craftsmen. Often Master Craftsmen of a particular craft are all from the same family. The family establishes a monopoly on that one craft in that town. The family shares apprentices among them. Nepotism is alive and well.

Masters: A Master of a craft is a full citizen of the kingdom by the King's Law. Becoming a master is a path to citizenship, though entering a Guild as a foreigner is quite difficult. Guild Law allows Masters to open workshops, hire journeymen, and train apprentices. Many times, Guild Law restricts the number of Masters allowed to operate in a given area.

Journeymen: Once a Master has given his approval of the work of an apprentice, the apprentice graduates to journeyman status. He is called a "journeyman" because, at this stage of his career, he is to journey from town to town, working a time for different Masters, learning various techniques. A Journeyman's most prized possession is letter of recommendation from his original Master (often a family member).

Apprentices: Most apprentices live in the attic of the Master's house. Apprenticeship often starts at the age of 8 years old, and apprenticeship often lasts until the person is 14, 15 or 18 years or more old.

REPUTATION BONUS: Apprentices gain a +2 Rep bonus when they are admitted to their Guild. Guild membership is also considered an increase to social status.

Becoming a Journeyman nets the character another +2 Rep bonus.

In Argos, becoming a Master requires a Reputation 20. And, becoming master nets the character a +4 Rep bonus. Masters are typically also become town elders and city leaders.

CHARACTER CLASS: Most NPCs are of the Commoner class. They are also often non-sorcerous Scholars (in that they study their trade). The Scholar class covers any area where the character knows a great deal about a subject, thus armor smiths, traders, and glass blowers are all normally either from the Commoner class or the Scholar class.

CHARACTER LEVEL: Apprentice characters are Level 1, and this can last for many years. Journeymen characters have a minimum of 6 skill points in their craft, which means a Journeyman must be Level 3rd level or higher.





MERCHANT HOUSES

As mercantilism grew in Argos, and the kingdom became rich in trade, the Merchant Houses obtained more power. This proved to be a thorn in the side of the nobles of the kingdom, and today, this is the main reason that feudalism is dying out in the kingdom. Feudalism is still strongest in interior Argos while, in the Coastal Cities, the Merchant Houses have more power.

The Merchant Houses have followed the model set by the Craft Guilds, which came first. The Craft Guilds exist under feudalism. The Merchant Houses exist in spite of feudalism.

High ranking House members wear medallions of station on silver chains.

Members of Merchant Houses are considered to be noble, by the King's Law. But the old Noble families know that noble blood does not run through the veins of these Merchants, and the nobles of the Merchant Houses will never gain the full respect of the nobles who's bloodlines can be traced back for centuries. The leaders of the Merchant Houses claim titles as barons, counts, and even that of dukes.

Two of the three great institutions of power in Argos are, indeed, the Merchant Houses and the True Nobles. (The third leg of that tri-pod is the Church of Mitra.) All three have strong influence on the crown.

Nature of the House Merchants: Some are purely evil. Some are corrupt. Others are severely avaricious. All are deceitful and insidious people who rarely give more care to those not of their House.

The great Merchant Houses take care of their own. They are known for charity toward disadvantaged members, taking care of funeral expenses of dead members, and looking after the family of dead members. Of course, this charity is strictly within the House. Though, this is the only real charity to exist in Argos.

The Houses police themselves, work together to defend the Houses from outside powerful influences (foreign trade, the Interior Nobles, the Church of Mitra), and they even maintain small armies or guards in particular areas. They operate caravans to distant lands, and they maintain fleets of naval vessels. The Merchant Houses even have the power to invoke their House Law in many instances, replacing the King's Law. The Houses act as a Republic of small City States or kingdoms within Argos as a whole, though they do recognize the king of Argos as the ultimate authority.

 

[Supplement Four]

SHIPS OF ARGOS - COG

This is a Cog. It's a vessel type that is seen off the shores of Argos and up and down the continent. It is a very common merchant vessel. Single mast. Square rigged sail. Slaves are sometimes used for the oars.

Cogs range in length from 50-80 feet. The beam is 15-25 feet. The largest of these could carry about 200 tons.

These are inexpensive ships, made of hard oak. They are not deep sea going vessels. They hug the coastline, always in sight of land. They can be rowed up rivers if the outlet is deep enough.

It's hard ship to row, though, given its design. Many cogs do not employ oars in the ship's design--it depends on the ship's purpose. Longboats are use to pull the boat into port, when needed. The oars are generally used for docking and short-distance maneuvering.

The ship requires a skeleton crew of 10-15 able bodied seamen. The vessels can have several passengers as well as fighting men to protect the ship and cargo. Total number of people aboard could run up into several dozen.

 

[Supplement Four]

A NOTE ON THE SCHOLAR CLASS


If you come from a long background in D&D, then you may think of a Scholar character as a Sage--as an old, wizened man with a long white beard that knows arcane languages and has at his command knowledge that has not been spoken of in centuries.

Well, you can certainly make a character like that from the Conan RPG Scholar class. It is designed for that kind of character.

And, if you look at the class description in the core rulebook (which is written with an eye towards players playing an interesting adventuring Scholar), you will think that the Scholar class is meant for sorcerers an priests. And, that's true, too.

But, I want to show you how the Scholar class can be played in a completely different sort of way (and is, indeed, played that way in the game already as evidenced by man NPCs provided in various Conan RPG supplements).

Conan's world is full of uneducated folks. Most people cannot read and write. A character in the Scholar class is a learned character. This character knows a lot about a specific subject.

Let me draw your attention to the rule in the class description that says, instead of taking Sorcery Styles, the character can instead take Skill Focus. This allows the character to build up skills with plentiful skill points the class allows, and then take all the bonus Skill Focus feats the character gets in exchange for Sorcery Styles to build up the character's knowledge in that area.

In addition, a Scholar character can exchange any spell awards for 2 extra skill points.

This means that, if you want a character that is a Master weapon smith, then Scholar is the class that character should be. You don't always have to use Commoner for these types of characters.

Indeed, if you look through the various Conan books and supplements where NPCs are provided, often the Merchant NPCs are Scholar classed characters.

This is not a House Rule. What I am suggesting here is in the rule book, under the Scholar description. The stuff is just buried in the text with no bold header to set it apart. You've got to look for it. But, it's there.

One way to think of the Scholar Class is that it is a class that is designed to have high skills. The class gets the highest number of skill points of the six base classes (tied with Thief), and the class provides a multitude of bonus Skill Focus feats.

Scholar is the class to use if you are building an character that is a Craftsman, Professional, or some other character where its primary ability is tied to one of the skills.

 

[Supplement Four]

DIPLOMACY for HAGGLE


What is the root of haggling? Negotiating, right? And, what skill is used for negotiating in the game? Diplomacy.

Although other skills can be substituted, when you want to dice the bargaining between NPC and player (instead of roleplaying it out), use Diplomacy.

Diplomacy should be one of the highest skills improved on your NPC merchant characters. That or Profession (Merchant) as that skill should be allowed to replace Diplomacy when haggling.

If you want hard rules for haggling, then look to page 17 of AQUILONIA - FLOWER OF THE WEST. It is suggested that Intimidate can also be used for haggling, if you want to haggle in that style. Sense Motive can also be used in a trading task.

 

[Supplement Four]

ARGOSSEAN SCHOLARS


Argosseans revile sorcery, so any sorcerers in Argos will hide their talents.

Slaves often take the Scholar class to be tutors for the Nobles and Merchant Houses.

Free men tutors are Scholars, selling their services to any who can afford them.

All sorts of merchants, craftsmen, and professionals are classed as Scholars, where they take the Skill Focus feat in lieu of sorcery styles and gain +2 skill points in lieu of bonus spells.

Priests, of course, take the Scholar class.

Books in Argos are typically written on linen pages that are either rolled up, as with a scroll, or sewn into the binding of a book.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR SORCERER SCHOLARS: Music is considered magical in Argos. Most Argossean sorcerers use music and dancers in their spells. This is often a required component to complete the spell--especially those spells with long casting times. Sometimes, the sorcerer himself must play a musical instrument himself in order to cast the spell. Dancers are thought to bring out magic from music or to enhance the magical effect.

Bonus: Argossean Scholars who use music in their castings gain a +1 competence bonus to their Magical Attack roll. If dancers are also used, the the bonus increases to +2.