I've started reading the above, and the first thing that struck me is that this story arch is perfect to be adapted to the roleplaying game.
The backstory is that there is a prince in Argos who wants to break away with his holdings from the rest of the kingdom. You may or may not know that Argos has an unusual political structure. Argos is a kingdom with the king in Messantia. But, the royal rule is not absolute, and rule in Argos is complicated, to say the least. Much of this is covered in the Conan RPG hardback for Argos and Zingara.
The cities along the coast are quite powerful, as they are centers of trade. Though they are official part of the kingdom, often the cities act as if they were independent city states with a loose alliance with the rest of the kingdom.
The interior of Argos is ruled under typical Hyborian Feudal Law. The interior of the kingdom is broken down into Duchies and Baronies. These lords control the mines, the timber industry, and the fields that feed the rest of the kingdom.
Add to this the Merchants. Several in the Merchant's Guild are just as powerful as royalty, and they contend with the leaders of the coastal cities and the Feudal Lords of the interior.
Lastly, there is the Church of Mitra, which is weakest of these power centers listed, but still maintains a powerful grip on the kingdom.
The comic beings telling of a prince who has rebelled against the king. This could be one of the interior feudal lords, or it could be one of the leaders of one of the coastal cities wanting to go independent--officially independent--from the rest of the kingdom.
The king in Messantia puts his army to the field against the prince.
The prince has hired mercenaries, specifically, Olag's Company. Olag is a Vanirman leading a horde of international toughs. The PCs will be part of Olag's group, specifically, they are a scouting unit--a group of merc in the employ of Olag.
The story in the comic focuses on this scouting party. Red Sonja leads it. This is one of the reasons I think this comic is primed to be an adventure for the Conan RPG.
In the first issue of the story, the main body meets the Messantian army on the field, and Olag is defeated. The Vanirman is out-right killed.
You may want to play this out using the
Mass Combat System or the Narrative combat system provided in
The Free Companies hardback.
Or, you can just use the battle as background narration with the PC scouting party out away from the fighting, as was the case with the story in the comic.
The Scout party is charged with finding a Messantian messenger. Olag suspects that the messenger will be bringing in reinforcements from the flanks, so it is imperative that the messenger is found before he can deliver his message.
Twist #1: The messenger is discovered. This might be a good opportunity to let the tracker character in the PC group shine. But, the messenger is not an Argossean. He's a Stygian. A Stygian messenger.
Now, the group may surmise that the reinforcements are actually sorcerers. And, that should put the heebie-jeebies into the PCs, coming from this very low magic world (especially in Argos, where sorcery is outlawed).
Twist #2: The PCs hear that Olag has been defeated, and the smart thing to do is leave Argos before the Messnantian army finds them. The Stygian says--to keep his life--that he is worth coin. His Order in Stygia will pay his ransom.
Following this lead is as good as going in another direction. It leads out of Messantia, and the PCs start the game on the border with Shem.
They pass into the Meadowlands of Shem, coming to a City-State named Persemhia. It is here the Stygian says where his comrades are waiting, and that the PCs must go to the Sleeping Scorpion tavern to make contact and present the ransom.
The PCs do this, but the tavern turns out to be an ambush, where, hopefully, the PCs vanquish all of the Stygian foes.
These "twists" can be a good way for the PCs to use their Knowledge skills, for, in the comic story, Red Sonja knows that many Stygian messengers have messages scripted on their backs using blood magic. Sonja dips her blade into Stygian blood and drops it on the bare back of her captive (who is now dead). And, runes appear on the dead man's back.
Interesting, huh?
Cool starting set of encounters for a campaign?
I thought so.
The omnibus is a collection of 15 individual comics, all connected by one big, epic story.
Obviously, this can be a campaign!
You just need to put the elbow work into creating characters and changing what you need to change in order to get this to fit your group.
I think it is pretty cool.