Conan: How do you play?

[Mach5RR]

By this, I mean what tips/tricks do you use to play Conan as written? Let's face it, Conan is an even more crunchy version of D20 than 3.5 was. Keeping track of all those feats, abilities, and extra rules can get to you.

I mean, I've been playing D20 for years and I STILL forget I can take 10/20 on skill checks. I now write "TAKE 10 YOU MORON" across the top of my character sheet in the hopes that it reminds me. ("TAKE 10 YOU MORONS" gets taped to my GM screens.

So what I'm looking for are peoples tips/tricks that they've thought up or swiped from other games to remind you of your special abilites and to make the game more tactile and involved.

Case in point - Fate Points. Love 'em, but I'll be damned if people don't forget they have them and it takes me out of the game if I have to ever so gently nudge them in to using them. I mean, hell, I've been playing in a friends Pathfinder game, which introduces the equivalent Action Points< and I forget to use them there.
But Savage Worlds has one of the best workarounds for this with bennies. A poker chip that can be tossed out to characters for good roleplaying and is spent just like fate points. So, I am now acquiring this idea for any future Conan games (or games that require such an expenditure) from now on.

 

[rabindranath72]

Good points, in particular the fact that d20 Conan is even crunchier than D&D 3.5, in particular when it comes to combat.
Probably not the kind of advice you are looking for, but I have simplified the game in many aspects:
1) Get a number of skills at first level, and maximise their ranks. This effectively removes skill points, and transforms the non-class skills in simple ability checks.
2) Just use one type of defence: either parry or dodge. That becomes the default defence value.
3) Armor does not absorb damage, it simply makes you more difficult to damage. So essentially, re-introduce Armor Class in the system. A character has an AC which is the higher score of his defence or the armor's one. This also simplifies weapon stats.
4) I removed manoeuvres. I hate manoeuvres. Really. The players should be able to describe whatever action they want without having to browse a shopping list.
5) Remove the feats that give bonuses to two separate skills. They are redundant. If you want to be better at some skill, just buy Skill Focus and be done with it.
6) Remove attacks of opportunity and get rid of the battlemap. When a character engages an enemy, he is forced to stop. If you have an ability which allows you to avoid attacks of opportunity, it simply allows you to avoid stopping.
7) Simplify the rules for unarmed combat. Just make a normal attack roll and be done with it.

With the above tweaks, the game runs orders of magnitude faster, you avoid having to browse the rulebook during play, and character sheets are neater. These days I simply don't have time to lose on rules; I just want to play.

Cheers,
Antonio

 

[Supplement Four]

We play completely differently than what is described in the post above. That's one of the ways that makes the Conan RPG grand, I think, is that you can customize it to your own tastes.

For us, we like a role-played simulation of combat. It's not a wargame, as was previous editions of D&D, akin to two tank counters on a battlemap using a die throw to represent what happened during the combat between them.

No, what we do is play out combat just like you would do anything else in the game. Combat in our game is not unlike a player describing how his thief character sneaks up upon a locked door, looks around, inspects the lock, gets down on one knee while pulling out his tools from his belt, then carefully jiggling the correct tool in the keyhold to get it open.

We use the rules pretty much as written in the book with just a few exceptons. Instead of a static defense (rolling against an AC, akin to Taking 10 on a defense throw), we use the alternate (Alterntate D&D 3E) rule where the defender rolls his defense against the attack throw.

That way, the actual blow and the defense to it is simulated with a die throw. Unlike other versions of D&D, every attack throw in our game represents a single attack (not a possible number of attacks).

It plays out like this: As GM, I'll describe how the big, furred, Vanirman comes charging at you, both hands gripping a long handled hammer, smoke from his breath and his long red hair trailing behind him.

Then, BAM, I'll roll the attack BEHIND THE DM SCREEN.

"He's swinging that hammer at you! What do you do?"

The player might respond, "I'm going to throw my broadsword up to block that blow, then counter with a reverse swing under his arm, to his exposed rib cage."

And, there, the player will roll his Block Defense.

I'll compare the numbers as the player can't see my attack throw, then, based on the outcome, I'll describe what happens. If the attack is successful, I might describe how the player's character threw up his sword to block a moment too late, and the hammer clipped his shoulder to the tune of X damage. If the player is still standing, we'll continue on with the fight. The player can adjust his attack--he's not locked into that swing he mentioned earlyer, that was just what he was planning to do. In a fight, everything changes in a split second.

The player may then say, "Damn. My shoulder hurts. My chest is heaving, and my eyes are wide. All I can do is pull back as far as I can and try to spear the cur with the point of my sword."

He rolls his attack.

And, we continue in a like fashion.





What I like about doing this is that it makes combats extremely memorable. I do find players saying "I will swing to his left and..." Notice the player saying "I" and not "My character". This is a great sign that they are living through this battle as we play it in our minds.

We also use all the Combat Maneuvers in the book (I've even added one). At first these may seem daunting, but if you take a good look at them, there are only a few any character can use.

My current campaign is young, with all the characters still at 1st level. Each character has only, like, three or so choices when it comes to Combat Maneuvers. That's not too much to overwhelm anyone. You learn your two or three choices (maybe it's three or four, but it's not a lot) as you play, and as your character grows and advances in level, you may add a Combat Maneuver or two to that which you already know.



We find, playing like this, to be quite enjoyable and a superior way to play (at least for us) over the standard..."OK, I rolled an 18. I hit. Here's damage."

That's boring. What we do is make the fight come alive.

 

[Ichabod]

Really, we just forget most of our abilities. And, that's the players. In a bit of GMing the game, I forget almost everything the antagonists can do.

I'm not really sure what the problem is. If everybody forgets about the same, just keep playing. Admittedly, I tend to see people suddenly remember something when they are about to get killed, but there's nothing all that wrong with that.

I do find it odd the examples of things that get forgotten. I suppose remembering every use of Fate Points is kind of a hassle, especially things like the "free defense" use, but I generally find that people sit on them until Left for Dead or until it looks like the party is screwed. Does taking 10 or 20 really matter that much?

I would think it would be all of the combat relevant feats and precisely how they should be used, basic maneuvers (we never remember any complicated maneuvers) like fighting defensively or Force Back, dumb class specials like Favorite Terrain, how sorcery really works (we've never once remembered Rule of Success), grapple rules (which we have to look up every single time there is a grapple), etc. that would be the hassle to process.

I would make changes if given the option, like eliminating AoO's, which I think are a waste of thought. But, if trying to keep to the RAW, just expect to forget some stuff.

 

[Mach5RR]

I was trying not to bring up rule mods or alternate rules systems. I know everyone has their own styles & house rules, and I am in awe/fear of anyone who plays Conan with all the published bells & whistles as written.

I know people play with alternate systems, such as Runequest, Savage Worlds, and the GURPS players swear their edition is the best. I get that
What I was looking for is the -style- you bring to the table. Besides breaking out the books & dice, what do you do to involve your players with your chosen ruleset? No matter what ruleset we choose, you can always borrow tips/tricks from others to set the mood and get the players more involved.

I do know their is a fuzzy line between the two. That having the player roll all dice is a pretty nifty idea to get the players more involved. One I'd never use as it robs me of a valuable tool, but still something to think about.

I'm also seeking understanding, maybe of things I wasn't even aware was a problem. I think that's one of the things I've missed, by not attending any cons in the past 10 years, is that exposure to other players and how they do things differently.

One of the greatest games I've ever played was the original "Ghostbusters" game from WestEnd. Not just because it was a great game in its own right, but because it broke me out of some preconceived molds I had set for myself. I don't know if people remember, but 1st ed AD&D hitpoints used to drive people nuts. Falling was the big one - a 14th level fighter used to be able to throw himself off a 80' cliff, hit the the ground, dust himself off, and run out and start carving things up (he did this because it was faster than climbing down). So we worked out elaborate damage charts, alternate max damage rules, to try to add realism to a mechanic that was never set up to model realism.
Ghostbusters changed that for me. It had brownie points, which acted like a cross between hit points and fate points. You could burn brownie points for extra roles, but any damage you took got burned from that stack until you ran out. So Ghostbusters had "hit points" with one caveat.

You, the player, had to explain why you weren't dead.

With this realization, the fighter wasn't just throwing himself off an 80' cliff. He was smashing through tree branches on the way down, getting beaten and bloody, but alive (ala Rambo from First Blood). So gone were the complex damage charts, as I introduced a new mechanic ... Why aren't you dead? And the players seem to come alive again, as they were no longer just mechanically ticking off damage (He stabbed me in the shoulder, I craft a crude parachute from the blanket I'm carrying, etc).

No, I don't think I'm trying to solve a problem. But it's an interactive game, and I'm always looking for newer ways to involve people. I've heard of one guy trying to craft his gametable to look like it came from a Hyborian bar (not possible as I don't have the space, and we never really game at my place anyway).

So how do you play? Tankards of wine at the table (Dark grape juice would do)? Maybe hiring some local girls to act as Zingaran dancing girls while you tell daring deeds (I so want in your game if you do this). Short of purchasing an atlantean sword replica to hit each other with, what do you do to help the players connect more with the game?

 

[Supplement Four]

So how do you play?

Nothing elaborate here. We use the dining table, with me as GM on the wide end and the other players spread out around it. I found these little document kits at the office supply store, so each player has his character sheet, other papers and notes, pencils and things, collected together. The kits fit into a master kit, which I keep--don't want anyone coming to the game and forgetting their character.

Pretty much everything is kept in the master kit except the books. All adventure modules, notes (I'm running a sandbox game right now), and such are all in the fold-out file section of the master kit.

When battles occur, I break out a large cork board I've had for years. It covers the entire table. I have these large sheets of graph paper that I picked up at the artists supply store. I use a black marker to draw on the sheets. We use tacs, with colored and numbered dots stuck to their heads, to represent combatants. Combat is roleplayed (as I mention above) but also tactical, with each square on the graph paper (usually) representing 5'.

Of course, I can change scale when needed. The 5' scale is perfect because I can put A LOT on the graph sheets, and if needed, I can combine four sheets on the cork board for an extremely big area.

Other than that, we sit around the table, eat our pretzels, drink our beer or Coke, role play, and generally have a damn good time, cracking jokes, and socializing with each other.





One thing--that I'm attempting to change in our group, is to have people talk "in character". What you say, and how you say it, is what your character said.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Not everyone is an actor, and some players argue that, because they are not actors but their characters have high CHR scores, their characters would be more elloquent than they are, just like most of their characters are stronger than the players in real life.

It's a good point.

But, I like the immersion that happens when players talk as their characters.

So, we're trying to work on this.

 

[Ichabod]

Oh, didn't get that at all from your original post.

GM cooks local cuisine for an area of the world we are adventuring in, plays appropriate music.

I think having a character voice is good, I tried that when GMing a Camelot campaign. I try to vary my voice when running L5R based on age, gender, foofooness. But, it's pretentious when only one person does it.

My strongest connections to the game, though indirect, come from fictions written by the GM or the players. Even just writeups of sessions often get into the heads of the characters to where you understand them far better than when we actually play, where it's mostly sitting around, joking and rolling dice.