Conan modules - any good?

G

GlassJaw

Mongoose
Hi all, I'm thinking about actually giving the Conan system a try and I'm intrigued by some of the new modules. I'm wondering if any of these would be a good introduction to the system and if anyone had any overall recommendations.

I'd prefer a low-level module and something that could possibly be played with a slightly smaller group, perhaps 3-4 players.

Thanks!
 
Haven't run either of them yet, but The Tower of the Elephant and Heretics of Tarantia both seem like great adventures. When I read through them I really felt like running them, and thats always good sign!

Tales of the Black Kingdoms I'm running right now, and it is also good, although maybe not as solid as the ones above. It has a couple of issues, but there are a few threads here about how to fix those. We've had a great time with it so far!

None of these are for really low levels, though (if by that you mean around level 1 or 2). Personally, I think level 3 is a good place to start for Conan games (my players started at level 3 and had reached level 4 when we started Tales of the Black Kingdoms).
 
I'd like to think that The Lurking Terror of Nahab will go over pretty well around here, as I looked over many of your collective comments before setting to it.

Lots of scary human thuggies and a nasty beasty...stirred up with a hefty amount of moral drama...

Here's to hoping you guys like it!

Bry
 
Here's my personal ranking of the Conan scenarios so far (SPOILERS ahead!):

Ones I liked:
  • Fall of the Westermarck (from Across the Thunder River). It needed a few tweaks here and there, but overall a good one. It suffers a little from a cliche "dying guy gives you a quest and kicks the bucket" beginning. Great maps make up for it. I'd give it 8/10.
  • Heretics of Tarantia. Another dying guy with a quest. However the beginning is handled pretty well and the rest of the module is interesting. It's an investigation scenario, so it's hard to run for an unprepared GM. It contains a good map of Tarantia. 8/10
  • Vengeance of the Golden Skull (from Messantia). Yup, another dead guy triggering a quest. And another investigation :). The maps are not that good. Oh, and a bit too many unnatural beasts, if you ask me. Overall 7/10.

Ones I didn't like:
  • Black Stones of Kovag Re. Awful beginning (Since when do you recruit mercenaries by walking around taverns and gathering sleeping drunks?), pointless middle (travel, trap, travel, duel with a guy that has nothing to do with the plot, travel...) and a big-fight-grand-finale. Most of the thin plot is hidden from the players.
  • Dark Dens of Iniquity (from Shadizar). It looks like a prologue to a scenario. Players just walk from an encounter to another encounter, the big story hook seems to wait around the corner, but the scenario ends before anything significant happens.

Ones I'm not familiar with:
  • Tales from the Black Kingdoms. Already ordered. I'm looking forward to it :p
  • The Coming of Hanuman. The first pdf adventure did not encourage me to get this one.
  • The Tower of the Elephant. I don't feel like running actual Conan stories with different cast. Besides, some of my players know the story.
 
Padre said:
  • The Coming of Hanuman. The first pdf adventure did not encourage me to get this one.
Click to expand...
While its not one of the greatest adventures ever made, I thought it was way better then Black Stones. It had some cool ideas.
 
Trodax said:
Padre said:
  • The Coming of Hanuman. The first pdf adventure did not encourage me to get this one.
Click to expand...
While its not one of the greatest adventures ever made, I thought it was way better then Black Stones. It had some cool ideas.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed The Coming of Hanuman. MUCH better than Black Stones.
 
The Black stones of Kovak-Re can be improved by giving the characters a better reason to be involved and changing the ending like this ----

WARNING: Will spoil the ending for a player if you haven't read the adventure !!!!

When the blood reaches the stones rather than the stones animating, Horrible demonic-ape like creatures emerge (1 per stone using the same stats) They want lots of fresh blood for the stones (which remain where they are).

The p.c.s have to fight the creatures but have the added chance of toppeling the stones and breaking them which causes the creature to die too. But of course in the initial onslaught the P.C.s are driven out of the temple-cave (and cave system or trapped down the other branch) when the creatures emerge unless they are wearing the amulate/token found earlier (if they did find it) which wil alow ONE character to 'pass' the creatures unmolested (until that character does something to harm the creatures) The amulate identifies a priest of Kovak-re but is not a magical protection any hostile act will cancel it's usefulness....
 
VincentDarlage said:
I really enjoyed The Coming of Hanuman. MUCH better than Black Stones.
Click to expand...

I have read, but not run, Black Stones. I agree that The Coming of Hanuman is by far the better of the two. There are several possible endings, and the enterprising GM can probably create an adventure or two detailing the aftermath, getting much out of this short PDF.

- thulsa
 
I liked the Kovag Re scenario. I needed to change a bit but I have managed to make the story run through a whole campaign.
I changed the end of Kovag Re and had demons come from within the stones. After the scenario a powerful high preist of Zath later was attracted to the site. He then brought the stones to Arenjun and with their power, re-built the Tower of the Elephant. The pcs, hiding in the Maul after slaying the Governor are astonished to see that the famous tower had been rebuilt in 5 days. The High priest now claims to be the new force in Arenjun and has the demons stalking the streets on the hunt for slaves to sacrifice to the new cult. One victim is a loved one of the pcs and has been taken to the Black Tower [must now convert the Tower of the Elephant to fit my campaign] :lol:
 
I like your altering the end too gav. I personally thought Kovag Re was a poorly written adventure, but as the first one offered what can you say. [SPOILER ALERT]: My players totally ignored the caves altogether and instead flead the encampment, and ignored the trail (and the bully in the hill village) altogether, they never even went into the caves. Trying to come up with something, I had whatsisname who hired them go mad after he went into the caves, and all the soldiers who went in died save him, Bogdan and Juliana. I ran the adventure as written but my players said it was ridiculous and made huge assumptions, which is what I had felt when I first purchased it.

While The Coming of Hanuman also makes assumptions (in the end all pre-gen adventures do) it was a better-written pdf and the group actually played it as written. I haven't read the other adventures yet, aside from a cursory examination, but hope to get our group playing again soon, one group in Shadizar, so I'm about to start going over Vincent's adventures for the boxed set.
 
I began running my group through the Shadizar adventure last night. They knew they were being led by the nose; quite a few laughs from them. I'm only running them through it to set up Tower of the Elephant, which is real good.
 
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