Conan RPG Pocket Edition

[Mark Dunder]

I use Mundane Talents in my game to represent normal everyday ordinary plain Talents. I know mundane can also mean it is not part of a spiritual or heavenly body of knowledge. Extramundane is something that is outside of the physical world (for those who had no intention of ever looking up that word in their busy lifetimes). To me Extraordinary means better than mundane by far. But the meaning of the word was clear to me. In what way does it relate to the mechanics of the game? Are they only for the class? Are they pickable later? Do they have a special way of being used? I suppose I will get to that in due time, I'm just asking so I don't have to go searching ahead in the book for a better explaination.

Thanks Damien. I usually want an answer, regardless of the emotional state I may be in.

 

[ricardo440]

wow you sound like me reading Shadowrun 4.

The religion thing is mostly in the religion chapter, which I guess is left out of the pocket book.

Also remember that Conan used the OGL D20 system. That means that you are supposed to have the D&D PHB DMG to play.

Or you can use http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

 

[Yogah of Yag]

wow you sound like me reading Shadowrun 4.

The religion thing is mostly in the religion chapter, which I guess is left out of the pocket book.

Also remember that Conan used the OGL D20 system. That means that you are supposed to have the D&D PHB DMG to play.

Or you can use http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

I have the PHB, MM and DMG and haven't had any need for them in recent memory. www.d20srd.org works just fine to answer any Q's that the AE cant handle.

 

[Mark Dunder]

I knew I had to have missed it! Page 10, 2nd column, 1st paragraph. DC means Difficulty Check! Basic rules, should have guessed. Now would it hurt to put a little asteric beside DC the second time it was used, and explain in a little note down below that DC means Difficulty Check? We didn't have DC when I was growing up, and I didn't remember the earlier description. And they could toss the first reference to DC in the index, it wouldn't have killed them. Oh well, first time read and all, didn't make my DC with memory.

Page 123, Concentration is to be used only when taking damage, harsh conditions, etc. Basically, any "attack" that could physically disrupt a spell or skill being used. This is not the actual entry in the book, they mention an "attack of opportunity." I thought all attacks were opportunistic. I rewrote to clarify to myself. This, I suppose, explains why they made the key ability (characteristic must have just been to long a word to write down all the time ), Constitution, in anticipation of being wacked. Make me flinch hard too. Dexterity would have worked better maybe "Gotta concentrate, but dang its hard with this sword sticking out the front of my chest! Gotta constitution, constitution... No! I mean concentrate, concentrate!" Wish I had the Will Power to go on.

 

[Mark Dunder]

Ok, I've given it a shot. Went through combat, not anything much new there. Giving out Feats is a nice touch, add and subtract some more. Giving bonuses for doing a particular action has always been what we did when we roll-played. We just never wrote down the feats or restricted them to class or level (well... sometimes I did). Anyway, it doesn't have some of the play my game has, unless I've missed the reference?

Example: First encounter. In my game, you check to see what your Color Result (CR) is on the Resolution Chart using Enhanced Reflexes or your General Agility. Initiative as yet doesn't come into play. The CRs are given a numerical value, and you compare this value with the opponent's. The difference equals the number of actions the winning party gets. This is not Surprise, Surprise is handled differently. This is more closely related to the ability to move faster than your oppenent when combat begins for the first time. After this, all the combatants have their weapons out (if they hadn't already), or are in some way prepared more fully for combat. This might be a better position, adrenalin, etc. Whatever a person needs to get in the mood for combat. After this, normal initiative is used. Due to this particular circumstance at the first encounter, having a high Enhanced Reflexes is a very good thing.

For those of you who don't know anything about my game, all abilities, skills, feats, etc., are called Talents. Talents have scores (levels, ratings, etc.) from 1 to as high as you want. A Resolution Chart comparing your Talent score with a random die roll (d%, or d20), crosses to a Color Result, that you then use to determine what has happened. If you don't have a particular Talent, you can use the General Talent at the top of the table the Talent you need is listed under, as the default Talent.

I see finally on page 233 of the Conan RPG pocket edition, that a Round is 6 seconds long. Might have been nice to have found this earlier, or have the first description listed in the index. Maybe I missed the description earlier?

Now don't get all upset, I did not mean that this Conan RPG is not a good game, given the base mechanics. A lot of work went into it to try and match the Conan mystique, and they did a decent job.

By the way, the hit point system? Arduin Grimoire did the same thing back in 1978, see the page at: http://www.dunder.com/Arduin
I missed page 25 which shows the base hit points for class and creatures, and will add it later. Actually, I highly recommend the base hit point system for your game. Page 26 explains why. Other game developers, such as David Hargrave, who developed Arduin Grimoire, recognized some of the inherent problems facing D&D and now this goes for d20 itself.

I think all the justification used in this edition of Conan I just perchased, detracts from my enjoyment of reading the game. Too much political correctness, and opinion on religion bugs me. I'm not religious, don't go to church, but I try to respects others beliefs. But, you don't have to go overboard with "irreligiousness!" All you have to do is list the different religions in Hyboria, make a footnote saying something on the order of; "The authors do not claim the existence or non-existance of gods or goddesses in Hyboria. All references to gods or goddesses are strictly for RPG play, and have no bearing on the real world." Something along that line. You don't have to give me your "opinion" on good or evil, or even if it exists as a concept, I can make those decisions myself. I don't need any brainwashing, so they can keep it out of the game.

And that's my opinion on that.

 

[Flecha]

Ok, if I am to understand these rules, than explain to me (other than an example of playing chess, and its effects on those guys) why on page 14, Concentration got Constitution as its key ability (abilities is what I called all talents, skills, weaknesses, and whatnot in my game. In fact, I called my resolution chart, "Ability Result Matrix" or ARM for short) and not Wisdom? Does it explain later on the reasoning behind this? Or am I going to have to change this when I play the game?

Yes, that is because Concentration is a D&D D20 skill created to cast and maintain spells under attacks and the pain of being hurted, no less, no more. That's why it uses CON instead of WIS; the name "Concentration" has mistaken you.

 

[Mark Dunder]

That's why it uses CON instead of WIS; the name "Concentration" has mistaken you.

Why Concentration? Why not Perservere, Tenacity, maybe Sustain, or Persistance. Concentration can mean to bring closer together, as in concentrate. If its' prime characteristic is Constitution, generally wouldn't this be a physical quality? If the idea is to enable the caster to retain an uninterrupted chain of thought while under threat or physical hardship, wouldn't this be a test of will power? If the body is being put under physical duress, you may need to check against some sort of pain endurance, but still this is will power. I can't understand, I'm not one to take such game mechanics under faith. Will your ritual be disrupted due to the body being "threatened" or actually taking damage? In which case, I would say this is a good time to break your concentration on the spell (that might not work anyway), and save your butt.

So is this just an arbitrary placement of concentration that I must accept to play this game system, or is there a "good" reason why the prime ability is not Wisdom? I don't think it would be wise for an unprotected Scholar to allow something dangerous to get close to their skinny little bodies. Now if they think their spell is so devastating that they can ignore any potential damage by the weather or what have you, that decision is still Wisdom and not how much fortitude you have. Fortitude would be a good one to use. Or is that already taken?

 

[Yogah of Yag]

Too much political correctness, and opinion on religion bugs me. I'm not religious, don't go to church, but I try to respects others beliefs. But, you don't have to go overboard with "irreligiousness!" All you have to do is list the different religions in Hyboria, make a footnote saying something on the order of; "The authors do not claim the existence or non-existance of gods or goddesses in Hyboria. All references to gods or goddesses are strictly for RPG play, and have no bearing on the real world." Something along that line. You don't have to give me your "opinion" on good or evil, or even if it exists as a concept, I can make those decisions myself. I don't need any brainwashing, so they can keep it out of the game.

And that's my opinion on that.

I think one of the major differences I have noticed between CONAN RPG and traditional edition 3.0, vanilla DnD is that Conan RPG is certainly NOT politically correct, as is Wizard of the Coast's take on DnD. In the latter all races get along, everybody loves everybody else, hand holding, etc.
In Conan one race regards another with suspicion, or outright hatred. There is arrogance, racism, slavery, and other woes which are, sadly, part of our world, and consequently these inclusions make Conan RPG more "realistic" than high-fantasy-based DnD. I think that REH's attitude toward religion was that of great disillusionment with organized religion (and education) and these feelings became a strong part of his fiction. Perhaps his philosophy was that, if there was such an entity as "Providence", certainly it took no interest in the misery that was commonplace in Depression-era Texas, and the US in general.

 

[Flecha]

Why Concentration? Why not Perservere, Tenacity, maybe Sustain, or Persistance. Concentration can mean to bring closer together, as in concentrate. If its' prime characteristic is Constitution, generally wouldn't this be a physical quality?

Curious; you use sinonims related with willpower, even when you reason that it should be a physical quality.

So is this just an arbitrary placement of concentration that I must accept to play this game system, or is there a "good" reason why the prime ability is not Wisdom?

I don't think that it is arbitrary at all, and no, I don't know then the reason why it's called so. Maybe you should go to the forums in Monte Cook's page and ask him, since it's nearly a 100% sure bet the rule is his, and he regularly reads and posts there.

You can accept it to use the system as-is, or generate your own home rule and change. My advice is that you don't tinker with the machinery and just change the name of the skill to something that doesn't bother you, like "resilience" or "resistance", so you don't worry so hard for it and it doesn't keep you from sleeping anymore. :wink:

 

[Mark Dunder]

Curious; you use sinonims related with willpower, even when you reason that it should be a physical quality

No, I said that Constitution is a physical quality. I picked Persevere because it meant "to continue in some effort, course of action, etc. in spite of difficulty, opposition, etc.; be steadfast in purpose." as a possible replacement for concentration, not that it was necessarily a physical quality, but that they most likely represent the ability needed more so than concentration. I picked Tenacity, as the meaning of tenacious is "holding firmly." I picked Sustain as it meant "to bear up against; endure; withstand." And I picked Persistance as it meant "to refuse to give up, esp. when faced with oppostion or difficulty; continue firmly or steadily." Wherese, concentration mostly means just to pull it together or focus, such as your thoughts, or some mixture to concentrate or increase in strength (not physical strength, but density). Hasn't much to do with strength of will or fighting against opposition. As you noticed, most of the words I picked are synonymous with will power.

And this means?

As far as how religion and race goes, it's ok by me. Perhaps they are trying to be fair and square about the whole subject, I don't know. I twist things myself all the time. As an example; here is my view on good and evil as far as the world of the Hyborian Age goes.

The evil beings of cosmic power, want to enslave man for purposes beyond human comprehension. To this end, they have allowed some of their cosmic power to manifest itself in physical form at times. They use these forms to instruct like-minded men on how to draw upon these cosmic powers to help enslave man. These men in turn have trained other men on how to enslave men. To men these cosmic beings seem as gods.

The good beings of cosmic power, want men to have freedom of choice, for purposes beyond human comprehension. To this end, they oppose the evil enslavement of men. They manifest themselves in physical forms to instruct like-minded men on how to protect themselves from being enslaved and these men in turn have instructed others. Men have made these cosmic beings into their gods.

The cosmic beings don't require worship, but may from time to time grant small favors. Evil gods grant power for men to enslave men. Good gods grant power to keep man free. Evil likes to keep a hand in all of this, and are more likely to manifest themselves physicaly. Good likes to take a hands off approach, and so rarely manifest themselves.

From time to time, alien beings having godlike powers have walked the planet, and have been worshiped as gods. Some may still walk the planet. Their motives are less than cosmic.

It's a great struggle of enslavement of men's will or freedom of will. Due to this cosmic struggle, the "gods" are kept in check by direct opponsition in some other place cosmic.

These manifestations of beings cosmic, have given rise to many Pantheons in Hyboria. Praying to any of these beings may or may not get the desired effect. Somethings are just not always that important on the cosmic scale.

Not original perhaps, but expresses how I see the universe of Conan.

 

[Strom]

Personally, I can't do without my Pocket book - especially during a game.

8)

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mark Dunder]

I'm working on Concentration, which is a Skill. As a skill, some concessions may need to be made. Understanding that a skill may encompass more than a single ability, it may indeed have several external influences that cannot be covered by a simple ability check. Whereas, Concentration (as a skill "title") may not adhere to its' strict meaning as stated in a dictionary, it is allowable to give it qualities it would not generally enjoy. Given that this skill was created to show how a PC reacts to a primarily physical effect, but does need to show its' grounding in mental effort, I will give this Skill a pass. I suggest that Will Power is never bypassed by players, by simply doing a Constitution check. Current practice is to only make a Will check if the spell could cause Runnaway Magic. IMO, I think this should be expanded more.

I personally feel that some skills would benefit greatly by using two abilities as prime. This would show the shared qualities a skill relies on. That's my analysis and suggestion.

 

[Mark Dunder]

Page 286, Runaway Magic result. You don't have to really worry about rolling up a 31+. According to the entry on page 343, the GM can decide if gods truely exist in Hyboria, and by extension a soul. So a 31+ may just be a moot entry.

 

[geordiekimbo]

has he finished yet?

 

[Mark Dunder]

Nah, lost interest. Haven't you?

 

[geordiekimbo]

Yeah, thank Mitra

 

[slaughterj]

I'm working on Concentration, which is a Skill. As a skill, some concessions may need to be made. Understanding that a skill may encompass more than a single ability, it may indeed have several external influences that cannot be covered by a simple ability check. Whereas, Concentration (as a skill "title") may not adhere to its' strict meaning as stated in a dictionary, it is allowable to give it qualities it would not generally enjoy. Given that this skill was created to show how a PC reacts to a primarily physical effect, but does need to show its' grounding in mental effort, I will give this Skill a pass. I suggest that Will Power is never bypassed by players, by simply doing a Constitution check. Current practice is to only make a Will check if the spell could cause Runnaway Magic. IMO, I think this should be expanded more.

I personally feel that some skills would benefit greatly by using two abilities as prime. This would show the shared qualities a skill relies on. That's my analysis and suggestion.

I personally feel Concentration should not be a d20 skill. Nobody buys it except for mages, which says something. And the reason they buy it is to resist damage, environment, etc. to cast spells. Instead, just rely on a Will saving throw somehow to handle that. The other possible use is for Concentration is as a supplement to other skills, e.g., the ability for guard to Notice/Spot an interloper. Instead of needing the Concentration skill, simply apply a penalty to extended concentration situations, and ditch the skill which nobody buys anyway.

 

[CimmerianMan]

My concerns have been that I don't see the cover of the pocket addition with the "Atlantian Edition" logo. So I've been holding off on picking it up.

Are they all now the Atlantian Editions?

 

[Mark Dunder]

Perhaps Concentration as a Feat?

 

[DourDeadlyPuritan]

What I do is eschew Concentration and make the player make the lower of a Fortitude or Will saving throw (since willpower is a bit of both physical and mental, and it's only as good as the weakest one of the two).