Conan vs Iron Heroes

[Damien]

Indeed - but Mearls also had this to say in an interview:

Q. What were your sources of inspiration for the feel of Iron Heroes?

A. Movies had a big impact on the game. When I design something, I tend to picture it in my mind as a small scene, like in a movie, and then create rules to match the action and inspire the feel of what I see. Conan the Barbarian, Die Hard, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Kill Bill all stand out. Kill Bill in particular was a big influence, and by extension all the movies that inspired it. There's a few anime in there, too: Cowboy Bebop and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds. I saw Nausicaa when I was very young, and I found it to be utterly captivating.



Now I don't know anything about the last two... but Cowboy Bebop, Kill Bill, and Die Hard certainly aren't sword and sorcery films...

So saying that Iron Heroes is trying to be something and failing is faulty logic - it's trying to be cinematic action - it succeeds. Conan tries to be gritty action. It also succeeds. There's room for both games on a bookshelf, in my opinion.

 

[Strom]

This thread has been very interesting. I love the Conan game but I'm always looking at other S & S or low-magic games.

What is the name of the world in Iron Heros? I'm a little confused if the world is detailed in the book or just outlined with generalities or what.

 

[Damien]

What is the name of the world in Iron Heros? I'm a little confused if the world is detailed in the book or just outlined with generalities or what.

There really is no setting. The rules are made so that you can attach them to pretty much whatever setting you want. So most of the 254 (?) pages are rules stuff - very little setting stuff.

There -is- an 'example' setting, but it's not detailed in any way. Just a few mentions of some generic places like "the Swordlands." Mike Mearls and Monte Cook both said they explicitly did not want the rules tied to any setting -- I imagine to give DMs more freedom.

 

[Strom]

Thanks Damien. 8)