ESTABLISHING SOURCE

[Mark Dunder]

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would like to establish which publications I can, with reasonable assurance, use as source when playing any of the various Conan RPGs.

Let me first clarify my use of certain phrases. When speaking of source, I will differentiate REH Source as “REH source.” All other sources will not be preceded by REH. The reason for this is to also establish other sources that may be used as source for the Hyborian Age. We can not afford to toss away good material only because REH did not write it. But, we can establish whether that material can be used as source.

I know some of the earlier publications written by REH, may have been edited before publication, and may not reflect accurately REH’s original compositions. I would like to establish which publications are closest to the source as possible to create a “bible” of sorts that everyone can, with some authority, use and quote from with effectiveness.

I know there are several sites that list these publications, and links to those sites would be helpful. It would be nice if a new site were to be established by a patron of this forum, listing all publications we agree upon is closest to source as possible.

I would also like to know which pastiche publications come closest to source. This I know has been discussed with a number of various opinions in previous posts. My desire is to find source material I can, with reasonable assurance, use for creating scenarios for my players. Whether or not the pastiche author conveys the personage of Conan as would REH, is not my concern, for that is a matter of opinion. My concern is whether or not the author establishes history and background information that does not deviate greatly from original source.

Which finally leads me to my first question; which publication(s) of Hour of the Dragon can be used as REH source? My copy is the edition edited by Karl Wagner and published in 1977 by Berkley Medallion Books, copyright by Glenn Lord.

Thanks for any help all of you can give me on this matter.

 

[The King]

Hour of the dragon is a pure Howardian source. It's the only Conan novel he wrote.

 

[VincentDarlage]

I don't know if I fully understand what you are looking for, but here are the books I use as primary REH source material:

• 1. Howard, Robert E. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, A Del Rey Book, published by The Random House Publishing Group, First Ballantine Books Edition, December 2003
  
  2. Howard, Robert E. The Bloody Crown of Conan, A Del Rey Book, published by The Random House Publishing Group, First Ballantine Books Edition, December 2004
  
  3. Howard, Robert E. The Conquering Sword of Conan, A Del Rey Book, published by The Random House Publishing Group, First Ballantine Books Edition, December 2005

The second volume has the Hour of the Dragon in it.

As secondary sources, I use the Millenium volumes:

• Howard, Robert E., The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle, Published by Millennium, an imprint of Victor Gollancz, Orion House, 5 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London, 2000, Copyright by Robert E. Howard.
  
  Howard, Robert E., The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon, Published by Millennium, an imprint of Victor Gollancz, Orion House, 5 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London, 2000, Copyright by Robert E. Howard.

I also use the three Wagner-edited volumes:

• Howard, Robert E. The People of the Black Circle, Edited by Karl Edward Wagner, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, Copyright 1977 by Glenn Lord
  
  Howard, Robert E. Red Nails, Edited by Karl Edward Wagner, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, Copyright 1977 by Glenn Lord
  
  Howard, Robert E. The Hour of the Dragon Edited by Karl Edward Wagner, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, Copyright 1977 by Glenn Lord

I have also used some of the Gnome Press books, notably Conan the Conquerer and King Conan.

If I get really desperate, I also have most of the Donald Grant Conan volumes, the Lancer volumes and the Ace volumes (which just reprints the Lancer books). Those would be my last choice for REH references.

 

[Mark Dunder]

That's exactly what I'm asking for. I have not purchased those books as of yet, but will shortly. This is a very good start, thank you.

 

[VincentDarlage]

As for pastiches "close to the source", you will find that topic hotly debated.

I have found that other authors generally handle Conan (the character) poorly, but often can contribute artefacts, settings and ideas that fit well into the Hyborian age.

Roland Green and Harry Turtledove are probably as far from the source as one can get, since both authors did no research into the world and actually flatly contradict REH in many places. I generally try to avoid the works of those two authors as a source for anything in the RPG.

Steve Perry's Conan books tend to read like D&D books, with weird races interacting with each other easily and almost without comment.

Roy Thomas (Marvel) and Kurt Busiek (Dark Horse) probably did the most research for their writings in the comics.

 

[Mark Dunder]

I like Raven's handling of the Dark Horse thread. I'm satisfied to leave that source to be defined by that thread. But I'm not aversed from discussion of that source here.

I have No. 1 issue of Marvel comic "The Official Handbook of the Conan Universe." Has an interesting map in it with lots of extra countries. Seems somewhat out of alignment shape wise with several other maps I have seen on the web. But is it too far away from source to be used?

 

[Strom]

I would buy all the Del Rey compilations as Vincent suggested but instead of buying a bunch of pastiche that varies in quality your next bet for source material are all of the supplements published by Mongoose for the Conan RPG.

Even if you are not playing the game and using a different Conan RPG set of rules you should purchase the Road of Kings just for the exceptional information on the world of Conan, separated by individual countries. That said, every supplement has been extremely true to Howard's stories and are excellent sources for expanding the detail provided in the canon stories in a believable and entertaining fashion.

The Mongoose game and supplements are a Conan/Hyboria fans dream come true, IMO. There's Del Rey and then Mongoose (and Vincent who has written a majority of the supplements). 8)

 

[Mark Dunder]

Actually, I will buy as much of Mongoose's Conan related products as possible, mostly because I can easily convert anything to my game. It is the most flexible system I have ever played.

Is all of Mongoose's resources assumed to be on source with REH? If not which publications or modules are the most conflicting? This would be good to know before purchasing a lot of these modules.

I appreciate everyone's patience on supplying me and anyone else who is wondering about this, with their insight and personal knowledge on what is the best source material to use with any Conan RPG.

The posts here have already encouraged me to look into purchasing some of the more mainline RPG resources, thank you.

 

[toothill man]

correct me if I am wrong vincent but as everything has to be cleared by the licencer holding conan everything published at the moment could be considered canon but one stands out for me that is the tower of the elephant based on a novellette by the great man himself and as close to being conan Ive found 8) hope that helps :wink:

 

[Flecha]

I have found that other authors generally handle Conan (the character) poorly, but often can contribute artefacts, settings and ideas that fit well into the Hyborian age.

Yes! That's preciselly one of the most hurting points in my opinion! Howard's character is a jovial guy who not unfriendly, instead of the blatant bully that Sprague de Camp and Carter recreated. That Conan is just too serious and misunderstood of what Howard envisioned.

About the rest, if the contribution doesn't contradict Howard, is not so much a matter of opinion as a matter of choice, since abything not done by the author is always questionable.

 

[Flecha]

Is all of Mongoose's resources assumed to be on source with REH? If not which publications or modules are the most conflicting?

Yes, they are. Actually, none. As Vincent has pointed out many times (well, almost once :wink, every bit of information taken from pastiche sources is optional, and you can remove it withouth pain. I'm gamesmastering in the Westermarck, so Across Thunder River and Aquilonia are my bedtime books lately. Since I find Sprague de Camp & Carter horrible, and I hate their King Conan stories, I just don't consider Diviatix the druid, or Conan's sons and daughters, and presto! The rest of the info don't suffer at all, and is canon.

 

[Mark Dunder]

Good, that clears up firmly on all the Mongoose publications. Thanks.

TSR and GURPS have published Conan RPG material. I own TSRs Conan RPG, and the 3 modules seem off REH source, IMO. Although the introductory adventure Tower of the Elephant is nice. I mostly use them for the NPC creations and some background info. Do any of you know much about the GURPS modules? I've ran across a few on sale, but didn't have much of a chance to check them out. Do any of them add to the Conan genre, or should I just forget about them?

 

[toothill man]

was not happy with the other 2 conan attempts but that is a personnal choice I thought the TSR ones were trying to make conan fit their ideas instead of being conan :evil: and to clarify its the tower of the elephant module adventure published by mongoose I was raving about 8)

 

[Mark Dunder]

I understood which one you meant, sorry I didn't acknowledge that. Even though the TSR TOTE was limited, it was fun, only because I knew most of the dialogue (I'm big on NPC dialogue). Wouldn't mind giving Mongoose's a try.

 

[toothill man]

you will not be disapointed